Letter to the members of Bundestag (19 May 2016)
We have learnt of the developments relating to the possibility of the
Armenian allegations being discussed in the German parliament. In the
framework of international law, human rights, peace, stability and security
we would like to bring some information to your attention. We address those
who respect justice, sovereignty, democracy and freedoms and who wish to
know the truth behind this issue.
*When did the Armenian issue come to the fore, what is the truth behind it?*
The Turks and Armenians came into contact with each other beginning in
11th Century and these two peoples lived with each other in peace and
tranquillity until the end o
f
19th Century. The Armenian question began with the 1774 Treaty of Küçük
Kaynarca and the article of the 1878 Berlin Treaty which permitted Russia,
France, England and Germany to interfere in the domestic affairs of the
Ottoman Empire as the protectorate of the Armenians. The Armenians began
organising for an independent state as a result of the intrigues of the
aforementioned states. Subsequently the Armenians began to establish armed
revolutionary committees, the most notable of which are the Ramgavar Party
founded in 1885, the Hunchak Party founded in 1886 and the Dashnak Party
founded in 1890. The programme of the aforementioned organisations was the
foundation of an *“independent Armenia in Eastern Anatolia”* and to achieve
this goal their openly stated tactics were to incite rebellion and conduct
campaigns of terror.
The Armenian writer M. Varantyan in his work *The History of the Dashnak
Party *explains the political programme of the Armenian committees as
follows: *“the aim of the organisation is to incite rebellion and as a
consequence of this rebellion to gain independence or freedom as in
Bulgaria and Lebanon.” *The slogan of the committees was *“Kill the Turks
and Kurds wherever you find them. Kill reactionaries, those who aren’t true
to their word, Armenian collaborators and attain your revenge.”*
Consequently, a clear agenda which seeks to exploit Armenian sensitivities
both past and present is at play – previously against the Ottoman Empire
and currently against the Republic of Turkey.
*Bloody Betrayal and Ethnic Cleansing during the First World War*
The Armenian armed rebellions began in 1860 with the support of foreign
powers and continued until World War One. During and after the war these
rebellions had eventually taken the form of massacres. The Armenian rebels
took the side of foreign powers against their own state. The war effort was
severely hampered by the raiding of military depots, attacking of supply
chains and the cutting of telegraph lines. Widespread massacres against
Turkish civilians terrified the populace, forcing 1.5 million of them to
migrate further west – the aim of this was to secure an Armenian majority
in areas where the Armenians had previously constituted a minority. The
Russian historian Irandust in his work *Kemalist Devrimin İtici Güçleri *argued
that, *“the armed Dashnaks units, formed on the initiative of the French,
had carried out mass murder against the Turkish population (…) The Armenian
gangs massacred entire villages one by one. Their programme to eliminate
the Turkish population was carried out purposely and consciously by the
administration of the foreign occupation forces.”*
The Ottoman government began to relocate Armenian citizens to Syria and
Lebanon, which at that time were also constituent parts of the Ottoman
Empire, to mitigate the possibility of further military losses. The
government issued the Relocation and Resettlement Law (Sevk ve İskân
Kanunu) in line with contemporary military practice in cases of irregular
warfare. Approximately 600,000 persons were resultantly forced to migrate.
During the relocation great tragedies were experienced. Approximately
48,000 persons perished - mostly as the result of sickness and cold but
also as a result of attacks by bands and those seeking revenge.
*The Armenian side does not respect treaties, restarting its campaign of
terror*
At the conclusion of World War One in 1918, the Armenians sought to benefit
from the surrender of Ottoman forces by migrating back to their ancestral
lands in Anatolia. There they began a campaign of mass murder against the
Turkish populace. This continued until 1920. With the final defeat of
Armenian forces by the army of Kazım Karabekir the 1920 treaties of
Alexandropol and Moscow, Treaty of Kars in 1921 and finally the 1923
Lausanne Treaty secured the present borders of Turkey and guaranteed peace.
This period can be summarised as follows: between 1860 and 1920, that is to
say for sixty years, the western powers managed to fool the Armenians with
the pledge of “founding a state between the two seas” (Black Sea and
Mediterranean Sea). This resulted in the Armenians attacking the state with
the dream of founding their own state in eastern Anatolia. For their own
part, the Turks took the position of defending their homeland. Expressed
more tragically, the Armenian issue is a story of an unjust aggressor and a
righteous victim.
*Armenians who don’t respect agreements begin a campaign of terror*
The peace secured at the Lausanne Conference lasted for fifty years - in
1973 *the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenian (ASALA)*
emerged onto the world stage. Between the years 1973 and 1985, they were
responsible for the murders of over 45 Turkish diplomats and personnel.
Between the years 1988-1995, the Republic of Armenia occupied 20% of
Azerbaijan’s land. During the same period, the Armenian government carried
out ethnic cleansing. In one single night six-hundred and thirteen (613)
women, children and elderly persons were massacred in the settlement of
Khojaly and in general over 1 million Azeri Turks were displaced. The world
has stood idly by in the face of these occupations, massacres and ethnic
cleansing for twenty-two years. It should also be noted that the very same
western powers that utilised Armenian gangs in their drive to dismember the
Ottoman Empire have also rendered their support for these crimes against
international law and against humanity.
