Los Angeles — This year, on Armenian Remembrance Day — when the mass killing of more than 1 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire is commemorated — Armenian-American activists had high hopes that a president who ran on a message of change would indeed change the pattern of previous administrations. That is, they hoped President Obama would use the term “genocide” to describe the human tragedy that occurred nearly a century ago.
But on April 24, their hopes were dashed. When Obama — who, during the campaign season and as a senator in the United States, pledged to describe the events of 1915 as a “genocide” — released his statement in acknowledgement of the tragedy, the term was nowhere to be found.
Equally ambivalent are many Jewish organizations. While some groups see this as a human rights issue related to the Holocaust, others have stayed silent or even actively opposed the “genocide” designation.
At issue is how to describe the killing of roughly 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks during World War I. Turkey staunchly denies that the massacres and deportations that began in 1915 constitute a “genocide,” while Armenians have long lobbied to gain international recognition of the events as exactly that. The debate has presented a challenge for successive American governments, given Turkey’s position as a key ally to the United States in the Middle East, and past American presidents have been reluctant to anger the predominantly Muslim nation.
Southern California is home to some 500,000 ethnic Armenians and constitutes the largest Armenian population outside of Armenia. On April 24, about 10,000 Armenian-Americans protested outside the Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles, following an annual commemorative march through the “Little Armenia” section of Hollywood.
During the presidential campaign, Obama made it clear that he would take up the thorny issue. His Web site stated, “As a senator, I strongly support passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106 and S.Res.106), and as President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.”
But Obama’s April 24 statement instead used the Armenian term “Meds Yeghem,” which translates roughly to “the great calamity.” A spokesman for Obama did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
Every year, in the U.S. Congress, a resolution to use the controversial term is introduced in the spring and then beaten back. A handful of powerful Jewish advocacy groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, has declined to support the resolutions in past years, and some Jewish groups have even worked against them.
Still, a host of other Jewish groups, including American Jewish World Service; the Progressive Jewish Alliance, a California-based activist group, and Jewish World Watch, which mobilizes synagogues around human rights issues, have supported efforts to recognize the mass killings of Armenians as a genocide.
While some in the Jewish community argue that the memory of the Holocaust compels Jews to recognize other genocides, others argue that maintaining the strategic alliance between Israel and Turkey, as well as the American-Turkish relationship, trumps other concerns.
Turkey was the first Muslim country to recognize Israel’s existence, and it has long been a key Muslim ally in an otherwise hostile region. But in the wake of Turkey’s criticism of Israel’s recent military operation in Gaza, relations between the two countries have soured. Nonetheless, some American Jewish groups that have not supported the genocide resolutions in the past are sticking to their positions. AJC spokesman Kenneth Bandler said that his group’s position has not changed. “Our position was, and remains, that the best way to address this issue is between Turkey and Armenia,” he said.
In 2007, the ADL became embroiled in a controversy that played out in the local Boston media after its New England regional director was fired for breaking ranks with the national office and saying that the ADL should recognize the events of 1915 as a genocide. The regional director, Andrew Tarsy, was ultimately rehired, and then he resigned of his own volition. That same year, the ADL released a statement clarifying its position and stating that it had, in fact, referred to the massacres of Armenians as genocide.
Still, the ADL does not support a congressional resolution to that effect. In an e-mail, an ADL spokesman wrote, “… our position is that a Congressional resolution on such matters is a counterproductive diversion and will not foster reconciliation between Turks and Armenians, who should work out the issue between themselves.”
At the same time that Israeli-Turkish relations have been strained, relations between Turkey and Armenia actually have seen improvement over the past year. The two countries have been negotiating to open the Turkish-Armenian border, and just days before the April 24 commemoration they announced a “road map” to restoring relations, which was negotiated with the help of U.S. officials.
Charles King, a professor of international affairs and government at Georgetown University, said that Obama’s backtracking on the use of the term “genocide” could be seen as more of an adjustment to new political realities on the ground. As Turkey and Armenia make real strides toward normalizing relations, King said, Obama would be hard-pressed to isolate the Turks by using the controversial term at such a delicate moment.
“The Obama administration doesn’t want to push farther on this at this point, for fear of destroying the very important progress that’s been made on Armenian-Turkish relations,” King said. “Inevitably, once a politician gets into office, they realize that issues are far more complicated than they were on the campaign trail, but secondly, things really have changed.”
