President Message By Ergün Kırlıkovalı
 Dear Members of the Turkish American Community coast-to-coast:
I hope you and your family are having a wonderful holiday season.
It is customary to reflect upon the departing year at this time and rejuvenate expectations from the incoming.
The year 2011 will go down as eventful, dramatic, remarkable and rewarding for our community.
But let’s start with top issues around the globe in 2011. They were international financial crisis, economic downturn, financial meltdown in Greece threatening Euro-zone and beyond, global poverty, global warming, tsunamis, earthquakes, the occupy movement, Arab spring, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Israel, War on Terror, Afghanistan, and more. May I add that Türkiye was in the middle of almost all of those issues which must be an indication that Türkiye has grown beyond a regional power and fast becoming a global player.
At home in America, we kept talking about jobs, sluggish performance of the economy, mandatory features of the health care reform, over-burdened state pensions, balancing state and federal budgets, redrawing districts, lower funding for benefits, improving public safety without increasing its cost, redesigning higher education, enhancing student achievement, overcoming the gridlock over immigration reform, and maintaining infrastructure in the face of dwindling federal supply of money, among other things.
Our beloved homeland Türkiye remarkably continued to register economic growth, quarter after quarter, reduction in jobless rate, and a robust financial performance, while improving its infrastructure and supply of qualified labor force. But it also experienced several major earthquakes, mostly in and around the city of Van, and PKK terrorism mostly along the Turkish-Iraqi border and the territories on either side of it. Turkish reforms on all fronts continued at a dizzying pace.
Turning our attention now to our organization, the ATAA, we note the following:
The year started out, under Gunay Evinch’s presidency with a rich spectrum of activities involving inter-NGO events, high level visits, and more, peaking around the very successful First National Leadership Conference (Please refer to E-Newsletters 10-13 for more information on these most wonderful events.) Also noteworthy here was the fact that for the first time, Turkish Americans outnumbered the Armenian Americans during the April 24 rally in front of the Turkish Embassy, which must be considered a sign that the tide is turning.
Our recent elections in May were conducted in accordance with the letter and spirit of the ATAA Bylaws. I wish to introduce again our new officers here and congratulate them for volunteering to serve their community: President-Elect Mehmet Celebi, Secretary General Esra Alemdar, VP Capital Region Demet Cabbar, VP Midwestern Region Faruk Cingilli, VP New York Region Ibrahim Kurtulus, VP Northcentral Region Ibrahim Onaral, VP Northeastern Region Mehves Sonmez, and VP Southeastern Region Mazlum Kosma.
In June, I was honored to take over the ATAA presidency to be your 15th president. The months of June and July were mostly spent trying to inform and educate some politicians who introduced no less than six anti-Turkish resolutions. These unfair, unprovoked, and unsubstantiated attacks defaming our proud Turkish heritage were met with a dignified effort to educate the cosponsors of those resolutions.
In July, Turkish Americans celebrated the 37 th anniversary of the Cyprus Peace Operation of 1974, with a rally in front of the Turkish Embassy, where Turkish Americans, Turkish Cypriots and their friends vastly outnumbered the Greek Cypriots; the latter there to condemn the same peace operation. It is remarkable that peace has returned to the Island since that operation as no lives were lost in combat. Turkish Cypriots accepted the UN (Annan) Peace Plan in a referendum in 2004, while the Greek Cypriots rejected it. Ironically, the divided Cyprus was still allowed to enter the EU as a full member, as if to reward undermining peace, while the Turkish North continued to suffer the isolation imposed by the EU, as if to punish supporting peace.
In August, we established many committees and President’s Advisory Board. PAB is a group of people with a proven track record of leadership and service to the Turkish American community, who agree to offer the president, at periodical teleconferences, their experience and insight.
In September we took our message to the youth on the road. First stop Wright State University, Ohio, where we explored the little known cycle of "Mortality, Migration, and Renewal: History Forging Turkish Identity". I was happy to observe a vibrant Ahiska Turkish American community that is unafraid to explore the scope and depth of issues facing it; that takes courageous steps to solve them; that volunteers far and wide; that engages in American democracy; and that gives generously to our charitable causes.
