Introduction To Armenian Genocide & Brief History on Armenian Genocide

Introduction To The Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide is a thesis originally fabricated by British war propaganda organizations during World War I. Many Armenians and Turks died during this time while fighting each other in an endless cycle of revenge.

The Armenians fired the first shot by creating rebel committees and organizing thousands of volunteers to fight the Ottoman Empire by igniting rebellions in many cities. However, when you do your research you should always keep an open mind, because in society people tend to follow the opinion of what they perceive to be the majority; however, once upon a time we used to believe the earth was flat and research and discoveries proved otherwise and for the last 92 years since the Armenian massacres, evidence has changed to show that the original belief that Armenians were victims of a carefully planned extermination campaign were just exaggerations based on war-time death tolls.

People thought that Turkish perspective about the history was simply denial, as the Armenian Genocide advocates would have you believe. Thousands of documents and witnesses are right in front of our eyes that show that while the Armenians did suffer, the Turks suffered greatly as well, and the atrocities were committed by local parties on both sides. We mourn the many Armenians, Turks, Kurds and other Muslims that lost their lives. However, far from it, the events that transpired prior to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire cannot be characterized as a genocide.

Introduction to Armenian Genocide Argument

Armenian Genocide Supporters have all kinds of arguments, but very rarely can come up with any factual evidence. All the might and power of the Armenian propaganda machine has failed to get the whole world to accept the genocide, and some wonder why, and there are some that wonder how they even got this far.


Many arguments break out all over the internet between all nationalities of people about the Armenian Genocide. Most of the time, it becomes a circular debate where the pro-Turkish side argues that since there was no intent to kill, no orders to kill Armenians, it couldn't have been a genocide. The pro-Turkish side says that the numbers of the Armenian Genocide deaths is usually blown out of proportion for dramatical effects but do acknowledge that Armenians did die. They say the rebellion effort was causing great discomfort to the Russian-Ottoman wars in the east, and that is why the Sultan ordered all Armenian villages near Van (Eastern Turkey), to be relocated (not deported) to Syria another Ottoman territory. They also argue that the large population of Armenians in Western Turkey remained unharmed where genocide could have been easiest and explains that these facts along with a wide array of others prove it wasn't genocide but a civil war between civilian populations of Muslims and Armenians.


The Armenian side on the other hand tries not to focus too much on the history of the issue. Their best evidence has been eye-witness accounts of famous anti-Ottoman officials that are neither Armenian nor Ottoman. They also say that the world has already accepted the Armenian Genocide. They say 21 countries recognize the Armenian Genocide and thus it must be true. They also mention their most ridiculous but consistent argument that a majority of unnamed Western Historians agree with the Armenian Genocide theory and that only the Turkish government denies it. When they do mention history they usually point out fake documents such as the Talaat Pasha telegrams which were proven to be forgeries since the forger's didn't know about the Ottoman Royal language only used in such documents, and the encrypted numbering system used for each document.


However, although sometimes the pro-Turkish side can make ridiculous claims too, many of the Armenian-Genocide arguments are completely baseless, hearsay, or speculation. While the pro-Turkish side tries to apply logical arguments that seem to fit better in the world puzzle, the Armenian-Genocide proponents try to use distractions and portray a sense of security by claiming everyone is on their side.


There are some flaws in the Armenian Genocide argument. The 21 countries that recognize the Armenian Genocide all seem to have a large number of Armenian populations (definitely larger than Turkish populations), and therefore it could be a result of political pressure by Armenian lobbyists and voters.


They mention that a majority of Western historians support the Armenian Genocide theory. However, this is just an exaggeration, the real numbers are unknown, and is more likely to be much closer to being even on the issue rather than one side being a majority. There are many Armenian descendant historians in Western countries who focus their research on this issue. As you probably already know, when someone who investigates an issue with an already strong held belief in one side of the issue, will be biased and only pick and select evidence to support his or her own thesis.


In addition, Armenian Genocide supporters will mention different Turks that are known to support the Armenian Genocide issue (usually for money or Armenian descendants who are also Turkish citizens). These people include Orhan Pamuk, a Turkish writer who writes about fictional stories who won a Nobel Prize for his literary work (not a credible historian in many peoples opinion, but still mentioned by Armenian Genocide supporters). Also they mention Taner Akcam, a sociologist, terrorist, and political activist who escaped from prison (arrested for terrorism) to Germany where he found political asylum (not a credible source with a huge history of inciting rebellion in Turkey and no degree in history; many speculate he is of Armenian descent).


The pro-Turkish side also argues that an empire on the verge of collapse, that is already labeled the sick-man-of-europe, and is struggling with Arabic rebellions and European rebellions on all its territories with wars on many fronts, would not waste their time, money, and manpower to systematically slaughter Armenian civilians which will not stop war only create more rebellion.


Many Turks and pro-Turkish supporters also point out the many thousands of dead Azerbaijanians, Turks, and Kurds, that were killed in the hands of Armenian rebels as evidence that it was not a genocide but a deadly long civil war. They claim that Armenian Genocide supporters pray on the sympathy of Christians to other Christian cultures to raise money to promote this Armenian Genocide theory and use dramatic stories to promote emotion and sympathy for the Armenian cause which plans to receive land and reparations from the Turkish government as the Jewish people have from Germany.


