“A crime without a name.” --Winston Churchill--

Extraordinary Evil—Man Unkind

• Since the Napoleonic Wars, we have fought an average of six international wars and six civil wars per decade. • On average, three high-fatality struggles have been in action somewhere in the world at any moment since 1900. • The four decades after the end of World War II saw 150 wars, involving more than 60 member states of the United Nations, and only 26 days of world peace—and that does not even include the innumerable internal wars and police actions. Extraordinary Evil—Man Unkind • The greatest catastrophes occur when the distinctions between war and crime fade • Blurring of the boundaries between military and criminal conduct, between civility and barbarity • When political, social, or religious groups embrace collective violence against a defenseless victim group as warfare • Or, perhaps worse yet, as “progress.” • Becoming Evil –p. xiv-xv

How do ordinary people come to commit genocide and mass killing? • Finding an “explanation simply allows us to understand the conditions under which many of us could be transformed into killing machines.” • “When we understand the ordinariness of extraordinary evil, we will be less surprised by evil, less likely to be unwitting contributors to evil, and perhaps better equipped to forestall evil.” How do ordinary people come to commit genocide and mass killing? • There are three constructions that may lend an explanation of how genocide happens: • the cultural construction of worldview (zeitgeist) • the psychological construction of the “other” • the social construction of cruelty.

• Becoming Evil –p. xvii

The Backstory: The • By the beginning of the 20th century, the Ottoman Empire had begun to disintegrate under a variety of internal and external pressures. In their move to join the modern world by becoming a nation-state, ethnic nationalism emerged as a rallying cry to define the “new” . Becoming Evil–p. 54 • No minority group in Turkey was in as much danger as the Armenians—a Christian minority with a powerful sense of identity and an increasing desire for greater autonomy. Becoming Evil–p. 54-55 The Backstory…

• Following the Ottoman military disasters of 1908-1912, Turkey was seized by an ultra-nationalistic, militaristic,

and chauvinistic leadership. Becoming Evil–p. 55 • Within a period of 2 weeks, 75% of their European territory was lost to the Ottomans. • Greeks, Serbs, and Bulgarians revolted and broke away from the empire. • It’s an ass whooping. • This is the first major military defeat from former subject states the empire had to face. Leads to a real fear of collapse. • They need to keep what they have left at all costs—they will now justify everything to do so. • The Video The Backstory… • • Mehmed Talat, Interior Minister • Djemal , Minister of Public Works

• , Minister of War Becoming Evil–p. 55

The Backstory… • In 1912, as Turkish Nationalism grows, , Serbia, and Bulgaria break away and expel their former Turkish masters. • 100,000 refugees flood into • Nowhere to put them • Horror stories about what “the Christians” had done to them • Feeds into the story that “Christians are out to get the Muslims” • Desire for revenge begins to grow The Backstory… • 1913 the Young Turks attempt to retake large parts of their former domain. • They attack Christian Russia and are overwhelmingly defeated • Poor planning • Bad weather • Ineffective leadership on the part of Enver Pasha (Who took personal command of the campaign) • The Armenian Genocide Video The Backstory… • Russia Retaliates! With Russian Armenian soldiers and Ottoman Armenian defectors. • Blame abounds • Disarming of Armenians (out of the Ottoman Army) • Labor battalions formed • Massacre

• The Armenian Genocide Video

The Slaughter

• April 24, 1915 • Constantinople • Intellectuals are rounded up and executed • Quickly spreads to other cities in the empire • Emergency executive legislation • Deportations • Young Turks are given the power to “do whatever is necessary.”

The Slaughter

• Emergency executive legislation continued… • The procedure followed a premeditated plan set by the central government • Writers, poets, jurists, educators, clergy, and community leaders were collected and executed. • Able bodied men who appeared to be between the ages of 14 and 60 were drafted in to special “labor battalions” and set to digging ditches and worked to death or murdered. • The Armenian Genocide Video • Becoming Evil–p. 55 The Slaughter… • Women, Children, and Elderly are force- marched on a 60+ day journey into the Syrian desert. • People were told there were villages for the Armenians to settle there. (Lie) • Strong men could perish on such a journey without provisions • Forced to buy box car tickets to board trains they were suffocated in after being locked in • Told to take nothing, they would be returning

