The Mysteries Of The Past Are Tied To The Present In The Mediterranean

Geography Still Commands the Mediterranean World

By Emil AvdalianiSeptember 14, 2017

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Mediterranean coastline, image via Max Pixel

BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 587, September 14, 2017

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The migrant crisis in Europe that followed the wars in Libya and Syria exposed the Mediterranean world’s long-dormant interconnectedness. That unity is deeply rooted in the geography of the region.

The Mediterranean world as it was originally constituted – a world that was obscured for centuries by the prevailing political and economic systems in the Middle East and North Africa on the one hand and the European continent on the other – is now reasserting itself. This process is largely explained by the region’s geography.

A look at the map shows that although the Mediterranean Sea borders three continents (Europe, Asia, and Africa), it is essentially a closed sea with only narrow outlets to the oceans (through the Gibraltar Strait and the Suez Canal). The Mediterranean is full of peninsulas and islands, and those geographical features enable the nations that control them to be dominant maritime and economic powers.

If we look around the sea, we can see that geographical barriers close it off from the heart of Africa, the rest of the Middle East, and Central and Northern Europe. The barrier in North Africa is the Sahara Desert, while in the Middle East it is the Syrian Desert and the rugged land of Anatolia, along with the Euphrates River. In Europe, the Mediterranean is closed off by the Alps, the Balkan mountainous territory, and, further afield, the Rhine and Danube Rivers.

From a geographical perspective, North Africa does not quite belong to the rest of the African continent, as there is hardly any infrastructure or economic activity in the Sahara. North Africa has always been more influenced by the Mediterranean region, particularly southern Europe.

The same goes for Syrian territory, which is disconnected from the rest of the Middle East by a desert that stretches to Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and the Arabian Peninsula. The only connection Syria has to the region is through northern Iraq.

Modern technologies may make the Apennine, Balkan, and Pyrenees barriers more penetrable, but those geographical features – which shaped the behavior of the Mediterranean peoples for centuries – are still there. Geography integrated the territories of three continents into one economic space, a dynamic that played out over millennia in the Mediterranean.

Take, for example, the Phoenicians, who established their colonies in North Africa and modern Spain and controlled many islands in the Mediterranean. Their colonies and territories, which were more related to one another than to the inland territories of either the Middle East or North Africa, came to comprise a veritable trade empire.

The same was accomplished by the Greeks, who colonized the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Connectivity by sea facilitated the creation of a trade empire, with metropolises in mainland Greece reaping most of the benefit.

However, the Phoenicians, the Greeks, and, later, the Carthaginians lacked sufficient human resources to politically dominate the Mediterranean coastline. These seafaring peoples did not manage to shut off the Mediterranean from other rising powers.

This brings us to the Romans. The Roman Empire, which essentially closed off the sea to outside powers, perfectly demonstrated the geographical interconnectedness of the Mediterranean world.

The extent to which geography dominates the Mediterranean world can be determined by examining the extent of the Roman conquest. Roman legions did not go beyond the rich North African provinces, as the territories deep in the heart of Africa were not economically worth the effort to control. Caesar, Augustus, Diocletian, and other Roman leaders were also not particularly keen to capture all of Germany, as the Rhine and Danube Rivers were viewed as good defensive barriers. The same could be said about the Middle East, where the Romans did not (for the most part) attempt to permanently occupy lands beyond the Euphrates River.

Connecting to the Modern Epoch

The Mediterranean region was united in the past. For the Phoenicians, the Greeks, and especially the Romans, what was going on in North Africa and the Middle East was very important, as the lands were connected to one another both economically and militarily.

The Arab conquests disrupted this connection. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East became Islamic while the rest of the Mediterranean remained Christian. In the centuries to follow, the economic and military development of these regions diverged. In some instances – the Crusades, for example – the regions came into direct conflict.

Their paths diverged further in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. During that period, Europe industrialized while the Middle East and North Africa lagged behind.

