KeghartJuly 6, 2014
Despite the efforts of the Ontario Alevi community and that of a Toronto-based Armenian civic group to stop the establishment of a politically motivated and fraudulent Turkish monument at the Brantford Mount Hope Cemetery, a week ago a "Muslim" monument was placed at the cemetery. The Turkish consul had been lobbying for such a monument for the past two years. At the top of the monument are Turkish symbols. Frustrated by Hye Tad's refusal to campaign against the disguised Turkish monument, whose main target is the Canadian government, Torontonian Aram Hagopian sent the below letter to members of the local Armenian community.–Editor
July 4, 2014
Dear Friends,
For the next year the Brantford Mount Hope Cemetery and the First World War Kapuskasing interment issue will be a Damocles sword on head of the Canadian-Armenian community and the Canadian government. As it was envisioned by a number of Armenians and brought to the attention of our lobbyists, the Turkish embassy, the Turkish consul general, and their cohorts will use this issue to prevent any meaningful commemoration in Canada of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide.
July 6, 2014
Despite the efforts of the Ontario Alevi community and that of a Toronto-based Armenian civic group to stop the establishment of a politically motivated and fraudulent Turkish monument at the Brantford Mount Hope Cemetery, a week ago a "Muslim" monument was placed at the cemetery. The Turkish consul had been lobbying for such a monument for the past two years. At the top of the monument are Turkish symbols. Frustrated by Hye Tad's refusal to campaign against the disguised Turkish monument, whose main target is the Canadian government, Torontonian Aram Hagopian sent the below letter to members of the local Armenian community.–Editor
July 4, 2014
Dear Friends,
For the next year the Brantford Mount Hope Cemetery and the First World War Kapuskasing interment issue will be a Damocles sword on head of the Canadian-Armenian community and the Canadian government. As it was envisioned by a number of Armenians and brought to the attention of our lobbyists, the Turkish embassy, the Turkish consul general, and their cohorts will use this issue to prevent any meaningful commemoration in Canada of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide.
Our lobbyists bungled and mishandled this issue and now we are paying the price.
Below is the latest coverage of this issue in the Canadian-Turkish media:
Turkuaz TV
http://www.turkuaz.ca/tag/brantford-mount-hope-mezarligi-turk-bolumu/
The ceremony was organized by the Turkish Federation. The spokesperson clearly indicated in his speech that after putting the star-and-crescent as symbol of the Turkish flag, he was happy to erect a Turkish monument. He said the following at the cemetery while some people were unfurling Turkish flags:
“They were taken to the interment camp where they were subject to unpleasant treatment and treated as enemy soldiers. We want to erect a Turkish monument. As a first step we put crescent- and-star as the symbol of our Turkish flag. We want to commemorate our martyrs.”
Anatolian Radio
http://www.anatoliaradio.com/brantford-mount-hope-mezarligi-ziyareti/
They are clearly linking it with the WWI internment, as we knew they would.
Keghart
Keghart
Keghart
5 comments
Genocide of Turks in Canada
This is very disappointing, but unfortunately money talks....
Discrimination in Turkey
Turkey is engaging in discrimination against its own citizens. They have spent two years making sure that Alevi [in the Brantford cemetery] have a marker identifying them as citizens of Turkey. My father's family of 32 women and children were also Turkish citizens in 1915, and unlike the Alevis, are Genocide martyrs. They lie unmarked on mountain roads. Why is Turkey discriminating against their own citizens by placing markers on Alevi graves but not on Armenian graves?
I had a cartographer, who specializes in mountains, draw a map showing every jog in the mountains and desert my father wrote that their caravan took. My repeated offer to help Turkey show equal concern for its unmarked citizens still stands. This would be a good start in putting up markers in Turkey for their Armenian citizens, who reputable historians agree were Genocide martyrs.
Here is an excerpt from my forthcoming book "Resistance: a Diary of the Armenian Genocide 1915-1922". It was written by my father, Misak Seferian, who wrote the entry on the day it occurred in June 1915.
"We heard from the replacement gendarmes that an official telegram sent to Chavlig from Oghnut reported that a caravan comprised of 970 women and children was coming toward Chavlig. These gendarmes said that there were only 890 people turned over to them. Eighty people in our caravan had either died or been killed during a journey of two-and-a-half days."
There is no need for Turks to roam the world looking for unmarked Turkish citizens. They can use my maps for the rest of this caravan route, or just look in their own archives for official telegrams.
Disappointed
I have long been very disappointed with the relative lack of political activism by ANCA in the US, and I can see that there are similar problems with the Hye Tahd organization in Canada.
Abris to Keghart for staying on top of this issue.
Please keep us informed of developments on the Brantford issue. Clearly, no one else will.
Going Any Length
Why were the Turks willing to go to any length to place markers on Alevi Ottoman citizens in Brantford cemetery and refuse to do the same for Armenian Ottoman citizens?
The following excerpt (page 20) of "Rebel Land" by Christopher de Bellaigue (Penguin, 2009). "As every good Sunni knows, Alevis are renegades and heretics. They are not Muslims at all. Insulting them, beating them up, even killing them; these activities, it has been said, are pleasing to God."
The book goes on to say: "That, at any rate, was the situation until two or three decades ago, Muslus still despise Vartolus but now, since the Kurdish insurgency that started in the 1980s, the sectarian enmity has eased."
The "Muslus", he writes, are Turks living in Mus (Mush) and the "Varolus" are the Alevis now living in Varto, a village in Mush province. My father had family members in Varto. I am willing to tell Turkey about them and have them properly marked. Free of charge. I'll pay all my expenses.
Fraudulent Turkish Enterprise
Can the Mount Hope Cemetery star-and-crescent monument be retroactively removed? Clearly, it's a Turkish lie, promoted by Turkish-based lobby work. Its historical inaccuracies, and fraudulent origin should be sufficient to get a court order, for its removal.
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