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I'd appreciate its being made clear that it is the song (Mine Eyes Have Seen the Coming of the N.A.A.C.P.) and not the singer that is "on the other side of the fence" [July 19]. I am an ardent integrationist and card-carrying Unitarian, as well as a folksinger and New Frontier Democrat. If word got around that I was, as you termed it, "bitterly resigned" (to integration), I might well not be invited to another hootenanny in Dallas.
HERMES NYE Dallas
Commercials for God
Sir:
As I am a Presbyterian, my heart nearly burst with pride at the actions of the Rev. Dr. Eugene Carson Blake, but it almost stopped beating entirely when I learned that the United Presbyterian Church hierarchy is actually buying "spiritual ads."
Likening a spiritual experience to the "better than Brand X" gobbledygook of Madison Avenue [July 12] is positively revolting, and the result will prove acutely embarrassing.
MARLENE PHILLIPS Sheridan, Wyo.
Dangerous Dieffenbachia
Sir:
I feel that the July 19 article on toxic plants and spices would have been transformed from a mere feature article to a genuine public service if you had included a picture of the common house plant, Dieffenbachia, to warn other unsuspecting victims of its potential danger.
JERRY L. AVORN Belle Harbor, N.Y.
A Millennium of Monasticism
Sir:
It was with great pleasure indeed that I read [July 5] the very fine article about Mount Athos and Orthodoxy.
The article is an excellent piece that summarizes in a masterly way the history of the holy mountain and the role that it played and still plays in Orthodoxy.
As to the photographs, they are simply masterpieces that reflect the glory and grandeur of the Byzantine Empire, this bastion of Christianity that for centuries stood as a protecting guard.
ANG. VLACHOS Under Secretary of State to the Prime Minister's Office Athens
Sir:
Your statement that most of the 1,500,000 Greek Orthodox who lived in Turkey before 1922 were killed or exiled by Dictator Kemal Ataturk is not only misleading but is stated in insulting terms. The proper name is Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who was the legitimate and recognized President of Turkey during his lifetime.
As to the expulsion of the Greeks, let us not forget that in 1919 Greek troops occupied Izmir and its environs in spite of specific Allied guarantees that this would not happen. When exhausted, prostrate Turkey began to rally around Ataturk's nationalist banner, the guerrilla war against the Greeks developed into a full-scale war. The Greek armies were stopped only 70 miles from Ankara and decisively defeated in the battle of Inonu by the present Premier of Turkey (who took his name from there).
After the defeat of the Greek army, Ataturk arranged the now famous population transfer by way of which the Greeks in Turkey (except for Istanbul) were deported to Greece and the much smaller number of Turks in Greece deported to Turkey. The loss of skilled craftsmen, merchants and farmers hurt Turkey's economy. Though relations on a people-to-people basis are still far from cordial, Ataturk's seemingly harsh decision has enabled Turkey and Greece to work closely together within NATO.