To the Editor:
“Courting Allies, Bush Ends Rift With the Turks” (front page, June 28) reports that President Bush “described Turkey as a country that had fostered tolerance between its Islamic majority and its minority religious groups.” This indicates his continued lack of historical knowledge and understanding of the Middle East.
Throughout the 20th century, Turkey disallowed minority rights and destroyed most of its indigenous minority peoples. In the first quarter of the 20th century, more than four million Christian citizens of Turkey — Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks — were victims of genocide, massacre or deportation.
Turkey’s largest minority, the Kurds, have been denied human rights; their cultural modes of expression have been outlawed.
Conducting diplomacy should not necessitate outright denials of history. President Bush would serve us all better if he understood something about the histories of the countries with which he engages.
PETER BALAKIAN
Hamilton, N.Y., July 1, 2004
The writer is the author of a book about the Armenian genocide and a professor of humanities at Colgate University.
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