The Promise: Key Terms, Figures & Locations

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American Red Cross – Founded by Clara Barton in 1881, this organization provided aid during war and natural disasters. In 1896, as a response to the 1894-1896 Hamidian Massacres, Clara Barton and the American Red Cross led a mission into the Ottoman Empire. They set up medical teams and established hospitals in the region that would later support Armenian orphans and refugees during the Armenian Genocide.

Armenia – For over 3,000 years, Armenians lived in the territorial region of the Armenian Highlands or Eastern Anatolia. Overtime, Armenian kindgoms were conquered and split between many ancient empires. By the 16th Century, the Armenian Highlands were divided between the Ottoman Empire, Russian Empire and Persian Empire. By May of 1918, Armenians living in the Russian Empire declared independence, forming the first Republic of Armenia until 1920. It then became part of the United Soviet States of Russia (U.S.S.R.) until its independence in 1991.

Berlin-Baghdad Railway – Beginning in 1903, construction of this railway would not be completed until the late 1930s. The railroad was a crucial element that contributed to the alliance between Germany and the Ottoman Empire during World War I. During the war, Armenians were deported on train cars down this railroad, until the closest stop near the Syrian Desert, where they were then forced to walk the rest of the way toward Deir ez-Zor.

Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) – Also known as Ittihad ve Terraki, or the Young Turks, the CUP was a political party, Deportations of Armenians on the which became the leading power of the Ottoman Empire leading up Berlin-Baghdad railway. Source: to and during the Armenian Genocide. Armenian Genocide Museum Institute Constantinople – This thriving ancient port city in modern-day Provided by: NIOD Institute of War, Turkey was offically renamed Istanbul in 1930. Located between Holocaust and Genocide Studies Europe and Asia along the Bosphorus Straight, it served as the capital city of the Byzantine Empire until Ottoman conquest in 1453. Constantinople was known to be a metropolitian location of trade and global encounters.

Deportation – Removal of people from their areas of residency for purposes of resettlement elsewhere. With regard to the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during the Armenian Genocide, deportation by the Young Turks meant removal to another city, open air concentration camps, or extermination centers.

Dr. Mehmet Nazim Bey– He was a part of the Young Turk Movement and member of the Ottoman Empire’s Special Organization. He was a prime supportor of the annihilation of the Christian populations and played a key role in the Turkification process throughout the empire.

Father Komitas- Also known as Komitas Vartabet (teacher), he was an Armenian priest, composer, choirmaster, and musicologist. He is known for documenting unwritten Armenian folk and church melodies passed down through oral tradition. He was arrested on April 24, 1915, but his life was spared. He fell mentally ill, impacted by the vulgar atrocities he witnessed on the Armenian people. He is remembered through his musical contributions to Armenian culture.

Genocide – The destruction of an ethnic or national group of people to the extent that they no longer exist as a defined unit. Genocide includes mass murder and the destruction of culture and political institutions.

The Promise: Key Terms, Figures & Locations

Henry Morgenthau Sr. – He was the U.S. Ambassador in Constantinople during the Armenian Genocide. He had meetings with the Minister of the Interior, Talaat Pasha, and attempted to stop the extermination of Armenians from their homeland once the U.S. Embassy received news of deportations and massacres in the Ottoman provinces.

Infidel – In the context of the Armenian Genocide, Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were frequently referred to as infidels or geyavours (in Turkish.) This is a deragatory term used to describe non-Muslims.

Mehmed Talaat (Talaat Pasha) – Talaat was the lead organizers of the Armenian Genocide. He was Minister of the Interior and the head of the Committee of Union and Progress Party (CUP) during World War I.

Musa Dagh – The Mountain of Moses, or Musa Ler (in Armenian), is located off the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, in the Hatay province of southern Turkey. It is known for the armed defense by local Armenian villagers, who resisted deportation orders from the Ottoman government and took refuge on the mountain. This resistance served as the inspiration for the 1933 best- selling novel, The Forty Days of Musa Dagh by Franz Werfel.

Ottoman Empire – The empire was composed of multiple national and religious groups for over 600 years. Islam was the state religion and the sultan served as the key ruler. At it’s height, the empire extended to modern Henry Morgenthau Sr. and day Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. By the 18th Century, Talaat Pasha. Scene from The the empire began to decline due to political, economic, military and social Promise. Courtesy of Jose Haro. factors. This resulted in oppressive and exploitive laws, attitudes and behaviors toward minority populations. It officially ended in 1922 with the takeover of the Turkish Nationalist Movement. Much of the territory once ruled by Ottoman Empire is now apart of the Republic of Turkey.

Ottoman Gendarmerie – Also known as jandarma, they were the police force of the Ottoman government established in 1840 with the aim to increase control of the Ottoman provinces. After the revolution of the CUP, the Ottoman gendarmerie was trusted with more power, and assumed into the CUP’s control--and, therefore, into its genocidal plans as well.

Pasha – Highest honorary title in offical useage in the Ottoman Empire. The designation was given under the Ottoman rulers to individuals of both civilian and military status, notable ministers, proncial governors, and army officers. Today, the term pasha is a social term of respect or edearment.

Pastor John E. Merrill – He was an American missionary, who kept records of atrocities and deportations he witnessed during the Armenian Genocide. He communicated numerous accounts with US officials, especially U.S. Consul Jesse Jackson. He provided aid to orphans and refugees until he returned to the US in 1920.

Refugee – One who flees in search of safety in times of war, political oppression, or religious persecution.

Taurus Mountains – A mountain range in southern Turkey, which served as a crossroads between Armenian deportation caravans moving southward and the construction of the Berlin- Baghdad railway moving eastward.

World War I – The first international armed conflict from 1914 until 1918. Opposing sides were the Entente Powers – mainly Britian, France, Russia (until 1917), and the United States (joined in 1917) against the Central Powers – mainly Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. This war ended with the defeat of the Central Powers and high numbers of civilian and military casualities on both sides.

The Promise: Key Terms, Figures & Locations

Sources:

Akçam, Taner. A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility. Metropolitan Books/Holt, 2007.

Armenian National Institute, Inc (ANI), 2019, www.armenian-genocide.org/.

Haperen, Maria Van et al. The Holocaust and Other Genocides: An Introduction. Edited by Barbara Boender, NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 2012.

IWitness Glossary (See Activity Tool Kit in IWitness)

Kieser, Hans-Lukas, editor et al. World War I and the End of the Ottomans: From the Balkans to the Armenian Genocide. I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 2015.