DOCSLIB.ORG

{PDF EPUB} the Slaughterhouse Province an American Diplomat's

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
{PDF EPUB} the Slaughterhouse Province an American Diplomat's Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The Slaughterhouse Province An American Diplomat's Report on the Armenian Genocide 1915-1917 by Lesl The Slaughterhouse Province: An American Diplomat's Report on the Armenian Genocide 1915-1917 by Leslie A. Davis. "30 June. Sir: I have the honor to report to the Embassy about one of the severest measures ever taken by any government and one of the greatest tragedies in all history. Practically every male Armenian of any consequence at all here has been arrested and put in prison. A great many of them were subjected to the most cruel tortures under which some of them died. Another method was found, however, to destroy the Armenian race. This is no less than the deportation of the entire Armenian population, not only from this province, but, I understand, from all six provinces comprising Armenia. For people travelling as these Armenians who are going into exile will be obliged to travel it is certain death for by far the greater part of them. During the last three days crowds of people have visited the Consulate and the American Mission for help of some kind. All feel they are going to certain death. " Citation from: Leslie A. Davis, The Slaughterhouse Province. An American Diplomat's Report on the Armenian Genocide, 1915-1917 (New Rochelle, New York, Aristide D. Caratzas, 1989), pg. 143-7. The Slaughterhouse Province: An American Diplomat's Report on the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1917. Davis, Leslie A. New York: Aristide D. Caratzas, 1988, 224 pages. ISBN 0-89241-458-8. "We know how the largest party of all, the one that left Mamouret-ul-Aziz on Saturday, July 3rd, was taken to Malatia where, as they were entering the city, the men were separated from the women and all of them brutally massacred by the gendarmes; we know how the gendarmes informed some other men that the Vali had sent for them to return to Mamouter-ul-Aziz and when they had taken them a short distance killed everyone of them; we know how their wives and daughters were outraged by the gendarmes who accompanied them and by the Kurds and Arabs whom they met; we know how these women and children were driven over the desert in midsummer and robbed and pillaged of whatever they had. we have heard how thousands from all parts of the Empire were brought together at Deir-ez-Zor, where they remained in the most wretched poverty for nearly a year, after which all who had not perished in the meantime were massacred just outside the city." Leslie Davis. Leslie A. Davis , né en 1876 et mort en 1960, est un diplomate américain en poste dans l'Empire ottoman entre 1914 et 1917. Il est connu pour avoir été l'un des témoins du génocide arménien. Sommaire. Biographie. De 1909 à 1911 Davis fut avocat à New York. Il débuta par la suite sa carrière diplomatique par Batoumi puis il voyagea à travers l'Ouzbékistan et le Caucase. De 1914 à 1917, il est consul américain à Harput. En mai 1918 , il devient le représentant américain à Arkhangelsk, puis il s'installe à Helsinki. Témoin du génocide arménien. Leslie Davis est consul à Harput, dans le vilayet de Mamouret-ul-Aziz. Au début de la Première Guerre mondiale, il est sur le point de partir en congés en Amérique quand il reçoit la consigne de retourner à son poste pour veiller aux intérêts des ressortissants américains sur place : cette région pauvre et reculée n'a aucune activité économique notable mais elle abrite plusieurs écoles chrétiennes et elle est un des points de départ de la diaspora arménienne aux États-Unis. Davis est le seul diplomate étranger dans cette région, ses plus proches collègues étant les consuls américain et allemand à Alep. Au cours de l'année 1915, il voit arriver dans la région