Prof. Dr. Aydin: Armenian Allegations Were First Put Forward In 1895, But Received No Support From Foreign Countries

ISTANBUL - "Armenian allegations were first put forward in 1895, but received no support from foreign countries," Prof. Dr. Mahir Aydin of the Istanbul University Department of History, said on Thursday.
In an interview with the A.A, Prof. Dr. Aydin said that he completed an article on "First Trial of the Scenario of Armenian Genocide" to be published by the Istanbul University.
"The Treaty of Berlin, which was signed in 1878, was aiming at dividing the Ottoman Empire. But Armenian community could not acquire its independence since its population was not sufficient. Britain put forward the idea of an imaginary Armenian state in Anatolia. Inspiring from Bulgarian and Greek uprisings, Armenian gangs launched intense acts of terror in Anatolia. Since the western states wanted to base the imaginary Armenian state on sound grounds, they told Armenians that if some of them were executed and some others were massacred, they could rush to their assistance on the ground that Turks committed genocide against them," he said.
"Consequently, Armenians rebelled to the Ottoman Empire in nearly 30 different places in Anatolia from the central cities of Ankara and Yozgat to the eastern city of Van, from the northern city of Trabzon to the southeastern city of Diyarbakir in 1895. Such a large-scale uprising could not be casual. It was a mass movement. Britain did not extend support to Armenian uprisings. But when Germany became dangerous in Europe, Britain had to pursue policies of France and Russia," he said.
Prof. Dr. Aydin kept on saying, "since France and Russia did not support Armenians, the United States started supporting Armenians' policy. The United States had already carrying out missionary activities since 1830s. Nearly 200 American missionaries opened schools in several places to make Gregorian Armenians Protestants. 6,448 Armenians died in the Armenian uprisings which were not supported by Britain. This number was personally put by the military official charged by the state."
"The U.S. House of Representatives prepared a resolution on January 31st, 1896 right after the Armenian uprisings in 1895. I found the original text of the resolution in the archives. The resolution says, 'let's elect a commission formed by Christians. This commission can choose a chairman to rule Turkey. Rule of Turkey should be taken away from Turks and the country should be divided into provinces. This new formation can be named as the United States of Turkey.' There is a message here. And it is that what happened in 1915 was nothing but a scenario," he said.
Prof. Dr. Aydin added, "the Ottoman Empire decided to relocate some Armenians in 1915. Britain took up the issue in 1916 since it suffered a heavy blow during the Canakkale Battles and failed to help Russia. Britain used Armenians once again. These allegations were put forward by using Armenians. Armenians migrated from Anatolia to the other countries including France and the United States. Allegations regarding the year of 1915 stemmed from the scenario of 1895. There were no one who could commit genocide against Armenians in Anatolia in 1915 because of the ongoing war. There were only elderly people, women and children..."
(UK)