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SÖYLEDİKLERİ VE YAZDIKLARI
deaths occurred in that region. Indeed, McCarthy estimates that
1,19 million Muslim civilians perished in the region between 1914-
1921.
Finally, the Turkish and Armenian civilians, who died in clashes
with one another, called ‘mukatele’ in old Turkish, that is, mutual
killings, are included in those casualty figures, though the definite
number is not known. According to the findings reported in the
course of the Şüheda (Martyrs) Project launched in the early
1980s, mass graves abound in eastern Anatolia. Anthropological
research determines scientifically to which group each mass grave
belongs. Although it is early to make a general assessment, one
sees that the mass graves belonging to Turks are more numerous.
These grave sites indicate that the people’s tales of Armenians
persecuting Muslims are not a myth. The Muslims who took part
in the war did not desert the army until the very end of the armed
hostilities. Soldiers of Armenian origin, on the other hand, deserted
in large numbers. They formed armed groups which attacked the
Muslim towns and villages where there would hardly be men at
fighting age able to protect them. So, these peoples could not
defend themselves effectively. This is why the Muslim deaths were
more numerous than the Armenian ones.
There is a difference between the fates of those Armenians who
were transferred from western Anatolia and those from eastern
Anatolia. The partial relocation carried out in the west caused
considerably fewer deaths, because of the availability of railways.
A greater number of them returned to their homes in the western
parts after the war ended. In the east, Armenian deaths were more
numerous because of the rough terrain, lack of railways and the
fact that only small gendarmerie units that were spared from the
war front were available to protect them.
Still, the number of Armenian deaths were a lot less than
claimed. The fact that many of these deaths occurred outside the
relocation process indicates that the relocation was not an act of
genocide hiding the intent to destroy. Otherwise, we would be faced
with a strange, hard-to-explain kind of genocide in which the
“genocide-committing” Turks lost much more people than the
“genocide victim” Armenians did.
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