3597) Video: Holocaust-1915 Comparison, Cemal Pasha, Resid Bey, Role Of Archives, Future Turkish-Armenian Relations . . . By Hilmar Kaiser

Holocaust-1915 Comparison, Cemal Pasha, Resid Bey, Role Of Archives, Future Turkish-Armenian Relations . . . By Prof Hilmar Kaiser . . .

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3491) Dissent Opinions -Counter Remarks On Perincek Switzerland Case & Case of Perinçek Against Switzerland, Turkish-Armenian Dispute: Who Has Something To Hide?

1)Dissent Opinions -Counter Remarks On Perincek Switzerland Case
2)Case of Perinçek Against Switzerland
3)The Turkish-Armenian Dispute: Who Has Something To Hide? . . .

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3402) 1915 Events: Critique & Exposition Of How Facts & Falsifications Mixed Up, Stirred & Served On A Golden Platter

Buenos’ Review Of Üngör Article by Sadi Dinlenc

Tal Buenos’ review (15 Characteristics Of The Armenian Narrative by Tal Buenos of yet another historical falsification of the 1915 Events, by Ugur Ümit Üngör, titled ‘ The Armenian Genocide, 1915, is an excellent critique and exposition of how facts and falsifications mixed up, stirred and served on a golden platter, as happened many times before.

The review by Buenos clearly describes 15 points where Üngör manipulated previous writings, historical facts and ignored realities to suit his pre-determined purposes.

The important issue here is not how Buenos has literally destroyed Üngör’s article but Buenos’ 15 famous points about destortion, ignorance and falsifications common to all articles written earlier by Armenians and/or their sympathizers, including some Turkish Apologizers recently, regarding the false claims of genocide. These articles, books and brochures commonly : . . .

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3368) Interview With François Georgeon: Revelation A Shameless Manipulation From Hachette

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1. Interview With François Georgeon: Revelation A Shameless Manipulation From Hachette
2. The overlap of two realities: the martyrdom of muhacir and massacres of Armenians in Anatolia
3. "Armenian genocide" thesis about the contradictory presence
4. Interview with Fuat Dündar, History, No. 341, April 2009
5. Interview with Fuat Dundar: Comments By Sukru Server Aya, 14 September 2012

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These days, following private discussions about the two pages dealing with the Armenian "genocide" in the new textbooks (especially those of Hachette), this document has been sent. We discovered, read (with the greatest attention) and archived: it is indeed overwhelming for some "teachers" clearly unethical. Then, not knowing what to do in the immediate future, we said that we may publish it here. For fear of losing ourselves in developments unclear, we only bolded the passages that seem most important and serious contradiction with the contents of the screenshot below.

Collections of History, No. 45, October 2009, p. 52-61:

Chronicle of a collapse

The Treaty of Sèvres in 1920, after the First World War, leaving the Ottoman Empire in Anatolia State rump Northwest ... How did we get here? . . .

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3359) Mamigonian: Tlön, Turkey, and the Armenian Genocide

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Tlön, Turkey, and the Armenian Genocide By Marc Mamigonian, Armenian Weekly, June 4, 2012

Comments
By Sukru Server Aya

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Tlön, Turkey, and the Armenian Genocide By Marc Mamigonian, Armenian Weekly, June 4, 2012

Mainstream journalism and scholarship undertake the work—sometimes knowingly, sometimes unknowingly—of constructing Turkey’s Tlön.

In the past decade, even as a few scholars from Turkey and Turkish citizens have begun to talk and write more openly about their history, including the Armenian Genocide, Ankara, perhaps concerned that it is losing the battle to erase and rewrite history, or, on the contrary, perhaps because it believes that victory is achievable, has raised its efforts to a new level. This article examines some of the ways Turkey creates and disseminates its perversion of history and how its narrative is (unknowingly or knowingly) passed along to mostly uninformed readers, with the end result of skewing the discussion towards a narrative acceptable to Turkey. A comprehensive history and analysis is well beyond the scope of this article and, in fact, calls for a book-length study.

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3330) Politically Motivated Misuse of History: An Analysis of Muriel Mirak-Weissbach’s "Reflexions” on the Armenian Issue

25.11.2011
Maxime Gauin
Journal of Turkish Weekly

The German contribution to Turkish studies is considerable, but the contribution of some, let’s repeat, some Germans to the prejudices against the Turks is not less considerable.[1] In addition to the tradition of Protestant fundamentalist, which is vehemently anti-Muslim and even more, if possible, anti-Turkish, there is the temptation to share the horrible recollection of the Shoah with another people. The idea of trivializing the Shoah is by no means new in some segments of German society. One of the best known examples is the attempt of the conservative historian Ernst Nolte to deny any specificity, other than technical, to the suppression of the European Jews. But at least Ernst Nolte is a scholar who, in addition to spurious conclusions, provided interesting contributions to historical knowledge, especially by being among the first scholars who classified the Action française in the right category—fascism, instead of classical reactionary. In the case of the German self-proclaimed experts in the Turkish and Armenian issue, we see only . .

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3282) Scholarly Ethic vs. Politicized History

by Maxime GAUIN
13 June 2011

The future of the Turkish-Armenian relations, with its various aspects depends largely of the confrontation of ethical and scholarly approaches of the past, present and future, against the political misuse of history for political and ideological ends.

Speaking on “human rights”

One of the favorite slogans of “Armenian genocide” claimants is that the “recognition” is an issue of “human rights”. It is a mistake to separate the bloody terrorism of ASALA and JCAG/ARA to the mainstream of the “Armenian genocide” allegations. Indeed, the JCAG/ARA were nothing but the terrorist branch of Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Armenian Diaspora’s main and most effective political party. This fact is established even by the single research carried out in ARF’s archives about the 1959-1998 years, Gaïdz Minassian’s Ph.D. thesis. Vicken Hovsepian, currently member of ARF’s World Bureau and supreme representative of this party in USA, was sentenced in 1984 for an attempt of bombing which, according to FBI’s estimations, could have killed between 2,000 and 3,000 persons. Mourad Topalian, president of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA, political branch of ARF in USA) was sentenced in 2001 to 37 months of jail for illegal storing of war weapons and explosives, linked to terrorist activities. In France, Jean-Marc Toranian, co-chairman of the Coordination Council of France’s Armenian Associations, was spokesman of ASALA from 1976 to 1983, and covered in the invectives the French criminal tribunal which sentenced, in 1985, three ASALA terrorists for the Orly bombing of July 15, 1983 . . .

Several of the most prominent supporters of “Armenian genocide” allegation were witnesses for defense of several Armenian terrorists during the trials of 1981-1984 period, including Richard G. Hovannisian and Gerard Libaridian in USA, and Jean-Marie Carzou (Zouloumian), Gérard Chaliand and Yves Ternon in France.

Many Armenian sources document the close collaboration between the ARF and Nazis; and also the similarly close cooperation of the two other diasporic Armenian parties (Hunchak and Ramkavar) with Stalin’s USSR. The newspaper of Ramkavar in France was even banned by the French government during the Cold War, because of his inflammatory support to USSR.

In addition, the hard-liners of Armenian Diaspora supported fully the invasion of Western Azerbaijan (1991-1994), and the ethnic cleansing against Turkic Azeris. The massacre of Khodjaly is just the best known and the most barbarian act of this campaign. Armenian nationalists deny crudely the war crimes of the Armenian army in 1991-1994, but call “deniers” or “denialists” those who, without questioning the sufferings of displaced Armenian Ottomans, reject the “genocide” label.

Production and use of forgeries

It is still frequent in Armenian nationalist historiography to refer to notorious forgeries, like the “Ten Commandments,” or even Andonian’s “documents” and Mevlanzade Rifat’s book.

Other falsifications are more recent and, in a sense, more dangerous, because they are less known as falsifications. For instance, Taner Akçam argues that the telegram dispatched by Talat Pasha to Ankara’s province on August 29, 1915, is a remarkable evidence that “the policies adopted against the Armenians were aiming at their annihilation”. Mr. Akçam quotes only the two first sentences of this text: “The Armenian issue pertaining to the Eastern Provinces has been resolved. Therefore, there is no need to harm the reputation of our nation and government by conducting unnecessary cruelties.” (Ermeni Meselesi Hallolunmuştur: Osmanlı Belgelerine Göre Savaş Yıllarında Ermenilere Yönelik Politikalar, İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 2008, p. 182.) The beginning is extracted from the context and it distorts the meanings of the full text. Reading the rest of the document is enlightening:

“Particularly the recent attack conducted on the Armenians at a place close to Ankara has caused great regret of the Ministry, considering its way of occurring, the obvious incompetence of the officials charged with supervising the transfer of Armenians, and audacity on part of the gendarmes and the local people who acted on their bestial instincts to rape and rob the Armenians. The transfer of Armenians, which is desired to be carried out in an orderly and prudent manner, should henceforth never be left to the individuals having fanatical feelings of enmity, and that the Armenians, whether or not they are subject to relocation, will be definitely protected against any assault and attack. At the places where such a protection could not be provided, the transfer of Armenians should be postponed. From now on, all of the officials in charge shall be held responsible with respect to their ranks for any attack, which may occur and shall be brought before the military courts. It is necessary to give very strict orders to the relevant personnel in this regard.” (Hikmet Özdemir and Yusuf Sarınay, “Turkish-Armenian Conflict Documents”, Ankara: TBMM, 2007, p. 235.)

No one supporter of “Armenian genocide” charges attempted to explain why the CUP government, and more especially Talat Pasha, punished severely many perpetrators of atrocities against Armenian deportees in 1915-1916, both among Ottoman bureaucracy and civilians. In Spring of 1916 only, 1673 persons were judged; and 67 of them were sentenced to death and hanged.

A difficult and needed separation

There are Armenian and pro-Armenian scholars, like Hilmar Kaiser and Garabet Moumjian, who support the “genocide” charge without supporting terrorism and using forgeries; and they accept debate; however unfortunately, few other scholars are like them.

Donald Bloxham presented a narrative of “genocide” allegation less strident and more interesting than the mainstream, but did not notice that he used a crude forgery in publishing in his book: a fake photograph — maybe inadvertently — supposed to represent an Ottoman civil servant. Mr. Bloxham made deserved and rational critics against some Vahakn Dadrian’s false allegations, but when he comes to the central point of his topic (genocide or not), Mr. Bloxham does not refrain to refer to the less than convincing arguments of Mr. Dadrian (for instance: “The Great Game of Genocide”, Oxford-New York: Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 253, n. 74, and p. 255, n. 207, 209, 210).

It is hoped that the accumulation of revelations about forgeries used to support “Armenian genocide” allegations will incite some to be more prudent and more cautious, and to control their questionable presuppositions.

