SILENCE OF NEW YORK TIMES ABOUT 25TH OF MARCH AND
BIASED REPORTING ON HELLENISM

By Professor Michael C. Geokas

ALAMO, CA. I have been a subscriber to the New York Times for many years. This American Newspaper of Record, is dutifully delivered to my home at midnight, including Sundays. I also subscribe to the Wall Street Journal and the San Francisco Chronicle. I enjoy the Times best because of its excellent reporting of international and domestic news, together with some of the Op-Ed articles, the Book Reviews, some of the stories in New York Times Magazine and other features. However, during the last few years, I have noticed a monotonous tilt and several obvious manifestations of specific bias in reporting and in commentary, which I consider as unbecoming of this great Newspaper, which seems to dominate the hard news in America. I wish to bring this disturbing development, directly to the attention of the Publisher Mr. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. and the President and CEO, Mr. Russell T. Lewis.

The documented examples of bias in the New York Times, have been scattered and well dispersed, yet they appear purposeful and have the unmistakable odor of an underlying pattern, aimed at inappropriately and unfairly, diminishing the image of GreekAmerica and its country of origin, (the Republic of Greece) and to reciprocally, elevate the standing of their sworn historical Nemesis, (the Turkish Republic). The unspoken cause of this informal campaign, is the Turkish-Israeli alliance, which has been erroneously designed to benefit the state of Israel. I must admit that this strategy has been a seemingly brilliant conception and has been modestly successful so far. However, the Turkish-Israeli alliance constitutes a Pyrrhic victory and in the long run will be injurious to Israel itself, and to American interests in the region as well. Thus, enough is enough and I believe that the time has come, for the highest echelons of the New York Times, to listen carefully to at least one of their readers, from California. Please note the following:

1. On Sunday, March 26, 2000 a spectacular parade took place on Fifth Avenue, elaborately prepared by the thriving Greek-American Community of New York, with the participation of thousands upon thousands of people and two prominent parade Marshalls, such as Professor Constantine Papadakis, President of Drexel University and Professor Psomiadis, Director of Modern Greek Studies at Queen's College. A part of this parade were, the great military Band of the Ministry of Defense, and a majestic contingent of the Presidential Guard of the Republic of Greece, the famous Evzones. The spiritual leader for two million Americans of Greek ancestry, His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, the Director of the CIA and the Ambassador of Greece to the United States, were in attendance.

The whole parade was magnificent and the enthusiasm and justified pride of the participants were extraordinary. This parade, commemorating the 25th of March uprising of the Greek Nation, against the almost 400 year yoke of the Ottoman Empire, is always endowed with electrifying impulses and is celebrated all over the World, by a total of 17 million Greeks, those in the old country (10 million) as well as, the 7 million of Diaspora.

The revolution started in March 1821 and was finally concluded by the Naval Battle of Navarinon. The new nation born in 1830, has been a Democracy for 140 out of 169 years of its existence and has taken the side of America, on every single major conflict of the 20th Century. On top of that, Greece is the acclaimed birthplace of Democracy and the originator of Western thought. The recent report of Freedom House concludes, that 20th Century was not the Century of the Computer or the Fall of the Berlin Wall, but instead, it was the Century of Democracy, now having been established, in 62% of the 192 independent nations, which represents 58% of the planet's population. This is the nation that revolted in 1821 and those were its people who expended rivers of blood, to gain their freedom, from their powerful oppressors.

This was a resurrection from the ashes, and the revival of a people and their famous culture and heritage. Their land is the place of the Parthenon, and of the Olympic Games. This was the celebration against brutal despotism, which belongs not only to Greeks, but also to all free men and women and especially to all Americans. This was the celebration that the New York Times chose to ignore, completely. Frankly speaking, this was a blunder, on the part of this great Newspaper, which has overwhelmingly condemned Nazi despotism. Moreover, this is also a pointless insult against two million Americans of Greek ancestry and to the galaxy of their friends in the United States, as well as the 15 million other Greeks, in Greece and the rest of Diaspora. This is an unfair slight by the New York Times, against Hellenism and it should be rectified as soon as possible.

