Terrorism and Imperial Decline: The Ottoman-Armenian Case

Abstract

This article places Armenian nationalist terrorism into the broader sociopolitical context of the final decades of the Ottoman Empire. It considers the agendas and methods of the nationalists and the relationship between their actions, great power intervention and state violence.

Notes

  [1] Karpat, “The Transformation of the Ottoman State, 1789–1908”, 280; Georgeon, Aux origins du nationalisme turc.

  [2] For the comparable situation in Cilicia, see Gould, “Lords or Bandits?”, 485–86.

  [3] Kieser, Der verpasste Friede, 41–44, 99–100.

  [4] Astourian, “Testing World Systems Theory”, 582–601.

  [5] Kieser, Der verpasste Friede, part one.

  [6] Hofmann and Koutcharian, “The History of Armenian–Kurdish Relations in the Ottoman Empire”, 10.

  [7] For statistics of the refugees, see Zürcher, “Young Turks, Ottoman Muslims and Turkish Nationalists”, 171; on their actions, Guzalian, “The Origin of the Armenian Question as Appraised by the Armenians”, 71.

  [8] Dadrian, Warrant for Genocide, ch. 3; on the perspective of Circassian refugees from the Caucasus, Aydemir, Muhaceretteki Çerkes Aydinları, 43, 152–54.

  [9] Astourian, “Genocidal Process”, 53–79.

 [10] Sarkis, “The Armenian Renaissance, 1500–1863”, 444–47.

 [11] Kieser, Der verpasste Friede, 83.

 [12] Berkeş, The Development of Secularism in Turkey, 158; Davison, Reform in the Ottoman Empire 1856–1876, 13–14.

 [13] Kiouzalian, “Armenia before the Revolution”, 12; Davison, Reform, 123–25.

 [14] , “The Utilitarian Nature of the Western Armenian Renaissance”; idem, The French Influence on the Western Armenian Renaissance (1843–1915) (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1964).

 [15] Etmekjian, “The Armenian National Assembly of Turkey and Reform”, 38.

 [16] Hofmann and Koutcharian, “Armenian–Kurdish Relations”, 11–12.

 [17] Kiouzalian, “Armenia before the Revolution”, 14, 16.

 [18] , “Armenian National Assembly”, 38; idem, “The Reform Movement in Turkey: Background”, 288–89; Şaşmaz, British Policy and the Application of Reforms for the Armenians in Eastern Anatolia 1877–1897, 1–5.

 [19] Kieser, Der verpasste Friede, 113–27.

 [20] Koutcharian, Der Siedlungsraum der Armenier unter dem Einfluss der Historisch–Politisch Ereignisse seit den Berliner Kongress 1878 (Berlin, 1989), 77–8; Şimşir, British Documents on Ottoman Armenians, I, (1856–1880), 159–61, 729.

 [21] Koutcharian, Der Siedlungsraum, 80.

 [22] On Abdülhamid”s policies towards Eastern Anatolia, see Kodaman, Şark Meselesi İsıgı Altında Sultan II Abdülhamid'in Doğu Anadolu Politikası.

 [23] Verheij, “Die armenischen Massaker von 1894–1896: Anatomie und Hintergründe einer Krise”, 103. Küçük, Osmanli diplomasisinde Ermeni Meselesinin ortaya çıkısı 1878—1897, on Ottoman foreign policy concerning the Armenian question at this time; also Kodaman, Şark Meselesi, 162–68.

 [24] “Saroukhan”, “‘The Agricultural Society’”.

 [25] Daşnabedian, “The ARF record”, 118; Langer, The Diplomacy of Imperialism, 1890–1902, 152.

 [26] On nationalism , Nationalism and Socialism in the Armenian Revolutionary Movement, 4–5, 15, 18, and Part II on the Bulgarian influence on the parties; on the composition and operational bases of the parties, idem, La Question Arménienne, 74, 108, 124–34; on their development and platforms, Nalbandian, The Armenian Revolutionary Movement; on the disappointments of 1878 and the background to the formation of the revolutionary parties, Walker, Armenia, 110–32.

 [27] On which, Kieser, Der verpasste Friede, passim.

 [28] Varandian, “A History of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Part IV)”, 70–71.

 [29] Langer, Diplomacy, 159, n 48.

 [30] Rasoul, Großmachtpolitik und Freiheitskampf: Kurdistan und die sowjetische Nahost-Politik, 72.