That’s no consolation for some Armenian-American activists. Allen Yekikan, a 24-year-old spokesman for the Armenian Youth Federation, said that he had campaigned for Obama, even canvassing for him in the Armenian-American community. “When he released his statement,” Yekikan said, “my heart broke.”
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It is a shame that some people are still on the fence on the Armenian Genocide issue. Perhaps this excerpt from Aaron Aaronsohn's report titled PRO ARMENIA might concentrate some minds. Aaronsohn was a scientist and spy master from Zikron Yaakov and Athlit, who founded the NILI spy group and paved the way for General Allenby to throw out Ottoman forces out of the Middle East in 1918. He wrote: "Morally and economically the Armenian race in Turkey is totally ruined – the few private fortunes which by clean or unclean ways have been spared destruction make no difference. From one of the most thrifty and most industrious elements of the Turkish Empire, if not the most thrifty and most industrious - mind it is a Jew who gives this certificate - the Armenian race is now a race of starving down trodden beggars, the purity of its family life destroyed, its manhood killed, its children, boys and girls enslaved in the Turkish private homes for vice and dabauchery, that is what the Armenian race has become in Turkey." I call this Genocide. The rest is just noise to me. K. Fermanian
The Armenian Genocide is a fact. The man who invented the word “genocide”, Rafael Lemkin, a polish Jew, coined it specifically in response to the Armenian and Jewish Holocaust. It saddens me that our own president of "change" and some Jewish organizations, despite the massive evidence even in our own US Archives depicting the “Armenian Race Extermination”, can't call it by what it is to appease the perpetrator and benefactor of the Armenian Genocide, the Turks themselves. Since when is a crime of this magnitude supposed to be solved between the perpetrator and victim? Genocide is the most serious of crimes and a crime against all humanity. Should the Holocaust have been resolved between the Nazi's and the Jews alone? How absurd.
To the AJC & ADL, I believe sending MY US TAX DOLLARS IN THE BILLIONS to Israel is also a counterproductive diversion. You fool no one.
To the author, hopes haven't been dashed. This is just the beginning. Either through this administration or the next, this crime will not be ignored.
Stop nit-picking on a subject so serious, and have some respect.
Here are Obama's exact words:
"Ninety-four years ago, one of the great atrocities of the 20th century began. Each year, we pause to remember the 1.5 million Armenians who were subsequently massacred or marched to their death in the final days of the Ottoman Empire. The Meds Yeghern must live on in our memories, just as it lives on in the hearts of the Armenian people." (April 24, 2009)
Looks like Obama's Hope is really hopes dashed and his Change We Can Believe In is just more of the same. He bashes Bush but can whack Armenians just like the Texas Bushwhacker himself. You'd think after 94 years Armenians would learn a lesson, but they just keep coming back for more "thumpin" as W put it in '06. Im just devastated that Armenians are so naive and totally dependant on words coming out of someone's mouth, even if it is the President's. American presidents are like Roman Caesars-cunning and totally ruthless. Few people know what true ruthlessness is but if you want a clue look in the eyes of politicians. The Oval Office and White House Lawn, where W was rewriting history and brushing aside historical facts by not recognizing the Armenian genocide yet creating historical farces by recognizing the "nation" of Kosovo, are today's modern day political Coliseum, where instead of gladiators killing each other to satisfy the debased tastes of Roman Caesars, the fates of nations are toyed with and truth and morality are boundlessly perverted. And just like life and death hung on Caesar's thumb, so do the sheepish Armenians place both their past and future on the President's lips. I'll tell you what Obama, keep your Change and Hope because they are empty words. And to think he rode that wave all the way to the White House lol what a farce. Armenians can't change and therefore have no hope.
It is astonishing to read that President Obama did not use the word "genocide" to describe the slaughter of nearly 2 million Armenians during 1915-23, knowing that the word "genocide" was coined by Jurist Raphael Lemkin to specifically describe the barbarity that befell the Armenians at the hands of the Turks.
Dr. Lemkin, a lawyer of Polish-Jewish descent and Holocaust survivor, used the word "genocide" in 1943 to describe the genocide of the Armenians and then the Holocaust. Dr. Lemkin played an important role in compelling the United Nations to adopt the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in 1948.
