HOW THE FOOD GURU ANTHONY ARMENIA BOURDAIN OF CNN By Dr. Ferruh DEMİRMEN* TURNED INTO AN ARMENIAN PROPAGANDIST, AND PROSPECTS OF TURKEY-ARMENIA RELATIONS

reface by the author: nian .” Still worse, the pro- als and summarily executed them.” This opinion piece was gram contained serious falsehoods. Anyone left was then marched prepared right after https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0st2H8cOXw. towards the Syrian desert, “delib- the “Anthony Bour- erately starving them along the way.” The diatribe continued into the dain feat. Serj Tankian Nagorno-Karabakh issue, without He described the events as “a con- in Armenia - Parts Unknown,” TV saying a word on the 1992 Khojaly certed and organized effort to eradicate program was aired in many parts of P Massacre and the unfulfilled UN Gen- an ethnic and national group,” then the world by CNN on May 20, 2018. eral Assembly resolution on the with- concluding: “So, this is genocide, But out of respect to Mr. Bourdain drawal of all Armenian forces from right”? and his family, the publication of the article was put on hold until the occupied Azerbaijani territory. Bowing his head in agreement, his now following his tragic death in On the 1915 events in Ottoman Armenian host weighed in: “Most France in June 2018. Anatolia, Mr. Bourdain, while estimates historically put the Arme- nian losses at around 1.5 million.” Mr. Bourdain, a celebrity chef and describing himself as “a casual storyteller, when he ventured into observer,” talked more like an The misinformation and distor- his Armenia program, probably had Armenian spokesperson, claim- tions regarding the genocide accu- all the good intentions to explore ing that the “Ottomans had justified sation were shocking, but given Armenian culture and cuisine and their actions by the widely held senti- the ingrained pro-Armenian, anti- tell his story to his followers. But in ment that the Christian Armenians Turkish/anti-Muslim bias in the the process he fell victim to Arme- would align themselves with a hos- Western media, not surprising. nian propoganda, and the result tile and Christian Russia threatening What was also striking was that was appalling. A program that was their borders” (notice the use of the Bourdain had been well coached supposed be about travel, culture word “sentiment” and emphasis on by his mentors, and he recited the and food turned into a politically “Christian”), and that the Ottomans usual “genocide” lines with confi- charged piece advocating “Arme- had “rounded up Armenian intellectu- dence and enthusiasm.

22 February, 2019 | THE DIPLOMATIC OBSERVER Photo 1: Purported Armenian victims at undisclosed location. In reality the victims are Muslims massacred near Kars.

Faked photo be Ottoman soldiers holding guard One possibility is that the photo representations (photo-2). The message intended was shows executions in Haifa of spies again obvious: These were innocent caught working for British interests The few photographs interspersed Armenian leaders hanged merciless- in Palestine during World War-I. during the program added insult ly by the brutal Turks. Judging from the fur hats worn by to injury. At least one photo had the guards, however, it is more likely But this photo was also a forgery. unmistakable signs of Photoshop that the guards are Cossacks, with About three quarters of the photo on artistry. One of the photos showed executions somewhere in Russia. the right-hand side was copied from dead, mutilated bodies of children The photo arguably has nothing to page 507 of the book, Die Weltkriegss- and women (photo-1). The message do with “Armenian genocide.” pionage, dealing with World War-I for the audience was that these were espionage, authored by General von Still another picture (photo-3) Armenian victims killed by barbar- Lettow-Vorbeck. The German text showed corpses laid in front of ian Turks. did not identify the venue, the date a building, apparently a church or But in reality, the gruesome pictures and the circumstances of the execu- monastery, at an undisclosed loca- were those of Muslim victims killed tion, or the nationality of the victims. tion on an undisclosed date. It was by Tashnak Armenians on 25 April The section on the left side (where not clear what the photo had to do 1918 at a location called Subatan near Bourdain’s portrait is superim- with “Armenian genocide.” Several posed) was cunningly annexed from clergymen, Armenian or Russian, the city of Kars in eastern Turkey. another source through Photoshop were watching quizzically at the The photo is found in the Turkish (best viewed at high magnification). dead bodies. The picture probably Military Archives “ATASE” (Askeri Unlike in the rest of the photo, here depicts Armenians that perished Tarih ve Stratejik Etüd). we see guards apparently wearing from disease, malnutrition, etc. in Another photo included in the pro- helmets with crescent and star. The the First Republic of Armenia, 1918- gram shows several men hanged original photo from Die Weltkriegss- 1920. It is known from the work of from scaffolds with what appears to pionage has no such figures. Russian historian A.A. Lalaian of

