Bibliographie
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Akçam Taner, The Young Turks’ Crime Against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2012.
Altounyan Takui, Chimes from a Wooden Bell: A Hundred Years in the Life of a Euro-Armenian Family, London: I.B. Tauris, 1990.
Andonian Aram, Medz Vojire [The Great Crime], Boston: Bahag Publishing, 1921.
Arkun Aram, “Zeytun and the Commencement of the Armenian Genocide,” in Ronald Suny, Fatma Göçek and Norman Naimark (eds.), A Question of Genocide: Armenians and Turks at the End of the Ottoman Empire, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011, p. 221-243.
Arsenian Hagop, Towards Golgotha: The Memoirs of Hagop Arsenian, A Genocide Survivor, Beirut: Haigazian University Press, 2011.
Balakian Grigoris, Armenian Golgotha: A Memoir of the Armenian Genocide, 1915-1918, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009.
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Der Yeghiayan Zaven, My Patriarchal Memoirs, Barrington, R.I.: Mayreni Publishing, 2002.
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Note de fin
1 From the Catholicos’s report on his meetings with Cemal Pasha in June 1915, as cited in P. Yeghiayan, 1975, p. 51.
2 For an overview of the minutes and reports in these archives, see V. Shemmassian, 2013.
3 For a detailed examination of the chain of events that culminated in the deportation of the Armenians of Zeytun, see A. Arkun, 2011.
4 Armenian National Council, List of Armenians around Aleppo, Folder 41, p. 14-15. All dates are according to the Gregorian calendar.
5 Historian Raymond Kévorkian has referred to the destruction of the Armenians in Syria and Mesopotamia from fall 1915 to summer 1916 as “the second phase” in his publications since the late 1990s. See R. Kévorkian, 1998. I too employ this designation, yet my analytical aperture covers the period from May to August 1915. As we shall see, developments in spring and summer 1915 are crucial for this reassessment.
6 As we shall see, Armenian relief groups operated with the tacit blessing of the local authorities, until a concerted government crackdown in the fall of 1915 forced them to go underground. Humanitarian resistance is the description I employ for the efforts of this underground network, because it was operating, by and large, against the will of the authorities.
7 These documents from the Aleppo Armenian Prelacy Archives include the minutes of the meetings of the Council for Refugees, established by the Armenian Apostolic Church of Aleppo in May 1915; lists of deportees compiled by this committee; and ledgers and receipts that provide a detailed accounting of donations collected to assist the arriving deportees and expenses made to provide them with food, shelter, medical care, and safety.
8 Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi (Ottoman Prime Ministry Archives), Dahiliye Nezareti Şifre Kalemi [abbreviated BOA/DH.ŞFR] 52/188, coded telegram from Talat to provinces on 2 May 1915.
9 F. Dündar, 2010, p. 78-79.
10 These include, for example, brothers Onnig and Armenak Mazloumian, known as “the barons” for the well-known hotel of the same name they owned in Aleppo. Cemal Pasha “loved and protected both of them,” wrote Andonian. And for good reason. The entire officer corps of the fourth army and Ottoman civilian officialdom benefited from the full spectrum of the services offered by Hotel Baron, holding meetings, dinners and parties at the hotel, and staying there for the duration of their visit to Aleppo. A. Andonian, 1921, p. 27-30.
11 For example Dr. Aram Assadour Altounyan, the founder and head physician of the Altounyan Hospital in Aleppo. For more on Dr. Altounian, see T. Altounyan, 1990.
12 Elmasd Santoorian is a prominent example. An Armenian nurse who survived typhus in Aleppo and went on to become the head nurse of a military hospital in the Azizieh quarter of the city, Santoorian helped anchor dozens of Armenian women in Aleppo, securing jobs for them at the hospital. E. Santoorian, 1989.
13 For example Swiss missionary Beatrice Rohner alone established two orphanages and took in more than 1,000 children, with the financial support of the U.S. embassy in Constantinople and other donors. NA/RG59/867.4016/373 Detailed report on “Armenian Atrocities” by Consul Jackson sent to the Secretary of State on 4 March 1918, in A. Sarafian, 2004, p. 594.
14 Some Ottoman officials and other locals, including several individuals mentioned in this article, provided support and assistance to the humanitarian efforts in the region.
15 One such example is George Soukkar, an Assyrian, who worked hard to secure the settlement of deportees in the city of Der Zor. “He spent so much time with the deportees that he too eventually contracted typhus and died [in early 1916],” Andonian wrote. See AGBU Nubar Library [abreviated BNu], Andonian, Folder 52: The massacres of Der Zor, “Der Zor,” p. 39. See also, R. Kévorkian, 1998, p. 174.
16 Garabed Kapigian recounts seeing 4-5 Turks “in hunting apparel” in spring 1916 who walked up and down Rakka’s streets observing everything closely. “A week later they disappeared; perhaps they went to Der Zor.” G. Kapigian, 1924, p. 460-461. Kapigian was an Armenian intellectual from Sepasdia/Sivas who spent two years in Rakka and its environs, and witnessed the developments along the Euphrates line first-hand.
