Dear Mayor Jim Dear

SAMPLE MESSAGE 1

Dear Mayor Jim Dear:

I am deeply saddened that on March 4, 2015, the Council elected to deny the construction of an Ataturk Monument at the city's International Peace Garden.

Ataturk was born Mustafa Kemal in a home of modest means in what was then the Ottoman city of Salonika, today Thessaloniki, Greece.

Ataturk initially gained fame when successfully defending Ottoman territory in the famous Battle of Gallipoli in 1915. Not long after the end of World War I, Ataturk rebelled against the Ottoman Sultan because he believed that a better life awaited the people of Turkey as members of the Western community.

Ataturk founded the Republic of Turkey in a revolution that transformed Turkish society from a theocratic monarchy to a secular democracy, and from a centralize economy to a vibrant market place that is today the world's 15th largest economy. Turkey today commands the second largest military in NATO, and is a key ally of the United States.

Ataturk's Republic produced diplomats who provided Turkish passports to hundreds of European Jews so they could escape the Holocaust. Ataturk's Republic honored the request of Albert Einstein to provide residence and jobs to hundreds of Jewish scholars and scientists. Ataturk's Republic was the second nation to recognize the independence of Israel, after the United States. It is so heartbreaking and alarming, therefore, to read Armenian news reports that the City Council equated Ataturk with Hitler and Turkey with Nazi Germany.

Ataturk was commended and honored by American leaders such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, General Douglas MacArthur, as well as author Ernest Hemingway and British leader Winston Churchill. Please see the attached quotes.

In my opinion, the City Council meeting did not do justice to the memory of Ataturk, who would have been a perfect addition to the International Peace Garden. Ataturk is known around the world for his words, "Peace at Home, Peace in the World."

It appears that the City Council meeting was overtaken by those with an irrational hatred against people of Turkish heritage, and that the Council was bullied into a horrible decision based on erroneous and reckless information. In short, the City Council was duped into become another group's tool to discriminate and alienate a whole U.S. heritage community. International peace is much more than landscaping; it requires a more rational approach far beyond hacking down the memory of people, like weeds and brush.

Please advise me how and when you will be revisiting your decision.

Thank you

Your name/last name

"I obtained information concerning Mustafa Kemal from someone who knows him very well. When talking with Foreign Minister Litvinov of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, he said that in his opinion, the most valuable and interesting statesman in all of Europe does not live in Europe today, but beyond the Bosphorus, he lives in Ankara, and that this was the President of the Turkish Republic, Gazi Mustafa Kemal Ataturk."

Franklin D. Roosevelt,President of the United States of America

"The name of Ataturk reminds people of the historical successes of one of the great individuals of this century, the leadership that gave inspiration to the Turkish nation, farsightedness in the understanding of the modern world and courage and power as a military leader. It is without a doubt that another example can't be shown indicating greater successes than the birth of the Turkish Republic and ever since then Ataturk's and Turkey's broad and deep reforms undertaken as well as the confidence of a nation in itself."

John F. Kennedy, President of the United States of America

"He was a military-statesman, one of the greatest leaders of our era. He ensured that Turkey got its rightful place among the most advanced nations. Also, he gave the feeling of support and self-confidence to the Turks that form the foundation stone of a nation's greatness. I take great pride in being one of Ataturk's loyal friends."

General Douglas MacArthur, USA Commander-in-Chief of the Far East Forces

"The West and the East came face to face at the second class coastal town of Mudanya on a crooked road covered with dust on the hot Marmara coast. Despite the English flag ship "Iron-Duke's" ash-colored deathly turrets that transported the Allied generals for negotiations with Ismet Pasha, the Westerners had come here to beg for peace, not to ask for peace or to dictate the conditions. These negotiations demonstrate the end of Europe's dominance over Asia, because as everyone knows, Mustafa Kemal got rid of all the Greeks."

Ernest Hemingway, American Journalist and Novelist Nobel Laureate

"Ataturk's death is not only a loss for the country, but for Europe is the greatest loss, he who saved Turkey in the war and who revived a new the Turkish nation after the war. The sincere tears shed after him by all classes of people is nothing other than an appropriate manifestation to this great hero and modern Turkey's Ata."

Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

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Dear Mayor Pro Tempore Elito M. Santarina:

I am very disappointed that on March 4, 2015, the Council censored Ataturk from the City International Peace Garden. I hope this is not a final resolution of this important initiative.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), which has taken credit for this censorship, and its ultra-nationalist supporters have misled and bullied the leaders and people of Carson.

According to the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), ANCA is not only the U.S. representative of a foreign political party, the ultranationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), it has refused with impunity to register its foreign lobbying work under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

Chillingly, ARF's militant wing, the Justice Commandos, was complicit in terrorist attacks on US soil in the 1980s, including the murder of three Turkish diplomats in Los Angeles.

