Armenian Deportation

The official decision for DEPORTATION (Exile) was taken in May 27th of 1915. The Ottoman government had decided to force a number of its subjects, depriving them of their possessions and property, to exile to hundreds of kilometers away to Deyr-uz Zor.


16.03.2001    Tayfun MATER
BİA-
Armenians are a group of people who have historically lived in the East, Southeast and Central Anatolia and in the present Armenia. The Armenian Civilization, which rose out of the remains of the Errata Kingdom in the 500s (BC), reached the peek of its power in the 50s (BC). During the following centuries, the Armenians were caught in between the rivalries among the great empires.

Armenians, following their conveersion to Christianity in 300 BC, fell under the Byzantium rule. Later, in 653 they fell under the Arab rule. They were faced with the invasions of Turks in the 11th century, and of Mongols in the 13th century; in the 16th and 17th centuries Armenians were successively trapped between the Ottoman and Iranian rule.

The Armenian rebellions in the Ottoman land started at the end of the 18th century in the Kucukdaglik village Zeytun of Maras (a southern city of present Turkey). These rebellions, which interruptedly continued until 1915, comprised a vital element in the Armenian national movement. The Russian expansion into the Caucasus during 19th century, and the "Enlightenment" in Europe and the revival of the Armenian culture, may be listed among the factors that invigorated the Armenian National Movement.

The "ARMENIAN PROBLEM" was for the first time recognized in the international arena with the Ayastefanos Agreement that was signed after the 1877-78 Ottoman-Russian War. This agreement was handing the control of the Ottoman Armenia over to Russia, though it proved abortive.

Revolutionary organizations emerged in 1887 such as the Marxist- centralist Hinchaq (Bell), and in 1908 nationalist- socialist Tashnaq (Alliance) committees were founded. These committees, which in the future would grow into political parties, schemes of merger for broader political regrouping remained unsuccesful. Some major actions organized by these committees organized between 1890 and 1905 were:

1. Erzurum (a town in present eastern Turkey) Event (June 1890)
2. Kumkapi (a district in Istanbul) Demonstration (July 1890)
3. Merzifon, Kayseri, Yozgat (towns in present central Turkey) Events (1892-93)
4. First Sasun Rebellion (August 1894)
5. Bab-ı Ali (a section of Istanbul with publishing houses) Demonstration (September 1895)
6. Zeytun Rebellion (November 1895)
7. Van (a town in present eastern Turkey) Rebellion (June 1896)
8. Attack at the Ottoman Bank (August 1896)
9. Second Sasun Rebellion (April 1904)
10.A bomb attack at Abdulhamit, at Yıldız (a district of Istanbul) (July 1905)

The committees acted together with the Committee of Union and Progress (Ittihad ve Terakki) for a while. Following the declaration of the Constitutional Monarchy in Istanbul in 1908, they gained legal recognition. Even though these committees declared that they would only engage in political activities, the events in Adana (a town in present southern Turkey) in March 1909 dampened the spirit of peace and they parted ways with the Ittihad ve Terakki.

The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) freed itself from Abdulhamit with the March 31st Rebellion. The Committee condoned the murder of the Grand Vizier Mahmut Sevket Pasha, and used this murder as an excuse to attack the opposition. Now, reporters were being killed on the Galata Bridge (in Istanbul), oppositional intellectuals were being exiled to Sinop (a town in present northern Turkey), and the Ottoman Empire was starting to head towards its collapse under the dictatorship of one party. With almost no written documents and along with the deception of "shall head to TURAN", Teskilat-I Mahsusa (Special Organization) was being founded. This criminal organization has survived up till today as counter guerilla and as the Susurluk gang. The Susurluk incident is named after a car accident that occurred in November 1996, close to Susurluk (a town in western Turkey). In the car there was a famous ultra nationalist, a parliamentarian and a police officer. The close relations among the three brought to light the concept of "deep state", which up till today has constituted a serious issue of worry, debate and research in Turkey.

While the I. World War bells were ringing in Europe, Tasnak Party held a congress in August 2-14, 1914, in Erzurum. The CUP sent a delegation to the congress. The delegation made a proposition of alliance to the Armenians against Russia, in case of a possible warfare. The delegation further proposed an autonomous Armenian administration. Armenian leaders preferred to have a policy of neutrality.

The Russian Armenians, who received a similar proposal from Russia, accepted this offer and started to build their volunteer groups. Even though they were only some 4-5 thousand people, these groups would become the pretext of the Ottoman government's deportation policy. With the start of the war, Eastern Anatolia fell into a serious chaos. Armenians ran away from the army and put up a resistance. The Special Organization troupes along with the Hamidiye troupes composing of Kurds, busted and burned down villages, under the pretext of chasing the runaways. These were the first indicators of the deportation.

Following the rebellion of the Armenian people of Van (a town in present eastern Turkey) in April 1915, the Armenian intellectuals in Istanbul were arrested, on April 24th , and were sent off to Ankara. Nothing further was heard from these some 700 people. The MASSACRE had gone into effect. Interior Minister Talat Pasha was its executioner.

The official decision for the DEPORTATION (Exile) was made on May 27th 1915. The government was prevalently sending a part of its subjects, depriving them of their possessions and properties, to exile to hundreds of kilometers away to the Iraqi deserts, to Devr-uz Zor. These subjects were the civilians, children and old people, who were supposedly under the responsibility and protection of the government. The Special Organization troupes, which were composed of convicts released from the jails, were attacking and plundering the convoys and were killing people. As a result of dehydration and hunger and diseases, death was awaiting those who reached the deserts.

It is yet to be found out how many people died due to the deportation. The official historians of the Turkish Republic claim that the number of deaths was 300,000. There are foreign resources that increase this number to 1 million. Germany, who was the ally of the Ottoman government at the time, was silently supporting the deportation. On August 31st 1916, Talat Pasha, addressing the representative of the German Embassy, said, "There is no Armenian problem."

In 1919, the Istanbul Court of Martial Law, by default, tried those people who were responsible of the deportation. The half of the 10-12 people accountable for the deportation was in various European countries and in Russia. They ended up being killed by the Armenian Committee members. The rest faced capital punishment in 1926, issued by the Istiklal Court, following the attempt to assassinate Mustafa Kemal (the founder of present Turkish Republic) in Izmir (a town in present western Turkey).