Villains, Heroes of 2015

12 comments

1. «Հողե՛րը, հողե՛րը…» – The lands

   The list of the villains and heroes is impressive. Thank you Keghart. Probably the site could have added a few more names in either list. Most encouraging is that it has ignored the "Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee" which was a regressive movement compared to the mood and content of fifty years ago when people in Yerevan were loudly calling for «Հողե՛րը, հողե՛րը…», and that in Soviet time. Go figure!

2. Boghosian in Villain List

   Eric Bogosian's OPERATION NEMESIS thoroughly explains the role of the actors of Nemesis and the ones who were driven by moral or spiritual motives to eliminate the principal ten politicians responsible of the Genocide–leaders who had been already condemned by an Ottoman martial court.

   See pages 301-392 of the book. He invites us to meditate on the importance of keeping memory and continue researching for the sake of the people of Turkey and Armenia. 

   The book is a great contribution not only to explain the Nemesis operation, but to outline with multi-layered historical facts, in the context of early twentieth century history of the Turks and Armenians, in a modern and easy-to-understand narrative.

   He definitely deserves to be in the heroes list with a big H.

   1. Double Villain…

      A couple of months ago at a presentation at UCLA Hammer Museum, Bogosian himself admits that he got it wrong, saying he wrote what he could based on information he had access to. Click on Hammer to view the video.

      Reality is that at least two of the sources he tried to get information from refused his request. One was my mother who asked him for his resume so she could determine if he was qualified to have access to Shahan Natalie's archive. He did not comply and later on went to badmouth her.

      Besides what is noted for reasons to make him worthy of the villain list, I think he needs be given a double villain award. After being informed of historical errors by myself and others, he announced a second printing and neglected to correct the more serious errors. By not making changes to correct what is wrong in his book, he can not be credited in presenting valuable history, but rather propaganda that works against current and future generations, distorting the real story. It will be the only version read by many non-Armenians who are reading the story because they know Eric Bogosian, the famous American actor.

      Soghomon's son, who Bogosian knew about, but never interviewed, told me after Bogosian's version of "Operation Nemesis" came out and after reading a couple of passages, "this book belongs in the trash."  I informed Bogosian of the errors found by Soghomon's son. I guess the second edition belongs in the trash too since Soghomon's sister-in-laws names are still wrong and it still notes that Soghomon was deported back to Turkey (which he was not). Though these might be minor errors, if you add the other 40+ errors, the book is no longer history, but rather fiction, which is what Bogosian is best known for.

      On September 25, 2015 via Facebook, Bogosian wrote:

      Another printing of OPERATION NEMESIS is being prepared, offering an opportunity for some text corrections. We've put the corrections below so that all those with early editions of the book can take note!

      CORRECTIONS FOR NEXT EDITION “OPERATION NEMESIS”

      Inside dust jacket of book should read: “In 1921, a tightly knit band of conspirators set out to avenge the deaths of over one million victims of the Armenian Genocide.”

      The name "Shahan Natalie" is commonly spelled with an e at the end, rather than as spelled in the book: "Natali."

      P. 104 error: The prison where the arrested men were taken is not in fact a restaurant today, rather, the former prison building is now the site of the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum (Turk ve Islam Eserleri Muzesi) in the historic Sultanahmet Square.

      P. 111: last paragraph: Horen’s last name was Gadarian, not Bedrosyan.

      P. 112 first paragraph: Fethiye visited New York City, not Chicago.

      P. 112 first paragraph: the family prefers the spelling “Bedrosian” as opposed to “Bedrosyan.”

      P. 184 last paragraph should read: “On the morning of March 14…”

      P. 239 added note: George Mardikian was a famous restaurateur and philanthropist whose restaurant, “Omar Khayyam” was a well-known presence in 1930’s San Francisco. See Wikipedia for a more complete biography of George Mardikian.

      P. 285: The last paragraph incorrectly credits Erdal Inonu as Ataturk’s successor. Ataturk’s successor was Erdal Inonu’s father, Ismet Inonu. Erdal Inonu served as Prime Minister of Turkey in 1993 (and held other significant government offices) but was never leader of Turkey.

      P. 291 third paragraph: the Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Church is located at 580 West 187th Street in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, not in the Bronx.

      P 307: Additions to the Acknowledgments:
      I will never be able to thank everyone who contributed to this complex endeavor. Nonetheless, there are significant omissions in my acknowledgements:
      First of all, without the helpful advice of my longtime literary agent (and champion), George Lane, this book would never have been published. Thank you George.

