Turco-Armenian Relations

ARMENIAN ISSUE LLEGTAIONS-FACTS
TURCO-ARMENIAN RELATIONS

Throughout history, hundreds, thousands...millions of people lived on these lands. At times, their existence was marked by battles, and at others, peace reigned over them. The Armenians too, were among the inhabitants of these lands. They were ruled by the Persians, the Macedonians, the Seleucids, the Romans, Partians, Byzantines and Arabs...were constantly exiled from one region to the other, and were accorded third-class citizenship until the Turks gained sovereignty over Anatolia, in 1071. After this date, fighting gradually diminished and Byzantine persecution left its place to the just, tolerant, humanitarian and unifying beliefs and traditions of the Seljuks. The years of peace and calm enjoyed by Armenians under the hegemony of the Seljuks reached a climax under the rule of the Ottomans...a period that can be defined as the 'Golden Age'... Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, who put an end to Byzantine rule, allowed the foundation of the Armenian Patriarchate, an unprecedented move for the Armenians to whom he granted freedom of conscience and faith. The transformation of the Armenian Episcopate in Western Anatolia to the Istanbul Patriarchate, following a decree he issued in 1461, is clear evidence of the vision and tolerance displayed by Mehmed and of the subsequent Ottoman Sultans toward other faiths.

As a matter of fact, the present day Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II was according due rights to those who in turn had taken a similar stand toward the Armenians throughout their 'Golden Age' by saying: " We can duely grasp the significance of tolerance between different religions and cultures, as well as the value of this incident dating back to 538 years, by taking into account the tensions witnessed throughout the world on the threshold of a new millennium, the ongoing wars beyond our borders in particular."

Following the reign of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, Turco-Armenian relations continued excellently until the end of the 19th century. In fact, Armenians were by far, the greatest beneficiaries of the opportunities offered by the Ottoman Empire to all industrious, efficient, honest and productive subjects of the non-muslim communities. Being exempted from the military service and to a great extent from taxation, the Armenians had the opportunity to make headway in trade, agriculture, craftsmanship and administration, and by reason of their loyalty to the Empire, as well as their ability to intermingle with other subjects, they had duely attained the title of 'loyal people'.

• Seljuk-Armenian Relations
  
• Ottoman-Armenian Relations
  
• Relations During World War
  
• Armenians in the Sevres Treaty and the Lausanne Conference
  
• From Lausanne Conference to Present
  
  
  Factors Leading To The Creation Of The Issue

  A drastic change was witnessed in Turco-Armenian relations with the decline of the Ottoman Empire towards the end of the 19th century. As a result of activities carried out by instigators infiltrating the Ottoman territories from the West, mostly under a clerical guise, Armenians began to pull themselves away from the Turkish community in the religious, cultural, commercial, political and social fields. Armenians who used Turkish as their language, who conducted their religious sermons in Turkish and even those who had attained high positions within the Empire, such as cabinet ministers, undersecretaries and the like, collaborated with the enemy forces in a bid to attain the downfall of the Ottoman State.

  It is during this period that the Armenians began to present themselves as an 'oppressed community' and claimed that their sovereignty rights over Anatolia had been seized by the Turks, this with the aim of securing the backing of the West. States aspiring to attain their goals by exploiting the Armenians, did in fact encourage such propaganda and helped to create public opinion in a drive to have a say in the sanctions to be imposed on Turkey, and to be able to intervene when necessary. Thus, all initiatives with the pretext of supporting the Armenians and safeguarding their rights found serious backing within their own public opinion.
  Once they lost their privileged status, with the Reformation Bill granting equal status to muslims and non-muslims alike, the Armenians asked Russia not to withdraw from Eastern Anatolia, which she had invaded during the 1877-1878 Ottoman-Russian war; that autonomy be granted to these territories, or that reformation be conducted in line with their interests. These stipulations found the partial backing of Russia, and henceforward the Armenian issue began to assume an international dimension with the Yesilkoy Agreement, formerly known as the Hagia Stephanos Agreement, signed at the end of the Ottoman-Russian war and the subsequent Berlin Agreement. Thus, foreign powers aspiring o divide the country, started intervening in Turco-Armenian relations.

