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IMPORTANT!!?!
Jews and Turks have joined together on the international stage to refute the claim that Ottoman Armenians were the victims of "genocide" in 1915. The Jews, who were the target of real genocide by the Nazi's, are speaking out against the use of the term for this tragedy. One such Jew is Bernard Lewis who was tried and convicted in a French court for stating that what happened in 1915 was not genocide.
Guenter Lewy, a professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts, made the same statement in an article that was published in a popular Washington D.C. magazine called "Commentary" in 2005. In the article, Prof. Lewy agrees that the events surrounding the deaths of a million Armenians, though a tragedy, cannot be called "genocide", because the elimination of the entire Armenian population residing within the Ottoman Empire was not the intent of the Ottomans. Prof. Lewy rationalizes his belief that is was not genocide on the absence of any historical documents to prove the "Young Turks" party ordered the elimination of all Armenians living within the Empire. Prof. Lewy also makes reference to the book titled "Memories of Mr. Naim", written in 1920 and often referenced by Armenians to justify their pro-genocide claims. Lewy questions the accuracy of this book that many western historians have already rejected as "false" and "a work of fiction".
THE TRUTH
Armenian soldiers in the Ottoman army revolted against the empire in 1915. Some 20,000 Armenians deserted the Ottoman army and, after massacring the Turkish population in the city of Van, turned the city over to the Russian Army. This was the genesis of the forced deportation of the Armenians out of Ottoman Turkey.
Over a million Armenians were, in fact, forced to leave Turkey. Sadly, almost half of their number died from starvation. It should be noted, however, that the Armenians were not the only victims that year. Many Turkish soldiers also succumbed to starvation during that same time. This is a fact not mentioned by the supporters of the genocide theory, however in light of this fact, the death of so many Armenians is not that amazing.
Another cause of many of the Armenian deaths was diseases. Again, disease killed many Turks during the same period. Maria Jacobsen, a Christian Nurse and evangelist from Denmark who treated many Armenian refugees and Turkish soldiers, claimed that nearly one hundred Turkish soldiers died each day due to an epidemic of diseases. In all, the Ottoman Empire lost 244,000 soldiers on the front lines of WWI, 68,000 died from inadequate medical care and infections, and more than 500,000 died from starvation and diseases. The Ottomans had lost more people than the Armenians during this so-called "genocide". It is unfortunate that that so many Turks and Armenians died together during this dark time.
The decision to deport the Armenians was not made as a means to kill them off. The Ottomans had become suspicious of the Armenians following the desertion and the massacre in Van, and in an attempt to save Eastern Anatolia from further Armenian aggression, made the decision to banish them. Documentation of this relocation exists as proof that the events of 1915 were not genocide. It can also be said that the deportation was a humane banishment because the Turks in charge of the relocation were also charged with protecting the Armenians, and treating them with compassion.
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