PBS Should Not Let Turkey Stifle Honest Free Speech in USA Through Dishonest, Fraudulent “free” Speech

Friday February 10, 2006

By APPO K. JABARIAN
Executive Publisher & Managing Editor
USA Armenian Life Magazine
Hye Kiank Armenian Weekly

Recently, it was learned that on April 17, PBS will air “The Armenian Genocide”, a documentary produced by Andrew Goldberg’s Two Cat Productions.

In addition to broadcasting the documentary, PBS is said to be planning to air a 25-minute long panel discussion that includes two genocide deniers.

It is widely believed that PBS may have given in on Turkish denialist government’s pressures. Pro-truth and pro-justice activists in USA and around the world, were alarmed by a strongly-worded opinion column by world-renown political commentator Harut Sassounian (Please see page E7).

In this writer’s opinion the decision by PBS to air the panel discussion is ill-devised. PBS should not give in to the denialist Turkish government, and worst, should not let Turkey stifle honest free speech in USA through dishonest “free” speech. No speech is free, when it is saddled by fraudulent comments made by willful deniers who knowingly lie about the historic facts of the 1915 Armenian Genocide that
continues to affect a whole nation.

As of Tuesday night, only a few hours after the worldwide web-casting of Sassounian’s column numerous reactions began to come in. One such response is a
letter by Mr. Emil Sanamyan of Arlington, Virginia, USA.

In his remarks to Ms. Atlas of PBS, Mr. Sanamyan wrote: “I am an avid PBS viewer and supporter, living in Arlington, VA. I am writing in regard to the Armenian Genocide documentary which is due to air on PBS on April 17. While I commend you for the decision to carry this program, I object to the subsequent panel discussion that includes unabashed deniers of the Genocide.”

He continued: “I hope you will drop this panel and let the documentary, which incorporates a number of diverse Turkish voices on this issue, to stand on its
own.”

The political war between the righteous individuals, organizations, and governments acknowledging the 1915-23 Armenian Genocide at the hands of the Turks, on the one side, and the denialists, on the other, has been intensifying during the last decade.

Officialdom Turkey and its cronies have been waking up from one nightmare to face yet new and even more troubling nightmares in their desperate futile attempts to cover up and/or deny the historic facts of the Armenian Genocide.

The denialists seem to be especially troubled by rising new waves of home-grown Turkish righteous individuals like Halil Berktay, Orhan Pamuk, Taner Akcam, Fatima Muge Gocek, Yigit Bener, Ahmet Altan, Elif Shafak -to name afew- who have dared to cross the denialist “rubicon” in clear defiance of their Turkish denialist government.

Even more troubling for the Turkish denialists, is the growing ranks of activists -regardless of their race, color or religion- demanding the acknowledgment of a
crime that occurred 91 years ago.

Obviously, Mr. Ali Birand was more than correct in his prediction that he had made nearly a year ago.

Mr. Birand, a Turkish commentator had predicted and warned his readers that in 2005, on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, that an Armenian Tsunami may be flooding the international arena, dealing the Turkish denialists a serious blow.

With the way pro-truth and pro-justice activism is progressing, Mr. Birand may surely predict unrelenting political Hurricane Armenia not only in the days to come in 2006, but in the years to follow, until such time as the denialist Turks come to their senses and acknowledge that, what is now called Turkey is “built”on the ashes of Western Armenia, and her 1.5 million martyrs.