European colonization followed by two devastating world wars caused Mediterranean interconnectedness to reassert itself, with Germans and Italians in Africa and the British defending themselves in Egypt. During that period, what happened in North Africa was again of consequence to Europeans. But that interconnectedness receded once more – until the Syrian and Libyan conflicts of the early 2010s reignited the idea.

We live in a highly connected world in which modern technologies sometimes trump geography – but geographical features still play a powerful role in shaping human behavior. Today’s Mediterranean migrant crisis echoes events that occurred in the region centuries ago, with varying intensity. It is once again clear that Italy, Spain, and Greece, although all part of a grand European project (the EU), are nevertheless inextricably linked to events in North Africa and the Middle East.

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Emil Avdaliani teaches history and international relations at Tbilisi State University and Ilia State University. He has worked for various international consulting companies and currently publishes articles focused on military and political developments across the former Soviet space.

BESA Center Perspectives Papers are published through the generosity of the Greg Rosshandler Family

Hanukkah Has Been An Example For The Ages Of Freedom

All you wanted to know about the Jewish Holiday of Chanukah 2016. It Happens to begin Christmas eve Dec. 24, 2016

Read More About: "We have not occupied a foreign land. We have not ruled a foreign land. We have liberated the land of our forefathers from foreign occupation." Shimon’s statement is still relevant in 2016.