The pro-Turkish side also mentioned the Malta trials which was a predecessor to the Nuremberg trials. Many of the Ottomans top officials claimed to have been involved in the genocide were tried for two and a half years on the island of Malta by the British and Armenians after World War I disbanded the Ottoman Empire. With all the Ottoman archives at their arsenal, they found no evidence that there ever was an Armenian Genocide. Without lawyers the trial went on, and the Ottoman officials were released (most of them later murdered by Armenian terrorists), and found innocent. The case was closed until the 1970s when the issue began to gain attention once again (thought to be because of the reparations paid to the Jewish people after World War II).


The Turkish government does not deny the deaths of thousands of Armenians, they express that it is a tragedy and Armenia and Turkey should be friends in the future and the argument should be settled as a civil war since both sides have lost many lives and since there was no direct ordering of mass murders.


However, the argument lives on and recently France has even made it a law that no one can mention the Armenian Genocide is false in France. Which is quite ironic since France is supposedly a very democratic country that is now attacking freedom of speech so directly.

A Brief History on the Armenian Genocide

Ottoman, British, German, and Russian archives all point to Armenian massacres as well as Ottoman massacres perpetrated by Armenians. They do not state that there was a genocide. In fact, the Ottoman archives in Istanbul are currently free for any historian to look at to verify the facts told in this article. While Turkey accepts fully that there were many massacres of Armenians and acknowledges many Armenians died during the war, they reject the idea that there is an Armenian Genocide, because while atrocities were committed against Armenians, Ottoman Muslims were victims of atrocities and massacres as well.

Turks and the Turkish government alike, do not deny any deaths of Armenians took place. They simply state that Armenians died but so did Ottoman Muslims, and the Armenian death tolls are exaggerated for dramatical purposes to rally people to the Armenian cause.

Why is it hard to believe that Armenians who were massacred had family members and friends and fellow countrymen that would go out and take revenge for their fallen brethren? Why is it hard to believe that Ottoman Muslims that were massacred by Armenians seeking independence would have fellow countrymen to seek revenge for them? The fact is, these massacres and civil fighting had begun since the creation of the Dashnaks, also known as the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, established in 1890, for the sole purpose of attacking Ottomans in order to gain independence for Armenia. Is it that hard to believe that the motive for Armenians to begin this chain cycle of violence is far greater than Ottomans who would want Armenian taxes and aid against the Russians, British, and French, with whom the Ottoman Empire was at war with?

There were no public hate speeches against Armenians in 1915. The Ottoman Empire was dying and full of debt. It didn't have the weapons, money, time, personnel, or even the means of which, to even carry out a systematic extermination against Armenians, which is what genocide is defined as.

There were no means of identifying Armenians as Armenians, during Nazi Germany, Jews were marked with the yellow Star of David to indicate who is of the Jewish religion (See Holocaust & Armenian Genocide Compared!). The only thing the Ottomans did was relocate villages that had largely Armenians to the South near Syria, in order to stop the MUTUAL VIOLENCE, and further Armenian sabotaging and rebellion that would ultimately destroy the Ottoman Empire. This is far better than what the United States did to the Japanese during World War II, when they locked up all Japanese-Americans in cage camps in order to prevent them from spying for Japan.

The Armenians were killing Turks, some out of revenge, and some for provocation to incite war. The problem is, the Armenians had motive to start massacres while the Turks did not. Armenians wanted to separate from the Ottoman Empire, and create Greater Armenia, which they later demanded from the Allies after World War I.

Russians were closing in on Turkey and about to sweep right through it since the Ottomans were already quite weak, (Remember "The Sick man of Europe"?), Russians had very little resistance going through but were faced with Ottoman armies trying to hold them back which eventually failed.

The Armenians were helping the Russian army by creating their own gangs that were established back in 1890. The Armenians were attacking supply routes of Ottomans, government institutions, burning down villages that may be useful to Ottoman soldiers. Killing innocent women and children to encourage Turks to massacre Armenians (This was terrorism, their mission was to terrorize Ottomans and Armenians alike so that independence may be reassured).

They were just about to declare Armenian Independence and victory when the Russians suddenly decided to pull out of the war and retreat due to World War I getting more intense in Europe and the Bolshevik Revolution.

This was a sound defeat to the Armenians rebels who worked so hard for decades to create a vicious cycle of massacres in order to have full rebellion and war (So they can convince the Armenians that did not want to separate from the Ottomans).

On April 24th, 1915, 2,345 Armenian rebel leaders and revolutionary committee leaders were arrested and put to trial. This marked the end of the Armenian Independence, which the Armenians converted this to a "Armenian Genocide day" to honor their revolutionary leaders that had failed the independence.

After this the Ottoman Empire was destroyed, and the Armenians had failed to accomplish victory but some still kept trying and later finally established Armenia after World War I, but were unsatisfied with the small amount of land they were given, and were angry that Woodrow Wilson could not keep the Greater Armenia promise to them.

This history goes deeper than just this article, for more information simply read more articles in this site, or read tons of more articles online about Russo-Turkish wars and many other wars that the Ottoman Empire was involved in. If you focus on the Armenian Genocide you are likely to encounter a lot of propaganda by Armenian nationalists; however, if you simply learn about the Ottoman Empire itself as a whole, you will understand how unlikely it is for the Armenian Genocide to be a real genocide.