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DID THE OTTOMAN GOVERNMENT PRACTICE 'ETHNIC CLEANSING' AGAINST ARMENIANS?
Journal of Turkish Weekly
Maxime Gauin
JTW Columnist
Monday, 7 May 2012
This column is a reaction to one of Mustafa Akyol's in Hurriyet Daily
News, published on April 25, 2012.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/armenian-ethnic-cleansing-as-de-islamization.aspx?pageID=449&nID=19180&NewsCatID=4 11
There is absolutely nothing personal, or even ideological, in this
response; I want only to respond to these precise points, as a
historian working on the Armenian question.
Mr. Akyol alleges that "the nationalist Young Turk government decided
to expel almost all Armenians to Syria" and that "The 'Turkism' of
the Young Turks, Kaplan reminded, yearned for not a plural nation of
many faiths and ethnicities, but an exclusive 'Turkish homeland.'"
The Ottoman census counted around 1,300,000 Ottoman Armenians on the
eve of 1914. This census undercounts both Muslims and non-Muslims,
for technical reasons (a lack of material and human power to count
everybody, especially in eastern Anatolia and Arab lands). The most
serious estimations count around 1,700,000-1,750,000 Armenians.[1]
There is no definitive study on the number of relocated Armenians. The
Ottoman sources indicate that 438,758 Armenians were relocated until
the beginning of 1916 to Arab provinces, including 382,148 who arrived
at their destination and 56,612 who perished.[2]Certainly, more
perished due to illness or being attacked by Arab tribes, especially
during the year 1916; others had been killed in inter-communal clashes
in Van, Urfa, and some other cities. There are also reasons to believe
that the account of relocated Armenians is not comprehensive.[3]
Now, let's look at the Armenian sources. In 1918, Boghos Nubar,
co-president of the Armenian delegation in the Paris peace conference,
estimated the total to be 600 or 700,000.[4] In addition, the Russian
army relocated about 300,000 Armenians (half whom perished, surely
not because of any "ethnic cleansing" design)[5], and some others
were relocated from one Anatolian town to another.
As a result, to pretend that "the nationalist Young Turk government
decided to expel almost all Armenians to Syria" is at least
questionable and an overly simple assertion.
Most of the Armenians of Ystanbul (160,000), Yzmir (13,000), Edirne
(33,650), Kastamonu (13,700), Kutahya (several thousand), Antalya (at
least 500), Mara? (6 or 7,000), and Aleppo (22,000)were not relocated
during WWI, and neither were thousands of Armenians who were Catholics,
Protestants, artisans or parents of soldiers.[6] They were not because
they did not represent a threat to the Ottoman State's security.
Indeed, it should be noted that there was no "Turkism" in the main
reasons for the relocation. If the CUP "yearned for not a plural nation
of many faiths and ethnicities, but an exclusive 'Turkish homeland,'"
why did this party accept Christians, Jews and non-Turkish Muslims,
not only as members, but also for high positions, like mayors,
deputies and ministers?
The presence of Jews, including Emmanuel Carasso, a leader of the
Young Turks, provoked anti-Semitic reactions against the CUP from
various factions. The Young Turks supported the election of its
sympathizer Bedros Kapamaciyan as mayor of Van in 1909. Kapamaciyan
was assassinated by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation in December
1912.[7]The CUP promoted Gabriel Noradunkian to minister of commerce
in 1908, despite him havingmade his career as a top-rank civil servant
under Abdulhamid. Noradunkian served as minister of foreign affairs
in the anti-CUP government of 1912-1913. Regardless, the CUP, coming
back to power in January 1913, proposed several times, in vain, that
Noradunkian remain in his position.[8] From January 1913 to November
1914, the minister of PTT, Oskan Mardikian (member of the CUP), was
Armenian, and the minister of public works, SulaymanBustani, was a
Christian Arab. Both resigned because they supported the neutrality
of the Ottoman Empire; the majority of the CUP leaders considered
maintaining the neutrality to beimpossible.
