Introduction Part 1

Armenian Atrocities and the “Genocide”
There is an orchestrated claim that the Ottoman Governments committed the crime of "genocide", beginning in April of 1915, against the Armenians even though they were loyal subjects of the Empire. Yet, the proponents of this claim can not even agree on the fundamentals, including, the "duration of the genocide"1 or the "number of the victims". Some allege that it continued until 1917 and others extend it until 1923. For example, the Republic of Armenia has adopted among its National Memory Days, April 24 as the "1915-1923 Great Genocide" day. According to some others, the "number of the victims" exceeds even the number of the whole Armenian population of the Empire.
The advocates of these allegations ignore and overlook the simple historical facts of the period in question which covers the last 40 years of the Ottoman Empire. It was during this period that the Armenian rebels betrayed the Ottomans by actively supporting the invading and occupying foreign forces, particularly the Russians. The same circles claim that the Ottoman measures to relocate the Armenian population from the war zone in eastern Anatolia to safer parts of the Empire in 1915 was not motivated by the Great War or intercommunal strife. But in reality, in the First World War, the eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire were invaded by Russia, and the Armenians, considering the war as an opportunity, launched an uprising to establish an Armenian state in a region that was predominantly non-Armenian. War-time casualties were increased by rapidly escalating fighting between Armenians and the Muslim civil populations. Famine and epidemics augmented the loss of life.
Ironically, while those who make these allegations recognize these historical facts in their publications, they choose to be subjective in their e\'aluation of this period for obvious political ends. The goal since the very beginning ofthe "Armenian question" in the fourth quarter ofthe 19th century, has been the establishment of an Armenian state in the eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire (after 1923, of the Republic of Turkey). Demands for reparation have been advanced in the last several decades.
In this document, the events that created the so-called "Armenian question" are narrated in a chronological order, with reference to Armenian and other foreign writers. In other words, the role of the Armenians in the domestic and foreign policy developments of the final 40 years of the Ottoman Empire is approached via the writings of non- Turkish experts, and especially of Armenians themselves. Thus, Ottoman documents and sources about the atrocities committed by Armenians on the Muslim population are deliberately excluded so as to preserve the consistency of this approach.

It should be stressed that, this document does not cover the atrocities committed by the Armenians on the Muslim population in Caucasia between the periods of 1918-1923, through which the Azerbaijani population was also deeply affected. This exercise does not claim to encompass each and every single detail of this tragic era of Ottoman history. It is, however, a meaningful cross-section of the main facts that shaped the events under consideration.

INTRODUCTION
The Ottoman Empire was founded in 1299. After almost three centuries of rise and the Golden Age, the period of decline began in 1579 and disintegration in 1699 with the Treaty of Karlowitz.
The Ottoman Empire was the major world power during the Golden Age.
Even after the period of disintegration began, it took another seventy-five years before the European powers became stronger than the Ottoman Empire and were able to make their influence felt. Russia and Austria replaced the grandeur of the Ottoman Empire after the Treaty of Kuchuk Kaynarca signed in 1774. Britain, France and finally Germany joined the two powers in the 19th century. Prior to the First World War, the fate of the Ottoman Empire depended on, to a large extent, the decisions of these five powers.
Against this background, the Armenian question was raised as a European issue at the Berlin Congress in 1878.
The Armenians lived peacefully for six centuries within the borders of the Ottoman Empire. After the conquest of Istanbul in 1453, Mehmet II invited the Armenian bishop from Bursa to Istanbul and gave him the title of Armenian Patriarch.
Lord Salisbury, British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in a letter to Sir Henry Layard, British Ambassador at Istanbul, dated 30 May 1878, asserts:
"Asiatic Turkey contains populations of many different races and creeds, possessing no capacity for self-government and no aspirations for independence, but owing their tranquillity and whatever prospect of political well-being they possess entirely to the rule of the Sultan. "(1)

(1) British Foreign Office (FO) No.36 (1878), p.I-2, No.1