Anyway, the needed reconciliation between Turks and Armenians makes it necessary the isolation of fanatics pursuing a political, anti-Turkish agenda. Such organizations and individuals are actual enemies of both Turkish and Armenian Republics, as well as enemies of free and objective scholar research and of free speech. They opposed violently the Turkish-Armenian Vienna’s platform as well as the Turkish-Armenian Protocols signed in 2009, because they fear historical truth and enduring peace. As propaganda which is disguised in historical studies jeopardizes the knowledge of the past, the strident political activism jeopardizes the positive actions which Armenian and Turkish people could may carry out together in the following years.

Emotional and distorted interpretations of the past are the worst enemies of the peace for future.


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www.turkishweekly.net/columnist/3465/scholarly-ethic-vs-politicized-history.html
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3277) ‘Hai Tahd’: New Priorities for A New Agenda By Michael Mensoian And Counter Comments by Sukru Aya

Genocide Recognition: Continuing a Flawed Political Strategy
By Michael Mensoian

Michael Mensoian, J.D./Ph.D, is professor emeritus in Middle East and political geography at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and a retired major in the U.S. army. He writes regularly for the Armenian Weekly.

Part I
I want to believe that every Armenian hopes for the day when the Turkish leadership acknowledges that the uprooting and murder of some 1.5 million Armenians was a genocide. (1)

Good men and women, highly motivated and dedicated to Hai Tahd (Armenian Cause) and the best interests of the Armenian nation are working to achieve this objective. However, on Dec. 22 the latest fiasco in this annual drama occurred when the House democrat leadership in which our good men and women had placed their trust decided to fool the Armenian American community once again. (2) Specifically, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrat Leadership simply decided, without warning, to pull the rug out from under the feet of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) ostensibly because a favorable vote for passage of H.Res.252 (Armenian Genocide Resolution) was not likely. Behind the door machinations by the Turkish lobby aided by President Obama’s refusal to act on his stated beliefs on the genocide are the usual suspects. Maybe this is the moment when the ARF/ANCA finally realizes that while this annual pilgrimage to Capitol Hill may capture the emotional support of the Armenian community, it represents an inefficient and ineffective use of resources. . .

It was interesting to compare the response by the ANCA with the obsequiousness of the Armenian Assembly. Rightfully so, the ANCA conveyed the anger and disappointment of the Armenian American community, whereas the Armenian Assembly issued an immediate press release praising Pelosi and her leadership team for providing invaluable assistance and guidance during the process. The ANCA had every reason to believe that the vote would have been taken under the most favorable circumstances possible. An unconfirmed report attributed to the Assembly accepted Pelosi’s judgment that the vote would not favor passage. (3)

If genocide recognition encompassed all that was represented by Hai Tahd, there would be no cause for concern. Or if genocide recognition could solve the problems facing the Armenian nation, there still would be no cause for concern. Unfortunately neither is so. The Turkish leaders in Ankara once again must be savoring their victory and it must cause thinking Armenians in the homeland (Armenia, Artsakh, and Javakhk) and the diaspora to question how priorities are being established and resources are being allocated. (4) Difficult as it may be to accept, while passage of a genocide recognition resolution is important, it is not so important as to neglect other issues that have immediacy and are of greater importance to the future viability of the Armenian nation (see “Genocide Recognition: A Misguided Political Strategy,” the Armenian Weekly, Oct. 17, 2009).

For a moment consider what effect passage of the non-binding H.Res.252 could possibly have. Would it cause the Turkish leadership to recant and finally confess to the world and its own citizens, after a 90-year policy of denial, that a genocide did occur? (5) Would the average Turkish citizen willingly accept the moral, economic, and political burden for the crimes some ancestors several generations removed may have committed? Would Turkey relent and open its border with Armenia? Would it result in Artsakh being recognized as an independent political entity? Would Georgia cease its discriminatory policies against the Armenians of Javakhk? Other questions could be asked, but the answers would all be a resounding no. (6)

Furthermore, passage of a resolution would not cause Turkey to implode for the benefit of Armenians and Hai Tahd. Genocide recognition by some two dozen foreign governments has not lessened Turkey’s stature in the world. Presently it holds one of the rotating seats on the UN Security Council. Having said that, should a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide pass, it would only serve to harden the resistance of the Turkish leadership and the average Turkish citizen. (7) And why not, when President Obama fails to honor his campaign rhetoric recognizing the Armenian Genocide? The president’s need to cajole Ankara by equating its interests and values with those of the United States or elevating Turkey’s contribution as more important than ever should be more than sufficient reason for the ARF/ANCA to reassess its strategy. In addition, many Armenians delude themselves by misreading what Turkish academics and others mean when they say that the Turkish people must face their past. Facing their past is a purely psycho-moral exercise that is unrelated to the political and economic ramifications that genocide recognition has for the Armenian people. (8)

Granted, a resolution recognizing the genocide would be an appropriate and significant moral and psychological victory for Armenians. It would go a long way in assuaging the emotional scars that Armenians have borne these many years, not only for the loss of ancestors they never had the opportunity to know, but for the generations forever lost to the Armenian nation. (9) However, now is the time to realize that following the same flawed strategy year after year will invariably yield the same result.

Valuable resources in political capital, money, individual commitment, and moral support from the Armenian community are being diverted from significantly more important objectives facing the Armenian nation. We need to look no further than Artsakh where some 7,000 of our people sacrificed their lives to liberate these historic Armenian lands. (10) They are no less our martyrs than those whose lives were taken during the genocide.

Myopia is a dangerous political affliction. It has allowed genocide recognition to be raised to the level of a cause celebre, an apparent moral obligation that is given precedence over every other issue. While genocide recognition may meet the legitimate expectations of the diasporan Armenians, the need to respond to issues whose solution will contribute to the viability and security interests of the Armenian nation are wanting. There is a failure to see the forest because of the trees. Theoretically, a genocide recognition strategy might be effective if a critical mass of countries (somewhere in the vicinity of 90 or 100 countries) not only supported the Armenian position, but also agreed to apply economic sanctions to pressure the Turkish leadership to finally accept responsibility. In the world of realpolitik this is an unrealistic expectation. (11)

http://www.armenianweekly.com June 2,2011
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Counter notes – Comments by Sukru Server Aya :

1- I will believe the fantasies of the writer when he or some one can explain to me after reading: Armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2008/10/2610-genocide-lies-need-no-archives.html - how is it possible to murder 1.5 millions out of 1.3 millions and still have a balance of 1.414.000 living Armenians on 31.12.1921. If you can answer this question, you must also convince that Turks killed 10.000 Armenians per day for 150 days to total to 1.5 millions, and that those bodies were buried in 150 stadium size graveyards dug by hand, but not even one mass grave has been ever found!

2- Who is fooling whom? Cannot be that the diaspora pipe blowers are fooling the US Congress who are not even aware of their past resolutions in 1919, 1920 and 1922?

3- The writer as an advocate of ANCA is carried away beyond logic, with his propagandist fantasies!

4- I do not think that the Turkish leaders in Ankara, ever understood “what is going on and what is the gain of this game”, nor the reasons, such as why, when, how, what the truth and practical solutions are!

5- “Genocide” is an unproven serious crime, but has no legal or logical dependency by any measures (other than slanders and propaganda) and hence it cannot be used as a “verdict or conviction” unless it is produced by authorized legal court.

6- Does Armenia respect the borders drawn by four treaties or think to revoke the excessive claims in her constitution? How can you come with so many endless claims against your neighbors and expose your continuous hostilities at the same time expecting your neighbors to give in to all these claims, just because you “use the leverage of super powers”?

7- Yes!

8- As a honest man with many friends of Armenians ethnicity in the past and present I am facing my past with three books and over 300 articles all posted in this blog site. I am still waiting for some one who can “show that my verbatim excerpts are untrue” and that my evidences are untrue, but his words or palavers are true!

9- Victimization scenes by ballast literature!

10- Sure, when “you grab lands, massacre thousands and exile nearly one million Azeries from their homes with the support of Russians, your murders are “heroes and martyrs” and the innocent victims are presented by you as “criminals” who have stolen your “biblical rights”!

11- Oh My GOD, finally ONE WORD of LOGIC amidst so much trash thinking that readers are retarded ignorants!


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Hai Tahd’: New Priorities for a New Agenda By: Michael Mensoian

Part II
Part I discussed the seven injustices that are represented by Hai Tahd. Part II will suggest new priorities for a new agenda for the ARF and the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) in the United States. The bedrock of Hai Tahd is the genocide. No one can dispute that statement.(1) However, the level of priority and resources that are dedicated to it can and should be disputed. The latest disappointment in failing to obtain Congressional approval of a genocide recognition resolution, as well as President Obama’s obstinate refusal to use the word genocide in his April 24th message, would suggest that something is amiss. (2)

The something amiss is having elevated genocide recognition as the sine qua non of Hai Tahd. No one questions that passage of a favorable resolution by the United States Congress or any national legislature is an important moral victory. However, there is a significant distinction between legislatures simply recognizing the Ottoman-Turkish government’s systematic murder of the Armenian people as genocide (3), and recognizing the Ottoman-Turkish government’s systematic murder of the Armenian people as genocide and Turkey’s legal and moral obligation for reparation and restitution. (4).

