REFUTATION OF THE ARMENIAN RESOLUTION ARTICLE BY ARTICLE-3
By Prof. Dr. Kemal CÝcek*
Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 29 2007
(Article 8) The United States National Archives and Record
Administration possesses extensive and thorough documentation on the
Armenian Genocide, especially in its holdings under Record Group 59
of the United States Department of State, files 867.00 and 867.40,
which are open and widely available to the public and interested
institutions.
The documents in the American archives have been classified under
various categories. The collection that is mostly used by the Armenians
as basis for their claims is from the Records of the Department of
State, especially the section classified as "Internal Affairs of Turkey
1910-1929." Most of these documents were collected with the help of
the two Armenian secretaries of Ambassador Henry Morgenthau. Reports
from the Armenian political propaganda offices were also included in
the mentioned reports. When one studies these documents carefully, and
ignores the lines of hearsay cited in the reports, he/she can gather
a wealth of information about the implementation of the relocation
process. For example, we learn from the reports of J. Jackson, the
consul of Aleppo, that the number of Armenians who reached the city
of Aleppo was up to 500,000, that these people were settled in the
houses and camps in and around the city. The consul also gives lists
of arrivals by sex, religion and sect.
(Article 9) Henry Morgenthau, US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
from 1913 to 1916, organized and led protests with officials from
many countries, among them the allies of the Ottoman Empire, against
the Armenian Genocide he said occurred.
The use of Morgenthau’s book to support genocide claims is not a
scholarly approach. Heath Lowry, a professor of history at Princeton,
has documented without a shadow of a doubt that the Armenian
secretaries of the ambassador changed the contents of the reports
that came from towns and cities in Anatolia. As a matter of fact,
there are in the archives the original documents of the reports of
the missionaries and a scholarly approach requires the use of this
material. An important detail about Ambassador Morgenthau is that
he had never been to Anatolia and was pro-Armenian throughout his
career. Adm. Bristol, who was his successor, accused him of taking
sides and exaggerating the reports about the massacres. Historians
specialized in American politics share the opinion that Morgenthau
wrote his book in support of the Armenian National Delegation at Paris
in 1919, which had been waging a campaign to persuade the Allies to
carve out independent Armenian state in the eastern part of Anatolia.
(Article 10) Ambassador Morgenthau explicitly described to the United
States Department of State the policy of the government of the Ottoman
Empire as ‘a campaign of race extermination,’ and was instructed on
July 16, 1915, by United States Secretary of State Robert Lansing
that the `Department approves your procedure . . . to stop Armenian
persecution.’
Such statements in Morgenthau’s report show how much he had been
influenced by his interpreter, Arshag Schmavonian, and his secretary,
Hagop Andonian. We must remind the reader that when the ambassador
made these remarks, the relocation of Armenians had not started yet
or had been implemented in a few strategic towns. It should be kept
in mind that the transportation began in many eastern cities after the
1st of July. To name but few, the transportation of Armenians began in
Harput on July 4 and in Yozgat on July 18. So, when Morgenthau wrote
his report in July, it was very early to call the events "a campaign
of race extermination." This report is an indication of the prejudice
of the consul. The quotation in the resolution must be considered in
line with the wordings of the reports of the consular since at it is
impossible for the US Department of State to have knowledge of the
events that took place in the Near East at such an early date.
(Article 11) Senate Concurrent Resolution 12 of Feb. 9, 1916,
resolved that ‘the President of the United States be respectfully
asked to designate a day on which the citizens of this country may
give expression to their sympathy by contributing funds now being
raised for the relief of the Armenians,’ who at the time were enduring
`starvation, disease, and untold suffering.’
In fact, Robert Lansing in his report dated Nov. 21, 1916 to President
Wilson claimed that the Armenian deportation was due to the betrayal
of the Armenians. The resolution in question aimed at initiating a
relief campaign to increase America’s support to the refugees in the
Armenian camps. Thus, it is obvious that resolution of Robert Lansing
did not have a purpose like the resolution worded.
It should be underlined that Muslim villagers were also suffering from
the same conditions. Justin McCarthy in his book ("Death and Exile")
puts the losses of Muslims above 2 million, most of which were caused
by epidemics and starvation. Prof. Hikmet Ozdemir, in his book "March
with Epidemics 1914-1918," stated the victims to the epidemics among
military personal was exactly 401,859.
(Article 12) President Woodrow Wilson concurred and also encouraged
the formation of the organization known as Near East Relief, chartered
by an Act of Congress, which contributed some $116 million from 1915
to 1930 to aid Armenian Genocide survivors, including 132,000 orphans
who became foster children of the American people.
First, the first formation of this organization was in 1916 under the
American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief. The US Ambassador
Morgenthau had an important role in the foundation of the committee,
also the most active members of this committee were missionaries and
consul generals in particular.
For example the coordinator at Aleppo was Consul General
J.J. Jackson. In 1919 all relief organizations in the Near East came
under the umbrella of a new organization called Near East Relief. One
of the most important details that were not mentioned in the resolution
is that these relief organizations helped the Armenians with the help,
support and permission of the Ottoman government.
In the beginning of the war the Ottoman Empire rejected aid from
foreign organizations to the Armenians on the grounds that it may have
"encouraged resistance against relocation orders" and that all needs
of refuges were to be met by the state. However when the economic
condition of the state worsened all relief organizations were given
permission to work and full access to the camps. The presence of
relief organizations at camps is self-evident of the fact that the
empire had no intention to implement of race extermination to the
Armenians as often claimed by the Armenian historians.
TO BE CONTINUED
*Head of Black Sea Technical University, Faculty of Arts & Sciences;
Turkish Historical Association, Armenian Desk
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