Armenian History and the Question of Genocide (review)

Michael M. Gunter is Professor of Political Science at Tennessee Technological University, an internationally recognized scholar, and a well-published specialist on the Kurds, Turks, and Armenians. Unfortunately, his research interests in "things Turkish" have put him squarely under the scrutiny and criticism of the Armenian lobby for his views regarding what has come to be known as the Armenian Genocide. The experience of being subjected to the libelous character assassination techniques of the Armenian lobby is painful, damaging to one's academic reputation, and difficult to recover from (witness Gunter Lewy's recent drawn-out and difficult legal victory over the Southern Poverty Law Center which had cast him as being a paid employee of the Turks and genocide denier). In Armenian History and the Question of Genocide, Michael Gunter comes back from bitter personal attacks with a concise and powerful exposition of his own thoughts on the matter. Moreover, compliments are in order to the editors of Palgrave MacMillan for courageously publishing Gunter's work, which is bound to antagonize the powerful Armenian lobby.

The purpose of the book is to "present the Turkish position regarding the Armenian claims of genocide during World War I and the continuing debate over this issue" (p. ix). Gunter is not an advocate for the Turks, although some will see him so. Nor does he support apologies or attempt to justify the behavior of the Ottomans.

Chapter 1 is titled "The Historical Origins of the Turkish Armenian Animosity" and presents lucid summaries of both the Armenian and the Turkish positions regarding the Armenian Question, the deportations and massacres, and the associated propaganda. Gunter follows this with a synthesis of the positions and affirms support for a step-by-step historical reconciliation. The reviewer considers this chapter to be one of the best expositions of the issues in print today and alone to be worth the price of the book. Chapter 2 is titled (and addresses the) "What is Genocide?" question by defining the term and by providing a framework with which to understand its inherent ambiguities. Professor Gunter then illustrates these ambiguities with three examples — Bosnia, Darfur, and the Armenians in 1915 — making the point that the application of the international legal definition of genocide (taken from the 1948 UN Genocide Convention) is problematic in these particular cases. In this chapter he also takes on the intentional and selective use of sources by advocates of the Armenian genocide position, which has served to obscure the fact that there are no authentic documents in existence today proving premeditation. Chapter 3 reminds us that the international Armenian committees revived in the 1980s into a genuine terrorist organization responsible for the assassination of hundreds of Turks around the world. Chapter 4 details the politicization of history and the successful attempts by the Armenian lobbies around the world to introduce legislation acknowledging the actuality of a premeditated genocide by the Ottoman state as a historical fact. Chapter 5 outlines the Turkish "counter terror" response (p. 99). Gunter's final chapter is titled "Rapprochement?" and offers the idea that these issues belong to the countries of Armenia and Turkey rather than to the Armenian diaspora and secondary audiences. Professor Gunter asserts that Turkey should "differentiate between the independent state of Armenia and the Armenian diaspora" (p. 137), should "remain susceptible to track-two, civil society dialogues" (p. 138), and move toward the establishment of a joint and independent historical commission to investigate these events.

Readers interested in a detailed history of these events will have to look elsewhere. Moreover, readers keen to validate or deny assertions about genocide in 1915 will not be satisfied either. This is a book about understanding the historical forces, the dynamics, and the partisan constituencies that have shaped contemporary debate and discourse. In this regard, the book fulfills its intended purpose. For this reviewer, whose work is cited in the book under review, the value added of Professor Gunter's work is to advance the discourse about...