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From guide by Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, “Second Thought: US-Israel Initiative”
1. Chanukah and Jewish immortality. In 1899, Mark Twain wrote: “Jews constitute but one percent of the human race…, [but] their contributions to literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine and abstruse learning are away out of proportion to the weakness of their numbers. They have made a marvelous fight in all the ages, and had done it with their hands tied behind them….
The Egyptians, Babylonians and Persians rose and then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greeks and Romans followed, made vast noise and they are gone…. The Jew saw them all, beat them all and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies…. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?”
2. The Chanukah Menorah (a nine-branched-candelabra) commemorates the legacy of the Maccabees, which has been a pillar of fire for the Jewish people, highlighting the prerequisites of spiritual and physical liberty, in defiance of formidable odds: faith, optimism, patriotism, memory and adherence to value and principle-driven culture. The Maccabees have become a universal role-model of national and religious liberation struggle against all odds, the victory of long-term, principle-driven faith over short-term, convenience-driven cynicism and opportunism; the victory of tenacious optimism over pessimism and political-correctness.
3. Israel’s Founding Father, David Ben Gurion: “The struggle of the Maccabees was one of the most dramatic clashes of civilizations in human history…. The Maccabees overcame one of the most magnificent spiritual, political and military challenges in Jewish history due to the spirit of the people, rather than the failed spirit of the establishment ….” (Uniqueness and Destiny, pp 20-22, Ben Gurion, IDF Publishing, 1953)
4. The US connection:
* On December 2, 1993, in Billings, Montana, white supremacists tossed a brick through a window of a Jewish home that displayed the Chanukah Menorah. On the following morning, the Billings Gazette – reflecting sentiments of local churches and civic leaders – printed a full-page Menorah, which was pasted on the windows of over 10,000 non-Jewish residents in a show of solidarity. Some Billings’ residents displayed their Not in Our Town spirit, displaying Chanukah Menorahs on Billings’ main street. The Billings’ Chanukah gesture has been commemorated annually. A Chanukah candle-lighting was recently held at the State Capitol in Helena, MT.
*A bust of Judah the Maccabee is displayed at West Point Military Academy, along with those of Joshua, David, Alexander the Great, Hector, Julius Caesar, King Arthur, Charlemagne and Godfrey of Bouillon – “the Nine Worthies.”
*John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry, Paul Revere, Thomas Paine and the organizers of the Boston Tea Party were referred to as “the modern day Maccabees.”
* According to the Diary of Michael and Louisa Hart, George Washington was introduced to Chanukah in December 1777 at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. He was challenging the much superior British military. A Jewish solider lit a Chanukah candle, explaining its significance: a conviction-driven, tactical victory against immense odds. Washington replied: “I rejoice in the Maccabees’ success, though it is long past…It pleases me to think that miracles still happen.” On June 19, 1778, Washington implemented the battle tactics of Judah the Maccabee, defeating the British troops.
*”In God We Trust” is a derivative of the Maccabees’ battle cry, an adaptation of Moses’ battle cry against the builders of the Golden Calf: “Whoever trusts God; join me!”
*In 1921, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis stated: “As part of the eternal worldwide struggle for democracy, the struggle of the Maccabees is of eternal worldwide interest….”
*The US Postal Service has issued Chanukah stamps, annually, since 1996.
5. Chanukah’s historical context according to the Books of the Maccabees, The Scroll of Antiochus and The War of the Jews by Joseph Ben Mattityahu (Josephus Plavius): In 175 BCE, the Seleucid Emperor Antiochus (IV) Epiphanies of Syria (one third of the disintegrated Greek Empire) wished to exterminate Judaism and forcibly convert Jews to Hellenic values, suspecting that the Jews were allies of his chief rival, Egypt.
In 169 BCE, upon his return to Syria from a war against Egypt, Antiochus (IV) devastated Jerusalem, massacred Jews, forbade the practice of Judaism and desecrated the Temple.
The 167 BCE Jewish rebellion featured the Hasmonean (Maccabee) family: Mattityahu, a priest from the town of Modi’in, and his five sons, Yochanan, Judah, Shimon, Yonatan and Elazar. The heroic, creative battle tactics of the Maccabees, were consistent with the reputation of Jews as superb warriors, who were frequently hired as mercenaries by Egypt, Syria, Rome and other global and regional powers. The battles of the Maccabees inspired the Jewish rebellion against the Roman Empire from the battle against Pompey in 63 BCE through the end of the Bar Kokhba Rebellion in 135 CE.
6. The name Maccabee  is a derivative of the Hebrew word Makevet , power hammer in Hebrew. It is also a derivative of the Hebrew verb Cabeh, to extinguish. Maccabee, is also the Hebrew acronym of “Who could resemble you among gods, O Jehovah”. Maccabee could be the Latin spelling of the Hebrew word Matzbee, the commander.
7. Chanukah – the longest Jewish holiday – is the only Jewish holiday that commemorates a Land of Israel national liberation struggle, unlike Passover (Egypt), Sukkot/Tabernacles and Shavuot/Pentecost (the Sinai Desert) and Purim (Persia).
8. The mountain ridges of Judea and Southern Samaria were the platform of the critical Maccabees’ battles: When ordered by Antiochus (Book of Maccabees A: 15:33) to end the “occupation” of Jerusalem, Jaffa, Gaza, Gezer and Akron, Shimon the Maccabee responded: “We have not occupied a foreign land; we have not ruled a foreign land; we have liberated the land of our forefathers from foreign occupation.” Shimon’s statement is still relevant in 2016.
9. Chanukah  celebrates the initiation/inauguration  of the reconstructed Temple. Chanukah  is education-oriented. According to the First Book of Maccabees, Judah instituted an eight-day holiday on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev 165 BCE (just like King Solomon’s eight-day celebration of the inauguration of the First Temple),

