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1.The word "genocide" which was coined by Professor R. Lemkin in 1944 seems to be carelessly used these days. But what does it mean? Its definition, accepted by most countries is found in the UN Convention on the subject. There are three salient points the convention singles out: (a) a government's intention to exterminate a specific race, or group, that lives under its jurisdiction; (b) the existence of a policy embodying that intention; (c) operational orders by that government to carry out the policy.
2.In terms of these points, the facts noted above do not describe a "genocide" given that there is no evidence of any kind that suggests, even implicitly, an intention to exterminate the Armenian race living in the Ottoman Empire: nor is there evidence of any policy formulated, or of orders issued to that end. The absence of intention, of policy, and of orders is corroborated by many foreign sources, as well as by the minutes of the Ottoman cabinet which are open to study for anyone who wishes to do so. Moreover, it would be strange indeed to go on arguing that those who were supposedly doing the "genociding", managed to lose considerably more people than the "genocided."
3.What happened then? What happened is that some Ottoman-Armenians tried to find an historical identity for their race and, benefiting from the growing weakness of the Ottoman Government, sought to realize this dream by force, with the help of the Russians--this, at a time when Russia and the Ottoman Empire were at war. The conjuncture of these circumstances, plus the fact that this attempt was undertaken in a region where other, non-Armenian communities were living, led to an "inter-communal war" unusual intensity. In that war everybody suffered more than humans should.