plusieurs convois d' Arméniens expulsés de leurs régions d'origine, les uns pour être ensuite déportés vers Deir ez-Zor, les autres égorgés dans la région de Harput. Après la guerre, ses télégraphes et son rapport final sont publiés sous le titre : The Slaughterhouse Province: An American Diplomat's Report on the Armenian Genocide, 1915-1917 [traduction française : La Province de la mort , Complexe, 1994, préface d'Yves Ternon]. The Slaughterhouse Province: An American Diplomat's Report on the Armenian Genocide 1915-1917 by Leslie A. Davis. Leslie A. Davis (1876 - 1960) was an American diplomat and wartime consul in Kharbert (Kharput), Ottoman Empire between 1914 and 1917 and witnessed the Armenian. Between 1909 and 1911 Davis worked as a lawyer in New York. He began a diplomatic career in Batumi and then traveled to Uzbekistan and the Caucasus. From 1914 to 1917 he was U.S. consul in Kharput, Ottoman Turkey. In May 1918 he was appointed the U.S. representative in Arkhangelsk, Russia and moved to Helsinki. While working as a U.S. consul in Kharput, Davis personally witnessed how many of the Armenian population, who were being deported from the outskirts of Kharput to Der Zor's desert of Syria, were redirected in Kharput "only to be slaughtered in this province." Some of his observations concerned the condition of Armenian deportees who arrived from the north. He noted that there were no men in the caravans and the remaining surviving members were very maltreated, starved and exhausted. [1] Leslie Davis was among the mixed group of Americans who examined mass graves of killed Armenians near Kharput. Davis wrote thus a narrative report to the State Department, where he described the tens of thousands of Armenian corpses in and around Lake Geoljuk (present-day Hazar), during his trip to the lake. [2] [3] [4] Mass deportations that had been ordered by the Turks, under which hundreds of thousands of Armenians were forced into trucks and transported hundreds of miles to die in the wilderness or falling victim to killing squads, were far worse than a straightforward massacre, he wrote. "In a massacre many escape, but a wholesale deportation of this kind in this country means a longer and perhaps even more dreadful death for nearly everyone." [3] Leslie Davis helped some Armenians by allowing 80 of them to live in his consulate and organized an underground railway to bring the Armenians on the other side of the Euphrates and into Russia. He did this despite warnings from the Turkish government's ban on helping Armenians. [5] While he did this rescue work, he continued his diplomatic mission and had regular meetings with Kharput's governor, Sabit Bey, who was one of the main characters of the Armenian Genocide. [5] The Slaughterhouse Province: An American Diplomat's Report on the Armenian Genocide 1915-1917 by Leslie A. Davis. American diplomat, eye witness of Armenian Genocide Leslie Davis was born in Port Jefferson, New York, in 1876, Davis graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1898. Davis continued his education at George Washington University and obtained a Bachelor’s degree in law in 1904. While still a student, he worked as a journalist. He spoke several languages: English, French, German, Russian and Spanish. Davis’s diplomatic career began in 1912 with his assignment to Batumi (then part of the Russian Empire). In 1913, during a vacation, Davis trekked through Uzbekistan and the Caucasus Mountains and climbed Mount Ararat on September 7, 1913. Due to his manners, described as “unrefined” by A.L. Gottshalk, the head of the American consulate in Batumi, it was decided to delegate him to Kharberd (Harput), “a remote, uncivilized area that did not require courtly manners.” Out of the 13 American consulates across the Ottoman Empire, the one in Kharberd, in the heart of Armenian provinces, was the most remote. Davis’s nearest geographical neighbor was