GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN: ACT TWO
EDITORIAL | NOVEMBER 24, 2013 8:46 PM
By Edmond Y. Azadian
Ahmed Davutoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, has laid his campaign
plans to drown Armenian voices in 2015. Indeed, as Armenians prepare
with their scarce resources to make the Genocide Centennial a turning
point in history, Turkey, using its vast resources, has already
taken the proactive stand to dampen the impact of those Armenian
initiatives. This, of course, within Ankara’s “zero problem with
neighbors” foreign policy. The Turkish foreign minister has already
picked his topic to counter the Armenian onslaught: the centennial
celebration of the Gallipoli campaign, which coincidentally began
on April 25, 1915, exactly one day after the Armenian intelligentsia
and leadership were arrested and marked for slaughter. The campaign
had lasted until January 9, 1916. The Gallipoli campaign and Anzac
Day are known better by name than by historic substance.
During World War I, Allied Forces, headed by Britain, were fighting the
Central Powers headed by Germany. The Australians’ and New Zealanders’
Army Corps (Anzac), as British colonial subjects, were drafted in the
British Army, and Turkey had joined Germany against the Allies. One
of the significant battles took place at the Dardanelles, with the
Allies trying to open a route through the Straits of Bosphorus to
connect with their Russian allies in the East.
Today, Anzac Day is considered by the Australians as the dawn of their
national consciousness, while for the Turks, the battle places Mustafa
Kemal, then the head of Turkish forces, on a historic pedestal,
having began the campaign for the Turkish “liberation movement”
(in fact the continuation of the Young Turks’ war and extermination
policy) which eventually led to the foundation of the modern Turkish
Republic in 1923.
For Australia, which was a former penal colony and belittled as such
for long, perhaps it should not be surprising to enshrine a military
defeat as the beginning of “national consciousness.” On Anzac Day,
the most sacred holiday in Australia, people come to celebrate their
defeat and honor the “power of the Turks,” their murderers. Every
year thousands of Australians and New Zealanders visit Constantinople,
modern-day Istanbul, to celebrate the Anzac Day.
This mentality is similar to the treatment of Turks by the Austrians.
The Ottoman Armies tried to occupy Vienna twice, once during the 16th
century under Soleiman the Magnificent and in 1683 under Kara Mustafa.
They were routed twice, yet in 1983, the Austrian government decided
to celebrate the tercentennial of its victory over the Ottomans and
invited the Turks to turn the celebration into a Turkish-Austrian
friendship celebration, never mind that in both wars the Turks
massacred their Austrian prisoners.
The Gallipoli Campaign remains one of the mysteries of history:
the German-Turkish forces were being beaten on the Eastern front,
they were being defeated in the Middle East (where volunteer Armenian
Legionnaires were fighting along with the Allies), but they won the
Battle of Gallipoli.
At that time Winston Churchill was the first lord of the Admiralty
and he proposed a naval attack on the Dardanelles, based on erroneous
reports on the enemy troop strength. Some historians even believe that
those reports were deliberately given to the admiralty, and there are
even reports that Allied attack plans were leaked to the enemy. Why
would such a “treacherous” act be permitted to cause one’s own defeat?
This does not sound plausible until we get to the heart of British
foreign policy in the 19th and 20th centuries. Perennially the British
have tried to – and succeeded – to bar Russians from reaching the warm
waters of the Mediterranean. In fact, when the Russian forces reached
and occupied Adrianapolis in Turkey and the San Stefano Treaty was
signed in 1878, British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli was alarmed
and was able to convene a second congress to sign the Berlin Treaty
that same year, which had tragic consequences for the Armenians living
in the Ottoman Empire. Literally, Armenian subjects were left to the
tender mercies of their tormentors.
Therefore, the British wished to demonstrate to their Russian allies
that they put an honest effort toward occupying Istanbul but they
failed there by denying once more to their Russian allies access to
warm waters.
On the Turkish side, Mustafa Kemal was one of five Turkish commanders.
At that time, the Ottoman Fifth Army was under the command of German
Otto Liman von Sanders. Germany had armed the Turks with military
hardware and battleships. In fact, Germany gifted the victory to
Mustafa Kemal. And today, as Mr. Davutoglu prepares to celebrate
the Gallipoli victory, the credit will be jealously guarded by the
Turks and no one will mention that Ataturk played second fiddle to
von Sanders during the battle.
But before the Turks face the Armenians in 2015, they have met some
unexpected turbulence from the Australians themselves.
Davutoglu has already begun his celebratory campaign on the wrong foot
by banning the participation of a New South Wales delegation from
the Gallipoli ceremonies in Turkey because that Australian province
happens to have adopted a resolution to recognize the Armenian
Genocide. Australians are irate and fresh battle lines have been drawn.
Every action by the Turkish government to deny the Genocide blows
up in the faces of their leaders. Turkey’s action is countered in
Australia with calls for the Federal Parliament to recognize the
Armenian Genocide.
Mr. Davutoglu is planning his second blunder by sending discredited
historian Justin McCarthy to “educate” the Austrailians about
Armenian-Turkish historic relations. Many historians compare Justin
McCarthy to British Holocaust denier David Irving. McCarthy is not
too embarrassed as a scholar and as a decent human being to campaign
against the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, countering the
line advocated by the globally-respected International Association
of Genocide Scholars.
The Australian parliamentarian Laurie Ferguson has managed to invite
Professor McCarthy for a lecture in the Canberra parliament house,
with a topic titled, “What Happened During 1915-1923.”
When the Turks try to derail any attempt by the legislatures of
different countries by suggesting that the case be assigned to the
judgment of historians, they are banking on hacks-for-hire such as
McCarthy and his ilk, who are offered all-expenses-paid junkets by
the Turkish government.
Prof. McCarthy’s long trip has already been overshadowed by a public
debate; President of the Turkish Parliament Cemil Cicek has called for
a repeal of Genocide recognition by the NSW parliament and has further
threatened that Turkey’s relation with Australia may deteriorate to
which Prime Minister of New South Wales Barry O’Farrell has declared
that the threats of Turkey’s parliamentary president are inconceivable
and reprehensible. In a written statement, he has also asked Turkish
officials not to use the celebrations of the centennial of the Battle
of Gallipoli for political purposes.
Politicians are astute. They are certainly aware of the weight of
Turkish threats. Ankara has threatened before France and Switzerland,
only returning to the routine of business as usual.
McCarthy will take advantage of the tolerance of freedom of speech
and make his point, although had he tried to reverse his argument in
his beloved Turkey, he would have found himself in jail for violating
Article 301 of Turkish penal code. Freedom of speech, of course,
works both ways. We hope Armenians in Australia will also use their
voices to give appropriate treatment to the guest speaker who may
earn his honorarium without necessarily convincing too many people.
Forensic psychiatrist and historian at Wollongong University NSW Prof.
Robert Kaplan stated in his blog in the “Australian” newspaper: “In
Australia there is tolerance of free speech and the Turkish bullying
will only bring it closer to the day there is federal recognition
of the first genocide of the 20th century. Hopefully this will occur
before the first centenary of Anzac Day.” [From his mouth to God’s ear.
Now the battle lines are drawn for the second Gallipoli campaign. In
the first act the Turks had Otto van Sanders and German battleships
on their side to win the battle.
In the second act they don’t have the truth on their side.
– See more at:
From: Baghdasarian
http://www.mirrorspectator.com/2013/11/24/gallipoli-campaign-act-two/#sthash.fauKKt9c.dpuf