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November 2, 1999

Mr. Griffin Smith, Jr.
Executive Editor
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
P.O. Box 2221
Little Rock, AR 72203-2221

Re: U.S. Foreign Policy: A Pulitzer Prize For the Winning

Dear Mr. Smith:

While Kosovo has drawn heightened interest to Southeastern Europe, one of the major stories in the region is being missed. This is that the United States is actively assisting one of our NATO allies to carry out genocide and international aggression. In this era of a strong, diverse and independent media, it is surprising that the media has allowed the Administration to get away with this flagrant double standard.

The purpose of this letter is to urge the media to give adequate coverage to U.S. involvement in these abuses. They go to the heart of what we as a country stand for and have universal application.

The country concerned is Turkey. The story is important because Turkey is a country which we have championed as a NATO partner, as an emerging market for U.S. exports and as a potential member of the European Union. There is simply no excuse for not holding Turkey to the normal standards of western democracy. If, as the facts show, Turkey has many of the attributes of a military dictatorship, we should try to redress this situation, not connive in it.

In raising this issue, we do not do so in a spirit of hostility toward the Turkish people. To the contrary, we have welcomed and participated in the recent warming trend between the Greek and Turkish people. But we need to be realistic. Until our government engages the Turkish government on these issues, progress will be elusive. This is where the media can play such a potentially powerful role.

U.S. Complicity in Ethnic Cleansing, Crimes against Humanity and Genocide

The U.S. has actively supported the military controlled government of Turkey in its war against the Kurds. In this war which started in 1984, Turkey has committed and is committing acts at least as heinous as Serbia's acts in Kosovo and rival Iraq's atrocities in Kuwait. What is more, Turkey is carrying out ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity and genocide with weapons supplied by the U.S.

In its 15-year war against its Kurdish minority, the Turkish military's scorched earth policy has razed and destroyed over 3,000 Turkish villages and forced over 3 million Kurds from their homes. In this period the Turkish military has killed some 30,000 innocent Kurds.

The kidnapping and trial of the Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan throws into high relief Turkey's horrendous treatment of its minority people. The shameful U.S. connivance in this behavior is a story that cries out to be written.

U.S. Complicity in International Aggression(now in its 25th Year

In 1974 Turkey invaded and now occupies 37.3% of Cyprus with a garrison force of 35,000 troops. Once again, U.S.-supplied weapons were used by Turkey to carry out this act in violation of U.S. and international law. Today, Turkey is trying to change Cyprus' demography by its illegal importing of 80,000 settlers from the Turkish mainland. These are acts of international aggression in wholesale violation of the UN Charter and the NATO Treaty that equal any Serbian aggression within its own country and rival Iraq's aggression against Kuwait. Today, Turkey continues to use U.S. weapons for these illegal and shameful acts.

The U.S. double standard support for Turkey's aggression against Cyprus entered its 26th year on July 20, 1999.

These facts are documented by independent and objective organizations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. They also are confirmed by the 1998 State Department Human Rights Country Report on Turkey.

The U.S. role in abetting Turkey is relevant to three central aspects of American governance:

1. Our Values: The U.S. complicity in Turkey's genocide against the Kurds and aggression against Cyprus amounts to a flagrant double standard. It is the act of the highest hypocrisy for our country on the one hand to put on the cloak of universal morality in Serbia and Iraq and, on the other, to supply the very weapons of death used by Turkey against the Kurds and the Greek Cypriots.
2. Foreign Policy: The U.S. relationship with Turkey undermines our global credibility. Despite all their impressive rhetoric of commitment to democracy, in their approach to Turkey the State and Defense Departments and the NSC are in fact siding with aggression, tyranny, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity and genocide. Kosovo brings in sharp relief the double standard in U.S. policy toward Turkey.
3. Political Accountability: For all practical purposes, the White House has sub-contracted U.S. policy to Turkey to a handful of career foreign service officers in State and their counterparts in Defense and on the NSC. In league with a team of U.S. "agents of influence" on an annual $3-4 million payroll from Turkey, these officials have acted to violate U.S. laws on U.S. policy toward Greece, Cyprus and Turkey and to appease Turkey. In doing so, they have made our country a direct accessory to Turkey's genocide and aggression and have fundamentally undermined our democratic governance.

This is a story of national disgrace with universal interest. These issues go to the very heart of what the U.S. stands for: freedom, democracy, decency, human rights, the rule of law, and the values and principles we fought for in World War II and against Soviet communism. Turkey has been and continues to be a stain on NATO's and the U.S.' honor, integrity and credibility.

Critical aspects of our foreign policy are going unreported or underreported to the great detriment of our national interests and values. The fact that our government is turning its back on these values regarding Turkey is a major news item.

In the attached memorandum we set out various aspects of the relationships and issues involved. We think you will agree that there is a remarkable story to be written here. We hope that you will undertake general and investigative reporting and analysis of your own to illuminate the great damage that is being inflicted on U.S. foreign policy interests. We ask you to judge for yourselves.

The subjects covered include:

1. the U.S. as accomplice to ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity and genocide;
2. the U.S. as accomplice to Turkey's violations of international law;
3. the cover-up role of the State Department, Defense Department and the NSC regarding Cyprus;
4. the role of U.S. officials in undermining American values;
5. the U.S. as accomplice to Turkey's lawlessness against its own citizens;
6. the role of foreign money in U.S. governance;
7. the kidnapping and murder of five Americans by Turkish military forces/ Turkish Cypriot militia in 1974; and
8. Turkey's non-democratic status.

I urge you to place resources behind this foreign policy scandal. There is a Pulitzer prize waiting to be won.

I appreciate your consideration of this letter and of its recommendations.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMSincerely,

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMEugene T. Rossides, General Counsel

Enclosure

cc: Mr. Bob Lutgen, Managing Editor,
Mr. Paul Greenberg, Editorial Page Editor
Ms. Jane Fullerton, Washington Bureau Chief

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