      Also, it is too easy to depend on the ever-ready assistance of loved ones. In this case, I must acknowledge the contributions of my two sons, Harry and Travis, who not only gave advice, but assisted with difficult technical publishing problems. Thanks guys!

      Finally and importantly, please note errors in author attribution for Marian Mesrobian MacCurdy's book "Sacred Justice: The Voices and Legacy of the Armenian Operation Nemesis." Marian MacCurdy is the sole author. Gerard Libaridian is editor. Corrections: on page 325, note 20 states "Author interview with Marian MacCurdy April 15, 2013; see also MacCurdy and Libaridian, Sacred Justice." ("and Libaridian" should be deleted.) Also on page 325-326, endnote number 6 erroneously credits Gerard Libaridian as co-author with Marian Mesrobian MacCurdy. Finally, on page 331, note 4, "Marian" is misspelled as "Marion."

      1. Bogosian Access to information

         Ara Manoogian,

         You said that your mom denied Eric Bogosian access to the Shahan Natalie archive, and that inaccuracies in Mr. Bogosian's book could have been resolved if he had access to such an archive…

         So, is your mom now the villain for not granting Mr. Bogosian access? As for requesting Mr. Bogosian's resume, couldn't your mom just have looked him up on IMDb.com? (Internet Movie Database). And what lofty qualifications does your mom require for access to the Shahan Natalie's archive? Do you meet this minimum threshold?

         Finally, how did movie-star, Mr. Bogosian, who once played alongside behemoth mega-star Steven Segal, take aim at bad-mouthing your mom? 

         Thank-you for your time.

         Manuk Pokosyan

         1. Is Bogosian Qualified?

            Hi Manuk,

            Thank you for allowing me to expand on my comment.

            I would like to answer your questions a little bit out of order so we can put the obvious and insignificant to one side and focus on the meat and potatoes of the issue.

            You asked if I meet the minimum threshold to have access to my grandfather's archive. I believe I do so by default since it is a part of my legacy. I also possessed the skills to help digitize it and am trustworthy not to leak what should not yet be made public.

            It is not up to my mother to research who Eric Bogosian is, but rather it was his responsibility to comply with my mother's request since it is he who needed something from her rather than her from him.

            If she had done as you suggested and looked him up on IMDb (which she did at the time), other than being an actor and writer of  fiction, he not only has no research experience noted, but lacks the language skills to read Shahan Natalie's documents, which are thousands of hand- and typewritten pages in Armenian.

            Re why Eric badmouthed my mother, you might ask him for the reason. If you watch his presentations which are on YouTube, you can see what he says about her. It's not only unfitting, but further shows the true face of Eric Bogosian, a man who writes about Shahan Natalie, but turns around and disrespects his family. And I might add that in Armenian terms, he lacks the Armenian culture and tradition of showing respect to elders. I believe this is not only Armenian culture, but universal.

            Please read the acknowledgment in Eric's book starting on page 307. You will see that even after disrespecting my mother, he goes on to thank her for helping him. We have already established that she didn't help him, so one must ask why would he thank her on page 307? I believe he does so as to give his book credibly, claiming that Shahan Natalie's daughter provided him with firsthand information, making his book more valuable.

            On page 308 and in presentations, Eric hints that things became confusing and he went to his editor with hundreds of disorganized pages of manuscripts that the editor was able to put together in book form, which Eric and/or his editor claim to be "the story of this secret operation has never been fully told, until now." As we now know in Eric's own word at the Hammer presentation, the claim is inaccurate.

            Since we have established that Bogosian is not qualified to write the book, we need to take a look at who the editor is. Eric identifies the editor as David Sobel.

            I did a Google search and think I found a match. The only David Sobel I found who has any connection to writing lives in New York at 425 E. 80th Street. David J. Sobel is the 44-year-old single son of Martin and Shelly Sobel. David has been a freelance writer since March 2015, according to a resume I found at indeed dot com. Before becoming a fulltime writer, he worked as a marketing coordinator for Daka (Decca?) and is a professional musician. He has a B.A. in music industry from University of Miami. For the most part, his work experience is unrelated to editing books and he has zero experience or exposure to anything Armenian.   

            Is David qualified to sort out hundreds of pages of disorganized manuscripts to create a factual historical document to educate the public about Armenian history? I'll let you decide.

            I don't know how the above makes you feel, but since I just discovered the above and what I believe is the reason Bogosian's book belongs in the trash, as stated by Soghomon's son, I think not only do we need to dishonor Eric as an Armenian villain of 2015, we need to get to the bottom of the story about how this disaster happened and petition his publisher, Little Brown, to pull the book and order a recall of this misinformation. Their claim that the book is the full and true story of Operation Nemesis is erroneous and opens them to legal liability, which could be used to force them to pull the book.

