Quote:
Originally Posted by Mitzidupree  Now let's stick to the facts, the number is a bit exaggerated, in the whole Othoman empire, there were around 800,000 Armenians, so how was it possible to almost double that number? [Still that doesn't neglect the fact of commiting a Genocide, of course!]
Anyway, about whose silence are they talking about? Turkey and Armenia are at the tip of their "happiness" and communication, having football matches, political visits etc...
Nevertheless, current Turkey shouldn't be held accountable for the massacres happened 94 years ago, you simply, cannot blame them. Look at Germany, still paying the price of what the Nazi party has done to the Jews, they could have simple done what Turkey has done. And Turkey has six years still, after then, the "cause" will vanish!
However, what is the purpose of recognizing the Genocide? It doesn't mean or prove the fact that it did happen as long as it did indeed happen! It's all a melodic drama!
On the other hand, Armenians nagging for not living in Armenia and that they're away from it, why not simply go back there? With the current technology, you needn't go through the desert again!
PS: I am not saying you shan't remember or honor the Genocide, but at some point, you shouldn't waste a momemnt mourning yesterday's misfortunes, yesterday's defeats, or yesterdays aches of the heart. |
dear Mitzidupree,
i would very much like to know what source did you get the 800,000 figure from.
for your information, a few months ago the hand written book of the ottoman interior minister and the chief "manager" of the Armenian gencide, Talaat Pasha,called the Black Book, was published in Turkey. The content of the book was derived from Ottoman administrative records during the time of Talaat, and which are no longer available to historians in Turkey (where did the archives go?). Its content were never disclosed in Talaat’s lifetime. After his assassination in 1921, the book was with his widow and was given to the Turkish historian Murat Bardakçi in 1982. The book was not published until the end of 2008. The data presented in this book can be considered to be a view of the Armenian Genocide from the perspective of the Ottoman state at the time. What Talaat had recorded in his Black Book was "before and after" kind of statistics, about the number of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and he presented before and after numbers of each region, stating the population of each region, the number of the deported, the numbers of the deported who were living elsewhere, etc. By Talaat's numbers, Ottoman Armenians, totaled arpound 1,700,000 people. According to his figures, the total number of Armenians who were "missing" in 1917 was around 1,000,000 people. Now al this is based on the Ottoman inetrior ministers figures. Armenian numbers put the total of armenians in Ottoman turkey around 2 million, of which around 1.5 million were massacered. Apart from the Armenian Genocide starting in 1915, in the years 1894-1896, Sultan abdul Hamid, which has a sqaure named after him now in Tripoli...that same Sultan, massacreed around 300 thousand Armenians, in what became to be known as the "Hamidian Massaceres". another 90 thousand armenians were killed in 1909.
You can grab any academic work dealing with the Armenian Genocide, based on eyewitness and official consular accounts, and youll get a good idea of what happened. I suggest you check works of German scholars, since the germans were the allies of turks at the time.
Second, why should not Today's turkey be held responsible for what happened. The modern Turkey, "established" by Ataturk in 1923, was not created out of vacuum. What happened to the estates of the people killed? Their wealth and businesses, their lands? They were took over by the state, and distributed to the killers and the rest of the pupolation. Heck, Talaat even asked the the American ambassador, Henry Morgenthau, to provide him the list of the Armenians who held insurance with American companies, so that he can cash the money, since, as he said, no one survived to claim the money and the state was the legal beneficiary now...