Author: Dr. Onur Öymen, Retired Ambassador & Former
Member of the Grand National Assembly of the Republic of Turkey Date: Apr 25, 2015 New Post, Op-Eds and
Commentaries
1915 Events in Eastern Turkey
Referring to the Armenian Governments’ allegations about the
events of 1915,
I would like to bring to your attention the following:
Turks and Armenians lived together in peace and harmony
throughout many centuries. Quite a number of Armenians had important positions
in Ottoman administrations. At the end of 19th and at the beginning of 20th centuries,
for 28 years the ministers in charge of the personal budget of the Sultan were
Armenians. An Ottoman Foreign Minister was Armenian. There were Armenian
members of Parliament, ambassadors and high-level officers.
During the First World War, responding to an appeal by Tsar
Nikola II, approximately 150,000 Ottoman citizens of Armenian origin joined the
Russian forces invading Eastern parts of Turkey.[1]
These Armenians, and local Armenian armed groups attacked
not only supply roads and storage facilities of the Turkish forces, but Turkish
towns and villages as well, killing a great number of civilians including women
and children.
In 1915 Ottoman government, upon the demand of Commanders of
the Turkish forces on the Eastern Front, decided to move Armenians living in
combat zones to safe places of the Empire. This deportation had started after
armed Armenian groups took over control of the city of Van.
A great number of Turks and Armenians had lost their lives
during this period as a result of mutual killings and illnesses. There are
various estimations of Armenian casualties. French writer Pierre Loti, in his
letter to the French Foreign Minister, asserted that Armenian claims are
grossly exaggerated.
French journalist and writer Jean Schlicklin in his book
Angora published in 1922, reports that by the end of 1919, one hundred Turkish
villages were burned and their inhabitants massacred by Armenians.[2]
According to the official records of the Turkish
authorities, around half a million Turks lost their lives in this period in the
areas of confrontation.[3]
During the First World War, these confrontations have been
presented as Turkish atrocities by allied propaganda agencies, most
particularly by the British Propaganda Ministry, Wellington House,[4]
practically without any reference to Turkish victims. These wartime propaganda
materials are still in use to justify Armenian claims of genocide.
Katchaznouni, the first Prime Minister of Armenia and the
President of The Dashnak Party, in a speech delivered in April 1923 at the
Congress of the Party in Bucharest, blamed his own party for wrongdoings during
this period.[5]
The UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the
Crime of Genocide of 1948 sets forth the definition of genocide and specifies
the legal authorities qualified to determine which acts could be construed as
genocide.[6] The Armenian claims cannot be justified by the stipulations of
this Convention and have not been accepted by a large part of the international
community or relevant legal authorities.
British Foreign Office Minister Baroness Meta Ramsay of
Cartvale addressing the House of Lords on 14 April 1999 said, “…in the absence
of unequivocal evidence to show that the Ottoman administration took a specific
decision and action to eliminate the Armenians under their control at the time,
British governments have not recognised the events of 1915 and 1916 as
“genocide.”[7]
69 American historians, including Professors Bernard Lewis,
Justin McCarthy, Stanford Shaw and Dankwart Rustow published a statement in The
New York Times and Washington Post on May 19, 1985, arguing that “…much more
remains to be discovered before historians will be able to sort out precisely
responsibility between warring and innocent and to identify the causes for the
events which resulted in the death or removal of large numbers of the eastern
Anatolian population, Christian and Muslim alike.”[8]
On December 17, 2013, the European Court of Human Rights
ruled that Switzerland violated the right to freedom of speech by convicting
Doğu Perinçek, chairman of the Turkish Workers Party, for having publicly
denied the existence of any genocide against the Armenian people. The Court
pointed out that a consensus was difficult to establish in relation to matters
which cannot be historically ascertained with absolute certainty, especially in
view of the fact that genocide is a very specific and narrowly defined legal
concept requiring a high threshold of proof.[9]
I believe that historic events should not be used for
political purposes and history should be left to historians as suggested by the
Turkish Parliament to the British House of Lords and Commons on April 13, 2005.
Dr. Onur Öymen, Retired Ambassador & Former Member of
the Grand National Assembly of the Republic of Turkey
[1]Jean Schlicklin, Angora…L’aube de la Turquie Nouvelle
(1919-1922), Paris: Berger-Levrault, 1922, p. 143.
