Genocide Centennial Commemoration

WHO WAS TO BLAME MOST FOR THE ARMENIAN

GENOCIDE?

The aim of this brochure is to guide the readers

through various pieces of historical evidence,
which concentrates on the question of blame for
the Armenian Genocide.
The brochure concentrates on the role of the
four groups of Turkish society as well as the
question of German involvement.
Contents:

Defining Genocide
Ministerial Elites
Provincial Officials
Turkish Army
Paramilitary Killers
German Responsibility

Bibliography and Materials for Further Research

Defining Genocide:
Jackque Morgan, a French scientist said in 1917:

the deportations of Western Armenians are nothing

but concealed race extermination. There is no
language rich enough to describe the horrors of it1
In 1944, Raphael Lemkin, created the term genocide,
genos from Greek word for race, cide form the Latin
word for killing
In 1948, the UN approved the Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
The Convention defines genocide as any act committed
with the intent to destroy, in whole or in a part, a national,
ethnic, racial or religious group.2
Rafael Lemkin in an interview with CBS News said:

I became interested in genocide because it happened

so many times. It happened to the Armenians and
after Armenians, Hitler took action3
1

http://www.genocide-museum.am/eng/quotations.php
http://legal.un.org/avl/ha/cppcg/cppcg.html
3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf4JE3QTse0
2

Ministerial Elites
In 1913 a revolution in Ottoman Empire brought the
party of Young Turks (Committee of Union and
Progress) to power
The three ministers, the triumvirs kept control of the
party: Talaat Pasha, Enver Pasha and Djemal Pasha
In 1915 they passed the Tehcir Law, the Law of
Deportation, which made official the atrocities against
Christians, which were already taking place.
Article 4 of the Law charges War Minister, Djemal
Pasha for the deportations4
Henry Morgenthau, the US Ambassador to
Constantinople:

These measures are not in response to popular or

fanatical demand but are purely arbitrary and
directed from Constantinople in the name of
military necessity, often in districts where no
military operations are likely to take place. 5
4
5

Dadrian (236)
United State Official Records on the Armenian Genocide 1915-1917 (51)

 When Morgenthau suggested to Enver that the

regional officials had gone too far, Enver felt offended
by this suggestion, replying:

You are utterly mistaken. We have this country

absolutely under control. I have no desire to shift
the blame onto our underlings and I am entirely
willing to accept the responsibility myself for
everything that has taken place. The Cabinet itself
has ordered the deportations. 6
From telegram sent to Morgenthau by Armenian
Revolutionary Federation:

The Government of Young Turks, or rather the

central Committee of Union and Progress had
made these arrests, which are as barbarous as
ridiculous, simply based on suspicions <> 7

6
7

Melson (148)
United State Official Records on the Armenian Genocide 1915-1917 (93-94)

 Very soon after the deportations began France, Britain

and Russia made a statement:

In view of these new crimes of Turkey against

humanity and civilization the Allied governments
announce publicly to the Ottoman Empire that they
will hold personally responsible for these crimes all
members of the Ottoman Government and those of
their agents who are implicated in such
massacres8

Quote from memoirs of a Venezuelan soldier in

Turkish Army Rafael de Nogales:

Killings and deportations without any doubt were

part of a well-considered plan of a reactionary
party, whose head was the Great Vizier Talaat
Pasha and the officers who were under control9

8
9

United State Official Records on the Armenian Genocide 1915-1917 (29)

De Nogales (102)

 In 1919 some Turks have acknowledged the extent of

the crime. The new Ottoman government held war
crimes trials and the new Minister of Interior wrote:

Four of five years ago was committed in this land

a crime unique in history. It is already a proven
fact that this tragedy was planned by the decisions
and orders of the Central Committee.10
The above document as well as many others is
currently locked in Turkish military archives.

10

Antonian (167-168)

Provincial Officials
Some officials resisted the implementation of the
deportations, for example Rahmi Bey in Smyrna. For
several years Smyrna was known as city of
tolerance11
Some officials refused to obey the government and
they were replaced in Angora, Van, Marat, Trebizond
and many other eastern provinces: a third of officials
were fired. 12

Rafael de Nogales remembers how he woke up and

saw Turks massacring the Armenian population. He
told his general to stop the massacres:

To my surprise, he told me that he just obeyed the

written order from the Governor of the Province
to kill all male Armenians from 20 and above 13

11

Mann (158)
Ibid (158)
13
De Nogales (53-54)
12

 US Consul Davis in Trebizond gave a short account of

an official who was sent from Constantinople to carry
out the deportations:

The ferocity and lack of any humanitarian feelings of

this man was something remarkable and if any of the
perpetrators of the Armenian massacres are brought
before a tribunal for trial and punishment, I sincerely
trust this monster will not escape 14
Rafael de Nogales also gave an account of delegates
sent from Constantinople to eastern provinces:

Reshid Bey mentioned that by killing Armenians in his

province he was just carrying out the orders given by
Talaat Pasha. It was him who sent Reshid Bey a letter
with just three words: Yak vur oldur what means
burn, break, kill15
Some governors still tried to help Armenians. Consul
Davis said that the governor of Mamouret, ul-Aziz
allowed many Armenians to escape through the
Russian border.