In a 1949 CBS news interview, Dr. Lemkin talked about the UN Convention and the Armenian genocide. Showing footage of Turkish soldiers brutally chasing and killing Armenians, Dr. Lemkin explained that the Turks acted with the intent to annihilate nearly 2 million Armenians who were driven from their homes to perish in the desert or die before they got there.
Before the word "genocide" existed, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and world leaders described the events as the "Armenian holocaust." President Obama, who does not speak Armenian, used the Armenian phrase "Medz Yeghern" (The great catastrophe) thus shielding Turkey of any accountability for its crimes of genocide under the UN convention and international laws.
Imagine if back in the days of West Germany the US president refrained from using the word "Holocaust" not wanting to offend or sour relations with a strategic NATO ally, thus only describing the destruction of the European Jewry during World War II as "Ha Shoah".
In 1985, the United Nations Sub-commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities recognized the Armenian Genocide in an official report.
In 2003, the International Center for Transitional Justice found that the events of 1915 include "all of the elements of the crime of genocide as defined in the 1948 U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide."
And, in 2005 the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) unanimously affirmed the Armenian genocide.
The Armenian genocide has been officially recognized by the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, the Parliament of Europe, and many European countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Slovakia, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Lithuania, and the Vatican.
The Armenian genocide has also been acknowledged by Armenia, Russia, Lebanon, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Australia and 43 U.S. states, and by scores of international organizations worldwide.
P.S. To deny the Armenian genocide "is like Holocaust denial," said Dr. Gregory Stanton, vice president of the IAGS and president of Genocide Watch.
Rabbi Hillel said it best: "If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?"
I ‘Armenian genocide thesis’ depend on forgeries, falsified documents and lies. Here are some of them:
1)The number of Armenians who were relocated:
The number of the Armenians who were relocated was reported as 600-700 thousand by Boğos Nubar Pasha who attended to the talks of Sevres Treaty as a chief of Armenians; however the number of relocated Armenians is given as 1.5 million by some Armenian sources and 2 and even 2.5 million by some others. However, the total number of Ottoman Armenians including those who live in the West Anatolia (therefore who were not relocated) was reported as 1.5 million in Encyclopedia Britannica’s 1910 edition which was edited by an English editor. It is another striking point that the total number of Ottoman Armenians was increased to 2.5 million in 1953 edition of the same encyclopedia which was edited by an Armenian editor.
2) Aram Andonian’s book (The telegrams which were claimed to have been sent by Talat Pasha to order the massacre of the Armenians which were pressed in the book of Aram Andonian in 1920, in three languages): It was proven by both the Turkish and foreign historians that these telegrams were fake too. After these telegrams were published in Daily Telegraph in England, in 1922, the English Foreign Ministry made a scrutiny and denounced that they were prepared by an Armenian association.
3)Diary of American Ambassador Morgenthau published in 1918. Professor Heath Lowry, an American historian from Princeton University displayed that the events depicted in the book depended on lies or half true events, by comparing the information Ambassador Morgenthau sent to American Foreign Ministry, with those written in the diary, in his book entitled ‘The Story Behind Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story’, in 1990.
What’s more, after the Ottoman State was defeated in the 1st World War in 1918, the French and English invaders arrested 144 high level Ottoman veteran or civil officials including the ex-prime ministers, ex-deputies, governors and many newspapermen, and banished them to Malta Island, claiming that they were responsibles for the death of Armenians. The English seized all the Ottoman Archives and also all other archives in other cities, like those in Urfa Governer House. No evidence could be found neither in the Ottoman and English Archives. The Americans, whom the English applied, failed to find any proof in American Archives and reports of American Orthodox church or missioners either. Nor could Damat Ferit Pasha, then the Ottoman Prime Minister who was in absolute collaboration with the English could find any evidence.
So,they had to make all these 144 Ottomans free in 1921, since they could not find any proof to be able to verdict them.
Can you imagine a genocide planned by a government but no kind of proof can be found, even when the members of this government have been taken prisoners and when all her archieves are under control of the invaders and under the directory of an Armenian official?
If The Blue Book, the telegrams of Aram Andonian and the diary of Ambassador Morgenthau (which had already been published at that time) were reliable proofs, why did the English and French invaders and the Americans not accept them to give verdicts of those 144 Ottoman officials?
Additionally, during the trial in Berlin of the Armenian assassin Soghomon Tehlirian, who had murdered Talat Pasha in Berlin on March 15th, 1921, none of the Andonian documents was allowed to be entered into the court proceedings as evidence (Dashnakists’ book Justicier du Genocide, 1981, p.213).
