Are the Armenians Perpetrators or Victims?

Once Armenians were the “loyal nation” of the Ottoman Empire; they did not betray the Ottomans who were their benefactors and lived as a loyal subject. Today, we don't have a problem with our Armenian citizens living in our country. The problem stems from the hostility of the Armenian government and Armenians living in the diaspora towards Turkey and from the fact that they create instigations and conspire day and night to harm Turkey.

The event in which they want to make the world believe that it is genocide is a mass exile (deportation) that occurred a hundred years ago. The ascertainment based on documents by the historian Murat Bardakçı, a part of which I quoted below, leads me to believe that it reflects the truth on this matter.

“For many years, I have been writing and saying that great sufferings were endured in 1915, that it is impossible for the Armenians to forget the deportation, that it was not a genocide, but a necessity for the state at the time, and more importantly, it was a 'self-defense,'” says Mr. Bardakçı, summarizing the matter. He also narrates the story of “self-defense”:

The enforcement of the Deportation Law enacted on May 27, 1915, commenced with an encrypted writing that Mahmud Kâmil Pasha, the commander of the Third Army fighting against the Russians in the eastern front at the time, sent to the ministry of war in Istanbul. The Pasha notes the following in his writing that is now being preserved at the military archive of the General Staff:

“The Armenians living in Erzurum, Van and Bitlis showed their true faces by fleeing and joining the enemy, blocking the roads through constitution of gangs, slaughtering the people, as well as by pillaging and destroying the warehouses. It turns out that Armenians living in Sivas, Diyarbakır and Elazığ have the same purpose given the captured weapons, bombs, explosive substances as well as the organizations and schemes that have been unearthed. And later, the event that took place in Karahisar established their goal. Accordingly, the existence of such elements filled with hostile goals in the region that feeds the army and where our border of range passes seems dangerous to me in terms of the army's nutritional needs and security. The army is exposed to a great danger by reserving a part of its supply officers and new forces for the internal enemies at a moment when it is resisting against the external enemy through great struggles.

Therefore, in order not to face more grave situations in the future, I ask for the permission to deploy and settle the Armenians living in the abovementioned provinces to Aleppo and Mosul and for favor not to interrupt the summons concerning the matter that the army shall serve the governors as well as for the immediate notification on the endorsement of this issue.”

Well, how many Armenians were lost as a result of this deportation resorted as a necessity?

I quote the answer to that question again from Mr. Bardakçı:

“The difference between before and after the deportation is 972.246, but 1915 is not a genocide. It is either deportation or mutual slaughter. Talât Pasha is a statesman who did what was necessary; it is that simple.”

“Is the fate of 972.246 Armenians known?” To this question, he gives the following answer:

“No, you cannot find that out in any way because this number includes the people who have died in the last eight-nine months because of different reasons, as well as the people who immigrated to Russia, Southern America, to European countries; they are all included in this number.”

The conclusion:

The Ottomans did not execute genocide on Armenians; the deportation was ordered because of the betrayal and persecution by a group of Armenians. So the baby was thrown out with the bath water; however, that cruel “bath water” also caused Ottoman Muslims to be thrown out. In the next article, I will conclude this article series on atrocities by writing on the Armenians who also victimized my grandfather and father, namely, on atrocities by the Armenians.