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Istanbul Book Fair-2006
    

An Overview and Panel on US Ambassador Henry Morgenthau

Orhan Pamuk's poster (left), Emre Kongar (right) Istanbul TUYAP Book Fair, 2006
Photo: Yuksel Oktay

The 25th Istanbul Book Fair was held at the TUYAP Fair and Convention Center in Beylikduzu, 40 kms west of the city centre between Oct 28 and Nov 5, 2006. The theme of the fair, organized jointly by TUYAP and the Turkish Publishers Association, was "The 25 Years of the Book Fair: A Journey Story." There were close to 500 publishers at the fair and over 250 events, with over 800 Turkish and foreign authors participating. Author and literary critic Dogan Hizlan was the honorary guest author of the fair. Initial estimates were that over 300,00 would attend the fair, surpassing last years actual attendance of 317,000. However, the bad weather and snow that hit Istanbul on Saturday might have kept away some of the visitors.

The presentations and panels covered a large variety of subjects, from poets to novelists. The first one was "Investigative Reporting from Ugur Mumcu to Present." where Ugur Dundar and Haluk Sahin were among the speakers. There were several presentations on "Children's Books." Yalcin peksen talked about his book, "The Turkler." Mahir Kaynak and Omer Lutfi Mete spoke on "Who is running the world."

There were three presentations related to the Armenian issue. The first presentation, "The Armenian Genocide Lies with the Armenian Documents' was made by Mehmet Perincek and Orhon Kologlu. The second presentation was by Former Ambassador Gunduz Aktan who spoke on "Racism in Europe and Armenian Genecodide Claims." There were around 15 at the presentation and Aktan spoke for half an hour, opening the floor for questions for the next half hour, which were mostly related to Turkey's membership in the European Union. To a question as to why Orhan pamuk and Elif Safak would be advocating the Armenian genocide, Gunduz Aktan stated that it is probably due to lack of knowledge on what really happened during the war years, stating that he first learned of the Armenian issue back in 1983 although he was working for the foreign services.

The third was a panel discussion which was identified as , ''Facing History In Morgenthau's Memoirs'' in the official catolog, with Attila Tuygan as the moderator and Ragip Zarakolu and Raffi Hermonn as the speakers. However, the poster in front of the "Buyukada" conference room, with a photograph of the Ambassador, said, ''Ambassador Morgentau is in Istanbul after 90 years'', with two speakers added, Ms. Gulcicek Gunel and Mr. Ali Sait Cetinoglu.

Inside the room, there was a large photograph of Morgenthau hanging on the front wall with a statement, ''Welcome to Turkey''. Three books in Turkish, translation of Morgnethau's Book,'' Buyuk Elci Morgentau's Hikayesi'', "Turk Kaynaklarinda Ermeni Soykirimi - Toplu Makaleler 2” by Vahakn N. Dadrian, translated by Attila Tugan, and another book called, "Ittihat Terakkiden Gunumuze, Yek Tarz-i siyaset: Turklestirme'' by Gulcicek Gunel, were displayed on the table. Many books by Armenians and others on the Armenian issue are now being translated into Turkish by Belge Publishers in Istanbul..

First, Ali Sait Cetinoglu spoke about Morgenthau and praised him as being the witness to the Armenian genocide. This was followed by a  talk on the ''Turkification of Anatolia'' by a Kurdish writer Gulcicek Gunel, which was not listed in the original program advertised.

Probably there were never so much praise of Morgenthau, who was characterized as ''witness to history'' and ''the first one to recognize the Armenian genocide.'' Ragip Zarakolu opened the panel speaking highly of Morgenthau and began his talk with the relocation of Greeks of Anatolia. He stated that the world was watching the resettlement of Armenians in 1915 and that the New York Times had published 250 articles on this subject. Than he welcomed Henry Morgenthau to Istanbul.

The first speaker, Ali Sait Cetinoglu, with whom I had a chance to chat before the panel who said he was unemployed and was not a writer, spoke highly of Morgenthau also and characterized him as a very courageous man, recording everything he witnessed daily, even the Battle of Dardannelles. Cetinoglu claimed that Enver Pasa had told Morgenthau that he had taken care of the Armenian issue in 3 months, something that the Germans had been trying for 30 years. Then, Cetinoglu made reference to Refik Rifki, who, he calimed, stated that the Ottoman History was written by lies, which is not considered a bad thing in the east. Cetinoglu also stated that the Ottomans had used the Anatolian Greeks as human shields during the war in Trabzon.

