The Armenian Question Has Been Settled - According to Ottoman Documents, Policing Against Armenians During the War Years

The Committee of Union and Progress responded to the feeling of being cornered after the Balkan Wars, which gradually spread throughout the country, by Turkifying the Anatolian lands by purifying them of non-Muslim elements. The concept of "homogenizing" not only economic life, but also social relations and, increasingly, the ethnic composition of the country was implemented as a systematic policy. The First World War is the most important turning point in these policies. Because the war not only created a suitable environment for the exile and forcible evacuation of suspicious ethnic elements, but also provided sufficient justification to implement Turkification policies. The "deportation", which began to be implemented on a large scale against the Armenians in 1915, was the last stage of the Turkification policies. This research, prepared by Taner Akçam based on Ottoman documents, focuses on what the "primary" sources tell about the content of what happened. The basis of the activities directed and carried out by the organization of Teskilat-i Mahsusa, managed under the constant control and directives of Talat Pasha; how the actions were followed via telegrams from Istanbul; It explains why Armenians were "deported" from all over Anatolia. Preparations that started months ago, records followed day by day, inspections down to the names, trials held after the war and the statements of the defendants shed light on the dark side of history; He examines the meaning of the sentence in Talat Pasha's telegrams: "The Armenian issue has been resolved. There is no need to disgrace the nation and the government with my Fuzuli atrocities." This research points out the importance of choosing to learn the history of the great disaster rather than denying it.

"No matter what we call it: deportation, crime, genocide, or whatever we call it... unless a language is developed that understands the suffering experienced and condemns the murders committed against people because of their different religions or ethnic origins, regardless of the reason, it will not be possible to take healthy steps towards the solution of the problem. So, first of all, we need "What happens is to see the fact that we are faced with an action that is morally and conscientiously unacceptable and to develop a language appropriate to it."
- Taner Akçam



Number of Pages: 339

Year of Printing: 2007


Language: Turkish
Publisher: Iletisim Publishing

Number of Pages: 339

First Print Year: 2007

Language Turkish