Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 27 2007
Refutation of the Armenian resolution article by article-1
by
Prof. Dr. KEMAL ÇÝÇEK*
Turkey is concerned that the Armenian genocide resolution which has
been submitted to the US House of Representatives several times in
the past will pass due to Nancy Pelosi, the new Democratic speaker of
the House.
However, I don’t think there is any major significance if the law is
passed or not. Firstly, similar resolutions have already been passed
in state senates. According to ANCA, 47 states have passed such
resolutions. Secondly, the bill cannot impose sanctions. The US
president is under pressure to say on April 24 that 1.5 million
Armenians were murdered. U.S Republican and Democratic presidents
have always used terms similar to the word `genocide’ when speaking
on April 24. I am not saying that Turkey should stop lobbying against
the resolution. Of course, Turkey should fight against this unjust
and biased legislation and try to prevent the genocide label from
being attached to the nation. Otherwise, those Turkish children who
read in textbooks that their ancestors were murderers will suffer an
inferiority complex and will become asocial in the countries in which
they live.
At the other end of the spectrum, the mentioned resolution that was
submitted to the US House of Representatives is laden with incorrect
historical information and material mistakes. It seems that those who
drafted the resolution were not very concerned about the facts. It
was prepared with the assumption that the representatives would
approve whatever was submitted and calls on the US president to
employ sensitivity to foreign politics regarding ethnic cleansing,
human rights and the Armenian genocide. The president is also asked
to declare April 24 a day to commemorate the `Armenian genocide.’
Certainly this call is intended to hamper Turkey-US relations. So
while the resolution lacks the authority to impose punitive
sanctions, it is very important because it could prevent Turkish-US
relations from moving forward in peace and cooperation. The
resolution will increase Turkish opposition to America and will
strike a blow to Turkish government efforts to mend relations between
the two countries.
While the previous genocide resolutions had indicated that the
genocide was committed by the Ottoman Empire and not the Republic of
Turkey, the current one directly charges Turkey with being
responsible for genocide. The third article was removed from the
current resolution, which is why the history of the genocide was
extended to 1923. The Armenian lobbyists have extended their claims
of genocide because they want to hold the Turkish state responsible
and punish Turkey for the goods and property that were confiscated.
What’s worse is that the image of Turks in America will be damaged,
and this could affect business and cultural relations between the two
countries. Some intellectuals, writers and strategy experts say the
US will not offend Turkey in any way until, at least, the problems in
Iran and Iraq are resolved and do not expect the resolution to pass
in the Senate. However, we should remember that in recent years the
US has been guided by an unproductive and visionless administration.
Unfortunately, the administration draws its strategy and road map
based on the marginal groups of each country. Since the possibility
exists for the US administration to err and become confused, it is
very important that the American public and its administrative
departments are informed of the half truths in the bill.
Below you will find an assessment of the mistakes in the mentioned
bill.
(Article 1) The Armenian genocide was conceived and carried out by
the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, resulting in the deportation of
nearly 2,000,000 Armenians, of whom 1,500,000 men, women, and
children were killed, 500,000 survivors were expelled from their
homes, and which succeeded in the elimination of the over 2,500-year
presence of Armenians in their historic homeland.
In the article under dispute, it was claimed that genocide was
carried out by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923. We know that V.
Dadrian and many other leading Armenian historians have claimed the
loss of the Armenian life during World War I due to the actions of
the Ottoman Empire was 1.5 million. Before we comment on these
exaggerated figures, we must emphasize that the Ottoman Empire had
exited the stage of history in 1923. This fact indicates that the
Armenian lobby is directly targeting the Republic of Turkey and aims
to keep Turkey from avoiding punishment for the refusal to
acknowledge its heritage. As for the figures, we may state with
certainty that the claimed number of Armenian victims is an
exaggeration. First of all, many independent researchers have
estimated that the Armenian population in 1914 ranged between
1,400,000 and1,700,000. Even such pro-Armenian scholars as Dr.
Johannes Lepsius do not accept the figures asserted by the
Patriarchate, at 2.2 million Armenian citizens in that area at that
time, and instead calculated the Armenian population to be around
1,845,450 (Der Todesgang des Armenischen Volkes, Potsdam 1919, p.
308). There is not a single source that would indicate the population
of the Ottoman Armenians was as high as 2 million. (See H. Özdemir
and others. Armenians: Exile and Migration, Ankara, 2004, p.49-50.)
The claim that 1.5 million Armenians were killed is also a myth. This
myth originated from the report of Leslie Davis, the US consul at
Harput. He wrote on July 24, 1915 — the 44th day after the order for
deportation — that `It is impossible to say how many Armenians have
been killed, but it is estimated that the number is not far from a
million’ (NARA 867.4016/269). Even Dadrian vouches for 1 million
survivors and estimates the number of Armenian victims at 1.1
million. During the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, the Armenian
leader, Bogos Nubar Pasha, spoke about the deportation of 600-700,000
Armenians. In addition, the Patriarchate calculated in 1919 that the
total number of Armenians living in Anatolia was 644,000. A document
released by the League of Nations stated the number of Armenians in
1922 who originated from Turkey was 817,873 and states that `the
total given does not include the able-bodied Armenians’ who still
lived in Turkey. (NARA 867.4016/816) Last but not least, in a
memorandum sent to English and French embassies by the Patriarchate
in 1919, it claimed that `200,000 Armenians were buried alive or were
drowned in Van Lake, the Fýrat River and the Black Sea between 1914
and 1918.’ (Report presented to the Preliminary Peace Conference by
the Commission for the Responsibility of the Authors of the War and
on the Enforcement of Penalties, March 29, 1919). These figures
clearly demonstrate that the Armenian historians have exaggerated the
figures about the number of Armenian victims during the war.
(Article 2) On May 24, 1915, the Allied Powers, England, France and
Russia, jointly issued a statement explicitly charging for the first
time ever another government of committing `a crime against
humanity.’
In the second statement in the proposed resolution, the Allied
statement of May 24, 1915 is mentioned, and it is asserted that the
Ottoman Empire carried out genocide, although they had been warned
before the deportation. The text of the resolution implies that the
Ottoman Empire planned and launched a systematic campaign to
annihilate the Armenians. It is true that there was such a statement
made by the Allies; what is left out is the fact that the states that
issued this statement were then at war with the Ottomans, and as we
know now, had signed treaties amongst each other to divide the
Ottoman Empire, which would complicate any claim they asserted about
the Ottoman Empire. What is also striking is that these countries
were overlooking their own `crimes against humanity.’ For instance
Russia was carrying out pogroms on the Jews in their country, and
England had already deported citizens of German origin to
concentration camps.
(Article 3) This joint statement stated `the Allied Governments
announce publicly to the Sublime Porte that they will hold personally
responsible for these crimes all members of the Ottoman Government,
as well as those of their agents who are implicated in such
massacres.’
As is stated above, these statements were the propaganda of the
Allies. As a matter of fact, the Ottoman Empire, in its reply to the
statement issued by the Allies, stated that a massacre of the
Armenians in the empire was out of the question. There was also a
very interesting detail in the statement of the Ottoman Empire: The
sources of these slanders were English and Russian consuls in Romania
and Bulgaria. In fact, political propaganda offices for the
Taþnaksutyun [Armenian armed gangs] were present in the capitals of
those countries, and many reports about the massacres appearing in
the `Blue Book’ also originated from these offices.
*Head of Black Sea Technical University, Faculty of Arts & Sciences;
Turkish Historical Association, Armenian Desk
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress