Armenian
claims of genocide distort the real picture
Every
April 24, the Armenian lobby in America
mobilizes its might to launch yet another
campaign to defame Turkey, Turks, Turkish-Americans
and all things Turkish.
The
Armenian lobby in America and the Armenian
government relentlessly lobbies to pass
Armenian-penned, deceptive resolutions in
parliaments of foreign governments, using
the Armenian citizens of those countries.
All
of these diplomatic or violent attempts,
not to mention the “student activities”
which are timed in unison with them, are
designed for one thing: to defame and shame
Turkey into accepting the Armenian version
of history. Once this is established, Armenian
lobbyists reason, demands of apology, reparations
and land, in that order, shall follow.
If
one is too busy to study the details of
this complex tragedy, then let me give you
a quick one-liner that characterizes the
Turkish-Armenian conflict fairly and accurately:
It was a civil war provoked by Armenian
rebellion, treason and terror, not genocide.
It
was a civil war fought largely by Christian
and Muslim irregulars, when Turks were under
attack from all corners and were fighting
for their own survival. Turks and Armenians
both suffered, though four times as many
Turks died as Armenians. Yet Armenians would
like everyone to ignore the Turkish suffering
and grieve only for the Armenian suffering.
Armenian
allegations of genocide are based on an
ever-evolving and curious combination of
exaggerations, deliberate misrepresentations,
half-truths, fabrications and sometimes,
outright lies.
The
Armenian account of history is the only
one where “the dead actually multiply”
over the years, from as low as the 300,000
claimed in 1920s to the 1 million claimed
in 1970s, moving to 2 million in 1980s,
even 2.5 million in 1990s, settling back
to 1.5 million nowadays.
All
this is blatantly claimed in spite of the
fact that the entire Ottoman-Armenian population
was no more than 1.3 million in 1915 to
start with. And equally arrogantly, none
of these baseless Armenian claims mention
a single word about the Turkish victims,
which happen to outnumber the Armenian victims
4 to 1. This is a clear religious bias and/or
ethnic discrimination against Muslim Turks.
In
a time of war or survival, nine months after
general mobilization, the Ottoman government
had to stop the subversive actions of Armenian
political organizations, and on April 24,
1915 arrested their leaders, 2,345 persons
in Istanbul.
If
this was genocide, why did they do nothing
to the remaining 78,000 Armenians of Istanbul?
Why were the Armenians of other western
cities (Edirne, Izmir, others) not subjected
to the relocation order?
Furthermore,
it is important to point out that most of
those who were relocated did make it to
their destinations and Ottoman governors
cared for them upon their arrival and throughout
the war with what limited resources were
available.
Ottoman
government records clearly show that the
intention was to remove and not eradicate,
as alleged, Armenians located in a certain
region in order to preserve the safety of
the whole of the empire.
Not
all Armenians were deported, as alleged.
Not all those relocated perished, as alleged.
Owing to limited resources and supplies
available during a terrible wartime, disease
and famine took more lives than bullets
and battles. These events cost both Turks
and Armenians great suffering. In the end,
for every Armenian casualty, there were
4 Turkish casualties.
Yet,
what one has consistently heard in the West,
mainly due to relentless Armenian nationalist
propaganda, was that only the Armenians
suffered during WWI, as if Turks were not
humans. This 4 to 1 ratio meant nothing
to some biased minds. Armenian allegations
of genocide can not be substantiated by
historical evidence.
We,
as Americans, have punished Iraq in 1991
for Saddam’s aggression into Kuwait,
bombed Yugoslavia into pieces in 1998
for Serbian ethnic cleansing victimizing
Bosnians and Kosovars, and finished off
the Iraqi regime in 2003 for international
terrorism.
And
yet, we did nothing to Armenia which did
all three: aggression in Karabag (1988-present);
ethnic cleansing in 20 percent of Azerbaijani
soil (1992-present) that created 1 million
or more Azerbaijani refugee; and international
terrorism (1887-1923 and 1973-present).
What’s
worse, we gave Armenia American taxpayers’
hard-earned dollars as economic aid, to
the tune of $1.5 billion in the period 1992-2003.
According to congressional records, the
money was used to finance Armenia’s
genocidal policies and terror.
I
sincerely wish Armenians would use their
energy to improve understanding, friendship
and peace rather than perpetrating hatred
creating extremely hostile environments
for the international students and Turkish
Americans in the United States.
Isil
Sumertas Rahmanian is a graduate student
of economics and president of the Turkish
Student Association.
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