Gokalp has written an introduction to his discoveries, but has not had the time to finish the article. This slightly edited intro has been presented, but the main value of this page regards his exposés for the notorious images in question.
Armenian Photo falsifications Exposed –Yet again
It is sometimes necessary to lie damnably in the interests of the nation.
Hilaire Belloc 1870-1953, British Author
"You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” Exodus 20:16
In 2005 Prof. Turkkaya Ataöv was in the University of California at Los Angeles when he saw a Poster calling for a meeting about the events of 1915. He instantly realized that there was something terribly wrong with it. In the Poster Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founding father of the modern Turkish republic was sitting on a chair while a corpse of a poor starved child was lying under his feet. After Ataöv returned to Turkey he found the original photo, and there were four little dogs in front of the seat occupied by Atatürk instead of a dead body. Ataöv immediately publicized this forgery in a prominent Turkish newspaper, “Hürriyet”.
The Armenian Diaspora, lobbying organizations and the professors participating in the meeting were not thrilled. They kept a low profile about the issue and when somebody did respond the answer was calm and simple, along the lines of “the photo manipulation was made only to draw attention and to make a point." A somewhat good and convincing argument, one might say… But Mustafa Kemal being a middle rank officer who was fighting in the western (Dardanelles) front at that time had not been involved in the Ethnic conflict or civil war between Turks/Kurds and Armenians. He was not involved in the relocations by any means. This fact brings out the question; What was the point? Could it be that “Armenians can use any means — ethical or not — for the interest of their nation”?
Armenians employed all types of falsifications and forgeries since the beginning of their “Cause." The famous Hitler quote “Who, after all, speaks today of the extermination of the Armenians?” for example never existed in the Nuremberg trials. Actually the court rejected that version of the speech on the grounds that it was altered. This fabrication despite being proven to be “highly dubious” at best, still shows up in many genocide web pages, many pro-Armenian demonstrations and even in the USA's congressional resolutions. “The Andonian documents," which involve supposedly secret Ottoman documentations giving direct massacre orders, have been proven to be forgeries. Today there is no single decent historian (apart from notorious Armenian “historians” as Dadrian) who will use these fabrications in any kind of research. Yet quotations from these fake letters and telegrams are all over the “Genocide” museum walls and monuments erected after the event. But Who, after all, speaks today of the fact that these are forgeries…
The History of Armenian Photo Falsifications
Erich Feigl's caption partly reads: "Vicious
propaganda comes in various forms. One of the
most sinister is the hidden falsification... Casual
observers — and they are... the majority — will
inevitably make a connection between Talaat and the
crania on the cover." (From "A Myth of Terror.")
See TAT's "Tessa Hofmann" page for more.
The history of Armenian photo falsifications start with the publication of the book "Der Völkermord an den Armenien vor Gericht. Der Prozess Talaat Pascha," in 1920 (or 1921) in Berlin. On The cover of the book there is a horrid pyramid of skulls which is accompanied by a picture of Talat Pasha, the Ottoman Minister of the Interior. The book presented the image as a proof of the “Ottoman” barbarity. The “photo” appeared also in 1352 copies of a "well published" book entitled The Massacre of Armenians (Katliami Ermeniyan), by Ismail Ra'in, in 1979 Iran... supported by "some Armenian circles during the Shah's time." The Persian legend under the “photograph” says: Serha-yi eramene-ike katliam shudend der sal 1917 (or "the skulls of Armenians massacred in the year 1917"). But the real great public appearance of this “photo” was in Canada. It was enlarged and shown to the Canadian public in the 1970's, in the Yerevan Pavillion at the annual Metro International Caravan festivities in Toronto, as proof of the Armenian "Genocide." Further, the daily Nova-Svetlina, dated April 23, 1985, of Bulgaria, published an article entitled "Tragic Memories" (Tragichni Spomeni) and signed by an Armenian, M.Sofian. It reproduces the same pictures with the following legend: "The terrifying traces of barbaric massacres of the Armenians in Turkey in the year 1915." Also it was printed on to Postcards by "Committee for Support to Max Hrair Kilnjian" in France.
