Russian General Mayewski’s report and the Turkish Distortion

The head of Turkey’s National Security in 2001 Eyub Shahin, has reedited and republished Russian General Mayewski’s report on the conflict between Armenians and Turks during the last decades of the 19th century, according to Turkish newspaper Zaman's Sept. 10, 2001 issue.
Shahin used the Ottoman language and script version of that report as a source to translate the tract into modern-day Turkish, thus bypassing the original Russian version. This translation aims to "prove" that whatever misfortunes befell the Armenians, it was due to their "provocative" behavior and effort to "topple" the Ottoman regime and "create" a new Armenia in "Ottoman" territories.
For decades now, this piece by Mayewski has been used by Turkish academics, politicians, and even journalists, as major capital for anti-Armenian propaganda. It was even used as material for agitation against the Armenians during World War I.
Contrary to these claims, Prof. Vahakn Dadrian dissected the Turkish publications dealing with Mayewski’s tract to conclude that they are faulty and are in part based on doctored, rather than authentic, Mayewski material. The Turks first "translated" the Russian tract into Ottoman Turkish. Using the latter as a basis, they then translated it into French for world-wide distribution. But a careful examination of this French and, therefore, Turkish version with the Russian original by German Ottomanist Prof. Martin Hartmann, revealed that there are significant discrepancies between the original, on the one hand, and the Turkish and French translations, on the other, including omissions. Moreover, as Professor Hartmann ascertained, “The French version contains items not found in the Russian.” In other words, as Professor Dadrian concludes, “The Russian General has been credited with statements he did not make in his report.” Prof. Hartmann, who was commissioned by the German Foreign Office for this task of checking the translations, declares the following in his summary conclusion:
“The aim of the material obviously is to place the blame on the Christians... This is an instrument of agitation... On the whole one gains the impression that one is dealing with a clumsy effort to excuse the conduct of the Turkish government in the great atrocities of 1895-6 through the mouth of a Russian.”

For further details see:
www.zoryaninstitute.org/Table_Of_Contents/dialogue_mayewski.html