Armenian Letters 4: Part I

The Armenian Population Of The Ottoman Empire

Maral Der Ohanesian's Response To Dr. Laciner

- Dear Editor,

I didn’t want to leave out some important details, therefore I will reply your message in separate parts. And this is the first part. According to the Oxford Dictionary, to deny is “to say that something is not true.” So when you say that there is no Armenian Genocide, you are denying it. I understand why you might be sensitive about this word, since English is not your first language. It’s not mine either. But we will have a little talk about "Genocide Denial" later , in the coming parts.

Although it’s not just what “Armenians Claim” but the International Holocaust and Genocide Scholars and specialists as well as human rights organizations all over the world agree that the Armenian Genocide is a crime against humanity and recognize it as the First Genocide of the 20th Century. Turkey is still trying, with the aid of some local and Western revisionists, to revise the facts and convince Turks and others that “there was no Genocide”.

As the Turkish revisionist campaign, which is the main fist of the denial, claims that Armenian genocide was a "war propaganda," I will ONLY use Ottoman and pro-Ottoman (allies of the Ottoman Empire at the time) archival documents to show you the reality. Indeed you will deny for a long time that the Armenian genocide did not happen, because it is what you were raised to believe in. But I hope these facts will make you to rethink over.

Now, before we talk a little bit about the Ottoman statistics you have provided, and start the numbers’ game, let’s see what a German (Ottoman ally) high ranking officer recorded in his account about this issue:The German chief of staff of the Ottoman Third Army, Colonel Felix Guse, complained that "the Turks knew only poorly their country, on top of that, the possibility of getting reliable statistical figures was out of the question.” [Felix Guse, Die Kaukasusfront im Weltkrieg, Liebzig: Koehler und Amelang,1940, p. 83].

Ottoman Records:

The First Census, 1830’s Census: You wrote: “According to the census documents 2,600,000 were Muslim men, and 1,400,000 were Jews and Christians. The number of Christians in Anatolia was about 400,000 in 1830.”

While the Ottomans had records of populations prior to the 1830s, it was only in 1831 that they founded the “Office of Population Registers Fund” (Ceride-i Nüfus Nezareti). To draw more accurate data, the Office decentralized itself in 1839; registrars inspectors and population officials were appointed to the provinces and smaller administrative districts.

The problem with such records was that instead of presenting a total count of population, they were rather based on what is known as “head of household,” male family members, ages, occupation, and property. And the evidence to that, you can find in your own quote, and I underlined that for you, “Men.” This is why the 1830’s Census is inaccurate and unreliable.

Then you didn’t mention that in the Census of 1844 the Ottomans recorded 2.4 million Armenians within the Ottoman Empire. In the Census of 1867, this number was maintained. Whether or not it was due to a political motive, that no Armenian population growth was registered for a period of 23 years, is unknown.The “Council of States” was later founded in 1867 and took the charge of drawing population tables, thus increasing the precision of population records. The evolution progressed from the new measures introduced in 1874, leading in 1881/1882 to the establishment of a “General Population Administration” which was attached to the Ministry of Interior thus politicizing the population counts.

Consequently , the first record of the General Population Administration, under the guidance of Sultan Abdul Hamid, was lower than half the figures of 1881/1882. While the Ottoman Empire in the 1877-78 lost Batum, Kars and Ardahan, the population of Armenian statistics for those regions would have influenced the “losses” of population, but can not account for the other million or more Armenians that were just “missing” in the records of 1881/1882 during the reign of Abdul Hamid, due to political reasons. Abdul Hamid was worried that Armenians might seek autonomy under the Treaty of Berlin (1878).

The Turkish author Kâz?m Kadri for instance writes: “During the reign of Abdul Hamid we lowered the population figures of the Armenians.…” He adds: “By the order of Abdul Hamid the number of the Armenians deliberately had been put in low figures.” [ Hüseyin Kâz?m Kadri, Balkanlardan Hicaza: Imparatorlugun Tasfiyesi. 10 Temmuz Inkilâb? ve Netayici, Istanbul: P?nar, 1992. Originaly published in Ottoman Turkish in 1920 in Istanbul by Islam and Askeri Publishers. p. 126, 133; in the original Ottoman version, p. 116, 123].

