Armenian Genocide Documents

[HayerMiacek]

Memorandum by the Committee of Union and Progress outlining the strategy for implementing the Armenian Genocide. 1914-1915.

http://www.armenian-genocide.org/br-cup-memo_1.html

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MEMORANDUM OF THE "TEN COMMANDMENTS"
OF THE COMMITTEE OF UNION AND PROGRESS.

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Just before Christmas, I was approached confidentially by someone who stated that there was still in the Direction of Public Security, Constantinople, an official who has been in the Minister of the Interior's Department during the whole of the war, and who had charge of the archives relating to the secret measures and orders issued by the Minister of the Interior as a result of the decisions taken by the Committee of Union and Progress. He said that just before the Armistice, officials had been going to the archives department at night and making a clean sweep of most of the documents, but that the original draft of the orders relating to the Armenian massacres had been saved and could probably be procured by us through him on payment of Ltq. £10,000 paper money. He pledged me to secrecy if I went any further in the matter.

In the course of the next few weeks, I followed the matter up. The man who stole or rescued this draft copy is to-day an official in the Direction of Public Security. I persuaded him without any great difficulty that it would be in his own interests to let us have the documents without payment, and that if in the future he gets into trouble, we would protect him.

There are four documents in this dossier. The first is what is called the "Ten Commandments" and is by far the most interesting. It is unsigned and is the rough draft, but the handwriting is said to be that of Essad Bey, who was at the time one of the confidential secretaries keeping secret archives in the Ministry of the Interior. The second document which is a decypher of a wire from Ahmed Djemal Pasha in Syria regarding the Armenian expulsion is in the actual handwriting of Ahmet Essad and undoubtedly the handwriting of these two documents numbers 1 and 2 in the original Turkish are of that of one and the same man.

There remains therefore only the arrest of this individual to prove up to the hilt the authenticity of otherwise of the draft "Ten Commandments" document. It is extremely important from the point of view of bringing home their guilt to all those responsible for the Armenian massacres, who directed rather than executed them. My informant states that at the meeting when this draft was drawn up, there were present Talaat Pasha, Dr. Beheddin, Shakir, Dr. Nazim, Ismail Jambolet and Colonel Sefi, sub-Director of the Political Section at the Ministry of War; its date is given as December or January 1914 or 1915.

My informant declares that messengers were sent to the different Vali's in the provinces with instructions to read these orders to them and then return the originals which were to be destroyed. Analysis of the documents the "Ten Commandments" numbers 3 and 4 shows that in order to economize their forces, the Turks distinguished between places where they could rely on the population to go ahead with the massacres almost unaided, and other localities where they felt it required the presence of the military in case the population did not show sufficient zeal.




VERBATIM TRANSLATION.

DOCUMENTS RELATING TO COMITÉ UNION AND
PROGRES ORGANIZATION IN THE ARMENIAN MASSACRES.

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1. The 10 commandments of the COMITÉ UNION AND PROGRES.

(1). Profiting by Arts: 3 and 4 of Comité Union and Progres, close all Armenian Societies, and arrest all who worked against Government at any time among them and send them into the provinces such as Bagdad or Mosul, and wipe them out either on the road or there.

(2). Collect arms.

(3). Excite Moslem opinion by suitable and special means, in places as Van, Erzeroum, Adana, where as a point of fact the Armenians have already won the hatred of the Moslems, provoke organised massacres as the Russians did at Baku.

(4). Leave all executive to the people in the provinces such as Erzeroum, Van, Mumuret ul Aziz, and Bitlis, and use Military disciplinary forces (i.e. Gendarmerie) ostensibly to stop massacres, while on the contrary in places as Adana, Sivas, Broussa, Ismidt and Smyrna actively help the Moslems with military force.

(5). Apply measures to exterminate all males under 50, priests and teachers, leave girls and children to be Islamized.

(6). Carry away the families of all who succeed in escaping and apply measures to cut them off from all connection with their native place.

(7). On the ground that Armenian officials may be spies, expel and drive them out absolutely from every Government department or post.

(8). Kill off in an appropriate manner all Armenians in the Army - this to be left to the military to do.

(9) All action to begin everywhere simultaneously, and thus leave no time for preparation of defensive measures.

(10). Pay attention to the strictly confidential nature of these instructions, which may not go beyond two or three persons.

n.b. Above is verbatim translation - date December 1914 or January 1915.

