Armenian Letters 4 : Part II

Milleti Sadika 'The Loyal Nation'

Maral Der Ohanesian's Response to JTW Editor

Dear Editor,

Before I start “PART TWO” of my response to your letter, I want to make the following comment: First of all, I think that you made a serious error when you decided to post the opinions of someone with a fake name in a comment page of your website http://www.turkishweekly.net/comments.php?id=1783.

I thought that we had an agreement that this dialog is a one-on-one dialog between you, Dr. Laciner, the Editor in Chief of the JTW, and this ordinary Armenian girl. I don't want to believe that you broke your agreement, according to which, comments from any reader on this subject should have been posted in the “Letters To Editor” section. I suggest that you correct that unintentional mistake by removing this fake article and placing it in the "Letters to the Editor" section.

Mutual respect is the number one rule between you and I in this dialog. This is not a circus where any anonymous clown can jump in the middle of the conversation trying to do some tricks and expect us to applaud him/her/it. It won’t make any difference if the fake name is “Hold Water” or “ Mickey Mouse.” Excuse me, but this is unprofessional and unacceptable.

Therefore, I don't wish to respond to someone who is too cowardly to disclose his/her/its real name. For all you know, he/she/it could be a criminal or an ex-convict or even a wanted terrorist. I don't have the time for such speculations. Therefore, I will not respond to his/her/its comments. I'm sorry, but I won't stoop that low. The bottom line is: no name, no credibility, no opinion! Since that person, whoever it is, wrote an opinion piece, it does matter whose opinion it is. Please do not think that what matters is the opinion and not whose is it. Wouldn't the readers want to know whether a particular statement is made by Hitler, Mohammed or Mickey Mouse? It does matter, doesn't it? That is why no self-respecting credible journal would print an opinion column under a fake name.

If you want my answers to any of his/her/its nonsense assertions, implications or comments, there is only one way that would happen: Adopt whatever you wish of his/her/its comments, rephrase it in a more non-offensive and respectful style, put your name on the comment, then I would consider responding to it.

What did surprise me the most is how did you allow this interference in our dialog? Theis only weakened your argument, and negatively affect your position in this dialog, especially when this person wrote the following words about you personally: “Dr. Laciner has done a fine job of responding, but some of these claims called for more specific scrutiny.”

Saying that you [Dr. Laciner] did a fine job, but it was not good enough, so let the “professional” handle it?!! Excuse me, but how is this acceptable to you, especially coming from someone who doesn't have any ID?! Even if one ignores his/her/its unacceptable tone in writing and personal attacks on other people rather than making a real point or argument!

One last thing: I couldn't help but laugh when I read this: “I wrote to Dr. Akgun, asking if the report was true. She replied, wondering whether the 2-3 million referred to the worldwide population. Whomever translated the above made it sound as though she meant 'within the borders of the Ottoman Empire .'"

Please!! Did he/she/it think that the JTW readers are that stupid? He/she/it keeps forgetting the fact that a person with a fake name can just as easily make up a fake e-mail! And that “made up” stuff won’t hold water against published material.

As you can see, in that typical revisionist/denialist piece, there is nothing solid -- no document, no evidence, nothing! This is just an attempt to cast doubt on the facts. I presume you have a Ph.D., Dr. Laciner, therefore, you should know that scientific research doesn't work that way. A theory needs to be proven by evidence, not empty words hidden under a fake name!

Now let’s return to “PART TWO” of my response, to Your Letter 3.

You have provided 5 suggested reasons for the Armenian Casualties, but if you look more carefully to those 5 reasons, you find only “One” perpetrator, The Turkish Government of the infamous Committee of Union and Progress.

1-Bad Administration: The Government to blame for it.

2-Deportation: (you describe it as Relocation): I don’t think that there is a need to say that Relocation means that when you kick people out of their homes, you’ll need to find measures to “relocate” them, give them new homes, or at least compensate their home’s loss, something that never happened, and never planned to happen.

