Akçam summarized one textbook that claims the Armenians had sided with the Russians during the war . The 1909 Adana massacre , in which as many as 20,000 – 30,000 Armenians were massacred , is identified as " The Rebellion of Armenians of Adana " . According to the book , the Armenian Hnchak and Dashnak organizations instituted rebellions in many parts of Anatolia , and " did n’t hesitate to kill Armenians who would not join them , " issuing instructions that " if you want to survive you have to kill your neighbor first . " Claims highlighted by Akçam : The Armenians murdered many people living in villages , even children , by attacking Turkish villages , which had become defenseless because all the Turkish men were fighting on the war fronts . ... They stabbed the Ottoman forces in the back . They created obstacles for the operations of the Ottoman units by cutting off their supply routes and destroying bridges and roads . ... They spied for Russia and by rebelling in the cities where they were located , they eased the way for the Russian invasion . ... Since the Armenians who engaged in massacres in collaboration with the Russians created a dangerous situation , this law required the migration of Armenian people from the towns they were living in to Syria , a safe Ottoman territory . ... Despite being in the midst of war , the Ottoman state took precautions and measures when it came to the Armenians who were migrating . Their tax payments were postponed , they were permitted to take any personal property they wished , government officials were assigned to ensure that they were protected from attacks during the journey and that their needs were met , police stations were established to ensure that their lives and properties were secure . Similar revisionist claims found in other textbooks by Akçam included that Armenian " back-stabbing " was the reason the Ottomans lost the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 – 78 ( similar to the post-War German stab-in-the-back myth ) , that the Hamidian massacres never happened , that the Armenians were armed by the Russians during late World War I to fight the Ottomans ( in reality they had already been nearly annihilated from the area by this point ) , that Armenians killed 600,000 Turks during said war , that the deportation were to save Armenians from other violent Armenian gangs , and that Armenians who were deported were later able to return to Turkey unscathed and reclaim their properties
Hamidian massacres
Hamidian massacres
Historical negationism