UN Is The Promoter Of Islam Worldwide

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UN Plan to Turn the World into an Islamic Colony? by Maria Polizoidou November 2, 2016 at 5:00 am https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9242/un-islamic-colony Share199 Comment The UN is the mothership of injustice and radical global Islamization. As the UN does not recognize the historical presence and continuity of the Jewish people in their land, the next people on the menu in UNESCO's food chain are most likely the Greeks and then the Italians. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan already said as much last week. No one would be surprised if UNESCO, to institutionalize the Islamic presence in the international community, claims that Greeks have nothing to do with the Acropolis and the Parthenon, and that Italy has no historical ties to the Colosseum in Rome. With the rate of admission of Muslims into Greece, by 2050 the Greeks will be a minority in their own country. The Greek media chose not to inform the Greek people on the attitude of their politicians towards the Jewish nation because it would expose their preference for Islam over Israel, and the Greek people might not see this choice in a positive light. How can Greece credibly ask for help from the global community on the issue of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, when the politicians themselves maintain a neutral attitude on the virtually identical issue of the Jerusalem's Temple Mount? When the news arrived that UNESCO does not recognize the connection of the Jewish people to Jerusalem's Temple Mount, it brought to mind that the UN is the mothership of injustice and radical global Islamization. Its members, which include the large bloc of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) -- 56 Islamic nations plus "Palestine" -- evidently believe that if they want to transform the Western world into an Islamic colony, first they must bring down the State of Israel. This resembles the suggestion in ancient Greece of the exiled Greek general, Demaratos, to the king of Persia, Xerxes: If you want Greece to fall, first you have to destroy the Spartans. If Jerusalem falls into the hands of Islam, the rest of the world will presumably fall. UNESCO's decision is not only nonsensical from a historical perspective (Islam did not even exist at the time of ancient Jerusalem), basically it is also a strategic move against the cultural foundations of the West. As the UN does not recognize the historical presence and continuity of the Jewish people in their land, the next people on the menu in UNESCO's food chain are most likely the Greeks and then the Italians. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan already said as much last week. Greece hosts two million illegal immigrants from Muslim-majority countries. Research in Greece shows that with the aging of the native population and emigration of young people, due of Greece's economic crisis, by 2050 native Greeks will number only 8.3 million, which is 2.5 million fewer than today. With the rate of admission of Muslims into Greece, by 2050 the Greeks will be a minority in their own country. No one would be surprised if, a few years from now, UNESCO, to institutionalize the Islamic presence in the international community, claims that Greeks have nothing to do with the Acropolis and the Parthenon, and that Italy has no historical ties to the Colosseum in Rome. The recent UNESCO resolution on Jerusalem should particularly worry the political establishment not only in Greece but throughout Europe: such flamboyant injustice from the UN against the history of an ancient nation, such as the Jews', shows a blind partiality toward Islam, and could be committed against any of us. Turkey's President already wants to turn the iconic Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Istanbul into a mosque, and has appointed a full-time imam who says daily Islamic prayers in this most sacred space of the Greek Orthodox. Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Istanbul is for Orthodox Christians what Mecca is for Muslims and the Western Wall is for Jews. It has been declared as a UNESCO world heritage monument, but the Turkish President nevertheless wants to turn it into a mosque. Despite these threats to the entire Greek heritage, however, virtually all members of the Greek establishment submissively closed their eyes to the UN's rapacious injustice against the Jewish people, because this time it was not against them: they chose to abstain during the UNESCO vote. The Greek government, Alexis Tsipras and Panos Kammenos with the cooperation of the opposition of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, chose not to honor the strategic relationship that they otherwise claim our country has developed with the State of Israel. They insulted not only the Jewish people and the friendly feelings Greeks have for our neighbors in the Mediterranean, but the entire heritage of the West, which is seriously threatened. The Greek media and 99% of news websites chose not to inform the Greek people about the attitude of their politicians towards the Jewish nation because it would expose their preference for Islam over Israel, and the Greek people might not see this choice in a positive light. This dishonest attitude from the Greek political system against a friend and ally undermines Greece on the international stage, as it reveals Greece as an unreliable interlocutor. The Greek government jeopardizes Greece's security: no country will trust Greek politicians again. Our politicians are apparently preparing our country to be the next "snack" at the UN's and Turkey's breakfast, and they know it. How can Greece credibly ask for help from the global community on the issue of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, when the politicians themselves maintain a neutral attitude on the virtually identical issue of the Jerusalem's Temple Mount? How can Greece credibly ask for help from the global community on the issue of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul (right), when its politicians maintain a neutral attitude on the virtually identical issue of the Jerusalem's Temple Mount (left)? The Greek political system in its entirety does not honor the Greek nation's history, its values and its constancy toward its friends and allies. It is a system which has no political mandate from the Greek people. The political system's domestic and foreign actions do not have the approval of the Greeks. In the polls that are not rigged, the entire establishment enjoys the approval of less than 50% of the electorate. Greeks have to choose between a government coalition that refers ideologically and politically the repressive wing of the U.S. Democratic Party, and the opposition, which refers ideologically and politically to German Chancellor Merkel and her party, the Christian Democrats Union (CDU). Sadly, there are no alternative choices for the Greek electorate. It is a rigged system with corrupt politicians, a dishonest media and a manipulated judiciary. The Greek political system is killing its own citizens. Greek politicians, by submitting to EU's economic "rescue" programs, have brought incredible poverty to the people; meanwhile, the country is being colonized and Islamized by illegal Muslim immigrants. The "Persians" are here in the form of the OIC, the UN and a political system that seems weighted toward the politicians keeping their jobs instead of to the needs of their citizens. The Greek people and other Europeans people are looking for the political means to fight them back at the Thermopylae of the 21st century. Maria Polizoidou, a reporter, broadcast journalist, and consultant on international and foreign affairs, is based in Greece. © 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Thanks To ISIS, Another Part Of History Is Being Destroyed