            Although I am busy on a couple of projects, I might have to invest time and also hire someone qualified to put together a full report on this subject so we can sort it out.

            Eric's book is not only harmful to our history, it is a dishonor to my grandfather and those who carried out Operation Nemesis.

            Now that you know why Eric belongs on the villain list, I hope you will lend your voice to help set the record straight.
             

            1. Operation Nemesis

               To Ara Manoogian,
               There are many videos of Eric Bogosian discussing "Operation Nemesis". Please identify which video and the time frame in which Bogosian may have bad-mouthed your mom.

               Bogosian's produced a comic book. Bogosian saying that he might have gotten confused while writing does not disqualify him from writing a comic book, nor access to the Shahan Natalie archives. Sometimes, ideas get confusing while one is writing. Another term to describe this process might be called "brain-storming." 

               Furthermore, there are rhetorical devices such as hyperbole. When Bogosian's comic book states "the story of this secret operation has never been fully told, until now," most people would not take this sentence seriously. I would venture that most Armenians knew about "Operation Nemesis" before Bogosian's publication.  As such, this story must have been told before. However, it seems to me you are taking exception with a sentence that is a clear use of hyperbole in order to build your credibility. 

               As for Bogosian thanking your mom, good for him. Bogosian seems to be a gracious and classy individual, produced a comic book, in spite of your mom's best efforts to stop such an endeavor, and even took the time to thank her, despite her potentially nefarious motives of keeping such potentially important documents a secret. If Shahan Natalie's notes are so important to "our" history, they should be readily accessible to everyone who shares "our" history. 

               All this leads back to the original premise to what I initially wrote to you. Is your mom the villain for keeping such potentially important information of "our" history locked up? If this information is "our" history, why does your mom get to decide who gets to see your grandfather's scribbled notes? If your mom was a true patriot, wouldn't your mom want to make this information readily accessible to everyone? She could photocopy your grandfather's "thousands of hand- and typewritten pages in Armenian" and send them to the appropriate institutions. 
                

               Putting Bogosian on the "villains" list for producing a comic book is over-reaction. However, if Bogosian is the standard for deciding who is a villain in the Armenian community, an artist who produced a work that may not be up to par for the most "discerning" minds, then maybe one should paint Atom Egoyan as a villain for producing a lack-luster film about the Armenian Genocide "Ararat", instead of praising him for making a movie on a topic that was taboo at the time. Let's go one step farther and paint every Armenian artist a villain if he produces something that does not meet the aesthetic tastes of other Armenians.

               Best regards,

               Manuk Pokosyan

3. Regarding the “The Cut” made by filmmaker Fatih Akin

   Regarding "The Cut", made by filmmaker Fatih Akin, please remember among the heroes of 2015 screenwriter Mardik Martin, a Hollywood celebrity, who co-wrote the film.

4. Forgot to include Brazil

   You forgot to include, as a real hero, the Brazilian Senate, which approved a MOTION OF SOLIDARITY with the Armenian People by recognizing the Genocide at the Centennial. Please, it was a great victory for us, the Armenian Community in Brazil.

5. Comic Book?

   Hi Manuk,

   Eric Bogosian didn't produce a comic book. His son Harry was involved in a project of the comic book version of Operation Nemesis. Eric wrote a 375-page document that the inside dust cover reads in part: "The story of this secret operation had never been fully told, until now." That clearly claims this is the whole story and is accurate. 

   As for the videos, here's one titled "Haidostian Annual Distinguished Lecture. Finding Nemesis". His badmouthing my mother starts at 0:44:12 to 0:45:32 and at 1:47:35 to 1:49:40. 

   The last time Eric badmouthed my mother was in Watertown on Sept. 14, 2015. This is the town where my mother spent part of her childhood and then college years, moving to California after she graduated from Radcliff/Harvard. This is also where my grandparents lived. After Eric's lecture in front of hundreds of people, we were contacted by family friends to report what he had said about my mother. I had enough of his badmouthing and wrote him an email that read:

   "Hi Eric,
   Just wanted to drop you a line following emails I received from people who attended your presentation in Watertown tonight.

   I am saddened that you continue to push a book that you know has many significant inaccuracies. As I suggested within a few days of release, there are major changes that I would help you to fix. You said you were done, but if that was really the case, why do you continue to spread misinformation in your presentations?

