STUDY GUIDE 01OVERVIEW During the First War, the Turkish government embarked on a policy to eliminate systematically its civilian Armenian population. Starting in April 1915, the and other Christian groups — Assyrians and — were targeted by the Young Turk regime, which subscribed to a racist policy of “ for the Turks.”

Between 1915 and 1923, as many as 1,500,000 Armenians were killed through massacres, forced deportations, starvation, disease and exposure, and brutally dispossessed of their ancestral homeland of several thousand years. Turkish in 1923, the so-called to the southwest. In 1915, the Armenian population of the “” (including all was around 2 million. matters of resettlement and restitution) The Armenian people have been divided By 1918, more than one million were was considered closed and, as far as between the Turkish Ottoman Empire, dead, with hundreds of thousands made the international community was the Russian Empire and Persia. In 1915, homeless, stateless refugees. While the concerned, forgotten. four-fifths of Historical was in largest numbers of Armenians were Turkey; one-fifth in the Russian Empire. massacred in 1915 and 1916, the Where is Armenia? In 1920, the Russian part of Armenia continued after the Young Turk regime fell was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1918. Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk), leader Historical Armenia is located in the and a part of it (Kars and Ardahan) of the Turkish nationalist movement, Middle East at the crossroads of three was annexed by Turkey. In 1991, Soviet continued to target Armenians in a series continents — Europe, and Africa. It is Armenia declared its from of military campaigns — bound by the Caucasus Mountains and the Soviet Union. Today, the Republic of in 1920, in southern Turkey in the Black Sea to the north, the Caspian Armenia on Turkey, , 1921, and Izmir (Smyrna) in 1921-1922. Sea to the east, the Syrian Desert to and . When Atatürk went on to found the new the south, to the west and the

01 — Overview ­Page — 3 HISTORICAL 02BACKGROUND Roots of Genocide The used the occasion of the First World War as a cover for their genocidal plan. But why did they want to eliminate the Armenians?

The Armenians were an indigenous people that lived on the great highland plateau that constituted the eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire. They Courtesy of the Armenian Film Foundation. had lived here for more than 3000 Voices from the Lake. years. They established their first historic By the mid-nineteenth century, kingdom in the first millennium B.C. Armenians started to see the possibility Long periods of independence were of greater freedom. Through trade and interrupted by the shadow of powerful interaction with Europe and the influence empires — Persian, Roman, Arab, of American Protestant and other Byzantine, and Mongol. Withstanding the missionaries in Turkey, the Armenian domination of the Persian Achaemenian mercantile and intellectual classes and Parthian empires, as well as experienced a cultural renaissance. In the Sultan Abdul Hamid II conquest by the Romans, Armenians mid-nineteenth century, Europeans were unified into a formidable empire in the Armenia became part of the Ottoman demanding greater political participation first century BC. Around 301 A.D., they Empire. For 600 years, Armenians and democracy. Mirroring this became the first nation to accept the would be a subject people on their own movement, and influenced by the ideals Christian faith as a . ancestral land, living under a reign of of the French and American revolutions, Armenians sought greater justice and From Independence oppression as second-class citizens under Islamic law. As non- they equality in the Ottoman Empire. to a Subject Nation were obligated to pay discriminatory Armenian independence in the traditional taxes and denied participation in The Armenian Question homelands ended in the eleventh government. Despite these restrictions, With demands from the Armenians for century, when Seljuk Turks from Central many prospered in the arts, architecture, greater civil rights, the fragile relationship Asia overran the Kingdom of Ani in manufacturing, and the silk trade. between the ruling sultan and his Christian Greater Armenia. In the sixteenth century, subjects fractured.

02 — historical background ­Page — 5 The sultan could not imagine an egalitarian This pressure only hardened Turkey’s society in the Ottoman Empire. As a resolve. Under Sultan Abdul Hamid II, a result, oppression and victimization of the wave of terror was unleashed against Armenian minority increased. the Armenians. In 1894, the first acts of extermination began, culminating Following several wars and increasing two years later with more than 100,000 corruption, Turkey had become indebted Armenians massacred, forced conversions, to European countries, earning the title and enormous economic losses. These “The Sick Man of Europe.” European atrocities were widely reported in United powers, using their financial leverage States and Europe and became the for their own interests, tried to impose impetus behind the first international Declaration of the by sanctions and reforms on Turkey, to help humanitarian relief campaigns by Clara Armenian, Greek and Muslim leaders of the the Armenians. These European efforts Barton and the Red Cross. Ottoman millets, 1908 led to the internationalization of the so- called “Armenian Question” with a series In response to the , The Young Turks Offer Hope of diplomatic arrangements, beginning some Armenians took up arms in self- After the Hamidian massacres, with the San Stefano Treaty in 1878 and defense. This compounded Turkish Armenians did not push for the in 1878. All were fears that one day Armenians, like their independence, nor had they done so designed to pressure Turkey into treating Christian counter-parts in the , before. Almost all Armenian leaders its Christian minorities better. would try to break away from the Empire. sought reforms and a degree of self- government. They wanted an equal place in Ottoman society, the right to vote and freedom from harassment and . In 1908, reform-minded Turkish nationalists took control of the fragile Ottoman government. They called themselves Ittihad or “Young Turks.” Armenians were hopeful, believing in the Young Turks’ call for greater democracy and equality Postcard publicizing the new Turkish constitution between all Ottoman subjects. featuring the slogan, “Long live the fatherland, Clara Barton long live the nation, long live liberty.” That hope was short-lived. Only a year