The testimony of Ali Fuad Erden, a Turkish General with military jurisdiction over the Mesopotamia regions to which Armenians were deported can give a confirmation about the fact that it wasn’t a “Relocation,” but a “Deportation” or “Exile” of the Armenian population. In his post-war memoirs he emphatically declared that “…there was neither preparation, nor organization to shelter the hundreds of thousands of the deportees." [1]

Dr. Ahmet Kuyas, of Turkish Galatasaray University consents by saying “…When the [Ottoman] state took the decision to march away all the young and the old, the male and the female people up to the age of 70 from Tokat to Aleppo, it was well aware that more than the half of them wouldn’t be able to reach their destination. To march away all these people meant to send them to death… Talaat Pasha [was] guilty for this act." [2]

So, as you see, it wasn’t a Relocation, it was a Deportation of masses of people, sending them to the desert without ANY food, medication or rest, expose them to inhuman circumstances, by marching for months under the heat and hungry, expose them to criminal attacks by local Turks and Kurds, in addition to the abuse and murders by soldiers and special organizations of criminals. If all of that wasn’t enough to be described as government responsibility for its subjects’ systemic destruction and deaths, then what is in your opinion?!

3-War circumstances: This would be also the government’s responsibility. The reckless decisions of the leading circles of the government dragged the Ottoman Empire to the WWI.

4-“Communal Clashes” (in your words): This was not the case as I said earlier, because:

As you accepted in your previous message, which is a well known fact, that all able bodied men were recruited in the war. Who is then fighting in these massive so-called communal clashes?!

Do you think that it would be possible for old men, women and children, who were still frightened by memories of the massacres that had happened against them for decades earlier, to engage in a “Communal Clash” or “Civil War” against Muslims protected by the government, army and police?!

Then the communal clash is a clash between two tribes or distinct groups of people taking advantage of the “Absence” of the “Central Authority.” Now another question imposes itself here, do you think that a Government that leads a World War and dictates the Empire through it for four years, can be described as an “Absent authority”?! And let me remind you that World War I, under the leadership of the CUP, continued for two other years after the uprooting of the Armenians from their home was totally finished in 1916.Therefore is absolutely no basis for your “communal” clash argument.

5- “Riot” (in your words): Let’s examine that argument.

It is a well known fact, accepted by the whole world, even by Ataöv, one of the Turkish government’s leading revisionists, and other revisionists like Sonyal, that Armenians for FIVE Centuries and up to the WWI were known in the Ottoman Empire as the “Millet-i Sadik-a”, which can be translated, “The Loyal Nation”, “The Truth-telling Nation” or “The Most Trustworthy Nation."

It is also an accepted fact that the leaders of the major Armenian political party at the time, the Dashnaktzoutiun, as early as August 1914, publicly declared its allegiance to the Ottoman state, and called on the Ottoman Armenian population to support the Ottoman Empire as loyal citizens in its war with Russia and the Allies, although they refused to form militias to attack the Russian villages on the eastern front. At the same time the Armenian Patriarchate also officially declared the loyalty and support of the Armenian people to the Ottoman State in the WWI.

More confirmation on Ottoman Armenian “Loyalty” was a testimony by “Enver Pasha” himself, the Minister of Harbiya. In January 22, 1915, upon his arrival to Constantinople from Sivas , after his bitter defeat in Sarikamish, he made a speech congratulating the Armenians for “admirably” doing their duty and praising their loyalty and bravery on the Caucasian front and elsewhere. Moreover he thanked the Armenian soldier who “saved” him from being killed or captured by the Czarist forces. [3]

So what was “really” going on?! And where did all those lies of general riot and “Millet-i Sadika-a”’s treachery, and joining the Russian army allegations came from?

It was an “Agenda” of the Ittihad Leaders who tried to “Justify” their Crimes against their Armenian subjects, and it was followed by all the consequent governments, except for the Turkish governments between 1918-1923, which did actually acknowledge this “Crime” against the Armenians, and called for “Punishment” of the perpetrators. Prof. Deborah Dwork, the notable Holocaust Scholar and the Director of the Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University , summarizes the Ittihad ve Terakki’s agenda, by saying:

“The first item on this agenda concerns the liquidation of the Armenians. Ittihad will dangle before the Allies a specter of an alleged revolution prepared by the Armenian Dashnak party. Moreover, local incidents of social unrest and acts of Armenian self-defense will deliberately be provoked and inflated and will be used as pretexts to effect the deportations. Once en route, however, the convoys will be attacked and exterminated by Kurdish and Turkish brigands, and in part by gendarmes, who will be instigated for that purpose by Ittihad.” [4]

