By Ruben Izmailyan ?
According to the recent discovery by Taner Akcam, the author of perhaps the most vicious anti-Armenian website on the web is an accomplished Turkish-American cartoonist. Hiding under the pseudonym of ?Holdwater? was Murad Gumen who for several years has run the infamous tallarmeniantale.com website (TAT).
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Besides spreading anti-Armenian rhetoric and at times comparing Armenians to rodents, while bitterly denying the notion of an Armenian Genocide, the site is also famous for belittling and vilifying some of the most notable scholars and individuals that have spoken or written about it.
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One of the biggest recipients of Holdwater's finger pointing is Taner Akcam, a renown human rights activist and Professor of History at the University of Minnesota, who has authored numerous prominent works on the Armenian Genocide and is considered to be one of the top experts on the Genocide. Mr. Gumen attempts to discredit and disrepute Akcam and others who refuse the official position of Ankara. Doing so behind a veil of anonymity, until recently, allowed Gumen to indiscriminately and shamefully slander dozens of other individuals including various historians, academics, politicians, activists, ambassadors and students.
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In one of his articles Holdwater, otherwise notoriously discreet and careful to not reveal his true identity, made reference to correspondence with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He did so without realizing that the personal communication contained in that file was in the public domain. Thus Taner Akcam was able to trace the identity of the man who anonymously headed a massive smear campaign against Akcam and many others.
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Mr. Akcam's discovery represents a victory not because Murad Gumen will likely never be allowed to make another Mickey Mouse comic, but because Mr. Akcam's quest for the truth has brought Holdwater and Akcam onto an even playing field. Thus since Holdwater is no longer anonymous he can not spread unfounded lies and harass people any more . He has since removed the webpage where the ill-advised reference to public correspondence was made. Perhaps Mr. Gumen is trying to cover his tracks , but it is far too late to cover up all the dishonesty, sleaziness and hateful rhetoric that made him a favorite tool of anti-Armenian elements and deniers of the Genocide.
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Source: HETQ, 11 June 2007 (adjusted)
www.hetq.am/eng/politics/0706-t_akcam.html
www.hetq.am/eng/politics/0706-t_akcam.html
ADDITIONAL READING ?
The other side of Muran Gumen
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How Dr. Taner Ak?am revealed the identity of the mysterious denier of the Armenian Genocide
An article by Dr. Taner Ak?am
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On July 27, 2005, Turkey?s Yeni Şafak newspaper published an interview, ?The Mysterious American Who Drives the Armenians Mad,? about an ?interesting and unique? person who writes under the pseudonym Holdwater.
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?This mysterious American has been financing, for many years, a highly effective, U.S.-based Internet site,? Yeni Şafak reports. ?The principal aim of Tall Armenian Tale: The Other Side of the Falsified Genocide is to provide substantial responses to the Armenian Diaspora?s claims of genocide.?
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According to the newspaper, Holdwater, a New York native, was born in the 1950s to Turkish parents who had migrated to America in the 1940s and raised their son without teaching him a single word of Turkish. He champions the Turkish theses [denial of the Armenian Genocide] on his website at www.tallarmeniantale.com.
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Holdwater says he uses a pseudonym because he is the target of threats and sabotage on a daily basis. ?If I tell you my real name and you publish it in your newspaper,? he told Yeni Şafak, ?trust me, within a few days neither my family harmony nor my good business nor my Internet site will still be in existence.? While afraid to disclose his own name because his peace will be disturbed, Holdwater does not hold back from publishing the photographs of intellectuals such as Halil Berktay and M?ge G??ek [of the Workshop for Armenian-Turkish Scholarship], and parading them as targets in his articles full of animosity and hatred. It is quite difficult to understand how someone who is afraid of being attacked can organize such ruthless campaigns of belligerence against others.I too am among Holdwater?s priority targets. He leads the campaign against me, along with institutions such as the Assembly of American Turkish Associations (ATAA) and the Turkish Forum. He publishes articles on his site which claim that I am a terrorist; that I am responsible of the death of Americans in Turkey ; and even that I have planned and organized murders of American civilians. He lists my ?terrorist activities? from the years 1974 to 1975, including precise dates and locations. These amount to nothing more than ordinary, small-scale arrests during student demonstrations of the era, which didn?t even make the press at the time. [See ?A Shameful Campaign,? Armenian Reporter, Mar. 17]. It doesn?t take too much intelligence to guess who might have passed to Holdwater the police records of these insignificant arrests, whose dates even I had forgotten. But here?s the real problem: Those who funnel this information to Holdwater as ?Taner Ak?am?s terrorist activities? are actually taking advantage of Holdwater?s ignorance about Turkey .
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Poor Holdwater thinks these arrests were for ?terrorist activities,? not realizing that they were all related to crimes of leafletting and postering, for which police permission had been obtained. He seems to have no idea that in 1970s Turkey , one had to obtain permission from what is now called the Security General Directorate?s Special Inspection Branch Directorate for Associations, and that even with a special permit in hand, one could be arbitrarily arrested and held at police headquarters for three to five days.
