Armenian Genocide: My Story: Bernard Lewis Compares Armenian Genocide with Holocaust in Germany

In my post of 27 July 2012, 'Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters’ Elif Shafak and Armenians, I have included a link to a video recording, Bernard Lewis Speaking on Armenian Allegations and briefly named Bernard Lewis as one of the scholars concerned with the topic. Lewis is considered one of West's leading historians and interpreters of the Middle East and Turkey. Following a lecture at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on 25 March 2002 he explained his view on 1915 tragic events in response to a question. Thanks to armeniantale for uploading 3:29 min video on YouTube. We are all short of time, instead of watching the video some people may prefer to cast a quick glance over the transcript which I offer below. I leave the floor to Professor Lewis without comment.

… to make a parallel with the holocaust in Germany you would have
to assume that Jews in Germany had been engaged in
an armed rebellion against the German state collaborating with
the allies against Germany, that in the deportation order the cities of Hamburg
and Berlin were exempted, and the persons in the employment of the state were exempted.
And the deportation only applied to the Jews of Germany proper, so that
when they got to Poland they were welcomed and sheltered by the Polish Jews.

Question: Hello my name is Russell Mokhiber, I have a question for Professor Lewis, The British press reported in 1997 that your views on the killing of one million Armenians by the Turks in 1915 did not amount to genocide, that your view was not genocide. In this report in Independent of London says that a French court fined you one dollar and damages after you say that there was no (Bernard Lewis: One franc, I am sorry) no Armenian genocide. It was triggered obviously by a debate in Israel where at this point of this article (Moderator: I'm sorry, Can you ask a question please, we're running out of time). The question is Sir, have you changed your views on this, whether the killing of one million Armenians amounts to genocide in your views upon the court judgment?

Bernard Lewis: There is a question of definition, and nowadays the term genocide is used very loosely even in cases when a bloodshed is involved at all. And I can understand the annoyance of those who fine it if refused. But in this particular case the point that was being made was that the massacre of the Armenians in The Ottoman Empire was the same as what happened to the Jews in nazi Germany and that is a downright falsehood.

What happened to the Armenians was the result of a massive Armenian armed rebellion against the Turks which began even before broke out and continued on a larger scale. Great numbers of Armenians including members of the armed forces deserted, crossed the frontier and joined the Russian forces invading Turkey. Armenian rebels actually seized the city of Van and held it for a while intending to hand it over to the invaders. There was a guerrilla warfare everywhere in Anatolia and this was what we nowadays call a national liberation movement of the Armenians against Turkey. And Turks certainly resorted to very ferocious methods in repelling it. There is clear evidence of a decision by the Turkish government to relocate the Armenian population from the sensitive areas which meant virtually the whole of Anatolia but not including the Arab provinces which were then still part of the Ottoman Empire. There is no evidence of a decision to massacre. On the country there is considerable evidence of attempts to prevent it which were not very successful. Yes, there was tremendous massacres, the numbers are very uncertain that million there may well be likely. The massacres were carried out by irregulars, by local villagers responding to what had been done to them and a number of other ways. But to make this a parallel with the holocaust in Germany you would have to assume that Jews in Germany had been engaged in an armed rebellion against the German state collaborating with the allies against Germany, that in the deportation order the cities of Hamburg and Berlin were exempted, and the persons in the employment of the state were exempted. And the deportation only applied to the Jews of Germany proper, so that when they got to Poland they were welcomed and sheltered by the Polish Jews. This seems to me a rather absurd parallel.