   I find a couple of things interesting in regards to comments you made tonight which I think is uncool and you might want to reflect on:

   1. You once again talked about my mother not letting you see my grandfather's archive. I have to ask what qualifies you to see the archive? Clearly from what you have stated in many of your presentations, you are not a historian, scholar and from the book you produced, your a slopping researcher who draws some fantastic conclusions that are way off. What my mother didn't tell you nor did I (we were not obligated to), the book you thought you were going to write, my grandfather wrote in 1923 and instructed us to keep it a secret until the time is right. Well guess what Eric, the time is right and in the next few months you will finally get to read with your own eyes the secret my mother was not sharing with you or anyone.

   2. You made a comment that no one has come forward to tell you of inaccuracies other than a word or letter out of place. Eric, I believe I was one of the first to contact you and then there was an article by Lucine Kasbarian [Keghart.com] that touched on more than a couple dozen inaccuracies. I don't know who you think you are fooling, but people who were there tonight know about the latter. When people start to connect the dots, it's going to be quite clear who is speaking factually and who is not.

   A couple of months ago a group of people who are not happy with the misinformation you are spreading petitioned me to do a series of articles on my website The Turth Must Be Told, in the same style as the ones I did about Ted Bogosian and his lies about Armenian National Hero, Monte Melkonian. I chose not to for a couple of reasons. First, I didn't want to promote your book in any way. Second is that the energy I would have to put in writing articles about your book, I can use to publish Shahan's book, which after people read it will have a greater impact on debunking the misinformation in your book than any article I can write.

   The one thing bad about your book that really makes it dangerous and works against the Armenians and our cause to inform people of our not so talked about history is that because you have a mainstream audience who will read the book because it is written by Eric Bogosian, this might be the only book they read on the subject. They will walk away thinking that the Armenian government at the time ordered the assassinations (acts of terror) which is untrue. They will also have a couple of dozen inaccurate facts about Armenian history which for them will be facts. These people will not read Shahan's first hand account since it is not written by Eric Bogosian or some famous public figure. For this reason, every time you promote and sell your book, you are providing a disservice to the Armenian cause by knowingly spreading misinformation.

   I will be attending the ANCA-WR event in October. I am hopeful to witness at that time your do the right thing and start to set the record straight rather than regurgitate the misinformation found in your book.

   If you need help to unwind things and correct the historical inaccuracies, I make myself available and would be willing to meet with you when you are in L.A.

   Regards,
   Ara"

   Eric responded 2 days later:

   "Dear Ara,

   I read your email with great interest. And I am happy to hear that Shahan Natalie's voice will soon be heard and that you are publishing. I look forward to reading your book.

   All the best,

   yours –

   Eric Bogosian"

   As to who is qualified to see the archive or make its contents available to anyone, my grandfather left specific instructions as to when and how the content of the archive should be used and be made available.

   If you watched the video at the Hammer Museum, you would know that the secret memoir of Shahan Natalie that Eric Bogosian speaks about in a two-hour YouTube video I have noted above, you would know that it will be published soon by my mother in the very near future. Most of the archive will be released in accordance with Shahan Natalie's wishes and eventually the originals will be housed in an appropriate educational institution.

   If you wish to get an idea about the flavor of Shahan Natalie's soon-to-be-released secret memoir regarding the assassination of Talaat Pasha, visit Memoirs of a Stranger.

6. How Classy is He?

   At his talks at Armenian venues around the country Bogosian was openly rude, arrogant and dismissive with audience members who questioned the statements made in his book.

7. When “Positive” Engagement Becomes Detrimental

   Something positive is often said about an individual of part or full Armenian ethnicity who chooses in the course of his or her career to publish a book or two on a central Armenian theme, such as the Armenian Genocide.

   What we are increasingly witnessing, however, is a steady rise in writers, journalists, and academicians whose publications on Armenian subjects parrot the pro-Turkic positions of their host Western governments, stress the “good” sides of Turkey and Turks, condemn the politically active segments of the Armenian community, and do more harm than good in general to the twin Armenia republics, the Armenian people, and the securing of justice-related Armenian rights.

   Eric Bogosian is one such writer.