Max Erwin von Scheubner-Richter, a deputy consul of Germany in Erzurum. On May 31, 1914, Davis arrived in Kharberd, which he later described as the “slaughterhouse province” in his reports. “It appears that all those… men, women and children were massacred about five hours’ distance from here. In fact, it is almost certain that, with the exception of a very small number of those who were deported during the first days of July, all who left here have been massacred before reaching the borders of the vilayet [province],” Davis wrote. In June 1915, Turkish authorities began arresting Armenian men in Kharberd en masse. On July 1, the first wave of Armenian deportees left Kharberd.“The important thing now is to keep people alive for the present and then to assist them to leave the country as soon as it may be possible. There is no way of knowing, however, what further measures may be taken against the few survivors who remain here and the difficulty under present conditions of saving any in case of emergency from the cut-throats of this region is perhaps greater than can be easily realized by those who are living in more civilized places,” Davis wrote to the U.S. Ambassador in Constantinople Henry Morgenthau on December 30, 1915. Davis risked his own life to hide about 80 Armenians in the building of the American Consulate. One of them was Karapet Petrosyan, the Consulate interpreter and Davis’s bodyguard, corroborated this report. In 1923, Karapet, a Genocide survivor himself, wrote to Wilbur Carr, chief of the Consular Bureau of the State Department: “After a few days we were informed that the people who were deported were being killed within a few miles from the city. Consul Davis would hardly believe this, so he and I went out on horseback from the town and when we were away about three miles, on both sides of the main road the dead bodies could be seen.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Review of Armenian Studies 31 No
    SPECIAL ISSUE: Centenary of the Armenian Resettlement REVIEW OF ARMENIAN STUDIES A Biannual Journal of History, Politics and International Relations 31no: 2015 Sina AKŞİN Uluç GÜRKAN Tal BUENOS Birsen KARACA Sadi ÇAYCI Jean-Louis MATTEI Sevtap DEMİRCİ Armand SAĞ Maxime GAUIN Turgut Kerem TUNCEL Christopher GUNN BOOK REVIEW Michael M. GUNTER Jeremy SALT REVIEW OF ARMENIAN STUDIES A Biannual Journal of History, Politics and International Relations 2015, No: 31 EDITOR Ömer Engin LÜTEM MANAGING EDITOR Aslan Yavuz ŞİR EDITORIAL BOARD In Alphabetical Order Prof. Dr. Seçil KARAL AKGÜN Ömer E. LÜTEM (Ret. Ambassador) Prof. Dr. Hüseyin BAĞCI (Middle East Technical University) Prof. Dr. Nurşen MAZICI (Marmara University) Prof. Dr. Nedret KURAN BURÇOĞLU (Boğaziçi University) Prof. Dr. Nesib NESSİBLİ (Khazar University) Prof. Dr. Sadi ÇAYCI (Başkent University) Prof. Dr. Hikmet ÖZDEMİR (Political Scientist) Prof. Dr. Kemal ÇİÇEK (İpek University) Prof. Dr. Hüseyin PAZARCI Dr. Şükrü ELEKDAĞ Prof. Dr. Mehmet SARAY (Ret. Ambassador) (Historian) Prof. Dr. Temuçin Faik ERTAN Dr. Bilal N. ŞİMŞİR (Institute of History of Turkish Revolution) (Ret. Ambassador, Historian) Dr. Erdal İLTER Dr. Pulat TACAR (Historian) (Ret. Ambassador) Alev KILIÇ (Ret. Ambassador, Director of the Center for Eurasian Studies) ADVISORY BOARD In Alphabetical Order Ertuğrul APAKAN Dr. Ayten MUSTAFAYEVA (Ret. Ambassador) (Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences) Prof. Dr. Edward ERICKSON Jeremy SALT (Historian) Prof. Dr. Norman STONE Prof. Dr. Michael M. GUNTER (Bilkent University) (Tennessee Technological University) Prof. Dr. Ömer TURAN Prof. Dr. Enver KONUKÇU (Middle East Technical University) Prof. Dr. Jean-Louis MATTEI Prof. Dr. Hakan YAVUZ (Historian) (Utah University) Prof. Dr. Justin MCCARTHY (University of Louisville) PUBLISHER Ali Kenan ERBULAN Review of Armenian Studies is published biannually Review of Armenian Studies is a refereed journal.