But the truth behind this “photo," which “displays the evil nature of the Turks “and their ”organized violence against Armenians”, was a bit different… This “Photo” was not a photo at all but a painting by a Russian artist Vassili Vereshchagin (1842-1904). This Russian painting named "The Apotheosis of War," was created in 1871 and it still hangs in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. Only after Prof. Ataöv exposed the truth about this so called photographic evidence in 1980 it slowly faded away in the depths of the Armenian propaganda.
It indeed is puzzling to see that this outrageous and careless falsification really made it that far. But thanks to the immense prejudices of the western public and their reluctance to hear what the Turks say, the quick recipe of preparing careless fake and falsified photos still works very well today.
Armenian Photo “Arsenal”
We all know that in most cases “seeing is believing” and that is the point where Armenians are lacking any hardcore material. The real bulk of Armenian photographic documentation comes from two sources: Armin Theophil Wegner and the Near East Relief.
The Near East Relief photos mainly show Armenians who are in relocation camps and being aided by the organization. The question, which is generally not posed about these photos, is “do they prove genocide or disprove it." After all, it is absurd for a government, which is pursuing a goal of extermination, to let an international aid organization to help the people that are meant to perish. If you stab someone you don’t let a doctor near him. If you wish to kill people by starvation you don’t let them get help. However, since the 100 years of Armenian propaganda arrests the basic logic of many individuals. This simple discrepancy is overlooked and these photos are there to “prove the genocide."
Armin T. Wegner was a German soldier who enrolled as a volunteer nurse in Poland at the outbreak of World War I during the winter of 1914-1915. He traveled along the Baghdad railroad in Mesopotamia. He gathered information on Armenians, collected documents, annotations, notes, and letters and took many photographs in the Armenian relocation camps. Later He dedicated a great part of his life to the fight for Armenian cause.
Again His photos mostly show the daily life of the relocated Armenians apart from these are several pictures showing people who died of starvation or disease. There are only a handful of photos by Armin Wegner that show corpse remains or skulls of people who he claims to be of Armenians. The trouble with these photos, however, is that they are far from present proof of a whole scale organized massacre.
There is no doubt that Armenians suffered terribly and there is no doubt that many Armenians were killed in a country, which was in a word war and civil war in the same time. But when it comes to saying 1.5 million were killed systematically, the Armin Wenger photos which show a total of couple of dozens of people with unidentifiable ethnicity is in no way a serious documentation.
Photo Fakery: Alive and Well
The above served as Gokalp's introduction, and what will follow are his discoveries, along with some thoughts of his that have been incorporated into the text.
This photo is all over the place. Above, it appears on a YouTube video. It has also appeared on Rudy Rummel's "Democide" site (Gokalp pointed out the fakery to Rudy, and at least Rudy added a note of caution; but come on, Rudy. You're supposed to be a "professor," and it doesn't take much brains to figure out what's what. Rudy still can't shake his deep belief in "cilicia.com," where he got the photo, a site that represents the law to the faithful genocide believer that Rudy is.) The photo has also appeared on Wikipedia, dressing its "Anti-Armenianism" page, but of course, Wikipedia has been taken over by Armenians and their supporters. Better termed "Wicked"pedia, the online encyclopedia can easily be manipulated by those with the strongest numbers and tenacity, and is a source that cannot be trusted, save only for the most innocuous of topics.
And here is the version from a site called "Bibleprobe":
The caption reads "Turkish soldiers proudly posing with bodies of their Christian victims. To these Muslims, the 'Christians were like animals to be hunted.'" (The article on Bibleprobe was written by retired Navy man Steve Keohane, a "historian" whose real job is a real estate appraiser in Massachusetts, and a hopelessly faithful — and hateful — Christian. (Jesus would be the first to tell us that hateful Christians are pseudo-Christians.)
An Ottoman soldier, as depicted in
Andrew Goldberg's PBS propaganda,
"The Armenian Genocide."
