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DECLARATION
MADE BY
AMERICAN ACADEMICIANS
(May 19, 1985)
ATTENTION
MEMBERS OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
(May 19, 1985)
The undersigned American academicians who
specialize in Turkish, Ottoman
and Middle Eastern Studies are concerned
that the current language embodied in House
Joint Resolution 192 is misleading and/or
inaccurate in several respects.
Specifically, while fully supporting the
concept of a "National Day of Remembrance of
Man's Inhumanity to Man," we respectfully
take exception to that portion of the text
which singles out for special recognition:
"... the one and one half million people of
Armenian ancestry who were victims of
genocide perpetrated in Turkey between 1915 and 1923
. . .."
Our reservations focus on the use of the
words "Turkey" and "genocide" and may
be summarized as follows:
From the fourteenth century until 1922, the
area currently known as Turkey, or
more correctly, the Republic of Turkey, was
part of the territory encompassing the
multinational, multi-religious state known as the Ottoman
Empire. It is wrong to equate the
Ottoman Empire with the Republic of Turkey
in the same way that it is wrong to equate
the Hapsburg Empire with the Republic of
Austria. The Ottoman Empire, which was
brought to an end in 1922, by the successful
conclusion of the Turkish Revolution
which established the present day Republic
of Turkey in 1923, incorporated lands and
people which today account for more than
twenty-five distinct countries in
Southeastern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East,
only one of which is the Republic of Turkey.
The Republic of Turkey bears no
responsibility for any events which occurred
in Ottoman times, yet by naming 'Turkey' in the
Resolution, its authors have implicitly
labeled it as guilty of "genocide" it
charges transpired between 1915 and 1923;
As for the charge of "genocide" no signatory
of this statement wishes to minimize
the scope of Armenian suffering. We are
likewise cognizant that it cannot be viewed
as
separate from the suffering experienced by
the Muslim inhabitants of the region. The
weight of evidence so far uncovered points
in the direct of serious inter communal
warfare (perpetrated by Muslim and Christian
irregular forces), complicated by disease,
famine, suffering and massacres in Anatolia
and adjoining areas during the First World
War. Indeed, throughout the years in
question, the region was the scene of more
or less continuous warfare, not unlike the tragedy
which has gone on in Lebanon for the past
decade. The resulting death toll among both
Muslim and Christian communities of the
region was immense. But much more remains to
be discovered before historians will
be able to sort out precisely responsibility
between warring and innocent, and to
identify the causes for the events which
resulted in the death or removal of large
numbers of the eastern Anatolian population,
Christian and Muslim alike.
Statesmen and politicians make history, and
scholars write it. For this process to
work scholars must be given access to the
written records of the statesmen and
politicians of the past. To date, the relevant archives
in the Soviet Union, Syria, Bulgaria and
Turkey all remain, for the most part, closed
to dispassionate historians. Until they
become available, the history of the Ottoman
Empire in the period encompassed by
H.J. Res. 192 (1915-1923) cannot be
adequately known. We believe that the proper position for the
United States Congress to take on this
and related issues is to encourage full and
open access to all historical archives and
not to make charges on historical events before
they are fully understood. Such charges as
those contained H.J. Res. 192 would
inevitably reflect unjustly upon the people
of Turkey and perhaps set back progress irreparably.
Historians are just now beginning to achieve
in understanding these tragic events.
As the above comments illustrate, the
history of the Ottoman-Armenians is
much debated among scholars, many of whom do
not agree with the historical
assumptions embodied in the wording of H.J.
Res. 192. 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.
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