Turkish historian Dr. Secil Akgun declared : “The Ottomans do not have a definite number. That is, we have in our hands contradictory numbers regarding the Armenian population within the borders of the Ottoman Empire. I would think that Basmac?yan gives the most accurate number. This is to be between 2 and 3 million.” [In an Interview published in the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, April 27, 1987]

Fa'iz El-Ghusein the Kaimakam of Kharpout wrote in his book, that according to the Ottoman official statistics there were about 1,9 million Armenian's in the Ottoman Empire. [Martyred Armenia by Fa'iz El-Ghusein, Bombay, 1916]

You referred to Talat Pasha’s Officially stated numbers: “According to Talat Pasha’s documents the Armenian population in Anatolia was 1,256,403. Talat Pasha says the number reduced to about 400,000 after the 1915 relocation campaign.”

Earlier this year, Talat Pasha’s Memoir was discovered in Turkey by one of his descendants. The memoir of Talat Pasha shows another figure of the Armenian Deportees: 924,000. [The guilty one is Talat Pasha, Zaman Daily Newspaper, May 5, 2005, by Mehmet Kamis].

Getting back to your figures, I will have to say, that your prejudgment on the issue, prevented you from seeing the contradictions and inaccuracies.

Quoting Dr. Stanford Shaw you wrote: “there were 12.585.950 Muslims, 1.139.053 Armenians in 1890. Shaw documents that the number of Muslims increased to 14.111.945 in 1897 and the Armenian population increased to 1.162.853. In 1906 the population of Muslims was 15.518.478, and the population of Armenians was 1.140.563. In 1914 Muslim Ottoman population reached to 15.044.846 and the Armenian population was 1.229.007.”

According to Dr. Stanford Shaw, we see that the Armenian population is declining drastically, and you missed the fact that there was no official census in 1914, but he might have “guessed” his numbers based on the records of 1905. And even Turkish and pro-Turkish sources (German archives) agree that the Ottoman records are unreliable, and contradicted.

In addition to that, and if we compare the “Last Figure” you provided to the “Total” Muslim population (13,339,000) and the total Armenian population (1,234,671) , with the well known fact of 25–30 million population of the Ottoman Empire, that would be a huge difference!

Dr. Shaw (UCLA) cannot be a reliable source because, according to The Middle East Studies Association Published Bulletins, Directory of American scholars and the Ottoman Studies Directory, he received money twice from the Institute of Turkish Studies in Washington D.C., which was established by a $3 million seed money from the Turkish government. The Institute's purpose is to counter Armenian activity at the "academic level" and as a pro-Turkey lobbying group. Dr. Shaw received a second “monetary grant” from the “American Research Institute in Turkey.” His research co-author is his “Turkish Wife,” Ezel Kural Shaw.

Therefore, I hope that in the future, you avoid using him as a source as he has been financed by Turkey to cast doubt on the Armenian Genocide, yet he didn’t succeed, because of his weak arguments and ill information.

Armenian Patriarchate Records:

The Armenian Patriarchate’s figure of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire, based on the published archival baptism and death certificates in 1913, is 1,914,620, which presents “precision” to the last digit. Mind you that those records were published in 1913, and no Ottoman official had rejected them at the time. [Raymond H. Kevorkian and Paul B. Paboudjian, Les Arméniens dans l'Empire Ottoman à la veille du génocide, Ed. ARHIS, Paris, 1992].

Western Records:

I can provide you more confirmation Armenian Patriarchate’s numbers from Western records. For example, German official records represent the Armenian population within the Empire to be 1.9 to 2 million. [An example of such a figure was provided in a report, A.A. Türkei 183/44. A27493, October 4, 1916 (German archives)].And most Western scholars believe the totality of the Armenian population within the Empire prior to 1915 to be between 1.8 and 2.1 million.