02 — historical background ­Page — 6 Erzerum massacres, 1896

Radical Turkish nationalists within the Young Turk movement (The Promise) later, in 1909, between 20,000-30,000 to be re-located in historic Armenian lands Armenians were massacred in in Turkey. and other areas in the region of Cilicia near the Mediterranean Sea. Turkey for the Turks

Armenians suspected the Young Turks Territorial losses and the desire to , 1909 were involved in the massacres. In fact, the displace Armenians contributed to the Young Turks were moving to the extreme rise of a new radical nationalist faction consolidation of the Turkish race by killing right. The Ottoman Empire was crumbling within the Young Turk movement. This all Armenians who would not convert to fast. In 1911, the Italians invaded Libya, faction took control of the country in 1913. . The cover of the First World War which had been under Ottoman control. They were led by three men — Enver, and the Turkish alliance with The Balkan countries had also broken Minister of War; Talaat, Minister of presented the opportunity to destroy the away in the of 1912-13. This the Interior; and Jemal, Minister of the Armenians — as well as other Christian last defeat produced a wave of Muslim Navy. The Young Turks created an ultra- minorities, such as Greeks and Assyrians refugees from newly independent Christian nationalist policy — “Turkey for the Turks.” — with impunity. As seen in The Promise, Balkan countries. Muslim refugees the Young Turks’ genocidal intentions These radicalized Young Turks regarded became clear on April 24, 1915, when the were also coming into Turkey from the Armenians as a privileged group, expanding Russian empire. The Young Turk Armenian leadership in religious infidels, and a potential was rounded up, exiled and murdered. leadership wanted these Muslim refugees revolutionary force. The goal became

02 — historical background ­Page — 7 ARMENIAN 03GENOCIDE A Systematic Government Policy The extermination of the Armenians in Ottoman Turkey was well-organized. In 1913, the Committee of Union and Progress, called Ittihad or the Young Turks, formed a dictatorial ruling triumvirate, overrunning the Turkish legislature. They formed a quasi-military Special Organization, under the direction of Behaeddin Shakir, which operated under the direction of , Minister of the Interior. Around 10,000 men were released from prison for this para-military force. Many were convicted killers. They underwent military training for their assigned tasks to target and kill Armenian civilians.

A pattern evolved in the genocidal process: a methodical timetable with town criers announcing deportation were carried out directly by the Turkish caterpillars, the caravans wound their schedules; lists of deportees posted on military. A few Armenian master artisans way through hills, valleys, forests and church doors; sometimes opportunities were permitted to remain. rocky mountains. Their destination was given to convert to Islam; men and Der Zor in the Syrian Desert. Detention women separated; men killed in nearby Deportation “caravans” (ox-cart camps, called “concentration camps” by valleys and woods; women, the elderly, wagons) and on foot started from some eyewitnesses, served as temporary and children deported, their possessions many towns throughout the Ottoman holding areas until advance caravans and homes pillaged; deportees attacked Empire — from major Armenian towns could be disposed of in the desert. en-route by Special Organization and like Erzerum, Erzinga, Sivas, Kharpert, Armenians were deprived of food and tribal units, in cooperation with armed , Malatia, and . There water. Many died in the scorching sun. police (gendarmes) accompanying the were around 4,000 towns and villages Many were burnt alive or massacred. deportees. In some areas, the massacres in Ottoman Turkey overall. Slowly, like The Austrian author, Wolfdieter Bihl said,

03 — ­Page — 9 “often there was no ‘effort’ to deport the Armenians as the victims, in an outburst of unprecedented bloodlust, were tortured and slaughtered — one has to use this word — on the spot.”

The Genocide Map The main killing fields are seen on the map (SEE MAP). Men and boys were often killed outside of the towns. Women, children, and elderly were then forced on a . These civilian groups, under police escort, would be regularly set upon by para-military forces, organized by the Special Organization. Many women and girls were raped, slave Legal Pretext For Genocide (), in , authorizing auctioned, or killed. Their caravans were the deportation of the Ottoman Empire’s In May 1915, the Young Turks were pillaged, as they pushed southwards Armenian population. The Armenians warned by Western powers that they towards the Syrian desert. Most could not take most of their possessions, would be punished for their “crimes Armenians who survived this carnage which were auctioned and sold off for against humanity” against the and made it as far as the desert were virtually nothing. The Tehcir Law was Armenians. This may have been one eventually killed there. followed in September by the “Temporary reason why the Young Turks shrouded Law of Expropriation and Confiscation” their deportation orders in the legal — the so-called Abandoned Property Law language of a “resettlement program.” — where Armenian lands, bank accounts, Following the round-up of key Armenian businesses and community properties leaders on April 24, 1915, the government were officially taken by the Government. targeted Armenian men in each city and The language was misleading — village of Turkey. They were summarily Armenians had not “abandoned” their marched out of town and killed en- properties; they had been forcibly masse. The Ottoman Parliament then removed, exiled and murdered. issued the Temporary Law of Deportation

03 — Armenian Genocide ­Page — 10 Kharput: Armenian men forced to an execution site.

