Anadolu Agency
may 6 2004
Allegations On Armenian Genocide Refuted With A Scientific Study
ANKARA – Turkish History Institution Chairman Prof. Dr. Yusuf
Halacoglu has said that Armenians’ allegations on genocide were
nothing but political propaganda, adding scientific facts refuted the
allegations.
Holding a press conference to promote a book entitled ”Armenians:
Exile and Migration” of historians Hikmet Ozdemir, Kemal Cicek, Omer
Turan and Ramazan Calik, Prof. Dr. Halacoglu said on Thursday, ”the
book was prepared examining nearly 15 thousand documents in archives
of the western countries. The study lasted for about one an half
years. These documents in the book will completely refute allegations
put forward by Armenians so far.”
”Under the light of data in western sources, Armenian population in
1914 was 1 million 400 thousand. Despite disease, losses stemming
from wars and all other factors, Armenian population rose to 1
million 700 thousand in 1918. These figures unveil wrongfulness of
allegations saying that 1.5 million Armenians were exposed to
genocide,” he stressed.
Prof. Dr. Halacoglu emphasized that those allegations would be
discussed with Armenians in a scientific platform in Austrian capital
Vienna in 2005 for the first time.
”A preparatory meeting will take place in Vienna on July 25, 2004 to
this end. Actually, I do not know whether Armenians could dare to
attend the meeting after all these data obtained from the western
sources. We will attend the meeting with documents from archives of
Russia, the United States, Britain, Germany, France and Iran besides
Ottoman era archives. Participants will be obliged to show original
documents. Our archives are open while Armenian archives are still
closed. We will stipulate Armenians existence of original
documents,” he said.
Prof. Dr. Halacoglu added, ”efforts to refute baseless allegations
of Armenians are as important as the Cyprus issue.”
Since 1965, the Armenians have been accusing the Turks of an alleged
genocide. Armenian enmity against the Turks began with the voluntary
Armenian troops in the Russian Army, and at last Armenian thuggery
reached its peak in the beginning of the 20th century. Many Turkish
people were killed by Armenian thuggery.
April 24, 1915 was the day in which the Ottoman Empire began to
arrest the Armenian thuggery. On this date, the Armenian Committee
centers were closed, their documents were confiscated, and the
leaders were arrested. The Ottoman Empire tried to prevent the events
by sending instructions to many cities. As a result of these
instructions, 2 thousand 345 people were arrested. The Armenians
exploits this date since the leaders of the revolutionists were
arrested on the date.
The so-called Armenian genocide allegations caused assassinations of
many Turkish officials. Between 1973 and 1985, Armenian terrorist
organization of ASALA staged several act of terrorism against Turkish
diplomats abroad. 34 people lost their lives in these heinous acts in
19 separate countries.