The Thirty-Year Genocide

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The Thirty-Year Genocide Page 83

by Benny Morris


  113. “Report by Eyewitness Lieutenant Sayied Ahmed Moukhtar Baas,” 26 December 1916, UKNA FO 371 / 2768.

  114. Malta file of Saghir Zade Sabit Bey, UKNA FO 371 / 6500.

  115. Miss Alma Johanson’s Report, 17 November 1915, USNA RG 59, 867.4061, Roll 44. See also another report by Alma Johanson, U. S. Official Rec ords, 334.

  116. Davis to Morgenthau, 24 July 1915, USNA RG 59, 867.4016, Roll 44.

  117. Report of Leslie A. Davis, 9 February 1918, USNA RG 59, 867.4016, Roll 46, 657. See also Dadrian, History of the Armenian Genocide, 241–242.

  118. Report of Leslie A. Davis, 9 February 1918, USNA RG 59, 867.4016, Roll 46, 76.

  119. Sabit to subordinates (?), 4 October 1915, Malta file of Saghir Zade Sabit Bey, UKNA FO

  371 / 6500.

  120.

  Talât to valis, 2 January 1916, Malta file of Saghir Zade Sabit Bey, UKNA FO 371 / 6500.

  121.

  Sabit

  to

  mutasarrıf of Malatya, 7 January 1916, Malta file of Saghir Zade Sabit Bey, UKNA FO

  371 / 6500.

  122. The term was first used in the Joint Allied Declaration on 24 May 1915: “For about a month the Kurd and Turkish populations of Armenia have been massacring Armenians with the connivance and often assistance of Ottoman authorities. . . . In view of those new crimes of Turkey against humanity and civilization, the Allied governments announce publicly to the Sublime- Porte that they will hold personally responsible . . . all members of the Ottoman government and . . . their agents” (from the French, notice to the American State Department, USNA RG 59, 867.4016, Roll 67).

  123. Davis to Morgenthau, 24 July 1915, USNA RG 59, 867.4016, Roll 44. About the killing of the gendarmes see also Davis to Morgenthau, 23 August 1915, USNA RG 59, 867.4016, Roll 44; and Report of Leslie A. Davis, 9 February 1918, USNA RG 59, 867.4016, Roll 46, 54–56.

  124.

  Sarafian,

  ed.,

  Talât Pasha’s Report, 52.

  125.

  Kevorkian,

  Armenian Genocide, 363.

  126. Jackson to Morgenthau, 3 August 1915, USNA RG 59, 867.4016, Roll 44, 1766; and Gaunt, Massacres, 164–165.

  127.

  Üngör, “Center and Periphery in the Armenian Genocide,” 71–72; and Güngör, “Bir Canlı Tarih Konuşuyor,” 2444–2445; and Suny, They Can Live in the Desert, 291.

  128. Acting Vice- Consul Hurst to Sir L. Mallet, 16 May 1914, UKNA FO 371 / 2135.

  129.

  Mugerditchian,

  Diyarbekir Massacres, 13.

  130.

  Mugerditchian,

  Diyarbekir Massacres, 10–11. Kevorkian points out that Feyzi Bey was Ziya Gökalp’s uncle (Kevorkian, Armenian Genocide, 357).

  131. According to Gaunt, Hamid Bey may have resigned following the mid- February hanging of 12

  Assyrian youths for evading conscription (Gaunt, Massacres, 154–155).

  132.

  See

  Kevorkian,

  Armenian Genocide, 358.

  133.

  Kaiser,

  Extermination of Armenians, 141–152.

  134. Extract from a statement by former kaymakam Shefik Bey, (undated), and statement by Mihran Boyadjian, former inspector of the vilayets of Bitlis, and Mosul, (undated), both in Fezi Bey’s Malta file, UKNA FO 371 / 6500.

  135. Mihran Boyadjian’s statement, in Fezi Bey’s Malta file, UKNA FO 371 / 6500; and Mugerditchian, Diyarbekir Massacres, 27.

  Notes to Pages 200–205

  136. Veli Nejdet’s Malta file, UKNA FO 371 / 6500.

  137.