When Armenians were told they must By calling the deportation a “temporary leave their homes, they were told they law,” the Young Turks couched the were being removed “for their own Genocide in the language of wartime safety,” or “because of the war.” The necessity. U.S. Ambassador Henry Tehcir Law granted Ottoman authorities Morgenthau wrote: “The real purpose the legal authority to suppress any of the deportation was robbery and perceived threat to national security. It destruction; it really represented a new allowed the government to target any method of massacre. When the Turkish group who undermined the war effort, or authorities gave the orders for these was suspected of espionage or treason. deportations, they were merely giving the This law didn’t specifically mention the death warrant to a whole race.” Armenians, but it was clear who was being targeted.

03 — Armenian Genocide ­Page — 11 MECHANISMS 04OF GENOCIDE Concentration Camps The term “concentration camp” is usually associated with Nazi policies in World War II. The concept originated much earlier. The Spanish in (1896-1897) were believed to have used such means to control the Cubans, as well as the Germans in South West Africa, in their treatment of the Hereros (1904-07).

The Turks called them “transit” camps. German and American officials used the term “concentration camps” in referring to these vast open-air death camps. Auguste Bernau, an employee of the American consulate in Aleppo, reported on these camps: “The conditions there,” he said, “were so fiendish that the most cruel of the Mongols could not have imagined them… The entrance to these concentration camps from Berlin, Germany all the way to the could well bear the legend imprinted on The Berlin Railway (then) Ottoman city of Baghdad (present the gates of Dante’s hell — ‘Ye who enter Converging on the Taurus Mountains, day ) — to help them win the war here, abandon all hope.’” The Turkish two great forces clashed — the Armenian against Britain and the Allies. historian, Taner Akçam, called them “death deportation caravans moving southward camps” (ölüm kampları). He notes that and the construction of the Berlin- The Turks wanted the railway to be although labeled as “concentration camps” Baghdad Railway, moving eastward. used for another reason — to deport they were, in fact, an alternative method of Armenians from their towns and villages The Railway was created in 1903, but killing Armenian victims through artificially to as close to the Syrian desert as became a crucial element in Turkey’s induced privations and epidemic diseases. possible. As shown in The Promise, many war-time alliance with Germany. For Armenians were forced into cattle cars “For anyone to emerge alive from military and strategic reasons, the and transported to areas like Ras-ul-Ain, them was tantamount to a miracle,” Germans were intent on extending a new one of the largest concentration camps. Akçam said. railroad supply line through Turkey –

04 — Mechanisms of Genocide ­Page — 13 Slave Labor the construction of the Berlin to Baghdad Thousands of bodies of Armenians were railway, in the race of the German’s to thrown into the great Euphrates River, In The Promise, Michael Boghosian and reach Baghdad, to challenge the British. their bodies floating towards the estuary other Armenian men are conscripted into 700 miles away. labor battalions. When the First World The Euphrates River War was declared in 1914, Armenians were drafted to serve in the Ottoman On the death marches, Turkish army. Some Armenian men voluntarily authorities often forbade Armenians to enlisted, as a matter of patriotic pride. bury their corpses, pushing them forward But the ruling Turkish authorities would on the death marches. Sometimes, not allow Armenians to fight. Instead, Armenians were able to make shallow these Armenian men were forced into graves in the sand — only for these to be labor battalions. The Turkish authorities later dug up by wild dogs. Eyewitness wanted to work them to near death and accounts from U.S. diplomats and other then execute them. Armenian women and Western observers testify to the appalling elderly were also pressed into labor on scenes of unburied Armenian bodies, and corpses torn apart by animals. Kurd pulling Armenians victims out of the water.

04 — Mechanisms of Genocide ­Page — 14 INTERNATIONAL 05RESPONSE as Associated Press photojournalist Chris Myers (The Promise)

Eyewitnesses and Newspaper of Turkish perpetrators — which resulted in death sentences for its chief perpetrators Reports (even though the chief perpetrators had Contrary to the perception that the escaped abroad by then). Genocide was unknown or under- Province and Arnold Toynbee and James reported, there is a wealth of sources from German medical officers, like Armin T. Bryce’s The Treatment of Armenians in the around the world, detailing exactly what Wegner, supplied photographic evidence Ottoman Empire 1915–1916 (also called happened. The Armenian Genocide is of the deportations and massacres. the “Blue Book”), detail the genocide in well-documented in the national archives American diplomats, like Consul Leslie specific areas. Testimony of survivors and of the , Great Britain, , Davis, and European missionaries, like other eyewitnesses, now available in books Germany, Austria, and the Vatican, Maria Jacobsen, all working in Turkey at and digital archives, also corroborate the and many other countries. The postwar the time, provided first-hand testimonies of details of the genocide, as they applied to Military Tribunals held in Turkey in 1919 also what they saw with their own eyes. Davis’ particular towns and regions in Ottoman contain evidence from the war crime trials official account, inThe Slaughterhouse Turkey and .

