American Hellenic Media Project

Please find below:

(1) A letter by the American Hellenic Media Project as published in The Toronto Sun on April 2, 1999 (and a brief response by the Editor);

(2) The longer version of two responses as originally submitted to The Toronto Sun;

(3) The shorter version of two responses as originally submitted to The Toronto Sun; and

(4) The Toronto Sun article that was responded to.

(for "fair use" and educational purposes only)

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(1)

THE TORONTO SUN

Sunday, April 2, 1999

LETTER OF THE DAY

IN HIS March 28 report ("Serb brutality has finally forced alliance to act"), Eric Margolis chooses derogatory ethnic slurs over journalistic accuracy when deriding "Muslim-hating Greece."

Thanks in part to Greece's compliance with EU human rights standards, discriminatory legislation, such as the infamous "Article 19" which stripped Muslims of their Greek citizenship if they left the country for a long period of time, has been repealed. In addition to enjoying the benefits of the most progressive democracy in the Balkans, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, Muslims in Greece have been free to form their own religious parties and elect members to the Greek Parliament. The government has even instituted an affirmative action program geared to remedy educational discrimination against Muslims on the university level.

Despite an ongoing history of severe repression by Muslim neighbors Albania, Turkey and in occupied Cyprus, whose dwindling Hellenic minorities have been subjected to pogroms, deportations, ethnic cleansing campaigns, bombings, murders and other hate crimes, had Margolis investigated the matter he would have concluded that Greece's treatment of its 120,000-strong Muslim minority has increasingly been grounded upon tolerance, and not hate.

While Greece has joined in the international community's outcry over Milosevic's ethnic cleansing of Kosovo's Albanians, Greece's sympathy with the Serbs -- who have watched their country be systematically dismembered since 1992, and who have recently been subjected to the worst atrocities of the entire Yugoslav conflict in the Krajina region under the oversight of the same Western powers which are now bombing their cities -- is founded more upon a sense of fair play and justice, than on any simplistic notions of "Muslim-hating".

Greece's reluctance to support NATO air strikes is also rooted in a well-founded fear that the intervention is more about the re-Ottomanization of the Balkans -- creating a sphere of influence in Europe for Turkey (and, by extension, for its close ally Israel) through the area's Muslim population -- than about any genuine human rights concerns for Kosovo's Albanians.

P. D. Spyropoulos Executive Director The American Hellenic Media Project New York, N.Y.

[Editor's response:] (Every country in the Balkans has its own agenda. Spare us the lecture)

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(2)

American Hellenic Media Project
P.O. Box 1150
New York, N.Y. 10028-0008
ahmp@hri.org
http://www.ahmp.org

March 31, 1999

(the longer of two responses)

To the Editor of The Toronto Sun:

In his 3/28 report ("Serb brutality has finally forced alliance to act"), Eric Margolis chooses derogatory ethnic slurs over journalistic accuracy when deriding "Muslim-hating Greece".

Despite an ongoing history of severe repression by Muslim neighbors Albania, Turkey and in occupied Cyprus, whose dwindling Hellenic minorities have been subjected to pogroms, deportations, ethnic cleansing campaigns, bombings, murders and other hate crimes, had Mr. Margolis investigated the matter rather than relied on outdated stereotypes he would have concluded that Greece's treatment of its 120,000-strong Muslim minority has increasingly been grounded upon tolerance, and not hate.

Ironically, Mr. Margolis' label of "Muslim-hating" is far more appropriate to Greece's Muslim neighbor, Turkey. Muslims are far freer to practice their religion and pursue their political aspirations in Greece than in neighboring Turkey, which has banned Islamic headscarves and beards in government institutions, outlawed Islamic parties, imprisoned Muslim religious leaders, and used government-sponsored death squads to assassinate Islamic activists.

Last September, Istanbul Mayor Recep Tayyip Erdogan was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment for reciting a poem with an Islamic theme. This month, a prosecutor demanded the death penalty for 4 former deputies of the pro-Islamist Welfare Party, which was outlawed after Turkey's military forced Necmettin Erbakan to step down from his post as prime minister.

While Greece has joined in the international community's outcry over Milosevic's ethnic cleansing of Kosovo's Albanians, Greece's sympathy with the Serbs— who have watched their country be systematically dismembered since 1992, and who have recently been subjected to the worst atrocities of the entire Yugoslav conflict in the Krajina region under the oversight of the same Western powers which are now bombing their cities—is founded more upon a sense of fair play and justice, than on any simplistic notions of "Muslim-hating". Greece's reluctance to support NATO airstrikes is also rooted in a well-founded fear that the intervention is more about the re-ottomanization of the Balkans—creating a sphere of influence in Europe for Turkey (and, by extension, for its close ally Israel) through the area's Muslim population—than about any genuine human rights concerns for Kosovo's Albanians.

Very truly yours,

P. D. Spyropoulos, Esq.
Executive Director

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The American Hellenic Media Project is a non-profit organization created to address inaccuracy and bias in the media and encourage independent, ethical and responsible journalism.

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(3)

American Hellenic Media Project
P.O. Box 1150
New York, N.Y. 10028-0008
ahmp@hri.org
http://www.ahmp.org

Via fax & e-mail: (416) 947-3228

(the shorter of two responses)

March 31, 1999

To the Editor of The Toronto Sun:

In his 3/28 report ("Serb brutality has finally forced alliance to act"), Eric Margolis chooses derogatory ethnic slurs over journalistic accuracy when deriding "Muslim-hating Greece".

Despite an ongoing history of severe repression by Muslim neighbors Albania, Turkey and in occupied Cyprus, whose dwindling Hellenic minorities have been subjected to pogroms, deportations, ethnic cleansing campaigns, bombings, murders and other hate crimes, had Mr. Margolis investigated the matter rather than relied on outdated stereotypes he would have concluded that Greece's treatment of its 120,000-strong Muslim minority has increasingly been grounded upon tolerance, and not hate.

