Hello history buffs,
I'm a German, living in Germany and my new room mate is the German born son of Turkish immigrants (he strongly identifies with Turkey I think and is a moderately devout muslim). We made friends quickly and recently the topic fell upon the Armenian genocide. I came to learn that he doesn't believe there had been a genocide.
How would you recommend me convincing him otherwise? Where to start?
Prior to our conversation the only thing I knew was that it is a controversial topic. I had read some sources on WWI before which mentioned the controversy in passing, but never anything with this as a main topic. What I remember from that is that the Armenian had been forcibly relocated for fear of revolt and during that relocation many/most died under not quite kosher circumstances.
Now his position is that there have been violent deaths in the area where the modern borders of Turkey to the south and east are, with the victims being Armenian women and children killed by people who could not have been Turkish men at arms since they were fighting the war on the coastal borders of the Ottoman Empire.
The faq will help you inform yourself about the topic. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/faq/europe#wiki_the_armenian_genocide
Now for discussion. The first and foremost thing in any sort of this thing is knowing if the other person is actually discussing with you. If he is unwilling to consider his opinion, and just wants to argue in circles until you give up then it makes no sense discussing anyway. if this is the case just give him something to read and tell him that you can't be bothered with his nationalist crap.
If he is willing then make sure that is about history, and doesn't spill out into today. The genocide was perpetrated by a historic government that doesn't exist anymore, and todays people aren't at fault for what happened. Just as with the holocaust, it means that we remember and watch out, that this never happens again. We spend so much time with these things to take a lesson from the past for the future. He isn't at fault for it because of his turkish ancestry. And if he wants to be a turkish Patriot he has to accept his country and its history as a whole, and not cherry pick things to fit a polished narrative.
With how you described him he sounds more like the first type who already made up his mind. The only thing you can say is that it is unacceptable in the 21st century to deny scientifically made history to further nationalist sentiment.
A good way to establish a baseline would be to ask why he believes what he does. From there you can find evidence to challenge it. Although it ought to be stressed prior that this is strictly a friendly query.
This is a very touchy subject for Turks. If you only recently met this person, I would not recommend discussing it, especially since you are living with him. If anything goes wrong and your relationship turns sour, it will be especially bad since you can't avoid each other.
If you feel strongly about the issue, go on with your research but wait till you have a good relationship with your roommate before starting a discussion.