3105) Dear Taner Akcam,

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I would like to point out that the expression in your book “we are debating the fact that about 1 million Armenians have been annihilated” does not agree with information I have obtained from other sources. However, while examining this subject, I ask you to accept up front that it would never reflect reality to understand this as an effort to minimize the issue by making a discount in the number of people alleged to have been “annihilated” or to show as acceptable massacres and murders which are certain to have taken place at various locations...

In fact, if genocide is the issue, then it is certain that the number of losses is not going to change its character. On the other hand, if a subject is being debated, it should be accepted that the numbers given have to reflect the truth, and that in a discussion which starts out with the wrong numbers one cannot arrive at a correct solution.

Since there is no declaration in your book regarding the losses of Ottoman Moslems, estimated to be around 2.5 million, naturally my letter will not get into this subject, but will discuss only the Armenian losses.

It is obvious that, in ascertaining Armenian losses, the healthiest approach is to compare the population at the beginning of the events with that remaining at the end of the events.

The Armenian population living within the borders of the Ottoman State has been declared by various sources for the years 1893, 1905, and 1914 as:

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