Muslims and Christians have always had periods of tension, and World War I was a time when Muslims and Christians did indeed fight; however, not always because of religion. The problem is, people automatically jump to conclusions assuming that the Muslims and Christians are at some sort of religious war; however, there are always more factors to this equation...

Chronology

• 800’s… Saltuk Bugra Khan and accordingly, Karahans (Turkic tribe) accept Islam…
• 1071…. Turks officially conquer Anatolia… Armenians welcome Turks and declare them as a “Savior” from tough Byzantine rule...
  ‘Muslim’ Turks and ‘Christian’ Armenian start to live together…
  
• 1453… Turks conquer Istanbul… Ends the Byzantine Empire… Turks bring Armenian Church to Istanbul… Let Christians to practice their religion..
  (‘Muslim’ Turks and ‘Christian’ Armenians are still living together…)
  
• 1500’s Turks get into Europe.. Ottoman Empire reaches the largest borders including entire Black sea region, Entire Middle East, Arabia, Entire Persia, North Africa, Eastern Europe… (‘Muslim’ Turks and ‘Christian’ Armenians are still living together…)
  
• 1600’s and 1700’s… Ottoman Empire discontinuance of Ottoman development…
• 1789… French revolution… Spread of Nationalist Ideas… (‘Muslim’ Turks and ‘Christian’ Armenians are still living together…)
  
• 1800’s… Enlightenment period… Europe meets with new ideas.. These Ideas influence the Christian minorities in Empire…
  
• Russia declares itself as “Protector of Orthodox Christians” in the Ottoman Empire… Greeks, Macedonia’s and other Eastern European minorities revolt with the help of Russian Empire…
  (‘Muslim’ Turks and ‘Christian’ Armenians are still living together…)
  
• 1880’s… First Armenian movements start… Hincak Party (supported by France) calls for rebellion in Eastern Turkey… Dashnak Party (supported by Russia) calls for the same goal…
  
• 1914… World War 1 starts…
• Ottoman-Russian battles continue in Eastern Turkey…
• Dashank Party creates so-called “Dashnak Government” in the Eastern Turkey that coordinates guerilla warfare against Ottoman military behind the battle field of Ottoman-Russian war.
• April 24, 1915… Ottoman officials arrest propagandist and separatist Armenian leaders (those who have committed massacres)...
• Dashnak (Armenian Revolutionary Federation) guerrillas and Hunchak (Social Democrat Hunchakian Party) massacred thousands of Muslims in order to create their “Greater Armenia” territory in the region.
• Ottoman Government gives the order of “Relocation” (Tehcir) which means to relocate some part of Armenian population from the war zone until the war ended. (Relocation order did not cover the entire Armenian population; Only suspected rebelling villages in Eastern Anatolia, some villages remained.)
• Ottoman government also takes necessary measurements in order to protect the properties of Armenians, supply them with food and water and protect the Armenians during the relocation. Including buying housing for them in their arrival area, Syria. Contrary to popular Armenian belief, there was no desert in the path of the relocation.
• 1918… Ottoman government calls the Armenians back. Many do, this is why there is a large population of Armenians in Eastern Anatolia.

The chronology above briefly explains the development of the situation. During this period, hate, revenge, disease, hunger and the little chess game of Western powers cause around 600,000 Armenian and 550,000 Turkish lives. Ottoman history is full of records and documents which show that two nations lived for 844 years together with no problem. In addition, Armenians were called “Millet-I Sadika” which means the most loyal nation in the Empire to the Ottoman Sultan. Therefore, Armenians were allowed to have higher ranks in the government and military. No racist treatment or approach occurred against Armenians within the empire. Ottomans even had Armenian foreign ministers and bank owners. In that case, calling the situation as “Muslim-Christian” conflict is absolutely irrelevant. One of the striking documents of the Russian Archives, which is a telegram sent to Stalin by Ionissian who was Secretary of the Central Committee of the Armenian Communist Party, states as “Nationalist demands and desires of the Armenian bourgeoisie are responsible of the pain Armenians suffered, and we have to establish good relations with the Ankara (the capital city of new Turkish republic) government to put a stop to them.”

Armenian Diaspora Propaganda

Today, we can clearly see the Armenian Diaspora organize its propaganda as “Muslim Turks killed Christian Armenians” to earn more sympathy from conservative societies. The situation is far away from a simple religion conflict. Historians such as Dr. Justin McCarthy, Dr. Bernard Lewis, Dr. Andrew Mango, and many others are talking about a large scale Armenian revolt and massacres of Muslim society. It’s not hard to imagine why Armenians keep refusing to join the joint historical commission about these allegations. As we get into the details of 1915, genocide claims turn 180 degree over and target the Armenian history. Turkish government offered full access to anyone who wants to research in the Turkish or Ottoman archives.

Ottoman Archives Vs Armenian Archives

The Prime Minister of the Turkish Republic, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, openly stated that the final decision of the commission will be immediately recognized by Turkish government. Erdogan also suggested Armenia should allow world historians to access their archives so that we could learn more about the issue. For some reason, Armenia refuses to allow access to government archives to Turkish or even western historians. Why would Armenia refuse to open their archives? It is not hard to guess…

Armenians' desire to be equated to Jews

On the other hand, Armenians believe that talking about the uncertainty of their allegations is offensive. They say: “Jewish people don’t even discuss the existence of Holocaust, so, we don’t need to discuss this, because it’s a fact!”
There are huge differences between Holocaust and the Armenian allegations. First of all, Holocaust was historically proven with many documents and several trials (Nuremberg Trials). In addition, physical evidence of concentration camps, gas chambers, Hitler's Mein Kampf which expressed his hatred of Jews, Nazi official government archives, government communication records clearly show that Nazi government systematically massacred the Jewish population. Unlike holocaust, Armenian allegations don’t even have one document that shows the intent of Ottoman government to kill Armenians. The one they offered (a fake telegram where the government orders everyone to kill Armenians) turned out to be a forgery because of completely incorrect ciphers and lack of the original document.

Armenian's provide testimonies as proof, which isn't proof of Genocide.

Today, the Armenian Diaspora runs its propaganda over undependable grandma diaries and stories. It’s not hard to imagine that, Turks also have such diaries and stories about the Armenian massacres of Turks. Testimonies as such do not prove genocide, but only prove massacres, and such massacres are already accepted by the Turkish government and historians to have incidents of numerous mutual massacres between Armenians and Turks.

The Armenian case cannot stand in a court of law

If the situation was in a court process, the judge would ask documentation or evidence. According to the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, genocide means any of the several acts (stated specifically in the convention) committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. The key word here is: INTENT.
There is no such evidence that shows the INTENT of Ottoman government to destroy, in whole or in part, of Armenian nation because of their ethnicity or religious beliefs. So, according to the judicial process, no evidence, charges should be dismissed!

Logical Conclusion

As I stated in the beginning, the friendship between two nations started 844 years ago. If the situation was about “Muslim Turks” and “Christian Armenians”, why would Turks wait 844 years (past their peak points of world power; why choose the weakest point)?

By Bugra Demirel