THE DIPLOMATIC OBSERVER | February, 2019 23 Photo 2: Armenian leaders purportedly hanged by Turks. Photo in part from German espionage book, Die Weltkriegsspionage.

Armenian origin that 195,000 Arme- Committee of America) shamelessly cide” in the minds of the viewers. A nian citizens, or 22% of the total used the Subatan forgery represent- pyramid of skulls is surely enough to Armenian population, lost their lives ed in photo-1 on one of its posters as evoke horror, and the casual viewer due to deprivation and other causes a background when it urged Presi- will think that these are the skulls of during this fascist regime. dent Obama to recognize “Armenian innocent Armenians. Only a select Genocide.” few of the viewers will realize that (By comparison, loses in the First this macabre scene is in fact a 1871 Republic of Armenia, most of them We also know of numerous other painting (“Apotheosis of War”) by due to killings, for Azeri Turks were photo-forgeries, e.g., ghastly scenes Russian artist Vasily Vereshchagin, 200,000 (77%) and Kurds 24,500 of crucified women taken from a currently on display in the Tretyakov (98%), respectively. Chilling, eye- 1919 Hollywood film, “Ravished Gallery in Moscow. The artist died witness accounts of brutality against Armenia,” meant to depict Armenian in 1904. civilian Muslims by men under the women killed by barbarian Turks, leadership of Drastamat Kanayan or puppies at the foot of Atatürk This fakery was brazenly used in (“Dro”), an Armenian commander, in original photo changed, through “Armenian Genocide,” a supposed recounted by Robert Dunn in his Photoshop, into a dead child with his documentary film funded by Arme- book, World Alive, A Personal Story. guts hanging out. nian sources and aired on TV in Dunn was the intelligence officer the USA by Public Broadcasting Ser- Photo-1 is perhaps the “crown for- of Rear Admiral Bristol, the U.S. vice (PBS) on April 17, 2006. (PBS is gery” employed by the Diaspora con High Commissioner in Turkey dur- known to provide “educational ser- artists. While not included in the ing 1919-27). vices!”). It was also used by ANCA CNN program, a rival to the photo-1 in 2009 on a poster urging President Deceitful manipulation through pho- scene is the one shown in photo-4. Obama to recognize “Armenian gen- tography is nothing new in the prop- When the “genocide” story is told, ocide.” aganda arsenal of Armenian propa- Armenian con artists are known to gandists. For example, in December resort to this forgery in trying to The fakery in fact dates back to 1921 2009 ANCA (Armenian National evoke the horror of “Armenian geno- in connection with the murder trial

24 February, 2019 | THE DIPLOMATIC OBSERVER Photo 3: Scene of corpses unidentified as to date and location. Likely a church at Etchmiadzin near Yerevan, 1918-20. of Talat Pasha, the Ottoman Minister With a change of heart, Hofmann another picture showing half-naked of the Interior, in Berlin. The cover of subsequently had her book cover women assaulted by men. The cap- a book, Der Völkermord, published changed in 1985 with another horrid tion under the picture said: “Tortured in that year, showed the pyramid of image of unknown origin, but again and violated Armenians. Photographed skulls together with the portrait of with Talat Pasha’s portrait superim- on the street between Trabzon to Erzin- Talat Pasha. Another public appear- posed. Inside her book she entered can by a German officer.” ance of this fakery was in an inter- national festival in Toronto, Canada in the 1970s. Subsequently, Tessa Hofmann, the German academician, used the same fakery in a new book, also titled Der Völkermord, she edited in 1980 (photo-5). Inside the book the cover photo is credited as show- ing “Turkish barbarism.” While the book cover itself was red, the Rus- sian painting was cleverly shown in black and white, to give the impres- sion that it is a photograph of early 20th century. Hofmann’s skulldug- gery was exposed by Prof. Türkkaya Ataöv in 1985.

