Dr. Ali Soylemezoglu refuted the allegations of so called Armenian genocide that are made in a documentary broadcasted by German public televisions ARD
and Phönix. Giving a lecture entitled "Did Turks commit genocide? Confuting the Movie "Ageth" with Armenian Sources" at the Central Office of Union of
European Turkish Democrats (UETD), Dr. Soylemezoglu underscored that both Western and objective Armenian sources show that Armenian genocide allegations
are baseless.
Stating that the documentary "Ageth" includes almost all of the allegations against Turkish people, Soylemezoglu said, "There are about 25 important
allegations against Turks in the documentary. It can be seen that all of those allegations can be refuted refering to Armenian, English, American and
German sources. You do not even need Turkish sources to see that these allegations are baseless."
Stressing that even objective Armenian sources refute the allegations in the movie "Ageth", Soylemezoglu said, "For example, the documentary claims that
Ottoman Armenians did not initiate any rebellion and it is just accusation of Ottomans against Armenians. On the other hand, Armenian sources tell in
detail how Armenians fought against Ottoman forces. They tell how they cooperated with Russian, English and French troops. These facts are even told by
Armenians. English sources also confirm these."
Reminding that so called documentary explained the intention of Ottoman goverment as annihilating Armenian people, Soylemezoglu said, "We learn from
American sources that Ottoman government cooperated with United States to aid Armenian people. There were several American missionaries and American
schools throughout the Ottoman Empire. There were American institutions at 50 different adresses. The Ottoman Empire gave consent to United States for
aiding Armenian people and distributed the donations to Armenian people. If the Ottoman Empire intended to annihilate Armenians, they would not let
American institutions hold such a campaign to aid Armenian's. Would American Institutions in Ottoman Empire not react if they had witnessed massacre of
Armenians? Other than that, the Ottoman Empire provided Armenians money, food and shelter. Would the state help Armenians if it intended to terminate them?
These are all told by American sources in detail."
Stating that tens of thousands people died during forced immigration but the intention was not committing a genocide, Soylemezoglu said, "According to
American, English and Armenian sources, there were more than 1,5 million Armenian's alive in 1919. Armenian population in Ottoman Empire was less than 1,75
million. That means about 250,000 Armenians might have lost their lives during the incidents. These are all told in their own documents. We are guilty that
we do not inform World public on these."