You can almost hear the fear in his words..

[xBaron Dants]

ABDULLAH GUL: THE "GENOCIDE" WILL BE THE STRONGEST CHALLENGE OF 2005

Azg/arm 28 Dec 04

The foreign minister of Turkey, Abdullah Gul, made a speech at the
Turkish parliament these days clarifying the results of the EU summit
on December 16-17. On December 25, TurkishRadicalnewspaper touched on
the key moments of the minister's speech who had singled out the
struggle against ArmenianGenocide's international recognition as vital
one in the Turkey-EU walk. Here is whatRadicalwrote: "We have
estimated all possible developments of the coming year, all possible
issues that will arise, the issues that need to be highlighted, the
issues that Turkey will soon face but the Turkish community is unaware
of. The first issue is the Armenian Cause. Apart from the present, we
can never allow that our ancestors and the past bear the stigma of
such condemnations. It should be explained to the world. Though we
try, I still doubt over the efficiency of our explanations. The
employees of the Foreign Ministry said yesterday that "while they
(Armenians) spend hundred we spend thousand against it". The issue is
in the spotlight of a number of establishments, including the Foreign
Ministry. We carefully discuss the issue, we shall talk it over again
after reviewing the methods of the (fight).

As far as I know, historians, scientists that include them
(Armenians), meet with few scientists from Turkey, and we encourage
these meetings. There wasa meeting in Vienna lately. But they did not
participate at the meeting though they indirectly sent their
views. From the Armenians' viewpoint, this was also a step. These
arrangements can develop in future. We cannot avoid it.

We have to know what measures to take and how to fight against all
these. It' s useless saying: "They talk such things of us". If we want
to continue like that we have to resign the European institutions. As
we cannot resign, the only thing to do is to fight to the end, for
that reason we need to get armed. It' s an undeniable fact that our
fight (over Genocide) with one of the 25 EU states will continue. They
will do everything to stymie our accession to the EU. For that very
reason we shall keep on pushing our policy to reach a desirable
solution in the issues of the genocide acknowledgment and the Cyprus
issues. In any other case, we shall face enforcement. If we are
successful in our policy, the initiative for solutions will come from
us, and that, I believe, will bring relief (on our way with the EU)".

By Hakob Chakrian

[CatWoman]

I was reading this article with a smile on my face... literally!

[IAmMadAtAC]

Hahaha I love how he claims that Armenians only spend hundreds on genocide recognition while Turks spend thousands! Is he kidding?! We have lobbying groups in Washington that have millions donated to them by Armenians, while Turks have the Jews lobby for them. The best they can muster is ridiculous claims running around screaming "the Armenians committed genocide on us!" and other such things. Just recently a Turkish historian has declared that he can not only prove Armenians committed genocide, but knows that exactly 519,000 Turks were murdered by Armenians around 1915 and has every single one of the victims' names, towns of origin, and father's names recorded. Yeah... that certainly proves it, it sounds like the "Armenian Genocide of the Turks" was more of a census than massacre! These people we are dealing with must be out of their mind, thinking the more ridiculous claims they make the more it proves their point somehow.

[CatWoman]

Just recently a Turkish historian has declared that he can not only prove Armenians committed genocide, but knows that exactly 519,000 Turks were murdered by Armenians around 1915 and has every single one of the victims' names, towns of origin, and father's names recorded.

hahaha... those pathetic little bastards! I believe this is it (humm... maybe I should post it in Jokes & Humor section? ):

Turkish Professor: Armenians Did Commit Genocide

Turkish History Institution President: Armenians Committed Genocide

The so-called Armenian Genocide allegation backed by France seems to be the issue which will trouble Turkey most during the negotiation process for full membership to the European Union (EU).

