PROF. GOCEK THREATENS TO SUE TURKS WHO SENT HER HATE MAIL
10-01-2006 16:20:00 | USA | Articles and Analyses
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
Turkish American Prof. Fatma Muge Gocek received abusive
and possibly libelous e-mails from Turks last week after
criticizing the denialist policies of the Turkish government on
the Armenian Genocide in an interview conducted by Aris Babikian
which was published in Horizon Weekly, a Canadian-Armenian
newspaper, and posted on several internet sites.
A Turk, calling himself "Ilyas Botas" (who also uses
various aliases on different occasions) sent an e-mail full of
insults to Dr. Gocek with copies to scores of others, including
the Turkish Embassy. Referring to Prof. Gocek as "a useful
idiot," the so-called "Botas" wrote: "This bimbo not only has an
immense ego problem, but she is odiously (sic) arrogant... The
chutzpah of this airhead of a woman is as big as her
considerable heft."
In a blatant attempt to libel Dr. Gocek, "Botas" wrote:
"How obviously and how crudely her words are geared to please
her Dashnak benefactors. If this woman is not a pathetic,
sycophantic, toady of the Dashnak hate lobby, then my name is
not Keenan Pars," thus shamelessly disclosing another one of his
aliases.
"Botas" then went on to attack Elif Shafak, a prominent
Turkish scholar who had no role in the interview, but who had
previously made sympathetic comments about Armenians. "Botas"
described Shafak as "the other bimbo."
Another Turk by the name of Ferruh Demirmen, who supposedly
is a petroleum consultant in Houston, Texas, also sent a
libelous hate e-mail to these two Turkish scholars, stating that
"they are self delusional, they thrive in vanity, surpass in
inanity, and their mark is stupidity. Arrogance is in their
blood, deceit is their trade, and the Pavlovian instinct is in
their psyche. As long as there are those like Gocek and her ilk,
that are ready to serve their Dashnak masters, Turks don't need
enemies."
In a separate e-mail posted on the Turkish Forum, "Botas"
referred to Gocek and Shafak as "opportunistic parasites...who
sell their souls for personal gain." "Botas" is listed as a
Board Member of the Turkish Forum.
Prof. Gocek sent an e-mail to both Demirmen and "Botas,"
advising them that attorneys for the University of Michigan,
where she is a tenured professor, are "looking into the legal
implications of internet hate mail on the senders, their e-mail
service providers, as well as the websites and the service
providers of the websites at which these hate mails then get
posted."
In an e-mail Dr. Gocek posted on the Armenian Workshop
site, she said: "I am not the only one to receive such hate
mail. I know Taner Akcam, Halil Berktay and Elif Shafak had
received such mail in large volumes and it became clear at the
Istanbul Conference in September 2005 that many of the
participants there and specially the journalists who happened to
write on the Armenian issue have received it in droves as well."
Dr. Gocek described her predicament as follows: "You have
scholars on the one side and some vicious individuals - who of
course are not scholars - backed by certain institutions sent
out to attack them with all their might, on the other. That is
not fair. For the peaceful resolution of the Armenian issue,
such tacit institutional/organizational support behind such
maliciously behaving individuals needs to stop. And even though
such tacit support may work in Turkey, where the legal system,
unfortunately, does not work as well as it ought to, it should
not work in the United States."
In response to Dr. Gocek's e-mail to the senders of the
these hate mails, "Ilyas Botas" responded with even more
insulting and obnoxious words, by writing: "The fat lady
threatens legal action. And I am shaking in my boots, or more
correctly, in my wing-tip shoes. Are the chickens coming home to
roost, Ms. Gocek? How do you like them apples? Weren't you and a
bunch of other Dashnak lackeys the ones who were decrying the
lack of freedom of expression in Turkey before you held your
'Armenian Conference' in Istanbul? How now, Gocek Efendi? The
moccasin is on the other foot and you don't seem to like it.
That's too bad. ... How am I doing so far, fat lady? Am I
providing you with even more grounds for 'legal action'? Good.
Send in your lawyers. Take your best shot. ... I'll provide you
with even more grounds. Or by 'legal action' do you mean to send
the hoodlum punks from the Armenian Youth Federation or some
such thing? ... Fat lady Gocek, I am ready for all
eventualities, including having the perimeter of my house
decorated with surveillance cameras. You say you are a professor
'with tenure.' Where did you get your degree? Like Dennis
Papazian, at the Guguk Gagikyan Lahmajun Bakery? ... I will
distribute the same piece to every institution, public or non
(sic), as well as to individuals, that I can. I think every Tom,
Dick and Harry in the world should know what you're up to. Hey,
what the hell more can you ask for? I'm making you famous. I
expect you will send me my 10 percent commission via Fedex. Oh,
if you want a good attorney, I recommend the Armenian lawyer,
Mark Geragos the Gorgeous. Oh, I know he lost his last two big
cases for the shoplifter actress Winona Rider [he means Ryder]
and for the murderer Scott Peterson, but I think he still has
the knack. I bet he'll even do pro bono work for people who are
inclined to be toadies for the slick Dashnak lobby. Wishing for
your eventual cessation of prostituting for the Dashnak hate
peddlers, Ilyas."
These vicious words remind one of the Armenian saying:
"hayhoyanke pasdi sove e." Cusswords or name-calling means the
absence of proof.
If Dr. Gocek does carry out her intent to sue these
unsavory characters, she would not only safeguard her own
reputation, but she would blow the cover of such impostors who
carry out a vicious campaign of insults and threats, hiding
behind fake names and phony e-mail addresses!