Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Turks May Ban French Kissing; Kocharian Speaks to Turkish TV
by Harut Sassounian, California Courier Publisher
Posted: Tuesday, February 13, 2001 01:42 am CST

No More French Kisses in Turkey

The whole world is following with utter bewilderment the hysterical reaction of "modern" Turkey to the French government's recognition of the Armenian Genocide. The most amazing aspect of this whole episode is that the French text does not even mention the Turks as the culprits. The honorable thing for the Turks would have been to admit that genocide was indeed committed by the government of the Ottoman Empire against the Armenians. A less honorable approach would have been to ignore the French resolution. The Turks have chosen neither the "honorable" nor the "less honorable" approach. Instead, they have chosen, once again, to deny everything, go berserk and lash out at the world. The Turkish government decided to ban just about everything from France except the French kiss. Turkish universities closed down their French language departments. All agreements with French companies were rescinded, including the purchase of French weapons, cars, movies, vaccines, wine, and cheese. The French names of streets in Ankara are to be changed. Memorials dedicated to alleged French atrocities will be built in several Turkish cities, including one in Ankara across the street from the French embassy. The Turkish Parliament is considering a bill "recognizing as genocide the massacres that France committed during Algeria's war of independence." The Turks seem to have forgotten their earlier pompous claims that parliaments should not legislate history, and that historical events should be left to historians.
By boycotting French goods, the Turks are simply undermining their own interests. Since the French weapons and other products were originally selected on the basis of international tenders, one would assume that the Turks had chosen the companies that offered them the best products at the lowest prices. Now, they have to settle for lower quality products at higher prices.
By these hysterical reactions, the Turks are also undermining the prospects of joining the European Union. They are confirming the claims of most Europeans that Turkey is far from ready to join the ranks of civilized Western countries. Gunter Verheugen, the European Union Commissioner, asked Ankara last week not to "over-react" to the French recognition of the Armenian Genocide. The E.U. Commission is investigating if Turkey has violated its agreements with the E.U. by boycotting the goods of one of its member states.
To make matters worse, the Turkish Parliament is considering the adoption of a bill that would automatically break diplomatic relations with and boycott all imports from any county that would henceforth recognize the Armenian Genocide. This would be great news for Armenians, as they would energetically pursue the recognition of the Genocide by more and more countries, knowing that this would lead to the political and economic isolation of Turkey from the rest of the world.

What Went Wrong With Kocharian's Turkish TV Interview?

The President of Armenia was interviewed last week on "CNN Turk" by Mehmet Ali Birand, a prominent Turkish TV reporter. The questions dealt mostly with the Armenian Genocide and Armenian demands from Turkey. So many things went wrong with this interview that it would have been far more preferable if Pres. Kocharian had not agreed to talk to the Turkish reporter at all.
To begin with, at a time when the Turks are in such a fury over the French recognition of the Armenian Genocide, it may not have been wise to give an on camera interview to a high profile Turkish reporter. Impromptu interviews on such sensitive topics are difficult to handle even for Western media-savvy politicians. One misstatement by the President could either cause a serious incident with Armenia's already enraged neighbor or give further ammunition to his domestic adversaries who are only too eager to pounce on his every misstep. In addition, Pres. Kocharian and his advisors should have known that Turkish reporters are notorious for distorting every statement one makes to them. Unless one takes extraordinary preventive measures, the interviewee hardly recognizes his or her own words when they appear in the Turkish press. Just days before the Kocharian interview, Robert Pearson, the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, had to issue a "clarification" claiming that the Turkish media had "misrepresented" his comments on the Armenian Genocide. "CNN Turk" aired the interview with Pres. Kocharian last Wednesday. Since the President had spoken in Armenian, the Turkish TV had translated his words into Turkish and aired it with a voice-over. The next day, the Turkish Daily News printed the "transcript" of the interview translated into English with a sensational headline: "Exclusive Interview with Armenia's President Kocharian: 'Armenia has no land demand from Turkey.' " The Turkish newspaper quoted the President of Armenia as simply asking for a "apology" from Turkey. He was reported to have said: "You may not call it a genocide, but it should be accepted that people have been mass murdered. They had been forced to change their geography." Pres. Kocharian allegedly had said that Armenia would not only have no demands from Turkey, it would also have no legal standing for making any territorial claims. The Turkish version of Pres. Kocharian's words were shortly disseminated worldwide on Reuters, BBC and many other wire services. To make matters worse, Armenian wire services and newspapers both in Armenia and the Diaspora published this interview, translating it back into Armenian from the Turkish or English texts provided by the Turks. With rare exceptions, the Armenian papers failed to disclose to their readers that what they were reading was the Turks' translation of what the President supposedly had said and that these were not his actual words. Incredibly, Armenpress, the state wire service, also disseminated the Turkish version of the text of the interview, rather than obtaining the original Armenian text from the President's office.
Concerned that Pres. Kocharian may not have actually said the controversial things the Turks claimed he said, I immediately contacted the President's office and requested a copy of his original words in Armenian. Regrettably, I have yet to receive the requested transcript. Not knowing what the President actually said, I have to refrain from making any comments on his statements.
Three days after the Turks had aired the interview and after the international wire services had already disseminated the Turkish version worldwide, the Armenian State Television issued a brief statement charging that Pres. Kocharian's words were distorted by the Turkish media "due to bad translation." Armenian TV aired several brief segments of that interview using the President's own words in Armenian. I hope that this becomes a learning experience for Armenia's officials. After this episode, I recommend that the President of Armenia reject all future Turkish requests for interviews. Under these circumstances, the lleast the President's office should have done is release the Armenian transcript, in order to set the record straight, before the Turkish version was disseminated worldwide.

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