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Once I was arrested for an issue regarding the Cyprus landing. As the Student Association, we were distributing authorized leaflets against the [Turkish] military invasion of Cyprus [1974]. Despite showing our permits, we were held for two to three days at police headquarters.
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Those who are carrying out a campaign against me, portraying me as a ?terrorist,? are exploiting this ?mysterious American? called Holdwater. Their calculation is simple: To make use of the ?terrorist? image which took root in the U.S. after September 11.
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It is time for someone to take a closer look at the Holdwater issue.
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In his interview with Yeni Şafak newspaper on July 27, 2005, after stating the reasons for withholding his identity, Holdwater says: ?I have been able to sustain this struggle for 30 years because I have been able to keep my mouth shut. So please do not push me too much on this sensitive issue.? Holdwater claims to have exceptional skill at protecting his anonymity.I don?t know if anonymity lends a special mystery to Holdwater and a special meaning to his work, or if it makes people wonder, ?Who, actually, is this person?? It didn?t strike me that way. I had no interest either in his writings or in his website?until he took on a key role in the campaign against me.
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One of Holdwater?s important arguments in this campaign was that a complaint should be filed with American immigration authorities, denouncing me as a ?terrorist.? Now, I don?t know if he actually did such a thing. Nor am I aware of a direct link between his argument and my recent four-hour detention at the Canadian border. But I did mention Holdwater and the campaign in an article I wrote on the detention. [See ?A Shameful Campaign,? cited above.] Holdwater wrote a 30-page rebuttal, full of lies, insults and attacks. Holdwater relies on the fact that his name and address are withheld. No one knows who I am, so I?ll say whatever I like, he must think.
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This approach of Holdwater must be curbed, and he must be reminded that every game must be played according to its rules. To shamelessly insult others while hiding one?s own identity fits with no proper principle. It?s a disgrace, to say the least.
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Holdwater?s claim regarding his intense effort to conceal his identity doesn?t seem to ? hold water. Or he doesn?t take historians seriously enough. He doesn?t know we are enthusiastic about documents and love to trace them. To sum up, he has shown a certain degree of carelessness, the kind of carelessness committed by an ordinary person who fancies himself as very clever and more intelligent than others.
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Introducing himself on his website, Holdwater published some correspondence he sent and received in his own name?taking care to omit his name before posting the letters online.
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According to this correspondence, Holdwater wrote to President Jimmy Carter on April 2, 1980. This letter was forwarded to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, an organization established by the United States Congress in October 1980. [The USHMC is the governing body of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington , DC.]
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On June 2, 1980, Council Director Monroe H. Freedman answered Holdwater?s letter. One senses from the reply that Holdwater?s objections to referencing the Armenian Genocide were taken seriously. Freedman states that he lacks sufficient information on the ?Turkish theses? and asks Holdwater to forward citations of relevant sources.
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This, of course, is a great honor for Holdwater. Therefore, he sees no harm in publishing a facsimile of Freedman?s letter on his website, with Holdwater?s name removed. Also posted at Tall Armenian Tale is another letter he wrote, this one to the New York Times. We understand from this second letter that, on September 5, 1980, Holdwater had responded to Freedman?s June 2 letter.
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I don?t know whether Holdwater is aware of this, but the Holocaust Memorial Council and the Holocaust Museum it governs are public institutions?and therefore this correspondence is available to the public. Which means, in accordance with the principle of transparency, that anyone can view the originals of Holdwater?s letters.
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Once you have the text of Freedman?s letter dated June 2, 1980, and published by Holdwater, as well as the information that Holdwater wrote a reply on September 5, 1980, it is rather easy to access these documents. The Holocaust Museum must provide this information to anyone who demands it.
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Yes, Mr. Murad G?men, or, to use the English alphabet, Murad Gumen; as you see, one doesn?t have to be comic-strip detective Kerry Drake to find out who you are (Murad G?men understands very well what I mean). Tracing the documents published by you has proved sufficient. I believe you will stop taking historians so lightly from now on. As you have understood, we are talking about a document that you yourself have also published.
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As you may know, we scholars don?t particularly appreciate the alteration of documents. Such distortion is an occupation reserved for the Turkish Historical Society.
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Attacking others, and insulting them, while concealing your own name, does not fit moral conduct at all, Mr. Murad G?men. Believe me, I am still quite curious as to why you think that I, and many others in my position, do not deserve a right you so readily claim for yourself.
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Dr. Ak?am, a professor of history at the University of Minnesota , is the author of A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility (2006). The present article has been edited from a two-part article written for Istanbul ?s Agos newspaper (?Holdwater: The Mysterious American who Drives Armenians Mad,? May 18, 2007; and ?Holdwater: The Golden Rule,? May 25, 2007); the translations for both parts were by Nazım Dikbaş. The July 27, 2005, interview in Yeni Şafak was conducted by Ali Murat G?ven.
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Source: http://muradgumen.wordpress.com/2007/06/07/hello-world/?(abridged)
