CollectifVAN.org, France
March 10 2007
Report
Missing Ottoman Archival Records on the Armenian Genocide, 1915
by Nora Vosbigian
London, 7 March 2007: Today the Gomidas Institute issued its third
statement on its proposal to work on a case study with Turkish
historians regarding the treatment of Armenians in Harput in 1915.1
The Institute’s latest statement follows a comment made by Dr. Yusuf
Halaço?lu, the head of the Turkish Historical Society, that vital
Ottoman records on the 1915 deportation of Armenians–including in
Harput–do not exist in Turkish archives today.
These "non-existent" records are directly related to two Ottoman
decrees which Turkish official historians have claimed regulated the
deportation and resettlement of Ottoman Armenians in 1915. These were
the 30 May 1915 regulations on deportations,2 and the 10 June 1915
regulations on the resettlement of deportees, the liquidation of
their properties, and their compensation in their places of exile.3
The Gomidas Institute had asked, based on these regulations, to
examine the registers showing details of Armenians who were deported
from the Harput plain, as well as the resettlement records accounting
for the fate of these deportees further a field. According to these
regulations, all deported Armenian had to be registered, person by
person (or household by household), village by village; the
properties of deportees had to be recorded and liquidated; when the
deported were resettled in their places of exile, they had to be
compensated in proportion to their original assets. According to
these regulations, Ottoman officials had to generate meticulous
deportation, resettlement and compensation records which accounted
for Armenians who were deported in 1915.
On Monday 26 February 2007 Dr. Halaço?lu appeared on CNN- Turk’s
"Manþet" programme where he stated, categorically, that the Ottoman
records the Gomidas Institute had asked to examine did not exist.
Halaço?lu stated that : "He [Sarafian] well knows about the archives.
He also knows that there are no records for each village listing
persons by name. There are no such records. If there were, they would
not pose a problem for us. It would be better to produce them."4 To
date Dr. Halaço?lu has not contacted and explained himself to the
Gomidas Institute.
It is not clear how Dr. Halaço?lu could make such a categorical
statement about the non-existence of the Ottoman records we had asked
for, given the texts of the Ottoman regulations governing
deportations in 1915, or the fact that there are many Ottoman
archives in Turkey, and not all Ottoman records in these archives are
catalogued. Until there is further clarification, Dr. Halaço?lu’s
statement only raises some fundamental questions:
1. Were Ottoman regulations on the 1915 deportations implemented
according to the letter of the law? If so, why are we told that the
registers related to this mass transfer of people are missing? Are
all records missing, for the whole Empire, in both local as well as
central archives?
2. If these regulations were not implemented, how was the movement of
Armenians, the liquidation of their properties, and the resettlement
of deportees regulated? Is it conceivable that none of these
regulations were implemented for the whole of the Ottoman Empire from
Erzeroum to Yozgat, Izmit and Kayseri? If so, where is the archival
trail in Ottoman archives associated with the actual course of
events?
3. Is it possible that no records were kept for either deportation or
resettlement? If so, was this the case for the whole of the Ottoman
Empire, and why were no records kept?
4. If records were kept and then destroyed, why and when were they
destroyed? And were they destroyed for the whole of the Ottoman
Empire, in both local as well as central archives in Turkey?
5. Is it possible that Dr. Halaço?lu might be mistaken? Might some of
the records we have asked for exist? Is it possible that there might
be deportation records, as well as records related to the liquidation
of Armenian properties, but no corresponding resettlement records?
According to Ara Sarafian (Gomidas Institute, London), "Primary
sources outside of Turkey indicate that the 1915 deportation of
Armenians and the liquidation of their properties were regulated by
Ottoman state authorities. Armenians were deported under the auspices
of Ottoman officials. And most deportees were killed through
privations and outright massacres on their way or in their places of
exile (most notably Der Zor). Our sources indicate that there never
was a resettlement programme as historians defending the official
Turkish thesis suggest."
The Gomidas Institute hopes that Dr. Halaço?lu will explain why he
thinks that the Ottoman deportation and resettlement registers the
Gomidas Institute requested do not exist–especially those on Harput
and its environs.
NOTES
1. For the first two Gomidas Institute statements see
se.htm and
se.htm For the third
statement (in Turkish) see
eTurkish.htm
2 Ottoman Ministry of Interior, Department of Settlement of Tribes
and Immigrants, "Regulations Related to Settlement and Board and
Lodging and Other Affairs of Armenians Relocated to Other Places
Because of War Conditions and Emergency Political Requirements, May
30, 1915" in Turkish Prime Ministry Directorate-General of Press and
Information, Documents on Ottoman Armenians, Vol. 2 [n.d.], Document
no. 12, pp. 91-93. See copy
.htm
3 "The Regulation Concerning the Management of the Land and
Properties Belonging to Armenians Who Have Been Sent Elsewhere as a
Result of the State of War and the Extraordinary Political Situation"
in Turkish Prime Ministry Directorate-General of Press and
Information, Documents [on Ottoman Armenians], Vol. 1 [n.d.],
Document no. 28, pp. 76-80. See copy
tions.htm
4 The Turkish transcript of what Dr. Halacoglu said is as follows:
"Ar?ivlerin nas?l oldu?unu kendisi [Sarafian] gayet iyi biliyor.
Orada her köyden tek tek, isim isim kimlerin nakledilmi? oldu?unu
bulamayaca??n? kendisi de biliyor. Öyle bir kay?t zaten yok. olmu?
olsa zaten bizim için problem olmaz, daha güzel ortaya konabilir."
Info Collectif VAN – – Info Collectif VAN –
– Le Collectif VAN vous propose le Communiqué de
Presse en anglais de l’Institut Gomidas, en date du 7 mars 2007.
L’historien Ara Sarafian avait récemment proposé au Professeur Yusuf
Halaçoglu, l’historien officiel d’Ankara, d’étudier ensemble les
déportations arméniennes de 1915, en se basant sur le cas de la ville
de Harput (un des centres intellectuels et économiques arméniens les
plus importants avant 1915). Nora Vosbigian explique ici comment Ara
Sarafian a vu, après l’acceptation initiale d’Halaçoglu, son offre
refusée pour cause d’absence d’archives turques sur le sujet…
Halaçoglu lui, s’exprime sur Atv channel et Hurriyet pour dire que
Sarafian a finalement fait machine arrière, pour cause de pressions
de la diaspora arménienne… Le Communiqué du Gomidas Institute
apporte un éclairage très intéressant sur le sérieux des propositions
turques d’ouvrir les archives ottomanes sur le génocide arménien de
1915… No comment.
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