A similar judgment was expressed, in an official German archival document, by Count Wolff Metternich, the German Ambassador to Turkey, who reported to Berlin in September 18, 1916, saying: “There was neither a concerted general uprising nor was there a fully valid proof that such a synchronized uprising was planned or organized.” [5]

Another historical testimony about the “Fabrication” of CUP Government leaders in order to “Justify” their hideous crimes, stated by the German vice-consul in Erzerum, Dr. Max Erwin Scheubner-Richter who wrote in an official dispatch dated December 6, 1916 describing the futile and spotty Armenian resistance:

”They [the Turkish Leaders] were planning on fabricating, for the benefit of Allied Powers, an alleged revolution stirred up by the Dashnak (Armenian) party. They also planned to inflate the importance of isolated incidents and acts of self-defense by the Armenians and use them as an excuse to deport the targeted population which then would be massacred by escorting gendarmes and assorted gangs.”

So what were the civilian Armenians trying to defend themselves against?!In his account, Vice-Marshall Joseph Pomiankowski, the Austro-Hungary's (Ottoman ally’s) military plenipotentiary, who during the war was attached to Ottoman general headquarters, described the self-defense of the Armenians as follows:

"The Van uprising certainly was an act of desperation. The local Armenians realized that the general butchery against the Armenians had started and that they would be the next victims.” [6]

Thus, as the Official archival documents of the Ottoman Empire allies on one hand, and eyewitnesses including the survivors of the Genocide on the other hand, agree on the fact that when the “General Butchery” against the Armenians started and as the news reached the Armenians in the other vilayets, they knew what was their fate to be, therefore some of them in an act of desperation tried to resist forthcoming deportation and avoid annihilation, and chose to “defend” themselves, their homes and families against the released criminals and soldiers. But, all those self-defense acts, resistance to Turkish slaughter, ended by the invasion of the soldiers. And the “Whole” Armenian population was “Wiped Out” and uprooted from their homes, farms, shops and properties, which were looted, then seized and sold to the benefit of the “Government.”

Now, as I show with historical official archival documents of the Ottoman Allies that the Ottoman Armenians were no threat to the Empire, and that they were “only” defending themselves and their homes against the Ottoman soldiers, police, tax collectors and special organizations, let’s examine your other sentence. You wrote “Many Armenians joined the Russian armies and many of them were killed by the Ottoman Armies.”

I honestly can’t believe, how can anyone who have any idea about history and geography fall for an attempted meaningless mingling like that!!

First of all, you must understand that there were two different Armenian populations involved in the WWI. The Armenian citizens of the Russian Empire, who joined the Russian army as any Russian citizen on the side of the Allies, and the Armenian citizens of the Ottoman Empire, who declared their loyalty to the Ottomans in the WWI and joined the Ottoman Army as citizens of the Empire, only to be disarmed and massacred by the Turkish military.

As historian Jay Winter of Cambridge University described:

"It became a political and strategic threat when the war broke out because of the place of Armenians in the Russian Empire. However, most Armenians, two million of them living in the Turkish Empire , were no threat whatsoever. [7]

Genocide deniers and revisionists, intentionally handle this issue with ambiguity, taking advantage of most people’s ignorance about historical and geographical facts, by just saying that Armenians joined the Russian army, but which Armenians? It was the Russian citizen Armenians. That’s what they don’t say.



Now how can you hold the “Whole” Ottoman Armenian citizens accountable, for the loyalty of the Russian Armenian citizens?!
Is that in your opinion “Treachery”?!
Does that in your opinion “justify” Genocide against the Ottoman Armenian Population?!

Of course not, mind you that there is “NOT” even one evidence, or document that proves the allegation of “Armenian Treachery” that you were trying to imply in your letter. There is not even one trial of ANY Armenian for the charge of “Treachery,” and even if there was (hypothetically) that couldn’t be an excuse for the Ottoman State to exterminate the “Whole” Armenian population of the Empire, or even to exile them. Sorry, that does not “Justify” Genocide.


