Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

ANKARA: Turkish Professor: Armenians Did Commit Genocide

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • ANKARA: Turkish Professor: Armenians Did Commit Genocide

    Journal of Turkish Weekly
    Dec 24 2004

    Turkish Professor: Armenians Did Commit Genocide

    Turkish History Institution President: Armenians Committed Genocide

    The so-called Armenian Genocide allegation backed by France seems to
    be the issue which will trouble Turkey most during the negotiation
    process for full membership to the European Union (EU).

    Turkey has stayed on the defensive against these allegations until
    now, but Turkish History Foundation President Professor Yusuf
    Halacoglu proposes to take action instead of remaining silent.
    "Turkey should not avoid an open discussion on Armenian claims of
    genocide." said Halacoglu. He emphasized that many studies had been
    conducted in the archives of several countries, and mostly in that of
    the Ottoman Empire, but they have not turned up a single document or
    record mentioning genocide. Halacoglu asked Turkish Prime Minister
    Recep Tayyip Erdogan to found a commission which includes social
    scientists in order to conduct research regarding the so-called
    genocide claims. Halacoglu says that if Turkey undertakes this study,
    the opposition will retreat. Halacoglu argues that contrary to the
    claims of genocide, in fact Armenians killed 519,000 Ottomans and
    said that names, birthplaces, and the fathers' names of those
    murdered by Armenians were kept on record in one of the archives.

    Professor Halacoglu wants Turkey to take precautionary measures
    without any anxiety. As this issue will be repeatedly raised in the
    EU membership negotiations, Turkey should deal with it now. Halacoglu
    stresses: "Our state should tell the EU that we should handle this
    issue on a level on which our historians and social scientists can
    discuss it. We should also establish a commission to report on what
    we find."

    The professor signified that the claims that 1.2 million were killed
    are inconsistent as according to official documents and records the
    Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire was only 1.5 million.
    Halacoglu notes that the Western sources also show the same number
    and says, "The US archives give the numbers for Armenian migrants who
    fled to other countries after the Lousanne Treaty in 1925 as
    1,299,000 for those who migrated to countries other than Turkey,
    Greece and Armenia. According to Turkish population censuses, there
    were 281,000 Armenians living in Turkey. If we add these we already
    have 1,681,000 Armenians. If we include 60,000 in Greek camps and
    25,000 who emigrated to the US, we have a total of 1,760,000. Taking
    into account population increase this corresponds to the Ottoman
    Empire's figures. So how, then, can it be claimed that 1,200,000
    Armenians were killed."

    Professor Halacoglu calculates the loss of life by Armenian emigrants
    in 1915 as 80,000, who died mostly of diseases and attacks from
    bandit groups. Pointing out that diseases were spread all around the
    world at that time, Halacoglu says: "The Ottoman army's lost 400,000
    through diseases in the World War I while the US lost 500,000, and
    Italy 278,000 in 1918. Similarly many European countries lost
    hundreds of thousands during the World War I." He refers to records
    in Ottoman archives including warnings to travel in groups for
    security, and the spending of large amount of money for drugs and
    food despite the war conditions as clear indicators of Ottoman good
    will.

    'We will open 7 mass graves in 2005'

    Professor Halacoglu announced that the Turkish History Institution
    will open mass graves in spots they have identified based on archive
    documents to prove that the Armenians committed massacres in
    Anatolia. He noted that they have already begun excavation studies
    and reminded that they most recently opened a mass grave of 336 dead
    in the village Derecik near Kars in northeastern Anatolia. Saying
    that they have identified about 100 mass graves in 20 different
    places, Halacoglu says, "We have, for example, identified that
    Armenians committed genocides in 21 villages in the Igdir region
    alone. There are also regions of Cukurova, Erzurum, Ardahan, Kars,
    Bitlis, and Mus. We will conduct excavation studies in 6 or 7 regions
    because Armenians will make some important claims because of their
    so-called 90th anniversary. That's why we are trying to unearth what
    really happened."
Working...
X