THE MALTA DOCUMENTS – CONTINUITY BETWEEN CUP AND THE TURKISH REPUBLIC
Keghart.com, Canada
July 15 2009
Sait Cetinoglu is a Turkish scholar. His interests include The Young
Turks, CUP and Kemalism. He has published many original articles based
on research of the National Archives in Turkey. His book Economic
and cultural genocide 1942-1944 will soon be published in Ä°stanbul.
The following is the English version of the preface of the book Malta
Documents published by Vartkes Yeghiayan in Turkish. It was forwarded
to Keghart.com by the author along with a copy of the photo of the
Malta Exiles. Sait Cetinoglu’s gesture is much appreciated and the
material is being posted for the general public with minor editorial
changes.
The Malta documents undoubtedly constitute one of the most revealing
records about the Armenian Genocide, which is one of the most
important episodes of our recent history; yet it is a reality,
which we do not want to look into. To reveal the truth about 1915
is, in fact, tantamount to decode the secrets of the foundation of
the Republic of Turkey. It is for this reason that the period 1915
to 1923, the date of the foundation of the Turkish Republic, is the
most difficult to research due to legal obstacles. Malta documents are
the most significant ones that shed light on this period of transition.
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 a 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.
To be a Malta exile was almost a privilege, as they were never called
"prisoner" and they themselves preferred to be called "exiles". Reading
their memoirs, one can clearly see that they did not lead a life of
an inmate. The description of the daily life in Malta in the memoirs
of KuÅ~_cubaÅ~_ı EÅ~_ref is one of a luxury. Many Malta inmates were
able to escape very easily, because they were allowed to escape.
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.
The Malta documents provide us the story of the tragedy of a people,
the story of how the fate of the Armenian people was sacrificed to
the considerations of realpolitik. They are a manifestation of the
immorality of the great powers, a lesson demonstrating how human rights
were sacrificed for imperial interests and an unprecedented example of
a crime going unpunished. They describe how the crime of genocide was
rewarded by impunity and how the way to new genocides was paved. In
fact, Hitler in 1939 expressed very clearly the encouraging nature
of this tragedy. What happened in Algeria, Anfal, Bosnia, Rwanda,
Kosovo and the atrocities in Darfur or Iraq today are all the outcome
of such impunity.
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. German, 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.
In order to track down the Malta exiles we studied the biographies of
administrative and military authorities. We couldn’t make use of any
documents published by the General Staff as the biographies of the
Liberation War commanders lacked any record about their places of
service during 1915-1917. It was observed that the life stories of
the government officials positioned in deportation areas were very
interesting as they indicated clearly that the personnel records of
kaymakams and mutasarrıfs 1 determined the future career of these
officials. Those who disapproved the practices lost their lives,
as was the case with Ali Sabit Es-Suveydi, the deputy Kaymakam in
BeÅ~_iri (a district annexed to the vilayet of Diarbekir), Nesim Bey,
the Kaymakam of Lice and the Kaymakam of Derik. It was found in the
official records of Ahmet Ferid, the Kaymakam of Foca, that he was
removed from office as punishment for saving the lives of the Greeks
of Foca by helping them to flee to the island of Lesbos. Some of
the officials who were punished by removal only from office felt so
insecure afterwards that they had to leave the country.
Our work on the personnel records of the government officials who
served in the deportation areas revealed that some of these people
fell victim to unsolved murders and no record could be found about the
details of such murders.For example, the personnel records of Mustafa
Hilmi, the Mutasarrıf of Mardin and Ali Fehmi Bey, a member of the
Transportation Committee set up within the Directorate of Immigration
and Resettlement in AkÅ~_ehir, it was stated that neither the reason
for these persons’ murder nor the murderers could be identified. There
were annotations in some of the personnel records of those officials
who were later murdered indicating that the murderers were the Armenian
"komitaci"s 2. For instance Nabi Bey, who served in the police
department of Konya and who was in hiding in Kars for two years as
a Genocide suspect was killed by the Armenian activists in 1921.