05 — International Response ­Page — 16 Aaron Neil as Talaat Pasha (The Promise)

In 1915 alone, published 145 articles about the genocide, describing the actions against the Armenians as “systematic,” “authorized,” and “organized by the government.” Headlines included “Appeal to Turkey to Stop Massacres.” With Christian Bale as Chris Myers and Andrew Tarbet as Pastor Merrill (The Promise) both British and Australian forces fighting in Turkey, there were also British and Armenians … we have got to finish them Consul Davis officially submitted his account Australian press reports on the genocide. In off.” Morgenthau was surprised when Talaat to the U.S. State Department. He disputes there were 123 newspaper articles asked for the lists of Armenians insured by the Turkish propaganda of the time which about the genocide. the New York Life Insurance company. Talaat tried to portray Armenians as traitors. He reasoned that the Armenians were already says labelling the Armenians as traitors was U.S. Official Eyewitnesses dead — so the insurance money owed to done to incite ordinary Turks and provide them by New York Life really belonged to U.S. Ambassador Henry Morgenthau was the Turkish government. Appalled by this in Constantinople () during the gruesome logic, Morgenthau refused to give genocide. He had regular meetings with Talaat any such list. Talaat Pasha, Minister of the Interior, who would later become the Grand Vizier (Prime U.S. Consul Leslie Davis was based in Minister) of Turkey in 1917. When asked why Kharpert, one of the major killing fields of he was so intent on killing the Armenians, the genocide. He witnessed the aftermath Talaat responded by saying, “We have of a massacre in Lake Goljuk, where he already disposed of three quarters of the estimated 10,000 Armenians were murdered. Maria Jacobsen Consul Leslie Davis

05 — International Response ­Page — 17 Pastor Merrill In The Promise, Chris tries to get help from American missionary, Pastor Merrill. During the genocide, Pastor John Merrill ran an orphanage in Marash. There he tried to save Armenian orphans and refugees from Zeitun. Merrill also supplied information on the ground to U.S. Consul Jesse Jackson, who was stationed in Aleppo. Consul Jackson’s official account to the U.S. government, dated March 4, 1918, details atrocities against the Armenians. “One of the most terrible sights ever seen in Aleppo was the arrival in early August 1915, of some 5000 terribly emaciated, dirty, ragged and sick women and children, 3000 in one day and 2000 the following day. James Cromwell as U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, Henry Morgenthau (The Promise) These people were the only survivors of the thrifty and well-to-do Armenian a pretext for the government’s policy Atkinson, recorded in her diary entry of population of the province of Sivas, of total annihilation. Most of the victims July 19, 1915 that a Turkish Red Crescent carefully estimated to have originally were innocent women and children. The officer had told her that “one and a half been over 300,000 souls!” As neutrals government’s intention, he believed, was to million of Armenians have been killed these in the war, Americans were restricted in exterminate the entire Armenian population. last few weeks.” Sister Beatrice Rohner, a how much they could help the Armenians. Swiss missionary working for the Hülfsbund American Protestant missionaries (German Aid Society for Christian Relief Censorship, Photography were in Turkey before 1915. Many were Work in the Orient) reported casualty With mobile photography becoming eyewitnesses to the genocide, like Mary estimates to the German government. easier and more accessible, the Turks Louise Graffam, a missionary whose Charges d’ Affaires, Joseph von Radowitz, forbade anyone from photographing eyewitness reports are now included in wrote later, on 4 October 1916, that 1.5 Armenian victims. Armin T. Wegner the official British and U.S. record of the million Armenians had been killed. genocide. American missionary, Tacy smuggled his photographs out of

05 — International Response ­Page — 18 Turkey through a network of helpers. Consul Davis hid his photographs of the massacres he witnessed in earthen jars, which he buried on the premises of the U.S. consulate. These were only recovered seven years later, when Davis knew he could evade Turkish censorship.

Near East Relief Many photographs of Armenian orphans were taken by the Relief campaign — an American charity organized in the United States by Cleveland Dodge, and supported by President Woodrow Wilson. More than 100 million was raised through public rallies and church collections in the United States to “save the starving Armenians.” The child star, Jackie Coogan, was one of the faces of the Near East Relief campaign encouraging American children to donate the equivalent of a carton of milk to Armenian children. In 1919, Near East Relief was incorporated by an act of Congress. It was credited with having cared for 132,000 Armenian orphans scattered across the region. In Britain, the Save the Children fund and the Lord Mayor of London’s Armenian Fund also launched campaigns to save Armenian orphans from the genocide.

