ACTION ALERT: Respond To National Geographic

There has been wide response from the Turkish community around the world to The National Geographic Magazine's article, "The Rebirth of Armenia," which was published in its March 2004 issue.

ATAA immediately responded to this article by sending a letter from the President. ATAA's quick response has been appreciated by many, and has been covered in media.

ATAA is now expanding this campaign to urge every Turk around the world as well as friends of Turkey to react to The National Geographic's false reporting. Below is a sample letter which can be used as a reference or can be sent directly to the Editor in Chief.

Letters can be sent to the following e-mail, fax and address:

E-mail:	ngsforum@nationalgeographic.com
Fax:	(202) 828 5460
Address:	National Geographic Society P.O. Box 98199 Washington, DC 20090-8199

Visit ATAA's website to learn more about this campaign, and to read reactions of the Turkish Community: www.ataa.org

Please contact ATAA if you would like more information: (202) 483-9090 or assembly@ataa.org.

The National Geographic Society
P.O. Box 98199
Washington, DC 20090

Dear Editor,

With this letter, I register my protest and outrage against your biased article titled "The Rebirth of Armenia," which appeared in the March 2004 issue of your magazine. I have enjoyed the National Geographic for many years, but I am appalled by the publication of this article. I would expect much better from the editors of the National Geographic Magazine who claim to "set the standard of excellence in reporting."

The fact is that political extremists and aggression has created great suffering for the Armenian people in the past and it appears like their present day extensions are well and alive. It is very disturbing for me to see that such an internationally acclaimed publication as the National Geographic has been a medium to such propaganda.

The author basically re-writes history by solely reflecting the Armenian claims about the so-called genocide, and conveniently ignores the fact that neither historians nor the international community have accepted these allegations. The carnage of World War I was indeed horrifying. Both the Armenians' and Muslims' suffering was comparable, and so was the blame for the human tragedy.

The claim about the Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire to be two million is outrageous. The best demographic evidence places their population in the Ottoman Empire at 1.3 million at the time. Yet the author claims the estimates of dead to be as much as 1.5 million. This number is not just wrong, it is also dwarfed by the 2.3 million Ottoman Muslims who died over the same period.

No court of law with the trappings of due process ever convicted an Ottoman official of genocide or indiscriminate massacres of Armenians. Indeed, tens of thousands were left undisturbed in major cities like Istanbul. Decades before the war in 1914, Armenian extremists periodically resorted to terrorism in order to provoke reprisals from the Ottoman government. That terrorist heritage has never been shed. The vicious Armenian killings against the Turkish diplomats in the 1980s has been confessed by the Armenian terrorists themselves, who have been tried and convicted before court. It seems National Geographic did not bother to collect factual data on any of the claims mentioned in the article.

Your fable of Turkish hostility was woven exclusively from Armenian sources. Turkey is not, and was not, hostile to Armenia. She rushed to Armenia's aid with medicine, food and by providing electricity; opened its territory and air space to speed the transit of the humanitarian aid immediately after the disastrous earthquake of 1988.

National Geographic completely ignores the Azerbaijani suffering due to the Armenian invasion of 25% of their country. Today, nearly one million people are internally displaced because of Armenian invasion.

This article is one-sided, and is full of false information. This is not what I would expect to see in a publication of a prestigious institution such as The National Geographic Society. I believe that both the Turkish community and your members deserve an apology.