5000-year-old Assyrian Culture Facing Devastation

by Uzay Bulut
November 29, 2015 at 4:00 am

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6976/assyrians-genocide

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• "After all, killing the 'kafirs' [non-believers of Islam] was a 'good deed'. They were told 'their place in heaven was guaranteed.' Just like ISIS gangs... and that they would also take their relatives in hell to heaven." — Sabri Atman, Assyrian Genocide and Research Center.
• When ISIS invaded Mosul in August 2014, Christian families were told by ISIS: "We offer [Christians] three choices: Islam; the dhimma contract -- involving payment... if they refuse this, they will have nothing but the sword."
• "There is a great parallel between 1915 and what is going on in the Middle East today. ... The most effective way to prevent future slaughter is to condemn past slaughter. Denying such a big crime means its continuation. The wish for genocide still exists in the Middle East." — Sabri Atman.
• "The Turkish authorities let a few Assyrians stay to show Europe and the world how good-hearted and tolerant Turkey and Islam are. ... And they say, 'Assyrians lead their lives so happily thanks to this great tolerance!'" — Sabri Atman.

The recent invasions and massacres committed by the Islamic State (ISIS) and Al-Qaeda terrorists in Iraq and Syria have brought a persecuted but mostly forgotten people to the attention of the world: the Assyrians.
The Assyrians, a native people of Mesopotamia, have been exposed to massacres before -- throughout history, in fact.
Due to these campaigns of extermination, the demographic character of the region has been changed greatly.
Before 1915, the population of the territory that is now Turkey was about 15 million, about 4.5 million of which was Christian (nearly a third). Today, one can hardly even talk of a Christian minority. The approximate population of Turkey is 80 million, but there are only around 120,000 Christians, less than 1% of the population.
In 1915, a slaughter of minorities took place, the purpose of which was apparently to "Turkify" and Islamize Anatolia into a country with one language, one flag, one religion and one nation. To achieve this objective, all non-Turkish communities -- Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks, Jews, Yezidis, Kurds and others -- were targeted.
But there was a difference between Christians and non-Christians. Non-Christian minorities were to be assimilated; Christians were to be exterminated.
According to the founder and the president of the Assyrian Genocide and Research Center (Seyfo Center)[1], Sabri Atman, there are links between the massacre of the Assyrians and the current massacres of Christians in the Middle East:

"Just like all Assyrians, when I was a child, I heard what had been done in 1915. The people were going through a trauma. Especially the elderly people still with fear in their voices fear about what they had experienced. Now I tell about the grievances of my people to try to get support for them.
"In the Ottoman Empire in 1915, the Ottoman-Turkish Party of Union and Progress slaughtered Christians -- Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks. Most of the Assyrians were murdered with swords. Many Kurdish tribes also joined in the killings, using their swords -- Seyfos -- against their neighbors, the Assyrians.
"It is hard to give an exact number of victims; about 350,000 to 500,000 Assyrians lost their lives. The carnage was not only about murdering people. The lands and property of Christians were also seized. One of the most important outcomes of 1915 for many Turks was the wealth they built on the property of Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks. Today there is not a single Assyrian in provinces where once there were so many -- so what happened to their lands, goods and property?
"It was the same with the Armenians and Greeks. The Cankaya Palace, the residence of former presidents of Turkey in Ankara, was originally the property of an Armenian, Odian Efendi. If you go to provinces where Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians used to live in Turkey, you would learn that all of the old and magnificent buildings you see used to belong to Armenians, Greeks or Assyrians.
"Some of the wealthy elite ruling Turkey became wealthy from property they forcibly took from the Christians. So one of the reasons they deny what happened in 1915 is that they are afraid one day they might lose the wealth they took cost-free."

