Transcript The Armenian Genocide

Joseph Bodley & Dylan O’Leary
History 9813A
Dr. Schumacher
October 3rd, 2012
THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
“Kill without mercy men, women and children of
Polish race or language. Who, afterall, is today
speaking of the annihilation of the Armenians?”
Adolf Hitler
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 Reassuring
1939.
his generals before the invasion of Poland in
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs2CNBPuRTc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zflmBNjHfAM&f
eature=player_embedded – George W. Bush
Table of Contents
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1. Introduction
2. The Decline of the Ottoman Empire
3. Significant events before World War I
4. World War I and the Deportations
5. The Initial International Response
6. End of the Genocide and Turkish
Solidification
7. The Genocide in Historical Memory
What is Genocide?
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Dr. Lemkin
It is more than Mass killing. It involves an effort to
exterminate all members of a specific group.
People who commit genocide are trying to destroy
a culture, “a way of life.”
 Literature
is often destroyed.
 Houses of worship.
 Renaming streets.
Raphael Lemkin
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Published Axis Rule in
Occupied Europe which
outlined how the Nazis
had committed
Genocide.
He persuaded the
United Nations to draft
a convention against
Genocide.
He had been
advocating for
framework since the
1930s.
Genocide
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Despite the term being founded post World War II,
Genocide has existed for thousands of years.
Is there something that separates a génocidaire
(those that commit genocide) from a normal person.
Introduction
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The death an estimated one and a half million
Christians in Turkey from 1915 – 1923.
It has been dubbed the first modern genocide.
The denialist viewpoints
Armenian / Turks lived in relative harmony for centuries, and
this was upset by outside influences (WWI).
 The response of the government to the Armenian rebellion
was measured and justified.
 Armenians brought on their own destruction by launching a
civil war against the government.
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Part 2
The Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
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This empire had played a key role in European
politics from the 15th to 18th century.
The Empire had several different groups of people
(Muslims, Jews, and Christians).
The Armenians lived in the eastern part of modern
day Turkey.
Many Armenians became quiet wealthy and had
great power over trade and commerce.
The uneasy feelings between Muslims and
Armenians grew as the Empire declined.
Part 2
The Armenians
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Christian communities
located in Asia minor
Many lived in the Ottoman
Empire where they did not
constitute a majority in
any particular region.
A source of constant
European intervention
Visibly separated from
Muslim societies.
The Ottoman Empire in the
Century
19th
Part 2
Ottoman Empire in the 19th Century.
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By this time many Armenians were demanding
reform. They did not want to be second class
citizens anymore.
Some Armenians were agitating for independence.
Part 3
Armenian Revolutionary Federation
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Formed in the 1880s
ARF wanted an
autonomous Armenia
under the Ottoman
suzerainty.
These revolutionaries
carried out violent acts
and even hurt fellow
Armenians.
They wanted to catch the
attention of the
international community to
their struggle.
Part 2
Pan – Islamism
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First introduced in 1876
by Sultan Abdulhamid II.
The Sultan pursued a
policy of centralization
and modernization.
Abdulhamid II wanted to
unite all the Muslims in
the Empire under a
robust political unit.
Part 3
Hamidian Massacres
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1894 – 1896. There
approximately 80 – 200
thousands Armenian were
killed.
Select killings in an effort
to crush Armenian radicals
and maintain the status
quo.
Britain considered
intervening, but was could
not find enough support
around Europe.
1908 CUP (Committee of Union and
Progress) Coup
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Part 3
CUP overthrew the Sultan.
The rise of nationalism further alienated the
Armenians from the Muslims.
Ottomans were striving for a homogenous state, that
excluded Christians and would form a Muslim
bourgeoisie. Motto: “compete, survive, and
develop.”
Part 3
Influx of new immigrants
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In 1912-1913 there was
an influx of Muslim
immigrants, 400,000,
total after the Balkan
Wars.
They mostly settled in
Anatolia.
The secession of Muslim
provinces such as
Albania started the
formation of a Turkish
identity.
