gibson042 my question was 'which owners are the "real" owners?' The present day Turks and Israelis or the descendents of the dispossessed Armenians, Arabs and Greeks?
As I already stated, you were correct in asserting that the
factual owners are those who successfully defend a claim.
If by "real" owners you mean who
ought to be able to do so, that's something for the involved parties to work out theirselves through peaceful dispute resolution. If I were an arbitrator dealing with such a dispute right now (i.e., decades after the fact), I would be inclined to declare the property abandoned in 1974, but might insist that the aggrieved is owed some compensation for the circumstances by which the new owner took possession. In 1976, I'd probably have sided with the original owner.
It's messy, and these are the kinds of problems caused by large-scale aggression.
Running for your life is a strange definition of "property abandoned." In the Armenians case, the ones that didn't run fast enough were slaughtered. But thats history now.
In simple terms, do you believe the Turks and Israelis to be the legitimate owners today?