Daughters of Ataturk: [Daughters_of_Ataturk] Amazon.com'da Propaganda

Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:22:23 -0400
From: ctc@turkishcanadians.com
To: KanadaGundem@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Amazon'dan bu kitap kritigini kaldirtalim

Arkadaslar,

Biliyorsunuz, amazon.com buyuk bir propaganda muharebe meydani haline geldi. Ben Taner Akcam'in 'A Shameful Act' isimli kitabini elestiren cok guzel bir kritik post etmistim, sizlerin oylari sayesinde en tepeye cikmisti, Amazon o kritigi 'The most helpful critical review' olarak en basta sergiliyordu. Tabii fazla dayanmadi. 6 ay icerisinde bu kritik amazon'dan kaldirttirildi.

Soyle kaldiriliyor: her book review'un altinda 'report this' diye bir kink var. Eger bir elestiride uygunsuzluk buluyorsaniz (ne oldugu sorulmuyor, herhangi bir uygunsuzluk) 'report this' dugmesine tikliyorsunuz ve sikayetiniz amazon'a gidiyor. Bu kadar basit. Niye itiraz ediyorsunuz, nesini begenmediniz, boyle bir sorgu sual yok. 'Oyunuzu aldik, tesekkur ederiz' diyorlar, bitiyor. Yeteri kadar 'report' olursa da o kritik amazon'dan siliniyor. Ermeniler benim Taner Akcam kritigimi bu sekilde sildirtmeyi basardilar..

Oradaki baska bir yazi (asagida) da beni cok rahatsiz etti. Bir bakin, sizleri de cok sinirlendirecektir. Biz de bunu rapor edip sildirtelim. Turklere hakaret dolu, hirs dolu bir yazi. Kitapla falan da hic alakasi yok. Guya kiatp kritigi. Mehmet Mehmet isimli bir sahis tarafindan yazilmis. 'I am a Turkish citizen from South East Anatolia' diyor ve ondan sonra Turklere soylemedigini birakmiyor. Boyle nefret dolu bir yaziyi kaldirtmak bizim icin cok kolay. Hepimiz 'report this'e tiklarsak bu oradan kaldirilir.

Su linkde bulabilirsiniz bu yaziyi: http://www.amazon.com/review/product/080508665X/ref=cm_cr_pr_link_next_2?_encoding=UTF8&pageNumber=2&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending
En altina gidip report'a tiklayiniz lutfen.

Bir de, yine ayni sayfada 'Eleni' isimli bir sahisin kitap kritigi soyle diyor: 'I wish I could be ho peful for the day when Turks can face up to their dismal and violent past. I do not hold much hope of that as long as islam is the ideology of choice for them.' Lutfen bunu da report edelim. Bunlar cok buyuk hakaretler. Cocuklarimiza boyle yerin dibine gecirilmis bir Turk ismi mirasi birakmiyalim.

Ozet olarak, bugun sizden ricam, lutfen amazon.com'daki Taner Akcam'in 'A Shameful Act' isimli kitabina gidip Eleni ve Mehmet Mehmet isimli kisiler tarafindan yazilmis kitap kritigi adi altinda Turk dusmanligi yapan iki yaziyi rapor edelim. Hazir oradayken, bu kitaba bir yildiz vererek negative criticism yapmis olan yazarlara 'yes' oyu (yes, this review was helpful to me) ve 5 yildiz verip Taner Akcam'i goklere cikaran kritiklere de 'no' oyu verelim lutfen.

Mehmet Mehmet'in ve Eleni'nin yazilarini asagiya koyuyorum.

