This is Not an Historical But a Political Question

History professor Arsen Avegyan has been working in the Presidential Archives for awhile. Avegyan now maintains that the Armenian question is not one of history but of politics. According to Avegyan, in order for relations between the two countries to normalize, the two countries need to open their borders and nourish diplomatic relationships.Hurriyet: Prime Minister Erdogan has said again that the Armenian question is something that should be left to historians. Is it an historical question or a political question? Our Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan has already answered this question, saying also that it was not an historical but a political question. I think that this is true. Because the historians have already said what they were going to say, they have done their work, now the people that have to work are the politicians.And what do you think the historians decided on viz the Armenian question? The historians have decided that the events of 1915 constituted a genocide. But not all historians agree with this....As an historian, I believe that the events of 1915 constitute a genocide. The first government in the world to recognize it as such was the Ottoman Empire. It's possible to see this reflected in the records from 1918. In these records, the Armenian incidents are not recorded as being simply basic attacks, they are recorded as a genocide. It is possible to see the same pronouncement made in the 1919 decisions of the Divan-i Orf Court. In order for it to be considered a genocide, there has to be proof that this was systematically planned. Do you think such proof exists? It was planned. The planning started from 1913 onward. The architects of the plan were Talat Pasa, Doctor Nazim, and Doctor Bahattin Sakir. Do you think the goal was to eliminate all the Armenians living under the Ottoman Empire? The first plan to was eliminate all the Armenians living in regions near the borders of Russian states.Â