As for the Number of Armenian Victims:

In March of 1919, the then Ottoman Interior Minister relying on statistical data which the staff of the ministry had been compiling during the previous two months, publicly declared that "during the wartime deportations some 800,000 Armenians were killed.” [Alemdar (Turkish newspaper in Istanbul), March 15, 1919. Takvimi Vekâyi No. 3909, July 21, 1920, pp. 3, 4. The minister in question was Cemal]. And [ This document was republished in 1983 by the Turkish Prime Minstary ].

Excluded from this figure are the Armenian conscripts who, in the wake of their conscription, were liquidated in stages by fellow Turkish soldiers, and countless children, young girls, and brides who were forcibly Islamised and absorbed into the mainstream of the Turkish national entity.

While the official figures were of 800,000 killed, there were many unofficial numbers presented during the war by some Ottoman authorities. Talat Pasha, for instance, presented the figure of 300,000, but there are no indications as to how those figures were obtained. This figure is currently the one used by Turkish government officials. So the contradiction and unreliability is obvious.

If one discounts French and British sources, identified as they were with the enemy camp (as you mentioned), the available German and Austro-Hungarian sources (who were the Ottoman Empire’s Allies in the WWI and had “full access” to all areas, and Germany is still the strongest supporter of Turkey joining the EU) involving civilian and military officials of all ranks, and serving as wartime allies of Turkey, supply much more inclusive figures. According to these sources, the number of victims of the Armenian genocide ranges between 1.2 and 1.5 million. For example:

**According to German Interim Ambassador to Turkey, Radowitz, 1.5 million Armenians died and 425,000 survived. [A.A. Türkei 183/44. A27493, October 4, 1916 report].

**The German parliamentarian, Foreign Office Intelligence Director, and later Cabinet minister, Erzberger, estimated 1.5 million victims. [A.A. Türkei 183/42, A13959, May 27, 1916 report].

**The German Major Endres, serving in the Turkish army, estimated that "1.2 million Armenians perished in Turkey during the war." [Die Türkei. Munich: C.H. Beck, 1918, p. 161].

**The Austrian Foreign Ministry Archives 12 Türkei/380, ZI.17/pol. Austria-Hungary's Adrianople (Edirne) consul Dr. Nadamlenzki reported that from the entire realm of the Ottoman Empire, including its European part, by October 29, 1915 "already 1.5 million Armenians were deported." [12 Türkei/463, Z.94/P].

And you wrote: “So there was only 500,000 Armenians alive at that time. Now the total population of Armenians about 8-9 million. So the Armenian population increased 16-18 times in 90 years. Is it logical?”

The Jewish victims of the Holocaust were 6,000,000. The Jewish population all around the world in 1990, (after 45 years of the Holocaust) was 14.5 million.

And from your numbers, that Turkey lost 5 million out of 13 million 90 years ago, and now Turkey has a population of 70 million.

In addition to that, you forget to consider the fact that of 8-10 million Armenians all over the world, you need to exclude the 2.5 million living in the Republic of Armenia, and the 3 million Armenians who are living in Russia still, most of those were not originally from the Ottoman Empire.

To wrap up this numbers issue, let me bring your attention to the fact that, neither the population nor the victims figures, affect the fact of the Genocide. The Genocide Law, doesn’t consider the higher number of victims Genocide, and the lower not. In 1995 Srebrenica Massacres was recognized as a Genocide, although only 8,000 people lost their lives because of it.

Now, before I end this message let me comment on one small detail you mentioned.Germany’s Recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and calling on Turkey to do the same, was not because Germany is the only Genocidal country. That is totally baseless argument, why ?!

If you try to search in Human Rights Organizations , and Genocide Scholar’s Associations documents or websites, you’ll see that the 20th century is in fact, the century of Genocide. Not solely the Holocaust or the Armenian Genocide. There are the many other Genocides. For example:

*Cambodia Genocide (By the Khmer Rouge) 1975-79

*The Genocide in Rwanda 1994

*The Bosnian Genocide ( Srebrenica 1995)

*The Genocide in Kosovo

*And the ongoing Genocide in Darfur .

