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Kemal Ataturk Admits Reality
of the Armenian Genocide
in a 1926 Interview
In June 1926 a group of disgruntled Turks, headed by a certain Ziya
Hurshid, planned to assassinate the "father of the Turkish Republic,"
Mustapha Kemal. In mid_June, Kemal was scheduled to visit Izmir after
an extended tour of the country. The plotters secretly assembled in
that city and finalized their plan to the minutest detail. The plot
was given away by one of the conspirators, and almost all of them were
arrested, tried and punished. Kemal arrived in Izmir and personally
took charge of the arrests. He himself interrogated a few of the
prisoners, who were his former friends. The infamous Independence
Tribunal was summoned from Ankara, and at the conclusion of the mock
trial, fifteen conspirators were sentenced to death. Those who
belonged to the former Union and Progress (Ittihad ve Terakki) Party
of the Young Turks, were later tried in Ankara, found guilty and
executed.
In July of the same year, a Swiss journalist, Emile Hilderbrand,
interviewed Kemal, who openly blamed the Young Turks for the massacre
of "millions of our Christian subjects." The interview originally
appeared in the August 1, 1926 issue of the Los Angeles Examiner. This
newspaper interview is an important document, since, in the ninth
paragraph, Kemal Ataturk admits the reality of the Armenian Genocide.
The text below is corrected and reprinted from the Armenian
Mirror-Spectator, March 16, 1985.
Kemal Promises More Hangings of Political Antagonists in Turkey
I shall not stop until every guilty person, no matter how high his
rank, has been hung from the gallows as a grim warning to all
incipient plotters against the security of the Turkish Republic. Since
the very hour of its reincarnation in the rejuvenated body of the
Republic, our nation has endured travails no other nation has ever
experienced.
When we were fighting external enemies, or enemies whom we were
certain were sympathetic with foreign intriguers, nearly all of the
rank and file of our population were enthusiastically, even
fanatically, united to deliver the nation from the multiple foreign
yokes. But no sooner had the nation proved its worth to its foreign
detractors than certain elements, bred in the old school of political
intrigue, began to show their claws. We were face to face with a
menace to the life of the republic from two elements.
One was the group who combined religious fanaticism and ignorance with
political imbecility and who, in the past, under different Sultans had
come to believe that the state was an organism to be exploited through
debauchery, corruption and brazen bribery for personal ends. I put the
ax in the dual root of this sinister and reprehensible theory of
government by destroying the Khalif and the Sultan. I sent into exile
the persons in whom this theory was personified. Large numbers,
adherents of this school of politics, attempted to interpret any act
as atheistic, and, under the aegis of religion, began to intrigue
against the life of the republic.
Sixty Leaders Hang at Dawn
In several instances in the past when, in Kurdistan and other interior
regions of Anatolia, they showed a disposition to challenge the will
of the republic, I crushed them with an iron hand, and for example,
had over sixty of their leaders hanged at dawn.
That element had its lesson and will not again attempt to measure
swords with 'me.
The second element, I am now about to deal with ruthlessly, is the
group of men who in the pre_republic days were known in the world as
the Committee of the Union of the Young Turks. The ranks of this
element were recruited from a questionable assortment of political
adventurers, half_educated progressives and men of dissolute habits.
In the days when we were battling against foes from within and
without, this element joined us and fought in our ranks. Yet from the
early days I had misgivings as to their motives. But I wished, hoped
and then prayed that once our country was redeemed from the foreign
yoke, this element would mend its methods and become infused with the
seal of patriotism. I soon began to realize that my hopes were doomed
to be disillusioned and my prayers were [not] to be answered. I
patiently waited, keeping a sharp eye on their movements.
Seditious Movements Cloaked
They formed themselves into a political opposition. I do not pretend
to be a dictator, bent to suppress sincere and honest political
opposition, because a republic is a misnomer when it ceases to brook
criticism. But when a group of dissolute, corrupt and unscrupulous
political adventurers begin to organize seditious movements under the
cloak of political opposition, it becomes the sacred duty of those who
are in charge of the machinery of the government to suppress it and
suppress it with an exemplary ruthlessness that will prevent the
eventual shedding of rivers of blood.
