Events of 1915

What is a “Genocide” ?

This term refers to a well defined crime, the definition of which has been given in an international convention made after the Second World War: “the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide” , approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations in its resolution of December 9, 1948 and which went into effect on January 11, 1951, a convention which Turkey signed and ratified.

3 Elements of Genocide :

1- National, Ethnic or Religious Group :

In the convention the definition of the crime of genocide consists of three elements: for one thing, there has to be a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.

2- Being Subjected to the Listed Acts :

This group has to be subjected to certain acts listed in the Convention. The “murder of the members of the group, and forced transfer of the children of one group into another group and subjecting the members of a group to conditions which will eventually bring about their physical destruction” come within the range of actions listed in the said convention.

3- There has to be “an intent” of destroying” :

The third element is the most important: there has to be “an intent of destroying” the said group in part or in entirety. Political intents are therefore not included, because then all the wars would be regarded as “genocides”.

This key-description helps to differentiate between genocide and other forms of homicide, which are the consequences of other motives such as in the case of wars, uprisings etc.

Homicide becomes genocide when the latent or apparent intention of physical destruction is directed at members of any one of the national, ethnic, racial or religious groups simply because they happen to be members of that group.

The concept of numbers only becomes significant when it can be taken as a sign of such an intention against the group. That is why, as Sartre said in speaking of genocide on the occasion of the Russell Tribunal on the Viet-Nam War, that one must study the facts objectively in order to prove if this intention exists, even in an implicit manner.

Background

Even before the War the Ottoman Empire had begun to decline continuously as a result of the penetration of European colonialism, nationalism and corres- ponding warfare.

The Russian expansionism and the winds of nationalism that blew from the West re- sulted in the disintegration of the Western provinces of the Empire and led to the inevitable weakening of the ailing Ottoman State structure.

Nearly 4.5 million Ottoman Muslims perished from 1864 to 1922 and many more dead were never counted.

Moreover, around 5 million Ottoman citizens were driven away from their ancestral homes in the Balkans and the Caucasus during the period of the Empire’s disintegration and found shelter in Anatolia and Istanbul.

Armenians, as all the other people that made up the Empire, also suffered immensely. The loss of so many innocent lives and departure from ances- tral lands was a common fate.

Even today traumatic consequences of the 1915 events continue to distress Turks and Armenians. Competing and hitherto irreconcilable narratives on the 1915 events erode the mutual empathy and self- critical assessment that is needed for reconciliation. What is required is to try to examine objectively how this tragedy happened and reveal its true historical context, including the dynamics of cause and effect, so as to reconcile Turkish and Armenians views of history.

How many lost their lives ?

The figure of how many Armenians lost their lives changes dramatically depending on the sources. While Armenian sources claim the numbers to be around 1.5 million, the Turkish side usually claim it to be around 200 thosaunds. Prof McCarthy says the actual figure is around 500-600 thousands. But we should emphasise that millions of Muslim Ottomans were also lost their lives in WW1 and events after this war.

1828
In 1828 Russia, England and France began to actively attempt to acquire Ottoman territory.

1877
The Treaty of Berlin was signed in 1877 after the war between the Ottoman Empire and Russian. The treaty granted Russia and Europe the right to interfere with the internal affairs of the Ottoman Empire.

Propagandising the Armenians, Russia deluded them with the promise of an Armenian dream; a concept which had never existed before.

1887
Encouraged by the Russians, Armenians founded the Dashnag and the Hunchak nationalist organisations. These groups armed the Armenians in the empire to incite an Armenian rebellion.

1890
The first uprising occurred in Erzurum in Anatolia.

It was followed by other massacres, rebellions, even an attempt to assassinate the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II.

1914
During World War 1, Armenians enlisted in the Ottoman army defected to Russia and fought against the Turks. Their betrayal led to the Russians seizure the city of Van and many other territories in 1914.

17 April 1915

Armenian terrorist groups captures the biggest city in the Eastern Anatolia ; Van, slaughtering thousands of innocent Muslim civilians.

24 April 1915
The Empire needed to respond. To stop the Armenian rebellions and prevent the further loss of more people, the Empire arrested the leaders of Dashnak and Hunchak committees.

November 1915 – 1918
Armenian citizens in the war zone were transported to non-combat areas. As a result of disbanding the Dashnag and Hunchak terrorist organisations, and careful precautions for the rebellions were prevented.

In all the Armenian uprisings which endured through World War 1 until 1918 millions of Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Turkish, Kurdish and Armenian Ottoman citizens were killed.

1918
Russian and Europe were finished with Armenians who had failed to serve their interests.

1916 – 1918

Ottoman Government prosecuted and executed responsible the some army officials.