*The Position of the Law Regarding the Resolution of this Two-Century Long
Problem?*
1. During 1916 the Ottoman government tried one thousand three
hundred and ninety seven (1397) persons in the employment of the state who
had been negligent and co-operated with those who had attacked Armenian
civilians during the relocations; sixty-seven (67) of those received the
death penalty. The others received various heavy penalties. This begs the
question as to how a state charged with “systematically massacring the
Armenians” can subsequently punish those who had played a role in attacks
on civilians.
*2. **The decision of the United Kingdom: *During the occupation of
Istanbul after World War One, the armed forces of the United Kingdom
arrested several prominent figures including leaders of the wartime Ottoman
government and exiled them to Malta. An international court was established
under the direction of a British judge named Woods with the purpose of
trying these persons in relation to the Armenian issue. After an
inconclusive two year search of the Ottoman, English, American, Egyptian
and Iraqi state archives, the charges were dropped on 29 July 1921 given a
lack of evidence. This decision is important because it was taken at a time
when the Ottomans had been defeated. That is to say during a period when
the events, witnesses and archival documents were in the open and the
relevant foreign powers had access to them. No one who respects the rule of
law can object to this. (See Attachment 1)
*3. **The Decision of the European Court of Justice: *An Armenian
association based in France had opened a court case on the basis that as
the “European Parliament had reached a decision that Turkey is committed
genocide, Turkey’s admission to the European Union must be suspended.” In
its 29 October 2004 decision, the European Court of Justice noted that the
European Parliament’s 1987 resolution regarding the “Armenian Genocide” was
political and had no basis in law.
*4. **French Constitutional Court decision: *The decision taken by
the French parliament on the initiative of Patrick Deveciyan to consider
denial of the “Armenian genocide” a crime was later annulled by the French
Constitutional Court.
*5. **Decision of the International Court of Justice the relocation
cannot be considered genocide: *In relation to a court case which Croatia
instigated against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999, the ICJ
decided that the relocation of persons, even by force, cannot be considered
genocide.
*6. **European Court of Human Rights decision: *the European Court of
Human Rights in its decision dated 15.10.2015 regarding the
Perinçek-Switzerland case noted that the forced relocation of Armenians in
1915 cannot be considered genocide in light of international law.
In spite of the decisions in the aforementioned court cases, the continued
persecution of Turks in relation to this issue can only be summarised as a
lack of respect for the law.
*Two witnesses, two civilised statements*
The leader of the Dashnak Committee and the Republic of Armenia’s first
Prime Minister Hovhannes Kajaznuni in his 1923 report delivered in
Bucharest to a Dashnak congress noted that:
“We were in the process of demanding an Armenia that would span from sea to
sea (between the Black and Mediterranean Seas). In the end we fought
relentlessly with the Turks. We died and also killed... we joined military
operations. We were fooled and casted in our lot with the Russians. The
deportations were both correct and necessary. We were unable to see the
truth – we were responsible for the events which unfolded. The Turkish
national struggle was just. Rejecting peace and taking up arms was our
biggest mistake. The Treaty of Sèvres made us blind to reality. The basis
of our rebellion was the dream of a ‘Greater Armenia’; we were oblivious to
the fact that this has no basis in reality. The driving force of our
rebellion was the Armenia promised to us by the Allied States.”
Dikran Kevorkyan, the head of Istanbul’s Kandilli Church Foundation, noted
in 2007 that: “During the First World War the English, Germans and French
and on the other hand the Russians used the Armenians as a pawn. The
imperialist powers coupled with the actions of some Armenians in positions
of responsibility caused these events. What could ASALA and the PKK have
done without the support of imperialist powers? Turkey is the greatest
country in the world where the Armenians live in tranquillity and in
conditions suitable for the protection of their identity.”
*Conclusion*
The Armenian attacks and massacres which have relentlessly continued from
the 1860s onwards cannot simply be restricted to discussions regarding the
relocations of 1915 alone. Likewise, they cannot mask the necessity of
coming to terms with those bearing responsibility for the lived tragedies.
The aforementioned legal judgements and the flow of history are in the open
and cannot be hidden. Parliaments and national governments can neither act
in the capacity of historians nor as courts of law – because judgement can
only be passed by courts alone. A path which can re-affirm Turkish and
Armenian friendship must be established as the Armenians have been
exploited for two centuries. Armenians must also come to terms with their
own history and abandon hatred of Turks. For their own part, the Turks have
always shown themselves to be on the side of peace.
The drive to hold the baseless allegations of the Armenians on the public
agenda does no service to the developing of positive relations between the
neighbouring states of Turkey and Armenia. On the contrary, it contributes
to a lack of trust and more than anyone, it is the Armenian people who
suffer as a result of this.
*Esteemed Member of the German Federal Parliament,*
Seeing yourselves as representatives of civilisation, we are putting forth
that politicians cannot pass judgement on issues which are the remit of
courts of law; therefore we call on you to reject the baseless claims of
the Armenians. We thank you for your understanding.
*TOGETHER WE ARE THE TURKISH NATION MOVEMENT / ON BEHALF OF 632 ACADEMICS
AND INTELLECTUALS*