  Mugerditchian,

  Diyarbekir Massacres, 27. “Battalions” is clearly an exaggeration.

  138.

  Kaiser,

  Extermination of Armenians, 163–165.

  139.

  Suny,

  They Can Live in the Desert, 293. On weapons searches, see Reşid to Interior Ministry, 29

  April 1915, Sevk ve Iskan, 143, doc. 74. De Nogales noted that the weapons found were mostly fowling guns, which were permissible. Kaiser, Extermination of Armenians, 175.

  140.

  Mugerditchian,

  Diyarbekir Massacres, 27. See also Morgenthau to family, 9 August 1915, FDRL, HM Sr. Papers, Letters 475. For descriptions of searches, see Diyarbekir vilayet to Interior Ministry, 29

  April 1915, BOA, DH. ŞFR, 468 / 179; and Diyarbekir vilayet to Interior Ministry, 5 May 1915, BOA, DH. ŞFR, 469 / 121.

  141. Testimony of Dr. Floyd O. Smith, missionary in Diyarbekir, 21 September 1915, USNA RG 256,

  “Inquiry Documents,” 1917–1919, no. 822, Roll 39.

  142.

  Mugerditchian,

  Diyarbekir Massacres, 36. On the torture of the bishop, see also report by Mr. Alberto, former Beirut head of Tombac Regie, the state tobacco com pany, forwarded by Elliot, British consul at Mitylene, 4 May 1916, UKNA FO 371 / 2770.

  143.

  Mugerditchian,

  Diyarbekir Massacres, 37–38. See also Smith to Barton, 18 September 1915, Houghton ABC, 16.9.7, A467, Reel 716. On claims that the detainees belonged to Armenian armed gangs, see Diyarbekir to Interior Ministry, 25 May 1915, BOA, DH. ŞFR, 472 / 67. On the deportation of the missionaries, see also de Nogales, Four Years, 146.

  144.

  Gaunt,

  Massacres, 163–164.

  145.

  Mugerditchian,

  Diyarbekir Massacres, 35–45; Kaiser, Extermination of Armenians, 184–185; and Diyarbekir vilayet to Talȃt, 4 August 1915, BOA, DH. ŞFR, 482 / 83. See also Gaunt, Massacres, 151–152

  and 163, for a variant of this story.

  146.

  Gaunt,

  Massacres, 167–168.

  147.

  Gaunt,

  Massacres, 172–173; and de Courtois, Forgotten Genocide, 166–168.

  148. Malta file of Bedri Bey, UKNA FO 371 / 6500; Kaiser, Extermination of Armenians, 309–317; and Gaunt, Massacres, 173.

  149.

  Gaunt,

  Massacres, 173–175; and de Courtois, Forgotten Genocide, 168–172.

  150.

  Gaunt,

  Massacres, 182, 188–189.

  151.

  Gaunt,

  Massacres, 243–244.

  152.

  Gaunt,

  Massacres, 227.

  153. This description is based largely on Gaunt, Massacres, 273–294. See also de Courtois, Forgotten Genocide, 184–191; and German correspondence from November 1915, German Foreign Office, 435–438.

  154. Morgenthau to family, 22 June 1915, FDRL, HM Sr. Papers, Letters 475, 729.

  155.

  De

  Nogales,

  Four Years, 139.

  156.

  De

  Nogales,

  Four Years, 145–147.

  157. Calthorpe to Curzon, 2 July 1919, UKNA FO 371 / 4192.

  158.

  Dündar, Crime of Numbers, 188.

  159.

  Üngör, Making of Modern Turkey, 85.

  160.

  Gaunt,

  Massacres, 178–179.

  161. Quoted in Kevorkian, Armenian Genocide, 379.

  162. Leslie to Bell, 9 June 1915, Houghton ABC, 16.9.5, A467, Reel 671.

  163. Leslie to Barton, 6 October 1914, Houghton ABC, 16.9.5, A467, Reel 671.

  164. Security Directorate to the vilayets of Marash, Adana, and Aleppo, 26 April 1915, BOA, DH.

  ŞFR, 52 / 112.