Not: Amazon'a review yazabilmek icin once amazon'dan birsey satin almis olmak gerekiyor. Eger daha once hic amazon'dan alisveris etmediyseniz oraya review yazamiyorsunuz. (Oy verebiliyorsunuz, rapor edebiliyorsunuz, ama review yazmak icin musteri olmak gerekiyor. Aranizda benim gibi amazon musterisi varsa, yani review yazma hakkina sahipseniz lutfen siz de Taner Akcam'in, Barbara Coloroso'nun kitaplarina negative review'lar yaziniz. Diger degerli yazarlara da (Guenter Lewy, Justin McCarthy, Stanford Shaw, Andrew Mango) pozitif review'lar yazmamiz lazim. Eger amazon'a review yazma hakkiniz varsa ama review yazacak vaktiniz yoksa, ben size yazabilirim. Bu review'lar amazon isimli muharebe meydaninda cok yararli isler goruyorlar. Bir kitabin degerini 5 yildizdan 3 yildiza dusurebilirsek o kitabin satisi azaliyor. Eger Guenter Lewy'nin kitabini 5 yildiza cikarabilirsek, o kitabin satisi artiyor.

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66 of 119 people found the following review helpful:

An excellent expose of historical truths., January 8, 2007

By	Mehmet Mehmet 'Mehmet' (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility (Hardcover)

I am a Turkish citizen from South East Anatolia.

All my life, I have heard stories from my own family of how everybody, (including my ancestors) have murdered the Armenians in the region with detailed description of how the river Euphrates ran days red with blood.

The interesting thing is that these would be discussed only in private with the voices being lowered as the subject matter or stories were repeated. But when official Turkish lies of the Turkish State would be recited on TV, or when 'we' were being 'attacked' by those 'ugly, deceptive, liar, treacherous' Armenians, foreigners, etc. Nobody, absolutely nobody, stood up to say the truth they had been talking about in private parties.

Privately accept, and even boast about how we 'killed them all,' but publicly deny the genocide!
This is the official Turkish position since these horrific events took place.

A nation as my own, that is embarrassed about the identity it took around 1900's, ashamed from its past, history, the blood on their hands, can not, does not, will not even start to understand democracy, humanity, value of human lives.

Taner Akcam helps us deal with this dark side of our history, a part that is so embarrassing that many Turks refuse to even think about it. Nevertheless, a side that has shaped the Turkish identity since our so-called 'liberation war.' If we do not understand the events presented in this book, we will repeat the same shameful events in our lives.

History actually DID repeat itself as the Turkish state in recent times murdered around 30,000 of its Kurdish citizens, similar to the Armenian genocide. Why?

Using Kurds in the genocide against our own Armenian citizens around 1915, now the monster needed m ore blood against its own citizens, the Kurds this time, because they do not look, speak, behave or dress like us.

Those who hide the past can not survive the truth today. The same, exactly the same stupid excuses used to justify a genocide around 1915 is again being used today as if that makes murdering 800,000 - 1.5 million OK. This is the official Turkish state line. Today we are again fed the line that 'Enemy within is stabbing us in the back... so they deserve the fate of Armenians...' With nationalist press openly writing, 'We did it then, we will do it again...' Unfortunately the nationalist mentality does not question the lies of its rulers, so, many Turks today follow the distorted lies written in their secondary school history books. This is why books like 'A shameful act' becomes important when it exposes the official lies of the Turkish government.

We must thank courageous Mr. Akcam and other authors like Pamuk to clean our bloody, dirty history and deal with the crimes our forefathers have committed against humanity. Otherwise we will live with this blood dripping from our hands and face.

As a proud Turkish citizen, I want to live guilt free. I do not want these crimes pushed under the rug by Turkish military, official historians (parrots of government, whose paychecks depend on toeing the official lies) or the criminal Turkish state. It is time to come clean. Enough of stupidity. If we can privately accept the crimes, it is time to stand up to the crimes publicly. Mr. Akcam takes the steps to challenge the official re-written history to do just that in this book.

It is also shameful that Turkey discovers France's crimes in Algeria recently when France mentions the crimes of Turkey against the Armenians. Yes, of course France also has committed those crimes against Algeria. But where were the Turkish nationalists until now? The policy of my government/nationalists is 'If you let my crimes go unmentioned, I will not bring up your crimes!' When, soon, the same issue wil l be brought up in the US, the Turkish nationalists will be discovering what the US has done to the blacks, natives, Filipinos. But for the time being they are silent on these genocides, to see if they can keep the US silent on the Turkish crimes. If and only if the US adopts a resolution condemning our crimes, then and only then they will discover the crimes of the US. This is the policy of a guilty nation. This is the mentality of a guilty nation.

