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Sunday, 31 July 2016

The Young Turk's Crime Against Humanity - Taner Akçam

An academic book by a turkish historian working out of big american university.  This book offers a meticulous examination of several questions around the Armenian genocide and tries to answer the questions through examination of historical documents, archive records, witness accounts both from inside and outside the government, trial records, etc.  The evidence seems to be overwhelmingly in support of a deliberate and centrally organized attempt to eliminate the Armenian population of Turkey.  It also explores some of the reasons behind this plan besides the usual "internal enemies of the state" argument, for which it seems there is little evidence, and in fact several statements from local governors stating the opposite.  One important causal element was the need to find a place for hundreds of thousands of repatriated turkish speakers from countries in the Balkans and Greece.

A definitive read.

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