Armenian genocide is no secret

By Robert Fisk
THIS has been a bad week for Holocaust deniers. Im talking about those who wilfully lie
about the 11! genocide of 1.! million "rmenian #hristians by the $ttoman Turks. $n
Thursday% Frances lower house of &arliament a&&ro'ed a Bill making it a crime to deny
that "rmenians suffered genocide.
(ithin an hour% Turkeys most celebrated writer% $rhan )amuk * only recently cleared
by a Turkish court for insulting +Turkishness, -sic. by telling a Swiss news&a&er that
nobody in Turkey dared mention the "rmenian massacres * won the /obel )ri0e for
literature. In the mass gra'es below the deserts of Syria and beneath the soil of southern
Turkey% a few souls may ha'e been comforted.
(hile Turkey continues to maintain its innocence * the systematic killing of hundreds
of thousands of male "rmenians and of their gang1ra&ed women is su&&osed to be the sad
result of +ci'il war, * "rmenian historians such as 2ahakn 3adrian continue to unearth
new e'idence of the &remeditated Holocaust -and% yes% it will deser'e its ca&ital H since
it was the direct &recursor of the 4ewish Holocaust% some of whose /a0i architects were
in Turkey in 11!. with all the energy of a gra'edigger.
"rmenian 'ictims were killed with daggers% swords% hammers and a5es to sa'e
ammunition. 6assi'e drowning o&erations were carried out in the Black Sea and the
7u&hrates ri'ers * mostly of women and children% so many that the 7u&hrates became
clogged with cor&ses and changed its course for u& to half a mile. But 3adrian% who
s&eaks and reads Turkish fluently% has now disco'ered that tens of thousands of
"rmenians were also burned ali'e in haylofts.
He has &roduced an affida'it to the Turkish court martial that briefly &ursued the Turkish
mass murderers after the First (orld (ar% a document written by 8eneral 6ehmet 2ehi&
)asha% commander of the Turkish Third "rmy.
He testified that% when he 'isited the "rmenian 'illage of #hourig -it means +little water,
in "rmenian.% he found all the houses &acked with burned human skeletons% so tightly
&acked that all were standing u&right. +In all the history of Islam%, 8eneral 2ehi& wrote%
+it is not &ossible to find any &arallel to such sa'agery., The "rmenian Holocaust% now so
+unmentionable, in Turkey% was no secret to the countrys &o&ulation in 119.
6illions of 6uslim Turks had witnessed the mass de&ortation of "rmenians three years
earlier * a few% with infinite courage% &rotected "rmenian neighbours and friends at the
risk of the li'es of their own 6uslim families * and% on $ctober 1% 119% "hmed Ri0a%
the elected &resident of the Turkish senate and a former su&&orter of the :oung Turk
leaders who committed the genocide% stated in his inaugural s&eech; +<ets face it% we
Turks sa'agely -'ahshiane in Turkish. killed off the "rmenians.,
3adrian has detailed how two &arallel sets of orders were issued% /a0i1style% by Turkish
interior minister Talat )asha. $ne set solicitously ordered the &ro'ision of bread% oli'es
and &rotection for "rmenian de&ortees but a &arallel set instructed Turkish officials to
+&roceed with your mission, as soon as the de&ortee con'oys were far enough away from
&o&ulation centres for there to be few witnesses to murder.
"s Turkish senator Reshid "kif )asha testified on /o'ember 1% 119; +The =mission in
the circular was; to attack the con'oys and massacre the &o&ulation... I am ashamed as a
6uslim% I am ashamed as an $ttoman statesman. (hat a stain on the re&utation of the
$ttoman 7m&ire% these criminal &eo&le...,
How e5traordinary that Turkish dignitaries could s&eak such truths in 119% could fully
admit in their own &arliament to the genocide of the "rmenians and could read editorials
in Turkish news&a&ers of the great crimes committed against this #hristian &eo&le. :et
how much more e5traordinary that their successors today maintain that all of this is a
myth% that anyone who says in &resent1day Istanbul what the men of 119 admitted can
find themsel'es facing &rosecution under the notorious <aw >?1 for +defaming, Turkey.
Im not sure that Holocaust deniers * of the anti1"rmenian or anti1Semitic 'ariety *
should be taken to court for their rantings. 3a'id Ir'ing is a &articularly un&leasant
+martyr, for freedom of s&eech and I am not at all certain that Bernard <ewiss one1franc
fine by a French court for denying the "rmenian genocide in a /o'ember 1> <e
6onde article did anything more than gi'e &ublicity to an elderly historian whose work
deteriorates with the years.
But its gratifying to find French )resident 4ac@ues #hirac and his interior minister
/icolas Sarko0y ha'e both announced that Turkey will ha'e to recognise the "rmenian
death as genocide before it is allowed to Aoin the 7uro&ean Bnion.
True% France has a &owerful half1million1strong "rmenian community. But% ty&ically% no
such courage has been demonstrated by <ord Blair of Cut al1"mara% nor by the 7B itself%
which gutlessly and childishly commented that the new French bill% if &assed by the
senate in )aris% will +&rohibit dialogue, which is necessary for reconciliation between
Turkey and modern1day "rmenia.
(hat is the subte5t of this% I wonder. /o more talk of the 4ewish Holocaust lest we hinder
+reconciliation, between 8ermany and the 4ews of 7uro&eD But% suddenly% recently% those
"rmenian mass gra'es o&ened u& before my own eyes. /e5t month% my Turkish
&ublishers are &roducing my book% The 8reat (ar for #i'ilisation% in the Turkish
language% com&lete with its long cha&ter on the "rmenian genocide entitled +The First
Holocaust,.
I ha'e recei'ed a fa5 from "gora Books in Istanbul. Their lawyers% it said% belie'ed it
+'ery likely that they will be sued under <aw >?1, * which forbids the defaming of
Turkey and which right1wing lawyers tried to use against )amuk * but that% as a
foreigner% I would be +out of reach,. Howe'er% if I wished% I could a&&ly to the court to
be included in any Turkish trial.
)ersonally% I doubt if the Holocaust deniers of Turkey will dare to touch us. But% if they
try% it will be an honour to stand in the dock with my Turkish &ublishers% to denounce a
genocide which e'en 6ustafa Cemal "taturk% founder of the modern Turkish state%
condemned. * -c. The Inde&endent