Gulcicek Gunel, who started by stating that she grew up in a small village of Kozluk town of Batman and she did not speak a word of Turkish until she was enrolled in the elementary school and that her grandmother was Armenian. Then when she went to Van, she met Lazs and Circassians for the first time and later she married a Turkish man. Referring to the multi-national and multi-lingual Ottoman society, she said that Turks were an insignificant part (igreti azinlik.) Gunel also made references to some of the earlier writings of Ziya Gokalp stating that Turks were an insignificant part of the society, ignoring the fact that Ziya Gokalp was the principal advocate of creating the nation of Turks based on culture and not ethnicity. In fact Ziya Gokalp also advocated the use of Turkish in prayers and in everyday life, even stating that this leads one to one's native country, the fatherland, in one of his poems.

Then, Raffi Hermonn spoke about Morgentahu also, addressing the audience with "Merhaba" in several different languages. Hermonn first stated that he is back in Istanbul after an absence of 25 years and spoke about the genocide, referring to it as "the great catastrophe." He claimed that, following the disastrous Balkan war, the Moslems fleeing from the Balkans decided to make Anatolia their home and planned the deportation of the minorities living there, and no one in the diaspora has committed any crime against humanity.

The presentations covered the entire allocated time of one hour and  Ragip Zarakolu, as the moderator, said that there were no time left for questions. A gentelman sitting at the front objected and told Ragip that the audience should be told ''who Morgenthau really was'' and that ''he had not witnessed anything, never ventured outside the environs of the city, visiting only Jerusalem during his tenure, and his book is nothing more than what his Armenian secretary and Armenian translator wrote.'' He said there was no time and repeated what he had said earlier, ''Mr. Morgenthau, welcome to Istanbul'' and 30 of the 40 attendees clapped their hands as if they did not want me to say anything more. Ragip Zarakoglu stated that the discussions could continue outside. It was shocking to witness this at a Book Fair in Istanbul and not as if this was at an Armenian conference outside of Turkey.

When we all went to the corridor, the gentelman who asked the questions showed an Orange Book, "The Murder of A Nation'', by Amb. Henry Morgenthau, which is a re-print of the sections on Armenian issue from Morgentahu's book, and told Ragip Zarakolu that they should translate this book also, complete with the title, reading several anti-Turkish passages from the book. Zarakolu commented that he had never seen the book. Prof. Turkkaya Ataov and Amb. Bilal Simsir were downstairs, signing their books at the "Ileri Yayincilik" stand. The gentelman took refuge with them and told them about the panel.

                 Prof. Dr. Turkkaya and his new books and monographs

Prof. Dr. Turkkaya Ataov was at the fair every day, signing his new Turkish books, and old books as well, which must number now close to one hundred.

       1-       MAVI  KITABA  YANIT, has several references to Amb. Morgenthau
      
2-       ERMENI BELGE  DUZMECILIGI
      
3-       AMERIKA NATO ve TURKIYE
      
4-       SIYONIZM ve IRKCILIK

Prof. Ataov recently completed two excellent monographs on the war propaganda and the fate of the Armenians.

1.    THE BRITISH BLUE BOOKS, Vehicles of War Propaganda  1914-1918”   
2.    What Happened to the Ottoman Armenians

On Thursday, Amb. Bilal Simsir joined Prof. Ataov at the Ileri Yayinevi, signing his books, including his new book, "Ataturk ve Cumhuriyet."


Prof. Dr. Turgut Ozakman and "Cilgin Turkler"

Among the many authors at the fair signing their books, Turgut Ozakman was still busy signing his book, "Cilgin Turkler" which is still on the best seller list. In fact, a play has been created with the same title which is being staged now.


Posters of Orhan Pamuk


Huge posters of Orhan  Pamuk were hanging at the "Iletisim Yayinlari" stand, where many of his books were also displayed. However, there were no presentations on his winning the Nobel Prize in literature. In fact, one of the newspapers reported that the public were not paying too much attention to his books.

Elif Safak at the Milliyet Publications Stand


The fair visitors were given an opportunity to see and talk to Elif Safak who was at the the Milliyet Publications stand on Tuesday. According to a friend who was there, she spoke about her ordeal with the lawsuit and the publication of her book, "Baba ve Pic" (soon to be published in the USA as The Bastard of Istanbul.) Evidently she emphasized the lack of memory of historical facts, referring to the Armenian issue, neglecting what happened all over the Balkans, which is not well known in Turkey either.


In an article published in Tercuman, Tuna Serim makes reference to Elif Safak and states that, despite "Baba and Pic" being the number one book on the bestsellers list, not many were reading her books either.



Events for Children

One of the best aspects of the fair was the events scheduled for children that included painting workshops and reading hours. The fair was full of children of all ages, buying books, asking questions, and just being kids.


Redhouse and SEV Publications

After visiting several stands, I stopped at the Redhouse and SEV Publications stand where I was hoping to pick up a copy of former Tarsus American Collge Principal Frank Stone's second book, but they did not have it. However, "TAC'li Yillar" and former literature teacher Haydar Gofer's book, "Hocama Mektuplar" was available.

Yuksel Oktay, PE
November 5, 2006
Istanbul.


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