"Savaş bittikten sonra geri dönenlerin mal varlıklarıyla ilgili Osmanlı hükümetinin verdiği kararlar var. Mülkleri geri veriliyor. Daha sonra Lozan'da Ermeniler diye açık olarak belirtilmemekle birlikte, Lozan Antlaşması'nda da dönmüş olanlara mallarının geri verilmesi kabul ediliyor. Yine bazı geri dönenler oluyor, mallarını, gerek taşınmazlarını geri alıyorlar. Daha sonra tabii, geri dönmeyenler açısından da bir zaman aşımı söz konusu, yani mülkiyet hakkı zaman aşımı ile ortadan kalkabilecek. O hakkı değerlendirmediğiniz, kullanmadığınız zaman zaman aşımı ile ortadan kalkar.
İşin ilginç tarafı, bu Amerika'daki Ermeniler açısından da önemli, 1923 yılında Amerikan hükümeti Türkiye'ye diyor ki : Benim Amerikan vatandaşı olan Türkiye'den göç ettirilmiş, veya işte Amerika'ya yerleşmiş olan , benim Ermeni kökenli vatandaşlarımın mallarıyla ilgili bize tazminat verin diyor. Türk hükmetiyle Amerikan hükümeti arasına uzun süreli müzakereler devam ediyor ve 1937 yılında Türkiye bu konuda , şimdi tam rakamı hatırlamıyorum ama 800 bin küsürat , yaklaşık 900 bin dolar Amerika'yaya veriyor , oradaki Ermeniler için.
Ve bu mesele orada bitiyor zaten. Yani Türkiye bu konudaki, Ermenilerin Türkiye'deki taşınmazları konusunda tazminatını vermiş. Bu hak tanınmış, kullananlar kullanmış, kullanmıyanlar açısından bir zaman aşımı oluşmuş, ve özellikle Türkiye ile Amerika arasında imzalanan 37 yılındaki anlaşma ile tazminat verilmiş.
Dolayısıyla artık uluslararası hukuk açısından, gelip oradaki malları, gayri menkulleri, taşınmazları tekrar alma şansları bulunmuyor."
Mehmet Perinçek / video
İşin ilginç tarafı, bu Amerika'daki Ermeniler açısından da önemli, 1923 yılında Amerikan hükümeti Türkiye'ye diyor ki : Benim Amerikan vatandaşı olan Türkiye'den göç ettirilmiş, veya işte Amerika'ya yerleşmiş olan , benim Ermeni kökenli vatandaşlarımın mallarıyla ilgili bize tazminat verin diyor. Türk hükmetiyle Amerikan hükümeti arasına uzun süreli müzakereler devam ediyor ve 1937 yılında Türkiye bu konuda , şimdi tam rakamı hatırlamıyorum ama 800 bin küsürat , yaklaşık 900 bin dolar Amerika'yaya veriyor , oradaki Ermeniler için.
Ve bu mesele orada bitiyor zaten. Yani Türkiye bu konudaki, Ermenilerin Türkiye'deki taşınmazları konusunda tazminatını vermiş. Bu hak tanınmış, kullananlar kullanmış, kullanmıyanlar açısından bir zaman aşımı oluşmuş, ve özellikle Türkiye ile Amerika arasında imzalanan 37 yılındaki anlaşma ile tazminat verilmiş.
Dolayısıyla artık uluslararası hukuk açısından, gelip oradaki malları, gayri menkulleri, taşınmazları tekrar alma şansları bulunmuyor."
Mehmet Perinçek / video
"The Republic of Turkey, which settled the issue of Ottoman debts in accordance with the Treaty of Lausanne, also paid US$899,840 (dollars of the 1930s) to the US government for distribution to its citizens on the basis of the Agreement of 24 December 1923 and Supplemental Agreements, concluded and implemented between the US and Turkey. The Supplemental Agreement of 25 October 1934 concluded by the two governments provided for the settlement of the outstanding claims of the nationals of each country against the other; Article II of the agreement is as follows:
The two Governments agree that, by the payment of the aforesaid sum [$1,300,000], the Government of the Republic of Turkey will be released from liability with respect to all of the above-mentioned claims formulated against it and further agree that every claim embraced by the Agreement of December 24, 1923, shall be considered and treated as finally settled.
The last US report in 1937 finally estimated that the principal and interest amounted to US$899,840.56 It is remarkable that not a single claimant with an Armenian name was considered by the American civil servants to have made a credible case of seizure and/or destruction of property." - link
