Records of the Turkish Court-Martial of 1919
The following are excerpts from primary source documentation of
the Armenian genocide authenticated by Turkish authorities in 1919.
The massacre and destruction of the Armenians and the plunder and pillage
of their goods were the results of decisions reached by Ittihad's Central
Committee ... . The atrocities were carried our under a program that was
determined upon and involved a definite case of premeditation.
IIIrd Army Commander Vehib Pasa in an affidavit of
12/5/1918
from Vahakn N. Dadrian The History of the Armenian Genocide
p. 326
Are your area's deported Armenians being liquidated? Are they being
destroyed? Or are they being merely deported and exiled? Clarify
this point, my brother.
Dr. Bahaeddin Sakir, Ittihadist leader, June 1915;
from Vahakn N. Dadrian, "The Role of Turkish Physicians in the
World War I Genocide of Ottoman Armenians," Holocaust and
Genocide Studies, 1:2 (Fall 1986), p.172
Also, an unusual testimonial to the above source:
THOUGH THIS POINT HAS BEEN REPEATEDLY STRESSED BOTH IN WRITING AND
VERBALLY TO IADA-ANKARA, WE HAVE NOT YET SEEN AS MUCH A SINGLE ARTICLE
BY ANY SCHOLAR RESPONDING TO _D_A_D_R_I_A_N_ (OR ANY OF THE OTHERS AS
WELL).
Dr. Heath Lowry, in a memo
to the Turkish Ambassador, demonstrating
the failure of genocide revisionists to respond to the works
of Dadrian and others over the course of what was then four years
(now ten years).
...the atrocities and crimes [in question] were mostly decided upon
and organized by some of the active members of the Cabinet, which at
the time was in power; they were carried out by recourse to some
instrumentalities of all types and to the Special Organization's
[gangs], dubbed as brigands (çeteler). It is only natural that
the responsibility for all these occurrences and acts falls upon the
shoulders of the former ministers. By their [practice of] misgovernment
and abuses they committed heinious atrocities, causing the
grievous consequences which the state is currently facing. It is thus
[evident] that these atrocities were perpetrated by a few governors-general,
who were complying with the orders of the [party's] Central Committee, by
officials who had become instruments and vehicles of implementation,
and by the brigands. The [entire] undertaking was primarily and
resolutely decided upon and pushed through by Talât Pasa and some
other members of the Central Committee.
Senator Mahmut Pasa, December 2, 1918;
from Vahakn N. Dadrian, "Select Parliamentary and Judicial Documents" in Journal of Political and Military Sociology,
Special Issue on The Armenian Genocide in Official Turkish Records,
Collected essays by Vahakn N. Dadrian, Vol. 22, No. 1 Summer 1994, p. 82.
Finally, the remarks of another Princeton professor on Dadrian's examination of Turkish sources.
No person of integrity can responsibly confront the contents of this Special Issue on the Armenian genocide without coming to closure on the historic truth of the principal Armenian allegations.
Richard Falk,
Albert G. Milbank Professor of International Law and Practice,
Princeton University, from "Foreword" in Journal of Political and Military Sociology,
Special Issue on The Armenian Genocide in Official Turkish Records,
Collected essays by Vahakn N. Dadrian, Vol. 22, No. 1 Summer 1994, p. ii.
The
indictment and
verdict
from the trial are available from the Armenian National Institute.