For the attention of the members of the German Federal Parliament
19 May 2016
Esteemed Member of the German Federal Parliament,
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 the 11th Century and these two peoples lived with each other in peace and tranquillity until the end of the 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 Güçleriargued 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 relocationgreat 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.
- During 1916 the Ottoman government triedone thousandthreehundred and ninetyseven (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.
- 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)
- 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.
- 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 laterannulled by the French Constitutional Court.
- 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.
- 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 genocidein light of international law.
In spite of the decisions in the aforementionedcourt cases, the continued persecution of Turks in relation to this issue can only be summarisedas 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
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