 [31] Daşnabedian, “The ARF record”, 120. For a significant demonstration in Istanbul in 1890 see Sarkissian, “Concert Diplomacy and the Armenians, 1890–1897”, 56–58.

 [32] Suny, Looking Toward Ararat, 84–86; Dadrian, The History of the Armenian Genocide, 132.

 [33] Langer, Diplomacy, 157–63; and the brief critique thereof in Suny, Ararat, 257–58, n. 5; Verheij, “Die armenischen Massaker von 1894–1896”, 114, n. 43.

 [34] For the best analysis of the massacres, Verheij, “Die armenischen Massaker von 1894–1896”. On the indirect death toll, see Koutcharian, Siedlungsraum, 103–04.

 [35] Sassouni, “Hrayr ‘The Hell’”, 344–45.

 [36] Verheij, “Die armenischen Massaker von 1894–1896”, 85.

 [37] Lima, “The Evolving Goals and Strategies of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, 1890–1925”, viii; Kirakossian, British Diplomacy and the Armenian Question, from the 1830s to 1914, 211, 242–52.

 [38] Vratzian, “The Second World Congress of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation”, here 243–49.

 [39] Daşnabedian, “The ARF Record”, 121–22; Sassouni, “Hrayr”, 356–58.

 [40] Ter Minassian, Nationalism and Socialism, parts II and III.

 [41] Zürcher, Turkey, 92–94; Karpat, “Transformation”, 280.

 [42] Ramsaur, Jr, The Young Turks, 147.

 [43] Hanioğlu, Preparation for a Revolution, 40–41, 84; Zürcher, “Young Turks”, 151.

 [44] Arkun, “Les relations arméno–turques et les massacres de Cilicie de 1909”, 59.

 [45] Lima, “Evolving Goals and Strategies”, ix.

 [46] Arkun, “Les massacres de Cilicie”, 58.

 [47] Astourian, “Genocidal Process”, 63–66; Arkun, “Les massacres de Cilicie”. On the pattern of massacre, see Kevorkian, La Cilicie (1909–1921).

 [48] Davison, Turkey, 128–29; McDowall, A Modern History of the Kurds, 90–91.

 [49] Akçam, Armenien und der Völkermord, 37; Dadrian, Warrant for Genocide, ch. 9.

 [50] Davison, Turkey, 132.

 [51] On the state of CUP demographic policy at this time, Dündar, İttihat ve Terakki”nin Müslümanları İskan Politikası (1913–1918).

 [52] Davison, “The Armenian Crisis, 1912–1914”.

 [53] For example, Dadrian, “The Role of the Special Organisation in the Armenian Genocide during the First World War”, 64; Pasdermadjian, Histoire de l'Armenie, 408–09.

 [54] For example, Çavdar, Talât Paşa, 344–45; Demiroğlu, Van'da ermeni mezâlimi (1895–1920).

 [55] Many of the deportation orders are reproduced in Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, Başbakanlık Devlet Arşivleri Genel Müdürlüğü, Osmanlı Belgelerinde_Ermeniler (1915–1920), Orel and Yuca, Affaires Armeniennes: Les “Telegrammes” de Talât Pacha: Fait historique ou fiction?.

 [56] Allen and Muratoff, Caucasian Battlefields, 231–32, 287.

 [57] Danilov, La Russie dans la Guerre Mondiale, 141, 339–40.

 [58] Pokrovski, Die internationalen Beziehungen im Zeitalter des Imperialismus. Dokumente aus den Archiven der zarischen und der provisorischen Regierung (hereafter, “ZdI”), series II, vol. 7, part 2, no. 765.

 [59] Ibid; Beylerian, Les Grandes Puissances, no. 2.

 [60] Ghazarian, Boghos Nubar's Papers and the Armenian Question 1915–1918, no. 2.

 [61] ZdI, series II, vol. 6, part 1, no. 191.

 [62] ZdI, series I, vol. 6, part 1, no. 298, esp. note 1 on p. 228. On Persia as an ARF base, Sarkisyanz, A Modern History of Transcaucasian Armenia, 134.

 [63] ZdI, series I, vol. 6, part 1, nos. 298 (esp. note 3 on p. 228) and 400.

 [64] Korganoff, La Participation des Arméniens à la Guerre Mondiale sur le Front du Caucase, 20–21; Daşnabedian, History of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutiun, 117.

 [65] Chalabian, General Andranik and the Armenian Revolutionary Movement, 220; Pasdermadjian, Histoire, 413.

 [66] Auswärtiges Amt-Politisches Archiv (hereafter, “AAPA”), Abteilung 1A—Weltkrieg, WK 11d geheim, vol. 4, Pera, 26 March 1915.

