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ARMENIAN DEMANDS AND PROPAGANDA
The Armenians' demands from
Turkey are recognition and compensation of so-called genocide,
and grant of land. These demands are based on following claims:
1. The Turks occupied
Armenia and deported the Armenians.
2. The Turks systematically
massacred the Armenians from after Russo-Ottoman War in 1877-78.
3. From the beginning
of 1915, the Turks methodically annihilated the Armenians.
4. Talat Pasha gave secret
commands for the annihilation of the Armenians.
5. 1.5 million of Armenians
had been killed in the genocide.
All these claims can be vanished
with an objective research:
- When the Turks came to Anatolia,
an independent Armenia did not exist; thus, it is impossible
to say that the Turks occupied the Armenian lands.
- The Armenian riots following
the Russo-Ottoman War in 1877-78 are mentioned above. Today
it is clearly known that the Armenians revolted to attract
the attention of the European Powers.
- Events of 1915 were just
a measure taken by the Ottoman government to provide security
in its territories against the Armenians who stabbed the Ottoman
Army from its back. Besides United Nations describes genocide
as a government's intention to annihilate a race. There is
no evidence to prove such an intention of the Ottoman government.
The Ottoman archives are opened to the historians and any
further investigation would reveal the facts.
- Armenian historian Andonyan
claimed that he found the confidential documents of Talat
Pasha and for many years these documents used as the evidence
of so-called genocide. However, two Turkish historians researched
those documents and proved they are counterfeit.
- These telegrams were published
in British "Daily Telegraph" in 1919. It was believed
that during the occupation of Aleppo forces of General Allenby
had found some documents remained from the Ottoman government.
When the British Foreign Affairs Bureau have investigated
this issue, they have learnt that the documents belonged to
an Armenian group in Paris. The original documents of this
investigation are still in the British archives.
Talat Pasha was killed by
an Armenian terrorist called Tehliryan, in Berlin. During
Tehliryan's trial in Berlin, five of those counterfeit telegrams
adduced to the court although their nullity was proven. The
language and the paper of the telegrams were not in the Ottoman
style and the experts have clarified this fact.
The number of the Armenian
casualties does not have any valid basement. It is said that
1.5 million Armenians were killed but, according to the Ottoman
records, there were 1.3 million Armenian habitants. If the
total Armenian population was, 1.3 million it is impossible
to kill 1.5 million Armenians. However, there is neither a
method nor a record to count the Armenian casualties. For
example, the president of the Armenian delegate in the Lausanne
Conference Bogos Nubar stated that, in that time, 700.000
Armenians migrated to other countries and there were only
280.000 Armenians in Turkey. If these numbers are correct
and the Armenian population was 1.3 million, the casualties
should be 300.000 including the ones joined the Russian Army
and died in the First World War.
In 1918 edition of Encyclopaedia
Britannica the number of the Armenian casualties is 600.000
but in its 1968 edition, the number is 1.5 million. As seen
the casualties increase on paper.
After the war, in Istanbul,
Mustafa Pasha Council was formed and the remaining members
of Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) were arrested. The
list of the suspects were given by the British and four group
of people were arrested:
1. The people who harmed the
Armenians and the Greeks during the war.
2. The people who disobeyed
the war rules.
3. The people who disobeyed
the armistice.
4. The people who disobeyed
the allies in Caucassia (these are the Azerbaijani Turks).
At first, the trial was planned
to be holding in Istanbul but later the suspects were taken
to Malta. Most of them would have been judged from the Armenian
genocide. The court took more than a year and the British
made long investigations. The arrests were made usually on
denunciations, which still exist in the files. The British
government asked the Royal Attorney if it is possible to suit
against these people but the response was negative, because
there were not enough evidence to trace a trial. Britain then
asked for evidence to the Embassy in Washington but the response
was the same, there was no proof of genocide in the American
archives.
The telegrams which, Andonyan
mentioned in his book were in Britain at that time. If they
were real the British government would have absolutely revealed
them to the court and sentence the suspects. If the most keen,
Turk opponent Lloyd George's government did not prove anything,
it means there is no proof to condemn Turkey.
During the displacement, the
Ottoman government associated with Armenian Relief Society
and USA. USA distributed aids to the refugees. In this respect,
it is illogical to accuse the Ottoman government by a methodical
annihilation movement.
To conclude, it is irrational
to accept a counterfeit genocide.
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