The Armenian Issue
BY HASAN PULUR
TurkishPress.com
Published: 3/9/2005
MILLIYET- I should first emphasize that there is in fact a historical
Armenian issue, which unfolded as follows: Imperialist states seeking to
split the Ottoman Empire forced Armenians loyal to the Ottoman Empire to
revolt against the empire and promised them an independent Armenian state in
return. This was a result of the empire~Rs decision to enter World War I on
the same side as Germany. France and Britain incited the Armenian revolt
against the Ottoman Empire in order to gain a strong hand in the Dardanelles
and the empire~Rs southern and eastern flanks. Thus, Armenians attacked
Turkish civilians and furthermore, Armenian soldiers in the Ottoman Army
deserted to the Russian Army.
The Ottoman government called on the Armenians to stop the violence.
Heedless, the Armenians continued and as a result, the Ottoman government
forced the Armenians in the region to emigrate. This was the only thing the
Ottoman Empire did to put a halt to the Armenian violence. During this
emigration, the Armenians had to fight neither the Ottoman government nor
the Turks, but the Kurds in the region. This is the incident which the
Armenians now call ~Qgenocide.~R
Historian Mete Tuncay wrote in an article published in the Journal of Social
History that in his view, the so-called Armenian genocide is a sort of myth
for the establishment of the Armenian state. ~QArmenians want Turkey to
recognize the so-called genocide and pay compensation and give land to the
Armenian state,~R said Tuncay. It is true that there is an Armenian issue,
but this is nothing more than a fight between two communities, as Ziya
Gokalp has noted.
People who talk about these issues as if they happened yesterday ignore the
ongoing killings in Iraq and the destruction of valuable works of ancient
civilizations in museums there.