4)The cover photograph of the book of Tessa Hoffmann: German Greek scholar Tessa Hoffmann printed the painting of Russian artist Vasili Vereshchagin entitled ‘The Apotheosis of the Franco-Prussia War of 1871, depicting a mass of skulls which was probably painted after 1878, as if it were the photograph of 1915 Armenian genocide, in the cover of his book and had to admit his forgery during the trial of Doğu Perinçek held in Switzerland in March 2007, in which he was listened as a wittness.
5) Atatürk’s photograph: The large poster with ‘FACE OF DENIAL-DOES NOT LIE’ related to a conference given by Dr Vahram Shemmasian, Ardashes Kassakhian and Dr Levon Marashlian, at UCLA on April 14, 2005, organized by Armenian Genocide Commemoration Committee of Alpha Epsilon Omega, (http://www.genocideevents.com/cities/losangeles.html. The photo depicts the founder of the Turkish Republic, Ataturk, sitting on a chair outside a house with the corpse of a young girl with her innards exposed to the elements. Soon, the original of this photo was found by the Turks: It was a photograph of Ataturk for his wife Latife Hanım as a souvenir, posing with some ‘cute dog puppies’ at his feet. Two photoswere printed in the July 1, 2005 issue of Hurriyet (http://webarsiv.hurriyet.com.tr/2005/07/01/665930.asp), as ‘a forgery scandal’.
It is another outstanding point that no dissenting comments were ever heard. What UCLA’s ethical committee did was to erase the handwritten note and doctor a photo of Armin Wengler in place of the puppies.
6) A quote attributed to Adolf Hitler in which he purportedly responded to a query about his planned annihilation of European Jewry, by quipping: ‘Who, after all, speaks today of the extermination of the Armenians?’, on August 22, 1939, a few days prior to his invasion of Poland (Obersalzberg speeches).
Contrary to Richard Hovannisian and other Armenians, the Nuremberg transcripts through their preservation of U.S.-29 (798-PS), U.S.-30 (1014-PS), and the notes of Admiral Boehm (which are corroborated by the relevant passages from the diary of General Halder), in no way authenticate the infamous Hitler quote. On the contrary, by establishing the actual texts of Hitler’s Obersalzberg speeches they demonstrate that the statement is conspicuously absent from Hitler’s remarks.
The assertion that Hitler made a reference to the Armenians in any context whatsoever is without foundation. (Heath W Lowry, The U.S. Congress and Adolf Hitler on the Armenians, Political Communication and Persuasion. Vol 3, No 2, 1985 Crane, Russak & Company Inc. http://www.tetedeturc.com/home/spip.php?article565
According to the Armenians the speech had been introduced as evidence to the Nuremberg Tribunal (L3 document, USA-28 document (www/cwporter/com/gl3.htm.) which was defined as ‘forgery’ (David Irving, ‘Nuremberg: The Last Battle’, 1996, p.100).
A certificate dated, 25 June 1948 signed by Paul A Joosten, General Secretary of the International Military Tribunal states that L3, USA-28 Photostat document submitted as evidence has been withdrawn, in accordance with Rule 10 of the Tribunal but held in the National Archives.
Mr Carlos Porter, who found these documents made the following important warning: ‘’Note: This translation attempts to retain the style and punctuation of the original, which is not correct in German: full space before colons and commas, no full space before following word. The document contains not one single sharp S (§ ) a standard letter in the German alphabet. C.Porter.
7) The most dramatic lie is about the outcome of the Armenians who were relocated. Because the majority of these Armenians returned to their homes. Because, on December 18, 1918, a law which let the Armenians return to their homes and claim their properties was issued by the Ottoman State. Here are non-Ottoman evidences:
*In a report prepared by the Armenian Patriarchate in 1921, the Armenians who lived on the Ottoman territory in Anatolia, Middle East and those who returned to their previous locations were shown as 644 900. It was added that the Armenians who became Muslim, who were hidden and who did not encourage to return their homes were not included but they were assumed to be 20 000 (US ARCHIVES NARA, Mikrofilm No.T1192, Roll8; Department of State Papers….,860).