The whole production was despic- able deception in “pursuit of scholar- Photo 4: Painting (“Apotheosis of War”) ship.” by Russian artist Vasily Vereshchagin in 1871.

THE DIPLOMATIC OBSERVER | February, 2019 25 This image in fact was from a It was purely a defense measure. The 1918 the government sssued the “De- painting named “Les Horreur de la sick, the elderly, orphaned children, cree of Return” whereby the refugees Guerre” by French painter Paul-Emile government employees, and Catho- coud return and receive their land Boutigny (1853-1929). As in Der Völk- lic and Protestant Armenians, were and home back. ermord, the original painting was in exempted from the relocation orders. These facts would have readily color, but the image in the book was Forced migration is nothing new in dispelled the notion that the 1915 in black and white. So much about the history of mankind. As jurist and events in Anatolia constituted geno- scholastic honesty! historian Sam Weems has observed, cide, as prescribed in the 1948 UN Not surprisingly, Hofmann has displacement of populations sus- Convention on Genocide. For both received many accolades from Arme- pected of disloyalty or treason was a the “intent” element as well as the nia, including an honorary profes- customary war measure throughout requirement of a verdict by an au- sorship. She was the mentor and thorized tribunal were missing. protégée of Dr. Taner Akçam follow- To reach that conclusion, Mr Bour- ing Akçam’s escape from Turkish dain could have also read two re- prison and taking refuge in Germany cent international court decisions in 1977. on “Armenian genocide:” the one A tall story of untruths by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on October 15, 2105 Before venturing into his CNN- (“Switzerland-Perinçek” case) and Armenian TV show, it would have the other by France’s Constitu- been good if Mr. Bourdain had first tional Council on January 8, 2016. looked at the other side of the coin It doesn’t take much omniscience on “Armenian genocide” to get a to appreciate that “Armenian geno- balanced view. Had he done so, he cide” has no judicial basis, as re- would have found out that, con- quired by the UN Convention. trary to the genocide allegations, the If he had a bit more curiosity, Mr. Ottomans had not acted out of a Bourdain would have learned a lot “widely held sentiment,” but from more, e.g., the claim that the 235 the solid fact that the Armenians had Armenian intellectuals that were launched a massive revolt against arrested in Istanbul on April 24, their government in the midst of an Photo 5: Cover of book edited by 1915 and later summarily executed, all-out war (WW-I), and were openly Prof. Tessa Hofmann, 1980. is false. These leaders, the instiga- collaborating with the invading Rus- tors of the Armenian insurrection, sian army. The rebellion was execut- human history. Forced migration of were sent to the town of Çankırı ed by armed militias, who received Americans of Japanese ancestry, who near Ankara. Some of the detainees support and sanctuary from local in fact had not committed any crime, were released, others sent to other Armenians. Armenian volunteers during WW-II is one example. cities, and only 3 died in 1918: one also joined the French forces attack- of natural causes, the other two ing from the south. Ottoman government orders to lo- murdered. The culprits were tried cal officials noted specifically that In plain English, it was an act of and hanged. the refugees should not be harmed, treason. and that their needs should be taken As for the claim of 1.5 million The Ottoman government had no care of during and after relocation. Armenian deaths, the figure cited choice but to relocate Armenians in Those who disobeyed these orders is absurd. As noted by Bruce Fein, central and eastern Anatolia to Great- and harmed the refugees were sub- President Reagan’s legal advisor er Syria (which, by the way, is not a sequently tried in court martials and who oversaw an investigation of “desert’) in the south, while sparing punished. The punishments included the 1915 Anatolian events con- Armenians in the western Anatolia. 67 death sentences. On December 31, ducted in the White House, the