In summer 1914, the CUP proposed in vain that Boghos Nubar become the
Ottoman minister of foreign affairs. The Armenian insurrections (see
below) did not provoke an absolute and general distrust of Armenians
by the CUP leaders. Indeed, Berc Keresteciyan, deputy director general
of the Ottoman Bank, was promoted to director general during WWI.
Keresteciyan supported the Kemalist movement during the Turkish war
of independence, and was a deputy of Afyon from 1935 to 1946.
It should also be noted that even Enver Pasha was a staunch supporter
of the full integration of non-Muslims in the Ottoman army, at least
until 1914.[9]
Mr. Akyol rightfully praised the book of Guenter Lewy on the Armenian
question. This book contains a devastating analysis of the allegations
against Ziya Gokalp, an intellectual and member of the CUP central
committee, wrongly presented as a chauvinist and anti-Christian.[10]
What motivated the Ottoman government in 1915 to relocate a portion
of the Armenian community? Chiefly, military and security reasons. In
addition to the well-known insurrection in Van (April 1915), other
important revolts took place in Zeytun (August 1914, February 1915)
and Bitlis. Insurrectional activities were organized in Cilicia as
well, with the Armenian committees hoping for and repeatedly making
claims of an Anglo-French landing. Even in the Bursa region, there
were Armenian gangs attacking the Ottoman army and Muslim civilians.
Considering the atmosphere of panic in spring 1915 and the limited
number of roads in the Ottoman Empire, the decision is easy to
understand.[11] The gradual reaction of the Istanbul authorities
is another argument against the "ethnic cleansing" allegation: The
insurrectional movement in Zeytun was crushed in the relocating of
the Armenians of this city to Konya, instead of Arab lands; and as
late as May 2, 1915, Enver suggested relocating only the Armenians
living in the vicinity of Lake Van.[12]
"Ethnic cleansing" was so far from the Ottoman government's mind
that, as early as 1916-1917, several thousand Anatolian Armenians
were allowed to goback to Urfa.[13]
It is perfectly true, however, that the Armenian committees, assisted
by the Greek government, prevented the coexistence of communities
in Cilicia through intense and misleading propaganda.[14] Similarly,
the Greek army practiced a scorched earth policy during its retreat
of 1922, which not only included a general burning of all villages
and cities, as well as numerous massacres, but also the forced exile
of Christians, to undermine the recovery of the Turkish economy after
the peace treaty.[15] This was a kind of "ethnic cleansing."
If the descendants of Christian Anatolians want to present grievances,
if Turks want to show a "common pain," they should logically begin
presenting their critiques to Athens and to the headquarters of
the three old Armenian nationalist parties, namely the ARF, Hunchak
and Ramkavar.
[1] Guenter Lewy, The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey, Salt
Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2005, p. 235; Justin McCarthy,
"The Population of the Ottoman Armenians," in TurkkayaAtaov (ed.), The
Armenians in the Late Ottoman Period, Ankara: TTK/TBMM, 2001, p. 70,
http://web.itu.edu.tr/~altilar/tobi/e-library/TheArmenians/thearmenians_table2page70.gif
[2] Yusuf Halaco?lu, "Realities Behind the Relocation," in
TukkayaAtaov (ed.), The Armenians in the Late..., pp. 130-133,
http://web.itu.edu.tr/~altilar/tobi/e-library/TheArmenians/Relocation.pdf
[3] GuenterLewy, The Armenian Massacres..., pp. 198-203, 209-220
and 236.
[4]
http://www.ttk.org.tr/templates/resimler/Image/ErmeniArsivBelgeler/belge5.jpg
[5] Richard G. Hovannisian, Armenia on the Road to Independence. 1918,
Berkeley-Los Angeles-London: University of California Press, 1967, p.
67.