Historical documents prove that the Ottoman Government not only did not intend these outrages to take place but that actuallly prosecuted the perpetrators. Officials/civilians who disobeyed the instructions of the Government to carry out the relocation in an orderly and secure way were courtmartialed and those found guilty were sentenced to capital punishment by the Government in 1916, long before the end of the First World War.

Malta Tribunals

More over the Entente also conducted their own trials in Malta. Russia, England and France were in charge of Malta trials. Out of hundreds of army officials, not one single of them were charged with any offence of war crimes and/or other atrocities were all acquitted of all charges.

1970-1989 :

Armenian Terrorism against Turkish Diplomats (in Sydney, Melbourne, London, Los Angeles, Paris, Lisbon etc.. )

Painful for all Turks to remember, terrorism became a tool to get the attention of world public to Armenian claims. Over 40 Turkish diplomats and their relatives were killed in terrorist attacks from 1975 onwards by Armenian terrorists.

This included the first terrorist attack on Australian soil with loss of life, the assassination of Mr Sarik Ariyak, Consul General of Turkey in Sydney and his security officer Mr Engin Sever by the Armenian terrorist organisation called Justice Commandoes for Armenian Genocide (JCAG) on December 17, 1980 in Sydney and car bombing of the Melbourne Consulate in 1986 by the Armenian Secret Army for Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) terrorists.

During Armenian Terrorism period 1970 -1989, the Armenian view and the genocide thesis started to be widely disseminated, at times using forged documents and photos. Significant parts of the pro-Armenian literature rested upon a highly questionable methodology for explaining population figures. Some dubious memoirs were used and repeatedly crossreferenced in order to build up a case for genocide recognition.

Turkish Australians acknowledge the massacres of Ottoman Armenians, while they also remember the deaths of over 1.1 million Ottoman Muslims who perished in eastern Anatolia under similar conditions.

The Turkish community believe, however, that the Armenian Tragedy does not constitute genocide.  For this, they rely on the findings of experts on Ottoman history, the vast majority of whom do not accept the Armenian allegation of genocide, such as Bernard Lewis, Guenter Lewy, Andrew Mango, Avigdor Levy, Stanford Shaw, Masaki Kakiszaki, David Fromkin, Norman Stone, Edward Erickson, Heath Lowry, and Justin McCarthy, to list just a few notables.

More over, the following 69 prominent historians in the United States do all agree that the events of 1915 do not constitute a genocide. 

