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in category Ottomans

Did the Ottoman empire commit a genocide against the Armenians?

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In a Nutshell: In a 1914 census there were around 1.2 million Armenians most of whom survived with at most 300,000 killed during the war.Around 518,000 Turks were killed by Armenian rebels during WW1 following a history of treachery against the Ottomans particularly in collusion with Russia. In short, the events of 1915 were not a genocide, but a war with reciprocal retaliations.

Alleged Genocide

Armenian nationalists claim Turkey killed 1,500,000 Armenians between 1915-1923.This is untrue.Turkey undertook a census in 1914, showing 1.2 million Armenians living in Ottoman territories in 1914.

The Armenian dead were less than from 300,000 whilst the Ottomans lost 3 million people in World War, 1.25 million civilians, 518,000 Turks killed by Armenian rebels including the Hynchak and Tashnak gangs.

When World War 1 started, Eastern Anatolian Armenians allied with Russia betraying the Ottomans through killing hundreds of thousands of Turkish people. The report of Aslem Varaam, a Dashnag Armenuan officer vividly illustrates this:

"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. A. Lalayan, "Revolutionary East" No: 2-3, p.92, Moscow, 1936)

Whilst K. S. Papazian observed:

"Terrorism has, from the beginning, been adopted by the Dashnak Committee (Armenian Revolutionary Federation) as a policy or a method for achieving its ends." [Patriotism Perverted, Boston Baker Press, 1934]

The Ottomans in response enforced a migration in 1915 that resulted in 400,000 Armenians moving to Syria and Lebanon and 400,000 Armenians moving to Russia and other countries with the rest remaining in modern Turkey.

The ongoing hatred of Armenians can be seen in the recent history. The Armenian Diaspora has been carrying out massacres in Karabakh to the Azerbaijan Turks in 1992 whilst Armenian terrorist activities were directed to Turks living in America as well as Americans studying Turkish history. Fake illustrations and imagery have been used by Armenians for propaganda purposes directly taken from the Jewish Holocaust during World War 2.

In short, 1915 events were not genocide, but a war with reciprocal retaliations with the Ottomans acting in self-defence to a treacherous minority allying with an external power.

Russian Real Politik

The claim of an Armenian genocide was one promoted by the Russians who used the Armenians to further their political interests. The Russians had created the Armenian state providing them lands taken from Muslims after mass-expulsions.

Russia had conducted an organized terror campaign against the citizens of the Ottoman state destroying entire towns and villages inhabited by Muslims, taking all goods and assets, whilst survivors were forced to leave.

At the same time, and under the pretext of defending Christianity, the Russian armies would bring in the Armenians who were supporting them in their wars against the Ottomans. The Russian government would provide the Armenian rebels with funds and weapons supporting uprisings. Muslims were not allowed to retaliate against Armenian gangs who would attack villages, raping, pillaging and killing and burning down villages.

Armenian Treachery and Rebellion

Historians draw attention to the fact of historic revisionism.

In his study of the era, historian McCarthy cites multiple examples of Armenian treachery against the Ottomans and loyalty to the Russians:

1. During the reign of Peter the Great, the Armenians started to rely more on the Russians, hoping that they would get the support they needed. Since the first waves of attacks by the Russians on the Caucasus, the Armenians had formed a military power to help the Russians attack the region and they pledged their allegiance to the Tsars.

2. During the eighth and ninth century, the Armenians (Church leaders, secular leaders, different groups, etc.) supported the Russian attack of Muslim lands in the Caucasus, hoping to overthrow the Muslim leaders in these states.

3. The Armenians were employed as spies for the Russians against their Muslim leaders, whether they were the Ottomans or Armenians who were subjects of the Persian state.

4. When the city of Derbend was under siege by the Russian army in 1796, its Armenian inhabitants sent to the Russians valuable information about the city's water supplies, and this allowed the Russian army to defeat the army of Derbend.

5. In the 1890's, Armenian archbishop (Argotnisky-Dolgorokov) publicly announced that he hoped that the Russians would liberate Armenia from Muslim rule.

6. During the wars of 1827-1829 and the Qaram war, the Armenian citizens of both the Ottoman and Persian Empires, together with the Armenians who lived inside the Russian Empire, fought alongside the Russian army against the Persian army and the Ottoman Empire.

7. The Armenians living inside Ottoman Anatolia gave their allegiance to the Russian cause by working as spies for the Russian government.

8. The Armenians would cross the borders of Anatolia and give reports of the Ottoman armies to the Russian in all the wars of eastern Anatolia.

9. The Armenians in Anatolia helped the invading Russian armies in 1827, and when the Russian armies left, thousands of Armenians followed it outside Anatolia.

10. During the Qaram war, the Armenians gave secret information from the city of Kars which was under the Russian siege.

11. Armenian guides paved the way for the Russian invaders from the Ottoman Anatolia in 1877 whilst Armenians of Elsekirt valley welcomed the invading Russian armies, and when the Russian armies left all Armenians left with them.

12. The Armenians of Anatolia and Caucasus were allies of the Russian armies in the First World War. In Anatolia, the Armenian rebels' reliance on the Russians became clear by the middle of the 19th century, by revolting in Zeyton when there was need for financial resources to reinforce their defense in Zeyton against the Ottomans. In 1854, while the Ottoman armies were fighting against the Russian in the Qaram war, the Armenian rebels tried to get financial support from the Russians.

13. In 1872, the Armenians of Van, who were citizens of the Ottoman Empire, wrote to the Russian Emperor's representative in Caucasus asking help from him against their government. They wanted to become citizens of Russia so they started to buy and store weapons.

14. In 1808, Alexander Tsitsianov rewarded Patriarch Daniel with a first-degree monastic for his services in spying and providing information to the Russians. While the Russians were fighting to expand their territories in Kur and Aras, the Armenians continued to send letters to the Russian officials encouraging them to capture areas under Muslims control and save the Armenian people from the Muslim persecution.

15. The relation between the Armenian rebels and the Armenian Church had facilitated their activities to a larger extent, because the church was an organization which managed to cross the border easily, and in Istanbul, itself, the church leaders and priests had the freedom to move as they pleased and the Ottoman Armenians could not touch them, although they were caught many times carrying letters, reports and money to the rebels. Besides, some churches and monasteries were used as clandestine stores for weapons, which were smuggled to the Armenian rebels, as these churches and monasteries were not subject to security inspection.

Conclusion

In a 1914 census there were around 1.2 million Armenians most of whom survived with at most 300,000 killed during the war.Around 518,000 Turks were killed by Armenian rebels during WW1 following a history of treachery against the Ottomans particularly in collusion with Russia. In short, the events of 1915 were not a genocide, but a war with reciprocal retaliations.

The well-known Armenian author Levon Dabagyan concluded:

"Those who claimed that genocide was committed must learn history much better. Armenian issue is very important for the Christian West because it has been used against Turks/Muslims. West's empty promises led Armenians to uprising. There was no Armenian Genocide, only a deportation!"

Whikst Hovhannes Katchaznouni, the first prime-minister of the Armenian state, observed:

"The Armenian terrorist acts were directed, at winning the Western public opinion. They were unconditionally allied with Russia. They massacred the Moslem population. The decision of the deportation of Armenians was a rightful measure taken by Turks. Turkey had acted with an instinct of self-defence." (Manifesto Bucharest, 1923)


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