I came across an Armenian news release (http://www.armeniandiaspora.com/archive/24731.html) referring to your question for Ross Vartian, Executive Director of the Armenian Assembly of America: "Armenians claim that the Turks committed genocide — what proof is there?"

The AAA is a lobby group that utilizes propaganda in major fashion. I am concerned that your organization may not have covered the other side of the coin. This is what usually happens in the United States, and if there is truth to Irene Marr's analysis of how the Muslim world has reacted to Alhurra, I guess it's not out of the question for your coverage to have been one-sided.

Many Armenians have tied their ethnic identity into this topic, some rather fanatically, and have the wealth and obsession to perpetuate it in the far corners of the world. That includes the Arab world, where many Armenian descendants (who were supposed to have been "exterminated") still live in the aftermath of their resettlement by the Ottoman government during WWI.

I am hoping your reporter did research and uncovered genuine historical facts that turns the best of what the AAA representative threw your way in view of "evidence." If not, I hope your organization will keep the following in mind, if the topic is covered anew.

The British, along with the Entente Powers, were anxious to dismember the Turkish nation at the end of the war, via the Sevres Treaty. Yet even the British, when they conducted a two-plus year investigation (i.e., they held a "Nuremberg," called the Malta Tribunal), had to throw out all the hogwash that forms the basis for "genocidal evidence" today... even their own war propaganda. In desperation, they solicited the aid of their ambassador in Washington, and nothing from the U.S. archives could be used — nothing! Every single Turk held for trial was released at the end.

There was no systematic plan for extermination of the Armenian people, conducted by the Ottoman government. This historic event has been politicized. Old prejudices die hard, and practically nobody in the West likes the Turks (and the same could also be said of most in the Arab world, since Turkey has been perceived as traitorously joining the West)... so nobody cares what the Turks have to say. The few Western historians who have learned the truth have been targeted by fanatics, via physical attacks (one professor's house was bombed in 1977) to smear campaigns. Objective academicians have learned not to step into this minefield, and the Armenians are once again enjoying a virtual "monologue."

A Christian scholar, Sam Weems, wrote the rare book uncovering Armenian falsehoods a couple of years ago ("Armenia -- Secrets of a 'Christian' Terrorist State"), and the AAA went on full frontal attack. They falsely spread rumors that Weems was a "convicted felon," trying to kill his reputation. The author died shortly afterwards, perhaps not helped by the countless hate mail he received, including many death threats.

As for Vartian's evidence:

"The U.S. National Archives contain thousands of pages documenting..."

These are all hearsay accounts of missionaries, sympathizing/bigoted foreign consuls and the Armenians themselves, none acceptable in a court of law. Even the British, Turkey's worst enemy at the time, agreed.

"At the end of WW I, a Turkish Military Tribunal was convened."

These were kangaroo courts set up under enemy occupation, which nobody would find valid, any more than courts in Vichy France under Nazi domination would be held legal.

"Adolph Hitler understood the world's tendency to not act on its moral outrage..."

This certainly does not constitute evidence, it is merely one man's opinion... and an infamously immoral man, at that. It has not been proven that Hitler uttered this statement. Even the rare Armenian historian, Robert John (Hovhanes), has supported its falsification, among others.

"Today a growing list of nations and intergovernmental bodies has affirmed the facts of the Armenian Genocide. "

These are mostly politicians who have not studied history, anxious to cater to the deep pockets of their Armenian flock, or who are moved by prejudice/ignorance. As Goebbels pointed out, repeat a lie often, and it will be believed. Today, the alleged genocide is mindlessly accepted as the common wisdom.

"Additionally, 126 Holocaust and Genocide scholars declared the Armenian Genocide an incontestable fact."

Those with an agenda and only present one side of the story can only be called false scholars. Many of these "genocide" institutions are supported with Armenian money, and practically none of the "scholars" themselves have a background in history.

"The International Center for Transitional Justice was asked to study the applicability of the UN Genocide Convention ..."

The ICTJ is a body of lawyers, not historians, who relied near-exclusively on the omnipresent Armenian material affirming this so-called genocide. Their definition of genocide is that only one person needs to be killed, which can describe any conflict. The 1948 Convention requires "intent" to be proven (and there is absolutely no evidence in support of that; the Armenians tried with forged telegrams, debunked today), and exempts groups who were politically allied (in this case, the betraying Ottoman-Armenians, allied with the Russians and other allies).

"Pope John Paul, Nobel Laureates Bishop Desmond Tutu and Elie Weisel..."

All opinions based on one-sided research of the near-unilaterally presented Armenian perspective. This is not "evidence."

The sad fact is that the Armenians conducted an ethnic cleansing policy killing more Turks/Muslims than the other way around. (Most of the Armenians who died did so from famine and disease, not massacres; although some were massacred by criminals, a few of whom were punished — some to the extent of death — by the Turks during the war.) British Col. Stokes estimated 300,000-400,000 Kurds were killed by the Armenians. [ADDENDUM: The colonel's name was Wooley, not Stokes.] There is much Russian and French officer testimony documenting the extent of Armenian savagery.

There is a lot to this story, but the important point to bear in mind is there is a voluminous body of pro-Armenian evidence turning this genocide tale on its ear. Almost all of the ones who support the genocide have conflicts-of-interest and don't make for credible sources.

Yours in responsible journalism,

Holdwater
http://www.tallarmeniantale.com/