26 February, 2019 | THE DIPLOMATIC OBSERVER original estimate of the Armeni- in particular Europe and America, As many as 185 Muslim mass burial an casualties according to Arme- started in late 1920s. sites have been discovered in eastern nian sources was 280,000-750,000: and southeastern Anatolia. It needs to be also pointed out that https://www.huffingtonpost.com/ for about 600 years Armenians lived Why such high casualties on the bruce-fein/lies-damn-lies-and- peacefully with Ottoman Turks, Muslim side? Because the men folk armeni_b_211408.html. Armenians prospering in trade and artisanship, who could defend their families in then raised their death count to freely exercising their religion, and Muslim villages and towns had been 800,000 to “test the waters,” hiked many of them holding high gov- drafted into the Ottoman army to the number even further, and even- ernment positions: 29 “pasha”s, 22 fight the war. The civilian Muslims, tually settled at around 1.5 million.” ministers, 33 deputies, 7 ambassa- women, children and the elderly, Some mathematics! dors. At one point, about one-third were left behind at the mercy of According to Vahan Vardapet, an of the bureaucracy of the Ministry of marauding Armenian gangs. Armenian cleric, the prewar Otto- Foreign Affairs in the Sublime Porte Considering the pre-war census data, man Armenian population was was Armenian. In 1913 the foreign some 4.3% of the Armenian popula- 1.26 million. By official Ottoman minister in the Ottoman cabinet was tion (roughly 1.3 million) in the Otto- statistics, the population of Arme- an Armenian. man Empire died during relocation nians in the Empire was roughly And during World War-I Hrant Abro, due to all causes, but less than 1% due 1.3 million, and in Anatolia alone, an Armenian, was advisor to the to killings by criminal elements. In 736,000. Hence the claim of 1.5 mil- lion Armenian has no foundation. Ottoman Ministry of Foreign Affairs contrast, some 3.3% of civilian Mus- and accompanied Talat Pasha, the lim population (roughly 15.5 million) According to Ottoman archives, Grand Vizier, at the Brest-Litovsk died at the hands of Armenian bands. Armenians forced to relocate num- peace negotiations with Soviets in So, then, which side suffered more bered 438,750, and those that died early 1918. from inter-communal violence? on route, 56,600. The casualties were due to chaos, disease, fam- These facts easily refute the accusa- Should we assume that, unlike the ine & massacre by bandits. Only tion of “Armenian genocide.” There Christian deaths, Muslim deaths about 10,000 Armenians were mas- was no intent on the part of the Otto- do not count in the conscience of sacred by criminal elements. Of the man government to annihilate Arme- the Western media such as CNN? refugees relocated, 382,000 safely nians. Mr. Bourdain should have According to Bruce Fein, 2.4 million reached their destination. The thus answered an “inconvenient Muslims in Anatolia lost their lives League of Nations General Secre- question:” If the Ottomans had intent during the war. to “eradicate” Armenians because of tary Sir Drummond reported on Another disconcerting aspect of their race, religion, or ethnicity, why 1.3.1920 that “massacres [of Armenian the Anthony Bourdain program is did they wait for 600 years to do so? refugees] were carried by bands which that the “Armenian genocide” topic were totally outside the control of the Contrasting the claims of Armenian is broached as an established fact, Central Government.” deaths during the alleged genocide, without any hint as to its contro- As for what happened to other it is morally reprehensible that no versial aspect. Mr. Bourdain should Ottoman Armenians, the League’s mention is ever made, in the CNN have known that the “genocide” is High Commissioner for Refugees program - and most generally in the a pretty serious crime, and charging Fridtjof Nansen reported in 1929 Western media - of Muslims killed someone with this heinous crime that 200,000 Armenians had died in cold blood by Armenian revolu- without due process in a court of while fighting on the side of the tionaries. During 1910-1922 alone, law is not acceptable. Unlike the Allies. After the war, 586.000 Otto- 519,000 Muslim civilians, most of Holocaust, and the Rwandan, Sre- man Armenians fled to Caucasia, them Turks, and some Jews as well, brenica and Cambodian and as noted above, 195,000 of them fell victim to blood-thirsty Armenian (the last-named officially recognized perished from various causes in the bands terrorizing the countryside. on November. 15, 2018), “Armenian First Republic of Armenia, 1918- It was a bloody campaign of ethnic genocide” has not been litigated in a 1920. Emigration to other lands, cleansing. court of law, and has not been rec-

