Reader Response - Ergun KIRLIKOVALI

Steven D. Kamajian’s letter “Turkish genocide doesn’t add up’ (Feb.

28) not only displays his distorted sense of humor (and history) but also

how hard it is to discuss facts with some people.

The writer adds up some concocted numbers to disprove Turkish

arguments. I can play the same game; the total Armenian population,

according to Armenian church records, was not more than 1.3 million. How can you kill 1.5 million Armenians if the entire population is 1.3

million? Then if you look at Armenian claims of casualties, the numbers

tossed around were between 200,000 and 300,000 in the 1920s. Then these

numbers gradually were increased to half a million in the 1940s; 1

million in the 1960s, and finally 1.5 million in the 1980s. Do dead

multiply?

Then there is this: If you assume the entire Armenian population is

wiped out, then why are there still Armenians in Istanbul? Isn’t Ottoman

power most absolute in Istanbul, its capitol? Isn’t it easier to

annihilate all Armenians at the capitol first? How come they were

untouched?

And what about the Armenians in Syria, Lebanon, Caucuses, France, the

U.S. and elsewhere? Where did they come from? Armenian claims are a

mathematical impossibility.

The story tellers are turning a very complicated human tragedy, where

intercommunal warfare by irregulars exacted a heavy toll on all peoples

of an area, further complicated by disease, famine, lack of hygiene,

supplies, facilities, roads, rocky mountain like terrain and winter, and

simplifying it to “Turks killed all Armenians.” No mention of back

stabbing, betrayal, army, mass killing of Turks by Armenians under

Russian and French uniforms or no uniform at all. Just “Turks killed all

Armenians.”

The writer also asks, “Where are the Turkish monuments to Turkish

victims?’ There are some, in places where Armenian aggression was worst

-- places like Erzurum, Igdir and Kars. If there are not as many as

writer would like, that is because Turkey has chosen the road to forgive

and forget and not dwell on the atrocities of the past.

I’ll leave you with one thought. Turkish Ottoman Empire lost lands

that are home now to a whopping 33 countries, all represented in the

United Nations today! Millions of Turks were slaughtered in the Balkans

and others barely escaped near deaths by emigrating to Turkey (my family

one of them) at the beginning of the 20th century. Many millions of Turks

were slaughtered and/or forced to flee Crimea, Southern Russia and

Caucuses as a result of ethnic cleansing carried out by the Czarist

Russia. This scene was repeated in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and

Arabia. Then over on this side on the Aegean islands Crete, Rhodes, Samos

and others.

World War I was certainly not kind to Turks. The Ottoman Empire lost

more than 10 million of its citizens and more than two thirds of its

lands. Now, let me ask you: What kind of monument can one erect to

properly describe the enormous pains and suffering that must have been

felt by these countless Turkish victims?

If such a monument is not there, for whatever reasons, does that annul

the human sufferings inflicted upon Turks? The writer cries about only

one frame in what is otherwise a 2-hour horror film to Turks, that cost

the Turks 10 million dead and two thirds of their lands. It is not

becoming that another human being chooses to joke about wide spread and

deep Turkish suffering.

I stopped asking for fairness long ago. But is a little respect for

the Turkish dead too much to give?

Ergun KIRLIKOVALI

Santa Ana