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Halacoglu: Ottoman Empire Did Not Commit a Genocide Against Armenians

18 June 2010 20:17 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Turkish Historian Prof. Dr. Yusuf Halacoglu stressed that Ottomans did not commit a genocide against Armenian people and said, "If there were such a project, the 2,5 million Greek people in Anatolia would not stay alive", APA reports quoting turkishny.com web-page.
Speaking at a conference entitled "So Called Armenian genocide and Displacement", former director of Turkish Historical Society, Yusuf Halacoglu refuted Armenian claims regarding to 1915 incidents. Informing the audience over the conditions and situation of the period, Halacoglu said that Armenians were displaced because of the rebellions they launched. Responding the allegation that 1,5 million of Armenians were killed during 1915 incidents, Halacoglu said, "The population of Armenians in the whole empire at that time was 500 thousand. This data is confirmed by several foreign scientists refering to historical documents. But how could 1,5 million people be massacred when there were 500 thousand of them? Ottomans did not force all of the Armenian population to immigrate. And 90 percent of the immigrants arrived to the destination they were aiming to go. This fact is confirmed by the documents belonging to Frenchs. There were people who died because of diseases and natural causes. There were also attacks committed by gangs."
Stating that Ottomans created a fund for supplying and defending Armenian citizens during displacement, Halacoglu said, "The allegations that accuse Ottomans of committing an ethnical cleansing against Armenians are really funny. Because there were 2,5 million of Greek people living in Anatolia at that time. If there were such thing, they would be annihilated too."