So it’s not because Germany felt lonely and wanted a pal in bearing the Genocide accusation (as you suggested) . And Germany had cleared it’s conscience long time ago from the Holocaust crimes, repented and compensated the victims’ families. And today Germany is one of the “leading” countries in the European Block.

The “real” reason of Germany’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide was the fact that the “German Official Archive” is very generous with documentation form the WWI where the Germans were Ottoman Empire allies and had officers of all ranks who witnessed the massacres and atrocities against the Armenians “First Hand.”

Regards,

Maral Der Ohanesian

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Dr. Sedat LACINER's FOURTH LETTER to Maral Der OHANESIAN

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According to the Oxford Dictionary, to deny is “to say that something is not true.” So when you say that there is no Armenian Genocide, you are denying it. I understand why you might be sensitive about this word, since English is not your first language. It’s not mine either. But we will have a little talk about "Genocide Denial" later , in the coming parts.

Although it’s not just what “Armenians Claim” but the International Holocaust and Genocide Scholars and specialists as well as human rights organizations all over the world agree that the Armenian Genocide is a crime against humanity and recognize it as the First Genocide of the 20th Century. Turkey is still trying, with the aid of some local and Western revisionists, to revise the facts and convince Turks and others that “there was no Genocide”.

‘DENY’ AND NATIONAL HONOR

It is true ‘deny’ means “disown; to reject as false; to declare a statement etc. to be untrue.”(Collins, 1993). However the Armenians do not use the word ‘deny’ to describe a fact but to accuse a nation wholly. And, the word ‘deny’ is a dirty word due to the Jewish Genocide. Being denier is one of the most horrible things in the modern age. When Armenians use the word ‘deny’ they mean that the Turks are like the Nazis. And this is not a honest plan. Turks do not accept the Armenian allegations because they are honored people and they believed that they have a past that they can proud with it. Many Armenians cannot understand why the Turkish people do not accept their arguments, because they have unchangeable assumptions about the Turkish people. They perceive the Turk like a monster. The Church and political parties in the Diaspora rewrote the history about the Turks. According to this history Turks may do anything bad to the Armenians and against humanity. Turks are infidel, Turks are dirty and they are thirst to blood. They needed to create enemy to unite the Armenians in the US, Canada, Europe and other countries, and the Ottoman years provided a great opportunity.

You are blaming the Turkish approach and the Western supports as revisionist campaign. This is not fair. Armenian accusations are ‘fact’, Turkish defense is “a revisionist campaign”. It is basic principles of the law that one who has a accusations he/she has to prove it. So Armenians have to prove what they are claiming instead of just accusing a nation and country.

TURKS DO NOT THINK ON THE PAST AND ARMENIANS?

You argue “you were raised to believe in. But I hope these facts will make you to rethink over.” Personally I made significant part of my education in the United Kingdom. But not only me but the Turks know many things about the Armenian tragedy. There has been a lively debate on Turkish-Armenian relations for the years in Turkey. There are Armenians in many Turkish cities. In Istanbul alone there are more than 100,000 Armenians. There are many Armenian churches and communities in many Turkish towns including in the city I live now. It is very easy to find translated pro-Armenian books in Turkish bookshops. Even the pro-Armenian researchers join the lively debates on Turkish national televisions. Pro-Armenian historians can continue their jobs in Turkish state and private universities. There three Armenian weekly newspaper. All have Armenian language pages. They may establish radio or tv station in Armenian language and as far as I know Hrant Dink plans to establish one in Istanbul. I can argue that the environment about the Armenian-Turkish relations in Turkey is more free than the environment in US, France or in Armenia. In Diaspora, the Armenians refuse to listen to the pro-Turkish ideas. They just accuse you of being denier. We cannot construct a dialogue and I feel very bad when I try to speak with an Armenian. He/she insults you, and does not allow saying anything. Even the Turkey Armenians cannot establish a dialogue with the diaspora Armenians. When Hrant Dink and Ethem Mahcupyan leading Turkey Armenians joined a conference in Italy and France last year they were insulted and even attacked by the Diaspora Armenians. You remember the latest Istanbul Armenian Conference. Even the Justice Minister of Turkey could not prevent the conference and all pro-Armenian authors and researchers made their speech at the heart of Turkey. It can be said that no Armenian dare to organize such a meeting in California, Lyon or Yerevan. Because all of us know that such an attempt could result in a bloody picture.

