Letter to Rep. Frank Pallone

MAZLUMDER General Chairman Ahmet Faruk Ünsal wrote letter to Rep. Frank Pallone about his statement in congress.

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Frank Pallone Criticized MAZLUMDER for its criminal complaint against Israel in Turkey about Gaza War. Pollone said “I was startled to read that Mazlum-Der plans to investigate 19 Israelis including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, President Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livini, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak for orchestrating genocide. While Israelis are defending themselves against constant attacks from Hamas, MAZLUMDER insists this is genocide. How can this organization accuse Israel of committing genocide when it has yet to categorize the thousands of killings in Darfur as genocide? The Turkish people need to step back and question their skewed understanding of genocide. Look in the mirror, look at your own history, come to terms with the fact that 1.5 million Armenians died and when contemporary genocides, like Darfur, take place it must be denounced.”

Full statement of Rep. Frank Pallone http://www.anca.org/press_releases/press_releases.php?prid=1660

MAZLUMDER General Chairman Ahmet Faruk Ünsal wrote below letter to Rep. Frank Pallone about his statement.

To the Honorable Rep. Frank Pallone

Subject: About Your Statement in Congress on February 13, 2009

Organization for Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed People MAZLUMDER has come to learn about your statement on February 13, 2009 about criminal complaint against Israel, Armenian Issue and Darfur. We shall allow you the benefit of the doubt that some of the claims you make may well owe themselves to misinformation or better yet lack of information on your part. However, we are obliged to write this letter to clarify and get right a few points

With its motto since 1991, “Against the oppressor whoever s/he is, on the side of the oppressed whoever s/he is” MAZLUMDER was established in Turkey to fight for universal human rights.

It is true that on 29.01.2009 MAZLUMDER brought complaint against Israel accusing her of genocide in Gaza. To support its claim, MAZLUMDER presented ample evidence—also verified by others on the globe—documented in the claim and our report, most of which was gathered personally by our officers through their on site examination of the devastated area after Israeli bombings. Both documents are available on MAZLUMDER’s website.

You make mention of Israel’s right to defend itself. Defend it against whom? Under such false pretense, Israeli bombings left behind 1417 dead in the Gaza, including a number of women and children, and an inordinate material destruction, leading to an incredible human tragedy. On the other hand, as result of attacks on Israel, designed to persuade Israel to lift the embargo on the Gaza strip have left, according to best estimates, 20 dead. By no means do we take lightly death of single human. However, attacking a helpless group of people squeezed to a corner with illegal embargo, with an inordinately disparate force by the most powerfully equipped army on the globe, would indubitably bother the conscience of any decent human being. We leave the question, “If such an attack is not genocide, what is it?” to your conscience and the conscience of history.

In your speech, you claim to have been shocked; hearing the demand for Ehud Olmert, Shimon Peres, Tzipi Livni, and Ehud Barak should be tried for genocide. Surely, you must know that at this moment millions of people on the globe are startled by Israel’s attack on the Gaza with internationally banned weapons of destruction and tons of bombs. Feelings of many go far beyond mere startling.

MAZLUMDER’s stance on the alleged “Armenian Issue” is the right and just one. In 1915, Armenians, Kurds, and Turks did commit wrongs against one another. Who can claim it to be just and fair to only bring forth the sufferings of one group and ignoring the others? We approach with equal compassion and sympathy to everyone’s suffering.

You ignore the Kurds’ and the Turks’ sufferings completely. What happened was a human tragedy, not only for Armenians but for all living in the troubled area of the region.

Your argument that MAZLUMDER has remained silent to the atrocities in Darfur is baseless. We will attribute this to lack of proper information on your part. Politicians are notorious when it comes to making claims based on skimpy information. Our organization has long been voicing its concerns on Darfur and culpability of Sudanese government of the crimes committed. Our repeated calls and visits to the Sudanese Embassy in Ankara have remained without answers, but we keep trying. We have given our qualified support to the handling of Darfur matter in International Criminal Court. How about the same court looking into the similar atrocities committed elsewhere in the world, such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Palestine? We know, of course, it is not the court that decides which matters to look into. Is it not the UN Security Council to blame for that? Does that not make the UN Security Council—established to ensure law and order in the world—a political instrument to dictate the will of the West on the rest of the world?

We, at MAZLUMDER, shall never yield to injustice and human rights violations anywhere on the globe. No one’s life is more sacred than the other’s. For this very reason we do not approve your approach about criminal complaint against Israel, Armenian Issue and Darfur. MAZLUMDER shall always within its means stand against injustice, regardless of race, color or creed of the victim or the villain.

We trust this letter will persuade you to look into some matters in a different light in the future.

Sincerely,

Ahmet Faruk Unsal,

Chairman