Mr. Speaker, there is an ongoing dispute between people of Armenian and Turkish descent about events that took place during World War I in the Ottoman empire.
We see Armenians in Canada and elsewhere asking for recognition that genocide was committed in 1915 against Armenian populations of Anatolia. This request is often associated with suggestions that restitution should be paid to the Armenians or that territorial adjustments should be made to the existing border between Turkey and Armenia. Turkey has rejected these claims.
On the other hand, we see the Turkish people profoundly hurt by the accusation of genocide. The Turkish government, expressing views of Turkish public opinion in general, reacts sharply against such an accusation. Turkish authorities also fear that the kind of terrorism used in the past by some fanatic Armenian underground organizations to promote their claims could resurface.
In trying to understand the points of view of both sides in this conflict we should always remind ourselves that there was enormous suffering for all the people involved in the 1915 events and that in addition to the death of solders there were literally millions of innocent civilian victims in this conflict on both sides. We have to be respectful of that suffering and therefore tread carefully and avoid making hasty judgments.
There is a tendency nowadays to use the word genocide in a non-technical manner and even sometimes almost as a metaphor. We have all heard expressions like economic genocide or cultural genocide. One should realize, however, that genocide is a very specific crime and a particularly horrendous one. When making an accusation of genocide implied is the fact that there are criminals who are responsible for the crime.
What happened in 1915? Both sides in the dispute have their own parts of view and generally highlight different events. The Turkish side emphasises particularly events at the beginning of World War I. The Ottoman empire entered World War I on November 1, 1914 on the side of the central powers and became automatically at war with the Russian empire.
According to historians favourable to the Turkish side, an Armenian rebellion against military conscription had begun in August 1914, even before the beginning of the war. Particularly in eastern Anatolia, Armenian guerrilla bands organized and obtained some arms and support from Russia. In theory, young Armenian males should have been conscripted into the army along with Muslims, but tens of thousands escaped to join guerrilla bands or fled to Russia, ultimately to fight alongside the Russian army when it marched into Anatolia. The general picture that is created is that of a rebellious Armenian population which had particular affinities with the Russian invading army, one of them being the Christian religion.
One particularly noteworthy episode of this war was the rebellion in and around the city of Van in March 1915 when the imperial Russian army was approaching Van. The uprising quickly took the character of an intercommunal war. Armed Armenian bands attacked Muslims, mainly Kurdish villages. Kurdish tribesmen retaliated by attacking Armenian villages. Victims fell on both sides. The Armenian rebels eventually took control of the city of Van were some 30,000 Muslims perished between February and April 1915 according to Turkish estimates. These events are still commemorated every year in Van. Similar episodes reportedly occurred in other cities and villages as the Russians advanced in eastern Anatolia. The victory for the Russians was also the victory for the Armenians. Large Muslin populations in turn had to flee to central Anatolia.
Armenians focus on particular episodes of the conflict starting in April 1915. On April 24, soon after the events in Van, Ottoman authorities proceeded to arrest some 235 Armenian leaders for activities against the state. This is a date which has a symbolic value for Armenians and they claim that these 235 leaders, the elite of the Armenian society at the time in the empire, were the object of a massacre. This claim is rejected by Turkish authorities.
Soon after, in may 1915, the Ottoman council of ministers ordered the forced relocation of Armenian communities of central, eastern and southeastern Anatolia to Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, which at the time were Ottoman provinces. The decision was implemented gradually over the next two years. Of the estimated 700,000 Armenians who were thus forcefully relocated, many died due to the manner in which the relocation was taking place at a time when the Ottoman empire was collapsing.
They perished mainly due to disease, harsh weather, exposure and hunger. This is the episode that many Armenians believe constitutes genocide. They portray this deportation as a decision aimed at exterminating the Armenian population in general.
Turkish authorities argue that this was not the case and that although many people died as a result of the relocation it was not intended as a measure to kill Armenians and that there is no proof to that effect. Turkish authorities have argued that the so-called Andonian papers which appeared in the 1950s and attributed genocidal decisions to high Ottoman leaders of the time were simply forgeries, not corroborated by any official documents of the time. On the contrary, they contend that the evidence of the official archives of the time, which are open to historians, reveals that the relocation was intended to be conducted in a humanitarian manner.
What happened after World War I? The armistice that put an end to World War I in 1918 sanctioned the collapse of the Ottoman empire. The empire no longer existed as a sovereign state. Istanbul was occupied by the allies, the ports of northwestern Anatolia by the British, southern Anatolia by the Italians, southeastern Anatolia by the French and the Armenian legion, western Anatolia by Greeks, and northeastern Anatolia by Armenians.
It was in the spring and summer of 1919 that General Mustafa Kemal Ataturk decided to mobilize the country and to wage war against all occupiers, thus laying the foundations of modern Turkey. For all population groups of Anatolia this meant further war. The Turkish army reconquered eastern Turkish cities and territories still occupied by the Armenians and marched north more or less up to the present Turkish borders with Armenia and Georgia.
There was enormous suffering on both sides. There was also immense suffering on the part of innocent civilian populations. The succession of wars and conflicts that took place during this period in that part of the world is staggering. Exact figures of people killed during such a troubled period of history are extremely difficult to determine.
At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 the head of the Armenian delegation set the figure for Armenian losses at 300,000. By 1989, 1.5 million had become the number generally used by the Armenians. Turkish scholars argue that a more realistic figure based on data available would be around 600,000. The same scholars estimate that the civilian Muslim losses during the same period could be between 2.5 million and 3 million people. In any case the figures of those who died, both Armenians and non-Armenians, are very large.
How should Canada respond? What we should do today is to try to encourage reconciliation, tolerance and respect for the suffering of all groups in the region and their descendants for whom these events are not far away in history but unfortunately all too present in their daily lives.
The resolution before the House is not what is needed. It is not helpful in bringing about tolerance, a more dispassionate look at the past, and eventually reconciliation. It asks us to take one side in a matter which is offensive to the other side. If we as Canadians want to be helpful in this respect we should be careful not to exacerbate old and bitter conflicts. We should try to bring closure for the Armenians and Turks and encourage each side to see and recognize the terrible suffering through which the other side went.
It is the sense of government that the House of Commons as an institution should not do anything that would bring new tensions between Canadians of Armenian and Turkish descent.