Although one can’t be surprised of these Turkish Allegations, because the whole world had recently witnessed the Turkish standards of “treachery”, when in May 2005 the Minster of “Justice” had branded Turkish academics who wanted to hold a conference about the Armenians as “traitors” and accused them of “Stabbing the Nation in the back” . And as one of the Turkish columnists Hasan Cemal, had describe it in his column in the Turkish newspaper “Millet” by saying :

“… It is not easy to find any other country where, as in , it is this easy to produce traitors.” [8]

You said: “If you fight against your own state, you deserve to die. It is a universal law anywhere in the world.”

Dr. Laciner, allow me to say that you are wrong. Not only because we didn’t fight against our state but some of us did defend themselves, not only because that there was no trial or conviction of any Armenian with the charge of treachery; you are wrong because only a genocidal State would exterminate a whole ethnic population for (if there is any) the resistance of some of the members of this group. Even if Armenians fought for their independence (which is something that didn’t happen), it is the “Natural” right of every occupied people to have their independence.

Excuse me, but this is not a universal reaction as you stated, and nothing can “Justify” genocide. Irish people, for example, are still fighting for their independence for 700 years now. Did the British government adopt a Genocide policy against the “Whole” Irish population?!


What about the Chechens who are still fighting against Russia for 400 years with simple weapons, and the power balance is not in their favor at all, they are afflicting huge losses on the Russian army. Did ever try to deport or exterminate them?!


Genocide Can Never be Justified!!



Regards,


Maral Der Ohanesian




Notes of Maral's Letter:


[1] Ali Fuad Erden, Birinci Dünya Harbinde Suriye Hatralar (Syrian memoirs of World War I), vol. 1. Istanbul , 1954, p. 122.

[2] Dr. Ahmet Kuyas of Galatasaray University , in an interview with Turkish journalist Deria Sezak, “Millet” Turkish newspaper, Oct. 3, 2005.

[3] David Marshall Lang and Christopher Walker, The Armenians: Report 32, Minority Rights Group, 1998); Christopher J. Walker, “: The Survival of a Nation,” London , 1980.
[4] Deborah Dwork and Robert Jan van Pelt, “The Holocaust: A History” ( New York : W.W. Norton & Co., 2002), p. 38.

[5] German Foreign Ministry Archives, A.A. Türkei 183/40, A25749, September 18, 1916 report, p. 25. This source contains Ambassador Metternich's reference.

[6] Joseph Pomiankowski, Der Zusammenbruch des Ottomanischen Reiches (The collapse of the Ottoman Empire ). 1928.

[7] Jay Winter and Blaine Baggett. “The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century.” New York and London : Penguin Studio, 1996.

[8] Hasan Cemal, “Millet” Turkish newspaper Sept. 28, 2005.


2 November 2005

Maral's Article Aslo Found here



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Laciner's Response to Der Ohanesian's

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Dear Maral,

You claim that JTW published a letter with a fake name in our comment page, and you name it as ‘serious error’. I do not share your opinion. JTW has all the rights to decide whether to publish or not a letter. We publish all the letters we receive from Turkish, Armenian or any others in our pages. Only those which include insults and strong language are excluded. Second, we know who Hold Water is. He kindly asked us not to mention his original name due to the threats from Armenian radicals. And we find it a reasonable demand. The Armenian radicals threaten our writers too. Some of the letters say that they will kill or harm our writers. As you know very well we experienced in the past that many Turkish diplomats, journalists and academicians were attacked, and even killed by the Armenian extremists. Even the foreigners were assaulted by the Armenian groups. Prof. Shaw’s house in the was fired, and Prof. McCarthy was attacked by the Armenian groups. The problem is that many Armenians cannot bear to listen different opinions. If any Armenian or any other readers ask us to hide their real names, we may help them too. Apart from the nick name usage, the important thing is what Hold Water writes. We should not focus on the individuals but the context. I do not know you for instance. I do not know your real name is Maral or not, and this is not my problem. What is important is what you write. Normally JTW does not like to publish letters or articles with nick names, yet when we need to protect the people, we have to do so.

