AKCAM: LYING ABOUT 1915: FREE. CALLING THE LIAR OUT: PUNISHABLE BY LAW
By Taner Akcam

kcam-lying-about-1915-free-calling-the-liar-out-pu nishable-by-law/
October 5, 2009

I’ve got steam coming out of my ears. I’m so angry, but what am I
supposed to do? Even if what I’m going to relate to you here doesn’t
seem believable, it’s all the truth… Here’s an example of what
the legal system is like in Turkey, what the law is like there and
how it operates. This is the kind of rubbish that makes you want
to shout out, "There is no rule of law in this country." In truth,
there are worse examples of injustice than what has happened to me,
but I’m going to tell you my story anyway.

Here’s the deal: Å~^Ï~KkrÏ~K Elekdag was the former Ambassador in
Washington. Since 2002, he’s been a member of the Turkish Parliament,
representing Istanbul from the Republican People’s Party (CHP). He went
to court in 2006 and sued me on the basis that I had insulted him,
and he did this not once, but in three separate lawsuits. Starting
in 2009, those lawsuits concluded one after the other, all in his
favor. So on the finding that I had insulted Å~^Ï~KkrÏ~K Elekdag,
I was ordered to pay him 10,000, 7,500, and 6,000 YTL (New Turkish
Lira; 1 = 0.67USD) in damages, respectively. Court costs and interest
will be added to these. In the end, my attorney says that just the
damages award of 6,000 YTL will end up costing me around 11,000 YTL.

The essence of the case is that on the subject of what happened in
1915, Elekdag made misleading statements to the public and flat out
lied. I came out and stated, "Å~^Ï~KkrÏ~K Elekdag is lying" and wrote
an article explaining why. I was ordered to pay damages three times
over for one single article.

The short version of what happened is this: In March 2005, with Elekdag
taking the lead, the CHP started a huge campaign that coincided with
the 90th anniversary of the genocide of the Armenians. The goal of
the campaign was to invite the United Kingdom to apologize to Turkey,
and the basis for that apology was a claim that in 1915-16 the British
government had published the "Blue Book" against Turkey and Germany,
claiming that both governments had engaged in massacres against the
civilian population. The claim further stated that in 1925, Great
Britain had acknowledged that the "Blue Book" published against Germany
had been a work of propaganda and had extended an official apology.

As proof of Elekdag’s conviction on the subject, he offered a speech
that British Foreign Minister A. Chamberlain had made to the British
Parliament in Dec. 2, 1925. Elekdag claimed that parliament had debated
the Blue Book during a hearing that day, and that the foreign minister
had acknowledged in a speech that the Blue Book was entirely a work of
propaganda, that it was completely fabricated, and he had apologized
to Germany.[1]

Starting March 1, 2005, Elekdag’s conviction that "England must
apologize" was turned into a campaign, and the campaign was introduced
under the heading "Attack on Genocide."[2] You couldn’t open a paper
without reading headlines like "Revenge After 90 Years," "International
Attack on the Blue Book," "Challenge to Genocide!"[3] It seemed like
there wasn’t a columnist alive who wasn’t declaring that the British
foreign minister had apologized to the Germans on Dec. 2, 1925, as
if it was the biggest historical truth ever uncovered and they were
all shouting out in one voice that England needed to apologize to
Turkey.[4] To buttress this propaganda, "scholars" from the West,
like Justin McCarthy and Andrew Mango, were invited to comment,
and they repeated that England had apologized to Germany. As for why
the British had never apologized to the Turks, it was explained away
by taking advantage of the inferiority complex Turks have regarding
the West: "No one cared about an injustice suffered by the Turks,"
it was said, because "They’re just Turks."[5]

Elekdag submitted a bill to the Turkish Grand National Assembly
(TGNA). On April 13, the TGNA had a general meeting on the subject of
"Turkish-Armenian Relations in History–Bringing Out the Truth on the
Claims of an Armenian Genocide" and by a majority vote it was decided
that an official letter should be sent to the British Parliament. In
this letter, a request was made that whatever Great Britain had done
to Germany should be done to Turkey as well. As in the example with
Germany, Great Britain needed to acknowledge that the Blue Book was
entirely false and issue an apology to Turkey.

The letter was presented first to Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan for
signature, then to the opposition leader Baykal, and then signed by
members of the TGNA before being mailed out to the British Parliament.

What had just occurred was a scandal of huge proportions. Elekdag had
managed to drag the TGNA and Turkish government into an act of utter
outrageousness because there never had been a hearing in parliament,
as Elekdag had claimed, nor had the British foreign minister ever
apologized for anything. Yes, Great Britain had never said that the
information presented in the Blue Book about Germany was false nor
had it apologized to Germany. Moreover, in December 1925, there is
no record, as Elekdag claims, that the British Parliament held any
meetings regarding this subject. Elekdag was telling a bald faced lie.

Meanwhile, I wrote an article titled "A Scandal: The Letter from the
Turkish Grand National Assembly or Where is Å~^Ï~KkrÏ~K Elekdag and
Justin McCarthy dragging this country?" In the article, I explained
point by point how the claims that had been made were false. Quoting
the hearings that took place in parliament on Dec. 2, 1925, I showed
that nothing about the Blue Book had been discussed that day and that
nothing that could resemble an apology had been made.

My article was printed in serial form in the Agos newspaper and
published in Birikim magazine. Pencere Publications published the
Blue Book in Turkish and used my article as the preface. Elekdag
initiated three lawsuits, claiming I had insulted him three times,
once for each of these publications. The first case was filed in
the 13th Civil Court of Ankara against both me and Agos. The court
awarded the plaintiff 10,000 YTL and the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal
approved the award. The second case was filed in the 17th Civil Court
of Ankara. That one ended with a damages award of 6,000 YTL against me
and Birikim. The third, meanwhile, was filed in the 6th Civil Court
of Ankara against me and Pencere Publications. It concluded with an
award of damages totaling 7,500 YTL. In the end, I was punished three
times for one article and this was affirmed by the Court of Appeals.

I had sent transcripts of the 1925 session in question to the court
and argued that Elekdag’s claim–that "England had apologized to
Germany over the Blue Book"–and the information he had related
about discussions within the British Parliament were wrong. I said
that he had misled the public, the Turkish Grand National Assembly,
and the Turkish government.

And because I had said that Elekdag was lying, the court ordered me
to pay monetary damages, finding that I had insulted him–on three
different occasions no less. Now I am being ordered to pay out.

The absurdity is so knee-deep that the 4th circuit Court of Appeals,
fully aware of what was going on in this lawsuit, wrote this in its
opinion affirming the decision regarding me and Birikim magazine:

"The magazine and the article are the same. Nevertheless, the lower
court, mistakenly interpreting them as two separate writings and two
separate publications, has ordered two separate awards for damages
which do not comply with procedure or the law and would normally
require a reversal. However, since eliminating the error in question
does not require that the matter be tried again, in compliance with the
438rd and last article of the HUMK [Rules of Court and Civil Procedure]
the amount of damages is appropriate for even one instance of this
offense so the decision was ratified as amended…."

The conclusion? Elekdag lies and because I called him out on those
lies, I was ordered to pay him damages.

Is there anything left to say?

You are free to tell all the lies you want in this country about
what happened in 1915. If you tell the truth about what happened,
they’ll make you pay damages. And that pretty much sums it up.

So Turkey is supposed to be joining with Armenia to form a commission
to discuss history, is that right? You don’t think they’re going to
turn around and tell Turkey to clean up its own act first?

The Turkish version of this article appeared in Taraf: