In order to create a Turkish nation from above, Turkish nationalists waged a bloody campaign against non-Turkish and non-Muslim elements of the empire.
The First World War served as an excuse for the Young Turks, the then Turkish goverment, to exterminate Armenians. It was a deliberate and sustain war, in the course of which hundreds of thousands Armenians, Syrians and Greeks had been ruthlessly killed or forced into exile.
The collapse of the Ottomans had left a power vacuum, filled by another section of the Turkish nationalists, called Kemalists at a later time.
Mass extermination of the Ottoman times and also an extermination of an ethnically distinct and separate people from Turks.
What happened back then has been handed down to the later generations by their parents and grand-parents, who witnessed the onslaught, and of whom some are still alive.
Furthermore the sites of the mass graves all over West Armenia are well known and can easily be located if and when need be. The ruins of the country`s cultural heritage including churches belonged to the nations`s Christian section are still visible.
The Turks are guilty of the genocide of millions. Muslims in general, are guilty of even more millions of non-muslim deaths.
The Genocide of Armenians caused more severe damage to the Armenian nation than the Holocaust did to the Jews. While the number of Jews killed by the Germany was larger than the number of Armenians killed by Turkey, the Armenians lost most of their homeland of Cilicia and Western Armenia due to the genocide. The Holocaust also gave a huge international impetus to create Israel. the Holocaust helped create Israel; the Genocide help in the disappearance of the Armenian homeland.
For even if the opening of Turkeys archives conclusively show there was a deliberate policy and practice on the part of Turkish authorities in 1915-1923 to dispossess and eliminate Armenians (and Greeks) from their ancestral homeland by the use of mass murder, threats and intimidationin short, that Turkey was guilty of genocidewhat then? It is too late to put on trial any of the perpetrators of that genocide, since they have returned to the dust and mud whence they emerged.
We think it is only fair to mention the Assyrians that were slaughtered as well with the Armenians and Greeks the total of the 3 ethnic groups were 2.8 million.
People wish to see the justice served. A search for justice has already began. A legal action against Turkey will at long last be taken at some time in the future.
We demand of the Turkish authorities firstly the recognition of our country, occupied west Armenia, which was autonomous under the Ottoman Empire and which lost its autonomy; secondly the recognition of the genocides or attempted genocides suffered by our people and which it witnessed in 1915.
We demand the immediate end of the policy designated under the name Plan D which forces the population into an exodus or forced assimilation.
We demand demilitarisation and the banning of all the activities of military and paramilitary teams which have been exercising terror over the population since 1889.
The language of the occupied west Armenia, is still banned today. We demand self-determination in the matter of communication, education and social organisation. The Turkish state must recognise the specific beliefs and traditions of the occupied west Armenia people. The policy of Islamisation and Turkishisation (exemplified by the precept: one mosque per village, one Imam per village) must cease.
The military policy of the Turkish state has already destroyed a great part of our patrimony: setting fire to our forests, bombing our villages, systematic destruction of our historical monuments the sacred of our culture, and riches of humanity as well.
We bring to your attention this dramatic reality in the context of the discussion of entering into negotiations with Turkey.
May the threat to pour people end and may all the minorities of Anatolia live in peace.
We, the signatures below, demand justice and support the initiatives aiming to bring Turkey to justice.
Hakis Datvan, spokesman for the Collective Lake Van.
Bron: politics.be
The First World War served as an excuse for the Young Turks, the then Turkish goverment, to exterminate Armenians. It was a deliberate and sustain war, in the course of which hundreds of thousands Armenians, Syrians and Greeks had been ruthlessly killed or forced into exile.
The collapse of the Ottomans had left a power vacuum, filled by another section of the Turkish nationalists, called Kemalists at a later time.
Mass extermination of the Ottoman times and also an extermination of an ethnically distinct and separate people from Turks.
What happened back then has been handed down to the later generations by their parents and grand-parents, who witnessed the onslaught, and of whom some are still alive.
Furthermore the sites of the mass graves all over West Armenia are well known and can easily be located if and when need be. The ruins of the country`s cultural heritage including churches belonged to the nations`s Christian section are still visible.
The Turks are guilty of the genocide of millions. Muslims in general, are guilty of even more millions of non-muslim deaths.
The Genocide of Armenians caused more severe damage to the Armenian nation than the Holocaust did to the Jews. While the number of Jews killed by the Germany was larger than the number of Armenians killed by Turkey, the Armenians lost most of their homeland of Cilicia and Western Armenia due to the genocide. The Holocaust also gave a huge international impetus to create Israel. the Holocaust helped create Israel; the Genocide help in the disappearance of the Armenian homeland.
For even if the opening of Turkeys archives conclusively show there was a deliberate policy and practice on the part of Turkish authorities in 1915-1923 to dispossess and eliminate Armenians (and Greeks) from their ancestral homeland by the use of mass murder, threats and intimidationin short, that Turkey was guilty of genocidewhat then? It is too late to put on trial any of the perpetrators of that genocide, since they have returned to the dust and mud whence they emerged.
We think it is only fair to mention the Assyrians that were slaughtered as well with the Armenians and Greeks the total of the 3 ethnic groups were 2.8 million.
People wish to see the justice served. A search for justice has already began. A legal action against Turkey will at long last be taken at some time in the future.
We demand of the Turkish authorities firstly the recognition of our country, occupied west Armenia, which was autonomous under the Ottoman Empire and which lost its autonomy; secondly the recognition of the genocides or attempted genocides suffered by our people and which it witnessed in 1915.
We demand the immediate end of the policy designated under the name Plan D which forces the population into an exodus or forced assimilation.
We demand demilitarisation and the banning of all the activities of military and paramilitary teams which have been exercising terror over the population since 1889.
The language of the occupied west Armenia, is still banned today. We demand self-determination in the matter of communication, education and social organisation. The Turkish state must recognise the specific beliefs and traditions of the occupied west Armenia people. The policy of Islamisation and Turkishisation (exemplified by the precept: one mosque per village, one Imam per village) must cease.
The military policy of the Turkish state has already destroyed a great part of our patrimony: setting fire to our forests, bombing our villages, systematic destruction of our historical monuments the sacred of our culture, and riches of humanity as well.
We bring to your attention this dramatic reality in the context of the discussion of entering into negotiations with Turkey.
May the threat to pour people end and may all the minorities of Anatolia live in peace.
We, the signatures below, demand justice and support the initiatives aiming to bring Turkey to justice.
Hakis Datvan, spokesman for the Collective Lake Van.
Bron: politics.be