GERMANS AND GENOCIDE

Recently the Armenian historians have focused on the German ‘documents’ (letters etc.). They argue that “the Germans were the ally of the Ottoman Empire, so they would not lie”. The problem with the Germans is that they look for a friend. The world has equalized the term of genocide with Germany due to the Hitler memories. The Genocide maker image has cost a lot to Germany. That is why the Germans have tried to find new genocides, so they could show all the peoples that they are not the alone. The Bosnian Genocide helped them a lot. Now the world knows that the Germans are not alone. But the Armenian allegations will make more contribution to the German attempts. Second point is that the all German letters and documents do not prove genocide. During the Second World War, the world was divided into religion groups, and the journalists, politicians and peoples perceived the events according to their faith. Even if they are in the different military blocks, they supported those who shared their religion. If you make a search in The New York Times or The Washington Post archives you see the titles like “The Muslim Sultan Massacres the Christian Armenians”. Sometimes they do not use the name of ethnic group and just say “Muslims Torture the Christians”. I mean the Christians (and possibly the Muslims) saw the disputes through a religious approach. For a good German Christian, the Turks were infidels and deserved anything bad. “Turks were the scourge of the God” for the ‘good German, American or British Christians. The Protestants Catholics and Orthodox in the US or in Europe shared this idea. What I am trying to say that the Germans were Turks’ ally, yet they never fully supported the Turkish people in all areas and they saw the ethnic problems in Turkey as a religious clashes.

OTTOMAN ARCHIVES

You wrote “The problem with such (Ottoman) records was that instead of presenting a total count of population, they were rather based on what is known as “head of household,” male family members, ages, occupation, and property. And the evidence to that, you can find in your own quote, and I underlined that for you, “Men.” This is why the 1830’s Census is inaccurate and unreliable.” I am sorry yet all who know anything know that almost all censuses in the 19th Century in almost all countries count the men. Similarly the election figures are based on male and taxpayer population in Ottoman Empire or in England. I gave the figure not to show the total population but the share of the Muslim and Armenian etc. populations. You claim that the Armenian population in 1844 was about 2.4 million. I have no idea what is your source. In fact even the original documents of the 1844 Census has not been found yet. And this census could no be completed. So a comparison between 1844 and 1867 could not be healthy. I don’t know what figure you are talking about on, but you should note that the Ottoman Empire was a huge country. The wars with Russians and other countries changed the size and population of the country a lot in couple of decades. The immigrations were also another factor which changed the Ottoman population a lot. I cannot accept your figures at this point, but I know the real share of the Armenian population in the Ottoman total population and 2,4 million is not a realistic one, but we know from the Ottoman archives that the number of Armenian population in 1893 was about 1 million. 1906 statistics show us that the number was not over 1,2 million.

The ?stanbul Government tried its best to find the highest possible Armenian populations because of the tax. If the official Ottoman figures were low the Ottoman Government could not collect the tax she desired. So there is no reason to doubt about the Ottoman figures. However the immigration to Russia, Europe and the United States and the wars/conflicts did not allow any significant increase in Armenian population in the last decades of the Ottoman Empire. And the Istanbul Government was not happy with the decrease in Armenian population. Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid even complained about the Armenian immigration to the US and urged the US Congress and President to take measures to prevent Armenian immigration to the US because the immigration was harmful for the Ottoman economy.