Other slaughters include:

• Massacres by Badr Khan Beg, a Kurdish emir, against Assyrian Christians known as Nestorians. They took place in 1843-1846 in the province of Hakkari and throughout the Ottoman Empire.
• Massacres against Armenians and Assyrians by the Hamidiye Corps in the Ottoman Empire in 1894 and 1896.
• The Simele Massacre of August 7, 1933, by the armed forces of the Kingdom of Iraq. More than 3000 Assyrians were slaughtered, not only in the town of Simele. It also took place in the 68 Assyrian villages of the provinces of Duhok and Nineveh in Iraq.

"A lawyer who was profoundly influenced by the Simele massacre coined the term genocide," Atman continued. "Raphael Lemkin called it genocide. He used word for the first time in 1944, and applied it to the Armenian massacre, the Holocaust and Simele massacre."
In 2015, the extermination of Assyrians is still going on, as Assyrians and other Christian communities are being uprooted from countries in Middle Eastern. According to Atman:

"All of the data at hand shows that 1915 was a project of homogenizing Turkey. The Turkish Republic is a state largely established on Christian slaughters. But massacres against Assyrian people are not very much known even in Turkey. They have intentionally been hidden.
"Upon the prompting of Germany, on November 14, 1914, in all mosques of the Ottoman Empire, a call for jihad was made. Their main objective was to have Muslims in the British and French colonies start a riot, which would have empowered Germany and the Ottoman Empire. But things did not turn out the way they had planned.
"After the mosques sent out the call for jihad, many Muslims started massacres against Assyrians and other Christians. After all, killing the 'kafirs' [non-believers of Islam] was a 'good deed'. They were told 'their place in heaven was guaranteed.' Just like ISIS gangs, they were also promised - based on the Quranic verses and the hadith - that they would get '72 virgins' and that they would also take their relatives in hell to heaven."

When ISIS invaded Mosul in August 2014, Christian families were told by ISIS terrorists that they would be killed if they did not pay a protection tax (jizya) or convert to Islam. The warningwas read out in Mosul's mosques and broadcast throughout the city on loudspeakers. "We offer [Christians] three choices: Islam; the dhimma contract - involving payment... if they refuse this, they will have nothing but the sword," the announcement read.
On September 23, in Syria, ISIS executed three more Assyrians by gunshots to the back of their heads, the Assyrian International News Agency reported.
They were part of the group of 253 Assyrians abducted by ISIS on February 23, when it overran 35 Assyrian villages in Hasakah Province in Syria.
In the video recorded by ISIS that shows the execution, ISIS said that if ransom for the remaining Assyrians is not paid, they will be executed as well. ISIS has demanded $50,000 for each hostage, a total of more than $10 million.
On November 25, ISIS released ten more Assyrian Christian hostages in Hasakah Province, but over 150 remain captured and threatened with death.
"There is a great parallel between 1915 and what is going on in the Middle East today -- in terms of destruction of non-Muslim civilizations and the continuity of Islamic jihad," Atman said. The problem, according to Atman, does not stem from people's belonging to certain ethnic groups; the problem is the denial of the realities of the past.

"Similar calls for jihad against Assyrians and Yezidis were made 100 years ago. Women and girls were raped; the Seyfo (sword) was used to behead people just as it is today.
"When the massacres and human rights violations of the past were not sentenced sufficiently, it paved the way for new massacres. The most effective way to prevent future slaughter is to condemn past slaughter. But the wish for genocide still exists in the Middle East, including Turkey. Turkey is still ruled by a President who says 'Muslims do not commit genocide.'"