[6]Kemal Cicek, "Relocation of the Ottoman Armenians in 1915: A
Reassessment," Review of Armenian Studies, n° 22, 2010, pp. 120-121;
Yusuf Halaco?lu, The Story of 1915. What Happened to the Ottoman
Armenians?, Ankara: TTK, 2008, pp. 52 and 91; GuenterLewy,The
Armenian Massacres..., pp. 158, 165, 180, 186-187, 191, 203-205;
HikmetOzdemir and Yusuf Sarynay, Turkish-Armenian Conflict Documents,
Ankara: TTK/TBMM, 2007, pp. 119, 127, 175, 201, 203, 207, 213- 221,
237, 265, 283, 321, 339, 341.
[7]HasanOktay, "On the Assassination of Van Mayor Kapamacyyan by the
Tashnak Committee," Review of Armenian Studies, I-1, 2002, pp. 79-89,
http://www.eraren.org/index.php?Lisan=en&Page=DergiIcerik&IcerikNo=94;
KaprielSeropePapazian, Patriotism Perverted, Boston: Baikar Press,
1934, p. 69.
[8]YucelGuclu, The Holocaust and the Armenian Case in Comparative
Perspective, Lanham-Boulder-New York-Plymouth: University Press of
America, 2012, pp. 85-86.
[9]Odile Moreau, L'Empire ottoman a l'âge des reformes. Les
hommes et les idees du " Nouvel Ordre " militaire (1826-1914),
Paris : Maisonneuve et Larose, 2007, pp. 49-50 and 70-71,
http://armenologie.blogspot.com/2011/11/le-projet-ottomaniste-dadmission-des.html
[10] Guenter Lewy,The Armenian Massacres...,pp. 43-47.
[11]Numerous references in MaximeGauin, "The Convergent
Analysis of Russian, British, French and American Officials
Regarding the Armenian Volunteers (1914-1922)," International
Review of Turkish Studies, I-4, Winter 2011-2012, pp. 13-16,
http://armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2012/03/3341-convergent-analysis-of-russian.html
[12]Yusuf Halaco?lu, "Realities Behind the Relocations...",
pp. 109-110; Facts on the Relocation of Armenians. 1914-1918, Ankara:
TTK, 2002, pp. 58-60 and 67-68; GuenterLewy, The Armenian Massacres...,
p. 307, n.
4.
[13]GuenterLewy, The Armenian Massacres..., pp. 203 and 215.
[14] Background and references in MaximeGauin, "The Convergent
Analysis...", pp. 34-41.
[15] See, for instance,MevlutCelebi (ed.),Greek Massacres in Anatolia
on Italian Archive Documents, Ankara: AAM, 2010, pp. 102-110; Rapport
d'ElzearGuiffray, administrateur delegue de la Societe des quais
de Smyrne, 27 juillet 1922 ; Raymond Poincare au colonel Mougin,
7 septembre 1922 ; Colonel Mougin au general Pelle, 8 septembre 1922
;Ministère des Affaires etrangères au representant francais a Athènes,
8 septembre 1922 ; ministère aux ambassadeurs a Londres, Rome et
Washington, 8 et 9 septembre 1922 ; General Pelle au ministère des
Affaires etrangères, 12 septembre 1922 ; ministère au charge d'affaires
a Washington, 26 septembre 1922, Archives du ministère des Affaires
etrangères, P 1380 (the microfilm P 1380 is full of French documents
regarding the Greek scorched earth policy).
"Statements of facts or opinions appearing in the pages of Journal
of Turkish Weekly (JTW) are not necessarily by the editors of JTW nor
do they necessarily reflect the opinions of JTW or ISRO. The opinions
published here are held by the authors themselves and not necessarily
those of JTW or ISRO.
