Debate: Armenian "genocide"

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Did Turkey commit "genocide" in Armenian? Should it be recognized? Should Turkey apologize?

Background and Context of Debate:

Armenians have populated the anatolian highlands since tens of centuries ago, as verified by Greek and Roman historians. Armenia had a well developed state and military organisation and adopted Christianity in year 301 AD as state religion. With the Turkic tribes conquering Asia Minor after the decline of Byzantium, the Armenians who lived in compact settlements in these lands (Western Armenia) preserved their own highly developed culture and religion, while accommodating their muslim neighbours and honouring their way of life, resulting in peaceful coexistence locally, at the level of everyday life. As economy, under European influence, moved towards capitalism, Armenians, Greeks and other minorities with links to industrially advanced Europe assumed visible positions alongside Turks. With the decline of the Ottoman Empire and advent of national liberation movements, most notably in south-east Europe, Ottomans grew increasingly suspicious and uneasy with the Christian minorities. Pogroms and abuse began to be much more often and the centuries-long relative social peace was broken. For the unprotected non-muslim minorities life became close to unbearable as they suffered culturally and economically.

These events kindled the idea of self-determination as the only salvation for the Armenians. In 1887 the Hunchak Socialist Party was created and in 1890 the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Social-Democrats), also known as the Dashnaks, were formed. As the opportunities for genuine political life in Turkey were non-existent, these two main Armenian political parties in 1892 held a meeting in Tbilisi (the capital of Georgia, then under a Russian governor) where they agreed that they would fight for an independent Western Armenia, free of Ottoman rule. When European consuls, aware of the events in the Balkans and concerned with the plight of the Christian population in Turkey, pressured the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hammid II to give more rights to its Christian Armenians, Hammid responded by giving the Kurdish tribes in the region the title "Hamidiye" and gave them the authority to protect the Ottoman lands. Regular army, Kurdish tribes and Armenian freedom-fighters (fedayi) clashed for many years according to the New York Times. This resulted in massacres of Armenians by state-sponsored "bashi-bozuk" forces, and naturally, christians were able to resist where there were a compact mass, e.g. in cities. When riots were significant, the Ottoman Gendarmes (National Guard) were called in to put them down, in most cases ending in bloodshed. The captured rebels were mercilessly executed, but Turks now point out to some cases in which through pressure from European consuls and diplomats, the Ottoman Sultan executed his right of granting clemency.

In the years before World War I, the Committee of Union and Progress (Ittihat ve terakki) captured the power from the Ottomans and reformed the Ottoman parliament.

By World War I, the situation has become much worse. Remebering previous massacres, Armenians pitched agaist the Kurds and Turkish army had to arm themselves and stocked illegal weapons, smuggling them in from Iran or Russia. As a result, tensions grew. Defeats of the Ottomans in the Balkans, the Arab revolts, and Armenian revolts, pressured the government to take action against rebels. Rebels were arrested after weapons were found in stores and shops in many Eastern Anatolian cities. In 1915, the Russians were advancing in Anatolia and marching through Armenian-populated lands with relative ease, with Armenian fedayis as their guide. The tensions were causing new mutual massacres during World War I. On this backdrop, the Ottoman government considered 1915 a good time to take action and eliminate all Armenians in Eastern Anatolian cities, because they may be hiding rebels.

On April 24th, 1915, many of the Armenian community leaders were arrested and assassinated throughout Turkey; Armenians claim that they were Armenian intellectuals, spiritual leaders and businessmen. Massacres of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey have been taking place as early as the XIX century, but the beheading of the Armenian minority population in Turkey on April 24th, 1915 is considered the beginning of the Armenian Genocide. Turks claim that the men arrested were Armenian rebel leaders, the Ottoman archives, as made available by the Turkish side, say the same, but it is not clear if "rebel" is the same as "criminal". The Relocation Laws (Tehcir Laws) had provisions and precautions on how to treat the Armenians who were being relocated in Eastern Anatolia. However, there is ample proof that these were not implemented and virtually nobody today supports this claim. Turks also say that Protestant and Catholic Armenians were not supposed to be relocated, and some Armenians in large cities such as Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara, were not massacred as severely as in the rest of the country. This reasoning is sometimes used as a simple argument against the simplified claim that the motive behind Armenian relocations was money or that there was a hatred against Armenians, because the richest and most successful Armenians were in the large cities. Documents containing explicit instructions from the then Minister of the interior, Taliat, support the Armenian claim of a well-thought, systematic and state-run campaign. This is also confirmed by numerous reports from European diplomats, including Germans, who were Turkey's ally in World war I.

It is difficult to gauge social relationships and apparent motivation. The hard fact is that by 1921 about 1.5 million Armenians perished from Anatolia. The Ottoman archives made available by the Turkish side have no explanation for it.