Part 3
The Architects of Genocide
Minister of
Internal Affairs:
Talat Pasha
Minister of
War: Enver
Pasha
Part 3
Minister of
Navy: Jemal
Pasha
Part 4
World War I
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Ottoman Empire joins the Triple Alliance.
Their enemies are now Britain, France and Russia
the traditional sympathizers of Armenians.
Certain ARF officials in Russia were trumpeting
Armenian independence through Russian military
support.
February 15th, 1915 The Ottoman Empire disarms
all Armenian soldiers.
Part 4
The Deportations
Part 4
The Deportations
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The government set up a plan as early as December 1914 or
January 1915 to deal with Armenian Christians.
Ottoman officer Raphael de Nogales describes how police an
various sub governors participated in the acts of violence a clear
sign that the government had planned these massacres.
Shortly before, on June 9th the ministry of the Interior had issued the
order directing the governor of Erzurum to auction off Armenian
property.
Provocation thesis: the deportation occurred because Armenian
revolutionaries forced the government to act. The deportations were
orderly, but deaths did occur by rogue bands. This is a favourite
theory of western Ottoman scholars.
Part 4
The Deportation Path
Part 4
Justification?
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There was an Armenian nationalists groups in
eastern Anatolia promoting pro Russian sentiment.
Known as the “Zeytun case”
The vast majority of the Armenian communities
condemned the reckless behaviour of a few of their
number. It was not a civil war situation as apologists
for deportations have argued.
In September of 1915 the Sheikh-ul-Islam resigned
his post in protest to the deportations.
Part 4
Genocide
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Many groups of Armenians were never deported.
They were taken from their homes and murdered.
Many others died along the route to Syria.
Many women were kidnapped along the
deportation to become concubines.
Those that made it to Syria were held until the end
of the war.
Mass grave
Part 5
The German Response
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Germany has been criticized
with aiding the Armenian
genocide.
July 1915 Germany launched
some protests against the
Ottoman’s treatment of the
Armenians. They referred to
the deportations as
‘massacres.’ Caused strain in
their relations. CUP lied to
Germans and Americans in
claiming that the deportations
would be done fairly.
Part 5
The West`s Response
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During the autumn 1915 the British attitudes toward
publicizing the Armenian plight shifted. They began
to use this event in an effort to influence American
entry into the war. The U.S., however, never did
declare war on the Ottoman Empire.
Henry Morgenthau (US diplomat)
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He argued as early as
June of 1915 that the
deportations were a
method of massacre.
He voiced his dissent
to Talaat.
Part 6
Post World War I
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Britain brought to trial in 1919 the Ottoman wartime
officials. Talat and Enver Pasha were sentenced to
death in absentia.
National sentiment soon turned against these trials and
lesser convictions and punishments were handed out.
Turkey took British diplomats hostage and only agreed
to release them if the trials were ended.
March 5th, 1921 Talat pasha was assassinated by
Soghomon Tehlirian
Part 6
The Unification of Turkey
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Mustafa Kemal rallied the Turks and united Turkey and
conquered the provinces that had been designated for
Armenia.
By 1920 Turkey was becoming a strong and stable country
under Mustafa Kemal.
After the war the U.S. wanted to form a good relation with
Turkey.
Economics dominate, Bristol ‘if we did not ratify the Treaty it
would make very little difference to the Turks, and...would only
injure our own interests’ (Morals?)
By 1922, 90% of all Armenians of Anatolia were gone.
1923 the allies signed the Treaty of Lausanne with Turkey and
it made no mention of a free Armenia.
The Genocide Remembered by the
West
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Part 7
The West has seen Turkey as a historic bulwark
against communism, so they dodge the awkward
issue of the Armenian genocide and the
mistreatment of the Kurds.
Even post-dissolution, Turkey is now seen as a
bulwark on the Middle East a secular society.
Most in the West feel that to point out this tragedy
would serve to humiliate Turkey, but solve nothing.
Part 7
U.S. Leader’s Response
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http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2004/04/
21/armenia040421.html - Canada has recognized
the genocide.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ_UCBryZaA
– CTV clip
Part 7
Cyprus Memorial
Cyprus was one
of the first
nations to
recognize the
genocide.