05 — International Response ­Page — 19 06ARMENIAN RESISTANCE Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex, Anjar,

One of two flags of salvation hand-sewn by the resistance

Musa Dagh and Other in three days in the surrounding region. In both and Shabin-Karahisar, Resistance Armenian resistance failed. Armenians Armenians resisted the Turkish in those areas were massacred or deportation orders in only a few deported. In Urfa, German artillery instances — notably, Urfa, Shabin- was used to help the Turks bombard Karahisar and Musa Dagh. In Van, the the Armenian quarter. Even though victory was short-lived. According to U.S. Armenians knew they were doomed, Ambassador Morgenthau, the resistance they held out against the odds — but in Van was mounted in desperation after ultimately failed to stop the onslaught. over 24,000 Armenians were massacred

06 — Armenian Resistance ­Page — 21 Popular Culture The popular resistance of Musa Dagh was immortalized in the 1933 best-selling novel, The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, by . The novel would eventually be translated into 18 languages and used as a primer by the Jewish resistance in the Second World War. MGM studios announced plans to make a movie based on Werfel’s novel, but was deterred from As depicted in The Promise, Musa making the film after protests from the Turkish ambassador in Washington to Dagh was an example of Armenians the U.S. State Department and threats to successfully taking their lives into their boycott American films in Turkey. own hands. Ordinary village people defended themselves between July 31 An earlier silent film, “,” and September 12, 1915, until French later named “Auction of Souls,” was naval vessels rescued and transported released in 1919, based on the true story approximately 4000 Armenians to safety of Armenian genocide survivor, Aurora in Port Said, . Mardigian (Arshaluis Mardiganian). Directed by Oscar Apfel and distributed Today, many of the descendants of the by American First National Pictures, the Musa Dagh villagers who were rescued in film showed harrowing scenes of rape, 1915 live in the town of Anjar in Lebanon. massacre and pillage of Armenians by There they proudly commemorate the the Turks. Released as a means to raise events of 1915. The flag that was sewn on money for the Near East Relief campaign, the mountain, and posted to alert passing the film was shown around the world. ships, still exists. Every year, villagers It inspired a popular song, “Armenian remember the 1915 resistance and rescue Maid” in the United States. Only excerpts by French ships, commanded by Vice of this silent film about the Armenian Admiral Louis Dartige du Fournet. genocide have survived.

06 — Armenian Resistance ­Page — 22 07DENIAL Denial denied by Kemal Atatürk’s Republic of Turkey, Armenians have been denied With so much news coverage, diplomatic reparations, the right to return, to correspondence, and eyewitness commemorate — or even an apology. testimony from all over the world, why has the Armenian Genocide become such After the First World War, President Wilson a controversial issue? The events were wanted Turkey to be punished for the officially recognized as crimes against genocide. In 1918, Armenians declared humanity in 1915 by Britain, France and their own state, based on their historic . America raised more than 100 homeland. The was in Russian million dollars to save Armenian children. Armenia. Territory from within Ottoman The post-war Turkish government Turkey was later assigned to this new demanded the Young Turk perpetrators Armenian republic, as specified in the be sentenced to death in 1919. So why is 1920 Treaty of Sevres. there such controversy now? The independent Republic of Armenia The answer lies in Turkey’s relations only lasted for over two years. Kemal with the United States and Western Atatürk fought against the partition of the Europe. From 1923, successive Turkish Ottoman Empire through his nationalist governments have denied that the events campaign. He did not want any territory against the Armenians were genocidal. to go to the Armenians. The priorities of They say Armenians were wartime the United States were also changing. casualties. There was no government In the aftermath of the war, Turkey was policy to exterminate them, they say. increasingly being seen as a bulwark Russia, made Turkey valuable in Western Worse yet, they blame the victims, saying against Bolshevist Russia. By 1923, the governments’ eyes. With this new political Armenians were traitors. Treaty of Lausanne, the final treaty calculation, punishing Turkey for the drawing a close to the First World War, Armenian genocide was seen as a political Unlike other genocide perpetrators made no mention of punishing the Turks, or inconvenience. “Bah, the price of Massacre (the Nazis, Khmer Rouge, Serbs, supporting the new Republic of Armenia. is Oil,” says the figure in the Dayton News Rwandan Hutus), the Turks have cartoon above. never been punished for their actions Turkey, and the territory it controlled after against the Armenians. Apart from the war, especially in what is now Iraq — In Gregory Stanton’s 10 stages of the Turkish military tribunals of 1919, was oil rich. These resources, and Turkey’s genocide, denial is the last stage, where which were limited in scope and later position vis-à-vis the new Bolshevik the perpetrator blames the victim.

07 — Denial ­Page — 24 Attempts to have a wider dialogue in Turkey have been met with violence. The journalist was murdered in Turkey in 2007 for publishing articles about the genocide. The trial surrounding the plot to murder him has continued to this day. More recently, Kurdish and Armenian politicians in Turkey (such as Garo Paylan, member of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP)) have also been targeted for wanting to speak openly about the Armenian Genocide.

