A Cocktail of Falsehood and Intellectual Dishonesty

 Vartan Matiossian

The Istanbul bureau chief of The New York Times, Carlotta Gall, appears to have been in her latest destination long enough to learn and internalize some of the crassest tactics of Turkish denialism.

She could not refrain from turning her dispatch from Baku, “Roots of War: When Armenia Talked Tough, Azerbaijan Took Action” (The New York Times, October 27, 2010), into the usual mix of reporting and opinion that characterizes “journalism” these days. One wonders if she used to do the same when reporting from Chechnya and Afghanistan. In any case, this article will hardly earn her a prize for journalistic fairness. She omitted the point already raised by Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalın in last May, who extended greetings to Azerbaijan on its Republic Day, wishing “more beautiful, brighter and stronger days” in the future as “one nation, two states,” to hammer on its Armenian equivalent “Artsakh is Armenia” (mentioned by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in August) as unofficial spokesperson to Azerbaijan president’s foreign policy adviser Hikmet Hajiyev’s lame justification for Azerbaijan’s aggression: “The final nail in the coffin of the negotiation process was when he said that Nagorno-Karabakh was Armenian.”

Համաշխարհայնացած հայերը եւ օլիկարխիան

Ժ. Չ.

Զարմանալի ու արտասովոր յայտարարութիւն մը լոյս տեսաւ ՀԲԸՄ-ի 110-ամեակին առթիւ IDeA-ի կողմէ New York Times եւ «Հայաստանի Հանրապետութիւն» թերթերուն մէջ՝ «Գլոբալ (համաշխարհայնացած - աշխարհասփիւռ) հայերու ապագան այսօր է»։ Ի՞նչ էր բուն պատգամը այս յայտարարութեան։ Որո՞ւն ուղղուած է։ Ինչո՞ւ New York Times-ի մէջ եւ ոչ՝ աշխարհասփիւռ հայկական թերթերուն։

Why is Turkey reviving an Ottoman sultan?

Mustafa Akyol

 

In Turkey, there has been an unmistakable revival of the image of Sultan Abdulhamid II. The powerful Ottoman monarch who ruled the empire single-handedly from 1876 to 1909 is praised with a flood of articles in the pro-government press, endless messages on social media and various conferences and panels. The speaker of the Turkish parliament, Ismail Kahraman, a confidant of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, even hosted an “International Symposium on Sultan Abdulhamid II and His Era,” at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul, a relic from the latter-day Ottoman Empire. The great sultan, Kahraman said, “is a mariner’s compass to give us direction and enlighten our future.”

Outfront Media Pulling All Billboards for Armenian Genocide Denial Website

Chris Sweeney

Last month, The Boston Globe’s editorial board delivered a 366-word piece calling on the U.S. government to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide. The article, published in print on April 24, notes that 100 years ago to the day, “Armenian intellectuals and public figures were detained and summarily executed in Constantinople—the beginning of the systematic purge of the Armenian population at the hands of the Ottoman government. By 1917, 1.5 million Armenians were murdered.”

Turkey’s Century of Denial About an Armenian Genocide

Tim Arango

CUNGUS (*), Turkey — The crumbling stone monastery, built into the hillside, stands as a forlorn monument to an awful past. So, too, does the decaying church on the other side of this mountain village. Farther out, a crevice is sliced into the earth, so deep that peering into it, one sees only blackness. Haunting for its history, it was there that a century ago, an untold number of Armenians were tossed to their deaths.

“They threw them in that hole, all the men,” said Vahit Sahin, 78, sitting at a cafe in the center of the village, reciting the stories that have passed through generations.

The Destiny of Print Media

Edmond Y. Azadian

When influential publications such as the Christian Science Monitor or Newsweek decided to drop their print versions and survive in an online format only, many people began writing the obituary of print media. But when the New York Times released the global issue of its 200-plus-page weekly magazine (by “reimagining a magazine”) one is reminded of Mark Twain’s famous quote, “the reports about my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

In the February 22, 2015 issue of the “reimagined magazine,” we read: “This magazine is 119 years old; nearly four million people read it in print every weekend. It did not need to be dismantled, sawed into pieces or drilled full of holes. Instead, we have set out to honor the shape of the magazine as it has been, while creating something that will, we hope, strike you as a version you have not read before … ideas about the relationship between print and digital and animating it all, a new spirit of inquiry that is subversive and sincere.”

Azerbaijan's Opinion-Shaping Campaign Reaches "The New York Times"

Robert Coalson

Earlier this month, "The New York Times" published documents demonstrating Azerbaijan's efforts to expand its relationship with think tanks in the United States to bolster U.S. public opinion of the country and make it clear that Baku "is an important security partner."
"It is a campaign that produced real results," the September 6 report stated.
Three days later, the very same newspaper published an op-ed about Azerbaijani-Armenian tensions without disclosing the author's ties to the government in Baku.
The op-ed argued that Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region might become "Russia's Next Land Grab," as the piece's headline warned, after the Kremlin's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea territory in March.
The September 9 piece was penned by Brenda Shaffer, a political-science professor at Israel's University of Haifa who is currently a visiting researcher at the Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies (CEREES) at Georgetown University. (*)
What the author's tagline did not reveal is that Shaffer has worked as an adviser "for strategic affairs" to Rovnag Abdullayev, president of Azerbaijan's state-owned SOCAR energy giant.