Agreement

You wrote that “I thought that we had an agreement that this dialog is a one-on-one dialog between you, Dr. Laciner, the Editor in Chief of the JTW, and this ordinary Armenian girl” and you accuse us of breaking ‘our agreement’ by posting a letter to JTW pages. First, JTW is a newspaper, and I cannot make any agreement with anybody to limit the JTW publication. Our ‘agreement’ is not an obstacle to publish other comments. JTW not only publish the letters which criticize your ideas, but it publishes the pro-letters too. We published Armenian letters which support you and criticize JTW and me. We, in principle publish any letter as far as it contributes solution and includes valuable views. Yes we may publish even Micky Mouse’s letters, if his/her letters says something serious about Armenian Issue or any others issues.


You say that you do not want respond H. Water’s comments and you wrote “I don't wish to respond to someone who is too cowardly to disclose his/her/its real name. For all you know, he/she/it could be a criminal or an ex-convict or even a wanted terrorist”. I am sorry but I do not remember any anti-Armenian Turkish terrorist name but I can call many Armenian terrorists. No Armenian was harmed by any Turkish ‘terrorists’ for the decades, but more than 40 Turkish diplomats were murdered by ASALA and other Armenian terrorists. Armenian terrorists put bombs to civilian airports in Paris , Ankara , London and many other cities. So, you can be sure that H. Water is not a terrorist but someone who is afraid of Armenian fanatics and terrorists. We did not post his letter to urge you to give a response. Off course you do not have to give a reply to him. He has no link with JTW or anyone from our staff. He sent a letter and we publish it, as we publish many Armenian letters in our pages.


I understand that H. Water’s letter made you nervous and angry. You label his letter ‘offensive and non-respectful’. I do not understand which part of the letter made you so nervous. As a matter of fact that I receive everyday more aggressive and more non-respectful letters. Even an Armenian journalist called me ‘dishonorable man’ because we had different opinions. Most of the Armenian letters sent me include very strong language and they insult me, my nationality, my family etc. I have replied almost all them and I told them that they should understand that I do not hate the Armenians. I work to establish a real dialogue between Turkish and Armenian peoples because they need each other. Whether they understand or not is not important, I have great hopes, and I know there are some Armenians there who will appreciate my goodwill and works in future.

You wrote again “What did surprise me the most is how did you allow this interference in our dialog?” Plase do not forget that our diolgue is not a personal dialogue. I do not know you and you do not know me personally. This is an open dialogue and I have no problem with interferences from Armenian or Turkish side. If the people send letters on your or on my opinion it means that we reach our aim. You are not happy with the following words of H. Water letter: “Dr. Laciner has done a fine job of responding, but some of these claims called for more specific scrutiny.” I do not understand what disturb you in these words. He supports my arguments like many other letters we receive. Not only me, buy you also receive significant support and encouragement. For instance Edward Sarafian sent to JTW too the letter sent to you. Sarafian in his letter says “Voghch ellas. Vartzket gadar. Excellent Response. Keep up the good work.” Not only Sarafian but also other Armenian agree with you and we try to publish their letters too. If you send a letter to a newspaper with more than 15.000 readers every day, you naturally receive pro and con letters. Don’t take this as offense.

Response to Your ‘PART TWO of Letter 3’ [ 4 part ii]

First of all you and many Armenians name the Istanbul Government, ‘Turkish Government’. Off course the dominant ethnic group was the Turks, but the Istanbul Government at that time was an Ottoman Government. Even some of the Armenian books use ‘’ instead of ‘the Ottoman Empire ’. Please remember was established in 1923. Not only you, but the well-kown Armenian ‘historians’ and experts also make this mistake. Atom Egoyan for instance used Turkish Republic ’s flag in his Ararat film instead of the Ottoman Empire flag. I do not try to escape any responsibility for the Ottoman past. However we first should use the concepts properly.

I understand you accept that there was at least 5 reasons for the Armenian casualties, but you argue the Ottoman Government and Ittihat ve Terakki was main responsible for all these reasons, including the bad weather.

1-Bad Administration: You blamed the Government for bad administration. Of course the government was responsible for the bad administration and even the Turkish people suffered a lot from Ittihat’s bad administration. The Ottoman State lost great territories under the Ittihat. They were not democratic and not gifted. Most of the Turkish people do not like the Ittihat Terakki members. Even during the First World War the majority of the Turkish people did not support this party. They were guilthy for bad administration, but not for a genocide or a massacre. They were patriotic people and they were trying to protect their peoples and country. The problem is that they failed.