14
15

United State Official Records on the Armenian Genocide 1915 (687)

De Nogales (109)

Turkish Army
The Turkish Army was a military unit, which was
fighting against the Allied Powers during the First
World War.
Part of the Army was fighting at the Caucasian front
against Russian forces and Armenian separatist
movement in Eastern Anatolia.
One of the most famous aspects was the Siege of Van.
Rafael de Nogales was a general during the siege:

I cursed the hour when bad luck turned me into a

torturer of fellow Christians16.
De Nogales focuses the blame narrowly. For him there
were two kinds of soldiers: professional soldiers and
political soldiers. He added that the second kind of
soldiers were usually in irregular forces.17

16
17

http://aniv.ru/archive/31/chetyre-goda-pod-polumesjatsem-rafael-de-nogales/
De Nogales (156)

 De Nogales remembers:

I was disgusted and disheartened by the numerous

and utterly unjustified massacres of the Christians,
committed, if not at the direct instance, at least
through the complaisance of the Commander-inChief of our Expeditionary Army, Khalil Bey.18
There are examples of officers of high rank refusing to
implement the orders. One despairing major committed
suicide, declaring that he was ashamed to live as a
Turk19.
Most of the evidence leads to the conclusion that the
Party did not rely on the Army for carrying out the
massacres. Thats why there was a high proportion of
soldiers who went through the war without seeing or
hearing about the genocide, such as General Mustafa
Kemal-Ataturk.

18
19

De Nogales (124)
De Nogales (165)

Paramilitary Killers
The main killers, who specialised in deporting and
massacring the Armenian population were
approximately 20000-30000 men20 of paramilitary
forces organised into a Special Organisation which was
developed approximately in 1903.
Initially they were Enver Pashas personal organisation
within the military. They were attacking Macedonian
and Greek villages in 1913 and 1914. They were
deliberately given a free hand so later the Committee of
Union and Progress could deny any connection with
21
them.
According to German officer in charge colonel
Strange:

the Special Forces committed most of the murders

of Armenians with beasty brutality22

20

Mann (164)
Mann (165)
22
Mann (165)
21

 By 1915 the cadres consisted almost entirely from

convicted criminals. The application of Legal
Authorization to form Secret Organisation was
deliberately framed in a vague formulae to deflect

attention from its secret goals23.

In July 27, 1915 German Consul in Aleppo, Rossler
wrote to Chancellor in Berlin, describing the Special
Organisation members as

convicts, released from the prisons, and put in

military uniform. They were deployed on
locations through which the doomed deportee
convoys were scheduled to pass24

Historian Dadrian portrays them as wild forms of

tribal or criminal violence they were willing

soldiers of evil. 25

23

Dadrian (236)
Lepsius (111)
25
Mann (17)
24

 Captain of the Ottoman War Offices Intelligence

Department wrote of the massacres:

The criminal gangs, who were released from the

prisons, after a weeks training at the War
Ministrys training grounds, were sent off to the
Caucasian front as the brigands of the Special
Organisation, perpetrating the worst crimes
against Armenians The Government intended to
destroy the Armenians and thereby to do away with
the question of Eastern Provinces. 26

A newspaper article published in Turkey in 1966:

The murders and plunders, which were committed

during the Armenian deportations and which were
unleashed in an organised way, were the handiwork
of the Special Organisation 27

26
27

Dadrian (238)
Newspaper Nokta 21-27 July 1996

German Responsibility
In the 19th century Germany was united in an
independent state under Chancellor Otto von
Bismarck. Kaiser Wilhelm the Second
announced the program of Weltpolitic and would
try to turn Germany into a strong empire.
The Government believed that if they could
colonise Mesopotamia (now Iraq) they would
become a world power.
From Berlin through Constantinople to Baghdad
Germany began building a long railroad,
which later would be used as an instrument of
death. 28
Some German historians wrote anti-Armenian
books, such as Ewald Banse who concluded that
the Armenians should be eliminated from the
face of the Earth. The Armenians are nine
times worse than the Jews said the German
Chief Adviser to the Turkish Military. 29
28