Materials may not be copied, reproduced, republished, posted without
mentioning the mark of JTW or ISRO in any way except for your own
personal non-commercial home use. For the news and other materials
republished by the JTW you must apply the original publishers. JTW
cannot give permission to republish this kind of materials."
http://www.turkishweekly.net/columnist/3620/did-the-ottoman-government-practice-%C3%ABethnic-cleansing%C3%AD-against-armenians.html
From: Baghdasarian
Journal of Turkish Weekly
Maxime Gauin
JTW Columnist
Monday, 7 May 2012
This column is a reaction to one of Mustafa Akyol's in Hurriyet Daily
News, published on April 25, 2012.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/armenian-ethnic-cleansing-as-de-islamization.aspx?pageID=449&nID=19180&NewsCatID=4 11
There is absolutely nothing personal, or even ideological, in this
response; I want only to respond to these precise points, as a
historian working on the Armenian question.
Mr. Akyol alleges that "the nationalist Young Turk government decided
to expel almost all Armenians to Syria" and that "The 'Turkism' of
the Young Turks, Kaplan reminded, yearned for not a plural nation of
many faiths and ethnicities, but an exclusive 'Turkish homeland.'"
The Ottoman census counted around 1,300,000 Ottoman Armenians on the
eve of 1914. This census undercounts both Muslims and non-Muslims,
for technical reasons (a lack of material and human power to count
everybody, especially in eastern Anatolia and Arab lands). The most
serious estimations count around 1,700,000-1,750,000 Armenians.[1]
There is no definitive study on the number of relocated Armenians. The
Ottoman sources indicate that 438,758 Armenians were relocated until
the beginning of 1916 to Arab provinces, including 382,148 who arrived
at their destination and 56,612 who perished.[2]Certainly, more
perished due to illness or being attacked by Arab tribes, especially
during the year 1916; others had been killed in inter-communal clashes
in Van, Urfa, and some other cities. There are also reasons to believe
that the account of relocated Armenians is not comprehensive.[3]
Now, let's look at the Armenian sources. In 1918, Boghos Nubar,
co-president of the Armenian delegation in the Paris peace conference,
estimated the total to be 600 or 700,000.[4] In addition, the Russian
army relocated about 300,000 Armenians (half whom perished, surely
not because of any "ethnic cleansing" design)[5], and some others
were relocated from one Anatolian town to another.
As a result, to pretend that "the nationalist Young Turk government
decided to expel almost all Armenians to Syria" is at least
questionable and an overly simple assertion.
Most of the Armenians of Ystanbul (160,000), Yzmir (13,000), Edirne
(33,650), Kastamonu (13,700), Kutahya (several thousand), Antalya (at
least 500), Mara? (6 or 7,000), and Aleppo (22,000)were not relocated
during WWI, and neither were thousands of Armenians who were Catholics,
Protestants, artisans or parents of soldiers.[6] They were not because
they did not represent a threat to the Ottoman State's security.
Indeed, it should be noted that there was no "Turkism" in the main
reasons for the relocation. If the CUP "yearned for not a plural nation
of many faiths and ethnicities, but an exclusive 'Turkish homeland,'"
why did this party accept Christians, Jews and non-Turkish Muslims,
not only as members, but also for high positions, like mayors,
deputies and ministers?
The presence of Jews, including Emmanuel Carasso, a leader of the
Young Turks, provoked anti-Semitic reactions against the CUP from
various factions. The Young Turks supported the election of its
sympathizer Bedros Kapamaciyan as mayor of Van in 1909. Kapamaciyan
was assassinated by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation in December
1912.[7]The CUP promoted Gabriel Noradunkian to minister of commerce
in 1908, despite him havingmade his career as a top-rank civil servant
under Abdulhamid. Noradunkian served as minister of foreign affairs
in the anti-CUP government of 1912-1913. Regardless, the CUP, coming
back to power in January 1913, proposed several times, in vain, that
Noradunkian remain in his position.[8] From January 1913 to November
1914, the minister of PTT, Oskan Mardikian (member of the CUP), was
Armenian, and the minister of public works, SulaymanBustani, was a
Christian Arab. Both resigned because they supported the neutrality
of the Ottoman Empire; the majority of the CUP leaders considered
maintaining the neutrality to beimpossible.