*In an article published in Der Neue Orient Magazine, it was reported that the number of Armenians in Ottoman Armenia was thought to be 470 000 (including those who lived in İzmir and İstanbul but excluding the Armenians who escaped to Caucasia). Additionally more than 30 000 Armenians lived in Adana and 40 000 in Aleppo (Der Neue Orient May 1919, p.178)
*The Armenian population in Cilicia (Çukurova) was reported as 218 000 in a document dated July 1920 (US ARCHIVES NARA, Mikrofilm No: T 1192R 2;860J.01/395. Appendix. From Acting High Commissioner Dulles to the Foreign Minister).
* In a memorandum presented by Bogos Nubar Pasha, chief of the Armenian delegation in Paris Conference which started in December 1918, it was announced that 150 000 Armenians were given financial support and taken to Cilicia from Syria, by the French government (US ARCHIVES NARA T1192. Roll 4.860J.01/431).
*In a report presented to American Congress by Near East Relief (NER) dated December 31, 1921, it was reported that nearly 300 000 Armenians returned to Cilicia and they were protected by France and England. …However the poor Armenians had to escape after the French abandoned the region (US ARCHIVES NARA T1192. Roll 4.860J.01/431 and US ARCHIVES NARA M353 Roll 55. Report of the NER to the Congress for the year ending).
* In a report presented by Aneurin Williams, chief of English-Armenian Committee, to Lord Curzon it was reported that many immigrants who were forced to migrate in 1915 returned to Cilicia from Syria, Palastine and Egypt after the Mondros Armistice (UK ARCHIVES, FO 608/278). * In a report presented by the English Black Sea Forces Intelligence Department to the War Cabinet, it was reported that the Armenian population in Anatolia including İstanbul and Edirne was 773 430 in 1914 and it was 658 900 in 1919, excluding that of Erzurum (UK ARCHIVES, WO 158/933, No:5796,1,s.3).
And here are evidences about the Armenians who returned to their houses: These Armenians cooperated with the French and English armies and fought in these armies individually wearing their uniforms. Here are archive evidences:
*Boghos Nubar Pasha: ‘In 1919 and 1920, when the Kemalists attacked to the French soldiers, the Armenians made war for France in Maraş, Haçin, Pozantı and Sis. The French succeeded to take back Antep, by the help of the Armenians. Therefore, the Armenians are an ally of France’ (USARCHIVES NARA T1192. Roll 4.860J.01/431). *A decision made by The American Committee for the Independence of Armenia which was presented to the Lausanne Conference on January 16, 1923: ‘As the minister Bellet declared, the Armenian legionelles (lejyonerler) joined to France after being promised that autonomy would be introduced to Cilicia and therefore they occupied Cilicia in 1918 (carrying the flag of France) . (US ARCHIVES NARA T1192. Roll 4. 860J.01/562).
*Boghos Nubar Pasha: ‘Since 1918, 40 000 Armenians lost their lives’ while fighting together with the French (US ARCHIVES NARA, 8605.01/438).
*A list of the Armenians who fought in the French Army and died had been displayed under the title of ‘The Armenians who died for France’. In the list, the cities where these soldiers were born were also stated and nearly all of them were Ottoman Armenians (http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Palais/2230/ww2.html)
*’The Armenians informed the Allies that they would establish an army of 150 000 soldiers and attempt to establish an independent Armenia in the east (From Berlin November 6, 1917; vorzulegen z.G.K.:W.L.R.Nadolny. German Archives of the Foreign Ministry, Bd.48,R.14097, No.7169).
*’ Armenians massacred many Turks, in the district of Erzincan and surroundings where the Russian retreated’ (The telegram sent by Kühlmann, German ambassador of İstanbul to German Foreign Ministry. German Archives of the Foreign Ministry, Bd. 47, R.14096, No.7165, No.591).
*The report of Pallavici, İstanbul ambassador of Austria-Hungary, sent to Ottokor Grafen Czernin on February 9, 1918: ‘’The Armenian guerrillas (bands) who fought nearby the Russian armies in Caucausia, misbehaved the Turkish people and Turks in Platana (district between Erzincan and Trabzon) were mass killed’ (German Archives of the Foreign Ministry, No: 13/P.B, Konstantinopel. Wien).
*A news from Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, dated February 14, 1918: ‘The Armenian bands (guerrillas) have been misbehaving Ottoman people barbarously and brutally in districts where the Russian retreated in Caucasia (German Archives of the Foreign Ministry, Der Weltkrieg R. 20145, Bd.279; Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, 14-02-1918).
