BY GAREN YEGPARIAN
It really hurt! My favorite song, “Zarteer Lao,” was briefly co-opted by a Turkish soccer team, Fenerbahçe! And it’s not the first time. Many other songs’ music has been stolen by the Turks (though in fairness, some of our unscrupulous singers do the same in reverse, revolting!). This is especially hurtful when it’s the music to patriotic, nationalistic, or mournful (Genocide or massacre related) songs. But we got lucky this time, in that the Turkish team’s hate for Armenians led them to immediately discontinue using the music. A friend did a quick-and-dirty translation of the lyrics used by the soccer team, as below:
Put your uniform on
Get on the field
Put your heart into it
Put your heart
Show your anger
The foe will be defeated
Victory is near
We have strength to battle
Breath to waste
Lives to give away
To Fenerbahçe
But here’s a thought. Since fans of Fenerbahçe sing that one day everyone will become Fenerbahçe fans, maybe their use of the music to “Zarteer Lao” is a sign that one day, all Turks will become Armenians, or at least return to their roots, be they Armenian, Assyrian, Cappadocian, Greek, or any other native nations of Anatolia and the Armenian Plateau that the brutal horsemen from Central Asia forcibly Turkified!
Then we have the Turkish parade that went off on May 28th in New York. How grotesque that a celebration of that which represents the murderers of the Armenian nation occurred on our First Independence Day! It used to be the organizers used the cover of “Turkish Children’s Day” (April 23) to organize propaganda parades in New York to counter our efforts on and around April 24th. Now they’ve moved on to May 28th. These people clearly have no shame!
But what’s even more worrisome, in a substantive way, is the growing military production capacity of the Turkish economy. While cooperation with Israel may be in abeyance after the flotilla/Mavi Marmara incident of last year, that with the U.S./NATO is moving ahead apace. Izmir (where my grandmother’s from and witness to massacres by the founders of the CURRENT Turkish Republic, not the Ottomans) will soon become host to NATO’s Land Force Command. Aircraft (most recently heavy lift helicopters) are being sold to Turkey, or jointly manufactured IN turkey with other NATO members’ (including the U.S.) arms producers.
As if all this wasn’t enough, Turkey’s getting a free ride, public relations-wise, because of the crackdowns by some of the Arab regimes where people have taken to the streets. Whether ferrying injured Libyans away or allowing Syrians to set up camps inside their border, one of the biggest creators of refugees, Turkey, is now looking like a great humanitarian, just what the doctor ordered to polish up their otherwise genocidal image!
But of course no mention is made of the fact that the man who tried to extort Cindy Crawford (early 2009) over some picture of her daughter is a Turk. He came from Germany to the U.S. and was later deported, so is referred to as “German” (at least by the LA Times), rather than his true origin. But when news broke of the medical scammers a few months ago, their Armenianness somehow became relevant!
And can someone explain to me why Turkey’s extending its smoking ban is deemed newsworthy by the LA Times, but its ongoing occupation of Cyprus is barely covered by the same paper.
Finally, we have the “almost Turks.” There’s the two faced Jane Harman. Luckily, she’s out of Congress. Unfortunately, she’s now someplace where she can, arguably, do even more damage, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Remember, this is the same compromised outfit that several months ago honored Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Davutoglu! The other “almost Turk” is Hugh Pope. This guy’s clearly spent far too much time in Turkey. He was interviewed by Ian Masters on KPFK on June 13. He was smooth and subtle in masking Turkey’s massive flaws, always creating a “balance” between this roguest-of-rogue states and who/whatever else was the point of comparison.
All of these call for response from members of the Armenian community. Just take the initiative and complain loudly whenever you see these items in the news. Complain to the media, to relevant government agencies, or corporations. Don’t wait for a campaign to be organized. Just do it. Be strident, firm, and polite. Leave them no wiggle room. Turn up the heat!
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there are no Assyrians in Turkey, all are Syriac Chrisitians.
I am a fenerbahce supporter. Yes we use your song and also to many other songs (for example http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=fenerbah%C3%A7e+mar%C5%9Flar%C4%B1&aq=1&oq=fener) yes we use popular sounds every week. İs that a reason for a fight! And I am from kars kağızman. Wher you live there 100 years ago and my grand grand father killed by armenian soldiers. however I must be your enemy. BUT ı am not Because My Name means is PEACE (barış) . translate and think please
Thank you Baris.