 [67] Korganoff, La Participation, 9–10.

 [68] Bibliothèque Nubar, Paris, archives de la délégation nationale arménienne (hereafter, “ADNA”), Correspondence Arménie 1915, I, Nubar to Kouchakian, 26 October.

 [69] Pasdermadjian, Why Armenia Should be Free: Armenia''s Role in the Present War, 9.

 [70] On Muslim “self-defence” units, AAPA, Abt 1A, Aktenzeichen, 135/1, geheim, vol. 10, Pera, 8 February 1915.

 [71] AAPA, Abt. 1A, Türkei 183/36, Pera, 9 March 1915. On Van, see below.

 [72] Prime Ministry Directorate General of Press and Information, Documents on Ottoman Armenians, (hereafter all three volumes will be denoted “Documents”) I, nos 11, 17, 21; II, no. 1903 (undated); III, no. 2001.

 [73] Documents, III, no. 2001; I, no. 18.

 [74] Orel and Yuca, Affaires Armeniennes, 105, no. 11.

 [75] Dadrian, “The Role of the Special Organisation”.

 [76] Mekhitarian, “The Defense of Van”, 123.

 [77] Ernst Jäckh papers, Yale University Library, file 47, fols 39–40; ZdI, series I, vol. 6, part 1, no. 400.

 [78] Public Record Office, Kew, London (hereafter, “PRO”), Foreign Office Records (hereafter “FO”), 371/2130, 15028, Smith to Mallett, 10 January 1914; also AAPA, Abt. 1A, Türkei 183/36, Pera, 30 April 1915.

 [79] PRO, FO 371/2130, 23197, Smith, 25 May 1914, 18246, Bullard to Mallet, 27 April 1914; likewise AAPA, Abt. 1A, Türkei 183/36, Constantinople embassy, 11 August 1914.

 [80] The Economist, 29 April 1916. Mekhitarian, “Defense”, 122–23, on effects of the Russian November advance.

 [81] Documents, I, nos. 9, 10.

 [82] On supply lines, Daşnabedian, “The ARF Record”, 120.

 [83] Kieser, Der verpasste Friede, 446.

 [84] Allen and Muratoff, Caucasian Battlefields, 298.

 [85] Walker, Armenia, 205–09; Ter Minassian, “Van 1915”, 217.

 [86] Kieser, Der verpasste Friede, 449.

 [87] Ter Minassian, “Van”, 223–24. On Şatakh, Grandes Puissances, no. 31.

 [88] Ter Minassian, “Van”, 223.

 [89] Immortalised in Franz Werfel's fact-based novel of the same name (1933).

 [90] Documents, II, no. 1903 (pp. 49, 52).

 [91] Van Tosp, 9 January 1915, cited in The Economist, 29 April 1916.

 [92] Sarkisyanz, A Modern History of Transcaucasian Armenia, 119.

 [93] Ibid., 133–34.

 [94] Opinion of Varandian in Pavlovitch, “La Russie et les Arméniens”, 479.

 [95] Boghos Nubar's Papers, docs. 1, 82; Katchaznouni, Armenian Revolutionary Federation, 6–7.

 [96] Katchaznouni, Armenian Revolutionary Federation, 6–7.

 [97] ZdI, series II, vol. 7, part 1, no. 765. In April 1915 too, Nubar had been assigned with “la mission délicate de défendre les intérêts arméniens auprès des Puissances alliées”: “Boghos Nubar Pacha”, 213.

 [98] Chalabian, Andranik, 218–19.

 [99] ADNA, Correspondence Arménie 1915, I, Nubar to Sahag, 30 April.

[100] ADNA, Correspondence Arménie 1915, I, Nubar to Moutafoff, 4 August, Arakélian to Nubar, 29 June; II, Tiflis, 20 October.

[101] Jelavich and Jelavich, The Establishment of the Balkan National States, 1804–1920, 212. On the sultan and Sasun specifically, see Verheij, “Die Armenischen Massaker von 1894–1896”, 99–100.

[102] On which see Verheij, “‘Les frères de terre et d'eau’”, 225–76.

[103] In addition to Verheij on these points, see Kieser, Der verpasste Friede, 243–47.

[104] Astourian, “Testing World Systems Theory”, 601–02, 617 and passim.

[105] Verheij, “Die Armenischen Massaker von 1894–1896”.

[106] Orel and Yuca, Les “Telegrammes”, 105, no. 11.