Turkey Says 523,000 Were Killed by Armenians Between 1910 and 1922
BY SEBNEM ARSU
The New York Times
April 17, 2005
IZMIR, Turkey, April 17 – The Turkish State Archive issued today a
list of more than 523,000 Turks whom it said were killed by Armenians
in Turkey between 1910 and 1922.
The move appeared intended to counter longstanding Armenian contentions
that Turkish Ottoman officials committed genocide during a period of
mass deportations of Armenians that began in 1915.
Turkey fears that the 90th anniversary of the start of the violence,
which Armenians and their supporters plan to mark on April 24, will
cause widespread anti-Turkish feeling. It is also concerned that the
issue could interfere with its plans to start talks with the European
Union in October for possible membership. There have been growing
calls from other countries for Turkey to acknowledge its role with
regard to the Armenians.
Last week, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkish Parliament
called for an international study of the events of that period,
but senior Armenia officials turned down the proposal.
Turkey flatly denies that there was any systematic effort at killing or
forcing the Armenians out of eastern Anatolia, where the Armenians were
trying to establish a separate state. with support from the French,
British and Russians. Turkey contends that, instead, hundreds of
thousands of Turks were killed by Armenians as they tried to establish
themselves as the majority population in that region. Prof. Yusuf
Sarinay said.
The list issued today was compiled based on reports by the regional
authorities sent to Ottoman officials in Istanbul, as well as the
written accounts of international observers, said Mr. Sarinay, the
director of the Office of State Archives.
“Europe has used Armenians as a tool in extension of their policies
over Turkey, for which Turks and Armenians suffered,” Mr. Sarinay
was quoted as saying by the Anatolian news agency. “Europe should
also face her own history.”
Hirant Dink, a leading figure among Armenians in Turkey called
the list an official attempt to create an alternate version of an
internationally recognized reality. He said that such documentary
analysis and confirmation of its accuracy should be left in the hands
of international academics.
“Figures and documents should be researched and analyzed,” Mr. Dink
said, “However, talking merely in figures means that Turkey doesn’t
understand the pain of the other side; what is undermined here is
the conscience and human factor behind all.”
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