  165. Leslie to Jackson, 6 August 1915, LC, HM Sr. Papers, Reel 32. See also Ministry of Interior to Erzurum, Van, and Bitlis vilayets, 23 May 1915, orders to deport their Armenian populations to Urfa, Deir Zor, and Mosul, General Directorate of the State Archives, in Bryce, Treatment of Armenians, 36.

  Notes to Pages 205–208

  166. Leslie to Morgenthau, as attachment to letter from Morgenthau to SecState, 28 June 1915, USNA RG 59, 867.4016, Roll 43. See also Vice Consul Samuel Edelman, Aleppo, to
Morgenthau (?), 26 August 1915, U. S. Official Rec ords, 278–279; and Jackson to Secstate, 4 March 1918, “Armenian Atrocities,”

  U. S. Official Rec ords, 587.

  167. Testimony of Elvesta T. Leslie, 11 April 1918, USNA RG 256, “Inquiry Documents,” 1917–1919, no. 814, Roll 39.

  168. Haydar to Talât, 18 September 1915, Sevk ve Iskan, 264, doc. 208.

  169. Jackson to Morgenthau, 10 August 1915, USNA RG 59, 867.4016, Roll 44. Jackson gives their numbers as 140 British, 157 French, 112 Rus sians, and 18 Montenegrins. See also Leslie to Jackson, 6 August 1915, LC, HM Sr. Papers, Reel 32; Morgenthau to family, 17 August 1915, FDRL, HM Sr. Papers, Letters 475; and Morgenthau to SecState, 20 August 1915, USNA RG 59, 867.4016, Roll 43.

  170. Leslie to Jackson, 6 August 1915, LC, HM Sr. Papers, Reel 32. See also hearsay report of “F.,” a hospital worker from Antep, who heard the same description in Urfa a year later (Personal Observations, (undated), Houghton ABC 16.9.5, A467, Reel 671). See also Jeppe to Rössler, 18 June 1915, German Foreign Office, 221.

  171. Enclosure 1 to letter from Rössler to Bethmann- Hollweg, 11 August 1915, German Foreign Office, 299–300.

  172. Kunzler to consul, 23 August 1915, enclosed in Rössler to Bethmann- Hollweg, 3 September 1915, German Foreign Office, 346; letter from Vice Consul Edelman, 26 August 1915, USNA RG 59, 867.4016, Roll 44; and Leslie to Morgenthau, 24 August 1915, included in Morgenthau’s report to SecState, 20

  October 1915, USNA RG 59, 867.4016, Reel 44. See also undated hearsay report of “F.,” a hospital worker from Antep, who heard the same things in Urfa a year later (“Personal Observations,” Houghton ABC, 16.9.5, A467, Reel 671).

  173. Interior Ministry to mutasarriflik of Urfa, 21 August 1915, BOA, DH. ŞFR, 55 / 47.

  174. Enver to Foreign Office, 21 October 1915, Sevk ve Iskan, 292–293, doc. 236 (Kuvve- i inzibatiyenin her tarafdan ateşle karşılanması); “Note Verbale” from the Ottoman Foreign Ministry to the embassies, 11

  October 1915, USNA RG 59, 867.4016, Roll 44; and “Memorandum on the Armenian Question,” 8

  November 1915, U. S. Official Rec ords, 384–385. See also Demirel ve Takkaç, “Ermeni Tehciri Anilari Uzerine”; Dadrian, “Armenian Question,” 67; and de Nogales, Four Years, 153.

  175. Jackson to SecState, 4 March 1918, “Armenian Atrocities,” U. S. Official Rec ords, 587. The report on Kurdish losses seems exaggerated.

  176. American Consul in Beirut to Morgenthau, 5 October 1915, USNA RG 59, 867.4016, Roll 44.

  See also Smyrna consulate to State Department, 15 January 1916, USNA RG 59, 867.4016, Roll 44; and Fakhri Pasha’s Malta file, UKNA FO 371 / 6500.