However, most of the government officials who served during the
deportations and whose names appeared in the Malta documents were
rewarded afterwards by higher positions in the state apparatus. It’s
also not surprising to find that those government officials who
were implicated in the Genocide were the ones who first joined the
"National Struggle" leading to the foundation of the Republic. Of
these, the governors of Bitlis, Mazhar Mufit (Kansu), and Van,
Haydar Hilmi (Vaner), as well as Halis Turgut, Deli Halit Pasha,
General Pertev Demirhan, Sarı Edip Efe, Ardahan deputy Hilmi are
the most common names that are known.
On the other hand, some of the government officials referred to in
the Malta Documents could not be tracked down due to lack of any
records. Genocide perpetrators such as Salih Zeki, the Kaymakam of
Develi in 1915 who was appointed as the Mutasarrıf of Deyr-Zor in
1916 and Mustafa Asım, the Kaymakam of Harput in 1914, of Akcadag
in 1915 and of Of in 1918 were the ones who used the usurped Armenian
property for escaping from prosecution successfully. The Family Name
Law, requiring every Turkish citizen to adopt a family name in a
western style, helped the criminals in covering up their identities
and thus avoiding punishment. The reappearance of Veli Necdet in
the 1930’s in Ankara as the Chairman of Ankara Chamber of Commerce
with the family name of Sunkıtay, after serving as the Head of the
Diyarbakır Post Office in 1915 and the death of Memduh Sermet, the
Governor of Musul in 1915, in a road accident while he was travelling
to Izmir to start a business, are only two of very meaningful cases
in this respect. The Bolu deputy Habip became a reputable merchandiser
in the Republican period, widely known as the "bulghur 3 tycoon". The
fact that many of these suspects later became businessmen with close
business ties with each other can also be seen as a revealing detail
of the recent history of Turkey, and the Family Name Law helped them
a lot in succeeding to cover up their identities.
Mehmet the Pharmacist, who later became to be known as Mehmet
EczacıbaÅ~_ı, 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 the Anatolia being a paradise of barons
of deportation.
It is also not a coincidence that the heads of administrative
bodies in places where deported Armenians were resettled, and
government officials serving at local branches of General Directorate
for Settlement of Immigrants and Tribes (Muhacirin ve AÅ~_airin
Umum Mudurlugu) (GDSIT), political departments of public security
directorates and food supply offices were the first to join the armed
forces of the Turkish national liberation movement. They were appointed
to these positions by the CUP on special mission. For example Ahmet
Nazif Göker from the Ministry of Food Supplies, Mustafa Maruf and
Ahmet Faik Ustun were among the first who joined the armed branches
of the liberation movement. Here are some further examples to how
the former CUP members were rewarded with reputable positions in
the society: Ahmet Faik Gunday, the Mutasarrıf of Malatya and elder
brother of Ziya HurÅ~_it was appointed as the deputy of Ordu. Ä°brahim
Zagra, the Edirne Mayor and Head of Resettlement Department and
also one of the founders of the Teceddut Party founded by former CUP
leaders, was to serve for long years as the Edirne Mayor and Chairman
of the Edirne Chamber of Commerce. Mehmet Å~^ukru YaÅ~_in who served
as the Kaymakam of Midyat, Malatya and TrablusÅ~_am between the
years 1914-17 was later appointed as the deputy of Canakkale. Ahmet
Esat Uras who was the head of the local Intelligence Service and the
deputy head of Political Affairs was first appointed as the Director
of Public Security, then as the Governor, then member of Turkish
History Institution and member of the Parliament. Ali Haydar Yulug,
the deputy head of the local branch of GDSIT, took over the position
of Ankara Mayor and Ali Rıza Ceylan, the head of Post Office in Van
and Bitlis and M. Kadri Necip Ucok, the head of the Post Office of
Sivas and the Mutasarrıf of Palu and Mardin served as governors of
various provinces. Mehmet Ata, who served in the years of deportation
at the Sivas Post Office and Mutasarrıf of Yozgat was appointed as a
member of the parliament and the Minister of Interior. There are many
more examples, such as Ä°smail Sefa Ozler, Ä°smail MuÅ~_tak Mayokam,
Mehmet Vehbi Bolak, Mehmet Fuat Carım, Omer Adil Tigrel and Mehmet
Fehmi Alta.