    [Show full text]
  • Stoney Road out of Eden: the Struggle to Recover Insurance For
    Scholarly Commons @ UNLV Boyd Law Scholarly Works Faculty Scholarship 2012 Stoney Road Out of Eden: The Struggle to Recover Insurance for Armenian Genocide Deaths and Its Implications for the Future of State Authority, Contract Rights, and Human Rights Jeffrey W. Stempel University of Nevada, Las Vegas -- William S. Boyd School of Law Sarig Armenian David McClure University of Nevada, Las Vegas -- William S. Boyd School of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/facpub Part of the Contracts Commons, Human Rights Law Commons, Insurance Law Commons, Law and Politics Commons, National Security Law Commons, and the President/Executive Department Commons Recommended Citation Stempel, Jeffrey W.; Armenian, Sarig; and McClure, David, "Stoney Road Out of Eden: The Struggle to Recover Insurance for Armenian Genocide Deaths and Its Implications for the Future of State Authority, Contract Rights, and Human Rights" (2012). Scholarly Works. 851. https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/facpub/851 This Article is brought to you by the Scholarly Commons @ UNLV Boyd Law, an institutional repository administered by the Wiener-Rogers Law Library at the William S. Boyd School of Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STONEY ROAD OUT OF EDEN: THE STRUGGLE TO RECOVER INSURANCE FOR ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DEATHS AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF STATE AUTHORITY, CONTRACT RIGHTS, AND HUMAN RIGHTS Je:jrev' W. Stempel Saris' ArInenian Davi' McClure* Intro d uctio n .................................................... 3 I. The Long Road to the Genocide Insurance Litigation ...... 7 A. The Millet System of Non-Geographic Ethno-Religious Administrative Autonomy ...........................
    [Show full text]
  • Dr. Robert Setrag Dorian Aram Bedrosian FAR HILLS, N.J
    APRIL 26, 2014 MirTHErARoMENr IAN -Spe ctator Volume LXXXIV, NO. 40, Issue 4334 $ 2.00 NEWS IN BRIEF The First English Language Armenian Weekly in the United States Since 1932 Heffern Says Obama’s Genocide Billboard April 24 Statement Will Removed from Be Forceful YEREVEN (Armenpress) — US Ambassador to MBTA Property in Armenia John Heffern told journalists at a briefing on April 21 at the Armenian Genocide Museum- Cambridge Institute conference hall, marking the opening of the exhibition titled “The First World War: allies, CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Just about one characters, massacres,” that the US president will week before the 99th anniversary of the make strong statement on April 24. Armenian Genocide, Peace of Art was noti - “Secretary of State Kerry and President Obama fied by Clear Channel that the Armenian are well aware of these events. There will be a very Genocide commemorative billboard, which strong statement, admitting the fact that 1.5 mil - had been on display at Lechmere Station lion Armenians were massacred,” he added. (It has had to be removed. It seems that this year, since been learned that Obama’s statement was a an anonymous entity has deemed the mes - near-identical rehash of last year’s comment.) sage on the billboard, “Recognize the Speaking about the exhibition, he mentioned that Crime of the Century, the Armenian the work led by the Armenian Genocide Museum- Genocide,” to be political and thus Institute and its director Hayk Demoyan, helps to required to be removed from the MBTA Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with his Armenian counterpart, Eduard educate people: “This is the reason I’m here.” property.
    [Show full text]
  • Destruction and Human Remains
    Destruction and human remains HUMAN REMAINS AND VIOLENCE Destruction and human remains Destruction and Destruction and human remains investigates a crucial question frequently neglected in academic debate in the fields of mass violence and human remains genocide studies: what is done to the bodies of the victims after they are killed? In the context of mass violence, death does not constitute Disposal and concealment in the end of the executors’ work. Their victims’ remains are often treated genocide and mass violence and manipulated in very specific ways, amounting in some cases to true social engineering with often remarkable ingenuity. To address these seldom-documented phenomena, this volume includes chapters based Edited by ÉLISABETH ANSTETT on extensive primary and archival research to explore why, how and by whom these acts have been committed through recent history. and JEAN-MARC DREYFUS The book opens this line of enquiry by investigating the ideological, technical and practical motivations for the varying practices pursued by the perpetrator, examining a diverse range of historical events from throughout the twentieth century and across the globe. These nine original chapters explore this demolition of the body through the use of often systemic, bureaucratic and industrial processes, whether by disposal, concealment, exhibition or complete bodily annihilation, to display the intentions and socio-political frameworks of governments, perpetrators and bystanders. A NST Never before has a single publication brought together the extensive amount of work devoted to the human body on the one hand and to E mass violence on the other, and until now the question of the body in TTand the context of mass violence has remained a largely unexplored area.