Turkey has stayed on the defensive against these allegations until now, but Turkish History Foundation President Professor Yusuf Halacoglu proposes to take action instead of remaining silent. "Turkey should not avoid an open discussion on Armenian claims of genocide." said Halacoglu. He emphasized that many studies had been conducted in the archives of several countries, and mostly in that of the Ottoman Empire, but they have not turned up a single document or record mentioning genocide. Halacoglu asked Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to found a commission which includes social scientists in order to conduct research regarding the so-called genocide claims. Halacoglu says that if Turkey undertakes this study, the opposition will retreat. Halacoglu argues that contrary to the claims of genocide, in fact Armenians killed 519,000 Ottomans and said that names, birthplaces, and the fathers' names of those murdered by Armenians were kept on record in one of the archives.

Professor Halacoglu wants Turkey to take precautionary measures without any anxiety. As this issue will be repeatedly raised in the EU membership negotiations, Turkey should deal with it now. Halacoglu stresses: "Our state should tell the EU that we should handle this issue on a level on which our historians and social scientists can discuss it. We should also establish a commission to report on what we find."

The professor signified that the claims that 1.2 million were killed are inconsistent as according to official documents and records the Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire was only 1.5 million. Halacoglu notes that the Western sources also show the same number and says, "The US archives give the numbers for Armenian migrants who fled to other countries after the Lousanne Treaty in 1925 as 1,299,000 for those who migrated to countries other than Turkey, Greece and Armenia. According to Turkish population censuses, there were 281,000 Armenians living in Turkey. If we add these we already have 1,681,000 Armenians. If we include 60,000 in Greek camps and 25,000 who emigrated to the US, we have a total of 1,760,000. Taking into account population increase this corresponds to the Ottoman Empire's figures. So how, then, can it be claimed that 1,200,000 Armenians were killed."

Professor Halacoglu calculates the loss of life by Armenian emigrants in 1915 as 80,000, who died mostly of diseases and attacks from bandit groups. Pointing out that diseases were spread all around the world at that time, Halacoglu says: "The Ottoman army's lost 400,000 through diseases in the World War I while the US lost 500,000, and Italy 278,000 in 1918. Similarly many European countries lost hundreds of thousands during the World War I." He refers to records in Ottoman archives including warnings to travel in groups for security, and the spending of large amount of money for drugs and food despite the war conditions as clear indicators of Ottoman good will.

'We will open 7 mass graves in 2005'

Professor Halacoglu announced that the Turkish History Institution will open mass graves in spots they have identified based on archive documents to prove that the Armenians committed massacres in Anatolia. He noted that they have already begun excavation studies and reminded that they most recently opened a mass grave of 336 dead in the village Derecik near Kars in northeastern Anatolia. Saying that they have identified about 100 mass graves in 20 different places, Halacoglu says, "We have, for example, identified that Armenians committed genocides in 21 villages in the Igdir region alone. There are also regions of Cukurova, Erzurum, Ardahan, Kars, Bitlis, and Mus. We will conduct excavation studies in 6 or 7 regions because Armenians will make some important claims because of their so-called 90th anniversary. That's why we are trying to unearth what really happened."

Erdal Şen, Zaman, Ankara
23 December 2004

Turkish Weekly

[IAmMadAtAC]

Halacoglu argues that contrary to the claims of genocide, in fact Armenians killed 519,000 Ottomans and said that names, birthplaces, and the fathers' names of those murdered by Armenians were kept on record in one of the archives.

As previously mentioned, this is my favorite line. The sad thing is, because it backs up what they want to believe, Turks will believe this, despite how unbelieveable it really is. I especially love how this important information is kept in an anonymous archive, no information is even given about it. Based on what is said earlier in it, that there is information in "the archives of several countries", this anonymous one could be in any number of countries, but of course he wasn't even able to name which one. Could it be because it doesn't exist??? This guy seems pretty insistant though, and I wouldn't be surprised if he wheeled out all those names to "prove" his case, as if that wasn't easily forge. Likely though those are way too many names and they won't bother, just hearing it said is enough proof for most Turks.