2. I have read two Essays by William Safire, which I have found to be incredible in content and were apparently written with the purpose, to clumsily explain away an unjustifiable and bizarre alliance, between the State of Israel and the military-dominated Republic of Turkey, which is notorious for human rights violations, for destruction of Kurdish villages, arrests of scores of Journalists, for paramilitary death squads, invasion and occupation of 38% of Cyprus for 26 years and the unrelenting frictions and threats of war against her neighbors. It is inconceivable, that the Israelis, children of the victims of the Holocaust (I bow in deep respect to the memory of the Holocaust victims, especially the 60,000 of our Greek-Jewish brothers, rounded up by the Nazis) could make an alliance with perpetrators of two other Holocausts, of the Armenians and Pontian Greeks. And this is the alliance, a major destabilizing factor, in the Balkans and the Middle East, that Mr. William Safire, has tried to justify, with the spurious title "Byzantine Alliance" (NYT, December 10, 1997, p.29A) and the "Phantom Alliance" (NYT, February 4, 1999, p. A27). Mr. Safire should read our documented research essay, in The National Herald (December 4-5, 1999) and in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (April 2000, p.33).

It is now clear, that the Turkish-Israeli alliance will aggravate the vehement Arab rejectionism of Israel and destabilize this volatile area. This alliance is a threat to Hellenism and to the entire region and Mr. Safire should do more research on this issue.

3. The latest manifestation of the inappropriate tendency of New York Times, to downgrade the standing of Greece in the world, was seen on January 8, 2000 and involved the most surreptitious slighting of the Head of State of the Greek Republic, in two photographs, the first colored and the second in black and white (New York Times, January 8, 2000, p.1 and A6).

The event took place in Bethlehem, West Bank, in the Church of the Nativity on January 7, (following the Julian calendar) during the celebration by Orthodox Christians of the 2,000 years since the birth of Jesus, as described by William A. Orme Jr. under the title: "Orthodox World Joins for a Holiday". Incredibly, in the caption of the colored photograph on page one, only Diodoros I, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem was mentioned, whereas the Head of State of the Greek Republic, Mr. Stephanopoulos is ignored. To add insult to injury, this slight was repeated in the caption of the second photograph on page A6, where Mr. Arafat and his wife Suha, are mentioned, whereas Mr. Stephanopoulos is again ignored. This is impossible to accept as an oversight, by the sharp-eyed Editors of the Times. This instead, is palpable evidence of insensitivity and it is inappropriate for this great Newspaper of Record.

SUMMARY: The silence, about the spectacular parade of GreekAmerica, on New York City's fifth Avenue, on Sunday March 26th, the dubious essays by Mr. Safire in support of the "Byzantine" and "Phantom" Turkish-Israeli alliance, and the slight against the head of State, Mr. Stephanopoulos, by the New York Times, coupled with Mr. Stephen Kinzer's stream of glowing article's from Istanbul, about Turkey (there is no Time's correspondent in Athens), when taken together, are all components of a persistent pattern, in an attempt to diminish the standing of the Greek Nation and the Greek-American Community, and to reciprocally, elevate Turkey and Israel, in the altar of their opportunistic alliance.

This alliance, has infuriated the Arab League, and the Greeks and Armenians around the world and will unfortunately aggravate Arab rejectionism against Israel, and will harm the long term interests of the United States as well, in the Middle East. No amount of calculated silence or biased reporting by the New York Times, will ever elevate the hopeless standing of Israel's, Turkish allies. Turkey, plagued by an autonomous military, unbeholden to society and to civilian institutions, and by social fault-lines galore, due to the crisis of Kemalism and to growing economic inequalities, constitutes in effect an additional burden to Israel's fundamental problems, which will get worse in the future, due to the region's population explosion, now on track to engulf the handful of Israelis, with a sea of 370 million hostile Moslems (excluding Turkey) by 2025. Even Israel's nuclear arsenal will be rendered irrelevant, with the passing of time. Thus, biased reporting and faulty essays, are in effect counterproductive, and a great disservice to the garrison Israeli State, itself. Instead, Israel's supporters in the New York Times and elsewhere, should strongly advise Israeli moderation, its speedy withdrawal from southern Lebanon and the Golan Hights and the early recognition of a Palestinian State, living in peace and close economic cooperation with the Israelis. The famous dictum of John Maynard Keynes, is still valid for the troublesome Middle East: that some of the most dramatic events in human history were due to demographic developments, which had passed unnoticed when they occurred. I believe that demographic forces, will by and large determine the future of Israel and not unrealistic reporting or an opportunistic alliance with a troubled Turkey.

Finally, as a long time reader of the New York Times, I request from its Publisher and its CEO, to publish a delayed report on "the March 25th Greek Independence Day Celebration of 2,000," the first such celebration of the new millennium, which took place on March 26th, with a spectacular parade in New York City. Thank You.

Michael C. Geokas, M.D., M. Sc., Ph.D.
(Em) Professor of Medicine and Biological
Chemistry, UC-Davis School of Medicine

PRESIDENT, Demokritos Society of America, A Think-Tank on issues of Hellenism.