We don't need German, American, British or other archival materials. Based on Ottoman documents, we can show that the decision to exterminate Armenians was taken on the 1st December in 1914. Turkish historian and expert on the Armenian Genocide, Taner Akcam, who is in Armenia to present the Armenian translation of his new book titled “The Hundred Years of Apartheid”, stated this in the guest of Armenian News-NEWS.am on the “Power Factor” program.

"This is an Ottoman document which is still available in Ottoman archive. According to this document, there has been a decision taken in Erzurum on the 1st December of 1914 by the “Teşkilatı mahsusay” unit. Tahsin - the governor of Erzurum - who was a member of the “Teşkilat mahsusay” informed the government in Istanbul with a telegram that they decided to exterminate the male population of Armenians in Bitlis and Van, and then asked to destroy that telegram after reading. This in an Ottoman document. They used the term “extermination of suspicious Armenian” for the first time on the 1st of December, 1914. The second important document is a letter written by Bahattin Şakir, as I remember on the 3th of March, 1915. Iin that letter Bahattin Şakir, as a member of “Teşkilat Mahsusay”, officially informs one of the other member of the “Union and Progress” party that the central committee took a decision exterminate the entire Armenian population in Anatolia. According to my estimation, the decision was taken between 18 February – 3 March. Based on this documents and some other available materials we can easily say that the Ottoman government, the Union and Progress Party intentionally exterminated the Armenian population. But you may ask when they started thinking about this idea?," he says.

The historian thinks that another very crucial turning point was the Armenian reform act signed between Russian and Ottoman Empire.

"On February 14, 1914 Russia and Ottoman Empire signed reform agreement, according to which two semi-autonomous provinces would be established on what generally known as Western Armenia, what we call Eastern Turkey. For the Ottoman Empire it was very clear that it is the beginning of an independent Armenian state, because Ottomans had an accumulated experience and accumulated knowledge from the 19th century. The Greece, Bulgarians, Romanians, Bosnians, then Lebanon, all European Christians one after another became independent based on same pattern. First certain reforms, then autonomous structure, then independence. If you read not only Ottoman, but also British, Russian, German documents, you can see that even foreign diplomats were convinced that this was the beginning of the establishment of an independent Armenian state. The Ottoman government intended not to implement this plan, and when they entered the first World War, the first thing they did was that they annulled this agreement with Russia. It's not a coincidence that since the signing of that reform agreement Ottoman government sent a circular to all counselors, embassies to the Ottoman Empire considering Armenians as suspicious element and to reporting all the world about Armenian activities. Since August, when they entered the war, they also sent a circular throughout the Ottoman Empire considering Armenians as suspicious element and that their every movement must be traced and controlled. The fear that something is going to happen was already in their mind during the period of signing the reform agreement," states the historian.  

According to him, they wanted to preemptively prevent the establishment of an independent Armenian state.

"They thought they are going to lose eastern provinces of Empire. When the war started, on 3 major fronts the Ottoman Empire started to lose the war: Russia won the battle in Sarighamish on the Caucasus front in December 1914 – January 1915, after that the Daradanell offensive started from February 1915 and took all the year, and then the military operation of Jamal Pasha was launched in Egypt for taking under control  Suez canal. On these three fronts the Ottoman Empire started to lose the war, the Russian army was advancing, and in the mind of the Union and Progress party was of course the perspective that when the Russians occupy that territories, they would establish Armenian autonomy there. So they thought that it was better to get rid of them all so that Armenians could never raise this demand. And it is not something that I am arguing. This is in Taleat Pasha's telegrams and writings. When he wrote the governor of Aleppo and the Immigration bureau in the charge of settling the Armenians in Syrian desert, he clearly said in his telegram to reduce the Armenian numbers to such a low level that they should never again raise their seditious plan. This was their major fear," he notes. 

The world-renowned historian rejects claims that Armenians were not loyal to the Ottoman Empire."If we want to make a general statement regarding the Armenian attitude or mainly Armenian party's attitude towards Ottoman government, I would argue it was too much loyalty, and that they were not a disloyal element. We know from the memoirs of Dashnaktsutyun party members that even in their last congress held in August 1914 there were still individuals believing that there could have been an agreement with the Ottoman government. We know the developmentս in Bitlis and Van, where the young Armenian generation wanted to resist against Union and Progress Party and the Dashnaktsutyun leadership. Even in that period they were hoping to find a consensus with the Ottoman government. After especially 1908, despite the Adana massacre of 1919, the Armenian leadership hope to be able to develop a consensus with the Union and Progress Party. So they were not that disloyal element, as was claimed, just the opposite," says the historian.