Enduring Myths of Sectarianism in Syria

Elyse Semerdjian

Over the last six months, analysts have shifted from describing the Syrian uprising-cum-civil war as a democratic uprising to highlighting its increasing sectarian dimensions. For those watching closely, sectarian undertones were evident early on. Most distinct were the regime’s attacks against the Sunni neighborhood of Baba Amr during the “Siege of Homs” in February 2012. After Syrian forces leveled the neighborhood, armed militants targeted Homs’s Christian population, which numbered around 800,000. Subsequently, 90 percent of Homs’s Christian population was erased.1 As the uprising increasingly militarized, the politics of revenge became business as usual.

"The New York Times" Responds to Turkish PM’s Criticism over Gezi Park Ad

The New York Times has said it accepts advertisements “from all advocacy groups who wish to share their opinions” in response to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s criticism over a full-page ad placed in the newspaper by Gezi Park supporters.

“We publish this type of advertising because we believe in the First Amendment, which affords us the right to publish news and editorials, but just as important, guarantees the public’s right to be heard,” the New York Times said in a written statement to daily Hürriyet published on June 8.

The Birth of ‘Great Calamity’: How ‘Medz Yeghern’ Was Introduced onto the World Stage

Vartan Matiossian

 

… Listen, O Lord, to the lament that rises from this place,
to the call of the dead from the depths of the Metz Yeghérn …
–John Paul II (2001)
 

Words matter. Some people try to keep them meaningful, while others render them meaningless. And while some struggle to preserve memory, others fight to impose amnesia.

“Medz Yeghern”¹ is the most common term used by survivors of the Armenian Genocide and their descendants to identify what befell the Armenian nation in 1915. Over the past decade, American, European and Turkish news outlets have consistently translated Medz Yeghern as “Great Calamity.” The Turkish media has repeated this seemingly innocuous translation over and over again in an attempt to deny the genocidal intent inherent in the meaning the victims themselves have given to the phrase.

In a parallel development, influential Armenian-American writers and editors have uncritically adopted this translation. We have come to the point where many readers and writers, Armenian and non-Armenian alike, appear to be sincerely convinced that the word “yeghern” has meant “calamity” over the past hundred years. This article, the first in a series, will explore the birth of “calamity” after Pope John Paul II and President George W. Bush used Medz Yeghern.

Ով աչք ունի՝ թող տեսնէ

ՎԱՐԴԱՆ ՄԱՏԹԷՈՍԵԱՆ

Ի տարբերութիւն կուսակցական յայտնի քայլերգի տողերուն, «շահագործող ցեցեր»ը այս անգամ կարծես չեն ուզեր վատնել մեր դիզած քրտինքն ու արիւն վաստակը, եւ չոր հացի բաժին հանել։ Այս զարմանալի իրողութիւնը արժանացած է «Նիւ Եորք Թայմզ»ի ուշադրութեան։
Սեպտեմբեր 10ին, ամերիկեան օրաթերթին խմբագրականներէն մէկը՝ «Լուսաւորեալ հարուստները կ՚ուզեն, որ հարկ գանձուի իրենցմէ» խորագրով, գրած էր հետեւեալը.
«Աշխարհի ամենահարուստ մարդոցմէն մէկ քանին կոչ կ՚ուղղեն հարուստներուն վրայ աւելի բարձր հարկեր հաստատելու։ Անոնք կը թուին ընդունիլ, որ տնտեսական անկումին բեռը միայն աղքատ ու միջին դասակարգերը պէտք չէ կրեն»։

La libertad en ejercicio: ¿qué Armenia queremos tener?

Vartán Matiossián

Este artículo de nuestra firma apareció en un número especial del semanario “Sardarabad” de Buenos Aires (septiembre de 2006), dedicado al 15º aniversario de la segunda independencia de la República de Armenia. Al verlo hoy, 21 de septiembre de 2011, en el vigésimo aniversario de ese magno acontecimiento, el lector podrá preguntarse cuál es el objetivo de leer un texto escrito hace cinco años. Pero, a la vez, probablemente advierta que nada ha cambiado desde entonces y que una actualización de datos no modificaría la premisa central. Es más, el único dato que cambió –el estallido de la crisis económica global en 2008—solamente alteró, por desgracia, el ritmo de crecimiento económico de Armenia y dejó al descubierto la “burbuja” en la cual se había implementado. Al recordar desde nuestro rincón del mundo aquellos “días de euforia y promesa”, hacemos votos para que se repitan con la esperanza de un futuro mejor.

The New York Times Goes to Baku...

Vartan Matiossian

 

You are the government of this or that country, you cannot allow yourself to have direct access, but you desperately want to push your own story in the top echelon of national or international media. What do you do? You get a good public relations firm and send it to shop around. There is nothing that money cannot pay, especially with oil flowing to the West and petrodollars filling the coffers of Western companies. Money talks and... You know the rest. Even if this were a completely fictional scenario, the outcome could not be very different from the blissfully biased piece of Ellen Barry dispatched from Baku and published on June 1, 2011 in The New York Times.