I do not want to live with this shame any more. Hiding is not the answer. Lying is not the answer. Denial of these crimes is not an answer. As we love saying at home, 'You can not cover the sun with mud!' So, let us talk, discuss and openly accept the crimes of our fathers and face up to our responsibilities, as Akcam has done in this book.

Only if we start talking about it, only if we accept the crimes committed do we have a chance to become the overused word 'civilized' back at home. Then, and only then, we will have a chance to understand what we have done to the Kurds, to Greeks, to Alevis, the Marash and Chorum massacres, Sivas murders in our recent past, the military coup after military coups that plague our nation, the constant military rule, human rights abuses every day, rape of women in police stations, rampant torture, official assassinations, state sponsor of nationalist fascist groups such as the Grey Wolves, state involvement in narcotics dealings, terrorist harboring, official Turkish state involvement in the assassination attempt against Pope and tens of thousands of people imprisoned, tortured, destroyed under 1980 military coup supported by the US etc.

The root of all these barbaric events started with the way, with the shape this country and state was formed. We made the Armenians our first victims. Now it is our Kurdish population, after Greeks saw their share.

Germans stood up to their horrific crimes.
Don't we have even that much of honor to stand up and condemn the criminals (even if they are from my own fami ly) so that we can live a life with a clear conscience? Even during the genocide, the responsible people accepted the crime they were committing, saying, 'We take the risk of being called murderers with these events, but, for our country, this is necessary to do.' (My paraphrasing) So, what is this 'riding on high horse' attitude of today's generation in Turkey? Who is kidding who? When will we start questioning the official line of our government and its paid stooges of 'historians'?

I want to live honorably. I do not want to carry this shame put on me by our founding fathers. I want all criminals who have painted the region with blood to be tried and brought to justice, even after their death. So, I can live guilt free.

It is high time to accept the crimes, apologize to the Armenian community for the unmentionable suffering we caused in their lives. Open up their sacred places to them, and compensate their losses. This is the right thing to do. Our denying a fact only causes more polarization, more misery, more animosity between our and the Armenian and the Kurdish nations. It is also corrupting our own identity. When will we see that more blood is not the answer? Why can't we be the first to denounce ALL genocides, including the French in Algeria, Turkish in Armenia, US against blacks and natives, European against African etc? Then we will have the honor to look others in the eye? Then, and ONLY then, will I say, 'How happy is one who says, `I am a Turk'' I will not say this while I am living under the shame of our founding fathers. I will not say this phrase while knowing that the person who suggested we say this was tried and condemned in relation to the Armenian genocide! Don't we have clean people, like many governors at the time who refused to obey the Turkish orders and refused to participate in these horrific, bloody crimes? Why aren't THEY the Turkish heroes today? Weren't they also Turkish? Akcam documents these in this book. So why always chose the criminals, murderers, killers as ou r heroes? Do we ONLY praise criminals? What does this say about us? As one holocaust survivor wrote to her father after seeing the crimes of Israel, 'Father, who have we become?'

Don't we have enough honor to say, 'Who have we become?'
Akcam shows us the history that made us who we are today. Thank you Taner.

Regards.

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Comments (22)

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24 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

first genocide of the 20th century, January 8, 2007

By	Eleni (NY, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility (Hardcover)

He has made a good start. I applaud Professor Akcam's revealing and objective look at one of the worst acts of outrage against humanity of the 20th century. Certainly the Armenian people bore the brunt of the inspeakable acts of violence directed against them by inhuman hordes of Turks who burning raping and pillaging. Unfortunately he leaves out the mass killing fields covered covered with the dust of hundreds of thousands of Greek and Assyrian Christians who predated the Muslim Turks by thousands of years.

I wish I could be hopeful for the day when Turks can face up to their dismal and violent past. I do not hold much hope of that as long as islam is the ideology of choice for them.

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