Ironically, Mr. Margolis' label of "Muslim-hating" is far more appropriate to Greece's Muslim neighbor, Turkey, as Muslims are far freer to practice their religion and pursue their political aspirations in Greece.

Very truly yours,

P. D. Spyropoulos, Esq.
Executive Director

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(4)

TORONTO SUN

3/28/99

Serb brutality has finally forced alliance to act

By ERIC MARGOLIS Contributing Foreign Editor

After straining every sinew for the past year to avoid military action in Kosovo, NATO's 19 members finally went to war last week against Serbia to stop what U.S. President Bill Clinton rightly called "the brutal repression in Kosovo."

Ironically, NATO, which had been created and configured to fight the Soviet Union, ended up warring against Soviet-armed Serbia, the last communist state in Europe.

A deeply divided, reluctant NATO was finally forced to act by sharp intensification of Serbia's campaign to drive out, or kill, most of the two million Albanian inhabitants of Kosovo, the 93% ethnic Albanian region ruled by Serbia. Before NATO struck, Serb ethnic warfare had killed over 2,000 Albanian civilians, made 400,000 homeless refugees and left villages across the region looted and burning.

Slobodan Milosevic, the Serb dictator, rose to power - and holds it - by arousing violently nationalist, anti-Albanian, anti-Muslim hatred among Serbs. Recent efforts by NATO to impose a peace settlement on war-torn Kosovo directly threatened Milosevic's hold on power. He launched a major offensive with 50,000 troops, 300 tanks and many heavy guns in a major effort to eradicate the Albanian civilians of Kosovo, and wipe out the 12,000 lightly armed guerrilla fighters of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), before NATO could act.

NATO did finally strike last week, though with only a fraction of the offensive power the U.S. and its allies used against Iraq. It was one of history's best advertised military operations, allowing Serbs to hide or disperse many of their missile systems, guns and armour well before hostilities began.

Initial NATO attacks - about 400 sorties per day, and a score of cruise missile attacks - were modest in terms of numbers and striking power, and carefully calibrated to degrade Serbia's Soviet-supplied air defence system, which was modernized by Russia last year, while avoiding civilian casualties.

While NATO electronic jamming and computer warfare disrupted Serb air defence systems, it was also clear the Serbs had hidden many of their radar-guided AA missiles for later use against NATO ground-attack aircraft. Serbia's navy has been spared - so far.

But as NATO air forces, including six Canadian CF-18s, went after Serb air defences and communications, Serbs escalated attacks against unarmed Albanian civilians, and the destruction of Kosovar villages and livestock. Some Albanian community leaders and intellectuals were kidnapped and, reportedly, murdered. Fully 25% of Kosovo's Albanians were being driven like hunted animals across the snow-covered hills and forests of the region.

By this weekend, NATO air power should be in a position to begin low-level tactical strikes against Serb regular army, paramilitary, and irregular forces that are massacring Kosovars and laying waste the province with medieval ferocity. Prime targets will be Serb tanks, armoured personnel carriers, heavy artillery, rocket launchers and their logistic trains. Serb forces that have butchered civilians in Bosnia and Kosovo will finally face western military power. Aircraft at risk

When this tactical stage begins, however, the Serbs' large number medium-calibre AA weapons, from 20 mm to 57 mm, could begin taking a toll of NATO aircraft. It's unlikely NATO air power alone will be able to halt Serb attempts at mass murder. And any loss of NATO aircraft will produce anguished calls in the West for a ceasefire.

Weak sisters in NATO will openly waver. Last week, Muslim-hating Greece, long a supporter of Serbia, called for an end to hostilities. So did Italy, whose communist-led government has ideological sympathy for Serbia. Bankrupt, impotent Russia shook its fist at the U.S., while holding out its other hand for American food aid. The Serb government and its highly effective secret police mounted violent, ugly demonstrations around the world. Serbs also targeted western journalists for intimidation and threats - including death threats - in an effort to silence all criticism of Serb atrocities and conceal their ongoing crimes against humanity in Kosovo.

NATO and the U.S. are now stuck in the Balkan quagmire. Milosevic will try to negotiate his way out of the war, promise to stop genocide, and then resume it once NATO's attention is diverted and its will exhausted by barrages of propaganda about Serb civilian casualties, much of it concocted.

If NATO relents, it will be seen as a paper tiger on its 50th anniversary, and condemned for allowing ethnic cleansing to continue. In other words, NATO is damned either way. But NATO had to attack: it simply could no longer tolerate Serbia's ethnic/religious warfare in the heart of Europe, nor idly watch Milosevic continue committing the worst atrocities on the continent since Hitler's Nazis. Ground troops

NATO must soldier on. If air power is unable to stop Serb atrocities, then NATO may be forced against its wishes to send ground troops into Kosovo to protect civilians. Backed by close air support, NATO troops would quickly rout the Serb army, which so far has battled mainly against unarmed civilians. NATO forces should then consider marching on Belgrade, arresting dictator Milosevic and the thugs who surround him - a cabal of war criminals and gangsters who have hijacked Serbia, blackened the once proud name of the Serb people, and brought misery and death to the Balkans.

Back in 1989, this column called Milosevic a criminal tyrant and vicious hate-monger who had to be stopped before he plunged Yugoslavia into racial, tribal and religious war. Ten years later, Milosevic is responsible for 253,000 civilian deaths, three million refugees and four wars: against Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, and now Kosovo.

It is high time for the civilized nations to be rid once and for all of this criminal who has enflamed every evil instinct in the Balkan soul and created so much suffering and hatred.