International scholars confirm the incontestable nature of the Armenian Genocide

By Zoryan Staff

International scholars undertake research and publications on genocide and human rights studies, documenting some of the darkest chapters of human history. The Zoryan Institute, in its search for affirmation of the Armenian Genocide, has commissioned scholars of various nationalities to conduct research and analysis on archival documents from different countries and published their work in periodicals and books. The books below feature the results of such research by world-renowned scholars from various disciplines, offering a clear perspective on the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Turkish State.

Wolfgang Gust, a German journalist, historian, author, chief of heading for the magazine Der Spiegel, and independent scholar, with the help of his wife Ingrid Gust, collected, researched, and restored, over 11 years, documents from the German Foreign Office archives during the First World War. His book, The Armenian Genocide: Evidence from the German Foreign Office Archives, 1915-1916, compiles findings from one of the uncensored sources of communication between German foreign diplomats stationed in the Ottoman Empire and their superiors in Berlin. The book was published in German (2005), Turkish (2012), and in English (2014).

Some 218 telegrams, letters and reports from German consular officials in the Ottoman Empire to the Foreign Office in Berlin describe the unfolding genocide of the Armenians. This material is unimpeachable by those who would deny the Armenian Genocide, as it is from Turkey’s own wartime ally. It provides researchers with a deeper understanding of the actions and the motives of the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide. The German edition of the book played a significant role in the German Parliament’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide on June 2, 2016. The Co-Chair of the Green Alliance Party of Germany, Cem Ozdemir, during his visit to the Zoryan Institute, had this say: “Wolfgang Gust’s work and that of the Zoryan Institute was very crucial because it was the first time that we saw the documents of the German Foreign Ministry, and these documents are probably the best-saved archive in the world on the Armenian Genocide.”

In December 1915, the German Ambassador, Count Paul Wolff-Metternich, to Constantinople wrote to the Imperial Chancellor, Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg: “… Our displeasure over the persecution of the Armenians should be clearly expressed in our press and an end be put to our gushing over the Turks. Whatever they are accomplishing is due to our doing; those are our officers, our cannons, our money… In order to achieve any success in the Armenian question, we will have to inspire fear in the Turkish government regarding the consequences. If, for military considerations, we do not dare to confront it with a firmer stance, then we will have no choice but… to stand back and watch how our ally continues to massacre.” The Chancellor’s response: “The proposed public reprimand of an ally in the course of a war would be an act which is unprecedented in history. Our only aim is to keep Turkey on our side until the end of the war, no matter whether, as a result, Armenians do perish or not.”

Late Armenian scholar Vakhan Dadrian and Turkish scholar Taner Açkam have explored the Turkish military archives together. Judgment at Istanbul: The Armenian Genocide Trials is an authoritative translation and detailed analysis of the Takvim-i Vekâyi, the official Ottoman Government record of the Turkish Military Tribunals concerning the crimes committed against the Armenians during the First World War.
In the aftermath of its disastrous defeat, an inquiry commissioned by the Ottoman government in 1919 presented enough preliminary evidence to organize a series of trials involving the perpetrators of these crimes. These authors have compiled the documentation of the trial proceedings in English for the first time and situated them within their historical and legal context. These documents show that Wartime Cabinet ministers, Young Turk party leaders, and others inculpated in these crimes were court-martialed by the Turkish Military Tribunals. Most were found guilty and received sentences ranging from prison with hard labour to death. In remarkable contrast to Nuremberg, the Turkish Military Tribunals were conducted solely based on existing Ottoman domestic penal codes.

This substitution of a national for an international criminal court stands in history as a unique initiative of national self-condemnation. This compilation is significantly enhanced by an extensive analysis of the historical background, political nature and legal implications of the criminal prosecution of the twentieth century’s first state-sponsored crime of genocide against its own citizens.

Turkey has gone through significant transformations over the last century–from the Ottoman Empire and the Young Turk era to the Republic of today–but throughout, it has demonstrated troubling continuities in its encouragement and deployment of mass violence. In particular, the construction of a Sunni Muslim-Turkish identity has been achieved in part by designating ethnic-religious groups, including Alevis, Armenians, Assyrians, Jews, Greeks, Kurds, and Yazidis, as ‘internal enemies’ at whom public hatred can be directed.

This volume provides a wide range of case studies and historiographical reflections on the alarming recurrence of such violence in Turkish history. It shows not only how atrocities against ethnic-religious groups have propelled the nation’s very sense of itself but also how the impunity of these atrocities has contributed to broader patterns of violence in the Middle East, including the rise of ISIS and other non-state actors and their violence against minorities.

Amidst the headlines of escalating tensions between nations, devastating conflicts, and unease around genocide denial globally, it can be difficult to make sense of how to move forward. The Zoryan Institute strives to raise awareness about and enrich the field of genocide studies and human rights through academic endeavours. The Institute publishes and sponsors many books, articles, and journals alongside its university program and diaspora studies. We believe these three books should be in every human rights library worldwide and Armenian homes as part of contemporary Armenian history.

Please consider supporting a library in your community by donating a copy of one of these books in addition to obtaining one for your family. For further information, please visit: zoryaninstitute.org/publications/#books.