[HayerMiacek]

Report on the forced exile of the remaining Armenians from Aintab and Marash, November 15, 1922

http://www.armenian-genocide.org/br-11-15-22.html

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BRITISH CONSULATE
ALEPPO,
15 November 1922

My Lord,

SITUATION IN TURKISH DISTRICTS NEAR SYRIAN NORTHERN FRONTIER.-

I have the honour to report that on November 8 the Turks gave notice to the Armenians of Aintab & Marash and of the district, stretching Eastward to Birejik, that they must all leave the country in a month. This is done in pursuance of the policy that no Christians are to be allowed to stay in Turkey.

Aintab which formerly held 40000 Armenians now contains only 3000.

The French Consular Representative in Aintab, Mr. de Sandfort, has been transferred to Adana and has not been replaced.

I have the honor to be,
With the highest respect,
My Lord,
Your Lordship's most obedient,
Humble servant
(signed) James Morgan
Consul

Copies to British High Commissioners, Constantinople, Cairo, Jerusalem and Bagdad.

" " British Consuls, Beyrout and Damascus, G. H. Q., Cairo and British Liaison Officer, Beyrout, London S.W.1

[HayerMiacek]

Statistics on the pre-war and post-war Armenian population in Biledjik, Bardizag, and Hendek

http://www.armenian-genocide.org/br-stats_1.html

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STATISTICS SHOWING THE PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER
OF ARMENIANS IN THE TOWN OF BILEDJIK ALSO NUMBER OF HOUSES
HABITABLE.

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Number of Armenians before deportation.

5000

Number of Armenians repatriated.

1000

Number of Armenian housing before deportation.

700

Number in good condition.

100

Number that can be repaired.

200

Number demolished.

400

Number of the factories belonging to Armenians.

12

" " " " " " "
destroyed, all machinery and accessories looted.
All churches and schools belonging to the Armenians
Catholic & Protestant Armenians, damaged as well as all
water piping in the Armenian quarters destroyed.





STATISTICS OF THE ARMENIAN POPULATION OF BARDIZAG
AS SUPPLIED BY THE ARMENIAN COMMUNITY.

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Houses pre-war

2200

Houses half habitable

250

Houses uninhabitable

300

Houses dismantled or destroyed

1600



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Armenians previous to the war

12000

Armenians returned from exile

2000

Armenians settled elsewhere

1500

Armenians expected to return

50

Armenians died or massacred during exile

8450

Armenians requiring assistance

1400







STATISTICS SUPPLIED BY THE TURKISH AUTHORITIES OF BILEDJIK
SHOWING PRESENT POPULATION OF THE CAZA AS WELL AS
NUMBER OF ARMENIANS DEPORTED AND REPA-
TRIATED.

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Musulmans

14887

GREEKS

5575

Armenians

2617



23279

Number of Armenians deported.

2207

" " " in military service.

366

" " " remained in district.

44



2617

" " " repatriated.

1000





STATISTICS SHOWING THE PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER OF ARMENIANS
IN THE NAHIE OF HENDEK - CAZA OF ADA BAZAR ALSO
NUMBER OF HOUSES HABITABLE.

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Number of Armenians deported.

2021

Number of Armenians repatriated

250

Expected to return.

10

Number of houses before deportation.

350

Number of houses habitable.

10




PRO reference:-FO 371/3660/512/paper/40460/folios 8-11

British Crown copyright: Public Record Office.
This document may be copied and downloaded for personal and research use only.
You must apply to the Public Record Office for permission for any other use.

[HayerMiacek]

First-hand account by a Turkish army officer on the deportation of Armenians from Trebizond and Erzerum, December 26, 1916

http://www.armenian-genocide.org/br-12-26-16_1.html

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CIRCULATED TO THE KING AND WAR CABINET
[December 26, 1916]
ARMENIAN MASSACRES.
Report by an Eye-Witness, Lieutenant Sayied Ahmed Moukhtar Baas.

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In April 1915 I was quartered at Erzeroum. An order came from Constantinople that Armenians inhabiting the frontier towns and village be deported to the interior. It was said then that this was only a precautional measure. I saw at that time large convoys of Armenians go through Erzeroum. They were mostly old men, women and children. Some of the able-bodied men had been recruited in the Turkish Army and many had fled to Russia. The massacres had not begun yet. In May 1915 I was transferred to Trebizond. In July an order came to deport to the interior all the Armenians in the Vilayet of Trebizond. Being a member of the Court Martial I knew that deportations meant massacres.

