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Jerusalem Post
Aug 24 2007
Turkish Jews come out against ADL
By HERB KEINON
Turkey's small Jewish community has come out against the
Anti-Defamation League's new policy position that the massacre of
Armenians during World War I was "tantamount to genocide."
Silvio Ovadio, head of the Jewish community in the country, issued a
statement saying, "We have difficulty in understanding" the ADL's new
position on the matter, the Turkish media reported on Thursday.
The ADL position only reflected the opinion of "related institutions
of the American Jews," the statement emphasized. "We declare that we
are supporting Turkey's belief that the issue should be discussed at
the academic level by opening archives of all related parties and
that parliaments are not the places for finding out historical facts
via voting?" the statement read.
The Turkish press also published a letter from prominent Turkish
Jewish businessman Jak Kamhi to Foxman on Thursday.
In his letter, Kamhi said that "by accepting this false comparison
between the uniquely indisputable genocide for which the term was
coined - the Holocaust, and the events of 1915, the ADL has committed
an act of the most inexplicable injustice against the memory of the
victims of the Holocaust, as well as against the sensitivities and
pride of the Turkish people, who deserve your praise for their
centuries-long tradition of compassion and their culture of humanity
and cohabitation that remains an example to the world."
Kamhi took issue with Foxman's assertion that there was a consensus
among historians that the massacre was tantamount to genocide, saying
there was no such agreement. The ADL position "will put back the
painstaking efforts by many of us in Turkey, including our brothers
in the Armenian community, to resolve this highly emotive issue
without prejudgment. It will now be seized upon by all those who seek
to destroy all our work and create discord and bitterness between our
countries," Kamhi wrote.
Aug 24 2007
Turkish Jews come out against ADL
By HERB KEINON
Turkey's small Jewish community has come out against the
Anti-Defamation League's new policy position that the massacre of
Armenians during World War I was "tantamount to genocide."
Silvio Ovadio, head of the Jewish community in the country, issued a
statement saying, "We have difficulty in understanding" the ADL's new
position on the matter, the Turkish media reported on Thursday.
The ADL position only reflected the opinion of "related institutions
of the American Jews," the statement emphasized. "We declare that we
are supporting Turkey's belief that the issue should be discussed at
the academic level by opening archives of all related parties and
that parliaments are not the places for finding out historical facts
via voting?" the statement read.
The Turkish press also published a letter from prominent Turkish
Jewish businessman Jak Kamhi to Foxman on Thursday.
In his letter, Kamhi said that "by accepting this false comparison
between the uniquely indisputable genocide for which the term was
coined - the Holocaust, and the events of 1915, the ADL has committed
an act of the most inexplicable injustice against the memory of the
victims of the Holocaust, as well as against the sensitivities and
pride of the Turkish people, who deserve your praise for their
centuries-long tradition of compassion and their culture of humanity
and cohabitation that remains an example to the world."
Kamhi took issue with Foxman's assertion that there was a consensus
among historians that the massacre was tantamount to genocide, saying
there was no such agreement. The ADL position "will put back the
painstaking efforts by many of us in Turkey, including our brothers
in the Armenian community, to resolve this highly emotive issue
without prejudgment. It will now be seized upon by all those who seek
to destroy all our work and create discord and bitterness between our
countries," Kamhi wrote.