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To: montyspython
I am not presumptious enough to make such a judgment without knowing all of the facts.

Three historians specializing in Near Eastern Studies - Bernard Lewis, Justin McCarthy, and Heath Lowry, all who are members of the Institute of Turkish Studies, as well as the late Stanford Shaw from the Bilkent University, Ankara and independent scholars Guenter Lewy and Eberhard Jäckel are critical of the Armenian Genocide term. In 2004 the British historian Norman Stone wrote from Ankara to the Times Literary Supplement to deny "Armenian nationalist claims that a 'genocide' as classically defined had taken place".

Bernard Lewis questions the Armenian Genocide

I have great respect for Professor Lewis. "There is no evidence of a decision to massacre. On the contrary, there is considerable evidence of attempts to prevent it, which were not very successful. Yes there were tremendous massacres, the numbers are very uncertain but a million may well be likely,...[and] the issue is not whether the massacres happened or not, but rather if these massacres were as a result of a deliberate preconceived decision of the Turkish government... there is no evidence for such a decision."

Lewis stated that he believed "to make [the Armenian Genocide], a parallel with the Holocaust in Germany" was "rather absurd." In an interview with Ha'aretz he stated:

“ The deniers of Holocaust have a purpose: to prolong Nazism and to return to Nazi legislation. Nobody wants the 'Young Turks' back, and nobody wants to have back the Ottoman Law. What do the Armenians want? The Armenians want to benefit from both worlds. On the one hand, they speak with pride of their struggle against the Ottoman despotism, while on the other hand, they compare their tragedy to the Jewish Holocaust. I do not accept this. I do not say that the Armenians did not suffer terribly. But I find enough cause for me to contain their attempts to use the Armenian massacres to diminish the worth of the Jewish Holocaust and to relate to it instead as an ethnic dispute."

60 posted on 03/05/2010 1:06:53 PM PST by kabar
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To: kabar

In other words, hiding behind the apologetics of what you just posted is the answer “yes”, you are siding with Mr. Erdogan.

Please dispense with the intellectual dishonesty.


62 posted on 03/05/2010 1:13:13 PM PST by montyspython ("I don't believe in 'no win' scenarios." - James T. Kirk)
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