24th April is the commemoration day of the so-called Armenian Genocide. Eventhough it's true that Armenians suffered in 1915, what Armenians present on each 24th April is mixed with some forgeries. Moreover they don't present some other realities. The reason is simple. Armenian scholars' purpose is to associate the Armenians massacres with Jewish Holocaust. In this purpose they pretend to show some realities although they accept them as facts. Let's take a look at these realities:

1-  Armenians in the Anatolia collaborated with the enemy of the Ottoman Empire. Civil Armenians welcomed Russians and the Armenians in the Ottoman Army deserted to Russia. Even though this was an effort to seek freedom and equality, and Ottoman Empire was oppressor, this reality makes the issue different from the Jewish Holocaust.
2-  In order to evaluate the Armenian Massacre in 1915, one should take the Imperialist countries into the consideration. Both England and France abused the minority problems of Ottoman Empire in order to divide the Empire. Russia intrigued with Armenians and promised them an independent Armenia. Even Germany,the ally of Ottoman Empire, caused massacres to drift Ottomans into the war as her ally. The Imperialistic causes are well-documented. Despite their knowledge, Armenian scholars don't like to mention about Imperialistic causes since there is no Imperialistic cause in Jewish Holocaust.
3- Armenian scholars bring the issue of Pan-Turkism and Pan-Islamism as if these ideologies are identical to Nazizm. In fact, Pan-Turkism was not a popular ideology among Ottoman thinkers except a few of them. Pan-Turkism was brought by Central Asian Turkic thinkers who escaped from Russia in order to make Ottoman elite their allies against Russia. So Pan-Turkism was not a reason for Armenian deportation. Pan-Islamism on the other hand was much more popular among Ottoman thinkers. However Ittihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti(Central and Union Progress-CUP) ordered the deportation of Arabs whom collaborated with British troops. If Pan-Islamism was the reason for Armenian deportation, why did Ottoman Empire deport Arabs too?
4- Related to the item above, Armenian scholars mention about the "Turkification of the country as a reason for deportation. This is apparently a mistaken issue. In 1915, the Southeastern border of the Empire was extending up to Arabian Peninsula. Armenians were deported to Syria. If the purpose was to Turkify the country why didn't Ottomans deport them out of the country. Milli Misak had signed in 1919 and Syria was a part of the country. By relocating Armenians to Syria, the country hadn't been Turkified.
5- Armenian scholars don't like to mention about the massacre of Turks and Kurds by Armenian troops in those years. The Armenian atrocities toward civil Turks and Kurds have been well documented. The reason of unwillingnes to mention is the same. In the II.World War, Jews didn't murder any German. They were unarmed people. On the other hand, Armenians were well-armed. The cruelties of Armenians are still in the memories of Turks including my grandfather.

As you can see, Jewish Holocaust and Armenian Massacres in 1915 are significantly different. What Armenians are trying to do is to present some historical facts along with some forgeries and untold facts. Then they claim that it was a genocide. But, history can not be written by biased historians. If this issue is to be solved, objective historians must get together and discuss. If they reach a consensus, this decision must be accepted by all over the world.

Ceyhun Sunsay

26 Nisan 1998

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