Prof. Feigle: It Is A Standard Lie To Claim Ottomans Killed 1,5 Million Armenians

Turkish Press
April 19 2005

ISTANBUL – Prof. Erich Feigle of Austria said, “it is a standard
lie to claim that Ottomans killed 1,5 million innocent (Armenian)
women and children.”

Speaking at a panel discussion on “Historical Realities in
Turkish-Armenian Relations” held in Istanbul Technical University on
Monday, Prof. Feigle said, “people are misled with imaginary incidents
and wrong numbers. It is a standard lie to claim that Ottomans killed
1,5 million innocent women and children. 1,700,000 Armenians were
living in Ottoman Empire in 1912 and this means that 4.4 percent of
population in Ottoman-ruled territories were Armenians.”

“Armenian national delegation chairman wrote a letter to Armenians
and said 700,000 Armenians had been exiled and he did not mention
genocide in that letter. Also in a letter to French Foreign Minister,
the chairman said Armenians were one of the leading communities from
the beginning of the war,” said Prof. Feigle.

“This is the most important document we have. Armenians hide documents
which are against them. They pursue physical and psychological
war. This war is a camouflage. They occupied one-fifth of lands of
Azerbaijan under this camouflage. They killed 20,000 civilians,”
added Prof. Feigle.

“It seems that Turkey can’t do anything against this psychological
war. I request Turks to trust themselves. Turkey shall not start a
discussion on ‘genocide’. If it such a discussion starts, Armenians
firstly want compensation and then land from Turkey. Their propaganda
aims to divide Turkey,” noted Prof. Feigle.