  177. Jackson to SecState, 4 March 1918, “Armenian Atrocities,” U. S. Official Rec ords, 587.

  178. Enver to Foreign Office, Sevk ve Iskan, 292–293, doc. 236. For a description of the fighting, see Consul Dandini, Aleppo, to Stephan Baron Burián, Vienna, 25 October 1915, OeUA, Z. 15 / P; Morgenthau to his children, 27 October 1915, FDRL, HM Sr. Papers, Letters 475; and Report by Mr. Alberto, former Beirut head of Tombac Regie, the state tobacco com pany, who said he had been in Urfa at the time, sent by Elliot, British consul at Mitylene, 4 May 1916, UKNA FO 371 / 2770. See also Dadrian, “Armenian Question,” 76; and Erickson, “Armenians and Ottoman Military Policy,” 165; and Report by W. G. Hol-loway, one of the Urfa hostages, 10 February 1919, USNA RG 84, Vol. 400 (Turkey).

  179. Jackson to SecState, “Armenian Atrocities,” 4 March 1918, U. S. Official Rec ords, 587; Enver to Foreign Ministry, 21 October 1915, Sevk ve Iskan, 292–293, doc. 236; report by an eyewitness, Smyrna consulate to State Department, 15 January 1916, USNA RG 59, 867.4016, Roll 44; and testimony of Alen Bayatian, undated, Malta file of Fakhri Pasha, UKNA FO 371 / 6500. Bayatian implicated Fakhri in the massacre of 200 boys and men on Tell Fudar, near Urfa.

  Notes to Pages 208–215

  180. Testimony of Elvesta T. Leslie, 11 April 1918, USNA RG 256, “Inquiry Documents,” 1917–1919, no. 814, Roll 39.

  181.

  Ibid.

  182. “A Missionary Poisoned,” New York Times, 13 November 1915; Jackson to Secstate, “Armenian Atrocities,” 4 March 1918, U. S. Official Rec ords, 587; and Smyrna consulate to State Department, 15 January 1916, USNA RG 59, 867.4016, Roll 44.

  183.

  Talât to Urfa mutasarrıflık, 6 November 1915, Sevk ve Iskan, 316–317, doc. 257.

  184.

  Sarafian,

  ed.,

  Talât Pasha’s Report, 56.

  185. Der Matossian, “Taboo within the Taboo,” 9–10. See also Interior Ministry to governor of Urfa, 27 October 1915, BOA, DH. ŞFR, 57 / 135.

  186. Jackson to Secstate, “Armenian Atrocities,” 4 March 1918, U. S. Official Rec ords, 596.

  187.

  Werfel,

  Forty Days of Musa Dagh.

  188.

  Kevorkian,

  Armenian Genocide, 611.

  189. Official government deportation decision, MV 198 / 24, 30 May 1915, Sevk ve Iskan, 155–157, doc. 81. Kevorkian, Armenian Genocide, 611.

  190.

  Kevorkian,

  Armenian Genocide. See also Jackson to Morgenthau, 19 August 1915, USNA RG

  59, 867.4016, Roll 46.

  191. Jackson to Morgenthau, 19 August 1915, USNA RG 59, 867.4016, Roll 46.

  192. Jackson to SecState, addendum to dispatch on “Armenian Atrocities,” 27 May 1918, U. S. Official Rec ords, 600–601.

  193.

  Ibid.

  194. G.O.C. Egypt (?) to Henry McMahon, 10 September 1915, UKNA FO 371 / 2490.

  195. Exchange of cables between General Maxwell, Earl Kitchener, McMahon, Lord Bertie, Commander- in- Chief East Indies, Admiralty, Foreign Office, and War Office, 10–14 September 1915, UKNA FO 371 / 2490.

  5. The Western River, and Downstream

  1. Security Directorate to valis and mutesarrifs, 24 April 1915, BOA, DH. ŞFR, 52 / 96, 97, 98. This is why Armenians around the world annually commemorate the genocide on 24 April.

  2.

  See

  Balakian,

  Armenian Golgotha, 61–65.

  3. Security Directorate to Ankara vilayet, 25 April 1915, BOA, DH. ŞFR, 52 / 102.

  4. Unsigned, “Addendum to ‘Report of an inhabitant of Athlit, Mount Carmel, Syria,’ ” undated but stamped “M.I.2.b, 27 November 1916,” UKNA FO 371 / 2783.

