The Armenian Emigration Began With A Revolt

BY HASAN PULUR
MILLIYET- There is an Armenian issue, nobody can deny it. But I’ll try to explain what lies behind the issue. As Russian forces made up of volunteer Russians and Ottoman Armenians entered Ottoman soil, Armenians serving in the Ottoman Army deserted to the Russians or formed guerilla bands using weapons hidden in Armenian churches and schools. Since all the men in Turkish towns and villages went to war on the western front, the Armenian guerillas started a massacre of civilian Turks in the region. They interfered in the operations of the Ottoman troops, cut their lines of reinforcement, and made the Russian invasion easier by starting revolts in the cities.
In April 1915, following the Russian decision to launch an offensive on the eastern city of Van, the Armenians started a revolt so the city would be easy pickings for Russia. On April 21, 1915 Russian Tsar Nicolas I sent a telegraph expressing his thanks to the Armenian community for their assistance to Russian troops in Van. The Armenian daily Gocnak, published in the US, proudly wrote in its issue of May 24, 1915 that there were only 1,500 Turks left in the city.
While these developments occurred in eastern Anatolia, the British and French fleet arrived at the Dardanelles and British troops attacked in Iraq. The Armenian emigration began after these developments.
Bogos Nubar, an Armenian representative attending the Lausanne Peace Conference, said that there were about 300,000 Armenians in Turkey and that 700,000 had migrated to other countries. There could have been deaths during their revolts or emigration, but the claim that 1 million Armenians were killed is sheer nonsense.