Friday, December 5, 2008
The Number 1.5 Million
"Out of the million and a half there were in Turkey before the war. The annihilation of the Armenian nation will be inevitable. This excerpt was taken from page 51 of the Blue Book. Another example could be Taner Akcam's A Shameful Act. On A Shameful Act, Taner clearly states that only 800,000 Armenians were killed in the so called Armenian genocide. Then why do Armenians keep on giving their dead as 1.5 million. The reason being is legitimacy. Armenians are the only people on earth who forge their national identity on what happened a century ago. And they are very eager for this legitimacy, because they don't have it. That is why they inflate their dead, and that is why when CNN gave 45 seconds of airtime to the so called Armenian genocide, Armenians all over the U.S. sent hundreds and thousands of protest letters to CNN.
TURKEY NOT TO OPEN ARMENIA BORDER UNTIL AZERBAIJAN'S INTEGRITY RESTORED
The Turkish-Armenian border could be opened only after Armenia gives up distorting history and restores Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, Turkish Trade Minister Kursad Tuzmen said.
"We are open to developing relations with Armenia, to open borders, and to develop trade," Tuzmen was quoted by Interfax as telling an Azeri-Turkish business forum in Baku on Thursday.
Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic ties and their border has been closed for more than a decade over Armenia's aggression over Azerbaijan.
"We do not oppose developing trade relations, which will have a positive influence on the development of the whole region; however, prior to this historians should solve some issues and Azerbaijan's territorial integrity should be restored," Tuzmen added.
The conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia began in 1988 on Armenian territorial claims over Azerbaijan. Since 1992 Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts.
Some 10 percent of the Azeri population was displaced due to a series of bloody clashes both between and within the two neighboring countries.
In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group are currently holding peaceful negotiations.
TURKISH FM MEETS ARMENIAN, AZERI FMSTurkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan met separately with Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov to discuss the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Helsinki where the Organization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) ministerial meeting is being held.
Foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan met on Wednesday with Russian, French and U.S. executives, the co-chairmen of OSCE Minsk group.
Babacan's talks with the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers assessed the results of this meeting, Anatolian Agency reported.
The Turkish foreign minister was also scheduled to meet with the Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group dealing with the issue in Helsinki on Thursday.
"We are open to developing relations with Armenia, to open borders, and to develop trade," Tuzmen was quoted by Interfax as telling an Azeri-Turkish business forum in Baku on Thursday.
Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic ties and their border has been closed for more than a decade over Armenia's aggression over Azerbaijan.
"We do not oppose developing trade relations, which will have a positive influence on the development of the whole region; however, prior to this historians should solve some issues and Azerbaijan's territorial integrity should be restored," Tuzmen added.
The conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia began in 1988 on Armenian territorial claims over Azerbaijan. Since 1992 Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts.
Some 10 percent of the Azeri population was displaced due to a series of bloody clashes both between and within the two neighboring countries.
In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group are currently holding peaceful negotiations.
TURKISH FM MEETS ARMENIAN, AZERI FMSTurkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan met separately with Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov to discuss the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Helsinki where the Organization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) ministerial meeting is being held.
Foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan met on Wednesday with Russian, French and U.S. executives, the co-chairmen of OSCE Minsk group.
Babacan's talks with the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers assessed the results of this meeting, Anatolian Agency reported.
The Turkish foreign minister was also scheduled to meet with the Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group dealing with the issue in Helsinki on Thursday.
Why The Armenian Deportations Were Not Genocide
Genocide is an abomination. While precise definition varies among genocide scholars, a legal definition is found in the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and the Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Article two of this defines genocide as any of the following acts committed with "intent" to destroy in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: Killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
What the Nazis did to the Jews is a clear example of genocide, because there was "intent" to exterminate the Jewish race from existence. What befell the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, though tragic, can't be labeled as genocide. Just like what befell the indigenous peoples of America ( including Hawaii ) was not genocide. It is estimated that almost 100 million ( 100 000 000 ) indigenous Americans died, at the hands of Euro – Americans, in what is today North and South America. While no historians denies the death and suffering were unjustly inflicted by a number of Europeans upon a great many American natives. Historians argue that genocide, WHICH IS A CRIME OF INTENT, was not the "intent" of European colonization in the Americas.
