ABSTRACT
This chapter starts with a clarification, namely that it is beyond the purpose and scope of this analysis which belongs to the field of political science to investigate the full circumstances of the crime. It differentiates between a Turkish governmental discourse on the Armenian issue on the one hand and a societal discourse on the other. The Turkish-Armenian case is a contested genocide: the death toll and the genocide label are subject to political and, to a lesser extent, also to scientific debate. The Republic of Turkey, with its new capital Ankara, succeeded the Ottoman Sultanate in October 1923. The French parliament made the denial of the Armenian genocide a punishable offence; Erdogan responded that 'a lie is still a lie even if other parliaments decide otherwise'. The Turkish government also sponsors academic research such as the Turkish Historical Society which disseminates the Turkish standpoint with regard to the 'Armenian question'.
