Ottoman, British, German, and Russian archives all point to Armenian massacres as well as Ottoman massacres perpetrated by Armenians. They do not state that there was a genocide. In fact, the Ottoman archives in Istanbul are currently free for any historian to look at to verify the facts told in this article. While Turkey accepts fully that there were many massacres of Armenians and acknowledges many Armenians died during the war, they reject the idea that there is an Armenian Genocide, because while atrocities were committed against Armenians, Ottoman Muslims were victims of atrocities and massacres as well.
Turks and the Turkish government alike, do not deny any deaths of Armenians took place. They simply state that Armenians died but so did Ottoman Muslims, and the Armenian death tolls are exaggerated for dramatical purposes to rally people to the Armenian cause.
Why is it hard to believe that Armenians who were massacred had family members and friends and fellow countrymen that would go out and take revenge for their fallen brethren? Why is it hard to believe that Ottoman Muslims that were massacred by Armenians seeking independence would have fellow countrymen to seek revenge for them? The fact is, these massacres and civil fighting had begun since the creation of the Dashnaks, also known as the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, established in 1890, for the sole purpose of attacking Ottomans in order to gain independence for Armenia. Is it that hard to believe that the motive for Armenians to begin this chain cycle of violence is far greater than Ottomans who would want Armenian taxes and aid against the Russians, British, and French, with whom the Ottoman Empire was at war with?
There were no public hate speeches against Armenians in 1915. The Ottoman Empire was dying and full of debt. It didn't have the weapons, money, time, personnel, or even the means of which, to even carry out a systematic extermination against Armenians, which is what genocide is defined as.
There were no means of identifying Armenians as Armenians, during Nazi Germany, Jews were marked with the yellow Star of David to indicate who is of the Jewish religion (See Holocaust & Armenian Genocide Compared!). The only thing the Ottomans did was relocate villages that had largely Armenians to the South near Syria, in order to stop the MUTUAL VIOLENCE, and further Armenian sabotaging and rebellion that would ultimately destroy the Ottoman Empire. This is far better than what the United States did to the Japanese during World War II, when they locked up all Japanese-Americans in cage camps in order to prevent them from spying for Japan.
The Armenians were killing Turks, some out of revenge, and some for provocation to incite war. The problem is, the Armenians had motive to start massacres while the Turks did not. Armenians wanted to separate from the Ottoman Empire, and create Greater Armenia, which they later demanded from the Allies after World War I.
Russians were closing in on Turkey and about to sweep right through it since the Ottomans were already quite weak, (Remember "The Sick man of Europe"?), Russians had very little resistance going through but were faced with Ottoman armies trying to hold them back which eventually failed.
The Armenians were helping the Russian army by creating their own gangs that were established back in 1890. The Armenians were attacking supply routes of Ottomans, government institutions, burning down villages that may be useful to Ottoman soldiers. Killing innocent women and children to encourage Turks to massacre Armenians (This was terrorism, their mission was to terrorize Ottomans and Armenians alike so that independence may be reassured).
They were just about to declare Armenian Independence and victory when the Russians suddenly decided to pull out of the war and retreat due to World War I getting more intense in Europe and the Bolshevik Revolution.
This was a sound defeat to the Armenians rebels who worked so hard for decades to create a vicious cycle of massacres in order to have full rebellion and war (So they can convince the Armenians that did not want to separate from the Ottomans).
On April 24th, 1915, 2,345 Armenian rebel leaders and revolutionary committee leaders were arrested and put to trial. This marked the end of the Armenian Independence, which the Armenians converted this to a "Armenian Genocide day" to honor their revolutionary leaders that had failed the independence.
After this the Ottoman Empire was destroyed, and the Armenians had failed to accomplish victory but some still kept trying and later finally established Armenia after World War I, but were unsatisfied with the small amount of land they were given, and were angry that Woodrow Wilson could not keep the Greater Armenia promise to them.
This history goes deeper than just this article, for more information simply read more articles in this site, or read tons of more articles online about Russo-Turkish wars and many other wars that the Ottoman Empire was involved in. If you focus on the Armenian Genocide you are likely to encounter a lot of propaganda by Armenian nationalists; however, if you simply learn about the Ottoman Empire itself as a whole, you will understand how unlikely it is for the Armenian Genocide to be a real genocide.