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Campus Should Hear Both Sides of the Story
By MUSTAFA ERGEN
The Daily Californian
May 6 2005
Friday, May 6, 2005
As representatives of the Turkish student population of the campus, we
deeply believe that the campus community deserves the right to hear the
story from both sides in order to have a fair judgment on the issue.
The Armenian community throughout the Ottoman territories lived as
loyal and, in certain aspects, privileged subjects of the sultan.
They could serve as ministers, ambassadors, commercial envoys and in
other such capacities.
However, beginning in the last quarter of the 19th century, external
provocation from separatist Armenian bands started fomenting
insurrection among the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire.
These bands organized several rebellions in various provinces during
which thousands of Muslims were killed.
At the very beginning of World War I, they joined the invading
Russian forces. They raided the Ottoman supply depots, savagely
attacked Turkish cities, towns and villages in Eastern Anatolia,
massacring inhabitants without mercy and doing whatever possible to
ease the Russian military advance. Their hope was that participation
in the Russian success would be rewarded with an independent Armenian
state carved out of Ottoman territories.
In response to these uprisings and massacres by Armenians, the Ottoman
government ordered the relocation of the Armenian population from
the war zone to southern regions of the Empire.
To describe the events that took place during the relocation of the
Armenian subjects of the Empire in 1915 as "genocide" is baseless.
The fundamental element of "genocide" is "an intention" to destroy a
group in part or as a whole. The Ottoman archives, under the control
of the Entente states at the end of World War I, are full of government
decrees proving the contrary.
Objective historical studies clearly show that allegations that there
was a premeditated plan to annihilate the empire's Armenian population
by the Ottoman Empire is unfounded.
Armenian insistence on viewing themselves as the only victims of
the sufferings in Anatolia during World War I fuels today's racial
animosity and is a feeble attempt to justify Armenian terrorism in
recent history which has claimed the lives of 75 people of different
nationalities, 34 of them Turkish diplomats and their family members.
We are against the exploitation of this tragic episode of history
for political purposes. In order to shed light on such a historical
issue, the Turkish government has opened the Ottoman archives
and made available four centuries' worth of documents regarding
the Ottoman Armenians. These include the records of deliberations
of the Council of Ministers for the years 1914-1922. Furthermore,
we encourage historians, academics and researchers to discuss this
historical issue in every platform.
The Ottoman Empire was a multi-ethnic and multi-faith empire spread
over a vast geography. During its slow disintegration everybody
suffered alike. 5 million people-mostly civilian Muslims-died during
this process.
The primary sources of our common history should be the Ottoman
archives, not the propaganda brochures of the countries that were at
war with the Ottoman Empire.
In Turkey, the historical archives are open to researchers. As the
classification process is completed, more documents are becoming open
to researchers. Access to the Ottoman archives through the Internet
is possible. But unfortunately, we don't come across references to
these documents in recent publications.
Turkey always maintained that parliaments and other political
institutions are not the appropriate forums to discuss or pass judgment
on the disputed periods of history. History is a science and past
events should be left to historians for judgment. In Turkey, every
era in history can be discussed openly without any interference. We
would like to see the same kind of approach in other countries as well.
For this purpose, on March 8 our Prime Minister made a joint
declaration with Deniz Baykal, the leader of the main opposition
party. The declaration proposes that Turkish and Armenian historians
examine the historical facts together. We call Armenia and other
relevant countries to open their archives as well.
Mustafa Ergen is president of the Berkeley Turkish Student
Association. Reply at [email protected].
By MUSTAFA ERGEN
The Daily Californian
May 6 2005
Friday, May 6, 2005
As representatives of the Turkish student population of the campus, we
deeply believe that the campus community deserves the right to hear the
story from both sides in order to have a fair judgment on the issue.
The Armenian community throughout the Ottoman territories lived as
loyal and, in certain aspects, privileged subjects of the sultan.
They could serve as ministers, ambassadors, commercial envoys and in
other such capacities.
However, beginning in the last quarter of the 19th century, external
provocation from separatist Armenian bands started fomenting
insurrection among the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire.
These bands organized several rebellions in various provinces during
which thousands of Muslims were killed.
At the very beginning of World War I, they joined the invading
Russian forces. They raided the Ottoman supply depots, savagely
attacked Turkish cities, towns and villages in Eastern Anatolia,
massacring inhabitants without mercy and doing whatever possible to
ease the Russian military advance. Their hope was that participation
in the Russian success would be rewarded with an independent Armenian
state carved out of Ottoman territories.
In response to these uprisings and massacres by Armenians, the Ottoman
government ordered the relocation of the Armenian population from
the war zone to southern regions of the Empire.
To describe the events that took place during the relocation of the
Armenian subjects of the Empire in 1915 as "genocide" is baseless.
The fundamental element of "genocide" is "an intention" to destroy a
group in part or as a whole. The Ottoman archives, under the control
of the Entente states at the end of World War I, are full of government
decrees proving the contrary.
Objective historical studies clearly show that allegations that there
was a premeditated plan to annihilate the empire's Armenian population
by the Ottoman Empire is unfounded.
Armenian insistence on viewing themselves as the only victims of
the sufferings in Anatolia during World War I fuels today's racial
animosity and is a feeble attempt to justify Armenian terrorism in
recent history which has claimed the lives of 75 people of different
nationalities, 34 of them Turkish diplomats and their family members.
We are against the exploitation of this tragic episode of history
for political purposes. In order to shed light on such a historical
issue, the Turkish government has opened the Ottoman archives
and made available four centuries' worth of documents regarding
the Ottoman Armenians. These include the records of deliberations
of the Council of Ministers for the years 1914-1922. Furthermore,
we encourage historians, academics and researchers to discuss this
historical issue in every platform.
The Ottoman Empire was a multi-ethnic and multi-faith empire spread
over a vast geography. During its slow disintegration everybody
suffered alike. 5 million people-mostly civilian Muslims-died during
this process.
The primary sources of our common history should be the Ottoman
archives, not the propaganda brochures of the countries that were at
war with the Ottoman Empire.
In Turkey, the historical archives are open to researchers. As the
classification process is completed, more documents are becoming open
to researchers. Access to the Ottoman archives through the Internet
is possible. But unfortunately, we don't come across references to
these documents in recent publications.
Turkey always maintained that parliaments and other political
institutions are not the appropriate forums to discuss or pass judgment
on the disputed periods of history. History is a science and past
events should be left to historians for judgment. In Turkey, every
era in history can be discussed openly without any interference. We
would like to see the same kind of approach in other countries as well.
For this purpose, on March 8 our Prime Minister made a joint
declaration with Deniz Baykal, the leader of the main opposition
party. The declaration proposes that Turkish and Armenian historians
examine the historical facts together. We call Armenia and other
relevant countries to open their archives as well.
Mustafa Ergen is president of the Berkeley Turkish Student
Association. Reply at [email protected].