PRES. SARGSYAN SHOULD DEMAND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 1918 TRIALS OF TURKISH MASTERMINDS OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Appo Jabarian
Executive Publisher / Managing Editor
USA Armenian Life Magazine
In late March, Armenia’s president Serzh Sargsyan became the latest
pilgrim to Deir el-Zor, Syria, when he visited the Armenian mass
funeral pyre.
A few of the most notable remarks by Pres. Sargsyan earned him praise.
But some other comments ignited criticism from concerned Armenians
in Armenia, Artsakh and the Diaspora.
To his credit Sargsyan said: "We do not accept the style of references
to the Armenian Turkish dialogue in attempts to avoid recognition of
the Genocide …. I am here to commemorate and to pray for the vast
majority of my slaughtered nation that had suffered both physical
and cultural extermination."
He stated that Auschwitz is the Deir el-Zor of the Jews and but then
mistakenly asked: "where and when will be held our Nuremberg?"
Apparently, Pres. Sargsyan was given the wrong information. Instead
of focusing on the fact that Armenians had their Nuremberg in 1918,
and that it was unfinished, he missed the opportunity to adequately
address the issue by demanding the completion of the "Nuremberg for
the Armenians."
Back in 2008, the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute of
Armenia launched an Online exhibition on the "UNFINISHED
NUREMBERG." The permanent exhibition was organized on the
occasion of the 90th anniversary of the trial of Young Turks
( hibition_9.php).
Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute’s website —
stated that on January 8, 1918, Turkish Military Tribunals of first,
second and third instances were established in Istanbul. During
the court hearings, investigation was conducted into the criminal
actions of the leaders of the Young Turk Government; the members
of the Central Committee of the CUP, the regional secretaries and
officials, the special organization that had committed the Armenian
slaughters called "Teshkilat Mahsuse," as well as the organizers of
the deportation and carnage of the Armenians of Yozgat, Trebizon and
Byoyukdere (a suburb of Constantinople) and Harpoot.
It continued: "Under the existing law, the accused were to be tried in
the locales where they had committed their crimes, but on February 5,
1919, the Istanbul Military Tribunal decided to prosecute the accused
in Istanbul. … By a special decree of Sultan Mahmed VI Vahideddin
(1918 to 1922), the leaders of the CUP and ministers of government
were brought before the Military Tribunal of Istanbul for judgment.
Their crimes were condemned in 1919 by Grand Vizier Damad Ferid. The
trials of the Young Turks’ Government, organized between 1919 and
1920 by the Turkish authorities, are unique evidence proving that
the Armenian Genocide was a politically organized and committed act."
It concluded: "These trials and verdicts are important arguments
against the denial of the Armenian Genocide by the official Turkish
historiography. Most of the officials found guilty during the trials,
however, became associates of Kemal Ataturk, who set up a rebel
government in Ankara and expelled the allies from Anatolia. After the
establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, these criminals were
given important positions in the Turkish military and state."
On Turkey, 15 July 2009, Sait Cetinoglu, a Turkish scholar specializing
in The Young Turks, The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) and
Kemalism, wrote an article titled "The Malta Documents – Continuity
between CUP and the Turkish Republic." Cetinoglu is the author of many
original articles based on research of the National Archives in Turkey.
In that article, Cetinoglu made a special reference to Vartkes
Yeghiayan, a respected attorney, author and the architect of the New
York Life and other Genocide reparation cases.
Cetinoglu also referred to Yeghiayan’s April 26, 2007 book, "British
Foreign Office Dossiers on Turkish War Criminals." The book presents
detailed dossiers that the British compiled in order to prosecute
the entire Young Turk Regime. Soon after the Armistice, the British
carried out surprise raids in Constantinople, and seized most of
those suspected of planning and executing the Armenian Genocide. The
suspects were subsequently transferred to Malta to await justice.
He underlined: "These documents give us the accounts of what 150
Ottoman government authorities and civil servants did during WWI. It
is also the story of the annihilation of a people under the isolated
conditions of war and seizure of their property, the story of how a
new commercial bourgeoisie and a bureaucratic bourgeoisie flourished
on the usurped riches of this people. The accounts of the witnesses
and the victims that can be found in these documents also serve a
moral lesson for us. Here we can find the clues to the hidden truths
of the foundation of the Republic of Turkey, and this is the reason
why so much effort is made to leave the events of 1915 to oblivion.
Hence, these documents explain why Turkey would never recognize the
Armenian Genocide. They also tell the story of continuity from the
Committee of Progress and Union Committee (CUP) to the Republic of
Turkey, the historical roots of today’s secret operations and the
corruption of the state apparatus in Turkey."
Cetinoglu noted that many of the Malta exiles were appointed to key
governmental positions after their sentence was over. When we track
down the family trees of the Malta exiles in the documents we can see
who the real owners of the state apparatus were. Four of the 50 key
governors whose biographies are published by the Ministry of Interior
were former Malta exiles, in addition to many others whose children
and grandchildren later became high-level government officials.
