"Lutem: Ottoman Empire Granted Broad Religious Freedoms To Non-muslim Minorities
NEW YORK - ''Non-Muslim minorities were granted broad religious freedom under Ottoman Empire,'' Omer Lutem, chairman of the Institute of Armenian Studies, said on Wednesday.
Taking the floor in a seminar at the New York Columbia University on ''Minorities in the Ottoman Empire'' Lutem said: ''according to sources, nearly 2 million Armenians lived in the Ottoman Empire. During the World War I, Armenians collaborated with the enemy, i.e. Russian forces. Therefore, the Ottomans had to fight against both Russians and Armenians. On the contrary of all allegations, Armenians were not deported. They were merely relocated in different parts of the empire. Some of them died during the transfer. However, Armenians exaggerated number of casualties and qualified the relocation as 'genocide'. In fact, number of killed Muslim civilians was much higher.''"
More:The Anatolia Times