2-Deportation/Relocation: I name the 1915 Campaign as ‘re-location’, not ‘deportation’ because you cannot deport your citizens to your territories. The word ‘deportation’ is described by the Cambridge Dictionary as “ forcing (a person) to leave a country because they have no legal right to be there or because they have broken the law”. The Ottoman Government did not deport them from the Ottoman territories. They were re-settled to another Ottoman territory, and other southern Ottoman provinces. The relocated Armenians were not illegal. The Government took an administrative measurement to protect its armies against the Russian-Armenian attacks. The similar measurements took by the during the Second World War and many Japanese Americans from the Western coasts of the were forced to settle near the Mississippi river . If you look at the Relocation (tehcir) Law, the Ottoman Governors and other officials had to protect the Armenians in the campaign. Armenian had be helped in selling their properties. In fact the Armenians did not have to sell their properties if they wanted. According to the Tehcir Law, the Armenians were free to return their hometowns when the war conditions ended. It was the Ottoman Governers’ duty to buy train tickets. The Ottoman Governers in the southern provinces had to find jobs and homes for the new comers. The Ottoman Army had the duty to protect the Ottoman Armenians on the journey. The Tehcir Law was a perfect legal document and implemented in some provinces fully. The problem was that the Government had no full control over the Ottoman territories. The army was in a bloody war against the French, British, Russians and Greeks in many fronts. Some parts of the country was under occupation and it was really a formidable job to organize such a relocation campaign. Therefore I accuse the Government for their failure. They caused great tragedies for the Turkish and Armenian peoples. But no one could name this failure as a ‘genocide’. Many Ottoman civil servants and officers were judged and sentenced after the relocation campaign for their failure and ignorance.


You are right, “there was neither preparation, nor organization to shelter the hundreds of thousands of the deportees” in many provinces. The Government asked the impossible jobs from the Governors. But this is a typical bad administration. It is unfortunate that the laws are better than the implementation in many countries. There is no perfect government and the politicians just promise what they cannot do. It is the same politicians who promised Turkish people a stable and secure country. But millions of Turkish citizens were killed or wounded during the First World War.

I cannot agree with Dr. Ahmet Kuyas. There are many pro-Armenian scholars and journalists in different from Armenia Diaspora Armenians. is a free country and everyone is free to defend anything. Dr. Kuyas opinion is just an opinion, not a historical fact. The Government was in real troubles. Imagine a country that fight the greatest powers of the world in all sides. British, Russian, French, Greek and others attacked you. Arabs and some other minorities were making co-operation with the ‘enemy’. Armenian gangs attacked the civilian Muslim villages. There were more than 200,000 Armenians in the enemy side. The country was in an economic catastrophe, the people, even the soldiers had to eat grass and wild animals because they could not find anything to eat. All men are at the war fronts, and the state organization was simply out of control. The Russians attacked from the East and the Armenian militants attacked from the back of the front. The Ottoman army was between of these two. The Istanbul Government had to take some measures. They had two options: destroy all the Armenian villages or relocate the Armenian villages far away from the war theatre. They did not have time to estimate whether they had enough power to relocate hundreds of thousands people. They had no time, and it was an emergency situation. They had do something and they decided to relocate the Armenians near the war theatre. If there was a German State in Anatolia at that time, what they would had chosen is not a secret. The German generals advised the Ottoman Government to destroy all the Armenians. Many Armenians were killed in communal clashes and by other reasons. However most of them safely immigrated from the war region. Some of them, not many, returned to their hometown after the war. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk told an American newspaper that hundreds of thousands Armenians had the chance to return their hometowns, but they supported the French occupation forces after the First World war and they fought against the Turkish Salvation Armies. With the French armies, they tortured or killed many Muslims. Ataturk said “after such a war, none of them dared to return to their towns”. However many Armenians returned to Istanbul , when they found dangerous to return to the small towns. Hundreds of thousands immigrated to , , island, Caucasian, Europe and North America . That is why there are strong diasporas in these countries.

