Obama Prostitutes Freedom and Truth in Turkey
By Ioannis Fidanakis Hellenic League of America
It was in the course of one his first forays through the Levant and Iraq that Mr. Obama found himself in Angora (today called Ankara by the Turks) and Constantinople (now called Istanbul by the Turks) to address a crowd of Turkish leaders with his venal lectures and actions on April 6, 2009 . The true agenda of the new Obama administration was finally made clear. President Barack Obama, before the entire world, demonstrated the ideological side his administration would ally itself with. Mr. Obama chose Kemalism, his actions and words that day, reeked of anti-Hellenic symbolism. Symbolically choosing the date of the Pan-Hellenic and international day of remembrance for the Genocide of Thracian Hellenism, Mr. Obama first embarked on an official visit to the tomb of Mustafa Kemal, the butcher of Anatolia, a man who ruthlessly organized and executed a government policy of extermination towards millions of indigenous Hellenes, Armenians, and Assyrians. An act, which had it been the tomb of “Adolf Hitler”, would have caused huge backlash in the West. Next Mr. Obama would address the Turkish Parliament, with a speech carefully crafted to side-step any promises he had made during his campaign for the presidency towards Hellenic Americans. In fact Mr. Obama went as far as to directly insult Hellenism, portraying it as an imperialist force that had been bent on the dismantlement of Turkey after World War I. A claim that could not be further from the truth. In his speech Mr. Obama stated, “At the end of World War I, Turkey could have succumbed to the foreign powers that were trying to claim its territory, or sought to restore an ancient empire. But Turkey chose a different future. You freed yourself from foreign control, and you founded a republic that commands the respect of the United States and the wider world.” This gross misinterpretation of history is a direct insult to Hellenism and the memory of all those Hellenes who perished during the Hellenic Genocide. To claim that Hellas was a “foreign power” attempting to “restore an ancient empire”, neglects the fact that it was the United States and the Allied powers, who after witnessing the Genocides of Hellenes, Armenians, and Assyrians agreed to a Treaty that would spare these innocent victims from living under continued Turkish rule. They approached Hellas to enforce the Treaty of Sevres and were hailed as liberators and defenders of the right to self-determination by the surviving genocide victims, much like how the United States punished the perpetrators of Crimes against humanity after World War II for all those who suffered under the same type of Genocidal policy by the Nazis. Mr. Obama declared before the Turkish National Assembly that, “the choices that we make in the coming years will determine whether the future will be shaped by fear or by freedom; by poverty or by prosperity; by strife or by a just, secure and lasting peace.” Well Mr. Obama has shown us what side he supports, and that is a future determined by fear, by corporate prosperity and strife, ultimately bent on securing a lasting Kemalist agenda in the world. He spoke of religious freedom and the need to reopen the Halki Seminary, stating “An enduring commitment to the rule of law is the only way to achieve the security that comes from justice for all people.” Yet where is the justice for the indigenous Hellenic people? Mr. Obama didn’t even have the respect and dignity to make an official visit to the Greek Patriarchate of Constantinople, and rather allowed a private meeting inside his hotel room for just a matter of 12 minutes to attempt and hush any Hellenic backlash? He pushed the idea of bi-zonal and bi-communal federation as the path to reunification of Cyprus, and purposely kept silent about all the UN resolution urging Turkey to end its illegal military occupation of the island and the need to dismantle its Turkish settlements that have changed the ethnic makeup of the island. Mr. Obama has showed the Hellenic-American Community just what his agenda is towards the National Issues of Hellenism. What is needed now is a strong response by the Hellenic-American community. Will our ineffective lobby in Washington lead the way or will it be left yet again to the young Hellenic League to step up again for the honor of Hellenism? “There's an old Turkish proverb: "You cannot put out fire with flames." America knows this. Turkey knows this.” If this is true Mr. Obama, than why is the United States aiding Turkey in attempting to put out the fire with flames?
(Posting date 17 April 2009) HCS encourages readers to view other articles and releases in our permanent, extensive archives at the URL http://www.helleniccomserve.com/contents.html.
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