Serj Tankian with Hrant Dink, shortly before Dink was murdered

Samantha Power argues in “A Problem One hundred years later, Turkey from Hell: America and the Age of continues to blame the victims — the Genocide” that the Armenian Genocide Armenians. Turkey has made it impossible provides the template for the way to have a free and open dialogue about genocide was treated by the international the genocide within Turkey itself. It has community in the twentieth century. Like punished Turkish citizens who want to , the Cambodian Genocide, speak openly about Turkey’s past. Under and the Bosnian and Rwandan Tutsi Turkey’s penal code, anyone who openly , facts were known and widely discusses the Armenian Genocide in circulated. The problem is not that we did Turkey can be prosecuted for “insulting not know what was happening while the Turkishness.” For many Turks — Armenians IMDb ratings pre-release of The Promise: events were unfolding. The underlying and non-Armenians alike — speaking Before even a thousand people saw The issue is whether or not the international freely about the Armenian Genocide has Promise, there were over sixty thousand one- community has wanted to intervene to become a matter of basic civil rights. star reviews on IMDb emanating from outside stop them. The issue has been, and still of the US. remains, political will.

07 — Denial ­Page — 25 08AFTERMATH , Genocide, Race Murder referred to the Armenian genocide as a “Crime with No Name.” Before the word “genocide” was coined, many terms were used — e.g., “massacres,” “,” “murder of a nation,” “extermination” and “forced exile.” Winston Churchill, in his 1933 study of the First World War, called the Turks’ actions “one administrative holocaust.” More recently the term “ethnic cleansing” has been added to this list, to denote the extermination of a group, along racial or ethnic lines.

The ’ definition of genocide has become the norm: genocide is a : but I am not a murderer.” policy enacted by a national government. It is a policy with , in The subsequent murder trial, in which whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial Tehlirian was acquitted, made Lemkin In the closing days of the Armenian or religious group. The policy can also, wonder: why was there only vigilante genocide, the Polish lawyer, Raphael by definition, be government action justice available to genocide victims? Lemkin, read a startling story about a which amounts to a war of attrition (like Why was there no international law murder on the streets of Berlin in 1921. An deportation); or attempts to erase the to punish mass murderers like Talaat? Armenian student, Soghomon Tehlirian, identity of the group, through rape or Years later, after Lemkin lost his family killed Talaat Pasha, claiming he was the forced marriage. Using this definition, in the Holocaust, he dedicated his life murderer of all Armenians. Talaat had the U.S. government’s war of attrition to create a new international law and a been sentenced to death in Turkey for his on Native Americans in the nineteenth new word — “genocide.” In 1948, the new crimes in 1919, but had escaped to Berlin. century could be labelled “genocide” UN Genocide Convention was created. Tehlirian said he was only executing alongside the rape and murder of So far, 147 countries have ratified or justice on a fugitive. “I have killed a man; Bosnian Muslims. Acts of war are not acceded to this treaty.

08 — Aftermath ­Page — 27 genocidal, unless it can be proved the murder as “extermination” (Hitler, 1931); intention of the government’s policy is to “terrible massacres” (George H. W. Bush); eliminate the target group. “War is bad,” “tragedy” (, 1978); “forced says Samantha Power. “But genocide is exile and annihilation” (George W. Bush, something different.” 2001); “infamous general massacre and deportation”; “clearance of a race”; By using the U.N. definition of genocide “murder of a nation” (Winston Churchill); we have some kind of yardstick to “senseless deportations and massacres” measure whether a conflict is, or (Bill Clinton); “massacres or marched is not, a policy of state-sponsored to their deaths” (Barack Obama). On mass murder. Historians today now April 12, 2015, on occasion of the 100th consider Stalin’s man-made famine commemoration, Pope Francis used the in Soviet Ukraine (the Holodomor) in word “genocide” which drew official 1932-33 to be a genocide. Imperial anger from Turkey. Germany’s actions against the Hereros in South West Africa ( today) between 1904 and 1907 is now considered to have been a campaign Darfur of racial extermination and collective punishment, amounting to genocide. Does the “G-Word” Matter? The massacre of over 200,000 Mayan Successive Turkish governments have civilians during Guatemala’s Civil War, denied the genocide took place. Successive the 24-year Indonesian occupation of U.S. governments have chosen to appease East resulting in the death of an Turkey’s denial, rather than risk damaging estimated one-third of the population, a key NATO alliance by using the word and the Sudanese Government’s ethnic “genocide.” Turkey’s position in the Middle cleansing campaign in Darfur are now East, vis-à-vis Europe and America, considered “genocide” by some human continues to influence America’s policy. rights groups and genocide scholars. American presidents will acknowledge The word games have given politicians the events, saying words like “massacres” wiggle-room. In the Armenian case, and “annihilation” — but will not use various leaders have referred to the mass the “g-word.” Holodomor