More immediate and pressing issues exist that must be confronted. This does not refer to increasing economic, military, or humanitarian aid to Armenia or to Karabagh by a few million dollars annually.(5) This amount, given the billions of dollars in foreign aid routinely budgeted by Congress, is the result of intense lobbying by the ANCA supported by the Congressional Armenian Caucus duly reported in press releases each year. Are we being overly critical if we question our effectiveness? (6)

Mission one of a new agenda
The ARF in the United States and the ANCA occupy a unique position within the organizational and geographic framework of Armenians worldwide. The one million-plus Armenians in the United States represent the second largest concentration of Armenians in the diaspora after Russia.(7) In terms of per capita income, education, and professional achievement, they represent an important segment of the Armenian demographic universe. Unfortunately a high percentage of these Armenians are either ambivalent with respect to Armenian issues or completely detached from the Armenian community. (8)

An important mission that the ARF and the ANCA can undertake is to develop programs that seek to energize targeted segments of this population. This requires something more than press releases, emails, mailings, and events that appeal primarily to the very small percentage of the population continually relied upon for support. That there is a need for intensive outreach programs is obvious. (9)

Observation one: Our fund raising results are less than stellar. Is it beyond belief that we should be able to raise at least $5 million annually? People give when they accept the urgency of the cause. They give when they can accept how the solicited funds will be used. And they give based on the results achieved or effectiveness. (10)

Observation two: We attract very few “new” Armenians from this one million-plus universe to our various events whether at the local, regional, or national levels. More telling has been our limited success in connecting with that segment of the population from their late 20's to mid-40's who identify themselves as “young professionals!” A recent panel discussion co-sponsored by the AGBU Young Professionals and the ARF “Sardarabad” Gomideh in Watertown, Mass., was an excellent beginning bringing these two groups together for the first time. Few of these young adults knew what the ARF was about. (11). Do we consider it important to inform and educate our people as to our philosophy, our purpose, and our methods in confronting the issues facing the Armenian nation both internationally and domestically? Is it remotely possible that most Armenian Americans are not cognizant of these problems? (12))

Observation three: Have we noted the lack of interest by our youth in becoming involved? Or the number of AYF Juniors, AYF Seniors, and Homenetmen members who opt at some later time in life to join the ARF Gomidehs or the Armenian Relief Society (ARS) chapters? Is it possible that we lack a compelling message? Or that we do not have a relevant one? Today is a far different world for our young people than, say, 20 years ago. Have we as an organization accommodated these changes? The strength of the ARF comes from the support derived from our people, and that support is directly related to their understanding and acceptance of the ARF. (13)

A question of revolutionary fervor
Could it be that we have lost the revolutionary fervor that was the hallmark of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation? (14) Historically we were a party of action and a party of ideas and ideals. It was never a question of whether we could or could not. We believed that we could right the wrongs that the nation had suffered. We believed that we could protect the interests of the nation. We believed that we could create a system of justice and equality for the Armenian worker and his family. It was the faith we had in ourselves individually and collectively that fueled the passion to serve and to protect the interests of our people. The ARF had a vision to fulfill, a vision that literally saved the survivors of the genocide from oblivion in the diaspora. I do not believe that same vision or passion currently exists. (15)

Mission two of a new agenda Our people must understand exactly what Hai Tahd represents and the role the ARF has in protecting those interests. The ARF in the United States has an opportunity to influence the policies and objectives ultimately adopted at the highest level of leadership. We must strive to transform the ARF in the United States into a dynamic, cohesive political organization capable of influencing the leadership because of our successes in outreach programs, fundraising, and in expanding our base of support. Continually having our admirable efforts at genocide recognition rejected does not inspire confidence in our operation. Not only are Artsakh and Javakhk of greater concern, but their favorable resolution will have an immediate and positive impact on the Armenian nation, Hai Tahd, and the ARF. (16)

Mission three of a new agenda

To define the Karabagh issue. What is the geographic relationship of Karabagh to Artsakh, or why are the Madrid Principles that are proposed as the basis for a negotiated settlement biased against Karabagh’s interests? Have we done all we can to acquaint our population in the United States with the history of this region and the inequities our people suffered during the 70 years under the jurisdiction of Azerbaijan? (17)

We have allowed Turkey and Azerbaijan to frame the issue as Armenian irredentism. Artsakh gainingde jure independence (at the very least, not losing its present de facto independent status) is one of several immediate issues facing the Armenian nation and the ARF. Dashnaks were members of the Karabagh government that declared independence and the ARF was an active participant in Karabagh’s war for independence. The reversion of Artsakh to Azeri control would be a serious defeat for Armenia and the ARF. If Artsakh is beyond saving, what of the remaining injustices represented byHai Tahd? The various interests that represent American society—business leaders, educators, journalists, advocacy groups, and the Congressional Armenian Caucus, to name but a few—must be made aware of all aspects of the Karabagh issue if success is to be ours. (18)

Mission four of a new agenda
To monitor and publicize the deplorable situation of the Javakhk Armenians and to seek assistance not only to alleviate their condition, but to support their legitimate demands as citizens of Georgia. Again, the plight of the Javakhkahayer (Javakhk Armenians) is not well known within the Armenian community. Conflicting reports define the situation in terms that benefit Georgia. An International Crisis Group briefing dated May 23, 2011 states: “Although Tbilisi has significantly invested in infrastructure and acquiesced to the use of the Armenian language in schools and public administration Javakheti still faces serious problems.”

A Yerkir Union of NGO’s for Repatriation and Settlement press release dated April 18, 2011 challenges the U.S. State Department’s 2010 Human Rights Report on Georgia, claiming that “…the facts of violation of the rights of the Armenians of Javakheti have been presented in an incomplete and distorted manner.” The areas that the Yerkir Union press release noted cover a range of economic, political, and cultural violations that are more serious than those mentioned in the 2010 report on Georgia or in the International Crisis Group Briefing. If this policy of forced acculturation, population resettlement, and economic and political marginalization continues, historic Armenian Javakhk will be irretrievably lost within several generations. (19)

Genocide recognition within context of ‘Hai Tahd’
The demand that Turkey should, as the successor state to the Ottoman-Turkish Empire, recognize its responsibility for the Armenian Genocide must continue. (20) However this demand may be articulated in the future, it should be presented within the framework of Hai Tahd, not as an isolated injustice that can be resolved by passage of a Congressional resolution recognizing the murder of 1.5 million Armenian men, women, and children as genocide. (21) The ARF and the ANCA should set their agendas to undertake those missions that have greatest urgency and significance to Hai Tahd and the nation.

The historic role of the ARF
The ARF is the principal counterweight to the government of the Republic of Armenia. Whether in Armenia or in the diaspora, it fulfills the role of the loyal opposition. During the century from its inception in 1890 to the founding of the second independent Republic of Armenia in 1991, the ARF ably and singularly represented the interests of the Armenian people. (22) Whatever shortcomings or failures it may have experienced, the dedication, vision, and accomplishments of the ARF during this period cannot be legitimately challenged. (23)The ARF and the ANCA has served its people with distinction, but both entities should take the opportunity to set agendas that not only address the immediate issues confronting our nation, but seek to expand its influence well beyond its traditional base of support. (24)

http://www.armenianweekly.com June 8,2011
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Notes and counter comments by Sukru Server Aya:

1- If there were “no dispute on the genocide statement”, why would you need to reaffirm “yourself”! Why are you afraid of questioning? Billions of people believe in hell and paradise, but is this enough for this being the “intelligent truth”?

2- Wouldn’t you like to remind President Obama and House speakers to first have a look into the following documents?

Armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2010/08/3135-congress-report-266-american.html
Armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2010/08/3131-near-east-relief-31-dec-1921.html

3- Systematic murders? By whom? : Armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2010/07/3116-niles-and-sutherland-report.html

4- Crime and punishment is not hereditary. Apparently the writer is not aware even of the settlement between USA and Turkey! See: Armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2010/08/3132-free-consolation-versus-frail.html

5- Economic and military aid to Armenia? See above two reports under note (2). Huge RELIEF AIDS to Armenia included even three airplanes! Were they used for “ambulance purposes”? Grabbing Karabagh and 20% of Azerbaijan territory apparently was not sufficient! You need more to grab from Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey in case Russia does not help!

6- From Leslie A. Davis’ book “The slaughterhouse Province”, p.183: “…lying and trickery and inordinate love of money…Every trick and devices are resorted by those who are not in need as well as by those in need”!

7- Concentration of Armenians is less than one million and only about one third of them accepted to be called “Armenian”.

8- Attachment to community costs money and escalating obligations or liabilities to ARF solidaritarian measures.

9- It is still a mystery from day one, if ARF (ANCA) needed funds to reach certain targets, or targets had to be fabricated to justify collection of “un-audited funds”. Watch: Armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2007/08/1859-video-nbc-special-armenian.html and hear Mourat Topalian speaking of “receipt copies” for money collected to send terrorists to Lebanon for training as ASALA or Justice Commandos!

10- How come? ANCA asks for on-line donation practically with every letter they send out!

11- So, you still market ARF principles which brought nothing but calamities to the “well to do Armenians, who were the cream of the Ottoman society” by dragging them into revolutionary dreams by taking their money!

12- Good! So they start to realize that U.S. citizenship counts first in relation to ethnicity!

13- Is that warming state policies or putting a stick in the bee hornet to drag the community into new adventures?

14- “Revolutionary Fervor”? In this era of globalization? Revolt against whom, why? What a mental sickness!

15- ARF saved no survivors except they arranged immigration of some 22.000 Armenians in the Nazi Army to be accepted in USA as “displaced persons” of course if they paid the fee! See “Armenian Affairs”, 1949, 50.Vol.1, No.1, Roy Carson!

16- Empty ballast words to boost morale and inject new adventures by brainwashing youn generation!

17- Why do you advocate against the UN Resolutions? You have grabbed (by bribing Russia with military bases) Karabagh and also some 20% of the Azeri land. Thousands were murdered by ARF leaders some now heading the Armenian Republic and about a million have been thrown out of their houses still living in provisional camps!

18- Wow! Still grabbing land by force for more and praising ARF banditry which brought nothing but disasters!

19- Human Rights, for Armenians only? How many Jews are left (a few hundreds) in Armenia? How many Moslems are left in Armenia (NONE) nowadays? In 1850s, 70% of the population of present Armenia was Muslims!

20- Above referred documents prove the opposite.

21- Wow! I invite the writer and readers to refer to my essay: Armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2008/10/2610-genocide-lies-need-no-archives.html and give a logical explanation as regards “how is it possible to kill 1.5 millions out of a total of 1.3 millions and have a balance of 1.414.000? Who is lying? Which document of mine is untrue?

22- Whose interests? Armenian people or the ARF leaders’?

23- Why it cannot be challenged? May be too much trash hidden piled under the carpet? Even Medicare fraud must be investigated!

24- ARF and ANCA have always cared for their own income and interests and not the community’s!

Note: My book : Armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2008/04/2429-new-e-book-genocide-of-truth-based.html has been on the internet since 2008 free for loading or reprints! I am still waiting for any comment to refute any of my sources!

Sukru S. Aya, Istanbul, June 10, 2011
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Further Comments By (78.187.137.120) Ankara, Turkey

The modern (!) world’s predominant philosophy depends on this understanding: ‘I have the right of writing the history of the nations as they want, or as they do not want or as I myself like’ This philosophy is an insult to the historians and the nations themselves.

If Turks committed a genocide which is the greatest crime of humanity, and if Turkey really avoids of facing its history, and if the Armenians and their supporters sincerely want Turkey to do it, then why do the Armenians persistently refuse Turkey’s suggestions to discuss these events together with historians from both sides and other countries?

For example:

“Our objective is to have the matter investigated by historians and experts. We are ready to accept the decision of the joint historical commission. We agree for different professionals from various countries to be involved” Abdullah Gul recently said. If historians committee project could be realized, issue of so called Armenian genocide will not be discussed by politicians but by historians. Furthermore, other than Turkish and Armenian historians, historians from third countries will also be included.

The Turks who were eager for establishment of such an historical commission, were supported by the United Nations, European Parliament and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). http://www.tegenwicht.org/weblog_2006/67_armeens.... http://www.volkskrantblog.nl/bericht/77330, http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/domestic/93374... and was very happy.

