GERMAN MILITARY ARCHIVES IMPORTANT FOR ARMENIANS – RUBEN SAFRASTYAN

11:02 * 06.04.15

The military archives of Germany, which was Turkey’s military ally
during World War I, are of high importance for all that pertains to
the Armenian Genocide.

The archives are considered lost, but attempts to find them continue,
Ruben Safrastyan, Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies,
told Tert.am.

Germany largely directed the Turkish army’s actions during World War I.

“For example, Germans were chief of the Joint Staff of the Turkish
armed forces throughout the war. About 17,000 German officers served
in the Ottoman army, and some of them witnessed the Armenian Genocide.

Evidence is available that some of them were involved in the Armenian
Genocide and took advantage of confiscation of Armenians’ property.

Therefore, Turkish military archives are of paramount importance for
us, but, regrettably, they are still unavailable,” Mr Safrastyan said.

Part of German military archives is considered lost, and many
scholars say that the files covering some periods are missing from
Germany archives. They are believed to have been either destroyed
or taken to the United States during World War II, when the allies
entered Germany. Attempts to find the archives in Germany or in the
USA continue, and if they are found, it will prove collaboration in
committing the Armenian Genocide.

In his earlier comment on Turkish President Recep Erdogan’s statement,
calling the on Armenian Diaspora to open archives, Mr Safrastyan
pointed out a most important role of the archives of Turkey’s Cadaster
and of parties, which are considered destroyed as well. Turkish
special services played a serious role in this process by “cleaning”
the archives.

Elaborating on German archives, Mr Safrastyan said that Germany’s
political archives are actually the Foreign Ministry’s archives,
which were first made public by Johannes Lepsius in 1919.

“But in that work Lepsius did his best to avoid showing Germany’s
involvement. And he made certain changes in documents,” Mr Safrastyan
said.

This is the reason why German scholar Wolfgang Gust undertook the
initiative to publish documents of the German foreign office and
received the Armenian president’s award for his great contribution
to international recognition of the Armenian Genocide.