Armenian
Propaganda Campaign Alive and Well in Jerusalem
23
September 2003
By
S. Alfassa for the Assembly
of Turkish American Associations
I
have just returned to the United States after
spending a few months in Israel. As many people
know, the Old City of Jerusalem has been subdivided
into defacto ethnic divisions. There is the Jewish
Quarter, the Christian Quarter, the very large
Muslim Quarter, and the small Armenian Quarter.
The Armenian quarter is small, but it's auspicious
location allows for it to be used as a island
of propaganda as the tourists walk right through
their area on the famous descent to the Western
Wall plaza.
The
walls we see around the Old City were built by
Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in the sixteenth
century, roughly following the course of the walls
built by the Romans in the 2nd century. To enter
the Old City there are several gate, including
the Jaffa Gate and the Zion's Gate. The Jaffa
Gate lets you into a mixed Arab and Armenian area,
and the Zion's Gate lets you into the Armenian
quarter proper. These two gates, especially the
latter, is a primary entrance for tourists arriving
in the Old City. Tour buses holding tourists from
nations across the globe park outside the Zion's
gate, then walk their groups up the hill, through
the gate Suleiman constructed to defend the city,
then walk these tourists into the arms of the
Armenian propagandists.
Zion's
gate (Bab Nabi Daud) was built for Sultan
Suleiman in 1540 so that he may visit the Tomb
of Kind David which is nearby outside the city
walls. On the stone walls which make up the gate,
as well as on the walls throughout the Armenian
quarter are large white posters, entitled 'Map
of the Armenian Genocide.' They are more than
an eyesore, they are revisionist history at its
finest. Measuring almost a meter long, and ¾
of a meter high printed in black and red, these
ubiquitous posters usually gather large crowds
which stand reading their misinformation. On both
sides of the map (which contains cities colored
with blood-red circles) are photos of dead bodies.
After tourists see these signs, which would catch
anyone's attention, they then go to the store
owners, the locals, who then get to reinforce
their version of what happened during the war
years of 1915-1923.
The
Armenians and their church in Jerusalem act as
if they were saints during the war, equating their
plight to the Jews during the Holocaust. What
they don't tell you is that witnesses saw truck
loads of arms and ammunition taken out of their
churches in 1915. I quote the respected Turkish-born
Albert Amateau. A descendant of Jews who were
expelled from Spain in 1492 and settled in the
Ottoman Empire, his grandfather later rose to
hold the post of Hahambashi of Palestine. Before
he died at the age of 106, Amateau documented
his personal observations in his: "Sworn
Statement of Albert J. Amateau on the allegations
that Armenians suffered "genocide" by
the government of the Ottoman Empire:
"If
1.5 million Armenian lost their lives during
that war, they died as soldiers, fighting a
war of their own choosing against the Ottoman
Empire which had treated them decently and benignly.
They were the duped victims of the Russians,
of the Allies, and of their own Armenian leaders."
These
placards proclaiming "Map of the Armenian
Genocide" have been posted for many years
now, and they are replaced when they fade or occasionly
are torn. Though the posting of these signs in
the Old City are illegal, they are put on with
a sticky substance which does not allow for their
complete removal. The police and the city of Jerusalem
do not enforce their own sign ordinances in regards
to these illegal postings, and thus a new generation
of people are getting a daily dose of dishonesty
and revisionism.
###
Note: Albert Amateau's complete
statement is located at http://www.sephardicstudies.org/aa3.html