    [Show full text]
  • People and Possessions in the Armenian Repatriations 1945 - 1949
    The University of Manchester Research Belongings: People and Possessions in the Armenian Repatriations 1945 - 1949 DOI: 10.1353/kri.2017.0034 Document Version Accepted author manuscript Link to publication record in Manchester Research Explorer Citation for published version (APA): Laycock, J. (2017). Belongings: People and Possessions in the Armenian Repatriations 1945 - 1949. Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History, 18(3), 511-537. https://doi.org/10.1353/kri.2017.0034 Published in: Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History Citing this paper Please note that where the full-text provided on Manchester Research Explorer is the Author Accepted Manuscript or Proof version this may differ from the final Published version. If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the Research Explorer are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Takedown policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please refer to the University of Manchester’s Takedown Procedures [http://man.ac.uk/04Y6Bo] or contact [email protected] providing relevant details, so we can investigate your claim. Download date:26. Sep. 2021 Belongings: People and Possessions in the Armenian Repatriations 1945 - 1949 Jo Laycock Introduction On July 9th 1947 the Pobeda docked in Batumi carrying 2509 items of hand baggage and 2548 items of hold baggage. It was followed a few weeks later by the Chukotka, which carried another 2700 items of hand baggage and a further 3408 items of hold baggage.1 The owners of this cargo were diaspora Armenians from communities in Greece and the Middle East who had responded to a Soviet invitation to repatriate to their ‘homeland’, Soviet Armenia.
    [Show full text]
  • Armenian Genocide
    High School Activity | Responding to Injustice Armenian Genocide ESSENTIAL Overview QUESTIONS In this activity, students will consider factors that can lead governments How can personal or non-governmental humanitarian organizations to choose to get testimonies from involved in international conflicts or genocide abroad, as well as Armenian survivors the factors that can constrain these responses. To gain a deeper and foreign understanding of this concept, they will view eyewitness testimonies witnesses inform that describe the U.S. response during and after the Armenian our understanding Genocide. They will then read secondary sources to explore the role that and perspective U.S. diplomats, missionaries, and U.S. citizens played in publicizing the on international Armenian Genocide and providing relief. Students will then investigate intervention during current examples of U.S. involvement in other countries that are episodes of political and experiencing crisis, conflict and/or genocide. Students will conclude civil unrest, the activity with an opportunity to evaluate the extent of American acts of violence, intervention in international events taking place today. or genocide? What role do Target Audience governments and High school World History, U.S. History, and Government non-governmental humanitarian organizations play Activity Duration during international Two 45 to 60-minute class periods conflicts? Enduring Understandings Eyewitness accounts are critical to provide a thorough understanding of historical events. A government’s response to international conflict or genocide abroad involves a balance between the government’s views on foreign policy and ethics. Non-governmental humanitarian organizations can play a critical role in providing relief during international conflicts or genocide abroad.
    [Show full text]
  • Downloaded on February 19, 2007 (
    CHOOSING SILENCE: THE UNITED STATES, TURKEY AND THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE by Maral N. Attallah A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Humboldt State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Sociology May, 2007 CHOOSING SILENCE: THE UNITED STATES, TURKEY AND THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE by Maral N. Attallah Approved by the Master’s Thesis Committee: ________________________________________________________________________ Jennifer L. Eichstedt, Major Professor, PhD Date ________________________________________________________________________ Samuel P. Oliner, Committee Member, PhD Date ________________________________________________________________________ Elizabeth Watson, Committee Member, PhD Date ________________________________________________________________________ Jennifer L. Eichstedt, Graduate Coordinator, PhD Date ________________________________________________________________________ Christopher Hopper, Interim Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, PhD Date ABSTRACT Choosing Silence: The United States, Turkey and The Armenian Genocide Maral N. Attallah My work is a comparative/ historical analysis of the Armenian Genocide, and how the denial and treatment of this genocide by Turkey and the United States has affected the social psychological wellbeing of succeeding generations of Armenians. I explore the literature that documents Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide, and I also consider the United State’s political stance (or lack there of) on the denial. I use historical sources (i.e. books, videotapes, scholarly journals, etc.) to compare the Armenian Genocide with other genocides (i.e. Jewish Holocaust, Rwanda, etc.), and I look specifically at the reasons behind the state-sponsored killings, methods of murder, and who were the killers. The majority of my thesis covers the Armenian Genocide, detailing what happened, how it happened and why it is denied. I draw on genocide studies and literature of the Armenian genocide.