  Once, efforts to organize Ottoman Armenians to take action against the State, by means of committees set up in Anatolia as a result of activities carried out by missionaries proved futile, it was then decided that Russian Armenians set up such committees in regions outside the boundaries of the Ottoman State. Thus, the moderately militant Hinchak, with socialist tendencies, was set up in Geneva in 1887, followed by the extremist and pro-independence Tashnak Committee set up in Tbilisi in 1890, favouring terror, rebellions and struggle to achieve its goals. These committees had been targeted at ' liberating Anatolian territory and the Ottoman Armenians'. Attempts to launch a revolt, instigated by the Istanbul-based Hinchaks and aimed at provoking the Ottoman Armenians by drawing the attention of European nations to the Armenian issue, were followed by acts carried out by Tashnaks who had launched a political struggle. These attempts, masterminded by committees outside the Ottoman lands were supported by missionaries positioned in Anatolia.

• Armenian Committees
  
• Armenian Revolts
  
• The Role of the Church
  
• Missionary Activities
  
• Propaganda
  
  

  ARMENIAN REBELLIONS AND MASSACRES

  The first rebellion erupted in Erzurum, in 1890, followed by the Kumkapi demonstrations that same year; the Kayseri, Yozgat, Corum and Merzifon incidents of 1892 and 1893; the Sasun revolt of 1894; the Sublime Porte demonstration and the Zeytun rebellion that same year; the Van uprising and the occupation of the Ottoman Bank, followed by the Second Sasun revolt of 1903; the attempt on the life of Sultan Abdulhamid in 1905 and the Adana rebellion of 1909. As a result of Armenian atrocities, 100 Turks were killed in Zeytun in 1914, close on 3 thousand in the Van incidents of 1915 and some 20 thousand in the Mus incidents of 1914 and 1915.

  The quelling of these rebellions by the Ottoman army was deliberately reflected to world public opinion as 'the massacre of Christians by Muslims', this as part of their propaganda to ensure that the Armenian issue acquired an international dimension. In fact, reports drawn up by British and Russian diplomatic representatives of the time, indicate that the objective of the Armenian revolutionaries was, 'to create turmoil and to trigger a reprisal by the Ottomans, thus securing the intervention of foreign countries to the goings on.' On the other hand, the diplomatic representatives of colonialist states, along with Christian missionaries dispersed throughout Anatolia, played a significant part in transmitting Armenian propaganda to Western public opinion, and on its adoption. By far, the greatest damage was wrought on the Turks by the massacres perpetrated by Armenians during World War I. During that period, Armenians were engaged in acts of espionage on behalf of Russians, evaded the call to take up arms as forseen by the declaration of mobilization, and those who had enrolled, committed 'high treason' by joining the ranks of the Russian army, not forgetting to take their arms with them as they fled. From the very outset of mobilization, Armenian gangs engaged in whole scale massacres against Turkish units; raided Turkish villages, inflicting heavy damage on the civilian population. For example, all the inhabitants of Van's Zeve village were killed by Armenians, with no discrimination whatsoever between women, children and the elderly.

  In other words, committees such as Hinchak and Tashnak, and numerous terror organizations set up outside Anatolia by Britain and Russia, incited the Armenian people conducting a peaceful life in Anatolia to take action.

• An Overall Assessment Of Massacres By Armenians
  
• Turkish Massacred In Cavusoglu Barnyard
  
• The Report On Excavation Of The Mass-Graves In Kars - Subatan
  
• The Excavation Of Van - Zeve Mass-Grave
  
• The Excavation The Mass-Grave In Erurum-Dumlu-Yesilyayla Village
  
• Excavation Of The Mass-Grave In Igdir - Oba Village
  
• Igdir Genocide Monument And Museum
  
• The List Of Massacres By Armenians Of Turks In Anatolia And Caucasia, 1906-1922
  
• Massacres By Armenians In Azerbaijan
  
• Armenian Atrocities Against Their Own Nationals
  
• Memoirs:Veterans and Eye Witness Accounts
  
  
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