boulio wrote:the turkish govt. claims that hundreds of thousands of armenians perished in the ottoman empire however it classifies them as enemy combatants and fighting against the ottoman state.very dangerous way of classifiying genocide if it really did occur,im sure it could be claimed elswere in the world.
I think Turkish Goverment stance on this is as follows.
"During the last years of Ottoman Empire, Armenians had sided with the Russian Empire in their war against Ottoman Empire in the area of, what is now Armenia, and north eastern Turkey. During those years, many innocent Turkish people have been killed in the hands of Russian Armny and Armenian Paramilitaries, who were trying to clean the area from Turkish influence.
And in many instances, Armenian paramilitaries were attacking Ottoman army from when they were fighting with Russian Empire, because they were hoping that Russian Empire would bring them independence.
In response to this, many Armenians have been forced out of their houses, and forced to flee, to south-east and during the harsh days of winter many, and many had parished from weather, from the retaliatory attacks of Turkish society in those regions."
And I also think that, to my limited knowledge, they accept that it was Ottomans army responsibility to preotec these Armeninan while they were forced out of their homes from the retaliatory attacks of Turkish society but they fail to do this.
Furthermore, they claim that there are no goverment instigated mass killings of Armenians. So it can not be called 'genocide'. This is Turkish side of the story.
I am not telling it is the truth or they are lies. And at the same time I am not telling that what 'Armenians' have been claiming is truth or lies. I simply think that this issue can only be solved by independent historians.
And I also understand Republic of Turkey's insistence of not accepting something that an Empire (Ottoman Empire) that they have fought against, might have or have not done. I think, not sure though, Turkish goverment's policy is that Turkey is not an organic continuation of Ottoman Empire, otherwise we would still have been a monrachy or at least constitutional monarchy, therefore it is ridiculus to bear responsibility of anything that they have or not have not done.
To my opinion. Whether Turkey or Armenians are right, Turkey should lift its embargo on Armenia, hold a genuine discussion among its historians, and if necesarry hold an international discussion about this issue.
On the other hand Armenians also should start living up to the same standards and start having a frank discussion on what they have done to instigate such atrocities, and also they should start acknowledging the attrocities thay have commited in Azerbaijan, in the last 30 years.
Take care.
