Turkish and foreign experts emphasized at a symposium organized by the Turkish Historical Society (TTK) Thursday that both the local Turkish population and Armenians in eastern Anatolia suffered in the period leading up to the 1915 events.
“We are working for the truth to be uncovered,” TTK President Birol Çetin said at the symposium titled “From the Ottoman-Russian War (1877-1878) to the National Struggle: Eastern Anatolia Occupation, Atrocities and Liberation” hosted by Kafkas University in eastern Kars province.
Çetin highlighted that the Turkish people similarly underwent tragic events, while the incidents are being intentionally kept on the international society’s agenda with an ill-minded political agenda.
Reiterating that Turks and Armenians have lived together for more than 800 years without problems, Çetin said: “However, at the weakest time of the Ottoman government when it lost wars and laid down arms, such claims were put forth. We have also found graves of our citizens. Therefore, the reality cannot be as claimed. Around 40,000 of our people lost their lives here, and nearly 500 villages were destroyed.”
Çetin likened the Armenian diaspora continuing to hold the issue on the agenda to a murderer going back to the crime scene.
The symposium focused on the era following the Treaty of Berlin, which was a turning point in the history of the Ottoman Empire and the revolts against the state, terrorist movements and missionary activities of the foreign powers, as well as the Armenian massacres against the Muslim population.
The symposium aimed to provide a better understanding of the history of eastern Anatolia to the public.
A faculty member of Kafkas University, Selçuk Ural, said that in 1890, two Armenian groups – the Hunchak (Hınçak) and Dashnak (Taşnak) committees – were established in Anatolian provinces and started massacres and terrorization that would continue until 1920.
“These incidents, which continued for a quarter century, led to significant changes in the policies of the Ottoman Empire while negatively affecting the political, economic and demographic structure of the eastern provinces,” Ural elaborated.
“Although the Armenian massacres against the Muslim locals were taken under control through extraordinary measures taken during World War I, they restarted in Kars and surrounding areas after the Mudros Armistice,” he added, indicating that thousands lost their lives while many were forced to migrate to different areas.
“Even if today the Armenian government tries to influence the world public opinion by constantly making references to 1915, they have caused Muslims living in Kars and its surroundings to experience many more levels of suffering,” Ural emphasized.
The aim of the Dashnak party was to realize the “Great Armenia” dream, said Irade Memmedova of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences of History Institute. “The main goals of the Armenians that pursued this aim were in the Ottoman and South Caucasian territories.”
She gave the example of the Shaki district, now in Azerbaijan, the population of which was 158,781 in 1905 and decreased to 106,364 in 1917 as a result of massacres and forced displacements.
Türkiye’s position on the events of 1915 is that the deaths of Armenians in eastern Anatolia took place when some sided with invading Russians and revolted against Ottoman forces. A subsequent relocation of Armenians resulted in numerous casualties.
Although the Ottoman Empire took precautions aiming for a safe transfer for the relocation of the Armenian population, local groups seeking revenge, banditry, famine and epidemics under war conditions have added to the tragedy of the incident.
Ankara objects to the presentation of these incidents as "genocide," describing them as a tragedy in which both sides suffered casualties.
Ankara is of the opinion that controversial episodes in history such as the events of 1915 should be studied without prejudice by respecting the scientific and legal principles to write a just account of the incidents. With this understanding, Türkiye proposed the establishment of a Joint History Commission and opened its archives.
Birsen Karaca, a lecturer at Ankara University's Department of Caucasian Languages and Culture as well as the Department of Armenian Language and Culture, pointed to the importance of novels, short stories, movies, cartoons, comics and memoirs in reproducing the migration memories of the Armenian population in manipulating the truth and producing bias.
“These stories are indispensable practices of the construction, preservation and transmission of the Armenian identity,” she said, explaining that the problem of the 1915 events has become more complex due to the strong Armenian diaspora that has spread in different cultures and geographies.