The Sites
English-language websites are a key part of the arsenal of those who would deny the Turkish genocide of the Armenians
There are dozens of English-language Armenian genocide denial websites. Their content ranges from video clips of lectures by prominent academic deniers to photos and home addresses of U.S. scholars who affirm the genocide to bigoted anti- Armenian screeds. The following are capsule descriptions of four top sites:
TALL ARMENIAN TALE
www.tallarmeniantale.com
Claiming to present « the other side of the falsified genocide, » this website describes Armenians as lemmings and makes the argument that Armenians are inherently traitorous. Murad « Holdwater » Gumen, a Turkish-American illustrator best known for his work on Disney and Warner Bros. cartoon characters, is the webmaster for this site. « Armenians have clung to the tragic events of so long ago as a form of ethnic identity, and have considered it their duty to perpetuate this myth, » he writes. « As descendants of the merchant class from the Ottoman Empire, Armenians have been successful in acquiring the wealth and power to make their voices heard … and they have made good use of the ‘Christian’ connection to gain the sympathies of Westerners who share their religion and prejudices. »
ARMENIAN GENOCIDE HOAX
www.armeniangenocidehoax.com
This site’s title is somewhat misleading because, instead of presenting the Armenian genocide as fakery, it focuses on the semantic argument that Armenians were the victims of massacres but not genocide. « The genocide label is simply propaganda to associate Turks with evil and is a form of Anti-Turkism, » the site argues. Its anonymous writers present the massacres as occurring in the midst of a frenzied civil war fought along ethnic lines, posing the rhetorical question, « When a nation loses a rebellion in a civil war, what better way to seek revenge than to claim it was genocide? »
ARMENIANS 1915
http://armenians-1915.blogspot.com
This blog features the writings of Yuksel Oktay, a Turkish-American energy consultant and power plant designer who has lived in Turkey since 1995 and is a prolific Armenian genocide denier. It’s also the primary online promoter of the increasingly popular conspiracy theory among Turkish ultranationalists that affirming the Armenian genocide is the first stage in a secret Armenian plot to assume control of Turkish lands, similar to the « reconquista » conspiracy theory held by many U.S. anti-immigration extremists who believe Mexico is plotting to « reconquer » the Southwestern United States.
ARMENIAN REALITY
www.armenianreality.com
Armenian Reality details a comprehensive alternative universe in which Muslim Turks were the victim of an Armenian-perpetrated genocide during World War I, not the other way around. The site also repeatedly characterizes Armenians as terrorists, making the outlandish claim that « Armenian crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Ottoman Turkish … have been forgotten amidst congressional preoccupation with placating the vocal and richly financed Armenian lobby. »
Intelligence Report
Summer 2008
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?sid=431
