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The real Turkish heroes of 1915

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  • The real Turkish heroes of 1915

    The real Turkish heroes of 1915

    by Raffi Bedrosyan

    http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2013-09-22-the-real-turkish-heroes-of-1915
    Published: Sunday September 22, 2013


    Celal Bey, governor of Aleppo and later Konya who refused to implement
    the deportation orders against Armenians.

    Germany has decided to name several neighborhoods, streets, buildings,
    and public schools in Berlin and other German cities after Adolf
    Hitler and other Nazi "heroes."

    If the above statement were to be true, how would you react? How do
    you think Germans would react? How do you think Jews still living in
    Germany would react? My guess is that you, the Germans, and the Jews
    would all find it inconceivable, offensive, and unacceptable.

    And yet, it is true in Turkey, where it is acceptable to name several
    neighborhoods, streets, and schools after Talat Pasha and other
    Ittihat ve Terakki (Committee of Union and Progress) "heroes" who not
    only planned and carried out the Armenian Genocide, but were
    responsible for the loss of the Ottoman Empire itself.

    At last count, there were officially 8 "Talat Pasha" neighborhoods or
    districts, 38 "Talat Pasha" streets or boulevards, 7 "Talat Pasha"
    public schools, 6 "Talat Pasha" buildings, and 2 "Talat Pasha" mosques
    scattered around Istanbul, Ankara, and other cities. After his
    assassination in 1922, Talat was originally interred in Berlin,
    Germany, but his remains were transferred to Istanbul in 1943 by the
    Nazis in an attempt to appease the Turks. He was re-buried with full
    military honors at the Infinite Freedom Hill Cemetery in Istanbul. The
    remains of the other notorious Ittihat ve Terakki leader, Enver Pasha,
    were also transferred in 1996 from Tajikistan and re-buried beside
    Talat, with full military honors; the ceremony was attended by Turkish
    President Suleyman Demirel and other dignitaries.

    Is this hero worship misguided or deliberate? Is the denial of 1915
    only state policy, or is it wholeheartedly accepted by the Turkish
    public, brainwashed by the state version of history?

    Undoubtedly, there was mass participation in the genocide committed by
    the Ittihat ve Terakki leaders, resulting in the removal of Armenians
    from their homeland of 3,000 years, as well as the immediate transfer
    of their wealth, property, and possessions to the Turkish and Kurdish
    public, and to thousands of government officials. Yet, despite this
    mass participation and the hero worship, there were also a significant
    number of ordinary Turks and Kurds, as well as government officials,
    who refused to participate in the massacres and plunders. There is
    complete silence and ignorance in Turkey about these righteous
    officials who refused to follow government orders and instead tried to
    save and protect the Armenians. They paid dearly for their actions,
    often with the loss of their positions or even their lives as a
    consequence. This article will cite some examples of these real and
    unsung heroes.

    Celal Bey was the governor of Konya, a vast central Anatolian province
    and a hub for the Armenian deportation routes from north and west
    Anatolia to the Syrian desert. He knew exactly what the Armenians'
    fate would be along these routes, or if they survived the deportations
    and reached Der Zor; he was previously the governor of Aleppo and had
    witnessed the atrocities there. Celal Bey had attempted to reason with
    the Ittihat ve Terakki leaders, saying that there was absolutely no
    Armenian revolt in Anatolia, nor in Aleppo, and that there was no
    justification for the mass deportations. However, one of his
    subordinates in Marash inflamed the situation by arresting and
    executing several Marash Armenians, triggering a resistance by the
    Armenians.

    As a result, Celal Bey was removed from his governor's post in Aleppo
    and transferred to Konya. Once there, he refused to arrange for the
    deportation of the Konya Armenians, despite repeated orders from
    Istanbul. He even managed to protect some of the Armenians who were
    deported from other districts and arrived in Konya. By the time he was
    removed from his post, in October 1915, he had saved thousands of
    Armenian lives. In his memoirs about the Konya governorship, he
    likened himself to "a person sitting beside a river, with absolutely
    no means of rescuing anyone from it. Blood was flowing down the river,
    with thousands of innocent children, irreproachable old men, and
    helpless women streaming down the river towards oblivion. Anyone I
    could save with my bare hands, I saved, and the rest went down the
    river, never to return."

    Hasan Mazhar Bey was the governor of Ankara. He protected the
    Ankara-Armenian community by refusing to follow the deportation
    orders, stating, "I am a vali [governor], not a bandit. I cannot do
    this. Let someone else come and sit in my chair to carry out these
    orders." He was removed from his post in August 1915.

    Faik Ali (Ozansoy) Bey was the governor of Kutahya, another central
    Anatolian province. When the deportation order was issued from
    Istanbul, he refused to implement it; on the contrary, he gave orders
    to keep the deported Armenians arriving in Kutahya from elsewhere, and
    treat them well. He was soon summoned to Istanbul to explain his
    subordination, and the police chief of Kutahya, Kemal Bey, took the
    opportunity to threaten the local Armenians-either convert to Islam or
    face deportation, he said. The Armenians decided to convert. When Faik
    Ali Bey returned, he was enraged. He removed the police chief from his
    post, and asked the Armenians if they still wished to convert to
    Islam. They all decided to remain Christian, except one. Faik Ali's
    brother, Suleyman Nazif Bey, was an influential and well-known poet
    who urged his brother not to participate in this barbarianism and
    stain the family name. Faik Ali Bey was not removed from his post
    despite his offers of resignation. He ended up protecting the entire
    Armenian population of Kutahya, except for the one who converted to
    Islam and was deported.

