Ergun Kirlikovali

Thank you for the great article on Turkish desserts ("Turkish Delight," Feb. 9). Turkish dishes, especially the desserts, are known in most places of the world to be the richest and most delectable. Americans have little knowledge about the superior cuisine of Turkey, but thanks to your article, general knowledge has undoubtedly expanded. --LISA KADAM Irvine Your article on Turkish food was yummy-yummy delicious. Ever since I moved to California, one thing I truly miss is Turkish food, which is offered in some restaurants but under Greek, Armenian or Arabic names.

Bravo to Aline Kazandjian for "The Homecoming" [Sept. 26]. With her richly descriptive style, Kazandjian interweaves historical, cultural, religious and contemporary images that should evoke great pride in her Armenian audience and prompt intrigue and awareness among readers less familiar with Armenia and its people. With the tremendous progress that has been made there since independence, today Armenia is not just for Armenians. Beth Broussalian San Diego If a writer chooses to introduce history in a travel article, I expect it to be fair and balanced.

Bravo to Aline Kazandjian for "The Homecoming" [Sept. 26]. With her richly descriptive style, Kazandjian interweaves historical, cultural, religious and contemporary images that should evoke great pride in her Armenian audience and prompt intrigue and awareness among readers less familiar with Armenia and its people. With the tremendous progress that has been made there since independence, today Armenia is not just for Armenians. Beth Broussalian San Diego If a writer chooses to introduce history in a travel article, I expect it to be fair and balanced.

The magazine has violated all norms of journalistic objectivity by giving the Armenian allegations credibility that history and scholarly research do not back up ("Witness to Fire," photographed by Ara Oshagan and Levon Parian, May 23). Armenian authors, Armenian photographers, Armenian witnesses, Armenian allegations--where is the other side of the story? Don't your readers deserve better than a one-sided, unfair and partisan coverage of this controversial issue? Ergun Kirlikovali Santa Ana One cannot talk lightly of what the Armenian citizens of the Ottoman Empire went through during World War I. At the same time, one should not ignore the equally terrible suffering of the Turks during the same difficult times, much of it at the hands of Armenians.

I was delighted to read Daniels' column. It hit the nail on the head. The Turkish-Armenian issue is a complicated tragedy that needs to be sorted out by scholarly research and study, not by popular votes of politicians in Congress. The term "genocide" was coined later and immediately adopted by the Armenian propagandists as part of a permanent public relations campaign designed to deliberately misrepresent the tragic events of 1915-1923. The devilish idea of "taking an uprising that went sour and packaging and marketing it as genocide" never really caught on in the academic world of facts and figures, which is why more than 69 historians released a signed statement to the U.S. Congress 5 years ago, disputing the Armenian allegations of genocide.

I was shocked and saddened by Ohanian's article. It was full of misrepresentations of history, lies and insults for all Turks and Turkish-Americans. One can see how young Armenians are brought up by hateful grandparents and parents who advocate violence against Turks. Such brainwashing has paid off: During the past two decades, more than 70 innocent people were assassinated by terrorists, who were mostly young Armenians, in hundreds of attacks worldwide on Turkish institutions. Even Southern California was not spared; three Turkish diplomats were killed by Armenians right here.

Levon Marashlian's column "Face Turkey's Crime, Then Go Beyond It" (Commentary, April 23) is full of misrepresentations, half-truths and outright falsifications. This commentary is an insult to the silent memory of millions of Turkish people who died during World War I and to the intelligence of any unsuspecting reader. Where shall I begin? First, the misrepresentations: Armenians would like to draw analogies between their civil war experiences in eastern Anatolia during World War I and the Jewish Holocaust during World War II. What they conveniently ignore are the facts that Jews never established Jewish armies behind German lines in order to back stab Germany and establish a Jewish state on German soil.

The magazine has violated all norms of journalistic objectivity by giving the Armenian allegations credibility that history and scholarly research do not back up ("Witness to Fire," photographed by Ara Oshagan and Levon Parian, May 23). Armenian authors, Armenian photographers, Armenian witnesses, Armenian allegations--where is the other side of the story? Don't your readers deserve better than a one-sided, unfair and partisan coverage of this controversial issue? Ergun Kirlikovali Santa Ana One cannot talk lightly of what the Armenian citizens of the Ottoman Empire went through during World War I. At the same time, one should not ignore the equally terrible suffering of the Turks during the same difficult times, much of it at the hands of Armenians.