In summer 1914, the CUP proposed in vain that Boghos Nubar become the
Ottoman minister of foreign affairs. The Armenian insurrections (see
below) did not provoke an absolute and general distrust of Armenians
by the CUP leaders. Indeed, Berc Keresteciyan, deputy director general
of the Ottoman Bank, was promoted to director general during WWI.
Keresteciyan supported the Kemalist movement during the Turkish war
of independence, and was a deputy of Afyon from 1935 to 1946.
It should also be noted that even Enver Pasha was a staunch supporter
of the full integration of non-Muslims in the Ottoman army, at least
until 1914.[9]
Mr. Akyol rightfully praised the book of Guenter Lewy on the Armenian
question. This book contains a devastating analysis of the allegations
against Ziya Gokalp, an intellectual and member of the CUP central
committee, wrongly presented as a chauvinist and anti-Christian.[10]
What motivated the Ottoman government in 1915 to relocate a portion
of the Armenian community? Chiefly, military and security reasons. In
addition to the well-known insurrection in Van (April 1915), other
important revolts took place in Zeytun (August 1914, February 1915)
and Bitlis. Insurrectional activities were organized in Cilicia as
well, with the Armenian committees hoping for and repeatedly making
claims of an Anglo-French landing. Even in the Bursa region, there
were Armenian gangs attacking the Ottoman army and Muslim civilians.
Considering the atmosphere of panic in spring 1915 and the limited
number of roads in the Ottoman Empire, the decision is easy to
understand.[11] The gradual reaction of the Istanbul authorities
is another argument against the "ethnic cleansing" allegation: The
insurrectional movement in Zeytun was crushed in the relocating of
the Armenians of this city to Konya, instead of Arab lands; and as
late as May 2, 1915, Enver suggested relocating only the Armenians
living in the vicinity of Lake Van.[12]
"Ethnic cleansing" was so far from the Ottoman government's mind
that, as early as 1916-1917, several thousand Anatolian Armenians
were allowed to goback to Urfa.[13]
It is perfectly true, however, that the Armenian committees, assisted
by the Greek government, prevented the coexistence of communities
in Cilicia through intense and misleading propaganda.[14] Similarly,
the Greek army practiced a scorched earth policy during its retreat
of 1922, which not only included a general burning of all villages
and cities, as well as numerous massacres, but also the forced exile
of Christians, to undermine the recovery of the Turkish economy after
the peace treaty.[15] This was a kind of "ethnic cleansing."
If the descendants of Christian Anatolians want to present grievances,
if Turks want to show a "common pain," they should logically begin
presenting their critiques to Athens and to the headquarters of
the three old Armenian nationalist parties, namely the ARF, Hunchak
and Ramkavar.
[1] Guenter Lewy, The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey, Salt
Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2005, p. 235; Justin McCarthy,
"The Population of the Ottoman Armenians," in TurkkayaAtaov (ed.), The
Armenians in the Late Ottoman Period, Ankara: TTK/TBMM, 2001, p. 70,
http://web.itu.edu.tr/~altilar/tobi/e-library/TheArmenians/thearmenians_table2page70.gif
[2] Yusuf Halaco?lu, "Realities Behind the Relocation," in
TukkayaAtaov (ed.), The Armenians in the Late..., pp. 130-133,
http://web.itu.edu.tr/~altilar/tobi/e-library/TheArmenians/Relocation.pdf
[3] GuenterLewy, The Armenian Massacres..., pp. 198-203, 209-220
and 236.
[4]
http://www.ttk.org.tr/templates/resimler/Image/ErmeniArsivBelgeler/belge5.jpg
[5] Richard G. Hovannisian, Armenia on the Road to Independence. 1918,
Berkeley-Los Angeles-London: University of California Press, 1967, p.
67.
