From: sechrest@dip.eecs.umich.edu (Stuart Sechrest)
Subject: Re: Further exposing a historical revisionist 
Organization: University of Michigan EECS Dept., Ann Arbor
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 04:54:28 GMT

WARNING: the following reviews source material continuously misrepresented by 
Mr.Sendar Argic.  I feel that some readers may be interested in the actual
material, rather than its political uses.  

In article <9212132124@zuma.UUCP> sera@zuma.UUCP (Serdar Argic) writes:
>
>During the First World War and the ensuing years - 1914-1920, 
>the Armenian Dictatorship through a premeditated and systematic 
>genocide, tried to complete its centuries-old policy of 
>annihilation against the Turks and Kurds by savagely murdering 
>2.5 million Muslims and deporting the rest from their 1,000 year 
>homeland.
>

Mr Argic, 

Please get your numbers straight with your sources.  You have stated that
`` As for the numbers, I do have a copy of a demographic history on the 
question of the numbers which was published by . . .  Prof. Justin McCarthy.''

McCarthy, J., "Muslims and Minorities, The Population of Ottoman 
     Anatolia and the End of the Empire," New York University Press, 
     New York, 1983, pp. 133-144.

Please review the figures in the book, particularly Table 7.10.  You will
find that the figure he gives for the population loss in the six eastern 
provinces is 1,040,376, not 2.5 million.  The latter is population loss for
Turkey as a whole.  How the Armenian dictatorship managed to ``murder''
more than 750,000 Muslims in Aydin and Konyai (wetern and southern Anatolia) 
is an interesting question of military tactics.  You also seem to ignore the 
McCarthy's estimates of deaths of Armenians (Table 7.7) and Greeks (Table 7.8) 
during the same period.  Perhaps you can explain how these losses fit into 
the Armenian dictatorship's master plan of genocide, unless you find these 
figures uncomfortable.  

You might also want to explain your reaction to the following statement
by McCarthy (p. 137): ``...[I]t is an error to speak of Greek deaths, Muslim
deaths, or Armenian deaths as if each somehow had a separate existence.
To mention the sufferings of one group and avoid those of another gives
a false picture of what was a human, not simply an ethnic, disaster.''

(You might also want to update your citation above.  The section you want
is pp 133-139, on Muslim deaths.  Pp 140-144 which you cite are notes.
Why not throw in pp 121-130 on Armenian population losses and pp 130-133
on Greek population losses, as well?)

Other Readers,

The tables below indicate broadly the story according to McCarthy. 
Approximately 18% of Anatolian muslims died. These included Turks
killed by Armenians, Turks killed by Greeks, Turks killed by Russians,
Turks killed by Kurds, Turks killed by disease, Turks killed by starvation, 
Kurds killed by Armenians, Kurds killed by Russians, Kurds killed by 
Turks, Kurds killed by disease, etc.  The population loss was general; 
areas away from the front were ravaged by hunger and disease. While more 
than 2.5 million died, some died in the east, some in the west.  The 1927 
census showed a deficit (relative to women) of 830,000 men in the age 
group 20-45, so a lot of military age men died.  The population loss in 
the east amounted to more than a million people, including both the dead 
and refugees.  Because of the large numbers of refugees, it is hard to 
say exactly which people died.  For example, Erzurum lost 31% of it's 
muslim population, while neighboring Trabzon lost only 4%.  This could mean 
that refugees from Erzurum are disguising deaths in Trabzon.

Meanwhile, McCarthy estimates that 40% of Anatolian Armenians died
(including, of course, those who were killed by Turks, those killed by Kurds,
those killed by disease, those killed by starvation, etc.) and most of the 
remainder made refugees.  McCarthy does not ignore Armenian deaths, although
some believe that he misestimates the prewar Armenian population, and 
therefore derives a low estimate of Armenian deaths.  (McCarthy discusses
the sources of this disagreement in his Chapter 3.)

					--Stuart Sechrest

Muslim population losses (McCarthy's Tables 7.10 and 7.11)

Province	Estimated	Estimated 	Proportion
		1912 pop. 	pop. loss	lost
				1912-1922
---------       ----------     ----------       ----------
Adana		   573,256	 42,511		    7%
Ankara		 1,263,199	104,823		    8%
Aydin		 1,734,179	333,230		   19%
Biga		   165,508	 24,793		   15%
Bitlis		   408,703	169,748		   42%
Diyarbakir	   598,985	158,043		   26%
Erzurum		   804,388	248,695		   31%
Haleb		   562,197	 50,838		    9%
Huedavendigar	 1,598,583	160,612		   10%
Izmit		   271,751	 12,039		    4%
Kastamonu	 1,305,279	224,679		   17%
Konya		 1,542,331	418,442		   27%
Mamuretuelaziz	   564,164	 89,310		   16%
Sivas		 1,196,300	180,413		   15%
Trabon		 1,178,655	 49,907		    4%
Van		   313,322	194,167		   62%
------------------------------------------------------------
Total 		14,080,800    2,462,250		   18%

Total for	 3,885,862    1,040,376            27%
eastern provinces

Armenian population losses (Tables 7.1 and 7.7)

		Estimated 	Estimated   Estimated 	Estimated Proportion 
		1912 pop.	1922 pop    dead 	refugees  dead
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
		1,465,148	70,000	    584,268	810,000    40%
		

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