08 — Aftermath ­Page — 28 Never Again — but Do We Mean It? Samantha Power argues that in the twentieth century — through the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, Cambodian, Bosnian and Rwandan genocides — we have consistently lacked the political conviction to stop genocides while they are happening. We pay lip-service to the concept of Never Again — but, like the Holocaust, the problem is not that we do not know what is going on, while it is happening. The problem is our moral and political will. One hundred years after the Pope Francis with His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians Armenian Genocide, the United States and the international community is still grappling President Ronald Reagan did, in fact, President George W. Bush used the word with that one central problem. call the Armenian massacres “genocide” in relation to ’s actions in Darfur. in 1981. But because the United States The International Criminal Court (ICC) “It is sadly true what a cynic has said, had not yet ratified the U.N. Genocide followed his censure, by issuing arrest that we learn from history that we do not Convention, his words did not compel the warrants in 2009 and 2010 against learn from history. And yet it is possible United States to act against Turkey. President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan. that if the world had been conscious of Accusing a government of “genocide” The United States and its European allies the genocide that was committed by the by any nation-state that has ratified the do not want to punish Turkey, who is a Ottoman Turks against the Armenians, UN Genocide Convention has a direct NATO ally. For this reason, the Armenian the first genocide of the twentieth century, consequence. Under the UN Genocide Genocide continues to be, in human then perhaps humanity might have been Convention, any alleged perpetrator rights attorney Geoffrey Robertson’s of genocide could be punished under words, an Inconvenient Genocide. more alert to the warning signs that were international law. Because President The policy seems to be to recognize it being given before Hitler’s madness was Reagan used the G-word in 1981, before happened, but not to label it in such a unleashed on an unbelieving world.” the Convention was ratified by the United way as to trigger punitive action under States, his words did not apply to Turkey. the UN Genocide Convention. — The Most Reverend Archbishop Emeritus Desmond M. Tutu

08 — Aftermath ­Page — 29 09RESOURCES Sources Facing History and Ourselves, Crimes of Humanity Power, Samantha, : America and Civilization: The Genocide of the Armenians and the Age of Genocide (Basic Books, 2002). Akçam, Taner, The Young Turks’ Crime Against (Facing History and Ourselves, 2004). Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Robertson, Geoffrey,An Inconvenient Genocide Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire (Princeton Gust, Wolfgang, The Armenian Genocide: (Biteback, 2014). University Press, 2012). Evidence from the German Foreign Office Archives, 1915-1916 (Berghahn Books, 2013). Sassounian, Harut, ed., The Armenian Genocide: Antreassian, Reverend Dikran, Musa Dagh: The World Speaks Out 1915-2015 (Harut The Banishment of Zeitoun and Suedia’s Revolt Hovannisian, Richard G., ed. The Armenian Sassounian, 2015). (AMAA, 1993). Genocide in Perspective (Transaction, 1987). This provides the basic factual information on the Slide, Anthony, ed., Ravished Armenia and the Atkinson, Tacy, The German, the Turk and the genocide. Story of (Scarecrow Press, Devil Made a Triple Alliance (Gomidas Institute, 1997). 2000). Hovannisian, Richard G., ed., Remembrance and Denial: The Case of the Armenian Genocide Stanton, Gregory, 10 Stages of Genocide, Balakian, Peter, (Pimlico, (Wayne State University Press, 1999). http://www.genocidewatch.org/genocide/ 2005). tenstagesofgenocide.html Hovannisian, Richard and Payaslian, Simon, Barton, Clara, Expedition in Asia Minor and Relief Armenian Cilicia (Mazda, 2008). Toynbee, Arnold J and James Bryce, The Operation (AGMI, 2012). Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Jacobsen, Marie, Diaries of a Danish Missionary: 1915-1916 (various editions). Charny, W., ed., Encyclopedia of Genocide Harpoot, 1917-1919 (Gomidas Institute, 2001). (2 Volumes and available as an ebook, ABC-CLIO, Terzian, Hagop H., Cilicia 1909, The Massacre of 2000; ebook, 2003). Kaiser, Hilmar, At the Crossroads of Der Zor Armenians (Gomidas Institute, 2009). (Gomidas Institute, 2002). Dadrian, Vahakn N., The History of the Armenian United States Official Records on the Armenian Genocide (Berghahn Books, 1995). Kevorkian, Raymond, The Armenian Genocide: A Genocide 1915-1917 (Gomidas Institute, 2004). Complete History (I.B. Taurus, 2011). Dadrian, Vahakn N. , Documentation of the Vierbucher, Heinrich, Armenia 1915 (Armenian Armenian Genocide in German and Austrian Kloian, Richard Diran, ed., The Armenian Cultural Foundation, 2006). Sources (H.F. Guggenheim Foundation, 1994). Genocide: News Accounts from the American Press: 1915-1922 (The Genocide Education Project; Werfel, Franz, 40 Days of Musa Dagh (various Dadrian, Vahakn N., The Key Elements in the 5th edition (2011). editions). Turkish Denial of the Armenian Genocide: A Case Study of Distortion and Falsification (Zoryan Lemkin, Raphael, Raphel Lemkin’s Dossier on the Whitehorn, Alan, ed., The Armenian Genocide: the Institute, 1999). Armenian Genocide (CAR, 2008). Essential Reference Guide (ABC-CLIO, 2015).

