THE GREAT WAR AND THE TRAGEDY OF ANATOLIA ATATURK SUPREME COUNCIL FOR CULTURE, LANGUAGE AND HISTORY PUBLICATIONS OF TURKISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY Serial XVI - No. 88 THE GREAT WAR AND THE TRAGEDY OF ANATOLIA (TURKS AND ARMENIANS IN THE MAELSTROM OF MAJOR POWERS) SALAHi SONYEL TURKISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY PRINTING HOUSE - ANKARA 2000 CONTENTS Sonyel, Salahi Abbreviations....................................................................................................................... VII The great war and the tragedy of Anatolia (Turks and Note on the Turkish Alphabet and Names.................................................................. VIII Armenians in the maelstrom of major powers) / Salahi Son­ Preface.................................................................................................................................... IX yel.- Ankara: Turkish Historical Society, 2000. x, 221s.; 24cm.~( Atattirk Supreme Council for Culture, Introduction.............................................................................................................................1 Language and History Publications of Turkish Historical Chapter 1 - Genesis of the 'Eastern Q uestion'................................................................ 14 Society; Serial VII - No. 189) Turco- Russian war of 1877-78......................................................................... 14 Bibliyografya ve indeks var. The Congress of B erlin....................................................................................... 17 ISBN 975 - 16 - 1227 - 6 Gunboat diplomacy............................................................................................ 19 Genesis and development of Armenian militant organizations..................20 1. Ermeni meselesi _ Ttirkiye. I. E.a. II. Dizi. 956.101543 Towards civil war in Anatolia.......................................................................... 23 Chapter 2 - The Young Turk Revolution and its Afterm ath..................................... 33 Young Turks and Armenians........................................................................... 33 Armenian intrigues and clandestine imports of arm s................................35 A new Armenian agitation.............................................................................38 Election of a new Armenian Patriarch...........................................................40 The first general election under the new regim e.....................................44 Chapter 3 - The Counter-Revolution.............................................................................48 The events of 13 April 1909 (31 Mart Vak'asi).......................................... 48 The Adana incidents.......................................................................................52 Who was responsible for the Adana incidents?......................................... 01 The Commission of Inquiry into the Adana incidents............................ 65 ISBN 975-16-1227-6 Chapter 4 - Towards Catastrophe................................................................................... 72 Raportor: Prof. Dr. ilber ORTAYLI The Balkan w ars.............................................................................................. 72 A new reform schem e.....................................................................................74 Armenian revolutionary organizations in action again............................76 Kurdish incidents............................................................................................ 78 Partition of the Ottoman Em pire.................................................................80 The Ottoman Empire joins the Central Powers.........................................81 Chapter 5 - The Tragedy of Anatolia................................................................................92 The Ottom an Empire enters the w a r...........................................................92 Armenian activities............................................................................................95 'Armenians, die small allies of the Great Powers fighting Turkey'........98 Armenian atrocities........................................................................................ 100 British Armenophils and 'autonomous Armenia'.................................... 107 ABBREVIATIONS Armenian atrocities and rebellions continue...........................................108 In this book the following abbreviations have been used: Revolt in V a n ................................................................................................... 109 AP Accounts and Papers (British Parliamentary Papers) Relocation o f the Armenians........................................................................ 112 ATBD Askeri Tarili Belgeleri Dergisi The aftermath of the relocations................................................................ 122 ATASE Genelkurmay, Askeri Tarili ve Stratejik Etiid Baskanligi Ar Armenian incidents co n tin u e......................................................................127 BA Ba§bakanlik Arsivi Further Ottoman justification for the relocations................................... 131 BTTD Belgelerle Turk Tarilii Dergisi The Musa Dag episode.................................................................................. 133 Cab. British Cabinet Papers Chapter 6 - War-time Disinform ation........................................................................... 137 Cmd. British Command Papers Turco- Armenian incidents and Entente propaganda ............................ 137 CO British Colonial Office The Blue B ook................................................................................................143 Conf. Confidential Ambassador Morgendiau's story..................................................................149 CUP Committee of Union and Progress Dr. Johannes Lepsius..................................................................................... 154 DDF Documents Diplomatique Frangaise Chapter 7 - The Last Stages of the War......................................................................... 157 Desp. despatch (dispatch) Collapse of die Tsarist regime...................................................................... 157 DGP Die Grosse Pol id к Armeno-Muslim conflict................................................................................164 Doc. Document DOOA Documents on Ottoman Armenians Chapter 8 - The Defeat of the Ottoman Em pire......................................................... 170 Ed. Editor (edition) Armistice of M udros...................................................................................... 170 Fn. Foot-note (note) Armenian claims and disinformation.........................................................171 FO British Foreign Office (Political Files, 371) Hitler and the Ai menians.............................................................................178 HMG Her (His) Majesty's Government Cooperation between the Ai menians and the Nazis............................. 182 HMS Her (His) Majesty's Ship Conclusion..........................................................................................................................184 Karal Оятяпh Tarihi Sources ..............................................................................................................................191 Karal 1 The Armenian Question Index ............................................................................................................................. 209 Lang The Armenians, a people in exile Lang 1 Armenia, cradle o f ci\ilisation Lewis, B. Istanbul and the civilisation o f the Ottoman Empire Lewis 1, B. Emergence o f Modern Turkey McCarthy Death and exile McCarthy 1 Armenian terrorism Memo. Memorandum No. : Number M.P. : Member o f Parliament N.d. : No date Sonyel 1 Ottoman: Armenians Sonyel 2 :Armenian terrorism PREFACE Sonyel 3 Minorities: and the destruction of the Ottoman Empire It is becoming more evident from primary documents preserved in the various TiTE : Turk Inkilap (Devrim)Tarihi Enstitiisti European, American and Ottoman archives, now made available to researchers Varandian : History o f the Armenian Revolutionary Movemant and the public, that long before the outbreak of the First World War the major Vol. : Volume Powers, such as Russia, Britain, France, Germany and others, were vying with one another in order to gain ascendance and influence in the Near and Middle East. N.B. The surnames used in the notes stand for their respective publications as The main contry which in both the economic and military sense, became their listed in the sources. Crown copyright recordst in the Public Records Office appear arena of conflict, before, during and after the war, was the Ottoman Empire. by permission of the Controller of H.M. Stationery Office. The ambitions of these Powers were directed towards infiltration into that empire in order to exploit its vast and practically untouched resources, and to in­ corporate it into their orbit of economic and other influence. One of the main re­ Note on the Turkish Alphabet and Names sources that made this venture attractive to them was oil. They were so keen to pos­ sess this rare liquid mineral that they were perfectly willing to indulge in acute Throughout this volume modern Turkish orthography has been used in competition, even to the extent of armed conflict, in order to possess the vast oil transcribing Turkish names and place-names except when quoting