While Turkey was eager and very happy, the Armenians were exceedingly unwilling and very angry.

http://www.keghart.com/content/dans-la-rue#english; http://www.hairenik.com/armenianweekly/august_2004/history001.html


In an interview with Armenian Reporter, Prof Richard Hovannisian from California University and the father of Raffi Hovannisian, the first Foreign Minister of Armenia, said: ‘It is very dangerous to establish such an historical commission…because according to 1948 United Nations’s Genocide Convention, a deliberate and planned massacre is mandatory. The Turks will accept that nearly 200-300 thousand Armenian died; but nobody can call them deliberate acts. In Turkish Archives the Turks have the telegrams sent from vilayets about the then Armenian upraisals and documents about the Armenians who fled from the Ottoman Army. So, the Turkish historians will accuse the Armenians and say that all these events were a reaction to what the Armenians did and were not deliberate’ http://www.kophaber.com/news_detail.php?id=4726

One of the supporters of so called Armenian genocide resolutions in U.S. Congress, Adam Schiff said “A committee about history is a struggle for distracting the truth. Turkey cannot rewrite history in exchange for good relations with Armenia.”

ANCA and other Armenian lobbying organizations stated that Armenia is forced to make dangerous concessions by Turkey and that Turkey’s moves towards establishing joint historians commission aims to call so called Armenian genocide into question and suspend its international recognition. ANCA’s aim is to provide recognition of so called Armenian genocide by U.S. Congress before establishment of a historians committee to discuss the events by keeping pressure on the Congress.

Let us go to a few years ago:

*In 2004, the Viennese Armenian-Turkish Platform (VAT) was founded to exchange documents about the 1915 events by Austrian, Turkish and Armenian historians. After receiving 100 Turkish documents, the Armenians abandoned the project refusing to continue to fulfill their commitments and afterwards the Armenian foreign minister announced that they did not want to discuss the 1915 events with historians.

(I. Press Release 11.1.2005 Viennese Armenian-Turkish Platform – VAT
The Viennese Armenian-Turkish Platform deeply regrets to announce that she will not carry through her starting initiative „The First Viennese Armenian-Turkish Round Table” (FVATR Vienna 2005) originally planned for spring 2005. The reason is that the Armenian partner has not provided us with the necessary confirmation as agreed in August 2004…….On the other hand, the Turkish partner accepted already to participate in the dialogue, in which each part was supposed to present 180 documents on the year 1915 showing their understanding of this delicate matter. http://www.turkishdigest.com/documents/VATpressrelase.pdf

*Armenia refused the Turkish prime minister's and the Turkish Assembly's invitation announced on April 13, 2005 which suggested to establish a Joint Commission composed of historians from both sides and discuss the events which took place during the 1st World War.

*And the Turkish prime minister repeated the same invitation on February 2008 , in Munich at the 44th Security Conference where the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Oskanian also attended?


In neither of these invitations was there any precondition, unlike it is claimed by the Armenians.

***Why did the Armenian historian Sarafyan, who accepted the invitation of the then chief of Turkish History Foundation, Halacoglu, for cooperation to investigate Harput events, abandon the project, after talking the Armenian diaspora?

*The Ottoman and Turkish archives are open, unlike it is claimed by the diaspora. http://www.ankara.edu.tr/english/yazi.php?yad=36. http://www.tsk.mil.tr/ENGLISH/8_FRAGMENTS_FORM_HI...
http://louisville.edu/a-s/history/turks/Documents... http://louisville.edu/a-s/history/turks/Documents... http://www.devletarsivleri.gov.tr/kitap/kitap.asp...

Even, Armenian historian Ara Sarafian from Gomitas Institute and Hilmar Kaiser searched the Ottoman archives (www.sarigelinbelgeseli.com


*In spite of this, why are the Armenian archives including the one in Zoryan Armenian Institute in Boston closed? Both Turkish government and Turkish History Foundation offered the Armenians to open these archives; but the directors of the Zoryan Institute replied that they did not have enough money to open the archives. Turkish government and Turkish History Foundation promised financial support.Why did the Armenians refuse this suggestion too? (Nüzhet Kandemir, http://www.ntvmsnbc.com/news/418517.asp).

Note that Zoryan Institute has quite enough money to provide financial support for Taner Akçam who advocated the Armenian claims while working in Minnesota University until recently.

Why have the Armenians always been terribly afraid of establishment of historical joint commissions?

Is it not striking that Armenian historian Sarafian, the head of the London-based Gomidas Institute, said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s offer to Armenia to establish a commission of historians to resolve the Armenian issue was positive, but Armenia was the wrong address. He also said that freedom of expression for historians in Armenia is limited and the genocide issue has become a political tool. http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/domestic/10426

If a genocide had really occurred, why did Brian Ardouny of the Armenian Assembly of America announce ‘We don’t need to prove the genocide historically, because it has already been accepted politically’?

Why did the chief of the Armenian Archives in Armenia tell that they were not interested in the archives, but all they are interested is the world’s public opinion?

Or why have the Armenians not admitted to an international court yet?

In your life, have you ever seen a criminal who persistently calls the victim to bring his evidences?

And, have you ever seen a victim who passionately accuses somebody of committing crime and giving him great harm but strictly avoids of bringing his proofs before the referees or going to court, and tells that he need not prove that person’s guilt, because the community has already accepted him as guilty?

In this situation would you not question the era you are living in? 5000 BC or 2000BC?

What else should the Turks do to face their history?

Is it Turkey/Turks or Armenia and those who support them who are terribly afraid of facing their history?

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3264) How Ara Sarafian Excavates Words & Figures Through His Own Imagination From Ambiguous Notes

Gomidas Institute
© 2011 Ara Sarafian

CONTENTS
Introduction by Ara Sarafian
Map
TALAAT PASHA’S 1917 REPORT
Opening Summary Page: Data and Calculations
WESTERN PROVINCES (MAP)
Constantinople
Edirne vilayet
Chatalja mutasarriflik
Izmit mutasarriflik
Hudavendigar (Bursa) vilayet
Karesi mutasarriflik 28
Kala-i Sultaniye (Chanakkale) mutasarriflik
Eskishehir vilayet
Aydin vilayet
Kutahya mutasarriflik
Afyon Karahisar mutasarriflik
Konia vilayet
Menteshe mutasarriflik
Teke (Antalya) mutasarriflik
CENTRAL PROVINCES (MAP)
Ankara (Angora) vilayet
Bolu mutasarriflik
Kastamonu vilayet 40
Janik (Samsun) mutasarriflik
Nigde mutasarriflik
Kayseri mutasarriflik
Adana vilayet
Ichil mutasarriflik
EASTERN PROVINCES (MAP)
Sivas vilayet
Erzerum vilayet
Bitlis vilayet
Van vilayet
Trebizond vilayet
Mamuretulaziz (Elazig) vilayet
SOUTH EASTERN PROVINCES AND RESETTLEMENT ZONE (MAP)
Marash mutasarriflik
Aleppo (Halep) vilayet
Urfa mutasarriflik
Diyarbekir vilayet
Syria vilayet
Zor mutasarriflik
Mosul vilayet
Beirut vilayet
Jerusalem (Kudus-i Sherif) vilayet
Appendix 1: A Report from the Turkish Military Archives
Appendix 2: Talaat’s “Black Booklet”
Map 1: Destruction of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, 1915-17
Map 2: Surviving Armenian Deportees in the Ottoman Empire, 1917

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3236) Misuse of “Memoirs of Count Bernstorff” in Armenian Nationalist Publications

18 March 2011

*Maxime Gauin

ABSTRACT

To maintain the use of more than dubious sources (the “Andonian documents” and Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story), the Memoirs of Count Bernstorff, or more exactly three short quotations, were used by a part of the Armenian side as a corroborative proof. However, two of the three quotations from these Memoirs are tendentiously extracted of their context, and the third is just an unreliable opinion.


KEYWORDS

Andonian, Dadrian, Bersntorff, genocide, Morgenthau, Ternon, Dadrian. .

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From the 1980’s, some Armenian and pro-Armenian writers refer to the Memoirs of Count Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff, ambassador of Germany in Ottoman Empire from 1917 to 1918, as a complementary evidence of the alleged intention of CUP government to extermination Ottoman Armenians, so to support the “genocide” label. This use appeared in a precise context: the desperate attempts to defend the authenticity of crude forgeries, i.e. the “Andonian documents” [1] then the Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story. [2] These attempts were made by the Armenian-American sociologist Vahakn N. Dadrian [3] (currently director of the Zoryan Institute, a think-tank close to Armenian Revolutionary Federation [ARF], after his forced retirement from State University of New York because sexual harassment) and his French follower, the surgeon Yves Ternon [4], also a great friend of ARF, who acknowledges to have been leaded on Armenian issue only by Armenian nationalist groups or individuals, and to have always refused any contact with Turkish historians [5]. Both Mr. Dadrian’s and Mr. Ternon’s argumentations on Andonian and Morgenthau are, as a whole, less than convincing [6], that is why even Armenian and pro-Armenian historians raised serious doubts on the authenticity of “Andonian telegrams” [7]; but the goal of this paper is limited to the misuse of Bernstorff’s Memoirs, published in German in 1935, and translated into English one year later. [8]

The Quotations

In the 1980’s, Mrs. Dadrian and Ternon used one quotation of Memoirs of Count Bernstorff, to corroborate the allegations of Aram Andonian’s forged documents:

“When I kept on pestering him about the Armenian question, he once said with a smile: ‘What on earth do you want? The question is settled, there are no more Armenians,’ […].”

In 1999, Mr. Dadrian used the same quotation to defend the Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story, arguing that “German ambassador Bernstorff in his memoirs quotes Talât almost in identical terms”. [9]

No surprisingly, the quotation was used again, later, by others. [10]

In 1995, Mr. Dadrian used also two other quotations, in a rather different context, but also to support the “genocide” allegation [11]:

“His complicity in the Armenian crime he [Talat] atoned for his death.”

“Armenia [= Eastern Anatolia] where the Turks have systematically trying to exterminate the Christian population.”

It is hardly doubtful that if such sentences are accepted are face value, with such interpretation, they constitute a clear indication in favor of the “genocide” label, even if they represent a tiny part of the Memoirs of Count Bernstorff. Both Andonian’s and Morgenthau’s books depict Talat as a ferocious criminal; in the perspective of Mr. Dadrian and Mr. Ternon, the Memoirs of Count Bernstorff corroborate partially such an enormous allegations. However, a more attentive look gives a quite different version.