*A news from Germania Gazette, dated February 23, 1920: ‘English Commission Responsible For Armenia requested help of other states (allies) to arm the Armenians, especially the Cilicians and to protect them.
*English Marshal Allenby stated that when they beat the Turks in Şam, there were 8000 Armenian soldiers who were fighting together with them (The New Near East Vol 6, No:7: Genel No: 31, January 1920, p.28) Now I want to ask the Armenian diaspora: ‘If all the scholars of the world, including the international scholars of genocide, support your thesis of genocide, then WHY HAVE YOU SPENT THIS EFFORT TO FALSIFY ALL THESE DOCUMENTS? WHY HAVE YOU NEEDED LIES? WHY ARE YOU AFRAID OF DOCUMENTS SO MUCH? What is the reason of your strict resistance to present your thesisin historical commissions made up of historians from both sides and other countries? What kind of a truth are you seeking? The one which exists or the one you want to imagine?
And I want to ask the world opinion:
Your sensitivity to condemn genocides, mass murders is appreciable. But while doing this, are you ready to be unbiased? Will you be able to discard all the prejudices the history has instilled you up till now? Will you be able to prefer scholar research rather than your prejudices?
Will you be able to acknowledge the great massacres inflicted on the Turks and Muslims by the Armenians before and after 1915?
Will you be able to condemn the Armenians who slaughtered the Turks and Muslims and buried them into large holes and even threw alive children into these holes in the Eastern Anatolia?
(see diary of Russian Lieutenant Colonel Twerdo-Khlebof 'I wittnessed and I Lived Through Erzurum, 1917-1918'; www.tsk.mil.tr/ermeni_sorunu/arsiv_belgeleriyle...). (Ahmet Refik Altınay. İki Komite ve İki Kıtal. İstanbul, 1919;p.71-72; 321-23). seoultimes@gmail.com Turkey and The Secular Card, Myth or Reality?
So, I am afraid it is you, the world opinion who is undergoing a big examination.
Another distortion of the truth is that the Armenians who lived in the Eastern Anatolia of Ottoman Empire and Turkey where is called ‘Western Armenia’ by the Armenians constituted the majority of the population, therefore these lands were theirs!
Here are evidences that refute this conventional Armenian claim:
1)The Armenian versus Muslim population in six Eastern provinces including Erzurum, Sivas, Diyarbakır, Harput, Van, Bitlis according to Ottoman statistics made in 1890: 636,306 Armenians versus 3,040,891 Muslims (Sonyel S. The Great War and Thr Tragedy of Anatolia, TTK, 2000, Ankara, p.24,25)
2)The Armenian versus Muslim population in six Eastern provinces including Erzurum, Sivas, Diyarbakır, Harput, Van, Bitlis according to Vital Guinet in 1892, which were regarded as ‘strictly impartial’ by PID Geographic Section of the British Foreign Office: 665,815 Armenians versus 2,687,748 Muslims!
3)In his book Russian general Prof Dr Nikolay Georgiyevich Korsun declared that the Armenians were concentrated in the (Eastern) provinces like Van, Bitlis, Erzurum, Harput, Diyarbakir, Sivas, Trabzon, Adana. In all these areas, population of Muslims (Kurds and Turks) was five times more than Armenian population. The Armenian population in the Eastern Ottoman territory which was annexed by Russia before 1914-1918 War constituted the two thirds of the Armenian population. However, even in this area the Armenian population was 25% of the total population and Muslim population was twice the Armenian population even in this area (Russian Armenia) (N.G. Korsun, Turtsiya/Kurs Lektsii Po Voyennoi Geografii, Chitannıh V Voyennoy Akademi RKKA, p.37, Vısşii Voyennıy Redaktsionnıy Sovyet, Moskova, 1923)
4)Artaşes Balasiyeviç Karinyan (Gabrielyan), a prominent statesman and scholar in Soviet Armenia declared in his assay that ‘…after Russian victories, the volunteer Armenian troops felt jubilant and started to display their secret purpose. To succeed this, they tried the method of eradicating the non Armenian population. HOWEVER, THE MOST SEVERE OBSTACLE BEFORE THIS IDEAL WAS THAT THE ARMENIANS WERE MINORITY IN THE SIX PROVINCES and the national population of the area was heterogenous and THE MUSLIMS CONSTITUTED THE MAJORITY UNEQUIVOCALLY. (A.B.Karinyan, ‘K Harakteristike Armyanskih Nationalistiçeskih Teçeniy’ Bolshevik Zakavkazya, No:9-10, p.65 vd, 1928)
5) In the report presented to Lenin in 1919 by Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan who was another prominent leader of Soviet Armenia and Russia, it was stated that ‘IF THE ARMENIANS CONSTITUTED THE MAJORITY OF THE POPULATION, AT LEAST ONLY IN SOME AREAS, ……THEIR WAR FOR THEIR NATIONAL FREEDOM …….COULD HAVE BEEN PERHAPS JUSTIFIED….