17 M. Aghazarian, 1919, p. 22-23.
18 Yet beginning in summer 1915, the increasing number of deportees arriving in the region, and the central authorities’ insistence on keeping the percentage of Armenians in the designated settlement areas below ten percent of the entire population created a conundrum with which central, regional, and local authorities grappled, and from which deportees suffered severely, being re-deported again and again from one region to another because their presence exceeded the threshold. For a detailed treatment of the statistical dimension, see F. Dündar, 2010 (p. 113-119 deal with the settlement areas in Syria); and T. Akçam, 2012, p. 227-285.
19 In March 1916, authorities accelerated re-deportation from the Ras ul-Ain camp. Convoys were marched in two directions: Der Zor and Mosul. Orders from the center stipulated that re-deportation to Mosul avoid the main road, under the pretext that this “most important” military supply line need to remain free from Typhus and other epidemics. BOA/DH.ŞFR 60/199, telegram from Talat to Zor district on 16 February 1915.
20 BOA/DH.ŞFR 61/32, telegram from the Interior Ministry’s General Security Directorate to several provinces and provincial districts on 13 February 1916.
21 According to a survey conducted by local authorities, there were 8,000 Armenians in Raqqa in 1916: G. Kapigian, 1924, p. 471-472. Auguste Bernau, a German eyewitness who passes through the city in early September 1916, estimated “5 to 6,000 Armenians, especially women and children […] dispersed in the various districts in the city, and living in groups of 50-60 in the houses which the leniency of the governor procured for the poorest.” See DE/PA-AA; R14094; A 28162; Report from Rossler to Hollweg on 27 September 1916, in W. Gust, 2014, p. 654.
22 Beginning in May 1915, and for the duration of World War I, the Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Aleppo maintained records of its income and expenses, which stand testament to its tremendous humanitarian relief effort. See Armenian National Council, Records of Council for Refugees, Folder 22, 3.
23 Council Records, Folder 38, minutes of Session 1.
24 The efforts of Reverend Hovhannes Eskijian, pastor of the Emmanuel Evangelical Church in the city, are the focus of H. Kaiser, 2002. For its part, the Armenian Catholic Church of Aleppo cared for 3,000 deportees, “who are lodged in different localities and fed by the local church community,” according to Jackson. See NA/RG59/867.4016/219 Enclosure no. 4 with dispatch no. 382 to Embassy, Constantinople. Report by Consul Jackson sent to Ambassador Morgenthau on 29 September 1918, in A. Sarafian, 2004, p. 314.
25 The Armenian Protestant Church also provided financial support to the council. On 24 June, for example, the council received a donation of 80 liras from the Protestant community in the city; see Council Records, Folder 38, minutes of Session 22. This coordination between various groups and actors continued when the humanitarian relief efforts went underground.
26 NA/RG59/867.4016/77 Report by Consul Jackson sent to Ambassador Morgenthau on 5 June 1915, in A. Sarafian, 2004, p. 57.
27 NA/RG59/867.4016/219 Consul Jackson to Ambassador Morgenthau on 29 September 1918, in A. Sarafian, 2004, p. 308.
28 Governor Celal Bey provided direct and indirect assistance to the Aleppo Armenians’ relief effort. He advocated for the deportees in his communication with the central authorities as well. As caravans of deportees arrived in the province, he continuously pressed the Ministry of the Interior, asking for a concrete plan to ensure the dignified treatment of the deportees, beyond general and vague orders. He lectured the central authorities that it was unbefitting for a state to leave the deportees hungry and without shelter. BOA/DH.ŞFR 471/112 Telegram from Celal Bey to the Ministry of the Interior dated 6 May 1915.
29 Council Records, Folder 38, Minutes of Session 2.
30 Ibid., Session 12.
31 Ibid., Session 2. Later, more employees would be hired. On June 20, for example, the council hired an Armenian from Van, Nazaret Aghapegian, for 10 mecidiye a month, to run errands and facilitate relief work around the city. See Council Records, Folder 38, Session 21. On July 2, the council decided to pay a teacher from Zeytun, a certain Mr. Mahdesian, 5 mecidiye per month upon receiving a request from the latter to be compensated for the work he had been doing. Earlier, Mr. Mahdesian had been compiling lists of deportees and doing other clerical work without pay; see Council Records, Folder 38, Session 24.
32 Ibid., Session 3.
33 Ibid. At its fifth session, the council decided to only distribute bread allocated by the municipality, but reconfirmed the four metaliks per person allocation.
34 Council Records, Folder 22, Session 4.
35 Ibid.
36 The Patriarchate in Constantinople, under the leadership of Patriarch Zaven Der Yeghiayan, was involved in extensive relief efforts. In his memoirs, Der Yeghiayan details the humanitarian resistance and relief efforts mounted by the Patriarchate: Z. Der Yeghiayan, 2002, p. 109-124.