While Rudy Rummel wrote in his half-hearted disclaimer that the soldiers "appear to be wearing Russian and not Turkish army uniforms," one only needs a pair of good eyes to see whether that is the case or not. The ones wearing the fur hats look like Cossacks, and the "Cossack hat" is well-known. (Here is a company that sells them; note the photos.) But the real giveaway are the ones wearing the caps, that viewers of Dr. Zhivago will recognize instantly. The greatwardifferent.com site gives us an excellent idea of the Russian war uniforms of the period, on this page. ("Russian soldiers as portrayed on the covers of 'Lukomorie' a Russian magazine.") The same site also displays nine different military uniforms of Ottoman soldiers, on this page. (Another page gives us a more detailed look at the costume of the Ottomans.)
It is really a "no-brainer." The "professor," Rudy Rummel, has no excuse; but, of course, he — as the rest of the "genocide scholars" — only care about affirming their agendas, and are strangers to the concept of "honest research."
As detailed in TAT's "Forgeries" page, this photo, when blown-up, reveal the victims to be circumcised, which tells us the victims were not Christians, but most likely Muslims, or even Jews.
But let's move on with "proof positive."
Here is another variation of the photo, curiously plastered on a bonafide "Armenian genocide" web site, the Comité de Défense de la Cause Arménienne, or The Armenian National Committee of France (CDCA), "the largest French-Armenian grassroots political organization."
And do you know what the site says? The photo is from 1904, and that the ones who have committed the massacres are Cossacks. (Since the site's idea is to stress 1915, your guess is as good as mine as to why they went with "evidence" from 1904, with culprits who weren't even Turks. In case they see this, and change their wording, what is below is a screenshot of their page, as from April 2008.)
Turkish Victims Massacred by Armenians Become Armenian
The photo above has been shamelessly appropriated by genocidists, which is really awful, given that the victims were Turkish/Muslim victims of the Armenians. The scene is from Kars Subatan, 1918, and the original photo is in the Turkish Army Archives. (Note the frayed edges, direct from the negative.)
Bibleprobe also used the above familiar
shot with the caption: "Turkish soldiers
posing proudly with the decapitated heads
of Armenian community leaders, 1915." The
odds are that the victims were Bulgarians,
beheaded by Serbs in 1905; see the TAT
Forgeries page.
The aforementioned Bibleprobe site has featured this shot, naming it "christianbodies7." The shot has seen wide usage in Armenian videos in YouTube. A German television channel has used this picture in a news editorial about the Armenian genocide resolution.
(The picture comes up at 00:55.)
An article in the "Armenian Genocide Resource Center" site tells us that Armenians also used pictures from the 1992 Khojali massacre of Azeri civilians as if they were Armenians. Gokalp asks, "Is this an innocent mistake or a deliberate attempt to enrich the Armenian photo arsenal?"
The Famous "Starving Mother and Child" Photo
Caption by Erich Feigl, "The Myth of Terror."
Now we know where this photograph came from! And we have another bonafide "Armenian genocide" web site to thank. (It is the aga-online.org site, or AGA, a German site that stands for "Acknowledgement Against Genocide" (Or something like that.)
The photo comes courtesy of a book that the French published for propaganda. It is named “The famine in Lebanon. French assistance to Lebanonese (people of Lebanon) during the great war”
The rough translation of the caption accompanying the pages above, from here:
"Hunger emergency in Lebanon 1915-1919: In 1922 a French magazine published photos showing obviously homeless persons, often half-naked or naked victims of the hunger emergency in Lebanon, probably Armenians. Some are looking for food in the garbage, and others are dead."
Note that the book is describing the starving people as “PROBABLY” Armenians. So basically there is no way to prove that they are Armenians. Yet, as Gokalp pointed out, we do know several things: 1. The French did not help Arabs or Muslims. 2. Armenians were a very small minority in Lebanon. 3. The French were in league with Maronite Christians, and they were the main Christian minority.
No surprise the Turks are to blame again; as good old Rudy Rummel wrote: “During the war the British navy blockaded Turkey, including the Turkish Levant. No food was allowed in by sea. The resulting famine in Lebanon and Syria (with consequences shown on lines 208a to 208d) would not have become as deadly as it did had not the Turks commandeered available food supplies and refused to help the starving. As a result they bear the greater responsibility for the famine, which I calculate as probably around 75 percent of the total dead (line 208i).“
(As if calculating famine responsibility would be an exact science; Rudy, Rudy... Rudy. Let's not forget, gang, that this was during a desperate time where "all over Turkey thousands of the populace were daily dying of starvation," as Ambassador Morgenthau himself instructed us. Thousands of Ottoman soldiers were dying of famine (see link), the situation was that desperate; of course the available food would have been commandeered to feed this first line of defense. If the powers were making sure no food was coming in, we don't blame the victims for causing the famine.)