THE DIPLOMATIC OBSERVER | February, 2019 27 ognized by the UN. Thus, it remains on all fronts. Nubar Pasha was the Armenia reconciliation? The state- unproven. president of one of the Armenian ment from Mr. Bourdain’s host, an delegations at the Paris Peace Con- American-born professor now living Yes, there are claims by Armenian ference in 1919. in Armenia, that “genocide” is a sources that war crimes tribunals “defining issue” for Armenians, is held shortly after WW-I by the newly Or still better, Mr Bourdain could an expression of reality that must established Ottoman government have read the Manifesto of Hov- be accepted. Surely, the 1915 events concluded that the former leadership hannes Katchaznouni delivered at the have been tragic for Armenians, and (Committee of Union and Progress) Armenian Revolutionary Federation there is no denying that. The same was responsible for premeditated (ARF) Congress in Bucharest in 1923. host’s pronouncement that, “Arme- killings of Armenians. But as noted That way, he could have gotten the nia is looking to normalize relations by Professor of the facts from the “horse’s mouth,” so with Turkey, not because of the genocide University of Massachusetts, these to speak. Katchaznouni was no ordi- but despite the genocide,” and that “We tribunals were no more than “kanga- nary Armenian; he was the First also need to go beyond victimization,” roo courts” held at the instigation of Prime Minister of the Republic of are also signs that give a measure the Allied Powers by a government Armenia in 1918-1919. Observing of hope. that was beholden to these pow- that the Armenians had embraced ers. The protection of due process Russia whole-heartedly, Katch- The recent statement from Arme- was completely absent, and witness- aznouni faulted the ARF for the nia’s acting Prime Minister Nikol es and cross examination were not Armenian insurrection and admon- Pashinyan, that Armenia is ready for allowed. (See The Armenian Massacres ished the party: “ARF has nothing to normalization talks with Turkey, is in Ottoman Turkey: A Disputed Geno- do any more.” also an encouraging sign. cide, by Guenter Lewy, University of https://news.am/eng/ One problem Mr. Bourdain would Utah Press, 2005). The Allies them- news/478858.html selves have admitted that these pro- have faced, however, is that, thanks But for a meaningful and durable ceedings were a travesty of justice. to the “savvy” or “craftiness” of Dashnaks, the Manifesto nowadays reconciliation concrete steps, not In contrast, a judicial process that is difficult to find in the libraries of mere words, from the Armenian side came to be closest to the Nuremberg the world. are needed. There is little doubt that Tribunal was the 1919-1921 Malta Turkey would like to make peace Tribunal convened by the British on As a final point, Mr. Bourdain obvi- with its Armenian neighbor if only their colony Malta. Evidence gath- ously was not told by his mentors constant drumbeats of unfounded ered from various sources, including that, as late as 2015, Dikran Kevorky- “genocide” accusations stop, and those at the U.S. State Department in an, President of the Kandilli Arme- Armenians confront their own past Washington, D.C., by the British had nian Church Foundation, Istanbul, fairly and squarely. Just in the case no probative value. All the accused – drew a distinction between geno- of doing tango, it takes two to rec- 144 high Ottoman officials – detained cide and relocation of Armenians, oncile. The genocide accusations for trial were freed for lack evidence chastising the Armenian Diaspora are sowing seeds of anti-Turkish and returned to Turkish soil. In for abusing the 1915 tragedy - for hatred in many young Armenians, effect, Turks were vindicated. Muslims and Armenians alike - for that render any future reconciliation “economic purposes” to help Arme- even more difficult. The 1915 events Last, but not least, if Mr. Bourdain nia. He noted that there was no were tragic for both sides, a fact the had distrusted such narratives and genocide, and that two of his uncles two sides should openly regret, but wanted to hear the historical truth had died while fighting in the Otto- without bitterness and recrimina- from a prominent Armenian, he man army during WW-I. tion. Then the two sides can move on could have read the January 30, 1919 to the 21st century and beyond. letter to the editor of The Times of Is there any hope? London where Boghos Nubar Pasha For Turks, the dissolution and admitted freely that his people had Given the mindset on display in the dismemberment of the Ottoman been belligerents during WW-I and CNN-Bourdain program, we may Empire before and during World had fought on the side of the Allies ask: Is there a hope for Turkey- War-I was more than a “defining