Those who were being sought after for implication in the Genocide were
also among the first to join the national movement. Among these the
first to remember are, Mahzar Mufit, Haydar Vaner, Arslan Toguzata
(police chief from TrablusÅ~_am), Abdurrahman Å~^eref Ulug from
Diyarbakır, Huseyin Tahir Guvendiren, Halil Rifat Å~^abanoglu, RuÅ~_tu
Bozkurt, Ali Å~^uuri, the deputy of EskiÅ~_ehir and Å~^arkikarahisar,
Mahzar Germen, Tevfik RuÅ~_tu Aras, Refik Saydam, Memduh Å~^evket
Esendal, Yenibahceli Nail, Å~^ukru Saracoglu and Huseyin Aziz
(Akyurek), a member of CUP Central Commitee and who was known to be
one of the planners of the Genocide.
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. ReÅ~_at 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 honourary 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". We came accross their names in the "C Chart" of the
1955 government budget records. Among them were Nusret, the Mutasarrıf
of Urfa, who was executed for his crimes during the Genocide, Kemal,
the Kaymakam of Bogazlayan who was referred to as being a "National
Martyr", Yahya Kaptan who "fell martyr" while serving as the Commander
of the Gebze area, the former Minister of the Navy General Ahmet
Cemal, the former Sadrazam Talat, the former Governor of Diyarbakır
ReÅ~_it, Å~^eyhulislam 4 Hayri, Ziya Gökalp, the deceased artillary
major Rıza, the deputy of KırÅ~_ehir Mehmet Rıza Silsupur (Keskinli
Rıza), the deputy of Edirne Faik Kaltakıran, the deputy of Gaziantep
Ali Cenani, the deputy of Istanbul Numan Ustalar, the deputy of MuÅ~_
Ä°lyas Sami, governor of Bitlis Mazhar Mufit Kansu, the Governor and
the deputy of Van Hayder Vaner, Fevzi Pirinccioglu, Arslan Toguzata,
RuÅ~_tu Bozkurt, Hacı Bedir, Mazhar Germen, Suleyman Sırrı Ä°cöz,
Rauf Orbay, Eyup Sabri Akgöl and Bekir Sami Kunduh.
Popular historian Murat Bardakcı wrote: "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 (TeÅ~_kilat-ı Mahsusa). The
highest level of salary was assigned to Mahpeyker Hanim, the daughter
of Enver Pasha."
The Malta exiles were rewarded with top level government
positions. Some were appointed as Prime Minister, others as
ministers or governors or members of parliament, and the like. Two
of the Malta exiles, Ali Fethi Okyar and Rauf Orbay served as Prime
Ministers. Others, Fevzi Pirincioglu, Å~^ukru Kaya, Abdulhalik Renda,
M. Å~^eref Aykut, Ali Seyit, Ali Cenani, Ali Cetinkaya were appointed
as cabinet members. Many of the Malta exiles later became governors or
generals in the army. Also, on their return to Anatolia, there were
a number of former Malta exiles who were placed in the parliament
as deputies.
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 Inönu’s "restoration" cabinet set up after
the military coup of 27th May 1960. Celalettin Uzer, the Minister of
Development and Housing in the Inönu 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 Gökalp’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 Kazım
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 Å~^eyhulislam Hayri
Efendi and thus one of the symbols of the continuity between the CUP
and the Republic.
We believe the reader will find many of those names referred to in the
section about Diyarbakır very familiar. As a preamble, let us only
point out that the Aksus and the Göksus are two families closely
related to each other and Hacı 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, Gökalp
and Germens were relatives. So were Tahsin Uzer, Enver, Cevdet and
Kazım Orbay. Ubeydullah Efendi was Mahmut Esat Bozkurt’s uncle,
Huseyin Tosun was Dr. ReÅ~_it’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.
In short the Malta documents offer us the evidences of the continuity
between the CUP and the Republic, where we can trace back the roots
of the Genocide.
1 In the Ottoman Empire, a mutasarrıf was the governor of a
district. This administrative unit was part of a vilayet (province),
administered by a vali, and contained nahiye (communes), each
administered by a kaymakam.
2 Komitacı – A derogatory Turkish word for a member of an armed
Armenian organisation.
3 Bulghur: a form of wheat that has been parboiled, cracked, and dried
4 Å~^eyhulislam: the supreme religious authority in the Ottoman Empire