[6]Kemal Cicek, "Relocation of the Ottoman Armenians in 1915: A
Reassessment," Review of Armenian Studies, n° 22, 2010, pp. 120-121;
Yusuf Halaco?lu, The Story of 1915. What Happened to the Ottoman
Armenians?, Ankara: TTK, 2008, pp. 52 and 91; GuenterLewy,The
Armenian Massacres..., pp. 158, 165, 180, 186-187, 191, 203-205;
HikmetOzdemir and Yusuf Sarynay, Turkish-Armenian Conflict Documents,
Ankara: TTK/TBMM, 2007, pp. 119, 127, 175, 201, 203, 207, 213- 221,
237, 265, 283, 321, 339, 341.
[7]HasanOktay, "On the Assassination of Van Mayor Kapamacyyan by the
Tashnak Committee," Review of Armenian Studies, I-1, 2002, pp. 79-89,
http://www.eraren.org/index.php?Lisan=en&Page=DergiIcerik&IcerikNo=94;
KaprielSeropePapazian, Patriotism Perverted, Boston: Baikar Press,
1934, p. 69.
[8]YucelGuclu, The Holocaust and the Armenian Case in Comparative
Perspective, Lanham-Boulder-New York-Plymouth: University Press of
America, 2012, pp. 85-86.
[9]Odile Moreau, L'Empire ottoman a l'âge des reformes. Les
hommes et les idees du " Nouvel Ordre " militaire (1826-1914),
Paris : Maisonneuve et Larose, 2007, pp. 49-50 and 70-71,
http://armenologie.blogspot.com/2011/11/le-projet-ottomaniste-dadmission-des.html
[10] Guenter Lewy,The Armenian Massacres...,pp. 43-47.
[11]Numerous references in MaximeGauin, "The Convergent
Analysis of Russian, British, French and American Officials
Regarding the Armenian Volunteers (1914-1922)," International
Review of Turkish Studies, I-4, Winter 2011-2012, pp. 13-16,
http://armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2012/03/3341-convergent-analysis-of-russian.html
[12]Yusuf Halaco?lu, "Realities Behind the Relocations...",
pp. 109-110; Facts on the Relocation of Armenians. 1914-1918, Ankara:
TTK, 2002, pp. 58-60 and 67-68; GuenterLewy, The Armenian Massacres...,
p. 307, n.
4.
[13]GuenterLewy, The Armenian Massacres..., pp. 203 and 215.
[14] Background and references in MaximeGauin, "The Convergent
Analysis...", pp. 34-41.
[15] See, for instance,MevlutCelebi (ed.),Greek Massacres in Anatolia
on Italian Archive Documents, Ankara: AAM, 2010, pp. 102-110; Rapport
d'ElzearGuiffray, administrateur delegue de la Societe des quais
de Smyrne, 27 juillet 1922 ; Raymond Poincare au colonel Mougin,
7 septembre 1922 ; Colonel Mougin au general Pelle, 8 septembre 1922
;Ministère des Affaires etrangères au representant francais a Athènes,
8 septembre 1922 ; ministère aux ambassadeurs a Londres, Rome et
Washington, 8 et 9 septembre 1922 ; General Pelle au ministère des
Affaires etrangères, 12 septembre 1922 ; ministère au charge d'affaires
a Washington, 26 septembre 1922, Archives du ministère des Affaires
etrangères, P 1380 (the microfilm P 1380 is full of French documents
regarding the Greek scorched earth policy).
"Statements of facts or opinions appearing in the pages of Journal
of Turkish Weekly (JTW) are not necessarily by the editors of JTW nor
do they necessarily reflect the opinions of JTW or ISRO. The opinions
published here are held by the authors themselves and not necessarily
those of JTW or ISRO.
Materials may not be copied, reproduced, republished, posted without
mentioning the mark of JTW or ISRO in any way except for your own
personal non-commercial home use. For the news and other materials
republished by the JTW you must apply the original publishers. JTW
cannot give permission to republish this kind of materials."
http://www.turkishweekly.net/columnist/3620/did-the-ottoman-government-practice-%C3%ABethnic-cleansing%C3%AD-against-armenians.html
From: Baghdasarian