A German source, misplaced for now, described the famine as follows: “1916-1918 hunger emergency in Turkish-German occupied Lebanon during the First World War due to an allied sea-blockade as well as requisitioning by the badly supplied troops; in addition due to the high specialization degree of the Lebanese agriculture, where basic food imported and instead e.g. viticulture and silk crawler-type vehicle breed were operated (approx. 100,000 dead ones, in at that time of 450.000 humans inhabited area).”
Heads or Tales
Do we all recognize this one? The "heads" are often presented either as genocide victims or as Armenian notables. Steve Keohane of Bibleprobe provided the following caption: "Heads of Christians, traditionally treated like trophies by the Turks." (Yes, Mr. Keohane is surely an expert on the traditions of the Turks.)
The AGA site gets to the bottom of the story behind this photo; we are given the names of these heads as well as the source. They are the members of Dashnaktsutiun and resided in a village in Iran. From its own page:
"... If such partisans fell into the hands of the Ottoman authorities, they had to count on execution. The photo shows the heads of eight of nine Armenians from the village Mahlam in Salmast (Iran), who were executed on 26 October 1898 on instruction of the Ottoman government and to which the Dashnaktsutiun had belonged to a social-revolutionary Armenian party. It concerned Chatschatur Harutjunjan out of Moks (left above), Harutjun out of Ulnia (Sejtun), Stepan of Chisan, Harik of Schatach, Gabriel Muradjan, Nahapet Jeriasarjan ("Nacho" from Wosm), Harutjun Chatschatrjan out of Moks as well as Galust Galojan. Awetis Ohanjan, the ninth victim, is not to be seen in the picture."
The source is none other than the official news organ of the Dashnaktsutiun, "The Droshak," Jan. 31, 1899, S. 5.
As these Dashnaks were executed in October of 1898, Gokalp has made the excellent point that since the time window somewhat fits, "we can easily and rightfully assume that these are the ones who are responsible" of the events recorded below; it's very possible some of these desperadoes got nabbed in the following year:
The Reported Armenian Aggression.
From The Liverpool Courier, August 10,1897:
The Reported Armenian Aggression.
Terrible Barbarities.
Constantinople, Sunday.
The following telegram was received to-day by the Porte from Veli? : — On August 6th several thousand Armenian agitators crossed the frontier from Persia and attacked the Mizriki tribe, killing about two hundred persons, among whom were women and children. They further put the wife of the chief of the tribe to the most cruel death, and cut off the noses of several others of their victims. It is officially declared that the necessary precautions have been taken by the Imperial authorities not only to capture these marauders, but also to provide against eventualities in the vilayet of Van. The Ottoman Government has also requested the Persian Government to arrest these criminal bands, who on being pursued by Turkish troops may attempt to recross the frontier. The Persian Government is also urged to take proper measures for preventing in future these incursions of Armenian revolutionaries into Turkish territory. — Reuter,
THE RECENT ARMENIAN RAID.
From The Bristol Times And Mirror, September 9, 1897:
THE RECENT ARMENIAN RAID.
TEHERAN, TUESDAY.
A prolonged inquiry has just been concluded by the Persian authorities regarding the Armenian raid on the Turco-Persian frontiers last month, which was followed by serious fighting between Armenians and Kurds, with heavy losses on both sides. The result of the inquiry shows that the bulk of the raiders were from Turkish territory, and that fewer than 300 came from Persia. Nine villages were sacked, and there were massacred over 300 Mussulmans and Christians, including women and children. Twenty-nine of the ringleaders have been arrested, and handed over to the authorities to be dealt with. — Reuter.
© Holdwater
The source site of this article gets revised often, as better information comes along. For the most up-to-date version, links and the related photos, the reader may consider reviewing the direct link as follows:
www.tallarmeniantale.com/forgeries-fotos.htm
