Agence France Presse
March 5, 2010 Friday 1:00 PM GMT
Armenian ‘genocide’: disputed massacres of 1915-17
ANKARA, March 5 2010
Armenia and Turkey are at odds over whether the massacres and
deporations of Armenians between 1915 and 1917 by their Ottoman rulers
should be described as "genocide", as recognised by France, Canada and
the European Parliament.
On Friday Turkey reacted with fury to a US Congress panel’s resolution
calling the massacre "genocide" warning of damage to US ties and
efforts to reconcile with Armenia.
Armenia says the massacres and deportations left more than 1.5 million
of its people dead, while Turkey puts the number from 250,000 to
500,000.
Clashes with the Turks had already started at the end of the 19th
century as the Ottoman Empire was falling apart, claiming 200,000
lives between 1894 and 1909, according to Armenian sources.
Then, in October 1914, the Ottoman Empire entered World War I, at the
side of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
On April 24, 1915, thousands of Armenians suspected of having
nationalist sentiments hostile to the central Ottoman government were
rounded up. On May 26, a special law authorised deportations "for
reasons of internal security".
The Armenian population of Anatolia and Cilicia, called by the Ottoman
Empire "the enemy within", was forced into exile in the Mesopotamian
desert with a large number of Armenians killed on the way or in the
camps.
The Ottoman Empire was dismantled in 1920, two years after the
creation of an independent Armenian state in May 1918.
Turkey accepts today that massacres were carried out and that many
Armenians were killed while being deported, but describes the
bloodshed as civil strife.
It says the Armenians collaborated with the Russian enemy during World
War I, and that tens of thousands of Turks were killed at their hands.
The European Parliament recognised the killings as genocide on June 18, 1987.
France in 2001 became the first large European state to follow suit
through a law stating that "France publicly recognises the 1915
Armenian genocide", without stating that the Turks were responsible.
Today 3.2 million Armenians live in Armenia, while a diaspora of more
than four million Armenians has settled mainly in Russia, the Middle
East, Canada, the United States and France.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