37 Council Records, Folder 38, Session 6. It is unclear whether the money was ever sent.
38 While most contributions were one lira or less, a few sizeable gifts were also made. Between May 18 and 20, nearly 10 donations were made, only one of which was significantly large (1,000 kuruş). Council Records, Folder 22, Session 4.
39 Council Records, Folder 38, Session 8.
40 Ibid., Session 4.
41 Talat’s brother-in-law and governor of Bitlis, Mustafa Abdülhalik became Aleppo governor on 4 October 1915. Abdülhalik’s appointment constitutes an important tactical move in what Armenian Genocide scholars refer to as the “dual-track” mechanism: an official track employed government communication to convey (re-)deportation orders, resettlement, and the liquidation of Armenian property, while an unofficial track ordered “extralegal acts of violence, such as forced evacuations, killings, and massacres” privately, through trusted party functionaries. For a brief discussion on this mechanism, see T. Akçam, 2012, p. xxiv-xxv.
42 A telegram issued by the ministry of the interior on 18 October 1915 indicated that there were 30,000 deportees in Aleppo city alone awaiting re-deportation. See Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi, Dahiliye Nezareti Emniyet-i Umumiye Müdürlüğü [abbreviated BOA/DH.EUM], 2 Şb. 68/80. Tens of thousands had already been deported to Bab, Mumbuj, and Maarra, or farther to Urfa, Zor, and Mosul. BOA/DH.EUM, 2 Şb. 68/76 Telegram from Governor Bekir Sami to Interior Ministry on 5 September 1915.
43 See K. Mouradian, 2015.
44 Armenian agency has received little scholarly attention. Research on Armenian resistance is scarce and focuses on armed resistance during the genocide. Yet the scholarship on other cases of genocide, particularly the Holocaust, examines a broad spectrum of actions under the concept of resistance. See, for example, Y. Mais, B. Gurewitsch, and B. Lovenheim, 2007; D. Dwork and R. Jan van Pelt, 2009; N. Tec, 2013; P. Henry, 2014; and M.A. Grodin, 2014.
45 S. Moranian, 2003, p. 213.
46 P. Balakian, 2003, p. xvi.
47 H.L. Kieser, 2007, p. 48.
48 For an examination of concentration camps during the Armenian Genocide, see K. Mouradian, 2015.
49 R. Kévorkian, 2011, p. 625-672.
50 BOA/DH.EUM. 2. ŞB, 68/88, copy of 56-article guideline sent by IAMM director Şükrü Kaya to Talat on 8 October 1915.
51 Historian Hilmar Kaiser argued, “The deportations created a huge ‘surplus population’ without land and income that the authorities had to deal with. The Ottoman government was practically bankrupt and needed Armenian assets to finance the war effort. It was not realistic to provide for hundreds of thousands of Armenian deportees.”: H. Kaiser, 2009, p. 31. Realistic or not, the ordinance was drafted to give a semblance of legitimacy to the deportations.
52 Made of flimsy cloth, unstable, many riddled with holes, these tents were only a meager improvement over sleeping in the open. “Rickety tents made out of thin, torn canvas were not good enough to protect the people inside from the harsh weather conditions,” recounted survivor Odian, who was at the Sebil camp near Aleppo in December 1915. Y. Odian, 2009, p. 99.
53 When Fr. Dadjad Arslanian arrived in the Sebil camp in late November 1915, “it was raining non-stop. Not having a tent, I was kindly invited into the tent of Mikayel Beylerian of Ovacik.” BNu/Andonian, Folder 42: “The situation in Bab during the last sevkiyat in 1916,” The deportation of Armenians of Bab, 6. See also, R. Kévorkian, 1998, p. 87.
54 See, for example, H. Seropian, 2005, p. 106-107.
55 Ibid., p. 46.
56 G. Balakian, 2009, p. 247. Bribes were key to stay and, in the case of a fortunate few, to make it back to Aleppo. Most survivor accounts mention graft and many survived the genocide thanks in large part to bribery. “The poor people couldn’t do anything. There was only one way to salvation: if they had the financial resources, they could satisfy the camp official, so that he would be lenient with them,” explained Seropian. H. Seropian, 2005, p. 109. The Seropians and five other families from Konya collected 100 Ottoman liras and gave the amount to camp director Huseyin Avni to avoid redeportation temporarily. Arsenian, too, paid bribes simply to remain in the Meskeneh camp while he was sick. He wrote, “[W]e sent payments to the officials, so that during my illness they would not touch us and would not dismantle our tents.” H. Arsenian, 2011, p. 109.
57 BNu/Andonian, Folder 52b: “Handwritten Armenian flyers in Meskeneh,” f. 86. For more details, see Mouradian, 2015, p. 51.
58 BOA/DH.ŞFR 74/75 Telegram from Talat to the Aleppo provincial authorities on 8 March 1917.
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