Critique

The most evident distortion is the first and the most used (“When I kept on pestering him about the Armenian question, he once said with a smile: ‘What on earth do you want? The question is settled, there are no more Armenians’”). The context clarifies the meaning of Bernstorff :

“In this connection an excellent instance is the Grand Vizier, Talaat Pasha, subsequently murdered by an Armenian in Berlin, whom I learnt to respect and liked during my service in Constantinople. A man of absolute integrity, he had unusual gifts that enabled him to climb the steep ascent from the position of telegraph official to that of leading statesman, and a statesman he was in the truest sense of the word. There was not a sign of the parvenu in his behaviour or ideas. As Grand Vizier, Talaat Pasha always gave the impression of a ‘grand seigneur’, and his political conceptions were unencumbered by any pettiness. I never knew any Turk who could fairly be compared with him. He did indeed often promise me more than he could perform. […] However that may be, Talaat usually recognized the right way, and as time went on — and especially after every visit to Europe, he became more of a match for his mighty task. If any statesman could have succeeded in reforming the old Ottoman Empire, it would have been Talaat Pasha, provided that he had been able to consolidate his power and influence. As I have mentioned above, I am not referring to the Turkish Republic of today, with which I unfortunately have no acquaintance.

This constant and considerable contrast between desire and achievement induced in the Grand Vizier a delightful blend of skepticism and gentle cynicism, which increased the charm of that attractive personality. When I kept on pestering him about the Armenian question, he once said with a smile: ‘What on earth do you want? The question is settled, there are no more Armenians,’ a reply which, while admitting his own complicity in the crime, hinted that the European accounts might be exaggerated.” [12]

The most comprehensive quotation is almost self-explanatory:

1) Unlike in Andonian’s forged documents and in Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story, Talat is not depicted by Bernstorff as a monster, a bloody villain, but, quite the contrary, as a moderate and responsible “statesman”.

2) The sentence “The question is settled, there are no more Armenians” is an expression of black humor, criticizing the distorted narrative of pro-Armenian propaganda.

3) Bernstorff does not present Talat as the supervisor of crimes perpetrated against Armenian civilians, but as an “accomplice”.

What Bernstorff means by “complicity” is explained by the context of the second misused quotation:

“His complicity in the Armenian crime he atoned for his death. On this matter he was an offspring of his nation. The statesmen of other lands have often been equally guilty in not opposing and rebuking the prejudices of their fellow-citizens, and it would be unjust to apply European standards to a Turkish statesman, even to one of the caliber of Talaat Pasha.” [13]

So, it is clear that Bernstorff blamed Talat for his incapacity to prevent atrocities committed by some Turks, Kurds, Circassians and Arabs against displaced Armenians, not for any criminal designs against these exiles.

Arrived to this point, let’s notice that the Memoirs of General Otto Liman von Sanders, chief of German military mission in Ottoman Empire (1913-1918), contain also great a praising of Talat’s character, as well as a rebuttal of central government’s guilty in atrocities committed against a part of displaced Armenians. [14]

The third and last quotation (“Armenia [= Eastern Anatolia] where the Turks have systematically trying to exterminate the Christian population” in 1915-1916) is nor distorted neither tendentiously extracted of its context, and so is the single which could be used to support the “genocide” label — however a strange “genocide”, concerning only Armenians of Eastern Anatolia, and not desired by the actual Ottoman central authorities, contrary to all the literature supporting such a label for the Armenian case. Anyway, the Memoirs of Count Bernstorff, like any other historical source, have to be submitted to internal and external critiques.

Bernstorff was not in Turkey but in USA during the Armenian displacement of 1915-1916; as ambassador in Ottoman Empire, he did quit Istanbul; nowhere in his Memoirs, he claims to have carried a particular investigation on 1915-1916 events, for instance in interviewing German officials of embassy and consulates; nowhere Bernstorff mentions the fifth-column role played from the beginning of WWI Armenian revolutionaries, a fact well documented in German sources [15]; despite his praising of Talat Pasha, Bernstorff’s prejudices about Oriental peoples (surely not worse than the average of his time, that is right) and his lack of curiosity for Turkey (he acknowledges to know roughly nothing on Kemalist Republic) are clear in his book. No one of these facts shows Bernstorff as a first-choice witness for the tragedy of 1915-1916.

More important is the fact that several German witnesses, who were in Eastern Anatolia during WWI, have a quite different version of the story. Especially, General Felix Guse argued that the goal of the forced displacement was to crush the numerous, and coordinated, rebellions of Armenian revolutionary committees which started as early as 1914; and that the atrocities against displaced Armenians were not systematic. [16] General Friedrich Bronsart von Schellendorf supported the same conclusions, and stressed on the absence of criminal designs in Talat’s policy vis-à-vis the Armenians. [17] Heinrich Bergfeld, German consul in Trabzon, whose reports are also used highly selectively by Armenian and pro-Armenian writers — including Mr. Ternon —, concluded, too, that the fate of Armenian deportees was extremely variable, depending on the quality of the escort. [18] The findings of Ernst Jäckh, a German scholar who carried out unofficial missions for German government in Ottoman Empire during WWI, corroborate these conclusions. [19]

Similarly, the journalists Gustav Hjalmar Pravitz (Swedish), George Abel Schreiner (American), and Stefan Steiner (Austrian), who investigated in eastern Anatolia — and even, for the first, in Arab provinces — testified that there was no systematic destruction of Armenians; all three stressed that bureaucratic ineptness and lack of relevant material were mostly responsible for the human losses, and that allegations of atrocities widely diffused in Western countries contained a substantial part of inventions and exaggerations. [20] Stefan Steiner witnessed also the war crimes of Armenian volunteers against Turkish civilians in 1918. [21]

Even in the Blue Book published in 1916 by the Bryce-Toynbee team [22], one can find at least one Western testimony, the statement of the missionary Mary L. Graffam, rejecting explicitly the allegation of systematic extermination, as well as any blame on top-rank Ottoman officials or Ottoman government. [23] Unlike the majority of sources used in the work of “war propaganda” (according to Arnold J. Tonybee’s proper words [24]), Graffam testified only on what she saw, and interviewed both Turks and Armenians.

The major Edward W. C. Noel, sent in 1919 to Anatolia by British government to fight the Kemalists, concluded, after investigation, that Turkish atrocities against Armenians during WWI were “isolated” — at least in the region where he travelled —, and added that the war crimes of Armenian and Nestorian volunteers against Kurds in 1916 were — at least in his region, one more time — worse and more “systematic”. [25]
So, even in neglecting the considerable body of Ottoman evidence against the charge of systematic extermination [26] and the failure of Malta’s British prosecutor to find any evidence for this charge [27], and in focusing on Western sources, the conclusion imposed by an impartial study is that Bernstorff’s allegation is prejudiced and not convincing.


Conclusion

In attempting to save, against all the evidence, the authenticity of crude forgeries, two of the most prominent supporters of “Armenian genocide” label misused of the Memoirs of Count Bernstorff, by distorted quotations and the elevation of one unreliable opinion until the rank of evidence. Both these authors are perfectly able to understand that they do not make an honest and scholar use of Bernstorff’s book. But such a finding will surprise nobody familiarized with Mr. Dadrian’s and Mr. Ternon’s selective, and in several cases purely misleading, use of sources. [28]
The scholar study of Armenian issue, a highly sensitive and politicized topic, aggravated far after 1916 by Armenian terrorism and use of both verbal and physical violence — until an attempt of murder by explosives — against historians who disagree with “genocide” allegation [29], needs a special attention to the classical duties of historical work. The shortcomings are certainly not coming from the Armenian side only, but the recurrent use of notorious forgeries — like the “Andonian documents”, the Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story, or Mevlanzade Rifat’s book — and seriously dishonest quotations is the exclusivity of Armenian and pro-Armenian authors. [30] A real debate on the tragedy of 1915-1916 requests that scholars calling “genocide” the fate of Ottoman Armenians express clearly and definitely their condemnation of misleading propaganda; and their acceptance that those who challenge the charge of “genocide” are not necessarily lackeys of the Turkish government, mislead idiots or morally obtuse individuals. Unfortunately, excepted Hilmar Kaiser, few supporters of “Armenian genocide” label have such a scholar level. The basic fact that, since 1915, no one conclusive evidence was showed to support the charge of planned extermination [31] and, on the other hand, the strong proofs that Ottoman government severely punished several hundreds of Muslims who believed wrongly that everything was permitted during the forced displacement [32], as well as positive measures — like the protective policy of Djemal Pasha (Cemal Paşa), third figure of CUP regime, in favor of Armenian exiles [33] or the big expenses of central government for them [34] —, should however incite to humility and prudence.

The needed reconciliation between Turks and Armenian implies an impartial study of the past and a mutual, full condemnation of crimes committed from both sides. Until today, the huge historical literature “contains frequently considerable historical distortions, which takes away any value to it,” as pointed correctly Prof. Xavier de Planhol, one of the best scholars of Turkish studies. [35]The misuse of Memoirs of Count Bernstorff is just one distortion among so many others.

*Maxime Gauin is a visiting researcher at USAK.

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References:

1) The most comprehensive demonstration on Andonian’s fake documents is: Şinasi Orel and Sürreya Yuca, The Talât Pasha Telegrams. Historical Fact or Armenian Fiction?, Nicosia: K. Rüstem & Brothers, 1986 (first edition in Turkish, Ankara, TTK, 1983); it is summarized in Türkkaya Ataöv, The Andonian “documents” attributed to Talat Pasha are Forgeries!, Ankara University Press, 1984 and Jean Loyrette’s argumentation for Orly attack’s trial: Terrorist attack at Orly: Statements and Evidence Presented at the Trial. February 19 - March 2 1985, Ankara University Press, 1985.

2) On this book, see Heath Lowry, The Story Behind Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story, Istanbul: The Isis Press, 1990; see also Şükrü Aya, The Genocide of Truth Continues… But Facts Tell the Truth, Istanbul: Derin Yayinevi, 2010; Harry Elmer Barnes, The Genesis of the World War, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1926, pp. 241-247; C. Hartley Grattan, Why We Fought, New York: The Vanguard Press, 1929, pp. 250-251; George Abel Schreiner, The Craft Sinister, New York: G. Albert Geyer, 1920, pp. XXI and 125-126.

3) “The Naim-Andonian Documents on the World War I Destruction of Ottoman Armenians: The Anatomy of a Genocide,” International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. XVIII, Issue 3, August 1986.

4) Yves Ternon, Enquête sur la négation d’un génocide, Marseille: Parenthèses, 1989.

5) Yves Ternon, Les Arméniens. Histoire d’un génocide, Paris: Le Seuil, 1977, second edition, 1996 (English translation: The Armenians. History of a Genocide, New York, St Vartan’s Press, 1984).