During the Abdulhamid period, the European and American businessmen dominated the Ottoman economy and they used the Greek and Armenian tradesmen for their businesses in Anatolia. Most of the Armenians took American and European citizenships. In the east Russian encouraged the Armenians to riot. The Russian strategy was to massacre or force to immigrate the Muslim population of Russia to create a homogenous region between Russia and the Ottoman Empire in the Caucasus. Many were massacred and the other Muslims immigrated to the eastern part of Anatolia. Thus the share of the Armenians in the Eastern provinces decreased more. Most of the Armenians in some provinces became Russian citizens. Some Armenians hide their second passports while some of them immigrated to Russia during the 1890s-1918. Armenian sources count these Armenians twice.Particularly in the Abdulhamid period the Ottoman Empire never attempted to show the number of Armenians less than the real fact. In fact it was not possible, because there were thousands of Western missionaries, diplomats and businessmen. The Americans and European missionaries established missionary schools and hospitals for the Armenians in eastern provinces, many of them would be used as arsenal in future. You wrote “Abdul Hamid was worried that Armenians might seek autonomy under the Treaty of Berlin (1878)”. In fact some of the Armenian leaders asked for independence. The problem was that they asked the Russians and the European powers to establish a separate country.

DECLINING ARMENIAN POPULATION

It is understandable that the Armenian population declined slightly or not increased enough in the Ottoman territories during the last decades due to the immigrations and wars. Many Armenian sources openly declare that thousands of Armenians immigrated to Russia, US, Caucasus and Europe. So I cannot see any problem with Shaw’s figures. By the way the was a census study was started in 1905 and it concluded in 1914. Moreover a state does not need every year a census to know its ethnic groups. Taxing, population records and many more text easily showed the population of the Armenians during the Ottoman Empire.

You say Dr. Shaw (UCLA) cannot be a reliable source. Not only Prof. Dr. Shaw but all the historians who are not pro-Armenian are not reliable source for the Armenians. Mc Carthy, Shaw etc. all are liar. The Armenian researchers have dominated the Armenian studies in the United States and in European universities so far. Many US or EU scholars have never listened to the Turkish argument. They have never needed to see Turkish documents. Hundreds of Armenian historians just manipulated the Western scholars and universities. Armenian scholars wrote about the Armenian issue, they then gave references to what they had written before. You say that the Turkish Government donates 3 million dollars to Institute of Turkish Studies in Washington. You give no proof. Anyway, this is not strange for the US. Armenian lobbying institutions spend more than 60 million dollars each year to undermine Turkish interests in the world. In fact the many Armenians devote themselves to ‘destroy’ Turkey and to take revenge. They are obsessively spending money and energy to harm Turkey and Turkish people. Armenia issue is not the only issue in Turkey’s foreign relations and the institute you mentioned above spend very little financial source and time to Armenian issue. In Turkish universities even the history and international relations departments consume very little time for the Armenian issue. So there are couple of scholars in the world who defend Turkey’s arguments in Armenian issue. Even in Turkey there are Armenian lobbying groups. And I think the Armenian lobby groups spend more money to make Armenian propaganda in Turkey than the Turkish Government spends in Turkey.

In brief Armenians spend more money and energy to make Armenian propaganda. They pay the institutes in Europe and the United States. And I believe in Dr. Shaw and his wife’s studies. They are very respectful historians. Their studies are now classics in Turkish-Ottoman studies for many European and American universities.

FIGURES AND FIGURES

You do not accept Ottoman figures. You do not accept any reference which does not confirm pro-Armenian stance. You bring all the pro-Armenian and selected Western documents. We see how the West is impartial about the Turks. They have never been objective and they have always been discriminative regarding the Turkish people. The Ottoman Empire was in war, and you use all the enemy states’ propaganda texts. Please remember British, American, German, Italian, Russian and many other missionaries encouraged the Armenian peoples to riot against their own State. And please remember, Armenians and Turks lived together in Anatolia for the centuries and the Turks never massacred or harmed their Armenian neighbors for the centuries. The Ottoman Sultans, like Fatih, invited all Armenians and Greeks to come and live in Ottoman State. The Ottoman Governments saw the Armenian people as one of the most useful groups for the Ottoman economy and they lived in Istanbul near Ottoman Sultan’s Place. So what changed and the Turks became monsters and the Armenians became victims. I am not expert on Ottoman population. I can refer to population experts or Ottoman archives. If you do not accept these sources and if you insist on your figures what can I do? If the Ottoman State massacred 1.5 million Armenians where are the mass graves? The Ottoman State was in war in many fronts and almost all men population except children and old people were in war, so how the Ottoman State killed 1.5 million people. Please think first, we are talking about 1.5 million (1.500.000) people, more than half of the modern Republic of Armenia.

