| October 22 , 2001 The Honorable John G. Rowland Re: Official Statement Commemorating August 30, 2001 in the State Dear Governor Rowland: I regret that I have to inform you that your proclamation regarding Turkey is seriously flawed with factual inaccuracies and omissions. Whoever suggested this proclamation to you and whoever drafted the language for the proclamation did you and the people of Connecticut a substantial disservice. I urge you to review the matter and withdraw this factually faulty proclamation. If one of your aims is to recognize the contributions of Turkish Americans to the State of Connecticut, I suggest you issue a proclamation dealing with that issue solely. If you also want to express the sentiments of the residents of Connecticut to the loss of civilian lives due to war and ethnic strife, I suggest you issue a proclamation recognizing:
Attached as Exhibit 1 (click here) is a brief review of each of the proclamation's WHEREAS clauses with comments as to where they are deficient. In recent weeks, the Governor of Alabama, Don Siegelman, and the Mayor of Hartford, Connecticut Michael P. Peters, retracted similar historically revisionist proclamations. Governor Siegelman officially retracted a proclamation titled "Day of Remembrance of the Turkish Tragedy for Liberation to Sovereignty and Independence" on October 3, 2001, while Mayor Peters issued a formal apology on September 6, 2001 to the Greek and Armenian communities for issuing the exact proclamation you have issued regarding the Turkish Zafer Holiday. I would very much hope and request that you reconsider and withdraw this faulty proclamation naming August 30, 2001 in the State of Connecticut as a "Day of Remembrance of the Turkish Zafer Holiday." Such a withdrawal would put a closure to an unfortunatematter, and set the historical record straight.
Respectfully, Eugene T. Rossides
cc: Congressional delegation |
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10-22-01 Letter to Governor John G. Rowland
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