441) Will we ever know what actually happened?

November 19, 2005
Scholars spend two days debating at the International Turkish Archives Symposium in Istanbul

ISTANBUL
A two-day symposium that concentrated on the topic of what happened between the Armenians and the Turks in the two-year period of 1914-15 wrapped up yesterday with its participants agreeing that it is necessary to cast a critical eye over the sources available. . .
Turkish Historical Society Chairman Professor Yusuf Halacoglu pointed out at the conference that the number of people examining Turkey's archives for that period could be counted on one hand.

Archives in France, Britain and the United States covering the 1914-1918 period cite as many as 1.5 million Armenians killed in this span while Halacoglu brought forward a series of documents that showed that the number of Armenians living in the eastern part of Turkey at the time numbered 400,000 at the most. He also said the documentation indicated that these people were fed and housed while they were moved away from a war zone that included Russian, Armenian and Ottoman troops.

Backing up Halacoglu's presentation was Professor Justin McCarthy, an American who is internationally regarded as an expert on the Armenian/Turkish conflict and frequently threatened for his research that shows the Ottomans did not carry out a genocide.

McCarthy explained that recorded material produced by the Armenians in the early days after the mid-1910s were very pro-Armenian and aimed at influencing Armenian opinion. But he went on to say that the only way the issue can be settled was to look at what the Ottomans at the time had said, noting that the Armenians were always praising their side while the Ottoman documents show that some things were bad and some good. So perhaps one has to consider documentation that was more honest.

Dr. Ilber Ortayli, who has recently taken over management of the Topkapi Palace Museum, chose to look at the issue from a different angle. He stressed the issue of the system by which religious groups were separated from each other. So the Greek Orthodox were with other Greek Orthodox and the Armenians with Armenians. According to Ortayli, the Athens Greek Orthodox Church broke off in 1831 because they wanted to get rid of Ottoman rule but not because they wanted to separate themselves from the Greek Orthodox leaders in Istanbul.

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