While the City Council yielded to extremism on March 4, and heeded the demands of the pro-ARF Mayors of Glendale and Montebello, ZarehSinanian and Jack Hadjinian, it still has the opportunity to exercise good reason and common sense regarding the Ataturk initiative, as well as to stand against prejudice and to support American diversity.

Turkish American community is profoundly disappointed by the Carson City Council's decision. The decision is not only insulting to the founding leader of a NATO ally which has shown unyielding solidarity with the United States, but also is vehemently offensive to the symbols and principles that the American citizens of Turkish descent hold dear.

The Council's decision shows a total disregard to the feelings of the American citizens of Turkish descent for whom those who hold political office are also responsible. This act would only serve to disenfranchise and alienate the Turkish Americans. Furthermore, with its decision Carson City Council is stoking hatred and fueling enmity against Turkish Americans in their own district and beyond.

Indeed, Ataturk founded the Republic of Turkey in a revolution that transformed Turkish society from a theocratic monarchy to a secular democracy.

At Ataturk's funeral, Winston Churchill declared:

John F. Kennedy celebrated Ataturk:

Ataturk is perfect for the International Peace Garden. He has been true to the word and spirit of the words he is best known for, "Peace at Home, Peace in the World." Please take the opportunity to reconsider.

Thank you

Your name/last name

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Dear Council Member Lula Davis-Holmes:

I am writing to you with regard to the decision taken by the Carson City Council on March 4th, 2015 to reject the construction of an Ataturk Monument at the International Peace Garden.

Ataturk is not only the founder of the Republic of Turkey but he is also among the few statesman of the 20th century that has changed the course of history and inspired several other leaders and nations in their journey towards freedom and democracy.

Arguing that Ataturk has influenced Nazi Germany and equating him to Adolf Hitler is in the slightest terms an insult to me and millions of Turks living around the world.

On March 4th, 2015, the whole City Council meeting was abused and the Turks were only given the opportunity to speak so that the meeting was conducted as a matter of procedure as the decision was obviously pre-determined.

The decision also run counter to the universal values of democracy and respect for human rights, particularly freedom of expression, on which justice, peace and non-discrimination are based.

The poor judgment and the decision of the Carson City Council based on false accusations and intimidation by certain circles will not be forgotten by the Turks as well as those who continue to adhere to the ideals and values that Ataturk exemplifies.

Thank you

Your name/last name

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Dear Council Member Albert Robles:

I cannot help but be enraged by the Council's March 4, 2015 decision to exclude Ataturk from the city's International Peace Garden. By succumbing to the hyperbole and ethnic identity baiting of a narrow-minded few, you have allowed a sinister anti-Turkish stereotype to be perpetuated. In so doing, you undermined the laudable goal of the Peace Garden.

You heard that Ataturk was responsible for genocide. This accusation is entirely untrue and absent from the historical record. Though a robust scholarly debate about the tragic fate of the Ottoman Armenians during World War I continues, Ataturk never figures into it, as he was a soldier at Gallipoli at the time, 1000 miles to the west of where the Armenian Revolt took place.

Rather, UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Celebrated Ataturk on the centennial of his birth, proclaiming in 1981:

"Convinced that personalities who worked for understanding and cooperation between nations and international peace will be examples for future generations,

Recalling that the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic, will be celebrated in 1981,

Knowing that he was an exceptional reformer in all fields relevant to the competence of UNESCO,

Recognizing in particular that he was the leader of the first struggle given against colonialism and imperialism,

Recalling that he was the remarkable promoter of the sense of understanding between peoples and durable peace between the nations of the world and that he worked all his life for the development of harmony and cooperation between peoples without distinction of color, religion and race,

It is decided that UNESCO should collaborate in 1981 with the Turkish Government on both intellectual and technical plans for an international colloquium with the aim of acquainting the world with the various aspects of the personality and deeds of Ataturk whose objective was to promote world peace, international understanding and respect for human rights."

UNESCO recognized that Ataturk was a visionary leader, not the leader you have been misled to believe. Ataturk launched an array of reforms in Turkey that at a stroke modernized an impoverished country and set it on the path to prosperity and eventual membership in NATO. For example, Ataturk championed women's rights, universal suffrage, free, secular and co-educational learning, the use of the Latin alphabet, the adoption of western dress, and the use of modern technology to improve industry and society.

Ataturk's lessons are universal, so it is not too late for you to reconsider your decision. It will not be a sign of disrespect to anyone to honor Ataturk. However, it will be a sign of disrespect, ignorance and prejudice at a national and global level to censor him. The decision is not only insulting to the founding leader of a NATO ally which has shown unyielding solidarity with the United States, but also is vehemently offensive to the symbols and principles that the American citizens of Turkish descent hold dear.

Thank you.

Your name/last name