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Fresno Bee

Opinion Section

‘Preposterous claim’

September 30, 2005

Again we read in a newspaper story (Sept. 24) of the Armenian massacres,
the claim by Turkey’s apologists that “the [Armenian genocide] deaths
were part of a war in which an equal number of Turks died.” The
implication is that losses on both sides were a consequence of World War
I.

Such a claim is preposterous and perverted. Virtually the entire
Armenian population of Turkey in 1915 (whole families, including women
and children) was forcibly deported from its homeland of nearly 3,000
years by the leaders of the much more recently arrived Ottoman Empire.
About 1.5 million died.

That occurred during World War I when Turkey, a member of the Central
Powers together with Germany, was at war with the Allies. Of course, the
Turks did lose many lives in the war (which was not against Armenians).
But an equal number — more than a million? Hardly.

Armenian lives (families, not military personnel) were lost at the hands
of Turkish forces and the Kurds.

Turkish lives (virtually all military) were lost in a war at the hands
of British and Russian troops.

This needs to be repeated, for the preposterous claim of Turkish
apologists will not cease.

Arra Avakian

Fresno