Today, Turks argue that the events were a complex history of mutual massacre and ethnic conflict in the midst of a World War, and that the Armenian relocations were a response to the Armenian rebellions that were happening right before the relocations. The Armenians argue that it was a carefully planned genocide and extermination campaign against the Armenian Christians and other minorities because of religious differences or because of Turkish nationalism. The argument has been politicized by the Turkish denial of this constituting a Genocide, and politicians, parliaments, scholars, and celebrities have been bribed in the pursuit of convincing people of one point of view. The landlocked Republic of Armenia with a population of 3 mln, slowly recovering from its Soviet past, and the decimated, expropriated and displaced Armenian diaspora worldwide are pitched against the modern Turkish state with 71mln population and substantial financial resources. Turks say that most Western Ottoman historians disagree with labeling the events as "The Armenian Genocide". However, the overwhelming part of the world with exposure to the history and the consequences of this tragedy, considers the Armenian Genocide a historical fact.

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Can the events be described as the Armenian Genocide?

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Yes

There is general agreement among historians that the events constituted genocide. Several international organizations, conducting studies of the events, have determined that the term "genocide" aptly describes "the Ottoman massacre of Armenians in 1915–1918."[1] Among the organizations asserting this conclusion are the International Center for Transitional Justice,[2][3] the International Association of Genocide Scholars,[4] and the United Nations' Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities,[1].

In 2007, the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity produced a letter signed by 53 Nobel Laureates re-affirming the Genocide Scholars' conclusion that the 1915 killings of Armenians constituted genocide.[5] Wiesel's organization also asserted that Turkish acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide would create no legal "basis for reparations or territorial claims", anticipating Turkish anxieties that it could prompt financial or territorial claims.

International organizations officially recognizing the Armenian Genocide include:

• UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities[6]
• Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (1998,[7]2001[8])
• European Parliament (1987,[9]2000,[10] 2002,[11]2005[12])
• World Council of Churches [13]
• Human Rights Association (Turkey) [14]
• European Alliance of YMCAs [15]
• Permanent Peoples' Tribunal [16]

[1] ^ a b Turkey Recalls Envoys Over Armenian Genocide, International Center for Transitional Justice, May 8, 2006 [2] ^ The Applicability of the United Nations Convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide to the events which occurred during the early twentieth century. The memorandum was drafted by independent legal counsel and not by the ICTJ. The memorandum is a legal, not a factual or historical, analysis. "This memorandum was drafted by independent legal counsel based on a request made to the International Center for Transitional Justice ("ICTJ"), on the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding ("MoU") entered into by The Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Commission ("TARC") on July 12, 2002 and presentations by members of TARC on September 10, 2002" (Page 2). "D. Conclusion ... Because the other three elements identified above have been definitively established, the Events, viewed collectively, can thus be said to include all of the elements of the crime of genocide as defined in the Convention, and legal scholars as well as historians, politicians, journalists and other people would be justified in continuing to so describe them." (Page 18) [3] ^ International Center for Transitional Justice, Armeniapedia [4] ^ Letter from the International Association of Genocide Scholars to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, June 13, 2005 [5] ^ Nobel Laureates Call For Armenian-Turkish Reconciliation, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, April 10, 2007 [6] ^ UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities [7] ^ Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Resolution, April 24, 1998 [8] ^ Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Resolution, April 24, 2001 [9] ^ European Parliament Resolution [10] ^ European Parliament Resolution [11] ^ European Parliament Resolution [12] ^ European Parliament Resolution [13] ^ World Council of Churches, August 10, 1983 [14] ^ Human Rights Association of Turkey, Istanbul Branch, April 24, 2006 [15] ^ European Alliance of YMCAs, July 20, 2002 [16] ^ Permanent Peoples' Tribunal, Verdict of the Tribunal Click on the pencil icon and research and write arguments here

• Many Armenians suffered and died as a result of the relocations, and exterminating the Armenians was a State policy, therefore it was genocide.
• Armenian survivors describe that killings were because they were Armenians and christians (conversion to Islam was likely to save your life!), which was the main concern of the Ottoman government.

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No

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• Turks and Armenians died at approximately the same rates due to starvation, disease, massacres, exhaustion, dehydration, and lack of medical supplies.
• Secret orders of extermination have never been discovered. One book that suggested it "Naim-Andonian Documents" (in Aram Andonian's Book) was proven to be a collection of forgeries by Aram Andonian, because of mistakes in dates, ciphers, geographic locations, and signature forgeries.
• The Ottoman government did not relocate Armenians in Western Turkey because they were not rebelling, hence it wasn't a plan to exterminate an ethnicity, otherwise they would be the first to be killed.
• Provisions were provided for the safety of Armenians being relocated, such as food, water, guards for protection, portable shelter, caravans, mules/donkeys, and field hospitals. An empire planning extermination would not provide those necessities to Armenians. This is further supported by the fact that approximately 80% of the Armenians relocated survived.
• The Ottoman government ceased the relocation laws in May 1916. Several telegrams were sent by Minister of Interior Talat Pasha to governors and officials, ordering that no Armenians are to be relocated for any reason.
• There were no hate speeches by the Ottoman government; there was no public or cultural hatred against Armenians, in fact many Armenians held government positions in the Ottoman Empire.
• There were no death camps or weapons of extermination used to kill Armenians.
• Destinations for the relocated Armenians were set in certain provinces with specific instructions with regard to housing.

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Write Subquestion here...

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Yes

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No

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Pro/con resources

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Yes

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No

• Orhan Tung. "There was no Armenian genocide". The New Statesman. 23 Oct. 2007

External links

Armenian Genocide