Germany Initiated Deportation of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey
01.04.2006
PanARMENIAN.Net
Germany initiated deportation of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey in WWI, specialist on Turkic peoples, Director of the Institute of Asian and African Studies, Moscow State University Professor Mikhail Mayer stated in an interview with a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In his words, it was done to divert Entente's attention from the Western front, where Germany was being defeated.
«The situation in 1915 did not favor the Armenian population in eastern vilayets of Turkey. On the one hand – Kurds and Circassians, who forced Armenians away from villages, on the other – the policy of the Young Turkish Government, which encouraged the banishment and accused Armenians in pro-Russian orientation. All this resulted in mass deportation and annihilation of half of the population of Western Armenia,» Mayer said. At that he remarked that «if Young Turks had desired, to fully exterminate the Armenian nation, they would not have left a single Armenian in Istanbul, Izmir and other cities of Western Anatolia.» «However, Armenians remained there, except the intelligentsia, which was killed,» Mayer said.
«Judging from archive documents, accusations of Armenians in pro-Russian orientation are, to put it mildly, exaggerated. Most of the Armenian population lived in villages and was rather law-abiding. There was no much participation of Armenian retinues as part of the Russian army at the Caucasian front – according to my calculations there were some 3 thousand Armenians. This is not a figure that can account for Rusofilia,» Mayer said.
Nevertheless, Professor Mayer agrees that the events in 1915 were Armenian Genocide. «There was no term «genocide» in early 20th century, however it was genocide undoubtedly. The matter lies not in figures, but in the fact itself. If you remember, in 1919 a trial started in Istanbul against the Young Turkish Government that was organized by the Entente. Accusations in deporting and exterminating a whole nation were voiced there for the first time. However, secondary functionaries, mere executors were punished,» Mikhail Mayer underscored.
! Reproduction in full or in part is prohibited without reference to «PanARMENIAN.Net».
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
PanARMENIAN.Net
Germany initiated deportation of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey in WWI, specialist on Turkic peoples, Director of the Institute of Asian and African Studies, Moscow State University Professor Mikhail Mayer stated in an interview with a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In his words, it was done to divert Entente's attention from the Western front, where Germany was being defeated.
«The situation in 1915 did not favor the Armenian population in eastern vilayets of Turkey. On the one hand – Kurds and Circassians, who forced Armenians away from villages, on the other – the policy of the Young Turkish Government, which encouraged the banishment and accused Armenians in pro-Russian orientation. All this resulted in mass deportation and annihilation of half of the population of Western Armenia,» Mayer said. At that he remarked that «if Young Turks had desired, to fully exterminate the Armenian nation, they would not have left a single Armenian in Istanbul, Izmir and other cities of Western Anatolia.» «However, Armenians remained there, except the intelligentsia, which was killed,» Mayer said.
«Judging from archive documents, accusations of Armenians in pro-Russian orientation are, to put it mildly, exaggerated. Most of the Armenian population lived in villages and was rather law-abiding. There was no much participation of Armenian retinues as part of the Russian army at the Caucasian front – according to my calculations there were some 3 thousand Armenians. This is not a figure that can account for Rusofilia,» Mayer said.
Nevertheless, Professor Mayer agrees that the events in 1915 were Armenian Genocide. «There was no term «genocide» in early 20th century, however it was genocide undoubtedly. The matter lies not in figures, but in the fact itself. If you remember, in 1919 a trial started in Istanbul against the Young Turkish Government that was organized by the Entente. Accusations in deporting and exterminating a whole nation were voiced there for the first time. However, secondary functionaries, mere executors were punished,» Mikhail Mayer underscored.
! Reproduction in full or in part is prohibited without reference to «PanARMENIAN.Net».
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 8:33 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home