  5.

  Talât to several valis and mutesarrifs, 6 November 1915, Sevk ve Iskan, 315, doc. 255.

  6. ARF (Dashnak) report, 15 October 1915, USNA RG 59, 867.4016, Roll 44.

  7.

  Akçam, Shameful Acts, 107.

  8. Adil, vali of Edirne, to Interior Ministry, 2 May 1915, Sevk ve Iskan, 147, doc. 74; and Ali Fethi, ambassador to Sofia, to Interior Ministry, 21 December 1914, Sevk ve Iskan, 97, doc. 33.

  9. Aktar, “Debating the Armenian Massacres,” 259.

  10. US consul Charles Allen, Adrianople, to Ravndal, American Consul General, Constantinople, 23 October 1915, USNA RG 59, 867.4016, Roll 44; and Pallavicini to Burián, 7 November 1915, OeUA, 257–262 (HHStA PA XII 93 / P.B).

  11. Allen to Ravndal, 5 March 1915, U.S. Official Rec ords, 493. See also Akçam, Shameful Acts, 107.

  12.

  Dündar, “Pouring People into the Desert,” 283–284; and Sarafian, ed., Talât Pasha’s Report, 10, 12, and 20.

  Notes to Pages 215–220

  13. ARF, Sofia, report dated 5 June 1915, attached to Morgenthau to SecState, 20 July 1915, U.S.

  Official Rec ords, 91–94.

  14. Malta file of Zekeria Zihni Bey, Report no. 00599, UKNA FO 371 / 6500.

  15. Allen to Ravndal, 29 October 1915, USNA RG 59, 867.4016, Adrianople, Vol. 1; George Barclay, Bucharest, to FO, 18 December 1915, UKNA FO 371 / 2488; and Nadamlenzki to Pallavicini, 29

  October 1915, OeUA, 257–262 (HHStA PA XII Z95 / P, depeche No. 22 u 23). Nadamlenzki was unimpressed by the show of civility. He described the sick and el derly being pulled out of their beds.
/>   16. Barclay to FO, 18 December 1915, UKNA FO 37 / 2488.

  17. Dadrian, “Documentation of the World War I Armenian Massacres,” 573 (based on protocols cited in Takvim- i Vekayı, no. 3772, 3–6). See also Dadrian and Akçam, Judgment at Istanbul, 118, 146.

  18. Nadamlenzki to Pallavicini, 29 October 1915, OeUA, 257–262.

  19. Allen to Ravndal, 29 October 1915, USNA RG 59, 867.4016, Adrianople, Vol. 1; and Pallavicini to Foreign Ministry, 13 November 1915, OeUA, 277.

  20. Morgenthau to family, 15 November 1915, FDRL, HM Sr. Papers, Letters 475.

  21. Nadamlenzki to Pallavicini, 3 March 1916, OeUA, 335–336; Nadamlenzki to Pallavicini, 8

  March 1916, OeUA, 337–338; Pallavicini to Burián, 10 March 1916, OeUA, 337–338; and Allen to Ravndal, 5 March 1916, USNA, RG 84, Vol. 391.

  22. Nadamlenzki to Pallavicini, 3 March 1916, OeUA, 335–336.

  23. Notes by Mordtmann, 4 August 1915, German Foreign Office, 277.

  24. Mutesarrif of Izmit to Interior Ministry, 20 May 1915, BOA, DH. EUM. 3 Şb.5 / 56; and Morgenthau to family, 22 July 1915, FDRL, HM Sr. Papers, Letters 475, 789.

  25. Morgenthau to SecState, 11 August 1915, U.S. Official Rec ords, 77; Morgenthau to family, 9

  August 1915, FDRL, HM Sr. Papers, Letters 475.

  26.

  Talȃt to Izmit mutesarriflik, 9 August 1915, Sevk ve Iskan, 207, doc. 149.

  27. Morgenthau to family, 9 August 1915, FDRL, HM Sr. Papers, Letters 475.

 

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