You say that “countless (Armenian) children, young girls, and brides who were forcibly Islamized and absorbed into the mainstream of the Turkish national entity.” If you accept that many Armenian children were adopted by the Turkish families and many Armenian women were married with the Turkish people you should have realized that the Turkish people cannot be racist. If they are not racist they could not commit genocide, because all genocides are based on racism. There is no Serbian man who adapted a Bosnian orphan child. Do you remember any Nazi SS officer who got married with a Jewish woman. Or imagine the Karabakh War, do you remember any adopted Azeri child by the Armenians, or any Azeri women who got married with Armenian soldier. No, you can’t. Many Azeri children and women were massacred by the Armenian soldiers, but none of the Armenian soldier adopted a Muslim child. All racists think that the lower nations are dirty, and they never want to take their dirty blood to their pure nation. Serbs raped the Bosnian women, killed Bosnian children. Nazi officers similarly killed countless Jewish women and children. They even raped the small children, but they never thought to get marry with them, or to adopt them. If the Turks so hated from the Armenians why they did not kill their countless children and women, but adopted or got married with them. That’s the crucial point: Turkish people know very well that thousands of Armenians were killed or died during the 1915 Relocation Campaign. Me or the majority of the Turkish people do not try to defend the killings or massacres. What we say is that the killings was not genocide. Because we adapted the Armenian children and we got married with the Armenian women. There are very famous singers, actress etc. in Turkey and we have no problem in respecting Armenians in Turkey. What the Turkish people cannot accept is label of genocide committer. The numbers may change according to the British, Armenian or Turkish, but the fact cannot be changed: Turks were not racist and did not commit genocide. And you mention “countless Armenian children and women”, so the Turks did not kill all of them but let countless Armenian children and women to live.

It is true, Turkish, Kurdish and some other immigrants from Russia killed Armenians for personal reasons and interests. Some want money, some attacked for house or garden. Some Kurds took revenge from the Armenians. Armenian Tashnaks attack the Kurdish villages, and the Kurdish gunmen attacked to Armenian villages to take their revenge. It is true, the Ottoman Government was not very good at the organizing such a relocation campaign. Many Turkish historians accept that the Istanbul could not take enough measures to protect the Armenians during the campaign due to the war circumstances. But many Ottoman abusers and many Ottoman officers and governors who neglected their duties were executed by the Ottoman Courts. The Istanbul Government tried to relocate the eastern Armenians to southern provinces of the country and never wanted to destroy the Armenian population. It is possible, some governors or officers personally desired to destroy the Armenians in some territories. However they had not such a power. After the First World War the British tried to captured all accused Ittihat Terakki members and some of these people hide in Armenian houses in Istanbul. Istanbul Armenians continued their life during the relocation campaign. Some of the relocated Armenians returned to Istanbul. Can you imagine a German Jewish who returned to Berlin after the genocide. Turkish people respect the Armenian tragedy, but they also expect the same respect from the Armenians. More than 520.000 Turkish and Kurdish were massacred by the Armenian extremists, and you may find one in the eastern Turkey whose grandpa or grandma massacred by the Armenians during the First World War. The Turks do not speak loudly, they do not accuse openly. They try to forget the past, because they know that if they do not forget, the peace would never come to this region. All sides made mistakes, but Turks did not make genocide mistake.

Sedat Laciner

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JTW7 October 2005