Date: Mon, 10 Nov 1997 13:06:28 -0800
From: metin aktay <maktay-AT-superonline.com>
Subject: Re: PLC: Turkey Curiosity of Pat Sloane


> >>  In 1992, The World Jewish Congress honoured
> >>  Turkey as the only country in the world where Jews have lived in peace
> >>  as full citizens since the Spanish Diaspora of 1492.

Stirling Newberry wrote:

> The Turks had native minorities to massacre.


Dear Stirling,

You are right, yes, we Turks did, mostly Kurds, Armenians, Greeks,
between the years 1300 and 1920. And massacres did happen, not for the
joy of massacring people, I think, but as a very ugly side of
imperialist rule. 

The Ottomans began as marauders, such as the Vikings, the Goths, the
Cossacks and so on. They came from Central Asia to Anatolia and liked it
there and settled in 1299, founding an empire over time and turning
imperialist from marauder. 

The world order of the times, with few exceptions was imperialism and
the Ottoman Empire lived on imperialism like any other empire, British,
Prussian, Russian, French, Swedish, Spanish, Portugese, Dutch, and so
on. The rules of imperialism were to punish those who did not pay taxes
on time, and sometimes massacre those who rebelled, be it for
independence from tyranny, or be it as pawns in a power play being
played by regional power figures. 

Myself and my present day fellow citizens in the Republic of Turkey,
inclusive of citizens of Armenian and Greek and Kurdish descent, do not
condone but abhor such actions. There are episodes in the past of any
group of people, be it nations, companies, or e-mail lists, which are
not nice. Hopefully, we will all acknowledge such events in our pasts as
"bad" and learn to avoid future situations which have the potential of
giving rise to repetition of such indecencies.

So Stirling,

You made a statement which I felt I had to acknowledge and elucidate in
the interest of world peace, of understanding between us humans, of
freedom from unneccessary prejudice. 

And futher Stirling,

You had not pose a question but highlighted a line out of context and
quipped a line as though it was deliberately omitted. That was not the
case. I would like to remind you that my original post was in response
to a direct query by Pat Sloane re ethnicity in present day Turkey. Pat
was not questioning the Turkish past.

For the future Stirling,
 
I would be glad to delve into the Ottoman massacres of natives of
Anatolia further in the direction you would like to learn more of if you
would grace me with a question manifesting the points you are curious
about and the relevancy of Ottoman massacres of natives of Anatolia to
PhilLitCrit.  

Sincerely,

Metin Aktay

Businessman from Istanbul, Turkey
Home : Ihsan Aksoy sok, EVA apt. No:7/2, Camlik Etiler
       Istanbul 80600, Turkey
e-mail     : maktay-AT-superonline.com
Home Phone : +90 212 265 10 16
Home Fax   : +90 212 257 73 74
Work Phone : +90 212 212 60 30
Work Fax   : +90 212 212 60 32
Mobile     : +90 532 274 17 71


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