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XZwyctkQCk&list=PLCiFfnifgLmdynA
8HAP9hIGq33YQcSibN
29
Voss (59)

 The German Ambassador, Wagenheim in

Constantinople refused to help Armenians on the
eve of April 24th. He told Morgenthau I shall
do nothing whatever for the Armenians30.
On the 17th of June 1915 German Ambassador
informed Berlin about Turkish notice, quoting
Talaat:

the deportations were motivated by military

considerations. Ottoman Government used the
World War to eliminate the Armenians. 31
Meanwhile in Berlin:

Journalists were not allowed to describe the

terrors of genocide in press, etc. During a
press-conference it was decided that our
duty is to be silent 32

30

United State Official Records on the Armenian Genocide 1915-1917 (205)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XZwyctkQCk&list=PLCiFfnifgLmdynA
8HAP9hIGq33YQcSibN
32
Dadrian (204)
31

 A survivor recalls:

a German officer with Turkish soldiers under

his command took 2000 people. My
godfathers son escaped and told that the
German had slaughtered all of them33
On the 7th of July Wagenheim wrote to Berlin
that the Turkish Government is trying to
exterminate entire Armenian race34.
A German Consul Franz Gunter also wrote:

how will one be able to justify in front

of history that all this is happening
directly under our eyes without us
moving, I dont know.35

33

http://armgenocide.blogspot.com/2008_05_01_archive.html 24/07/11
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XZwyctkQCk&list=PLCiFfnifgLmdynA
8HAP9hIGq33YQcSibN
35
Ibid
34

 In the summer of 1915 Morgenthau confronted

German Ambassador Wagenheim, accusing
Germany of collusion in the genocide.

The world will always hold Germany

responsible. The guilt of these crimes will be
your inheritance forever. <> Germany had
the power to stop them and did not use
them.36
German Chancellor confirmed that We will

need the Turks no matter if Armenians

perish or not. Still after the World War no
German was accused of crimes against
Armenians. 37
On 31st of March, 2015 Pastor of Berlin
Protestant Church, who is great-great-grandson
of Kaiser Wilhelm II, apologized to Armenians
for the deeds of his grandfather.

36

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XZwyctkQCk&list=PLCiFfnifgLmdynA
8HAP9hIGq33YQcSibN
37
Ibid

Bibliography and Materials for Further Research

Books:
Antonian, Aram. The Memoirs of Naim Bey Turkish
Official Documents Relating to the Deportations and
Massacres of Armenians. London: Hodder and
Stoughton, 1920.
Dadrian, Vahakn N. The History of the Armenian
Genocide: Ethnic Conflict from the Balkans to
Anatolia to the Caucasus. New York: Berghahn, 2003.
De Nogales, Rafael. Four Years beneath the Crescent.
Moscow: Russkiy Vestnik. 2006.
Lepsius, J. Deutschland und Armenien 1914-1918.
Berlin: Postdam. 1919
Mann, Michael. The Dark Side of Democracy:
Explaining Ethnic Cleansing. New York: Cambridge
UP, 2005
Melson, Robert. Revolution and Genocide: On the
Origins of the Armenian Genocide and Holocaust.
Chicago and London: University of Chicago
Press.1992

Voss, Huberta Von., and Alasdair Lean. Portraits of

Hope: Armenians in the Contemporary World. New
York: Berghahn, 2007.
United State Official Records on the Armenian
Genocide 1915-1917 Princeton and London: Gomidas
Institute, 2004.
Websites
Armenian Genocide.
http://armgenocide.blogspot.com/2008_05_01_archive.
html
Genocide Museum | The Armenian Genocide Museuminstitute. http://www.genocidemuseum.am/eng/quotations.php
I Remember and Demand. Armenian Genocide
Centennial Web-page.
http://armeniangenocide100.org/en/

"Rafael De Nogales
." Www.aniv.ru - - ..
http://aniv.ru/archive/31/chetyre-goda-podpolumesjatsem-rafael-de-nogales/
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the
Crime of Genocide. United Nations. 1948
http://legal.un.org/avl/ha/cppcg/cppcg.html
Documentaries
Crime with No Name.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf4JE3QTse0
Germany, Turkey and the Armenian Genocide
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XZwyctkQCk&li
st=PLCiFfnifgLmdynA8HAP9hIGq33YQcSibN
Aghet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybSP04ajCDg

Stepan Nazaretyan 2015