    [Show full text]
  • A Century of Denial: the Armenian Genocide and the Ongoing Quest for Justice
    A CENTURY OF DENIAL: THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AND THE ONGOING QUEST FOR JUSTICE HEARING BEFORE THE COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION APRIL 23, 2015 Printed for the use of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe [CSCE 114–1–3] ( Available via http://www.csce.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 95–113 PDF WASHINGTON : 2015 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS HOUSE SENATE CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi, Chairman Co-Chairman ALCEE L. HASTINGS, Florida BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland ROBERT B. ADERHOLT, Alabama JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas RICHARD BURR, North Carolina STEVE COHEN, Tennessee JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire ALAN GRAYSON, Florida TOM UDALL, New Mexico RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER, New York EXECUTIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS Department of State Department of Commerce Department of Defense [II] A CENTURY OF DENIAL: THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AND THE ONGOING QUEST FOR JUSTICE MARCH 18, 2015 COMMISSIONERS Page Hon. Christopher H. Smith, Chairman, Commission on Secu- rity and Cooperation in Europe .............................................. 1 Hon. Steve Cohen, Commissioner, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe ..................................................... 4 Hon. Sheldon Whitehouse, Commissioner, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe ...................................... 14 MEMBERS Hon. Brad Sherman (D–30), a Member of Congress from the State of California ............................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Armenian Forced Relocation: Putting an End to Misleading Simplifications (Ermeni Zorunlu Göçü: Aldatici Basitleştirmelere Son Vermek)
    THE ARMENIAN FORCED RELOCATION: PUTTING AN END TO MISLEADING SIMPLIFICATIONS (ERMENİ ZORUNLU GÖÇÜ: ALDATICI BASITLEŞTIRMELERE SON VERMEK) Maxime GAUIN Specialist at the Center for Eurasian Studies Abstract: This paper studies three aspects of the Turkish-Armenian conflict. First of all, contrary to what the main Armenian and pro- Armenian affirm, there were hundreds of thousands, likely 500,000 Armenians, who were exempted of relocation, particularly in Istanbul, Western and Central Anatolia as well as in the Arab provinces. Then, the policy of the Ottoman government vis-à-vis the Armenian exiles was a protective ones, even if this protection failed in a considerable number of cases. The orders from Istanbul are clear. In particular, it is false to assert that the Ottoman government did not provide food and opposed the foreign relief. Such accusations are based on manipulation of evidence and neglect Ottoman as well as American and German sources. The relocation of 1915-16 is also misrepresented if described as the only reason for the losses of the Ottoman Armenian community between 1914 and 1922. In fact, the Russian relocation and the flow of refugees have to be considered, as well as the direct responsibilities of the Armenian extremists in the emigration of Armenians from Cilicia during the French withdrawal and the Greek scorched earth policy in 1922, which included the forced exile of the Christians from Western Anatolia. Keywords: Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Committee of Union and Progress, Greece, Social Democratic Hunchakian Party, Ottoman Empire, racism, Russia, Turkish War of Independence. Öz: Bu makale Türk-Ermeni ihtilafının üç konusunu incelemektedir.