Among others, Great Britain’s policy of "neutrality", first adopted
on the 16th of March 1921 – the date when GB recognized the Ankara
government as a buffer against the Soviet Union and continued since
then – was responsible for the genocide to be left to oblivion just
for the sake of imperial interests. Armenian people were thus twice
victimized, first by being subjected to genocide with the encouragement
of an imperialist country, i.e. Germany, and then by the fact that
the perpetrators of the genocide were rewarded instead of being
punished, thanks to the interests of another imperialist country,
this time Great Britain. … Mehmet the Pharmacist, who later became
to be known as Mehmet Eczacýbasý, the starter of the biggest holdings
in today’s Turkey, is a striking example of Turkish businessmen who
owe their wealth to usurped non-Muslim property. This is the origin
of the common saying in Turkish, the "tehcir zenginleri", or the
"barons of deportation" and marks the truth about Anatolia being a
paradise of barons of deportation, he disclosed.
He further revealed: "It was not an irony at all when two of the Malta
convicts Haci Adil Bey was accepted to the Istanbul Faculty of Law and
M. Resat Mimaroglu, a police chief, was appointed as the President of
the Council of State, as this is a routine in Turkey where a leader of
the military coup in 1980 was later rewarded as an honorary professor
in the same faculty and a police chief was appointed as the Minister
of Justice. … Furthermore, there were Malta convicts who were put on
the government payroll and were paid civil servant salaries for their
"services to the fatherland".
Popular Turkish historian Murat Bardakcý wrote in March 2009:
"As a matter of fact, Ataturk’s position on the Armenian question is
clearly manifested in the way he gave away the [Armenian] property. He
put the families of the persons murdered by Armenians on very high
salaries and he personally signed the instructions for the transfer
of seized Armenian property to these persons. Wife of Talat Pasha was
receiving the salary for ‘services to the fatherland’ which was the
highest. The same applied to the wives of Central Commitee members
and those of the key members of the Special Organisation (Teskilat-ý
Mahsusa). The highest level of salary was assigned to Mahpeyker Hanim,
the daughter of Enver Pasha."
Based on sizeable evidence made available to him, CetinoGlu firmly
believes that not only Malta exiles played a direct role in the
foundation of the Republic, but also their children and grandchildren
continued to serve in important government positions up to this date.
Sons of two Malta exiles sat in the Inonu’s "restoration" cabinet
set up after the military coup of 27th May 1960. Celalettin Uzer,
the Minister of Development and Housing in the Inonu Cabinet,
was the son of Hasan Tahsin Uzer, who was Enver’s nephew and Vefik
Pirinccioglu, the State Minister in the same cabinet, was the son of
Fevzi Pirinccioglu, who was Ziya Gokalp’s nephew. It’s interesting
to see that the grandfather was one of the key figures of the 1895
massacres, the son was one of the founders of the Republic, and the
grandson a member of the "restoration" cabinet. Enver’s brother-in-law
Kazým Orbay was the Chief of General Staff between the years 1944-46
and the Speaker at the Restoration Parliament set up after the 1960
military take-over. General Fahri Ozdilek, a member of the Special
Organisation and an assistant to the well-known Special Organisation
commander Fuat Bulca, was one of the organisers of the 27th May 1960
coup and was appointed as a Senator at the Restoration Parliament. Suat
Hayri Urguplu one of the Prime Ministers of the ‘intermediary regime"
and also a former minister, was the son of the Seyhulislam Hayri
Efendi and thus one of the symbols of the continuity between the CUP
and the Republic.
He also attested that many of those names referred to in the section
about Diyarbakýr were very familiar. "As a preamble, let us only
point out that the Aksus and the Goksus are two families closely
related to each other and Hacý Bedir Aga’s grandchildren sit in today’s
parliament as deputies. Furthermore, many Malta exiles and the founders
of the Republic had common ancestry. For Suleyman Nazif, Pirinccioglu,
Gokalp and Germens were relatives. So were Tahsin Uzer, Enver, Cevdet
and Kazým Orbay. Ubeydullah Efendi was Mahmut Esat Bozkurt’s uncle,
Huseyin Tosun was Dr. Resit’s brother and Abdulhalik Renda was Talat’s
brother-in-law. Also many Malta exiles were classmates, revealing
the fact that they were from common social backgrounds, he stressed.
In short, the Malta documents offer the international community the
evidence of continuity between the Young Turks’ CUP and the Kemalist
Republic, where we can trace back the roots of the Genocide.
Pres. Sargsyan can render a great service to the cause of justice
by exposing the facts about the connection between the succeeding
Turkish regimes. He should also be steadfast in his demand for the
complete implementation of the 1918 Nuremberg for the Armenians that
remains unfinished.