I am about to show these plotters that the Republic of Turkey cannot
be overthrown by murderers or through their murderous designs...
These left_overs from the former Young Turk Party, who should have
been made to account for the lives of millions of our Christian
subjects who were ruthlessly driven en masse, from their homes and
massacred, have been restive under the republican rule. They have
hitherto lived on plunder, robbery and bribery and become inimical to
any idea, or suggestion to enlist in useful labor and earn their
living by the honest sweat of their brow.
Under the cloak of the opposition party, this element, who forced our
country into the Great
War against the will of the people, who caused the shedding of rivers
of blood of the Turkish
youth to satisfy the criminal ambition of Enver Pasha, has, in a
cowardly fashion, intrigued against my life, as well as the lives of
the members of my cabinet.
I would have more respect for them had they planned an armed
revolution, taking the field in a manly fashion, to overthrow my
government. But being conscious of the fact that they could
not muster out even one regiment to give battle to the zealous
adherents to, and upholders of, the glorious republic, they have
resorted to beastial methods of assassination. They have hired
murderers and even debauched women to commit their murderous acts.
In the middle of June last I had planned to make a tour of the
country. My itinerary was published. A group of these assassins,
placed on the route of procession, were to "rain" hand grenades at the
automobiles which were to carry me and my staff.
They went even further and seduced a woman who had been for years
identified with my cause and who had been my loyal political friend
and on occasion, even adviser. They induced this woman to accept the
reprehensible assignment to present me with a bouquet which concealed
a bomb that would, on my receiving it, explode and obliterate everyone
in sight. This ill_advised woman deserves pity, for she was made to
believe that she would thus sacrifice her own life for the good of the
fatherland. I was the enemy of the nation. She will be forgiven for
her part in the plot, for she conscience_stricken, confessed to the
proper authorities in time for me to cancel my intended tour.
Kemal Ataturk Admits Reality
of the Armenian Genocide
in a 1926 Interview
In June 1926 a group of disgruntled Turks, headed by a certain Ziya
Hurshid, planned to assassinate the "father of the Turkish Republic,"
Mustapha Kemal. In mid_June, Kemal was scheduled to visit Izmir after
an extended tour of the country. The plotters secretly assembled in
that city and finalized their plan to the minutest detail. The plot
was given away by one of the conspirators, and almost all of them were
arrested, tried and punished. Kemal arrived in Izmir and personally
took charge of the arrests. He himself interrogated a few of the
prisoners, who were his former friends. The infamous Independence
Tribunal was summoned from Ankara, and at the conclusion of the mock
trial, fifteen conspirators were sentenced to death. Those who
belonged to the former Union and Progress (Ittihad ve Terakki) Party
of the Young Turks, were later tried in Ankara, found guilty and
executed.
In July of the same year, a Swiss journalist, Emile Hilderbrand,
interviewed Kemal, who openly blamed the Young Turks for the massacre
of "millions of our Christian subjects." The interview originally
appeared in the August 1, 1926 issue of the Los Angeles Examiner. This
newspaper interview is an important document, since, in the ninth
paragraph, Kemal Ataturk admits the reality of the Armenian Genocide.
The text below is corrected and reprinted from the Armenian
Mirror-Spectator, March 16, 1985.
Kemal Promises More Hangings of Political Antagonists in Turkey
I shall not stop until every guilty person, no matter how high his
rank, has been hung from the gallows as a grim warning to all
incipient plotters against the security of the Turkish Republic. Since
the very hour of its reincarnation in the rejuvenated body of the
Republic, our nation has endured travails no other nation has ever
experienced.
When we were fighting external enemies, or enemies whom we were
certain were sympathetic with foreign intriguers, nearly all of the
rank and file of our population were enthusiastically, even
fanatically, united to deliver the nation from the multiple foreign
yokes. But no sooner had the nation proved its worth to its foreign
detractors than certain elements, bred in the old school of political
intrigue, began to show their claws. We were face to face with a
menace to the life of the republic from two elements.
