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THE ARMENIAN PROBLEM AND INTERNATIONAL LAW
Introduction
A lot was written on the Armenian incidents that had occurred in
the Ottoman Empire in the years 1915-1916, that is, during the
early part of World War One. Thousands of works tackling this
issue were published, mainly by Armenians. These authors, mostly
historians, were inclined to describe the incidents as genocide.
Turkish authors too, almost without exception, and a number of
foreign writers, held in high esteem, approached the issue from a
historical standpoint, maintaining in turn that resettlement is not
the same as genocide.
Although the strong emotional context of this issue makes a
neutral view of history difficult to prevail, there are undoubtedly
ample publications available to give adequate information about
the history of the incidents. Despite the claims that the archives in
Turkey and in Armenia are not fully accessible, one can safely say
that enough archival work has been done and published to permit
an assessment of the nature of the incidents.
Historical studies are essential to render understandable the
incidents that took place in the second decade of the 20th century.
However, if a historian lacks education and/or experience in
international law, that person cannot judge whether or not these
incidents amounted to genocide. Like historians, academics such
as sociologists and political scientists who laboured on these
issues, tend to describe as genocide almost any incident, which
involves an important number of dead. However, genocide, as an
international crime, can be determined only by jurists on the basis
of the prescribed legal criteria.
Nevertheless, there are very few works of legal nature on this
issue. This outcome is due to a variety of reasons. For one thing,
the Turks are not known to be legalists, first and foremost. But the
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