28 February, 2019 | THE DIPLOMATIC OBSERVER UN General Assembly resolution on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. Some 20% of the Azeri territory is under occupation by Armenia.

If such steps are taken, then the lavishing words heard in Bour- dain-the-food-guru’s program for a special meat dish with rice called “haşlama” will likely conjure up pleasant memories of a long-gone era when Turks and the “Millet-i Sadıka” Armenians lived together in peace and harmony. Photo 6: Revnak Women’s Sufi Music Group performing at Ortaköy Surp Asdvadzadzin Armenian Church, 2014. Not to mention that, events such as the one that took place at the Ortaköy Surp Asdvadzadzin issue,” but Turks have left the past hosts to stop using unfounded accu- Armenian Church in Istanbul in behind and moved on. Turkey has sations and fakeries to vilify Turks, 2014, with the Revnak Women’s made peace with its WW-I adver- and be more open-minded. A good Sufi Music Group reciting divine saries, and there is no inherent ani- start for reconciliation would be hymns, “La İlahe İllallah … Allah-ü mosity among Turks against the an expression of regret for the kill- Ekber,” evoking Islamic mysticism old adversaries. Currently there are ing of 44 Turkish diplomats by the and tolerance in commemoration about 60 thousand citizens of Arme- ASALA/JCAG terrorist organiza- of Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi, give nian origin in Turkey – plus a large tion in recent past. further hope of Turkish-Armenian contingent of illegal workers from reconciliation (photo-6). In human While the expression “Western across the border – freely exercising conflicts, mutual understanding Armenia” in reference to parts of their faith and customs. In contrast, and tolerance could be very effec- eastern Turkey, included in Arme- not a single Turkish soul lives in tive for reconciliation. nia’s 1990 Declaration of Independ- Armenia. ence, is not found in Constitution Post script: This article is dedica- A change in mentality across the of 1995 with Amendments through ted to the memory of Mr. Şükrü S. border seems in order. 2005, the discontinuance of the use Aya, who, almost like a “one-man army,” and purely motivated to of this phrase by the ARF-minded Putting it in larger perspective, if tell the truth, spent many years Diaspora Armenians, conjuring up the Germans could made peace selflessly trying to disprove “Arme- a “lost territory,” would also be a with the British, the French and the nian genocide” allegations. In addi- positive step. Russians in the wakes of WW-I and tion to giving lectures and writing WW-II, why can’t Turks and Arme- Strangely enough, southern Tur- articles, Aya authored 4 books and nians do the same after more than key (Şanlıurfa), where the world- co-authored one on the Armenian a century? renowned pre-historic temple issue, all based on foreign sources. Göbeklitepe is located, is lately Originally a Turkish businessman, In conclusion, Mr Bourdain, instead Mr. Aya, age 89, passed away on being referred to at some Armenian of reciting from the Armenian January 26, 2019 in Istanbul, just websites as “Southern Armenia,” genocide playbook, and exploiting before this article went to press. with the claim that the temple was Christian bigotries against Turks built by “ancient Armenians.” There and Muslims, could have accom- About the author: Ferruh Demirmen, is little doubt that such opportun- an earth scientist by profession (M.S., plished something positive if had ism by the Armenian side will not Ph.D., Stanford Univ.), and now retired, researched the subject and learned help Turkey-Armenia relations. is keenly interested in the Turkish- the other side of the dispute. He Armenian relations, and has lectured could have counseled his Armenian Armenia should also honor the 2008 and written extensively on the subject.

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