One was the group who combined religious fanaticism and ignorance with
political imbecility and who, in the past, under different Sultans had
come to believe that the state was an organism to be exploited through
debauchery, corruption and brazen bribery for personal ends. I put the
ax in the dual root of this sinister and reprehensible theory of
government by destroying the Khalif and the Sultan. I sent into exile
the persons in whom this theory was personified. Large numbers,
adherents of this school of politics, attempted to interpret any act
as atheistic, and, under the aegis of religion, began to intrigue
against the life of the republic.
Sixty Leaders Hang at Dawn
In several instances in the past when, in Kurdistan and other interior
regions of Anatolia, they showed a disposition to challenge the will
of the republic, I crushed them with an iron hand, and for example,
had over sixty of their leaders hanged at dawn.
That element had its lesson and will not again attempt to measure
swords with 'me.
The second element, I am now about to deal with ruthlessly, is the
group of men who in the pre_republic days were known in the world as
the Committee of the Union of the Young Turks. The ranks of this
element were recruited from a questionable assortment of political
adventurers, half_educated progressives and men of dissolute habits.
In the days when we were battling against foes from within and
without, this element joined us and fought in our ranks. Yet from the
early days I had misgivings as to their motives. But I wished, hoped
and then prayed that once our country was redeemed from the foreign
yoke, this element would mend its methods and become infused with the
seal of patriotism. I soon began to realize that my hopes were doomed
to be disillusioned and my prayers were [not] to be answered. I
patiently waited, keeping a sharp eye on their movements.
Seditious Movements Cloaked
They formed themselves into a political opposition. I do not pretend
to be a dictator, bent to suppress sincere and honest political
opposition, because a republic is a misnomer when it ceases to brook
criticism. But when a group of dissolute, corrupt and unscrupulous
political adventurers begin to organize seditious movements under the
cloak of political opposition, it becomes the sacred duty of those who
are in charge of the machinery of the government to suppress it and
suppress it with an exemplary ruthlessness that will prevent the
eventual shedding of rivers of blood.
I am about to show these plotters that the Republic of Turkey cannot
be overthrown by murderers or through their murderous designs...
These left_overs from the former Young Turk Party, who should have
been made to account for the lives of millions of our Christian
subjects who were ruthlessly driven en masse, from their homes and
massacred, have been restive under the republican rule. They have
hitherto lived on plunder, robbery and bribery and become inimical to
any idea, or suggestion to enlist in useful labor and earn their
living by the honest sweat of their brow.
Under the cloak of the opposition party, this element, who forced our
country into the Great
War against the will of the people, who caused the shedding of rivers
of blood of the Turkish
youth to satisfy the criminal ambition of Enver Pasha, has, in a
cowardly fashion, intrigued against my life, as well as the lives of
the members of my cabinet.
I would have more respect for them had they planned an armed
revolution, taking the field in a manly fashion, to overthrow my
government. But being conscious of the fact that they could
not muster out even one regiment to give battle to the zealous
adherents to, and upholders of, the glorious republic, they have
resorted to beastial methods of assassination. They have hired
murderers and even debauched women to commit their murderous acts.
In the middle of June last I had planned to make a tour of the
country. My itinerary was published. A group of these assassins,
placed on the route of procession, were to "rain" hand grenades at the
automobiles which were to carry me and my staff.
They went even further and seduced a woman who had been for years
identified with my cause and who had been my loyal political friend
and on occasion, even adviser. They induced this woman to accept the
reprehensible assignment to present me with a bouquet which concealed
a bomb that would, on my receiving it, explode and obliterate everyone
in sight. This ill_advised woman deserves pity, for she was made to
believe that she would thus sacrifice her own life for the good of the
fatherland. I was the enemy of the nation. She will be forgiven for
her part in the plot, for she conscience_stricken, confessed to the
proper authorities in time for me to cancel my intended tour.