LOL we use your song, so what, get over it, start building a nation whos identity is not solely based upon a so called genocide that happened god knows how long ago. And for a people who apparently had a genocide committed against them, it didn’t stop you guys from committing genocide over Azeri people.
Just get over it, nobody cares other than your selves, move on mate 🙂
If it’s such a “none issue” and “nothing to worry about” then why are all of you Turk children of Ghengis Khan’s concubines browsing the internet all day long to make falsified counterpoints and urging a “forget and move on” mentality?
If this was a small matter jerk-off, you would not be browsing an Armenian newspaper site making comments to falsely defend your position. You know little man that WHEN the time comes for you, your country, and your countrymen to PAY for your crimes against humanity, the check will be SO BIG, all of you Turks will be thrown back to the days when you sold apricots and sheepskin while your women pleasured Ghengis Khan’s soldiers. 😀
The amount Turkey will eventually pay up will make what the Germans paid the Jews for the Holocaust look like pocket change. You can count on us to pursue this until eternity or until it is settled the right way, whichever comes first. Now smile for the camera junior 🙂 !
There are no Assyrians (Asuriler) in Turkey. We are Suryaniler (Syriacs) which is synonymous to Arameans (Aramiler) in the same way Iranian is the same as Persians.
Another wonderful article containing a lot of Dashnak hatemongering. First, you make this claim saying that the Children’s Day Festival is just a plot to counter Genocide allegation (WHICH IT IS NOT AND HAS NOTHING DO WITH THE TURKEY/GREECE/ARMENIA ISSUES). Then, you say a Fenerbahce song is stolen from an Armenian song (FALSE AGAIN). Another thing is that you claim that people who defend the Turkish people from Dashnak hate lobbies in the USA are almost Turkish. We all know that you Armenians will attack everything that has to do with Turkey and Turkish people. I heard your Armenian community tried to distrupt the Turkish Day Parades in New York a couple of times, as well as terrorizing Turkish Indepdence dinners in California, as well as vilifying and demonizing a Turkish festival in California. You guys even attacked Kobe Bryant for signing a deal with Turkish Airlines? If you guys say Turkish Airlines in owned partially by the Turkish government, then the Civil Engineering firm owned by Mehmet Yilmaz is owned by the Turkish Government, then the restaurant called Istanbul Cafe in Paterson, New Jersey, is owned by the Turkish Government. By the way, a Turkish Religious Mosque is owned by the Turkish government. THIS IS HOW DELUSIONAL YOU DASHNAK HATEMONGERING GENOCIDE PEDDLERS ARE. You guys claim that at Turkish Indepdence Day festivals, you guys say that Turkish people are celebrating the deaths of unarmed innocent Christians. HAHAHAHAHA YEAH RIGHT NO WE AREN’T. We are just celebrating our independence for imperalist powers who tried to wipe us off the map and the more you demand for land and money and the more you beg for it, the less likely you are gonna get it. Btw, if you guys are so sure about the genocide allegations, why do you guys get so fearful and tremble and turn purple when you hear the word “HISTORICAL COMMISION.” Because you know once the Historical Commision takes place (ON LIVE TV AND THE WORLD WILL WATCH THIS EVENT), it will expose the big obvious fact (HOW THERE WAS 50 PERCENT TURKISH SUFFERING AND 50 PERCENT CHRISTIAN SUFFERING HENCE CIVIL WAR RATHER THAN GENOCIDE). As well as another big obvious fact (WHERE ARMENIANS STARTED KILLING MUSLIMS TO CREATE A GREATER ARMENIA WHERE CHRISTIANS WERE A MINORITY IN EAST ANATOLIA AND MUSLIMS WERE A MAJORITY PRIOR TO 1915-1923). Also, it will expose the schemes of Armenian Dashnak Hate Lobbies (TO VILIFY EVERYTHING TURKISH IN THE MOST DISGUSTING WAYS EVEN HITLER WOULD THINK YOU GUYS ARE HATEFUL) (AS WELL AS RELENTLESS DEMANDS FOR LAND AND MONEY WHICH RESEMBLES THE 150 MILLION DOLLAR MEDICARE FRAUD SCHEME). Keep on hating Dashnak racists, it will make us STRONGER AND STRONGER. Btw dont refuse to post this comment because it will prove how you guys are intolerant to free speech.