Turcophile Journalist Pontificates to Armenians
By Jirair Tutunjian
In nearly 5,000-word “report” published in the Los Angeles Book Review (August 2), long-time Turkey resident Evan Pheiffer tries every trick in the book to insult and mock Armenians and their enviable patriotism.
Pheiffer starts by criticizing Yerevan district names which echo place names in historic Armenia and Cilicia. He doesn’t say which place name—if any–would have met his approval.
He then lists dishes which are part of the Armenian and Turkish cuisine. The implication is clear that sophisticated, city-dwelling Armenians, who had been around for more than 2,000 years had borrowed their dishes from primitive-barbarian Turks who had invaded Armenia from the arid steppes of Central Asia: Turks whose specialty was killing, raping, looting, and abducting taught Armenians how to boil eggs.
He then deploys a sixty-year-old quote by a Soviet Armenian who had said: “Turks and Armenians were brothers but sometimes hate each other.” This scintillating quote is up there with the pithiest observations of historians Edward Gibbon, Fernand Braudel, and Will Durant. The quote is from Michael Arlen Jr’s “Passage to Ararat.” Pfeiffer attributes the book to Michael Arlen, the novelist-screen-writer and father of “the Passage to Ararat” author.
He then describes Armenia’s defeats in the two wars with Azerbaijan as “two disastrous military defeats.” As opposed to garden variety military defeats?
The Istanbul journalist says Artsakh Armenians were “clamoring” for unification with Armenia as if the natural desire was a foolish crime.
Turcophile Pfeiffer says 120,000 Azerbaijanis were “ethnic cleansed” from Armenia. What’s the difference between ethnic Azerbaijani and garden-variety Azerbaijani?
The irresponsible “journalist” doesn’t mention that although Armenians living in Azerbaijan had not participated in the Artsakh liberation movement, they were subjected to pogroms and fled to Armenia and to Russia. Their number was not too different from that of the Azerbaijanis who left Armenia without being subjected to violence.
He describes Azerbaijan’s pushing of Artsakh Armenians from their homeland as immigration.
Incidentally, Pheiffer also doesn’t mention the emptying of Armenian Nakhichevan.
He describes Armenia as a “mountainous statelet.” Armenia covers an area of 11,484 sq. m. I would bet any money that he wouldn’t call 8,522 sq. m. Israel as “statelet.”
Demonstrating unprofessionalism, he described Gagik Tsarukyan as “thick-necked.” What has the size of Tsarukyan’s neck have to do with his politics? How about “bald Pashinyan” or “pot-bellied Pashinyan”?
The hired gun of Istanbul quotes a Yiddish proverb: “Better a hard peace than a good war.” Mr. Pheiffer, go tell that to the Israelis.
The tract goes for some 5,000 words. Life is too short to read Pheiffer’s Polly.
It’s redundant to invest more time to pointing out the lies, the errors, and other shortcomings of this near-5,000 word opuss…the spelling error intentional.
Shame to the Los Angeles Review of Books for publishing this error-ridden diatribe.