   In the concluding pages of his 2015 book on Operation Nemesis, the most courageous and respectful acts taken to avenge the Armenian Genocide to date, Bogosian shamelessly lauds the genocidal republic and its predecessor state, stresses its geopolitical “strengths” to the international community, negatively colors the self-defense actions of Armenian groups witnessing the complete annihilation of their people, and presents foreign policy as one unchanging, Western-centric phenomenon:

   “Year by year, Turkey plays a greater role as a majority representative of the United States in the Middle East. Turkey is now considered to be an irreplaceable component of the American foreign policy. The Turkish government has more than enough incentive to remain silent about the genocide of one hundred years ago…A rising tide floats all boats. And that includes the full history of the Armenians who lived within and outside the Ottoman Empire. The Armenian Genocide is a part of that history, but so is the story of the Armenian revolutionary groups and their actions. And so are the contributions Armenians made for centuries to Ottoman civilization…”

   Bogosian's unprecedented lobbying of Turkey and Turks and use of primitive anti-Armenian terminologies continued unabashedly during most of his public speaking engagements in 2015:

   In Los Angeles on April 29, 2015:

   "Also, I think, and again this may a bit controversial for Armenians to embrace their role in the greatness of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was one of the greatest empires on earth, and it existed for 600 years and it ended in WW1. And for centuries the Armenians were an essential part of the Ottoman Empire…We should be proud of what we did…"

   At the City University of New York on May 19, 2015:

   "Turkey is constantly being painted into a corner further and further all the time. As I say in the end of my book, Turkey is the 11th largest economy in the world today. It is a modern society. It is a society with huge universities, court systems. Rule of law does exist in Turkey today. And many people there are very, very sophisticated. Sophisticated as anybody in New York and know these stories. The problem is when you have a civil society like this that wishes to integrate with the rest of the world, it comes becomes problematic if you learn a different history than the history that is taught…What's happening is people are now sort of embracing more and more. Discussions are being held in Turkey today about the Genocide. I have been to a conference in Istanbul where they were talking about it. People can say the word 'genocide.' They are not being arrested for saying 'genocide' in Turkey today. So what is happening is that all that is left is this government position. And they basically have to decide that somewhere along the line something is going to break. I don't think it's going to happen now. I think it will happen in the next 10-15 years. And, of course, the further out it gets, the less chances there are of reparations because then you can say that the time has passed and you can't get those properties back or whatever…"

   "Nemesis was an operation that was under the umbrella of the ARF or the Dashnagtsoutioun. And they would continue to have violent episodes over every decade. There is something, particularly in 1933 here in New York, there was a major killing. And then later and again now we are just learning the truth about these stories. I do my best in this book. The stories of the Justice Commandos and ASALA which follow the Yenikians' assassinations of two Turkish diplomats in the mid-1970s. There were ongoing assassinations and bombings. A great number. I mean the Justice Commandos and ASALA if you just talk about who was killed, we are talking about over three dozen people, but there were hundreds of bombings all around the world. And the FBI and the CIA were tracking these guys. There is a story behind the story and we don't know these stories. Until someday we get the full story what the CIA and the Soviets were doing behind the scenes with any of these actors…We don't know those stories. We may know them someday…"

   At Hunter College in New York City in late May 2015:

   "Turkey is the 11th largest economy in the world. It wants to part of the family of nations. It has a very sophisticated civil society. A huge university system that is pretty dense and large. And, not to mention, their legal system and so forth. None of these things can really work if they are going to persist with synthetic history…"

   "The new Turkey arises. And really, I mean, you have got to give it to Kemal Ataturk. He holds the Brits' feet to the fire after Smyrna, right around that period. And, says, 'You want more of this? We can keep going. We can keep doing this forever.' And, they had lost their will. As that shifts and as Britain and the U.S. understands that really all they're really interested in is the oil. You see really massive shifts…"

   In Lexington, Massachusetts on May 27, 2015:

   "I had to say when Aram [Arkun] and I first started working on this, and he can attest to this, I said to him, 'I don't know if I am going to use the word 'genocide', because I don't know, I haven't seen that, where people are just killing each other. That happens all the time.' And, well, after a year or so of research, there was no question in my mind. And, we have to understand that denial is part of the Genocide. It is the last chapter of the Genocide…"

   We cannot allow the likes of Eric Bogosian to continue insulting the memory of our esteemed justice-seekers who had no option but to do what they did. He and others have no right to speak against our legitimate political and justice-related rights and further divide our still-being-genocided people before our eyes.

   Every opportunity must be sought to further isolate "famed" Eric Bogosian for his unscholarly and detrimental writing and speech. His book, rife with biased, nonfactual, and hateful passages, is nothing but immaterial and a propaganda piece bound by glue and string.

8. Operation Nemesis

   Vahan neglected to mention the occasion when Bogosian was pitched a hard ball query by an audience member to which Bogosian barked back with "That's a fake question!" Well, I have news for Mr. Bogosian. He's a fake Armenian.

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