Killing Orders

Talat Pasha’s Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide

Taner Akçam

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9783319697864
• eBook ISBN:
  9783319697871
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern History
• Index: History

Verifies archival evidence previously dismissed as being 'fake' in order to refute the on-going denial of the Armenian Genocide 

Argues that the sanctioning of the genocide can finally be proven through official documents

Summarises meticulous research undertaken by one of the most respected, award-winning names in the field

© The Author(s) 2018

Taner AkçamKilling OrdersPalgrave Studies in the History of Genocidehttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69787-1_5

Begin Abstract

Subjects and Events Mentioned by Naim Efendi Corroborated in Ottoman Documents

Taner Akçam¹

(1)

Clark University, Worcester, MA, USA

End Abstract

Within the Ottoman documents that Naim hand-copied, he often added information having to do with events mentioned therein that he personally witnessed. One particular characteristic of this information is that it could only have been known by someone who actually worked in the Deportation Office.

Let us here closely examine the information and details provided by Naim in light of the documents that we have discovered in the Ottoman archives. Our purpose here is to show that the things recounted by Naim are completely in line with actual events, of which there are various traces in the Ottoman archives. For this purpose, we have used the copy of his memoirs in our possession. In certain rare cases, we will also turn to the sections published by Andonian which we do not possess.

Certain Armenians Being Sought

In his memoirs, Naim writes that the government (primarily Interior Minister Talat) frequently sought information regarding certain Armenians and their families. These requests concerned persons of whom it had been requested that they return to the places to which they had long before been deported, or others who had received permission to remain in Aleppo. In one example he gives, “Even though a cipher cable arrived from the [Interior] Ministry ordering that the families of Leon Amiralyan, Toros Tchaghlasyan, and the Dishchenkyan, Hazarabedyan, and Chorbajian were to remain and reside in Aleppo, the [governor of the] province deported these families, some of whose members perished on the route”¹ (see Image 1).

Image 1

Four Armenian names in Naim Efendi’s memoir

As can be understood from Naim’s account, Talat had requested via an encrypted cable that the aforementioned persons and families be allowed to remain in Aleppo. The Governor of Aleppo had already deported them, presumably to Deyr-i Zor, and some had not survived the journey. He states that a cable arrived to this effect, and claims that, while he could not recall every detail of the communication, he has repeated the information to the best of his ability. We discovered a Talat Pasha cable in the archives that does indeed correspond to the one mentioned by Naim. The message, dated 14 March 1916, was sent to the Province of Aleppo and contains the interior minister’s request that the aforementioned persons not be deported and that they be allowed to remain in Aleppo instead (see Image 2).

Image 2

Armenian names on Talat’s telegram, 14 March 1916

The individuals and families by the names of Marashlı Hazarabedyan Melkon, Amiralyan Leon, Dishçekenyan Oseb, Nishan and Santuh Burunsuzyan, Kotsan, Honan and Varjabedyan who are residing in Aleppo, the individuals by the name of Ayıntablı Hana Kürekchiyan, and Kilisli Tcaglasyan Toros and their families who are also there, should be left in Aleppo [and the situation reported back to me].²

A clearer proof of the authenticity of Naim’s memoirs one is not likely to find. It goes without saying that only an official actually working in the Office of Deportations could have known that such a telegram regarding the aforementioned persons had arrived and that it listed them by name. Another important point to recall here is that Andonian did not see this information as important, and thus left it out of his published edition.

The Case Sogomon [Soghomon] Kuyumjian

In his memoirs, Naim mentions an incident involving a certain Sogomon [Soghomon] Kuyumjian Efendi, a relative of Matyos Nalbantian, the Parliamentary Deputy for Kozan. Sogomon Kuyumjian had been deported to the County of Maara (within the Province of Aleppo). Through his interventions with Talat Pasha, Nalbantian had persuaded the interior minister to allow him to come to Aleppo and settle there. According to Naim, Talat’s order in this regard was sent to the Deportation Office in Aleppo. As a result, Sogomon came to Aleppo and presented his petition to relocate. But underneath this petition the governor wrote a note that “[the petitioner] must remain in Maara.” However, “several days later, the order was given for [the camp at] Maara to be emptied out [of Armenians].” Sogomon “appealed again [to be allowed to settle in Aleppo]”, but “although his settlement in Aleppo was the result of a[n] [interior] ministry order,” Deportation Office Director Abdülahad Nuri Bey did not act on it, stating that “since this person has fled from Maara and come here, he keeps pestering the [Immigrant and Refugee Resettlement] Office here and must be subject to the general deportations.” The Governor, Mustafa Abdülhalik, accepted Nuri Bey’s explanation, and Sogomon was duly deported³ (see Image 3).