Davis, Leslie A, The Slaughterhouse Province: An Morgenthau, Henry, Ambassador Morgenthau’s The Armenian Genocide as reported in the American Diplomat’s Report on the Armenian Story (Wayne State University Press, 2003). Australian Press (ANC, 1983) Genocide, 1915-1917 (Aristides D. Caratzas, 1989).

09 — Resources ­Page — 31 Timeline 1828 Turkish Sultan Abdul Hamid II becomes 1915 Armenian Genocide begins on 34th sultan of Turkey; further fosters April 24 with the arrest of Armenian B.C. distrust of Armenians by intellectuals in Constantinople 2300 Haig, legendary patriarch of the by strengthening Turkish and 1916 U.S. Congress creates the Near East Armenian people encouraging the resentment of any non- Muslims in the region Relief organization (currently known as 1800-800 Hittite Empires the ), which raises 1878 Treaty of Stefano, Turkish defeat by the equivalent of over $2 Billion (in 870-590 Urartuan Kingdoms Russia, providing for administrative reforms current day dollars) to help survivors of in the Armenian provinces of Turkey the Genocide 330 Alexander the Great defeats the Armenians and the Persians 1894 Armenians begin to fight for civil 1918 Republic of Armenia created rights, which is met with backlash by the A.D. Ottoman government 1918-1920 Ottoman Empire crumbles 301 Conversion of Armenia to Sovietization of Armenia 1894-1896 Hamidian massacres 1920 395-405 Creation of the of Armenians 1922-1923 Formal end of Armenian genocide; only 338,000 Armenians 640 First Arab invasion of Armenia 1908 Young Turks come to power in the Ottoman Empire, giving Armenians brief remain in Turkey 1041-1048 Seljuk Turk invasions of Armenia hope that the political tide will change in 1951 United States first officially 1098-1291 Crusades their favor recognizes the Armenian Genocide in a written statement to the International 1909 Armenian massacres in Adana region 1271 Marco Polo travels through Armenia Court of Justice regarding the Convention C. 1299 Formation of the Ottoman 1912-1913 Balkan Wars on the Prevention and Punishment of Empire, including modern-day Turkey the Crime of Genocide, and later by 1913 Radical faction of Young Turks President Ronald Reagan in 1981 1375 Defeat of King Levon V by the Mameluks takes over 1975, 1984 U.S. House of Representatives 15th Century Armenia absorbed into the 1914 Start of the First World War; Turkey adopts Armenian Genocide legislation Ottoman Empire, Muslim Turks begin enters as German ally; In response, poor treatment of Christian Armenians Armenians form volunteer armies that 1988 Catastrophic earthquake in Armenia join forces with Christian-ruled Russia; Turkey declares holy war on all non- 1991 Current Armenian Republic created Muslims (except their allies)

09 — Resources ­Page — 32 1996 U.S. reduces aid to Turkey citing the Armenian National Institute Photo Credits Armenian Genocide http://armenian-genocide.org Page 3 - Map: United States Official 2000, 2005, 2007, 2010 U.S. House Foreign Facing History and Ourselves Records on the Armenian Genocide, 1915- Affairs Committee adopts legislation https://www.facinghistory.org/ 1917, Gomidas Institute, 2004. regarding the Armenian Genocide The Genocide Education Project Page 14 - Courtesy of the Armenian Film 2014 U.S. Senate Foreign Relations https://www.genocideeducation.org Foundation. Voices from the Lake. Committee passage of Armenian Page 16 - “Says Extinction Menaces Genocide resolution; Recep Tayyip Gomidas Institute Armenia.” The New York Times 25 Sept. Erdoğan, Turkey’s new president, calls for http://gomidas.org/ 1915: n. pag. healing of old wounds between Armenia Near East Relief Digital Museum and Turkey http://neareastmuseum.com/ Page 16 - “Mission Board Told of Turkish Horrors.” The New York Times 17 Sept. 2016 Recep Tayyip Erdoğan still refuses to USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for 1915: n. pag. acknowledge the Genocide, referring to it Visual History and Education as “blackmail” Visual History Archive, Armenian Collection Page 22 - Werfel, Franz. The Forty Days http://sfi.usc.edu/collections/armenian of Musa Dagh. New York: Carroll & Graf, Resources 1983. Print. IWitness Armenia Armenian Assembly of America http://iwitness.usc.edu/SFI/Sites/Armenia/ Page 22 - Alexander, M. Armenian Maid. http://www.aaainc.org/ New York: E.T. Paull Music Co., copyright The Zoryan Institute Armenian Film Foundation 1919. http://www.zoryaninstitute.org http://www.armenianfilm.org/

Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) WebTalks http://agbuwebtalks.org/

Armenian Genocide Museum Institute http://www.armeniangenocidemuseum.org

Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) https://anca.org/

09 — Resources ­Page — 33