The chauvinist Armenians had been dragged by the immature dream of establishment of ‘Great Armenia’ on the area extending from Black Sea to Mediterrenean Sea, consisting of seven provinces, taking the support of imperialist Entante Powers and fanatic General Denikin. THE FACT THAT MUSLIMS WERE THE MAJORİTY DID NOT MAKE THEM ASHAMED…. (Russian Social Political History State Archive (RGASPI) fond 5, list 1, file 1202, sheet 8, 9 with front and back)
1 Whoever tells about topics which obviously abolish their imaginary past, are labelled as ‘deniers’, as ‘agents of Turkish government’, or ‘people hired by the Turkish government’ or ‘disingenous scholars/authorities’ Turkish nationalists’, ‘Turkish racists’. And, here are the names of Armenians who comply with the these terms: “Garo Pasdermichan (Pastirmaciyan), the Ottoman deputy of Erzurum and commander of all the Armenian officials and soldiers of the Ottoman Third Army which joined the Russian Army in 1914, was the main denier and Turkish racist. Because, he wrote in his book ‘Why Armenia Should Be Free’ (Boston, Dec.1918, Hairenik Publishing Company p. 16-17) that annual Congress of Armenian Party Dashnagzoutiun was held in Erzurum in August 1914, before the war broke, and Turkish emissaries offered Dashnaks an autonomous Armenia (made up of Russian Armenia and the three Turkish vilayets of Erzurum, Van and Bitlis) under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire’, if they joined the Turkish side and stopped supporting the Russians. He also stated that the executive committee of the Dashnagzoutiun rejected the proposal! The Armenian members of this parley were the well-known publicist E.Aknouni, the representative from Van, A.Vramian, and the director of the Armenian schools in the district of Erzurum, Mr Rostom.
Another main denier was Boghos Noubar Pasha, the Armenian National Delegation President in The Paris Peace Conference 1919 who also stated that the Turks offered them autonomy in August 1914, much before the deportation, but they rejected this proposal and placed themselves without hesitation on the side of the Entente Powers from whom they expected liberation [Papers relating to the foreign relations of the United States The Paris Peace Conference 1919 (United States Government Printing Office, 1948, Vol IV, p 139-157)].
Armenian Boghos Noubar Pasha, who told that ‘150 000 Armenian volunteers in Russian Army were the only forces against Turks’ (Times of London , 1919 Jan 30 Link: http://armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2007/10/2013-150-000-armenian-volunteers-in.html) was obviously a denier and agent of Turkish government.
Hovannes Katchaznouni, the first prime-minister of the Armenian state founded in 1918 and the prime authority of the Dashnagzoutiun Party who wrote a book ‘Dashnagzoutiun Has Nothing to do Anymore’ was also another chief denier. Because, in his book which is banned in Armenia at present, he stated that *it was a mistake to establish the volunteer units. *They were unconditionally allied with Russia, *They massacred the Moslem population, *The Armenian terrorist acts were directed, at winning the Western public opinion. *British occupation aroused hopes of the Dashnaks, *They were provoked by imperial Sea to Sea land demand, *They had not taken into consideration Turkey’s power, * They should have used a peaceful language towards the Turks but they (Armenian Dashnaks) rejected the Turks who suggested to negotiate with them and they went on making war (KS Papazian the writer of ‘Patriotism Perverted’ published in 1934, in Boston, also confirms this Turkish suggestion. Note that ‘Patrionism Perverted’ is banned in Armenia). *The decision of the deportation of Armenians was a rightful measure taken by Turks. *Turkey had acted with an instinct of self-defence. *Their government was a Dashnak dictatorship. *The fault was within the Dashnak Party. They should commit suicide. They had nothing to do. Vratsyan, the last prime minister of Dashnaks who wrote in an article published in December 3 1920 issue of Araç, that they transformed Armenia to an arenna of endless wars with its neighbours for the Entente Powers (RGASPİ fond 80, list 4, file 83, sheet 136) was another chief denier and agent of Turkish government.