October was very busy. First we attended the National Leadership Conference organized by Turkish Canadians in Kingston, Ontario. Then ATAA delegation visited Türkiye and met the leaders of Turkish politics, administration, economy, sports, academia, and more (see E-Newsletter 18).
November and December were mostly taken up by efforts to educate more politicians who introduced legislation defaming Türkiye and Turkish heritage. I am talking about H.Res. 306 in the U.S. and “memory law” punishing dissent in France.
In December, the ATAA headquarters hosted a series of exciting events: one for Macedonian-Turkish friendship, another for Somali-Turkish friendship, a third one to start a THY-ATAA cooperation program, and last one for Galatasaray Sports Club fans in USA .
Also in December, however, the U.S. House of Representatives adopted H. Res. 306: "Urging the Republic of Turkey to safeguard its Christian heritage and to return confiscated church properties". Besides conflicting with the relevant US and international reports, which commend centuries of freedom of religion in Turkey, H.Res. 306 contradicts the First Amendment of the US Constitution by demanding a privileged treatment of a particular faith in a foreign nation. Being influenced by ethnic lobbies, H.Res. 306 insults the very notion of religious freedom and exercises prejudice. Now that a stone has been cast by H.Res. 306, will the US Congress, in the interest of universal religious freedom, pass a companion resolution to ask Armenia, Greece, and South Cyprus to safeguard its Muslim and Jewish heritage and return confiscated mosque and synagogue properties? Or was the passage of H.Res. 306 a claim of right or "privileged treatment" reserved only for Christians? This law passed by—fasten your belt for this one—two votes in the US Congress! No, not the difference of two votes, altogether two votes! It was 5 am in the morning. Only three legislators were in the House: two voted yes, one voted no, and it passed! This is the kind of manipulations, abusing the American system, that undermine excellent relations between Türkiye and the U.S.
If you thought H.Res. 306 was bad, check this out. It is with great displeasure that we have learned of the attempt by the Government of France to make a law which will punish anyone denying the massacres of 1915 as “genocide” with imprisonment and fines. This proposed action is an attack on the freedom of thought and expression in France. It is also undemocratic, unfair, and an unethical measure, discriminatory to Muslims in general and Turks in particular. This law, if enacted, will not help make our world a more peaceful place. On the contrary, it will cause more divisions, polarizations, and conflict among countries, communities and people, by making past disputes a subject of continuous partisan contest and conflict. One would have to stop all dialogue and debate on past conflicts or avoid going to those countries altogether for fear of being arrested. What if the U.S. Congress passed a similar law, characterizing France's treatment of Algerians as a genocide and denial of Algerian genocide a crime punishable by imprisonment and fines?
In the United States, we believe that a person, or entity, is innocent until proven guilty. Nazi Germany was found to be guilty of genocide at the end of the Nuremberg Trials. By contrast, there has never been an international court verdict that has convicted the Ottoman Government of genocide. The United Nations does not recognize these events as genocide, either. If passed, this legislation will replace historical scholarship, debate, and dialogue by totalitarian, disciplinarian, and authoritarian laws. I hope the French Parliament will deny this proposed legislation and give a chance to freedom and democracy in France. I hope France will decide against provoking a frenzied competition to make the world map dotted with hate laws. Instead of passing unjust laws to harm its credibility, the French Government could help to form an international forum for historians and legal experts to study the archives of all the countries who were involved in this sad chapter of history.
Back to my year-end report: throughout 2011, the TABAN and Student Outreach programs nationwide went on unabated.
I wish to express my gratitude to all the members of the ATAA Board of Directors, Board of Trustees, Assembly of Delegates, and staff of professionals and interns. BOT Chairman Kursad Dogru has lead an great team of Trustees to replenish and grow the Endowment Fund. I thank our professional staff, Hakan Dakin, Art, Media and Communications Director, Secil Goksu, Programs Director, and Yenal Kucuker, Civic Engagement Director in charge of TABAN (Turkish American Broad Advocacy Network) events, for their selfless hard work in the service of the Turkish American community, on modest salaries and facing great challenges.
I wish you and your family a joyous holiday season and a happy new year!
Sincerely,
Ergün Kırlıkovalı
President
Assembly of Turkish American Associations
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