Left: A memorial in France commemorating the 1915 Assyrian Genocide in Turkey. Right: An Islamic State member destroys a Christian tombstone in Mosul, Iraq, in April 2015.

Throughout centuries, Islamic jihad has not changed but, sadly, even in the 21st century Turkish children are still taught a distorted version of history at their schools; as a result, generations are being raised to have a Turkish-Islamic supremacist mindset.
"We all have been exposed to a historical narrative based on lies," Atman said about Turkish schools. "The official history of Turkey is, 'Turkish propaganda for Turks.' Information such as 'The state of Turkey fought against imperialism' is incorrect. The Ottoman Empire joined the First World War with imperialistic desires and formed an alliance with Germany. The war, presented as 'the Turkish war of Liberation,' was in a way a war to annihilate Christians, Alevis, Yezidis and other non-Muslim groups in Anatolia. So it would not be wrong to say that the Turkish Republic was established on Christian massacres and the denial of Kurds."
Atman said that during his time in Turkey, he saw non-Turkish and non-Muslim children being exposed to forced assimilation at school.

"I was born in Turkey and went to primary, middle and high schools there. Before our classes got started, we sprang to attention and were made to read at the top of our voice the Turkish Student Oath in which we said, 'I am a Turk' and 'My existence shall be dedicated to the Turkish existence.' Textbooks claim that in the First World War, Assyrians and other Christians 'stabbed Turkey in the back in cooperation with the imperialistic states' and that Assyrians were 'treacherous'. They brainwash Turkish schoolchildren like that; then the Muslim children look at the Assyrian children with suspicion."
"When I was at middle school, we had a teacher; the moment he entered the classroom, he asked 'Are there Christians here? Christians, raise your hands!' A few children would shyly raise their hands. The look in his eyes spoke volumes. But the attitude of one teacher is never a criterion for assessing a whole society. The problem is not which ethnic group a person belongs to, but the monist ideology of Turkey [one language, one nation, one state, one religion] and its denial or distortion of history."

Turkifying Anatolia and denying the identities of others is still rife, Atman said. "Turkish authorities still say that 'Turkey belongs to Turks.' That is a big lie. Before Turks came to Anatolia, we had been living there. But 'Turkey belongs to Turks' is still the slogan in the logo of one of Turkey's best-selling newspapers.
"In any event, Assyrians are one of the most deeply-rooted indigenous peoples of Mesopotamia. Assyrians have lived on that land for more than 5000 years. The Turks came to Anatolia only in 1071. At least, that is what the Turkish textbooks say. They came later and drove us out."
Assyrians still live with the consequences of the extermination campaign they were exposed to 100 years ago. The destruction is still going on. But that campaign of extermination is still denied today. Denying such a big crime means its continuation.

"In Turkey, there are still threats such as, 'We will root them out' or 'We will exterminate them.' To a large extent, they have succeeded. They murdered more than 300,000 Assyrians and forced almost another 300,000 to be exposed to assimilation in many countries across the world."[2]

Today, in Turkey, there are only about 15,000 Assyrians left, and they are not officially recognized as a people.

"Assyrians are recognized only as a religious congregation, so that state authorities can benefit from them. They let these few stay to show Europe and the world how good-hearted and tolerant Turkey and Islam are. They talk about the 'great tolerance' of Turkey and Islam. And they say, 'Assyrians lead their lives so happily thanks to this great tolerance!'
"What some people in Turkey proudly say is, 'Elhamdulillah [thank Allah], 99% of Turkey is Muslim.' They brag and boast about it. It should actually put them to shame; we know very well how they made it happen.
"What is done to Assyrians, Yezidis and others should concern everyone; what is massacred there is the humanity of everyone. If it happens there, it can happen to them. We ask all great powers of the world, everyone, to hear the screams of our people and help."

