Fact: Armenians were intentionally deported
By Jos Weitenberg
de Volkskrant (Dutch newspaper)
Forum
June 14, 2005
The article by Justin McCarthy on the Armenian genocide is in need
of a reaction. McCarthy belongs to the few non-Turkish scholars who
deny the existence of the Armenian genocide. His arguments have been
the same for years. He shows no inclination to seriously consider
the refutal of his fellow colleagues.
Two points stand out in his article. Firstly, the proposition that
Armenians and Turks were equal opponents in a situation of war. This
is a false depiction of the case.
The Armenians were victims of intentional deportation. The able-bodied
men were summoned under weapons and killed. The deportations were aimed
at unarmed women and children. The deportations were organized and
systematically aimed at specific communities (Armenians and Syrians)
and ended in the deserts of present Syria. That food was distributed
by the Ottoman army, as the article claims, is refuted by countless
eyewitness reports.
It is true that Armenians incidentally rebelled, that there were
armed nationalistic revolutionaries and that crimes against the
Turkish population were committed. To call this rebellion “war”
is chutzpah. The discussion should at least be kept accurate.
Secondly, it is evident that McCarthy regrets the silence of the
Turkish government on the events and declares this “out of fear
that the Turkish population will seek revenge’. But on who? Since
1915 scarcely any Armenians live in Turkey, evidence in itself of a
successful genocide. The few who dared to return after the war were
indeed still (vengefully?) killed.
That the present Turkish population is unfamiliar with the ethnic
cleansings – of Armenian, Syrians, Greeks and Kurds – that went hand
in hand with the foundation of modern Turkey in the second and third
decades of the twentieth century, is certainly regrettable. Turkey’s
wish to access the EU finally offers an opportunity to come to terms
with these kind of facts.
McCarthy’s article distorts and denies the facts and is not a useful
addition to reconciliation.
Jos Weitenberg
The author is professor of Armenian Studies at Leiden University.