Date:

December 3, 2007

Title:

Within a week, two biased interviews on Radio One's "As It Happens" subjected the listeners to anti-Turkish sentiments and disregarded public's right to know all sides of a story

To:

CBC Radio One, Producer of "As It Happens" Lynda Shorten and CBC Ombudsman Vince Carlin

History - Description:

On October 12, 2007, Mr. Taner Akcam was interviewed on CBC Radio One’s As It Happens regarding the Armenian claim of “genocide” within the Ottoman Empire during World War I (http://www.cbc.ca/radioshows/AS_IT_HAPPENS/20071012.shtml).

Mr. Akcam, a left-wing political activist who fled Turkey in 1976 after serving only one year of a ten-year prison sentence, perhaps not surprisingly, is well known for his pro-Armenian stance. With a Bachelor of Administrative Sciences in 1976 and a Ph.D. obtained only in 1995 from Hanover University, his views are refuted by numerous well known and respected historians, such as Guenter Lewy, Justin McCarthy, Bernard Lewis and Norman Stone, all of which have superior academic credentials. Akcam’s interviewer, As It Happens' Helen Mann, failed to raise any of these or other inconvenient truths, such as the fact that Armenian historical archives remain closed. Instead, the interviewer allowed her guest to present his assertions unchallenged, failing to bring fairness and balance to the show and never noted that in October 2006, our Canadian government endorsed Turkey’s proposal for a Joint History Study Committee, comprised of Armenian, Turkish and independent scholars (http://www.turkishembassy.com/II/O/MacKay_Speech.htm).

A mere six days later on October 18, 2007, As It Happens yet again became the exclusive forum for Armenian allegations of genocide with Carol Off’s accommodating interview of California Congressman, Adam Schiff (http://www.cbc.ca/radioshows/AS_IT_HAPPENS/20071018.shtml). We were shocked to hear yet another unchallenged interview with yet another biased personality.

The program centred exclusively on the pro-Turkish lobby against the controversial Armenian genocide bill which led to its removal from the agenda of the U.S. Congress. Much emphasis was placed on how Turkey’s strategic importance was the only critical reason for the bill’s ultimate failure. However, no mention was made of the extremely powerful Armenian lobby which, with 1.2 million Americans having Armenian forefathers, has particularly strong political presence in California, New Jersey and Michigan. No surprise then that three key California Congress members – Tom Lantos, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs which passed the Armenian Genocide resolution; House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi; and Adam Schiff – have all been such outspoken advocates of the genocide resolution. Schiff’s predecessor lost his constituency seat when he failed to push through the resolution in 2000.

After these two biased, pro-Armenian interviews, we wrote a letter of complaint to the CBC. We hoped for a reply that would ease our concerns, an assurance that the CBC indeed strove for balance and some acknowledgement that Canada’s public broadcaster had made an error in judgement. Ultimately, we sought an apology for the distress caused to Canadians of Turkish origin and as an act of redemption, another As It Happens interview but with a respected scholar who disputes the genocide label.

Instead, we received a reply from the show’s executive producer Lynda Shorten who was unapologetic and patronizing.

Amongst other things, she said:

"...the Canadian Senate (in 2002) and the House of Commons (in 2004) both voted in favor of resolutions recognizing the events of 1915 as a genocide. The current Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, re-iterated this official government position as recently as April 19, 2006. While I recognize that the Turkish government and a great many people of Turkish heritage dispute this characterization [of genocide], it is the officially accepted position on these events in Canada. Our programming stems from the fact that, within Canada, we consider the question of how those events are to be characterized settled. It is not something, in our view, that requires a re-opening of the debate, whether on historical or on political grounds. Thus it is not something that requires “balance” in our view; it is the accepted position within Canada on those events."

In short, Ms. Shorten justified the CBC’s acceptance of Armenian accusations because genocide resolutions had passed in Canada's Parliament and Senate. Her response ignores what common sense would suggest as painfully obvious:

— Governments are known to change their position and party-lines based on the political climate of the time.

— The Canadian Senate's and Parliament's decision was the result of a relentless lobbying effort by the well connected Armenian Diaspora.

— There have been other government decisions that thankfully involved the re-opening of previously “settled” issues, such as the Sponsorship scandal, the Arar “rendition” and the current Schreiber-Mulroney affair.

— The publicly-funded CBC has a duty to provide the public with a comprehensive review of the Armenian genocide claim, both for and against.

— It would be unethical and unprofessional for the journalists simply to accept unquestioningly Canada's Senate and Parliament as the arbiter of historical truth of a foreign state over 90 years ago.

Furthermore, on one hand Ms. Shorten defended her shows’ one-sided programming by saying that it was something agreed upon by our Prime Minister and politicians; and on the other hand, she dismissed as "suspicious" an effort for reconciliation — the endorsement of the opening of the Ottoman and Armenian archives to an independent panel of scholars — by the same politicians and the same Prime Minister on October 18, 2006. Such reasoning only reinforces our concerns regarding the CBC’s dedication to objective and thorough journalism.

Petition Statement:

As Canadians, we the undersigned wish to express our profound disappointment with the CBC’s lack of journalistic integrity and critical analysis of the most serious charge imaginable – that of premeditated, systematic, mass murder or genocide, specifically as claimed by the Armenian community.

We demand that our national and publicly funded broadcaster apologize for the obvious bias of both October programs of As It Happens.

The CBC must commit henceforth to more thorough research, independent of our government’s views, and to balanced reporting regarding the suffering of both Turks and Armenians around 1915. The numerous respected historians who disagree with the genocide label warrant a radical change of CBC policy on this issue. An interview with at least one of the following scholars should occur as soon as possible, preferably within the next 60 days: Bernard Lewis, Guenter Lewy, Andrew Mango, Justin McCarthy, or Norman Stone.

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