1. RIFAAT ABOU-EL-HAJ  –  Prof. of History, California State University at Long Beach
2. RODERIC DAVISON  – Prof. of History, George Washington University
3. SARAH MOMENT ATIS – Prof. of Turkish Language & Literature, University of Wisconsin at Madison
4. WALTER DENNY – Prof. of Art History Associate & Near Eastern Studies, University of Massachusetts
5. KARL BARBIR  – Associate Prof. of History, Siena College (New York)
6. DR. ALAN DUBEN  – Anthropologist, Researcher, NYC
7. ILHAN BASGOZ  – Director of the Turkish Studies Program at the Department of Ural-Altaic Studies, Indiana University
8. ELLEN ERVIN  – Research Assistant Prof. of Turkish, New York University
9. DANIEL G. BATES  – Prof. of Anthropology, Hunter College, City University of New York
10. CAESAR FARAH  – Prof. of Islamic & Middle Eastern History, University of Minnesota
11. ULKU BATES  – Prof. of Art History, Hunter College, City University of New York
12. CARTER FINDLEY  – Associate Prof. of History, The Ohio State University
13. GUSTAV BAYERLE  – Prof. of Uralic & Altaic Studies, Indiana University
14. MICHAEL FINEFROCK  – Prof. of History, College of Charleston
15. ANDREAS G. E. BODROGLIGETTI  – Prof. of Turkic & Iranian languages, University of California at LA
16. ALAN FISHER  – Prof. of History, Michigan State University
17. KATHLEEN BURRILL  – Associate Prof. of Turkish Studies, Columbia University
18. CORNELL FLEISCHER  – Assistant Prof. of History, Washington University (Missouri)
19. TIMOTHY CHILDS  – Prof., Lecturer at SAIS, Johns Hopkins University
20. PETER GOLDEN  – Prof. of History, Rutgers University, Newark
21. SHAFIGA DAULET  – Associate Prof. of Political Science, University of Connecticut
22. TOM GOODRICH  – Prof. of History, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
23. JUSTIN McCARTHY  – Prof. of History, University of Louisville
24. ANDREW COULD  – Ph.D. in Ottoman History, Flagstaff, Arizona
25. JON MANDAVILLE  – Prof. of the History of the Middle East, Portland State University, Oregon
26. MICHAEL MEEKER  – Prof. of Anthropology, University of California at San Diego
27. RHOADS MURPHEY  – Assistant Prof. of Middle Eastern Languages, Cultures & History, Columbia University
28. THOMAS NAFF  – Prof. of History & Director, Middle East Research Institute University of Pennsylvania
29. PIERRE OBERLING  – Prof. of History, Hunter College of the City University of New York
30. WILLIAM OCHSENWALD  – Associate Prof. of History, Virginia Polytechnic Institute
31. ROBERT OLSON  – Associate Prof. of History, University of Kentucky
32. WILLIAM PEACHY  – Assistant Prof. of the Judaic, Near Eastern Languages & Literatures, Ohio State University
33. HOWARD REED  – Prof. of History, University of Connecticut
34. WILLIAM GRISWOLD  – Prof. of History, Colorado State University
35. TIBOR HALASI-KUN  – Prof. Emeritus of Turkish Studies, Columbia University.
36. WILLIAM HICKMAN  – Associate Prof. of Turkish, University of California at Berkeley
37. J. C. HUREWITZ  – Prof. of Government, Emeritus Former Director of the Middle East Institute, Columbia University
38. JOHN HYMES  – Prof. of History, Glenville State College, West Virginia
39. HALIL INALCIK  – Un. Prof. of Ottoman History, Member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, University of Chicago
40. RALPH JAECKEL – Visiting Assistant Prof. of Turkish, University of California at Los Angeles
41. RONALD JENNINGS  – Associate Prof. of History & Asian Studies, University of Illinois
42. JAMES KELLY  – Assoc. Prof. of Turkish, University of Utah
43. KERIM KEY  – Adjunct Prof., Southeastern University, Washington, D.C.
44. DANKWART RUSTOW  – Distinguished Un. Prof. of Political Science, City University Graduate School, NYC
45. ELAINE SMITH  – Ph.D. in Turkish History, Retired Foreign Service Officer, Washington, D.C.
46. STANFORD SHAW  – Prof. of History, University of California at Los Angeles
47. EZEL KURAL SHAW  – Associate Prof. of History, California State University, Northridge
48. METIN KUNT  – Prof. of Ottoman History, NYC
49. FREDERICK LATIMER  – Associate Prof. of History Retired, University of Utah
50. AVIGDOR LEVY  – Prof. of History, Brandeis University
51. BERNARD LEWIS  – Cleveland E. Dodge Prof. of Near Eastern History, Princeton University
52. DR. HEATH W. LOWRY  – Prof. of Ottoman History, Princeton University
53. GRACE M. SMITH  – Visiting Lecturer in Turkish, University of California at Berkeley
54. JOHN MASSON SMITH, JR.  – Prof. of History, UC Berkeley
55. DR. SVAT SOUCEK  – Turcologist, New York City
56. ROBERT STAAB  – Assistant Director of the Middle East Center, University of Utah
57. JUNE STARR  – Associate Prof. of Anthropology, SUNY Stony Brook
58. JAMES STEWART-ROBINSON  – Prof. of Turkish Studies, University of Michigan
59. DR. PHILIP STODDARD  – Executive Director, Middle East Institute, Washington, D.C.
60. FRANK TACHAU  – Prof. of Political Science, University of Illinois at Chicago
61. METIN TAMKOC  – Prof. of International Law and Regulations, Texas Tech University
62. DAVID THOMAS  – Associate Prof. of History, Rhode Island College
63. MARGARET L. VENZKE  – Assistant Prof. of History, Dickinson College (Pennsylvania)
64. WARREN S. WALKER  – Home Prof. of English & Director of the Archive of Turkish Oral Narrative,Texas Tech University
65. DONALD WEBSTER  – Prof. of Turkish History, Retired
66. WALTER WEIKER  – Prof. of Political Science, Rutgers University
67. JOHN WOODS  – Associate Prof. of Middle Eastern History, University of Chicago
68. MADELINE ZILFI  – Associate Prof. of History, University of Maryland

A. Boghos Nubar’s remarks

Boghos Nubar addressed a letter to the Times of London on January 30,1919 confirming that the Armenians were indeed belligerents in World War I. He stated with pride,

“In the Caucasus, without mentioning the 150,000 Armenians in the Russian armies, about 50,000 Armenian volunteers under Andranik, Mazarbekoff, and others not only fought for four years for the cause of the Entente, but after the breakdown of Russia they were the only forces in the Caucasus to resist the advance of the Turks….”

Between 1893 and 1915 Ottoman Armenians in eastern Anatolia rebelled against their government -the Ottoman government — and joined Armenian revolutionary groups, such as the notorious Dashnaks and Hunchaks. They spearheaded a massive Russian invasion of Eastern Anatolia. On November 5, 1914, the President of the Armenian National Bureau in Tblisi declared to Czar Nicholas II,

“From all countries Armenians are hurrying to enter the ranks for the glorious Russian Army, with their blood to serve the victory of Russian arms.”

