Hye Sharzhoom Armenian Action
Careen Derkalousdian
Staff Writer
On Friday, March 3, 2023, Dr. Taner Akçam, director of the Armenian Genocide Research Program at The UCLA Promise Institute, presented his new findings regarding the first decision to eradicate the Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the twentieth century. The lecture, “The First Decision of the Armenian Genocide and the Role of the Kurds in Ottoman Documents,” was part of the Armenian Studies Program Spring 2023 lecture series.
Dr. Akçam is recognized as one of the first Turkish scholars to write extensively about the Armenian Genocide and the role that the Ottoman Turks played in orchestrating this atrocity. He has published several award-winning works such as A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility (Metropolitan Books, 2006) and Young Turks’ Crime Against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire (Princeton University Press, 2012).
Dr. Akçam began his presentation by outlining his three main arguments. In his first argument, he explained when the first and final decisions to carry out the Armenian Genocide were made. The first decision was made on December 1, 1914 by the Central Committee of the Teşkîlât-ı Mahsûsa [Special Committee] in Erzurum for the Van and Bitlis regions, and the final decision was made by the Central Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) between February 15 and March 3 of 1915.
The date of the first decision is corroborated by two telegrams sent to the Interior Minister Talaat Pasha from the Special Committee, which outlined the beginning stages of the Genocide, which began with the targeting of Armenians in Bitlis and Van: “Those suspected of being potential leaders of the revolt or liable to carry out attacks against Muslims should be arrested and … eliminated.”
The date of the final decision is evidenced by Bahaeddin Şakir’s visit to Istanbul and Erzerum as well as the restructuring of the Special Committee during this time. The Committee was put under the authority of Şakir, and they contributed to making the final decision. Two letters of Şakir’s, written in March and April of 1915, were published by Aram Andonian, and were recently confirmed to be authentic. These letters validate the dates of when the final decision to annihilate the Armenians was made.
Dr. Akçam’s second major argument was that the provincial governors did not simply carry out orders from the central government, but they actively participated in the decision-making of the Armenian Genocide. In fact, the radical policy regarding the Armenian population was first adopted by the provincial governments and later adopted and expanded by Istanbul. This fact is evidenced by a series of written and oral discussions among provincial governors, where they explicitly shared ideas on how to carry out the extermination. According to Dr. Akçam, this was a very important discovery.
Dr. Akçam’s third and final argument was that violence against Christians was not only orchestrated by the central government, but that there was also bottom-up violence outside their control. Moreover, there is evidence in telegrams that shows how the provincial governors pushed the central government to carry out the Armenian Genocide. These governors often demanded radical measures to be taken against the Armenians, and the central government gave them permission.
Toward the end of his lecture, Dr. Akçam also presented new findings regarding the Kurdish role in the Genocide. While the Turkish gendarmes were sent to carry out the Genocide, anarchy ensued and Kurdish tribes engaged in the murder, rape, and looting of Christian settlements. During this time, the Turkish governors were sending complaints regarding the Kurdish attacks to the central government. This led Dr. Akçam to ask a very important question: “Why did the Ottoman state, which had undertaken extensive political and practical actions in order to annihilate the Armenian population, oppose and clash with the Kurdish tribes when they attacked the same Christian villages?” One answer to this question is that the Ottoman Turks were unwilling to share power with others. For example, they wanted to exploit the Christians’ wealth for their own gain and not for the benefit of other agents such as the Kurds. In addition, Ottoman officials wanted to control and censor news coverage, but the Kurds’ uncontrollable looting drew attention to the atrocities being committed against the Christian Armenian population and made censorship very difficult. There was also a highly “patriotic” motive to deporting and killing the Armenians as it seemed a personal “accomplishment” that the Ottoman Turks took national pride in. In fact, according to Turkish governors, the Kurds were barbaric, uncivilized, and unpatriotic and thus, their looting and killing of Armenians was deemed as “unreputable.” All of these factors played a part in the clash between the Ottoman state and the Kurds.
Dr. Akçam’s presentation outlined new and critical information regarding the execution and timeline of the Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman central and provincial governments, as well as the role of Kurdish tribes in the looting and killing of Christian Armenian villages. Until the recent documentation was revealed, many might say that the three leaders of the committee of Union and Progress were the main orchestrators of the Armenian Genocide. However, now it is clear that the provincial Turkish governors not only carried out the CUP’s orders, but they also actively contributed ideas and participated in the extermination of the Armenians.
The Armenian community is grateful to Dr. Akçam for his contributions to the field of Armenian Genocide research and looks forward to his future discoveries.