The Slaughter… • Driven in circles, up mountains, past rivers they were not permitted to drink from or bathe in--death marches • river ran red with the blood of the slaughtered • No rest granted • raided by tribesmen, and Kurds, prisoners released from jail encouraged to loot the Christians for slaves, women, and anything of value on the way; often deadly. • The Armenian Genocide Video • Becoming Evil–p. 55 The Slaughter • Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) • Central to deportation program • Special Organization • Bahaeddin Shakin • Physician in charge • Fanatical CUP member committed to plan mobile killing units, “Death Squads.” The Slaughter…

• Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) • “Deportation” was ordered from the top. • Killing was done as advantage was found • Kurds and Turks killed at orders from the state and took loot in slaves and from the bodies of people they killed • In Trabzon women and children were taken by boat into the Black Sea and tossed overboard to drown • Rape of 6-8 year old girls • Islamic clerics and Ottoman leaders bless the killings because Armenians were Christian “Infidels”

• The Armenian Genocide Video • Becoming Evil–p. 55 Western (European and U.S.) Reaction • In the U.S., 1915 saw extensive coverage of the genocide • New York Times ran 145 articles on the slaughter. • It is clear from the outset that the slaughter was government planned, sanctioned, systematic race extermination.

Western (European and U.S.) Reaction • Responses: • Allied powers threatened to hold the Young Turks responsible • Warning had no effect. • WWI was in full swing and the world was too busy to act. • While some Turks robbed their Armenian neighbors, others helped by hiding them in safe dwellings. Western (European and U.S.) Reaction • While some Kurds willingly joined in the slaughter, others guided groups of Armenians through mountain passes to safety in Russia. • Some shared food with the victims. • American Missionaries and diplomats some of the first to see and appeal for help. • Centuries of Genocide, p. 133-134 Western (European and U.S.) Reaction • After the War: • Britain and France occupied Ottoman territory, but chose not to do anything on behalf of the Armenians. • European nations too busy with their own war recovery to do anything about Armenia. • President Wilson had policies that were welcomed by Europe and Asia, but Congress disinclined to involve the U.S. in foreign lands. • Wilson’s words were never moved into action.

Western (European and U.S.) Reaction

• Diplomatic failure to act allowed Turkey to reinvent itself • Postwar government very reluctant to face the consequences of the slaughter • Only on demand from Allied powers were tribunals started. • Popular sentiment did not support punishment of the guilty • Only Talaat, Enver, and Djemal were condemned to death—in absentia as they had fled the country. • Centuries of Genocide, p. 133-134 Final Judgments: • Mehmed Talaat and his wife flee to Germany. • March 14, 1921 an Armenian assassin (Tehlirian) taps him on shoulder, and shoots him in the head in broad daylight on the street. • Tehlirian was tried for murder, but found not guilty. • Djemal Pasha was living in the Capital of (Russia) and was killed by two assassins while traveling. • Enver Pasha first fled to Germany and then to Russia. • He was eventually killed while fighting with the Tajikistani Army. • The Armenian Genocide Video Final Judgments: • 1923: Constantinople has a new government and is renamed • New government distances itself from the Young Turks and disavowing the slaughter • Westernization and secularization campaign • Dress • Language • Alphabet • Etc. • Western powers court and befriend the new Turkey and the slaughter becomes politically/diplomatically inconvenient. • No international need or pressure for an honest memory on the part of Turkey.

Final Judgments: • “To date, successive Turkish governments continue to mount increasingly virulent denial campaigns. Deniers … have ignored extensive documented accounts of foreign diplomatic and mission eyewitnesses; manipulated, altered, and falsified source documents and demographic data. … No other nation in the modern age has engaged in such a massive cover-up campaign about such a heinous crime. … there is now widespread recognition that the Turkish destruction of the Armenians between 1915 and 1923 stands as the first “total genocide” of the twentieth century.” Becoming Evil–p. 55 • Written history is altered, media is censored–i.e. “The Cut” Final Judgements: • Why? • Officially it is a crime against humanity • (This begs the question of compensation.) • Pride • Association with Hitler • We will see that a lot of German’s were involved in an advisory capacity and would later go on to implement the “Final Solution.”