6) Michael M. Gunter, “Gunter Response to Dadrian Article,” International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Volume 19, Issue 4, November 1987, pp. 523-524; “A Reply to Judith Tucker’s Excperpt of Vahakn Dadrian's Article,” id., Volume 40, Issue 4, Autumn 2008, pp. 728-729; Guenter Lewy, The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey, Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2005, pp. 65-73 and 140-142; Jean-Louis Mattei, Belgelerle Büyük Ermenistan Peşinde Ermeni Komiteleri, Ankara: Bilgi Yayinevi, 2008.

7) For instance: Christopher Walker, “World War I and the Armenian Genocide,” in Richard G. Hovannisian, (ed.) The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Time, New York: St Martin’s Press, 1997, p. 247.

8) Erinnerungen und Briefe, Zurich: Polygraph Verlag, 1935; Memoirs of Count Bernstorff, New York: Random House, 1936 (translated from German by Eric Sutton); Whitefish (USA): Kessinger Publishing, 2010.

9) V. N. Dadrian, The Key Elements of the Turkish Denial of the Armenian Genocide: a Case Study of Distortion and Falsification, Cambridge (Massachusetts)-Toronto: Zoryan Institute, 1999, p. 41.

10) For instance: http://www.imprescriptible.fr/citations/diplomates

11) V. N. Dadrian, The History of the Armenian Genocide, Providence: Berghahn Books, 2004, p. 211, n. 19 (1st edition, 1995).

12) Memoirs of Count Bernstorff, op. cit., pp. 175-176.

13) Memoirs of Count Bernstorff, op. cit., p. 180.

14) Ottoman Liman von Sanders, Cinq ans de Turquie, Paris: Payot, 1923 (translated from German by Major Mabille), pp. 13 and 185 (original version: Fünf Jahre Türkei, Berlin, A. Scherl, 1920 ; English translation: Five Years in Turkey, Anapolis, United States Naval Institute, 1927; Naval & Military Press Publications, 2005).

15) Edward J. Erickson, “The Armenians and Ottoman Military Policy,” War in History, Volume XV, Issue 2, Spring 2008, pp. 141-167 ; Guenter Lewy, op. cit., pp. 93-94, 99 and 117.

16) Felix Guse, »Der Armenien Aufstand 1915 und seine Folgen«, Wissen und Wehr, Volume VI, 1925, pp. 609-621.

17) Friedrich Bronsart von Schellendorf, »Ein Zeugnis für Talaat Pascha«, Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, 24 July 1921.

18) Guenter Lewy, op. cit., pp. 145-146 et 178-182; Hikmet Özdemir and alii, Ermeniler: Sürgün ve Göç, Ankara, TTK, 2004, pp. 77-82.

19) Ernest Jackh (Ernst Jäckh), The Rising Crescent, New York-Toronto: Farrar & Rinehart, 1944, pp. 43-45, 134 and 163.

20) Gustav H. Pravitz, “Armeniernas läge,” Nya Dagligt Allehanda, 23 April 1917; George Abel Schreiner, op. cit., pp. 124-125; Stefan Steiner, “Armenië,” Algemeen Handelsblad, 25 May 1920 (I express my thanks to Michael van der Galiën for the translation).

21) Justin McCarthy, Death and Exile. The Ethnic Cleansing of Ottoman Muslims. 1821-1922, Princeton, Darwin Press, 1996, pp. 230 and 242, n. 107.

22) On the general methods of this propaganda team, see, for instance: Horace C. Peterson, Propaganda for War: The Campaign Against American Neutrality, 1914-1917, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1939, pp. 53-59; and Arthur Ponsonby, Falsehood in War Time, London: Unwin Brothers, 1928, pp. 78-82 and 128-134.

23) The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, London-New York-Toronto: Hodder & Stoughton, 1916, pp. 305-308. To understand why Graffam’s report is unfortunately not representative of the average level of this Blue Book, see Justin McCarthy, “Wellington House and the Turks,” in The Turks, Ankara: Yeni Türkiye, 2002, tome IV, pp. 457-467; Hikmet Özdemir, Arnold Toynbee’nin Ermeni Sorununa Bakışı, Ankara, 2005; James Morgan Read, Atrocity Propaganda. 1914-1919, New Haven-London: Yale University Press/Oxford University Press, 1941, pp. 221-222; and Ahmet Rüstem Bey, La Guerre mondiale et la question turco-arménienne, Berne: Stæmpfli & Cie, 1918, pp. 95-132.

24) Arnold J. Toynbee, The Western Question in Greece and Turkey, London-Bombay-Sydney, Constable & C°, 1922, p. 50.

25) Stanford J. Shaw, From Empire to Republic. The Turkish War of National Liberation, Ankara: TTK, 2000, tome II, p. 922.

26) For example: Kâmuran Gürün, The Armenian File, Istanbul, Türkiye iş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, 2007 (first edition in English, 1985), pp. 237-292; Hikmet Özdemir and Yusuf Sarınay, op. cit.; Şinasi Orel and Sürreya Yuca, op. cit.

27) Guenter Lewy, op. cit., pp. 125-126; Bilâl N. Şimşir, The Deportees of Malta and the Armenian Question, 2nd edition, Ankara, 2003 ; Salâhi R. Sonyel, “Armenian Deportations: A Re-Appraisal in the Light of New Documents,” Belleten, January 1972, pp. 59-60.

28) Mary Schaeffer Conroy, “Review of Vahakn N. Dadrian, Warrant for Genocide : Key Elements of Turco-Armenian Conflict,” The Social Science Journal, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3, July 2000, pp. 481-483; Edward J. Erickson, “Armenian Massacres, New Records Undercut Old Blame”, The Middle East Quarterly, Volume XIII, N° 3, Summer 2006 ; Clive Foss, “Book Review of Vahakn Dadrian, German Responsabilities in the Armenian Genocide,” The Institute for the Study of Genocide Newsletter, Autumn 1997, pp. 12-16; Hilmar Kaiser, “Germany and the Armenian Genocide, Part II: Reply to Vahakn N. Dadrian’s Response”, Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies, IX, 1996, pp. 135-40; Guenter Lewy, op. cit., pp. 46-89, 94 and 160-161; Georges de Maleville, La Tragédie arménienne de 1915, Paris: Lanore, 1988; Jeremy Salt, “Forging the Past: OUP and the Armenian Question,” Eurasia Critic, January 2010; Malcolm E. Yapp, “Book Review”, Middle Eastern Studies, Volume XXXII, Issue 4, October 1996, pp. 395-397.

29) Maria Çakırağa, Statement in Opposition to Parole of Hampig “Harry” Sassounian (C-88440), 2010; Michael M. Gunter, “Pursuing the Just Cause of their People”. A Study of Contemporary Armenian Terrorism, Westport-New York-London: Greenwood Press, 1986; Gaïdz Minassian, Guerre et terrorisme arméniens. 1972-1998, Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 2002; “Crude Bomb Explodes at UCLA Professor’s Home,” The Los Angeles Times, 4 October 1977, p. D1; “Armenians: Community in Turkey Worried Over Impact of Terrorism.” The Los Angeles Times, 12 May 1982, p. B26; “Armenian Terrorism: Near East Feud Rages in America,” The Washington Post, 17 May 1982, p. A1; “Press Clanger,” Times Higher Education, 29 March 1996; « Veinstein persiste mais en vain », Haïastan, June 2000, p. 10.

30) In addition to the above mentioned references, see Türkkaya Ataöv, Armenian Falsifications, New York: Okey, 2008; Cem Özgönül, Der Mythos Eines Völkermordes, Köln: Önel Verlag, 2005; Erman Şahin, “A Scrutiny of Akçam’s Version of History and the Armenian Genocide,” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2, 2008, pp. 303-319; id., “Review Essay: The Armenian Question,” Middle East Policy, Volume XVII, N° 1, Spring 2010, pp. 144-157.

31) Guenter Lewy, passim.

32) Yusuf Halaçoğlu, The Story of 1915. What Happened to the Ottoman Armenians?, Ankara: TTK, 2008, pp. 82-87; Guenter Lewy, op. cit., pp. 111 and 113; Hikmet Özdemir and Yusuf Sarınay (ed.), Turkish-Armenian Conflict Documents, Ankara: TBMM, 2007, p. 261.

33) Guenter Lewy, op. cit., pp. 196-198 and 218-220.

34) Yusuf Halaçoğlu, op. cit., pp. 71-82.

35) Xavier de Planhol, Minorités en Islam. Géographie politique et sociale, Paris: Flammarion, 1997, p. 450, n. 144.

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http://www.turkishweekly.net/article/402/the-misuse-of-memoirs-of-count-bernstorff-in-armenian-nationalist-publications.html
Turkish Weekly is an USAK Publication. USAK is the leading Ankara based Turkish think-tank.

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3115) Free E-Book: Two War Years In Constantinople, Sketches Of German And Young Turkish Ethics And Politics By Dr. Harry Stuermer

Dr. Harry Stuermer
Late Correspondent Of The Kölnische Zeitung In Constantinople (1915-16)
Translated From The German E. Allen And The Author Dr. Harry Stuermer
New York George H. Doran Company J. C. & A. L. Fawcett, Inc. Publishers

Made in U.S.A. ISBN 0-941567-15-X

Harry Stuermer (Sturmer) — a German journalist — was the correspondent of Kölnische Zeitung newspaper in Constantinople during the war years of 1915–16. . .

His book Two War Years in Constantinople was published in 1917 after he had left Turkey and contained information about the genocide of Armenians in Ottoman Empire. Stuermer harshly criticized Turkish authorities as well as German policy towards its Turkish allies. The original German version of the book was published in neutral Switzerland. The German Foreign Office even bought the translation rights trying to block the Stuermer’s text from spreading, however the they did not manage to buy out the English translation rights promptly enough, and the English version was published soon after the German one.

In 2004 revised critical edition of the book was published by Dr. Hilmar Kaiser.

DECLARATION
The undersigned hereby declares on his sworn word of honour that in writing this volume he has been in no way inspired by outside influence, and that he has never had any dealings whatsoever, material or otherwise, either before or during the war, with any Government, organisation, propaganda, or personality hostile to Germany or Turkey or even of a neutral character. His conscience alone has urged him to write and publish his impressions, and he hopes that by so doing he may perform a service towards the cause of truth and civilisation.

Moreover, he can give formal assurance that he has expressly avoided making the acquaintance of any person resident in Switzerland until his manuscript should have been sent to press.

