Hellenic Electronic Center

Letter to the Editor,

The following is in response to Michael Rubin's October 19 critique of the Islamist movement in

Turkey. Although Mr. Rubin is correctly fearful of Turkey's future, much of his analysis is propa-
gandistic and derives from a vision of a Turkish state that has never existed. Mr. Rubin laments
the attempt of Islamists to establish an Islamic State, but Mr. Erdogan and his movement could
not have succeeded save for the failure and collapse of Mustafa Kemal's Revolution. Mr. Rubin
completely ignores the Kemalist establishment's repression of Turkish dissidents Ragip Zarakolu
and Orhan Pamuk.

Furthermore, the distorted view of history promoted by Mr. Rubin fails to discuss the syste-
matic genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Greek Orthodox minority under various Turkish
leaderships over the decades. The notorious anti-Greek pogroms of 1955, the systematic
deportations of Armenians, Jews, and Greeks into Anatolian labor camps during the
Second World War, and the genocide of Christian Greeks, Armenians, and Assyrians
that paved the way for Mustafa Kemal's dictatorship are all conveniently ignored by Mr.
Rubin. It is the systematic acquiescence to Turkish atrocities by American officials and
writers such as Mr. Rubin that protected the Turkish paramilitary State over many decades,
thus destroying democracy and allowing Islamic militancy to emerge as the main opposition

against Kemalist authoritarianism.

Islamic militants are not the only terrorists in Turkey. Turkish security forces have been openly
supporting the Grey Wolves. In 1996, these notorious fascists slaughtered four Greek Cypriots.
Recent US reports shed light on the fate of the missing Greek Cypriots and mainland Greeks
captured during the Turkish invasions of Cyprus in 1974 -- they perished in labs used to develop

weapons of mass destruction, victims of Turkish experimentation with chemical and biological

weapons for use against the Kurds and in any subsequent action against Greek Cypriots. The

ethnic cleansing of the Greek majority from occupied  Cyprus, the flight of the majority of Turkish

Cypriots from the occupied territory, and subsequent colonization by Turkish settlers are not only

indicative of Turkish brutality, but the ongoing occupation, acquiesced to by the U.S., is resulting in

the Islamicization of the island, evidenced by the destruction of Greek Orthodox Churches and construction

of Islamic mosques. Mr. Rubin and other Turkish apologists have conveniently ignored the role of the Turkish

military and other nationalist elements in the systematic repression of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the
encouragement of extremists who have bombed the First Throne of Eastern Orthodoxy four times
between 1994 and 2004.

If Mr. Rubin and other Turkish apologists cared to examine Turkey's genocidal policies toward 
Christians, they would not be surprised that Islamic fundamentalists are faring well today.
Secular Turkish leaders have long made use of Islamists when convenient to do so. This was
the case during the anti-Greek pogroms of 1955, and in Cyprus where Islamic Mosques are
replacing Byzantine Churches.