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Ricciardone's Denial Makes Turkish Diplomats Pale in Comparison
asbarez
Friday, August 12th, 2011
The cathedral at Ani
Editorial from the Armenian Weekly
There are statements that are so blatantly malicious and false that
it's not worth dignifying them with a response or refutation - unless
they come from the Ambassador of the world superpower to a country
that itself stands as a regional powerhouse.
Ricciardone's statement constitutes an affront to the memory and
legacy of millions of Christians who perished in Ottoman Turkey in the
first two decades of the twentieth century.
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Francis J. Ricciardone's response to a
question posed by Sen. Robert Menendez is a case in point. Menendez
asked, `To the best of your knowledge, approximately how many of the
more than 2,000 Christian churches functioning prior to 1915 on the
territory of present-day Turkey are still operating today as
churches?' Ricciardone responded, `Most of the Christian churches
functioning prior to 1915 are still operating as churches.'
Let's look at some numbers. Right before the genocide in 1915, there
were upwards of three thousand Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian churches
in Ottoman territories that are today part of Turkey. Maghakian
Ormanian, who was the Armenian Patriarch in Istanbul from 1896-1908,
listed more than two-thousand churches in his monumental book The
Church of Armenia. The Armenian Weekly recently published a list of
Armenian churches by town, based on Turkish and Armenian Patriarchate
sources.
Today, only a few dozen churches operate in Turkey, which include only
34 Armenian churches, mostly in Istanbul.
If we dismiss utter ignorance as an explanation, the alternative is
not very flattering. It is covering up the crimes of the genocides of
the Christians in Ottoman Turkey and their continued dispossession in
the Republic of Turkey in the decades following its establishment - and
that with a strain of blatant denial that no Turkish diplomat would
adopt.
It runs counter to the very definition of a diplomat to make
profoundly insulting comments, but in the ones that have been made by
diplomats in history, Ricciardone's is a serious contender for the
cake. Not only is his statement utterly false, but it constitutes an
affront to the memory and legacy of millions of Christians who
perished in Ottoman Turkey in the first two decades of the twentieth
century.
Ambassador Ricciardone was initially sent to Ankara by President Obama
on a `recess' appointment because his approval by the Senate was
blocked over concerns that, in his previous Cairo posting, he had
quickly adopted the positions and arguments of his Egyptian diplomatic
counterparts. He has shown, once again, that he is far too eager to
please his hosts, at the cost of U.S. interests and American values.
By his own actions, he has disqualified himself from this post. The
President should immediately withdraw this failed nomination. Should
the Ricciardone nomination proceed, the U.S. Senate should block its
confirmation.
From: Baghdasarian
asbarez
Friday, August 12th, 2011
The cathedral at Ani
Editorial from the Armenian Weekly
There are statements that are so blatantly malicious and false that
it's not worth dignifying them with a response or refutation - unless
they come from the Ambassador of the world superpower to a country
that itself stands as a regional powerhouse.
Ricciardone's statement constitutes an affront to the memory and
legacy of millions of Christians who perished in Ottoman Turkey in the
first two decades of the twentieth century.
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Francis J. Ricciardone's response to a
question posed by Sen. Robert Menendez is a case in point. Menendez
asked, `To the best of your knowledge, approximately how many of the
more than 2,000 Christian churches functioning prior to 1915 on the
territory of present-day Turkey are still operating today as
churches?' Ricciardone responded, `Most of the Christian churches
functioning prior to 1915 are still operating as churches.'
Let's look at some numbers. Right before the genocide in 1915, there
were upwards of three thousand Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian churches
in Ottoman territories that are today part of Turkey. Maghakian
Ormanian, who was the Armenian Patriarch in Istanbul from 1896-1908,
listed more than two-thousand churches in his monumental book The
Church of Armenia. The Armenian Weekly recently published a list of
Armenian churches by town, based on Turkish and Armenian Patriarchate
sources.
Today, only a few dozen churches operate in Turkey, which include only
34 Armenian churches, mostly in Istanbul.
If we dismiss utter ignorance as an explanation, the alternative is
not very flattering. It is covering up the crimes of the genocides of
the Christians in Ottoman Turkey and their continued dispossession in
the Republic of Turkey in the decades following its establishment - and
that with a strain of blatant denial that no Turkish diplomat would
adopt.
It runs counter to the very definition of a diplomat to make
profoundly insulting comments, but in the ones that have been made by
diplomats in history, Ricciardone's is a serious contender for the
cake. Not only is his statement utterly false, but it constitutes an
affront to the memory and legacy of millions of Christians who
perished in Ottoman Turkey in the first two decades of the twentieth
century.
Ambassador Ricciardone was initially sent to Ankara by President Obama
on a `recess' appointment because his approval by the Senate was
blocked over concerns that, in his previous Cairo posting, he had
quickly adopted the positions and arguments of his Egyptian diplomatic
counterparts. He has shown, once again, that he is far too eager to
please his hosts, at the cost of U.S. interests and American values.
By his own actions, he has disqualified himself from this post. The
President should immediately withdraw this failed nomination. Should
the Ricciardone nomination proceed, the U.S. Senate should block its
confirmation.
From: Baghdasarian