Judgment At Istanbul

The Armenian Genocide Trials

Vahakn N. Dadrian, Taner Akçam

• Publisher: Berghahn Books
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9780857452511
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780857452863
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern History
• Index: History

Turkey's bid to join the European Union has lent new urgency to the issue of the Armenian Genocide as differing interpretations of the genocide are proving to be a major reason for the delay of the its accession. This book provides vital background information and is a prime source of legal evidence and authentic Turkish eyewitness testimony of the intent and the crime of genocide against the Armenians. After a long and painstaking effort, the authors, one an Armenian, the other a Turk, generally recognized as the foremost experts on the Armenian Genocide, have prepared a new, authoritative translation and detailed analysis of the Takvim-i Vekâyi, the official Ottoman Government record of the Turkish Military Tribunals concerning the crimes committed against the Armenians during World War I. The authors have compiled the documentation of the trial proceedings for the first time in English and situated them within their historical and legal context. These documents show that Wartime Cabinet ministers, Young Turk party leaders, and a number of others inculpated in these crimes were court-martialed by the Turkish Military Tribunals in the years immediately following World War I. Most were found guilty and received sentences ranging from prison with hard labor to death. In remarkable contrast to Nuremberg, the Turkish Military Tribunals were conducted solely on the basis of existing Ottoman domestic penal codes. This substitution of a national for an international criminal court stands in history as a unique initiative of national self-condemnation. This compilation is significantly enhanced by an extensive analysis of the historical background, political nature and legal implications of the criminal prosecution of the twentieth century's first state-sponsored crime of genocide.

Table of contents

• Judgment at Istanbul
• CONTENTS
• OTTOMAN-TURKISH WORDS AND NAMES
• Introduction
• PART I. The Conditions Surrounding the Trials
• CHAPTER 1. History of the Turko-Armenian Conflict
• CHAPTER 2. Military Defeat and the Victors’ Drive for Punitive Justice
• CHAPTER 3. The Preparations for Courts-Martial
• CHAPTER 4. The Initiation of Courts-Martial
• CHAPTER 5. Emergent Kemalism and the Courts-Martial
• CHAPTER 6. The Series of Major Trials and the Related Verdicts
• CHAPTER 7. Legal Proceedings as a Conceptual Framework
• CHAPTER 8. A Summary of the Conditions Surrounding the Trials
• CHAPTER 9. The Judicial Liquidation of Some of the Arch Perpetrators by Both CUP and Kemalist Authorities, and the Demise of Other Accomplices
• PART II. The Trials and Beyond
• CHAPTER 10. Death Sentences Handed Down by the Military Tribunal in Istanbul
• CHAPTER 11. Coverage of the Trials by the Istanbul Turkish Press
• CHAPTER 12. The Formation and Operation of the Ottoman Military Tribunals
• CHAPTER 13. The Full Texts in English of the Indictments and Verdicts
• APPENDIX
• GLOSSARY OF TERMS
• ARCHIVAL, JUDICIAL, AND PARLIAMENTARY DOCUMENTS
• SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHIC SECONDARY SOURCES
• INDEX