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Kirkus Reviews (Print)
February 1, 2015, Sunday
OPERATION NEMESIS
The Assassination Plot that Avenged the Armenian Genocide
NONFICTION
Actor, playwright and novelist Bogosian (Perforated Heart, 2009, etc.)
retells the horrors of the Turkish attempt to eradicate the Armenians:
the century's first ethnic cleansing.The Ottoman Empire was primarily
Muslim but mostly tolerated Jews and the Christian Armenians. However,
they were treated as second-class citizens, required to pay extra
taxes, never eligible for public office and banned from intermarriage.
In an attempt to modernize, a group of "Young Turks" allied with the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation in 1908 to overthrow the empire.
Though it was a bloodless coup, it soon became apparent that the Young
Turks had no need for the Armenians. The country was ruled by the
Committee of Union and Progress, a government as ruthless and cruel as
the old sultan. The CUP was led by a triumvirate of Djemal Pasha,
Talaat Pasha and Enver Pasha; by 1913, any semblance of democracy was
lost. Then, in late April 1915, prominent Armenian leaders were
rounded up and disappeared. This was the beginning of the genocide
about which Hitler said, "[W]ho remembers the Armenians?" The
killings, massacres, torture and deportations of Armenians went on
through World War I. War-crime trials by the occupying British were
ineffectual. Bogosian explores the life of survivor Soghomon
Tehlirian, a young man who was fixated on revenge for the deaths of
his people. In 1919, the ARF approved a "special mission" called
Nemesis to find and execute the guilty parties, and Tehlirian was the
perfect man for their mission. He found Pasha in Berlin and killed
him, then stood trial, thereby bringing the world's attention to the
fate of the Armenians. The author gives a clear, concise view of
Turkey's history in the 20th century, and it's not pretty. Difficult
reading, but an extremely well-written political statement about
Turkey-not just then, but as it is now.
Publication Date: 2015-04-21
Publisher: Little, Brown
Stage: Adult
ISBN: 978-0-316-29208-5
Price: $28.00
Author: Bogosian, Eric
February 1, 2015, Sunday
OPERATION NEMESIS
The Assassination Plot that Avenged the Armenian Genocide
NONFICTION
Actor, playwright and novelist Bogosian (Perforated Heart, 2009, etc.)
retells the horrors of the Turkish attempt to eradicate the Armenians:
the century's first ethnic cleansing.The Ottoman Empire was primarily
Muslim but mostly tolerated Jews and the Christian Armenians. However,
they were treated as second-class citizens, required to pay extra
taxes, never eligible for public office and banned from intermarriage.
In an attempt to modernize, a group of "Young Turks" allied with the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation in 1908 to overthrow the empire.
Though it was a bloodless coup, it soon became apparent that the Young
Turks had no need for the Armenians. The country was ruled by the
Committee of Union and Progress, a government as ruthless and cruel as
the old sultan. The CUP was led by a triumvirate of Djemal Pasha,
Talaat Pasha and Enver Pasha; by 1913, any semblance of democracy was
lost. Then, in late April 1915, prominent Armenian leaders were
rounded up and disappeared. This was the beginning of the genocide
about which Hitler said, "[W]ho remembers the Armenians?" The
killings, massacres, torture and deportations of Armenians went on
through World War I. War-crime trials by the occupying British were
ineffectual. Bogosian explores the life of survivor Soghomon
Tehlirian, a young man who was fixated on revenge for the deaths of
his people. In 1919, the ARF approved a "special mission" called
Nemesis to find and execute the guilty parties, and Tehlirian was the
perfect man for their mission. He found Pasha in Berlin and killed
him, then stood trial, thereby bringing the world's attention to the
fate of the Armenians. The author gives a clear, concise view of
Turkey's history in the 20th century, and it's not pretty. Difficult
reading, but an extremely well-written political statement about
Turkey-not just then, but as it is now.
Publication Date: 2015-04-21
Publisher: Little, Brown
Stage: Adult
ISBN: 978-0-316-29208-5
Price: $28.00
Author: Bogosian, Eric