3-War Circumstances: You again accuse the government for the war circumstances. But please please it was First World War. Almost all nations were in the war. War is not a good thing. But a reality. And Istanbul Government was one of the latest one who joined the war. If you blame the Ottoman Government for joining the war, you should blame the Russians, British, French and Greeks too. They came to Anatolia . They occupied the Turkish homeland. The Ottoman State ’s war was in fact a resistance war. And the Armenians. More than 200,000 Armenians joined the allies and helped the occupation. They occupied the Van province and cleaned the way for Russian occupation. The Tashnaks and other militant groups proudly tell the ‘heroic’ stories about how they massacred the Turkish and Kurdish villagers, agas and civil servants during the First World War. You should decide whether the Armenians were innocent people with no arm or ‘heroic warriors’. If they were in war against their own government, you cannot name the conflicts as ‘genocide’ or ‘massacre’. All governments have the rights to surpass the armed riots. If the Armenians lived in and if they behaved as they did during the First World War, the picture would be totally different. There would be no Armenian diaspora, but Armenian graves everywhere.

4- Communal Clashes: You wrote “This was not the case as I said earlier, because… all able bodied men were recruited in the war. Who is then fighting in these massive so-called communal clashes?!” The communal clashes were between Armenian Kurdish villages. Actually Armenian gangs mainly targeted the Kurdish villages. Tashnak documents clearly shows how the Kurdish villages were ‘cleared’ by the Armenian attacks. And after the First World War when the Armenians joined the occupying French soldiers in the south eastern provinces in particular, the Turkish and Kurdish people organized resistance groups. Many Turkish and Kurdish wanted to take revenge of their parents and children. There was a real problems between Armenian Kurdish villages in some provinces and this caused great clashes. Most of the Kurdish men were at home during the war. And the war did last four years not forever. Even in Central Anatolian provinces the people were really angry about the Armenian and Greek co-operation with the occupying armies and they attacked the Armenians and Greek districts in some towns. But the real problem was the looters. Some illegal criminals and gangs groups attacked the Armenian districts and houses by abusing the tension between the communities. Most of the Armenians were protected by their Muslim neighbors from such attacks. These gangs not only attacked the Armenians but also the Muslim families. My grandma clearly calls that period, and she said many Turkish were also murdered by these criminals and the Government could do nothing. Even some of the gendarme officers joined the gangs in order to loot the wealthy people. These officers were captured and sentenced.

5- Riot: ‘Milleti Sadika’ is not a 5 century-old concept. The concept was used first time during the 19th century. Because all the minorities rioted against the Istanbul but the Armenians remained loyal to Istanbul . The relations between Armenians and Turkish people were perfect for the centuries. Fatih Sultan Mehmet invited all the Armenians to Istanbul ( Constantinople ) and the Armenian Istanbul Patric was under the Sultan’s personal protection. However the balances were change with the Russian encouragement. aimed to establish a Christian region between and the Ottoman State . They first tried to clean the Muslim population in the Caucasus and then granted citizenship to the Ottoman Armenians. Most of the Ottoman Armenians, apart from the Ottoman citizenship, became citizens before the First World War.

3 March 1878 was turning point in Armenians’ loyalty to the Ottomans. After the Russian-Ottoman War the Russian armies came to very close to capital Istanbul . The Armenian Patriarch Narses saw the event as a great opportunity to make pressure over the Istanbul Government. The Patriarch in fact aimed a separate Armenian state. The Armenian Patriarch went to the Russian Emperor Nikola’s tent and gave him the Armenian demands list. Thus the Russians establish a great influence over the Ottoman Armenian citizens. The Berlin Agreement confirmed the situation. The Armenians were used as a Trojan Horse during this years. Nevertheless the middle class Armenians continued their support to Istanbul Government. The Armenian nationalist-terrorist organizations Tashnak and Hinchaks were established abroad to establish an Armenian state on the Ottoman territories. One of them was established in and the other was established in . The young Armenian students were encouraged to organize separatist movements against the Ottomans. The strange thing is that none of the founders of these organizations had seen the Ottoman territories before. The American and other missionary schools also encouraged the Armenian separatism in the Eastern provinces. Many schools and churches were used as arsenal. The American schools and Russian agents gave military training to the Armenian youth in the eastern provinces. The Armenian terrorists attacked the Ottoman Bank in Istanbul . They also made bomb attack to the head of the Ottoman State , Abdulhamid II. Interestingly the first modern terrorist examples given by the Armenian nationalist groups. They kidnapped the people, they bombed the civilian targets, they killed to create a terror environment. The number of Armenians killed by the Armenian groups was higher than the number of Turkish people killed by the Armenians at the beginning. The nationalist fanatics were trying to change the Armenian public opinion about a possible uprising against the Istanbul . They first killed the pro-Ottoman Armenians. Then they made provocative attacks to the Muslim villages. The Tashnaks particularly attacked the Kurdish and Turkish villages which had friendly relations with the Armenian villages. Under these circumstances the concept of the ‘millet-i sadika’ (loyal nation) was sabotaged by the armed Armenian extremists. Of course there were loyal Armenians too. Armenians in Istanbul and in many other Western provinces mainly did not join the uprisings. The Armenian terrorists were mostly from abroad, not Ottoman citizens. Even many Armenians joined the Ottoman Army in Canakkale (Dardanel Operation) against the British and French occupying armies in 1915. Some of the British and French military ships were destroyed by the Ottoman Armenian officers. That’s why not all of the Armenian population was included to the Relocation Campaign.

