Maxim Gauin spoke about his struggle with Armenians in his interview to AzVision.az.
- Which topics are covered in your research?
-The main topic of my research is about the relations between French Republic and Armenian committees during 1918 – 1923 and Turkey-France relations beginning from Ottoman period up today.
-What made you think against Armenians?
- I do not evaluate my position as anti-Armenia. I came to negative conclusions about Armenian nationalists. However, fortunately these people do not represent the whole nation. Historically, they exposed their nation to terror as well. I can show Bedros Kapamaciyan's murder as an example who was mayor of Van and supporter of Coalition and Prosperity Party in 1912. Or Vicken Tcharkhutian forcefully took money from America Armenians for benefit of ASALA. If we look at most recent examples, you know that Armenian government is in power because of election falseness. In 2008, 10 people who condemned this falseness were shot cold-bloodedly by the police. I am completely neutral in my conclusions regarding my works. I try to give maximum ground with archival facts. At the same time, I see and underline all these dishonesties against Azerbaijanis and Turks not as a historian, but as a citizen.
- What happened during the early stages of your combat with Armenians?
- Again, it is not only fight against Armenians but also against extremists who harm his/her nation. The first stage was indignity that I face in Leon, Villorban in 2008. I was compared with those who sent Jews to Auschwitz camp, as I reminded historical facts about “Armenian Revolutionary Federation” and arguments contradicting “Armenian Genocide”. I prosecuted the very person who insulted me. Leon court punished him in 2010. I completed master’s degree on Modern History in 2010. Since that time, my scientific publications in newspapers, especially in Israeli media strengthened extremists’ hatred for me.
-As time passes, Armenia’s falsification of history is being discussed clearly around the world. Which aspects catch your attention in this direction?
-It can be necessary to restate that they are not generally “ Armenians”, but people who are political structures and those close to them. As a result of my research, I could reveal following falsifications:
a)France is blamed for its betrayal to Armenia during the invasion of Adana, Gaziantep etc. And Turkey is blamed for deportation and even killing of Armenians. Indeed, nationalist Armenian committees betrayed France. They were making claims to support the French mandate, but in fact they were seeking American or UK guardianship for the establishment of “Armenia, extending from Karabakh to Mersin”. Those nationalist tendencies led the mass transfer of Armenians from the region late 1921. Especially I would like to remind the Turks who were killed in 1919 and 1920.
b) The Turks were blamed on the burning of Izmir in 1922. This is completely absurd. In fact, a Greek commander who organized the burning of several cities and villages of western Anatolia realized that he was not able to do same thing in Izmir and assigned this task to the Armenian nationalists who were ready to destroy everything belonging to the Turks.
c) Ethnic cleansing policy pursued by the Armenians against Turks from 1918 to 1920 was concealed. I found documents from American and French archives describing mass slaughters and exiles. Besides, I found the memories translated into French and written by Ruben Ter Minasyan, the then Minister of Internal Affairs of Armenia. Minasyan was responsible for the massacres and exiles happened in those years. However, translators did not translate a part of the document that covering 1920s and it is too difficult to get the original version in Armenian.
Documents belonging to Ottoman Empire, Germany etc. were also deliberately distorted. For example, a telegram sent by Interior Minister Telat Pasha on August 29, 1915 is presented as a proof of “Armenian genocide”. In fact the document was about the protection of newly transferred Ottoman Armenians and the punishment of people who attacked them.
- Recently, you were involved in a trial against Ara Toranian, the chief of the political branch of the ASALA in France from 1976 to 1983, current co-chairman of the Coordination Council of France’s Armenian Associations and editor of the monthly Les Nouvelles d’Arménie magazine, and Samuel Tilbian, treasurer of the Federation of Armenian Associations in Rhône-Alpes (Lyon’s region). What are the reasons of your claims?
- They have compared me to those who deny the Jewish Holocaust. This is embarrassing. Besides, Tilbiyan called me ‘fascist’ as well as compared with the Nazis. It’s horrible.
- Was the court procedure fair enough? Could Toranians’s reputation in France influence the final decision of court? Do you rely on your country’s justice system?
- Although the court’s final decision was made on November 28, I have not yet received the text. The court considered the similar case in Lyon in 2010; Sirma Oran-Martz against Laurent Leylekian case was also considered in 2013-2014 years in Paris; taking into account these precedents, I can’t understand how a different decision has been made. Besides, there is an example of Perinçek v. Switzerland case of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). I rely on the decision of the Court of Appeal.
- In France, the Armenian lobby conducts extensive propaganda against Azerbaijan and tries to create a negative image about our country. What makes the Armenian lobby so powerful in France?
- One of the main reasons for the power of Armenian nationalism is the passivity of the Turks. Education level of the children of Turkish migrants is very poor. One can rarely encounter a Turkish migrant who express himself in French fluently. What kind of political activity can you realize with the workers, kebab sellers who have poor knowledge of French and who are not interested in politics? Azerbaijanis living in France are more educated and better organized, however they are few in number.
Gunel Ibrahimova
AzVision.az
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