The same principle applies for the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was fighting for its very existence during World War One. The Armenians, using arms, rebelled in Eastern Anatolia. Great number of Armenians deserted, including members of the Ottoman armed forces, crossing the frontier to join the Russian forces invading the Ottoman Empire. Armenian rebels were even able to seize the Ottoman city of Van , intending on handing it over to the invaders. There was guerrilla warfare all over Anatolia, perpetrated by Armenian rebels. This was, what now a days we call a national liberation movement. The Ottoman government, to quell the Armenian uprising had to deport the Armenians of Eastern Anatolia. The Armenians of the Arab provinces ( then still a part of the Ottoman Empire ), Western Anatolia and the European territories of the Ottoman Empire were left unscathed. There is no evidence of a decision to massacre Armenians. On the contrary, their were attempts to prevent massacre, but they were unsuccessful. The massacres carried out against the Armenians, were done by irregulars ( Muslim villagers taking revenge for what was done to them ) and not by the Ottoman armed forces. To make this a parallel with the FIRST GENOCIDE IN HISTORY the Holocaust, you would have to assume, that the Jews of Germany were engaged in an armed rebellion against the German state. Collaborating with the Allies to grab a portion of land for themselves at Germany's expanse. That in the deportation order, the cities of Berlin and Hamburg were exempted. The Jews in the employment of the state were exempted. The deportation orders applied for the Jews of Germany proper only, so when they arrived at Poland, they were welcomed and sheltered by the Jews of Poland. As any reasonable person can see, this is an absurd paradox.
As mentioned earlier, what befell the Armenians is tragic. But there is no evidence of "intent" to eradicate the Armenians. The sooner the Armenians realize this fact, the faster Armenia and Turkey will be able to achieve normal neighbourly relations. It is in the interest of the Armenian diaspora to prevent good relations between Armenia and Turkey, because the more the relationship is strained between the two neighbours, the more the Armenian diaspora will be able to affect the internal affairs of Armenia. Therefore, it is in the interest of the Armenian diaspora to keep the status quo at the expense of Armenia's citizens.
What the Nazis did to the Jews is a clear example of genocide, because there was "intent" to exterminate the Jewish race from existence. What befell the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, though tragic, can't be labeled as genocide. Just like what befell the indigenous peoples of America ( including Hawaii ) was not genocide. It is estimated that almost 100 million ( 100 000 000 ) indigenous Americans died, at the hands of Euro – Americans, in what is today North and South America. While no historians denies the death and suffering were unjustly inflicted by a number of Europeans upon a great many American natives. Historians argue that genocide, WHICH IS A CRIME OF INTENT, was not the "intent" of European colonization in the Americas.
The same principle applies for the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was fighting for its very existence during World War One. The Armenians, using arms, rebelled in Eastern Anatolia. Great number of Armenians deserted, including members of the Ottoman armed forces, crossing the frontier to join the Russian forces invading the Ottoman Empire. Armenian rebels were even able to seize the Ottoman city of Van , intending on handing it over to the invaders. There was guerrilla warfare all over Anatolia, perpetrated by Armenian rebels. This was, what now a days we call a national liberation movement. The Ottoman government, to quell the Armenian uprising had to deport the Armenians of Eastern Anatolia. The Armenians of the Arab provinces ( then still a part of the Ottoman Empire ), Western Anatolia and the European territories of the Ottoman Empire were left unscathed. There is no evidence of a decision to massacre Armenians. On the contrary, their were attempts to prevent massacre, but they were unsuccessful. The massacres carried out against the Armenians, were done by irregulars ( Muslim villagers taking revenge for what was done to them ) and not by the Ottoman armed forces. To make this a parallel with the FIRST GENOCIDE IN HISTORY the Holocaust, you would have to assume, that the Jews of Germany were engaged in an armed rebellion against the German state. Collaborating with the Allies to grab a portion of land for themselves at Germany's expanse. That in the deportation order, the cities of Berlin and Hamburg were exempted. The Jews in the employment of the state were exempted. The deportation orders applied for the Jews of Germany proper only, so when they arrived at Poland, they were welcomed and sheltered by the Jews of Poland. As any reasonable person can see, this is an absurd paradox.
As mentioned earlier, what befell the Armenians is tragic. But there is no evidence of "intent" to eradicate the Armenians. The sooner the Armenians realize this fact, the faster Armenia and Turkey will be able to achieve normal neighbourly relations. It is in the interest of the Armenian diaspora to prevent good relations between Armenia and Turkey, because the more the relationship is strained between the two neighbours, the more the Armenian diaspora will be able to affect the internal affairs of Armenia. Therefore, it is in the interest of the Armenian diaspora to keep the status quo at the expense of Armenia's citizens.
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