In the service of the Russians, traitorous Armenians massacred over 60,000 Muslims in the city of Van alone.

B. Allegation of genocide is illogical

The allegation of genocide is illogical. In the words of eminent historian Bernard Lewis, speaking to the Israeli daily Ha’aretz on January 23,1998,

“The Armenians want to benefit from both worlds. On the one hand, they speak with pride of their struggle against Ottoman despotism, while on the other hand they compare their tragedy to the Jewish Holocaust. I do not accept this. I do not say that the Armenians did not suffer terribly. But I find enough cause for me to contain their attempts to use the Armenian massacres to diminish the worth of the Jewish Holocaust and to relate to it instead as an ethnic dispute.” (translation)

C. NO EVIDENCE

None of the Ottoman orders commanding the relocation of Armenians, which have been reviewed by historians to date, orders killings. To the contrary, they order Ottoman officials to protect relocated Armenians. Unfortunately, where Ottoman control was weak, Armenian relocatees suffered most. The stories of the time give examples of columns of hun- dreds of Armenians guarded by as few as two Ottoman gendarmes. When local Muslims attacked the columns, Armenians were robbed and killed.

These Muslims had themselves suffered greatly at the hands of Armenians and Russians. Conversely,where Ottoman control was strong, Armenians went unharmed. In Istanbul and other major Western Anatolian cities, large populations of Armenians remained throughout the war, their churches open.

D. Legally impossible

The term “genocide” did not exist prior to 1944. It was later defined quite specifically by the 1948 U.N. Convention on the Prevention of the Crime of Genocide. The standard of proof in establishing the crime of genocide is formidable given the severity of the crime, the opportunity for overlap with other crimes, and the stigma of being charged with or found guilty of the crime.

While presenting the Convention for ratification, the Secretary General of the U.N. emphasized that genocide is a crime of “specific intent,” requiring conclusive proof that members of a group were targeted simply because they were members of that group. The Secretary General further cautioned that those merely sharing political aims are not protected by the convention.

Under this standard of proof, the Armenian Lobby’s claim of genocide fails. First, no direct evidence has been discovered demonstrating that any Ottoman official sought the destruction of the Ottoman Armenians as such. Second, Ottoman Armenian revolutionaries confessedly waged war against their own government. Under these circumstances, it was the Ottoman Armenians’ violent political alliance with the Russian forces, not their ethnic or religious identity, which rendered them subject to the relocation.

In 1919 The British High Commission in Istanbul, utilizing Armenian informants, arrested 144 high Ottoman officials and deported them to the island of Malta for trial on charges of harming Armenians. While the deportees were interned in Malta, the British appointed an Armenian scholar, Mr. Haig Khazarian, to conduct a thorough examination of the Ottoman, British, and U.S. archives to substantiate the charges. Though granted complete access to all records, Khazarian’s corps of investigators discovered an utter lack of evidence demonstrating that the Ottoman officials either sanctioned or encouraged killings of Armenians. The British Procurator General exonerated and released all 144 detainees – – after two years and four months of detention without trial. No compensation was ever paid to the detainees.

In 1921, a secret Armenian network, named Nemesis, took the law into its own hands and hunted down and assassinated several former Ottoman Ministers, among them Talat Pasha and Jemal Pasha. Following in Nemesis’ footsteps, during the 1970’s and 1980’s the Armenian terrorist groups ASALA (Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia) and JCAG (Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide) committed over 230 armed attacks, killing 71 innocent people, including 31 Turkish diplomats, and seriously wounding over 520 people in a campaign of blood revenge.

1. Jews did not demand land and rioted

Jews neither demanded the dismemberment of the nations in which they had lived nor did they kill their fellow citizens. By contrast, Ottoman Armenians openly agitated for a separate state in lands in which they were numerically inferior. With determination they committed mass treason, and took up arms against their government. They also massacred local Muslim and Jewish civilians.

2. Nuremberg vs. Malta Tribunals

The guilt of the perpetrators of the Holocaust was proven at Nuremberg. By contrast, those alleged to have been responsible for the maladministration of the relocation policies were exonerated at Malta by the World War I victors.

3. Hitler did not refer to the Armenians

Hitler did not refer to the Armenians in plotting the Final Solution; the infamous quote is fraudulent. For this reason it was rejected as evidence by the Nuremberg tribunal.

4. Armenians collaborated with Nazis

Armenians collaborated with the Nazis, forming the 812th Battalion of the [Nazi] Wehrmacht, and its successor, the Armenian legion. Armenians published Anti-Jewish, pro-Nazi propaganda in the Armenian-language Hairenik daily and the Armenian weekly journal.

The depth and volume of scholarship on the Holocaust is tremendous. By contrast, much about the late Ottoman Empire has yet to be learned and many conclusions have yet to be drawn.