291) Armenians' Hate: A Product Of Their Own Actions

Through successful lobbying efforts of Armenian Diaspora, the alleged Armenian genocide claim is gaining spotlight throughout the Western world. Most of the Armenians who support this controversial allegation of genocide are grandchildren of those who were forcefully relocated by the Ottoman Empire.

Armenians who so feverishly support the œArmenian genocide? claim have equally strong hatred against anything that is even remotely Turkish. Many do not even feel shy about hiding their strong feelings for a Turk.

A brief overview of Armenian allegations would be useful at this point. Armenians maintain that Ottoman Armenians were peaceful citizens of the empire and when First World War broke out they remained loyal to the empire but suffered premeditated massacres because of ˜fanatic' views of the central government.

Those of us of Turkish descent do not deny the fact that Armenians suffered terrible tragedies during First World War. We are well aware that many innocent people were taken away from their homes and were sent to Syria and Lebanon “ then Ottoman provinces “ under the most difficult wartime conditions of the era. But it should also be noted that our ancestors suffered similarly during that period of early 20th century.

As a result of aggressive Russian campaigns against Turks beginning in the 18th century, Czars inflicted heavy losses on Turkish populations in southern Russia and Caucasus. Ottoman Empire engaged Imperial Russia in the Crimean War of 1877-1878 to protect its Turkish Tatar population of Crimea. Today, there are no Crimean Tatars left in Crimea as they were literally wiped out by Russians. In addition, mostly Turkish demographics of Caucasus were transformed into Russian and Armenian characteristics as a consequence of Russian assaults aided by Armenian hordes.

Similarly, the ˜death march,' as many Armenians call it, led to the death of multitudes of Armenians. Again no one denies this fact either. But there is a problem with their claim of genocide. First of all one needs to understand why the Ottoman government decided to ˜relocate' its citizens from one province of the empire to another.

During First World War the Ottoman Empire, as a Central Power ally, was at war against the Allied Nations of Britain, France, Russia, and later joined by Italy. Hopeful about gaining an independent state through their assistance to Allied Nations Armenians, while remaining citizens of the Ottoman Empire, began to organize themselves against the empire and openly committed acts of treason by aiding Russia's efforts to invade eastern front of the empire (modern day's eastern Turkey). In addition, the Armenian guerrillas terrorized local Turks, Kurds, and Armenians who decided to remain peaceful.

When the Ottoman government saw the growing Armenian activities as crippling factor for its campaign to thwart Russia's invasion, it then decided to relocate the uncontrollable population away from the war zone. The goal was threefold; one was to gain an advantage against Russians who were masterfully utilizing Armenians as a force in their invasion, the other was put a stop to the bloodshed that was turning into a civil war, and finally the aim was to neutralize the independence aspiration of Armenians at the expense of Turkish real estate.

Thus, on April 24, 1915 an official order was decreed to arrest the leaders of the Armenian terror organizations. Subsequently for right or wrong reasons, Ottomans strategically decided to relocate its Armenian population to today's Syria and Lebanon under most difficult circumstances. The same official decree, however, stipulated that officers in charge of relocation were responsible for the safety of lives and belongings of Armenians. This would have been an uncharacteristic request by a government, which intended to ˜exterminate' its Armenian population, as it is alleged.

However, April 24, 1915 marked the turning point in Turkish-Armenian history leading to the eventual demise of Armenian hopes of independence beginning with the closure of Armenian terror organizations in Istanbul. Interestingly, today Armenians chose this date as the date of commemoration for the alleged genocide.

It was clear that First World War was quickly becoming a matter of œlife and death? for the Ottoman Empire. At the time it was an empire that stretched from the western outskirts of northern Sahara into Arabian dessert in the east, and from the Balkans in the north to the shores of Yemen in the south. And the empire was forced to defend itself literally from every corner as the Allies launched an all-out war against it in order to finally put an end to the existence of its rival Islamic empire. The campaign against the Ottoman Empire immediately acquired a ˜crusader' flavor.

Ottoman government could not even protect its own population and provide proper equipment for its soldiers. In a single event the empire suffered 10,000 deaths even without using a bullet against the enemy while they were on their way to face Russian invasion. The soldiers died because they could not protect themselves against the cold weather!