The Armenian Bishop of Trebizond was ordered to proceed under escort to Erzeroum to answer for charges trumped up against him. But instead of Erzeroum he was taken to Baipurt and from there to Gumush-Khana. The Governor of the latter place was then Colonel Abdul-Kadar Aintabli of the General Staff. He is famous for his atrocities against the Armenians. He had the Bishop murdered at night. The Bishop of Erzeroum was also murdered at Gumush-Khana.

Besides the deportation order referred to above an Imperial "Iradeh" was issued ordering that all deserters when caught, should be shot without trial. The secret order read "Armenians" in lieu of "deserters". The Sultan's "Iradeh" was accompanied by a "fatwa" from Sheikh-ul-Islam stating that the Armenians had shed Moslem blood and their killing was lawful. Then the deportations started. The children were kept back at first. The Government opened up a school for the grown up children and the American Consul of Trebizond instituted an asylum for the infants. When the first batches of Armenians arrived at Gumush-Khana all able-bodied men were sorted out with the excuse that they were going to be given work. The women and children were sent ahead under escort with the assurance by the Turkish authorities that their final destination was Mosul and that no harm will befall them. The men kept behind, were taken out of town in batches of 15 and 20, lined up on the edge of ditches prepared beforehand, shot and thrown into the ditches. Hundreds of men were shot every day in a similar manner. The women and children were attacked on their way by the ("Shotas") the armed bands organised by the Turkish Government who attacked them and seized a certain number. After plundering and committing the most dastardly outrages on the women and children they massacred them in cold blood. These attacks were a daily occurrence until every woman and child had been got rid of. The military escorts had strict orders not to interfere with the "Shotas".

The children that the Government had taken in charge were also deported and massacred.

The infants in the care of the American Consul of Trebizond were taken away with the pretext that they were going to be sent to Sivas where an asylum had been prepared for them. They were taken out to sea in little boats. At some distance out they were stabbed to death, put in sacks and thrown into the sea. A few days later some of their little bodies were washed up on the shore at Trebizond.

In July 1915 I was ordered to accompany a convoy of deported Armenians. It was the last batch from Trebizond. There were in the convoy 120 men, 700 children and about 400 women. From Trebizond I took them to Gumish-Khana. Here the 120 men were taken away, and, as I was informed later, they were all killed. At Gumish-Khana I was ordered to take the women and children to Erzinjian. On the way I saw thousands of bodies of Armenians unburied. Several bands of "Shotas" met us on the way and wanted me to hand over to them women and children. But I persistently refused. I did leave on the way about 300 children with Moslem families who were willing to take care of them and educate them. The "Mutessarrif" of Erzinjian ordered me to proceed with the convoy to Kamack. At the latter place the authorities refused to take charge of the women and children. I fell ill and wanted to go back, but I was told that as long as the Armenians in my charge were alive I would be sent from one place to the other. However I managed to include my batch with the deported Armenians that had come from Erzeroum. In charge of the latter was a colleague of mine Mohamed Effendi from the Gendarmerie. He told me afterwards that after leaving Kamach they came to a valley where the Euphrates ran. A band of Shotas sprang out and stopped the convoy. They ordered the escort to keep away and then shot every one of the Armenians and threw them in the river.

At Trebizond the Moslems were warned that if they sheltered Armenians they would be liable to the death penalty.

Government officials at Trebizond picked up some of the prettiest Armenian women of the best families. After committing the worst outrages on them they had them killed.

Cases of rape of women and girls even publicly are very numerous. They were systematically murdered after the outrage.

The Armenians deported from Erzeroum started with their cattle and whatever possessions they could carry. When they reached Erzinjian they became suspicious seeing that all the Armenians had already been deported. The Vali of Erzeroum allayed their fears and assured them most solemnly that no harm would befall them. He told them that the first convoy should leave for Kamach, the others remaining at Erzeroum until they received word from their friends informing of their safe arrival to destination. And so it happened. Word came that the first batch had arrived safely at Kamach, which was true enough. But the men were kept at Kamach and shot, and the women were massacred by the Shotas after leaving that town.

The Turkish officials in charge of the deportation and extermination of the Armenians were: At Erzeroum, Bihas Eddin Shaker Bey; At Trebizond; Naiil Bey, Tewfik Bey Monastirly, Colonel of Gendarmerie, The Commissioner of Police; At Kamach; The member of Parliament for Erzinjian. The Shotas headquarters were also at Kamach. Their chief was the Kurd Murzabey who boasted that he alone had killed 70,000 Armenians. Afterwards he was thought to be dangerous by the Turks and thrown into prison charged with having hit a gendarme. He was eventually executed in secret.