“[Their purposes] are to mislead Christian Charity for The Relief of supposed victims of the unspeakable Turk … are raising money to support themselves. Professional Beggars who have bled their own countrymen … if this country does not want to appear, FOOLISH before the whole world… we refuse to be DUPED by impossible tales”.

Şükrü Server Aya was born in 1930 to parents of Turkish descent, in Galati, Romania. His parents had come from Trabzon in late 19th century to settle in the Danube delta town of Sulina, populated mainly by Turks. When in August 1939 Russia occupied the Bessarabia Province of Romania (present-day Moldova), his father packed up in a hurry and loaded the family onto a Turkish cargo ship full to the brim with timber and escaped WWII by arriving at their homeland Turkey.

Never mind his broken Turkish at first, he became fluent in it rather quickly and finished elementary, junior and high-schools and got accepted at Robert College, the first American Missionary School. He had to interrupt his studies in engineering when his father died in a maritime accident in 1951, to support his family. He worked for a Dutch company building a harbour in Zonguldak on the Black Sea.

He also worked for a Swiss company in Istanbul specializing in farming, road construction machinery and other engineering materials. He returned to Robert College and graduated in 1953 with a B.A. degree in Literature since, he says, “That branch did not require much homework or attendance, unlike the engineering Department.” He was then offered by the “Chula Vista” Rotary Club a one-year scholarship in San Diego in Journalism, which he now regrets that he ‘let it go,’ not wishing to deprive his family of financial support. Around that time, he and a friend formed a company. That was the start of his personal independence in business under his own name, and the rest is history, as they say.

Over a period exceeding half a century his travelling the world extensively has helped him develop an international and humanitarian attitude towards world affairs. As a Turk who has enjoyed the warm company of many friends of Armenian ethnicity during his school and business life, he has taken a keen interest in the so-called Armenian controversy. Added to this, his hobby of historical research has led him to investigate the parleys of “the pro-Armenian or neutral writers” on the controversy “Armenian Genocide” or in the words of Mr. Şükrü S. Aya, “the Armenian Fanfare.”

It was not until a friend convinced him to share his knowledge with others that he decided to put his compilation in book form, entitled The Genocide of Truth. It is not a book of analytical interpretation that may contain subjective or wrong judgments, but is an objective compilation of what anti-Turkish or Armenophile researchers or politicians have said or written over the years. He has intentionally not included as a source the rich Turkish archives or any material by what the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) or Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) may stamp as “denialists”. And he has given numerous talks about his findings such as at the London Turkish-Armenian Relations Conference held at the London School of Economics on 30 January 2009 and at a more recent conference on the same subject held at his alma mater Robert College, Istanbul on 16 January 2011.

He would like to be clear that for this enterprise no person or institution has prompted him, nor has he received any assistance or rewards of any type whatsoever.

Being a businessman it was gratifying to Şükrü S. Aya that Istanbul Commerce University, Istanbul, Turkey decided to publish the first volume The Genocide of Truth in 2008 (ISBN: 978-975-6516-24-9). In 2009 he came up with the Turkish version of his first book, Soykırım Tacirleri ve Gerçekler (Genocide Traders and Facts) ISBN-978-9944-250-35-1 (Derin Yayinlari – Istanbul, Dec.2009). As a follow-up to his more recent findings, he has since written a second volume entitled The Genocide of Truth Continues…. But Facts Tell the Real Story, published by Derin Yayınları, Istanbul, Turkey, Dec. 2010(ISBN: 978-605-5500-07-8). He says that newly found “factual truths” come pouring in and they all reaffirm his first compilations. He wishes to publish two more books, to bring sunlight on two major distortions in history, but he can’t afford it!

Şükrü S. Aya likes to quote “The Reno Evening Gazette,” going back to 14 November 1915:
“[Their purposes] are to mislead Christian Charity for The Relief of supposed victims of the unspeakable Turk … are raising money to support themselves. Professional Beggars who have bled their own countrymen … if this country does not want to appear, FOOLISH before the whole world… we refuse to be DUPED by impossible tales”.

Şükrü S. Aya refused to be DUPED!
 
Prepared by Sevgin Oktay – March 2011
This biography is Taken from Light Millennium