S. BOYADJIAN: MR. FEIN’S TURKISH ADVENTURE
Seto Boyadjian
19/s-boyadjian-mr-fein%e2%80%99s-turkish-adventure /
May 19, 2009
On May 8, Bruce Fein posted an article titled "Recommendations for
the Armenian Diaspora" on the Huffington Post. Fein is concerned
that unless the Armenian Diaspora heeds his "recommendations," it
will torpedo the ongoing talks between Turkey and Armenia.
To set the record straight, it should be noted that according to his
biographic information, Fein, a lawyer, is the resident scholar for
the Turkish Coalition of America. Prior to this position, he was also
resident scholar at the Assembly of Turkish American Associations and
a columnist for the Turkish Times. He has served as a consultant to
the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and has appeared regularly on
Voice of America and Turkish television to discuss current political
events and their implications for Turkish-American relations.
Therefore, it is irrefutable that he his acting as the spokesperson
of the Turkish side. It would indeed be most appropriate to call this
endeavor "Fein’s Turkish adventure."
His so-called "recommendations" simply constitute unsubstantiated
accusations and defamatory remarks against the Armenian Diaspora. As
such, he deserves a response, which I posted on Huffington Post along
the following lines:
Bruce Fein, the mouthpiece of the Republic of Turkey, has spoken
again. This time, he has the audacity of making "recommendations"
to Armenia and U.S. citizens of Armenian extraction without making
any reference to his continued gainful employment by the government
of Turkey and by a garden variety of Turkish "associations."
Fein is out to "get" the Armenian Diaspora in general, and the
U.S. Armenian Americans in particular. The reason for his attempt is
obvious: Silence the diaspora and especially the Armenian American
community, and the Turkish genocide of the Armenian people and
usurpation of the Armenian homeland shall wither away. This seems to
not be an easy task for Fein. Yet, he seems to be an adamant fellow. He
desperately needs to tame the diaspora and the Armenian Americans.
To this end, he resorts to tactics of baseless accusations, falsehood,
misrepresentation, and even bombastic threats.
First, Fein threatens that the "boisterous" diaspora will cause
the eventual failure of Turkey’s efforts to normalize relations
with Armenia. According to Fein, Turkey, at the cost of damaging its
strategic interests, is doing Armenia a favor by opening its borders,
which would save Armenia economically. Should the diaspora resume its
untamed conduct, the borders will remain sealed and Armenia will be
the loser.
Fein, of course, unabashedly overlooks the geopolitical fact that
Turkey is the one that is in dire need of Armenia in order to have
access to the southern Caucasus and beyond. This is the old Pan-Turanic
strategic thinking once employed by the Ottoman Young Turks that led
to the extermination of the Armenians. Now, this strategic thinking is
being employed by the current government of Turkey under the guidance
of Ahmet Davutoglu, the former foreign policy adviser and current
foreign minister of Turkey.
Next, Fein lodges false accusations against the Armenian Diaspora,
claiming that it has turned the genocide recognition into a campaign of
hate against Turkey and Turks. This gentleman in the service of Turkish
"associations" should familiarize himself with Armenian traditions
and culture that inspire and teach the Armenian individual-whether in
Armenia or the diaspora-love, friendship, brotherhood, and peace. Not
a single Armenian person sees an enemy in a Turkish person. As for
genocide recognition, it is only anchored on one principle, objective,
and feeling: Justice. When in 1944, jurist Raphael Lemkin, in an effort
to bring justice for the Jewish Holocaust by the Nazis, coined the word
"genocide" based on the precedent of the Armenian massacres, he was
not motivated by hate against the Germans. Lemkin sought justice and
defined the annihilation of Armenians at the hands of the Ottomans
and of European Jews at the hands of Nazis as genocide.
Third, Fein develops an artistic penchant to spread falsehood. He
blatantly claims that the Armenian Diaspora intimidates and harasses
the academia, and vilifies those scholars who do not agree with the
fact of genocide. What’s worse, he claims that the Armenian Diaspora
engages in the "buy-out" of scholars to corroborate the fact of the
genocide. These claims against the Armenian Diaspora are immersed in
utter falsehood.
Interestingly, the same claims verily apply to the Republic of Turkey
and the Turkish "associations" operating in the U.S., who have become
experts in the business and have notoriously earned the reputation of
regularly harassing academia, vilifying scholars, and "buying out"
professors and department chairs to distort history and deny the
Armenian Genocide.
Fourth, Fein comes forth with the misrepresentation that Armenian
Diaspora groups are engaged in foul play in violation of U.S. laws
and regulations. His lone substantiation in this respect is his
claim that the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is
under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. Now, Fein
is a lawyer. As a lawyer, he should be able to differentiate an
investigation from indictment. The deliberate lack of knowledge is
the source of his misrepresentation. He is well advised to check the
status of this investigation.
Fein’s so-called "recommendations" boil down to a single directive
to the Armenian Diaspora. He is effectively telling the Armenians
to stop exercising their rights as citizens of their respective
countries. This directive is more alarming in the case of Armenian
Americans. He is telling American citizens of Armenian descent to
halt exercising their rights under the U.S. Constitution.
Fein should learn to accept that Armenian Americans are doing
what Indian Americans, Jewish Americans, and other Americans are
doing-nothing more, nothing less.