TURKEY UNDERMINES ITS OWN PROPAGANDA BY DESECRATING
ARMENIAN CHURCH
06-04-2007 23:55:00 | USA | Articles and Analyses
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
The Turkish government finally carried out last week its
much touted but ultimately failed public relations effort for
the reopening of the Holy Cross Church on Akhtamar Island. It
was a textbook case of how not to carry out a propaganda
campaign.
By orchestrating such a high profile show, Ankara intended
to impress the international community by trying to make the
point that while Armenians are accusing the Turks of having
committed genocide against them, the Turkish government was so
magnanimous and gracious as to spend $1.5 million of its own
money to renovate an ancient Armenian Church.
Due to sheer incompetence and no small degree of malice,
Ankara botched just about every aspect of this ceremony. Here is
a short list of the many missteps of the Turkish authorities
which undermined their own objectives and interests:
1) Changed the date of the opening ceremonies 3 or 4 times,
thus making it obvious to the world that Turkey was trying to
find the most politically opportunistic time to score the
maximum possible propaganda effect.
2) The Turkish Consul General in Los Angeles sent a large
number of invitations to Armenians less than two weeks before
the "Akdamar" (sic) ceremony. This mailing list was recently
acquired from a "moderate" Armenian and the invitations were
sent out in cheap brown envelopes, similar to the paper bags
used by grocery stores.
3) Leaked to the Turkish media a fake list of the names of
Diaspora Armenians who were supposedly attending the reopening
ceremony, while in reality, not a single one of them was at
Akhtamar.
4) Labeling the Armenians that were invited by Ankara to
Akhtamar as "moderates," served to undermine their credibility
and standing in the Armenian community.
5) Forced the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople to
attend the ceremony without allowing him to say even a prayer.
6) Invited Armenian Church leaders to the reopening of a
sacred Armenian Church, and then told them that it would be a
museum and not a church, and that there would be no religious
ceremony, no cross on the Church's dome and no affiliation with
the Armenian Patriarchate. No wonder not a single Armenian
Church leader showed up at the ceremony either from Armenia or
the Diaspora, except for the Patriarch.
7) Invited high ranking Armenian government officials and
then not allowed them to cross the border, thus forcing them to
drive 15 hours to get to Lake Van via Georgia, rather than the 4
hours needed directly from Armenia.
8) Invited to the ceremony Israeli and American diplomats
whose governments have refused to acknowledge the Armenian
Genocide
9) Rejected the offer from a world famous Armenian-American
pianist Shahan Arzruni, formerly of Istanbul, to perform at the
opening ceremony on Akhtamar Island. Instead, they arranged for
a Turkish pianist who played Turkish, Jewish and Armenian music.
10) Hoisted huge Turkish flags all over Akhtamar Island,
including a large one on the church wall itself along with a
massive banner of Ataturk.
11) When a couple of pious Armenian visitors lit candles
inside the church, Turkish security agents quickly put out all
the candles and confiscated them.
12) When Atilla Koc, the Minister of Culture of Turkey, was
asked if mass could be held at the renovated Church once a year,
he responded by saying that he is waiting for a decision from
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, thus making it perfectly clear
that the whole ceremony was a big political charade. If Turkey
wanted to impress international public opinion and win over
Armenians everywhere, it should have done the exact opposite of
what it actually did. As an Armenian Church leader recently
told this writer, if the Turks truly desired to befriend the
Armenians, they should have placed crosses all over the Holy
Cross Church, instead of Turkish flags and posters of Ataturk.
Rather than impressing Armenians, Turkey actually ended up
insulting them by desecrating their historic Armenian Church!
Cengiz Candar, in his commentary published in the Turkish
Daily News, had very harsh words for the Turkish authorities. He
described their actions at Akhtamar as a "disgrace" and even
"cultural genocide." One can always count on Turkish officials
to undermine their own state interests. That is why they are
often referred to as "the gang that cannot shoot straight!"