    [Show full text]
  • Relocation of the Ottoman Armenians in 1915: a Reassessment
    RELOCATION OF THE OTTOMAN ARMENIANS IN 1915: A REASSESSMENT Prof. Dr. Kemal ÇİÇEK Karadeniz Technical University / Turkish Historical Society Abstract: This article criticizes the subjective approaches adopted by the historians in dealing with the events of 1915 and also the lack of consistency in the interpretations of the conflict between the Muslims and the Armenians. The author makes evaluations about the way the subject is handled in the light of archival documents. The evaluations are based on the closing of the Armenian Committees on 24 April 1915, the arrests of the leading political figures and how these events are handled both by the Turkish and Armenian historians. In his assessments of the arrests of April 24, 1915 the author argues that the state had only aimed at taking the activities of the revolutionaries under control, and that the claims concerning the arrests of these political figures was a preparation for the process to exterminate the Armenians is groundless. It is also argued in this article that the decision for relocation has been taken as a legal security measure and that the Armenian uprisings were the principle reason behind the decision. Also discussed in this article are the number of people relocated and the ratio of deaths which took place during the marches of the convoys to the designated locations in southern parts of the Ottoman Empire. The author emphasizing the importance of studying the events of 1915 on the basis of the archival documents welcomes the letter of the Turkish Prime Minister to the President of Armenia to the effect that an historical commission consisting of historians and other experts from two countries should be established to study the developments and events of 1915 not only in the archives of Turkey and Armenia but also in the archives of all relevant third countries.
    [Show full text]
  • Education Committee Recommended Book List for Middle School & High
    Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region Education Committee Recommended Book List for Middle School & High School Level Students The following books may be found on Amazon. Descriptions were taken from Amazon. This is not an all inclusive list. Should you know or have any appropriate material, you are encouraged to contact us via e-mail at [email protected]. 7th Grade and Older: The Hunger by Marsha Skrypuch Marsha's interest in untold chapters of ethnic history compelled her to write her newly completed young adult novel, The Hunger. The story tells of Paula, a contemporary teen who tries to solve her problems by dieting to perfection. Instead of attaining the perfect body, she ends up near death. While unconscious, her spirit slips back into her own great-grandmother's time and Paula finds herself disgorged onto the banks of the Euphrates River. Paula must deal with the stark contrast between her own self-imposed hunger and the chillingly real physical deprivation that her great-grandmother endured as a result of ethnic cleansing in Turkish Armenia. Nobody’s Child by Marsha Skrypuch Orphaned by the Adana massacre in 1909, Mariam and her siblings, together with their friend Kevork and his aunt, travel home to Marash hoping to find their remaining family still alive. Six years later, when the teens face deportation from Turkey, they are torn apart despite their best efforts to stay together. One thing sustains them throughout their horrifying ordeals -- the hope that they might one day be reunited. 104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200, Glendale, CA 91206 | 818.500.1918 | www.ancawr.org | facebook.com/ANCAWesternRegion | @ANCA_WR 8th Grade and Older: The Road from Home: The Story of An Armenian Girl by David Kherdian David Kherdian re-creates his mother's voice in telling the true story of a childhood interrupted by one of the most devastating holocausts of our century.
    [Show full text]
  • Hidden Genocides: Power, Knowledge, Memory
    AHIF P O L I C Y J O U R N A L Spring 2015 Book Review by Constantine G. Hatzidimitriou A Review of Hidden Genocides: Power, Knowledge, Memory. Edited by Alexander Laban Hinton, Thomas La Pointe, and Douglas Irvin-Erickson. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2013. 230 pages. 8 graphics. This collection of studies illustrates that the field of Genocide Studies has become well-established and diversified, so much so, that it is able to turn a critical eye into its own assumptions and paradigms. The volume’s purpose is to shed light on what are termed “hidden genocides” and discuss aspects of what scholars and governments have considered genocidal actions in relation to those that have been excluded from the category and why. An additional and very important focus of the collection is that many of the authors explore the effect that the recognition and study of one act of genocide has sometimes had on “hiding” or minimizing others. These comparisons and relationships range from the prototype of the Jewish Holocaust to state terror in Argentina, and nineteenth century Russian actions in Circassia. Some idea of the contents can be gained by noting the book’s division of essays into Part One: Genocide and Ways of Knowing; Part Two: Power, Resistance, and Edges of the State, and Part Three: Forgetting, Remembering, and Hidden Genocides. The contents are wide- ranging and international, and will appeal to scholars and the general public interested in many fields of study touched upon. Two of the studies in this collection however, held particular meaning for me in very personal ways.
    [Show full text]