    Mustafa Bey (Azizoglu) was the district governor of Malatya, a transit
    point on the deportation route. Although he was unable to prevent the
    deportations, he managed to hide several Armenians in his own home. He
    was murdered by his own son, a zealous member of the Ittihat ve
    Terakki Party, for "looking after infidels [gavours, in Turkish]."

    Other government officials who defied the deportation orders included
    Reshit Pasha, the governor of Kastamonu; Tahsin Bey, the governor of
    Erzurum; Ferit Bey, the governor of Basra; Mehmet Cemal Bey, the
    district governor of Yozgat; and Sabit Bey, the district governor of
    Batman. These officials were eventually removed from their posts and
    replaced by more obedient civil servants, who carried out the task of
    wiping out the Armenians from these locations.

    One of the most tragic stories of unsung heroes involves Huseyin
    Nesimi Bey, the mayor of Lice, a town near Diyarbakir. While the
    governor of Diyarbakir, Reshit Bey, organized the most ruthless
    removal of the Armenians in the Diyarbakir region-with a quick
    massacre, rather than lengthy deportation, immediately outside of the
    city limits-Huseyin Nesimi dared to keep and protect the Lice
    Armenians, a total of 5,980 souls. Reshit summoned Huseyin Nesimi to
    Diyarbakir for a meeting, but arranged to have his Circassian militant
    guard Haroun intercept him en route. On June 15, 1915, Haroun murdered
    Huseyin Nesimi and threw him into a ditch beside the road. Since then,
    the murder location, halfway between Lice and Diyarbakir, has become
    known as Turbe-i Kaymakam, or the Mayor's Grave. The Turkish records
    document this murder as "Mayor killed by Armenian militants." In an
    ironic twist of history repeating itself, in October 1993 the Turkish
    state army attacked Lice, supposedly to go after the Kurdish rebel
    militants there; instead, they ended up burning down the entire town
    and killing the civilian population. This became the first case the
    Kurds took to the European Human Rights Court, resulting in a 2.5
    million pound compensation against the Turkish state. At the same
    time, several wealthy Kurdish businessmen were targeted for
    assassination and murdered by then-Turkish Prime Minister Tansu
    Ciller. One of the victims was a man named Behcet Canturk, whose
    mother was an Armenian orphan who had managed to survive the Lice
    massacres of 1915.

    Governor Reshit was also responsible for firing and murdering several
    other government officials in the Diyarbakir region who had defied the
    deportation orders: Chermik Mayor Mehmet Hamdi Bey, Savur Mayor Mehmet
    Ali Bey, Silvan Mayor Ibrahim Hakki Bey, Mardin Mayor Hilmi Bey,
    followed by Shefik Bey, were all fired in mid- to late-1915. Another
    official, Nuri Bey, the mayor of first Midyat and then Derik, an
    all-Armenian town near Mardin, was also fired by Reshit Bey, and
    subsequently murdered by his henchmen. His murder was blamed on
    Armenian rebels. As a result, all of the Armenian males in Derik were
    rounded up and executed, and the women and children deported.

    The names of these brave men are not in the history books. If
    mentioned at all, they are labeled as "traitors" from the perspective
    of the official Turkish version of history. While the state and the
    masses committed a huge crime, and while that crime became a part of
    their daily life, these men rejected the genocidal campaign, based on
    individual conscience, and despite the temptation of enriching
    themselves. These few virtuous men, as well as a significant number of
    ordinary Turks and Kurds, defied the orders and protected the
    Armenians. They are the real heroes, and represent the Turkish version
    of similar characters in "Schindler's List" or "Hotel Rwanda."
    Citizens of Turkey today have two choices when remembering their
    forefathers as heroes: to either go with the mass murderers and
    plunderers who committed "crimes against humanity," or the virtuous
    human beings with a clear conscience who tried to prevent the "crimes
    against humanity." Getting to know these real heroes will help Turks
    break loose from the chains of denialist history over four
    generations, and start to confront the realities of 1915.

    Sources

    Tuncay Opcin, "Ermenilere Kol Kanat Gerdiler (They protected the
    Armenians)," Yeni Aktuel, 2007, issue 142.
    Ayse Hur, "1915 Ermeni soykiriminda kotuler ve iyiler (The good and
    the bad in the 1915 Armenian Genocide)," Radikal newspaper, April 29,
    2013.
    Seyhmus Diken, "Kaymakam Ermeniydi, Oldurduler... (The mayor was
    Armenian, they killed him...)," Bianet, April 23, 2011.
    Orhan Cengiz, "1915: Heroes and Murderers," Cihan News Agency, Nov. 2, 2012.
    Tuncay Opcin, "Ermenilere Kol Kanat Gerdiler (They protected the
    Armenians)," Yeni Aktuel, 2007, issue 142.
    Ayse Hur, "1915 Ermeni soykiriminda kotuler ve iyiler (The good and
    the bad in the 1915 Armenian Genocide)," Radikal newspaper, April 29,
    2013.
    Seyhmus Diken, "Kaymakam Ermeniydi, Oldurduler... (The mayor was
    Armenian, they killed him...)," Bianet, April 23, 2011.
    Orhan Cengiz, "1915: Heroes and Murderers," Cihan News Agency, Nov. 2, 2012.

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