2 Armenian Messrs. Ahonian and Hadissian who were the spokesmen of the Armenian delegation of the New Armenian Republic and visited Sultan Mehmet VI, Vahdeddin in Istanbul on September 6, 1918 were also Turkish nationalists. See the telegram sent by Mr Ahorian to the Armenian Prime Minister Kachaznuni:
‘On September 6th, when we were in Selamlik we had an audience. We presented our congratulations on his accession to the throne. We submitted our best wishes for the development of the Empire and its well-being. We stated that the Armenian nation would never forget that it was the Ottoman Government which first conceived the idea of founding an independent Armenia, and recognized it, that the Armenian Government would do everything possible to protect friendly relations between the two countries and to strengthen them. His Majesty thanked us. He stated that he was very happy at seeing the envoys of independenbt and free Armenia, that he wished not only her development , but that she be strong in order to retain her independence. His Majesty is entirely convinced that friendly relations will always exist between the two neighboring countries, Turkey and Armenia, in order that both of them may develop. He concluded his remarks by stating that he was very hapy to see that Armenia had the strength to found an independent state which was able to send envoys to Istanbul, and repeated his best wishes for our country’. (Erich Feigl, A Myth of Terror, Edition Zeitgeschichte Freilassing, Salzburg, Austria p.97)
The Armenian Soviet historian A.A.Lalayan who stated that the Dashnaks displayed extreme courage to massacre Turkish women, children and ill and old people (Contrarevolyutsionnıy ‘Daşnaktsutyun’ İ İmperialisti-çeskaya Voyna 1914-1918 gg.’, Revolyutsionnıy Vostok, No.2-3, p.92, 1936) and who also quoted the following report of a Dashnag officer, Aslem Varaam written in 1920, in Beyazit-Varan was an Armenian denier and he was also hired by the Turkish government . The report of Aslem Varaam was: "I exterminated the Turkish population in Bashar-Gechar without making any exceptions. One some times feels the bullets shouldn't be wasted. So, the most effective way against these dogs is to collect the people who have survived the clashes and dump them in deep holes and crush them under heavy rocks pressed from above, not to let them inhabit this world any longer. So I did accordingly. I collected all the women, men and children and extinguished their lives in the deep holes I dumped them into, crushing them with rocks." A.Lalayan, Revolutsionniy Vostok (Revolutionary East) No: 2-3, p.92 vd, Moscow, 1936; Istoricheskie Zapisky No 2, p.101, 1928 Armenian T. Haçikoğlyan who told that the Dashnaks eradicated thousands of Turks with their bloody hands (T. Haçikoglyan, 10 Let Armyanskoy Sttrelkovoy Divizii,p4-6. İzdatelstvo Polit. Uprav. KKA, Tiflis, 1930) was also a denier and agent of Turkish government. KS Papazian the writer of ‘Patriotism Perverted’ published in 1934, in Boston was also a denier. Because:
Papazian critized A. Khatisian and the then prime minister S.Vratzian for not publishing the text of Treaty of Gümrü which they signed on December 2, 1920 to put an end to the war between Turkey and the Armenian Republic on December 2, 1920, which coincided with the entrance of Bolsheviks in Armenia.
Papazian also stated that the Armenian prime minister Simon Vratzian applied to the Turkish government on March 18, 1921 and asked military help of the Turks against the Bolsheviks!
Even Gourgen Mıgırdıç Yanıkyan (age 78), the Armenian murderer of Los Angeles prime consul of Turkey Mehmet Baydar (age 49) and the co consul Bahadır Demir (age 30) in Santa Barbara, in 1973, was a real denier, Turkish nationalist and agent of Turkish government. Because he admitted in his trial on June 13, 1973, via his attorney Lindsay that he (Yanıkyan) had been a member of an army made up of 10 000 volunteers to fight against the Turks in Armenia, in the beginning of March 1915 and in chief of this army had been an Armenian general called Andranik. This had been prepared as four parties and had started to battle with the Turks in Iğdır, under the leadership of Russian general Dron and had proceeded to Van, they had occupied Van and meanwhile had destroyed and had fired Turkish villages (Dışişleri Bakanlığı
3 (Dışişleri Bakanlığı