However the picture in the east was quite different. The Armenians established armies in Van. If you like to see the armed pictures of the Armenian rioters and gangs please see Hratch Dasnabedian’s book: “History of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Dashnaktsutiun, 1890-1924, Milan, , OEMME Edizioni, 1989). Dasnabedian’s book clearly shows how the Armenians were loyal to Ottoman State ( ! ) .

You give reference from Prof. Dr. Turkkaya Ataov in your letter to prove how Armenians were loyal. So you trust to distinguished Prof. Ataov’s studies. He revelaed last week important Armenians documents. The documents, say Professor Ataov, prove that up to 200,000 Armenians fought with allied troops against the Otoman Army during the

First World War. Noting the extremely high numbers of Armenian soldiers admitted to in these documents, Professor Ataov says "200,000 is a serious number. It is atleast 65 thousand more than the American soldiers found in Iraq today."

It is realy impossible to say that the Armenians were not a threat to Otoman security in the Eastern provinces. The Armenian population in the Eastern provinces was a real and close therat during the First World War. After the War the Armenians joined the occupying forces. There is no need to speak about their so-called loyalty. The Otoman newspapers and archives are full of the proofs. The problem is you name all the Turkish historians and experts “Genocide deniers” or “revisionists” and you label the Ottoman and Turkish documents “lies”. No one blames the whole Ottoman Armenians. But we know that a significant size of the Armenian population were at the same time Russian citizens. Hundreds of thousands joined the Russian or French armies against the Ottoman army. The loyal Armenians had no difficulty in living with the Turkish people. More than 100,000 Armenians have lived in Istanbul since the First World War and none of them were injured by their neighbors. Today the number of the Armenians in Istanbul is higher than 100,000. It is impossible for the Turks to live in , but Istanbul is still a safe home for the Armenians. Even about 50,000 Armenians from come to Istanbul to work.

You wrote “the whole world had recently witnessed the Turkish standards of “treachery”, when in May 2005 the Minister of “Justice” had branded Turkish academics who wanted to hold a conference about the Armenians as “traitors” and accused them of “Stabbing the Nation in the back” .

I do not share Mr. Cicek’s words about the conference, but it should be accepted that is a mature democracy where the academicians can organize a conference though the Minister of Justice brand them “traitors”. is a democracy and even the ministers cannot prevent the expression of different ideas. The conference was a fully pro-Armenian one, and people and media attended the conference, and no one was injured or sentenced. Most of the participants were lecturer from State universities and none of them lost their job. By the way Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan clearly declared that he did not agree with the Minister of Justice. He said “all ideas have right to be discussed in ”. It is really difficult to see such a picture in or in Armenian diaspora. Even the Turkish Armenians cannot give lecture in or in . When a Turkish professor does not name the 1915 events as ‘genocide’, attempt to arrest him. It is almost impossible to defend Turkish approach in many countries where Armenian diaspora is so strong. They manipulate the Western governments, or they directly threaten the Turkish authors and experts.

Of course “Genocide Can Never be Justified”, and the Armenians should not commit genocide against history by fabricating a past based on emotions, biases and hate.

Sedat Laciner.

2 November 2005

Dr. Laciner's Article also found here