VALUE OF THE JOINT DECLARATION OF POWERS OF THE ENTENTE OF MAY 24, 1915, IN THE QUESTION OF QUALIFICATION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AND ITS IMPACT ON THE AUTHORITIES OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
The article studies some documents concerning qualification of Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire during World War I: the joint declaration of powers of the Entente of May 24, 1915, the official reply of the Ottoman government of May 27 on a Declaration of powers of the Entente, and also the law of the Ottoman Empire "About deportation" of May 30. The author analyzes the speciied documents and compares them with historic facts. On the basis of the comparative analysis of contents of these documents the author comes to a conclusion that that adoption of the temporary law «On Deportation» and publication of the official response to the charges and threats, which are contained in the joint declaration of Entente powers, Turkish government sought «to legalize» the criminal actions against Armenians and to present mass destruction of the Armenian population to the world community as the measures taken «from requirements of the law and the need to protect public peace». As for the joint declaration of Entente powers which was adopted щт the initiative of Russia, this document even in the years of World War I, at the time of Armenian Genocide, the objective political and legal treatment is given to this crime, which formulations as a precedent were used subsequently when developing UN convention on genocide of 1948.