Thus, it is understandable that many Armenians who were forcefully removed from their homes suffered on their way to their new homes in the south. But the relocation was a purely strategic decision made by Ottoman generals in order to increase their odds of winning against a powerful Czarist Russian invader since the Czar was receiving assistance from Armenian rebels.

If Ottoman government intended to exterminate its scattered Armenian population from its eastern Anatolian zone it would have been strategically easier to kill them on the spot rather then mobilizing them through an expensive, tedious relocation process during most difficult times. The government then could have even spared much-needed soldiers for war campaigns instead of protecting Armenian civilians. In addition, if Ottoman government intended to commit genocide against Armenians it would have also made sense to get rid off all of its Armenian population within the capital city Istanbul.

Therefore, one cannot even make a comparison between the fate of Armenians with that of eastern European Jews as Armenians often try to make a parallel between the tragedies of both peoples. While the latter were clearly despised by the Nazis the former were given many privileges within the Ottoman Empire.

Armenians produced pre-wartime Foreign Minister, and many consular officers in important European cities, such as Brussels, Vienna, and so on. On the other hand no one has ever seen such privileges being granted to Jews by Adolf Hitler. Armenians served under Ottoman military and produced high-ranking officers including generals but no one has ever seen a Jew serving in the Nazi military. On the contrary, Armenians took their opportunity being armed and used it against their government by aiding the invaders.

Despite the fact that Armenians today deny any acts of treason committed against the Ottoman government by their ancestors, the supporters of the ˜alleged genocide' should look into historical facts and not into fictions. The first Prime Minister of the independent Armenian Republic, Hovhannes Katchaznouni himself acknowledged the Armenian treason ("The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnagzoutiun, also known as the Dashnak organization) Has Nothing To Do Anymore", New York 22, 1955):

?At the beginning of the Fall of 1914 when Turkey had not yet entered the war but had already been making preparations, Armenian revolutionary bands began to be formed in Transcaucasia with great enthusiasm and, especially, with much uproar. Contrary to the decision taken during their general meeting at Erzeroum only a few weeks before, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) had active participation in the formation of the bands and their future military action against (Ottoman) Turkey.?

Today, the descendants of Armenian victims, who were also victims of their own extremist Dashnak and Hunchak terror organizations, do not know these facts. All they are thought is to hate Turks with all their hearts and to know that Turks decided to massacre their ancestors without a reason.

One cannot blame them for being brainwashed with incorrect information. They grow in an environment where hate has become a way of life for them. Without hate Armenian Diaspora's ambitions will fail to exist.

By keeping hate alive, Diaspora is able to keep the community focused together against the common enemy, Turks. This is an indispensable element in order to achieve the ultimate goal, which is to ask for reparations and damages from the Republic of Turkey, which, by the way, had nothing to do with the decision of ˜relocation.' In fact Turkey herself had to denounce the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire over Anatolia in order to become independent.

Today one would have difficult time finding a Turk who hates an Armenian for what happened to his/her ancestors at the hands of Armenians whether in eastern Anatolia or in Caucasus. Turks realize that the bloodshed occurred as a result of civil war created by Armenian extremists but Turks won the struggle at the end. Those who truly lost were the innocent majority Armenians who were silent to the noisy few. But it is the same ˜noisy few' who are guiding the same Armenian goal today and now putting the Republic of Armenia at risk once again.

Whether Armenians today would admit or not, the fact of the matter is that their hate for a Turk is a product of their own actions they chose to take against their Turkish neighbors nearly a century ago. What is even sadder is that they duped politicians and even educators in state boards of education in many states in believing their version of the history. Now American youth is being exposed to controversial Armenian teachings.

This is a dangerous situation because politicians who are elected to serve the best interest of the people are giving in to the desires of the lobbying force that would like to see history molded in their favor so that Armenian Diaspora can achieve its ultimate goal in the long term.

There is no question that those people who went through the relocation process suffered terribly. But that process was not a genocidal event as portrayed so eloquently by the Armenian Diaspora. However, Armenians themselves who heard the stories over and over again now believe in the genocide claim so strongly that it would be hard for them to have an objective look at the history.

by Erol Yorulmazoglu, M.D.
Turkish Forum Advisory Board