It is with great reluctance that I write about the Armenian genocide, as I know that what I say will infuriate both sides. But it is the hundredth anniversary of the catastrophe this month, and Pope Francis has just declared that the mass killing of Armenian citizens of the Ottoman Empire in 1915 was indeed a genocide. Turkey, predictably, has responded by withdrawing its ambassador from the Vatican.
Well, surprise! We've been listening to this argument for generations now, and it rarely gets much further than "Yes, you did!" "No, I didn't!" Unfortunately, I know a lot more about it than that.
Ages ago, when I was a history graduate student doing research about Turkey's role in World War, I got into the Turkish General Staff archives in Ankara and found the actual telegrams that went back and forth between Istanbul and eastern Anatolia in the spring of 1915. Later on I saw the British and Russian documents on their plans for joint action with Armenian revolutionaries in the spring of 1915, so I also know the context in which the Turks and Armenians were acting. And I can say with confidence that both sides are wrong.
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