Uzay Bulut, born and raised a Muslim, is a Turkish journalist based in Ankara.

---

[1] The Assyrian Genocide Research Center (Seyfo Center), an international organization headquartered in Sweden, was established in 2005 and has offices in Germany, Holland, Switzerland and the U.S. Sabri Atman, an award-winning human rights activist and researcher, is a member of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS). He has received countless awards and is now based in the U.S.
[2] According to Atman, it is estimated that Assyrians live in the U.S. (300,000), Australia (35,000), Europe (300,000), Canada (30,000), Iraq (500,000), Syria and Lebanon (50,000). There are Assyrian communities in Iran, Jordan, Argentina, Brazil and many other countries as well.

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America Is At A Crossroads. Can She Be Saved? Hanukkah Has A Lesson For Us.

HANUKKAH'S LESSONS FOR TODAY

Exclusive: Joseph Farah compares Maccabees' challenge to that of believers today

Published: 16 hours ago

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I love Hanukkah, as I probably made abundantly clear in my earlier column this week.

But there’s more to be said about this holiday.

In fact, I would say Hanukkah holds great spiritual as well as political significance for us today – Jews and Christians alike.

First the spiritual:

My friend Jonathan Cahn, author of “The Harbinger,” the No. 1 faith book of 2012 and my colleague on “The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment,” the No. 1 faith movie of 2012, has a new video teaching out about what he calls “The Hanukkah Endtime Mystery.” It’s one in a series of inspired teachings produced by WND Films – three volumes of nine brilliant Bible studies.

Most prophecy teachers have missed the fact that Hanukkah contains one of the most amazingly detailed revelations of the end times, Cahn explains. The story of Hanukkah is a metaphor – a foreshadowing – of what we can expect before the return of Yeshua the Messiah.

I won’t go into the detail here, because I would prefer you hear it from Cahn. But here’s a video trailer to provide a tease:

But what about the political significance?

The political lesson of Hanukkah is that we can do all things through our faith and obedience to God.

There are many disillusioned Americans today. They are wondering if our election system has broken down. They are wondering if our culture has become degraded past the point of no return. They are wondering if America is being transformed from a self-governing society to one in which the people are ruled by government. They are wondering about whether all the false idols we worship are going to spell our doom. They are wondering if our collective sins – from same-sex marriage to abortion to child pornography to dismissing the Creator from our lives – places us beyond redemption as a nation.

Something similar happened in Israel 200 years before Yeshua the Messiah was born. A foreign empire sought to impose its false religion on Israel. It was largely successful. Most Israelis went along with the Greek orders. Idols were placed in the Temple. The altar was desecrated by the sacrifice of a pig. Jewish woman about to be married were forced to submit themselves to Greek officials for an evening of sexual entertainment.

But one family, the Maccabees, refused to capitulate.

They led a revolt that was far less likely to be successful than the one America’s founders led against Great Britain. They were outnumbered. They were out-armed. The odds did not look good.

But the Maccabees had faith and swore obedience to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob rather than the Greek pagan myths.

The Greeks attacked with a massive army. They were routed by the Maccabees.

The Greeks attacked with a bigger army. They were routed by the Maccabees.

The Greeks attacked with all their power and might, determined to wipe out this uprising. And once again they were routed by the Maccabees.

The Temple was ritually purified. The Greek idols were removed. And that is the breathtaking story of Hanukkah in a nutshell.

The lesson? If God is with us, who can be against us?

Americans should take heart in this holiday commemoration and the miracles of Hanukkah – whether they are Christians or Jews – because God will work this same kind of miracle for us today if we are faithful to Him and repent of our sins and turn from our wicked ways.

And I don’t mean the whole nation has to do this.

In 2 Chronicles 7:14, it makes very clear that only those called by His name need to humble themselves and follow this prescription.

What that means is that all the forces of hell can’t defeat us if we take this one simple, vital step today.

We can overcome the darkness. But it all begins with the believers.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/12/hanukkahs-lessons-for-today-2/#hB2vhWfV2fGBcsqP.99