Your editorial "Internet Needs No Subsidies" (Nov 12) misses the whole point. Taxing the Internet, I don't care by whom, is stealing from my pocket. SB 150 stops this painfully despicable practice. SB 150 does not reward "telecom giants" as you allege; it puts my money back into my pocket. It is editorials like yours that encourage the finding of ways to transform the idea of a "tax" into a "license to steal." Ergun Kirlikovali Santa Ana

Christmas may not be a national holiday in Turkey--most of its people are Muslim. But one of the most famous symbols of the season came from the small Turkish town of Myra (now Demre). He's best known as Santa Claus. As the story goes, it was about the year 300 when the very charitable man became legendary for helping children of all religions, said Ergun Kirlikovali of the American-Turkish Assn.

Thank you for the great article on Turkish desserts ("Turkish Delight," Feb. 9). Turkish dishes, especially the desserts, are known in most places of the world to be the richest and most delectable. Americans have little knowledge about the superior cuisine of Turkey, but thanks to your article, general knowledge has undoubtedly expanded. --LISA KADAM Irvine Your article on Turkish food was yummy-yummy delicious. Ever since I moved to California, one thing I truly miss is Turkish food, which is offered in some restaurants but under Greek, Armenian or Arabic names.

I was shocked and saddened by Ohanian's article. It was full of misrepresentations of history, lies and insults for all Turks and Turkish-Americans. One can see how young Armenians are brought up by hateful grandparents and parents who advocate violence against Turks. Such brainwashing has paid off: During the past two decades, more than 70 innocent people were assassinated by terrorists, who were mostly young Armenians, in hundreds of attacks worldwide on Turkish institutions. Even Southern California was not spared; three Turkish diplomats were killed by Armenians right here.

Levon Marashlian's column "Face Turkey's Crime, Then Go Beyond It" (Commentary, April 23) is full of misrepresentations, half-truths and outright falsifications. This commentary is an insult to the silent memory of millions of Turkish people who died during World War I and to the intelligence of any unsuspecting reader. Where shall I begin? First, the misrepresentations: Armenians would like to draw analogies between their civil war experiences in eastern Anatolia during World War I and the Jewish Holocaust during World War II. What they conveniently ignore are the facts that Jews never established Jewish armies behind German lines in order to back stab Germany and establish a Jewish state on German soil.

I was delighted to read Daniels' column. It hit the nail on the head. The Turkish-Armenian issue is a complicated tragedy that needs to be sorted out by scholarly research and study, not by popular votes of politicians in Congress. The term "genocide" was coined later and immediately adopted by the Armenian propagandists as part of a permanent public relations campaign designed to deliberately misrepresent the tragic events of 1915-1923. The devilish idea of "taking an uprising that went sour and packaging and marketing it as genocide" never really caught on in the academic world of facts and figures, which is why more than 69 historians released a signed statement to the U.S. Congress 5 years ago, disputing the Armenian allegations of genocide.

Your news article "Armenians Rally at Consulate to Mark Genocide Anniversary" (April 25) contained two errors: It claimed that the Turkish Consulate ". . . was closed in anticipation of the (Armenian) rally. . . ." The fact is that it was open and business was carried out as usual. It also claimed that ". . . consular officials did not even bother to issue a press release disputing the Armenian claims. . . ." The fact is that a press release was issued by the consulate on April 24, which was picked up by other members of the media.

Jonathan Clarke's article, "Sloganeering Steers U.S. Policy Awry" (Commentary, Jan. 10), is a bit off the wall, somewhat incomplete and incorrect, and totally insensitive and arrogant. If you believe him, Greeks can do no wrong and Turks can do no right. The writer uses the word "whatever" when he refers to the reasons of Turkish military intervention in Cyprus in 1974. The brutal ethnic-cleansing campaign waged between 1963-1974 by Greek nationalists in Cyprus, designed to annihilate Turks and unite Cyprus with Greece, is the reason why Turkey intervened.