Image 3

Sogomon Kuyumjian in Naim Efendi’s memoir

Again, Naim did not provide a single Ottoman document related to Sogomon Kuyumjian. Rather, he tells the story from memory. Nevertheless, we possess a sufficient amount of Ottoman documents from the archive to confirm that the things he wrote on Nalbantian and Kuymjian are accurate.⁴ We learn from these documents that Kozan Deputy Nalbantian did not only intervene on behalf of Sogomon Kuyumjian, but also for a great many of his relatives. On 12 October 1915, for instance, a cable was sent to the Province of Aleppo requesting that “it be reported back concerning the return to Kozan of Kigork [Kevork] Nalbantian, the brother of Parliamentary Deputy Nalbantian Efendi.”⁵ Later on, in a petition submitted on 19 November 1915, Nalbantian listed 21 of his relatives by name and requested that they be allowed to return to their homes and the properties confiscated from their be returned to them”⁶ (see Image 4).

Image 4

Sogomon Kuyumjian in Ottoman documents

On this subject, there is a great deal of correspondence that passed between the various offices of the interior ministry and the governor’s office in Aleppo. On 5 December 1915, the interior minister wrote to Aleppo requesting information as to whether or not the persons in question had been deported, and, if they had, to where. On 4 January 1916, another interior ministry cable asked whether Sogomon Kuyumjian and a number of his relatives (who are named) were still in the environs of Aleppo. In the course of the correspondence, it is determined that Sogomon Kuyumjian was then residing outside of Aleppo, and it is claimed that “the ministry has not separately given an order” regarding his staying in Aleppo.⁷

It is once again clear that only an official working at the Deportation Office could have provided the information that Naim did, information that we have shown to be accurate by comparing them with Ottoman documents. We should add that Andonian did not see Sogomon Kuyumjian’s story sufficiently important, and thus it did not appear in the published version.

Armenian Parliamentary Deputies and Their Relatives

The efforts made by the Kozan Deputy Nalbantian to intervene on behalf of his relatives was not exceptional; rather, it is but one of many such instances of which examples could be given. In the copy of the memoirs published by Andonian (but not in the part we have in our possession), Naim claims that all of the Armenian parliamentary deputies intervened on behalf of their relatives, hoping thereby to have them exempted from the deportations, or, if they had already been sent off to Aleppo, to allow them to remain there. However, these efforts did not often meet with success. According to the author, the individual principally responsible for the failure of their efforts was the Governor of the Province of Aleppo, Mustafa Abdülhalik. Naim recounts his attitude toward these interventions: “That man was an enemy of the Armenians, and attempted in the name of Turkishness to annihilate the Armenian nation. The orders he communicated to the General Directorate of Deportees were so severe that it is not explainable. Some Armenian members of the Ottoman parliament, probably through one thousand and one pleadings, obtained permission from the Interior Ministry for their families to stay in Aleppo. The Ministry sent instructions to him about them, but he hid those orders, and sent those families also to the desert. I know of 15–20 families whose residence in Aleppo was ordered, and whom he sent to the desert.”⁸

There are dozens of documents in the Ottoman archives that confirm the accuracy of Naim’s account. We understand from these that, just as Naim claimed, special orders and instructions went out—whether general or on behalf of certain parliamentary deputies—requesting that the deputies and their families not be deported to Aleppo. The documents also indicate that the question was not limited to Aleppo, which remained as part of a larger, more general problem. For instance, a message was sent on 15 August 1915 to all the provinces where deportations were taking place, including Aleppo, requesting that “Armenian parliamentary deputies and their families not be expelled.”⁹ Likewise, the archival evidence shows that, despite these clear orders to the contrary, neither the deputies nor their relatives were allowed to remain where they were, but were instead deported.

An example of this is the case Onnik Efendi, the Armenian parliamentary deputy for Izmir, and his relatives. At first, cables were sent to the cities in which the deputy’s relatives lived, requesting permission that they not be deported, but instead be allowed to come to Istanbul.¹⁰ Again, despite clear orders to this effect, in cases where some of his relatives had been deported, they were located either en route or in places like Adana (Tarsus),¹¹ Afyon,¹² Konya,¹³ and Aydın,¹⁴ and it was requested that they either be sent back home or be allowed to remain where they currently were.¹⁵ Some of his relatives were sent as far as Aleppo—in spite of orders—and a cable was sent to Aleppo aski...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• Preface
• Introduction
• The Story and Authenticity of Naim Efendi and His Memoirs
• Even If the Memoirs Are Authentic, Could the Documents Still Be Forgeries?
• Subjects and Events Mentioned by Naim Efendi Corroborated in Ottoman Documents
• Appendix A
• Appendix B: Dr. Avedis Nakkashian’s Letter to Andonian
• Appendix C: Aram Andonian’s Letter to Mary Terzian
• Appendix D: Consul W. Rössler’s Letter to Dr. Lepsius
• Appendix E: Memorandum to the Lawyers of Soghomon Tehlirian
• Back Matter