Furthermore, he has been actuated by no personal motives in thus giving public expression to no personal grievance, either material or moral, against any person whatsoever. Geneva,

June 1917.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

At the outbreak of war in Germany—The German "world-politicians" (Weltpolitiker) —German and English mentality—The "place in the sun"—England's declaration of war—German methods in Belgium and Alsace-Lorraine —Prussian arrogance —Militaristic journalism

CHAPTER II
To Constantinople—Pro-Turkish considerations—The dilemma of a Gallipoli correspondent—Under German military control

CHAPTER III
The great Armenian persecutions—The system of Talaat and Enver—A denunciation of Germany as a cowardly and conscienceless accomplice

CHAPTER IV
The tide of war—Enver's offensive for the "liberation of the Caucasus"—The Dardanelles Campaign; the fate of Constantinople twice hangs in the balance —Nervous tension in international Pera—Bulgaria's attitude—Turkish rancour against her former enemy—German illusions of a separate peace with Russia—King Ferdinand's time-serving—Lack of munitions in the Dardanelles—A mysterious death: a political murder?—The evacuation of Gallipoli—The Turkish version of victory—Constantinople unreleased—Kut-el-Amara—Propaganda foe the "Holy War"—A prisoner of repute—Loyalty of Anglo-Indian officers—Turkish communiques and their worth—The fall of Erzerum—Official lies—The treatment of prisoners— Political speculation with prisoners of war—Treatment of enemy subjects —Stagnation and lassitude in the summer of 1916—The Greeks in Turkey—Dread of Greek massacres—Rumania's entry—Terrible disappointment— The three phases of the war for Turkey

CHAPTER V
The economic situation—Exaggerated Entente hopes—Hunger and suffering among the civil population—The system of requisitioning and the semi-official monopolists —Profiteering on the part of the Government clique—Frivolity and cynicism—The "Djemiet"—The delegates of the German Zentrulinkaufagesellschaft (Central Purchases Commission)—A hard battle between German and Turkish intrigue —Reform of the coinage—Paper money and its depreciation—The hoarding of bullion—The Russian rouble the best investment


CHAPTER VI
German propaganda and ethics—The unsuccessful "Holy War" and the German Government—"The Holy War" a crime against civilisation, a chimera, a farce— Underhand dealings—The German Embassy the dupe of adventurers—The morality of German Press representatives— A trusty servant of the German Embassy—Fine official distinctions of morality—The German conception of the rights of individuals

CHAPTER VII
Young Turkish nationalism—-One-sided abolition of capitulations—Anti-foreign efforts at emancipation—Abolition of foreign languages—German simplicity—The Turkification of commercial life—Unmistakable intellectual improvement as a result of the war—Trade policy and customs tariff—National production—The founding of new businesses in Turkey—Germany supplanted—German starvation —-Capitulations or full European control?—The colonisation and forcible Turkification of Anatolia—"The properties of people who have been despatched elsewhere" —The "Mohadjirs"-—Greek persecutions just before the Great War—The "discovery" of Anatolia, the nucleus of the Ottoman Empire—Turkey finds herself at last—-Anatolian dirt and decay—The "Greater Turkey" and the purely Turkish Turkey—Cleavage or concentration?


CHAPTER VIII
Religion and race—The Islam policy of Abdul-Hamid and of the Young Turks— Turanism and Pan-Islamism as political principles—Turanism and the Quadruple Alliance— Greed and race-fanaticism—Religions traditions and modern reforms —Reform in the law—A modem Sheikh-ul-Islam—Reform and nationalisation—The Armenian and Greek Patriarchates—The failure of Pan-Islamism— The alienation of the Arans—Djemal Pasha's "hangman's policy" in Syria—Djemal as a "Pro-French" —Djemal and Enver— Djemal and Germany—His true character— The attempts against the Suez Canal—Djemal's murderous work nears completion-—The great Arabian and Syrian Separatist movement—The defection of the Emir of Mecca and the great Arabian catastrophe

CHAPTER IX
Anti-war and pro-Entente feelings among the Turks—Turkish pessimism about the war—How would Abdul-Hamid have acted?—A war of prevention against Russia —Russia and a neutral Turkey—The agreement about the Dardanelles —A peaceful solution scorned—Alleged criminal intentions on the part of the Entente; the example of Greece and Salonika—To be or not to be?—German influence— Turkey stakes on the wrong card—The results

CHAPTER X
The outlook for the future—The consequences of trusting Germany—The Entente's death sentence on Turkey— The social necessity for this deliverance—Anatolia, the new Turkey after the war; forecasts about the Turkish race—The Turkish element in the lost territory—Russia and Constantinople; international guarantees—Germany, at peace, benefits too—Farewell to the German "World Politicians"—German interests in a victorious and in a defeated Turkey—The German-Turkish treaty—A paradise on earth—The Russian commercial impulse—The new Armenia Western Anatolia, the old Greek centre of civilisation—Great Arabia and Syria—The reconciliation of Germany

Appendix

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3086) Rescue and Survival in ‘the Abattoir of Shaddadeh’ By Elyse Semerdjian / Comment And Advice by Sukru Server Aya

The Armenian Weekly, April 2010 / FOR THE RECORD / A Quiet Place Along the Khabour . . .

The road to Der Zor— from Bab, Munbij, Meskene, Raqqa—is well documented in the memoirs of Armenian Genocide survivors and foreign eyewitness accounts. However, it wasn’t enough to arrive in Der Zor alive; deportees were driven to march further north along the Khabour River to a place where gendarmes thought no one would hear their cries for help. A letter from Jesse B. Jackson, the American consul of Aleppo, discussed the deportations north of the desert city as they began in June 1916, when Zeki Bey was appointed Ottoman governor, replacing his more lenient predecessor. According to Jackson, the deportations were systematic; Armenians were deported from the city according to their place of origin. “They were told that they would be conducted to certain villages on the Khabour River, which empties into the Euphrates below Deir, and were sent off under strong escorts of armed gendarmes. Some arrived at small villages on the Khabour, but the greater part were taken only hours from Deir al-Zor, where they were set upon by bands of Turkish, Circassian and Kurdish exconvicts that had been liberated from prisons and taken there for that purpose. The most horrible butcheries imaginable occurred, the facts of which were related to me by a few survivors who miraculously escaped and who were given shelter by friendly Arabs and later returned to Aleppo after great hardships.”1 Jackson recounts a period of intensified massacre in the summer of 1916 along the Khabour River. His account, when paired with those told by local descendants of survivors, indicates that buried under the lands north of Der Zor lay untold stories to be unearthed.

My first trip to Der Zor was on April 24, 2000, when I attended
the genocide commemorations along with other Armenians.

When the ceremonies subsided I made my first pilgrimage into the desert.My only geographical reference guide was a book I had purchased in Aleppo in 1994 by Robert Jebejian, a noted Aleppan doctor, who had documented the sites of the deportations and mass murders with the help of photographer Hagop Krikorian. His since out-of-publication Routes and Centers of Annihilation of Armenian Deportees made reference to Mergada, the church that sits upon a mass burial site about 88 km. north of Der Zor along the road to Hasakeh. From there, I had no idea how to get to the sites in the desert that I had seen in the book and had read about in survivor accounts. I did have faith that locals would guide me to the right place because since arriving to Der Zor people were forthcoming about discussing their Armenian grandmothers (called hababah in the local dialect). I hopped aboard a bus headed for Hasakeh, where I started a conversation with a young man returning home after serving in the Syrian military. He told me that his home town, Shaddadeh, was where I needed to go to see the caves and meet a wise man, referred to as “the shaykh,” who knew a lot about Armenians and could help me.

From the main highway, we walked about two miles to reach the end of town. I must add that the young soldier passed by his own homefull of relatives ready to celebrate the end of his mandatory military service in order to introduce me to the man who would help me find my way further into the desert. Even in April, the two-mile trek in the sun was exasperating. Yervant Odian, in his book Accursed Years: My Exile and Return from Der Zor, 1914–1919, describes his deportation not far from Shaddadeh and how a fellow deportee taught him to suck on a stone to sate his thirst 3. As my dependency on the bottle of water I carried grew, I imagined what it would be like with no water in April. Experiencing the desert in April only emphasizes that the survivors who made it this far on foot had superhuman physiology, as the body naturally desires only to shut down when the sun beats down on it like a sledgehammer.

As we approached the end of the long street that cuts through Shaddadeh, a striking, grey-eyed shaykh, whose real name is Sa‘ad Hammad al-As‘ad, greeted me in front of his home on the edge of town.His first words to me were, “Are you Aintapli?” I nearly fainted because the man addressing me was wearing a white abaya over his head, a traditional white jalabiya, and was clearly not Armenian.

Or was he? I asked him how he knew I was Aintapli. He informed me that many of the Armenians who had came to see him hailed from Aintap. He said that most of the people who passed by this town during the genocide were deported from there; he pointed to the back of his house as if noting a pathway. Then, he told me that his own grandmother was from Aintap and was deported only to be rescued in Shaddadeh. He invited me inside for an afternoon of enlightenment that I will never forget.

Inside the house, Sa‘ad sat in his living room ringed with elegant green cushions and armrests as his young daughters quickly served us never-ending cups of tea.

There he told me his story. His grandmother was an Armenian deportee from Aintap named Khanimeh.He did not know her family name but was told that her father held an important position in the town as a mukhtar (neighborhood representative) in their city of origin. She and other small girls were brought by gendarmes to a small hill called Tel Shaddadeh in the village of Shaddadeh, which lies just outside a more recently developed town by the same name. The gendarmes ordered the chief of the district (mudir al-nahiya) to detain these girls until they came back for them. This chief was Sa‘ad’s great uncle, Khatab ‘Abdallah al-Fadhl, who hailed from a notable family of the Jabour tribe. In fact, this position of district chief had been held previously by Khatab’s brother ‘Ali, the narrator’s grandfather at one time. According to the grandfather’s account, when the gendarme left, Khatab, knowing that these girls were destined for the killing fields outside of Shaddadeh, informed his family and the surrounding residents of the ominous future awaiting the girls. The village quickly hid as many as they could among the local families. It was only later, in 2008, that I would visit the actual site of rescue, the mound called Tel Shaddadeh, where three of Sa‘ad’s male relatives rescued Armenian girls from this spot; one of the rescuers, ‘Ali, would later marry Khanimeh.

Although Sa‘ad wasn’t clear on the date of this event, his fam-ily’s story matches survivor narratives like that of Dikran Berberian, who was deported from Aintap to the desert near Shaddadeh. “From the banks of the Khabour, we saw drifting a hundred corpses attached to one another at the arm, some of which were dismembered. These corpses were the last traces of victims of the Shaddadeh mas-sacre.”4 Thus, Berberian referred to this quiet place as the “abattoir [sic] of Shaddadeh.” Sa‘ad’s account of his grandmother’s rescue in the desert complements Berberian’s, as he emphasized how young the girls rescued on the hill were: very young and far from puberty. Berberian describes “girls less than ten years old thrown into the Khabour.”5 Sa‘ad was told by his grandfather that the girls from Tel Shaddadeh were destined for the caves in the desert; this was confirmed later when he found their dead bodies in a ditch nearby a cave. His grandfather ‘Ali took him into the desert, taught him where this cave and its ditch were located, and thereby preserved the family story for nearly a century.

