Iğdır Genocide Monument in the memory of Turks killed by Armenians
The findings of the US Senate Armenian Genocide Resolution Bill of 19 March 2012 start with the following statement:
(1) The Armenian Genocide was conceived and carried out by the Ottoman
Empire from 1915 to 1923, resulting in the deportation of nearly
2,000,000 Armenians, of whom 1,500,000 men, women, and children were
killed, 500,000 survivors were expelled from their homes, and the
elimination of the over 2,500-year presence of Armenians in their
historic homeland.
The figures stated above deserve closer scrutiny. Bruce Fein pointed out the escalation of the figures in 2009, saying: "But the best contemporary [1923] estimates by Armenians or their sympathizers
were 300,000-750,000. ... Vahan Vardapet, an Armenian cleric, estimated a prewar Ottoman Armenian
population of 1.26 million. At the Peace Conference, Armenian leader
Boghos stated that 280,000 remained in the Empire and 700,000 had
emigrated elsewhere. Accepting those Armenian figures, the number of
dead would be 320,000. George Montgomery of the Armenia-American
Society estimated a prewar Armenian population of 1.4-1.6 million, and a
casualty figure of 500,000 or less. Armenian Van Cardashian, in
testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1919, placed
the number of Armenian dead at 750,000, i.e., a prewar population of 1.5
million and a post-war figure of 750,000... From 280,000-750,000, Armenians initially raised their death count to
800,000 to test the credibility waters. It passed muster with
uninformed politicians easily influenced by campaign contributions and
voting clout. Armenians then jumped the number to 1.5 million, and then
1.8 million by Armenian historian Kevork Aslan. For the last decades,
an Armenian majority seems to have settled on the 1.5 million death
plateau--which still exceeds their contemporary estimates by 200 to 500
percent. They are now testing the waters at 2.5-3 million killed as
their chances for a congressional genocide resolution recede. (Fein, Bruce. Lies, damn lies, and Armenian deaths. April 24, 2009. Huff Post World. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-fein/lies-damn-lies-and-armeni_b_211408.html (Accessed: 31 March 2012)
Wouldn't one expect that if a resolution is to be discussed at the US Senate it should be based on realiable real data rather than inflated figures and allegations. It may be useful to remember Michael M. Gunter's (Tennessee Technological University) work titled Why Congress Should Not Legislate History, British scholar Norman Stone's Statement concerning the "ADL Statement on the Armenian Genocide" issued on 21st August 2007, and Declaration made by 69 American academicians in 1985. Here is the conclusion of the Declaration:
"By passing the resolution Congress will be
attempting to determine by legislation which side of the historical
question is correct. Such a resolution, based on historically
questionable assumptions, can only damage the cause of honest
historical inquiry, and damage the credibility of the American
legislative process."
Photo of Iğdır Genocide [of Armenians to Turks] Monument from http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%C4%9Fd%C4%B1r_%28il%29 under Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike Lisansı
Armenian Holocaust:My Story blog by Selma Aslan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Gayriticari-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.