Survivor accounts detail that girls were hidden in homes by Arabs living in the deserts around Der Zor. In fact, Odian writes that Armenian survivors would walk by Arab homes and hear women having conversations with one another in Armenian. Sometimes the women would say a few words out the window if they heard Armenian being spoken in the streets. 6 It is impossible to know the details of how Sa‘ad’s grandmother came to marry his grandfather. According to Sa‘ad, his grandmother was not married to his grandfather right away as she was too young to marry when she was rescued. Some survivor accounts say that these girls were reared only later to marry male family members; this seems to match Khanimeh’s being married to a clansman once she reached maturity. Sa‘ad described the way his grandmother disguised herself among the local population by tattooing her face traditionally like the Bedouin, yet she lived in fear of being discovered once again by Turkish officials.

In our many conversations, it was not clear whether or not Khanimeh was in a single or plural marriage. Sa‘ad joked in front of his wife that “Aintap men only take one wife,” as he himself has not married more than one wife despite his wealth and status. But I did learn that his own father had multiple wives when I visited his mother, Zahaya, the surviving daughter of his Armenian grandmother in 2008.

In describing Zahaya, I am at a loss of words. Like her son, she is strikingly beautiful despite her advanced years and illness. She is unable to walk, but instead sits reclined on a bed with blankets on her lap. Her beautiful blue-grey eyes look even more radiant against the whiteness of her hair and the paleness of her skin. This is in contrast to many of her children and grandchildren, whose faces are bronze and even reddish in complexion as if sun kissed. I felt emotional when I met her, and she was confused by that. I had just finished an entire trek through the desert with photojournalist Kathryn Cook from Aleppo to Shaddadeh, and the village near Tel Shaddadeh was really the climax of this journey; knowing that a few miles from there was the cave where the final massacre took place was overwhelming. My emotions took over when I heard her daughter say, “Why are they here? Why is this so important to them?” I realized that despite Sa’ad’s efforts to preserve his family history, its significance was lost on some members of the family.

I asked Zahaya about her mother and what she could tell us about her rescue on the hill that was clearly visible from the family home, the home that belonged to her mother’s rescuer. She had little to say, noting that her mother never told her much about the rescue in the desert. When she was asked about her tattoos, she spoke more readily. Her tattoos were shaped like a cross along her chin and when asked if there were other tattoos, Zahaya lifted her robe to show us that she had cross-shaped tattoos on each thigh. “My mother did it,” she said. Even though I was not able to get much information about her mother, the tattoos clearly marked Zahaya as belonging to an Armenian Christian mother who through traumatic circumstances was forced into a new environ-ment where she lived in concealment.

Tel Shaddadeh keeps telling stories. The disappearing Khabour River lies immediately next to it. During Odian’s survival in the desert, he drank from this river to quench his thirst.Now there are only a few puddles left and they happen to be on the neighbor’s side of the bend. 7 In order to continue cultivating, the neighbor had run a loud generator to pump the existing water out of the puddles to water his crops, while members of the al-As‘ad clan looked on helplessly. There continues to be no planting on their land due to the shortage of irrigation water.

Although Sa‘ad told his story first, his wife Ghazaleh’s story was just as remarkable. It is important to note that her grandfather, ‘Abd al-Muhsan al-Sa‘ud al-Fadhl, was a cousin to the two al-As‘ad brothers mentioned earlier and married one of the surviving girls from Tel Shaddadeh. Ghazaleh remembered her Armenian grandmother clearly, even knew her full Armenian name Nazili Hovsep Shamilyan and believes was originally from Mardin. Her grandmother clearly maintained her Armenian heritage throughout her life by informing her grand-children of her real name rather than assuming a Muslim name.

Ghazaleh remembers that her grandmother tried to teach her and the other children Armenian, and she still remembers some of the Armenian names for parts of the body that she learned growing up. Her grandmother also read an Armenian Bible quite often, and since her death, this Bible has become a major point of contention among the grandchildren, as they have disputed over who gets to keep it.

Ghazaleh claims that the Bible is a thousand years old,making it even more precious to her. During one visit, she began calling relatives to see if she could get the Bible to show it to me.

I found Nazili’s story remarkable as she really worked to maintain her own identity and introduce it to her grandchildren. Ghazaleh, unlike Sa‘ad, had even more clues about her heritage, as she once received a letter written in three languages—Arabic, Turkish, and Armenian—from her relatives who lived in Istanbul. She allowed me to photograph this undated letter, which included an address in Kadikoy, Istanbul, and was signed by Hovsep Shamilyan, Nazili’s brother. It was a profound piece of evidence linking Ghazaleh to the Armenian side of her family tree. This letter, written by a brother to his long-lost sister, is precious to her as she still hopes to find her Shamilyan relatives, whom she believes have since moved to Montreal, Canada. She has asked me to contact them, and I have tried to find them to no avail.

I would love to fulfill her dream by finding the Shamilyans, if only to repay the family’s endless generosity they have shown me though out the years.

On one of my more recent trips to Shaddadeh in 2007, we revisited the caves in the desert. Sa‘ad had trouble finding his way to the cave this time, in part due to a debilitating struggle with diabetes; he and Ghazaleh both have diabetes and suspect that it may be something they inherited from their Armenian grandmothers. On this trip, Sa‘ad’s vision was so poor that we could not find the cave he had taken me to on previous visits. There was a strange irony in the scene of a nearly blind man walking through the desert in search of a cave he had guided so many Armenian pilgrims to over the years. He has been the guide in this morbid tourism for decades, to a historical site that’s unprotected, unpreserved, and somewhat unrecorded except in memories. I realized this may be one of our last trips to the site since Ghazaleh is increasingly protective of his health (rightly so as a scrape on his foot could take months to heal with his diabetes).

As I began to fear that his knowledge of this tract of desert would be lost, a soldier stationed in a nearby post pointed us in the right direction. He also informed us that technically we weren’t sup-posed to be trespassing on this land because of the military outpost or oil interests in the area. Yet, the fact that the cave is common knowledge to the locals reassured me that the memories of this place will never be forgotten by the Arabs of the desert, who in many cases carry with them both the stories of their grandmothers and their rescuers.

Sa‘ad is the most passionate of his fellow siblings about his Armenian heritage, and his wife is equally passionate. They are devout Muslims, but also embrace their Armenian ancestry and take pride in it. Sa’ad does what he can to preserve the memory of the event that shaped his family by constantly welcoming Armenian pilgrims into his home and serving as their guide into the desert behind his home. His dream is to go to Armenia and visit the genocide memorial outside of Yerevan; he has expressed this wish to me almost every time I have seen him, and we talk to each other often. Although he is certainly Arab and Muslim, he sees himself as connected to the Armenian people in a very profound way, through a set of memories passed onto him by his grandparents—memories shared by all descendants of the survivors.

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ENDNOTES
1. United States Official Documents on the Armenian Genocide, vol. 1, ed. A. Sarafian, 1993, pp. 148–149.

2. Hilmar Kaiser, At the Crossroads of Der Zor: Death, Survival, and Humanitarian Resistance in Aleppo, 1915–1917 (Reading, UK: Taderon Press, 2002), pp. 66, 68.

3. Yervant Odian, Accursed Years: My Exile and Return from Der Zor, 1914–1919, trans. Ara Stepan Melkonian, intro. Krikor Beledian (London: Gomidas, 2009), p. 154.

4. Dikran Berberian, “Le Massacre de Deir-Zor,” in A. Andonian, Matériaux pour l’histoire du genocide, pp. 12–15. The English is my translation, while the original French text is posted on www.imprecriptible.fr/rhac/tome2/p2t51.

5. ibid.

6. Odian, 213.

7. ibid., 168

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Reply By Sukru Server Aya

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AN OPEN COMMENT and ADVICE on Posting # 3086 of Elyse Semerjian

I read this beautifully told "story" of the young scholar, and being at an age to be her grand father and having read several decades on this subject, I wish to make some comments in the style of a sincere friendly letter, because this blog and all decent human beings regardless of race or faith, need the devotion to truth seeking and defending! To tackle distortions, wrong doings of the past and the few "peddlers of revenge and blood feud" we need persons with courage and sincerity. The past should not draw our future, but should teach us bitter lessons so that we do not repeat the mistakes in the future. This episode of Armenian and Turkish sufferings are full of the great mistakes of many political readers dragging their own people into calamities, but very few have the courage to analyze this detrimental fact, instead of applauding these disaster causing leaders as heroes! My suggestions to the young lady can be summarized as below:

a. The sources you have indicated are too few and biased. You should definitely read the books of Akaby Nassibian, Hratch Dasnabedian, A.A. Lalaian, Hovannes Katchaznuni, Garekin Pastermadjian, A.B. Karinian, Arthur Derunian, James Grabill, Cyrus Hamlin, Erich Feigl, Roger Trask as a minimum. All these writers are either Armenian or "reasonably" pro-Armenian . You can write "historic novels" but not "historical articles and books" based on individual stories by generalization.

b. Read at lesst p.269 of my book "The Genocide of Truth" and learn what Zenop Bezjian actually told Morgenthau. Are we believe the written facts or your version of the story, which possibly is true like many other cases for all parties involved in the chaos of a war, when brigandry and outlaws moved freely.

c. Read posting (# ??? - new above) and note on page 10, tents of typical transfer camps and the band welcoming Armenians in Aleppo! This photo was found in AGBU archives! Isn't it a strange way to demonstrate Turkish brutality, by welcoming the new comers with band? What do you make of it?

d. Read Posting # 3088 ( http://armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2010/05/3088-atrocities-galore-culprit-ashore.html ) , Atrocities? Galore! Culprit? Ashore! about Genocide and Culprits, and write openly which excerpt or document you find to be untrue? If what I have documented cannot be refuted, it means that they are true, and unless you provide a stronger contradictory document, you have to build your opinion on what MAKES REASON! Regrettably, most Armenian (as well as many Turkish) scholars are selective and hence biased in their sources, and end up by defending one side of the event which usually is distorted and sometimes fabricated to impress and brainwash the reader.

e. For condensed fast knowledge read posting # 3037 http://armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2010/03/3037-armenian-fabrications-can-you.html, go inside each brochure, advise which sentence or word you can prove to be untrue!

CONCLUSION: You have to be truthful with your own conscious and decide whether you would like to be with the majority of the lynching mobs, or you have the strength to learn and defend truth, regardless of the opposition and loneliness it may cause.

Lovingly and cordially...

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