Chronological Index:

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 The Young Turk Criminal Proceedings

When the Armenian patriarchate was reestablished following the Mudros Armistice, an Information Office (Déghédadou Tivan) was formed to collect evidence for the case. The creation of an administrative commission of inquiry, “the Mazhar commission”, which existed at the center of General Security, by the imperial decree of November 21, 1918, under which military tribunals were given the task of judging Young Turk criminals in the course of the following months, had a number of files to deal with. From the beginning of its formation, the “Mazhar commission” embarked on recovering testimonies of witnesses and focused its investigations primarily on State officials implicated in crimes against the Armenian population. It enjoyed extended powers to render justice, research and seize documents, and also to arrest and imprison suspects and to benefit from the services of the police and other State offices. From the outset, Hasan Mazhar addressed an official memorandum to the prefects and sub-prefects of the provinces, requesting originals or certified copies of the orders received by local authorities to deport and massacre Armenians, which were remitted. In just under three months the commission made 130 files, which were turned over to the court martial.

Reactions observed in the Istanbul press concerning the criminal proceedings of the Young Turks demonstrate that the vast majority of the population did not consider the acts against Armenians as crimes worthy of sanction. It also seems that the court martial was most concerned with focusing culpability on a small group of men rather than on the Ottoman State in its attempt to give a certain “purity” to Turkey in preparation for the signing of a peace treaty with the victors of the war.

It is important to recall the preparations made principally by the British and French governments, which are largely unknown in western historiography, to bring Young Turk crimes to an international High Court. The legal categories elaborated by the commission of Liabilities and its sub-commissions, which convened at the preliminary peace meetings in February 1919, were never acted upon in order to punish the Young Turk executioners of Armenians, but later directly inspired the lawyers that worked on these questions.

1918; November 23: A commission of inquiry from the administration is set up by the sultan at the heart of the General Security and is presided over by Hasan Mazhar Bey, the former Governor of Ankara. It undertakes the collection of eye-witnesses accounts and concentrates its investigations in particular on the civil servants of the State implicated in crimes committed against Armenian populations. In three months, it compiles three hundred files, which are progressively transmitted to the military tribunal. *** (Dadrian, 1994: 507; and Akçam, 1999: 445-446).

1918; November 24 to December 21: The fifth commission of the Ottoman Parliament, which is charged with investigating war crimes, questions members of the Young Turk Central Committee and cabinets of Ministers still present in Istanbul ***(Kévorkian, 2006: 890).

1919; January 8: An extraordinary military tribunal is definitively formed by Sultan decree and is designed to judge the following criminal categories: 1) The central instigators of crimes against Armenians; 2) Those who worked under the auspices of those mainly responsible, such as influential members of the Central Committee of the CUP; 3) members of clandestine organizations, such as the Special Organization, along with high-ranking military officials and criminals set free from prison; 4) Deputees who did not protest and who acquiesced to the crimes committed; 5) Publicists who applauded and encouraged these crimes, and incited public opinion with their articles filled with falsehoods and provocations; 6) Those who enriches themselves or otherwise profited from these crimes; and 7) Those pashas and beys who participated in the crimes. *** (Dadrian, 1994: 508-509; and Kévorkian, 2006: 905).

1919; January 29: Dr. Reşid, Governor of Diyarbekir, and İsmail Canpolat, the prefect of Istanbul, are arrested. ** (La Renaissance, No. 57, February 5, 1919; and Kévorkian, 2006: 882).

1919; February 3: The Commission of Responsabilities for the war and sanctions, created during the preliminary peace conferences, holds its first meeting. It is entasked with presenting the propositions for the “cases not included in the regular files”, which exceed war crimes outlined to date. *** (Kévorkian, 2006: 936-937).

1919; February 5 to April 8: Trials related to the massacres at Yozgat are held in front of the military tribunal at Istanbul. Here the kaymakam Kemal is condemned to death, and the Gendarmerie Commander, Tevfik Bey, receives a sentence of fifteen years of hard labor. *** (T.V., No. 3617, August 7, 1919).

1919; March 4 to October 10: Damad Ferid Pasha presides over the Liberal Council of Ministers.

1919; March 5: The commission of Responsabilities at the preliminary peace conferences submits its conclusions. In its three main points, its defines the “acts that constitute violations of customs and laws of war”, and refers to the preliminary norms established in section IV E of the Convention of the Hague (1907): systematic terrorism; murder and massacre (article 46); torture (article 46); use of civilians as human shields (article 46); attacks on the honor of women (article 46); confiscation of private property (article 53); pillage; collective punishment, including the arrest and execution of hostages (article 50); action without written orders or with recourse to law (article 51); searches carried out under the guise of military operations (article 52); seizure of goods belonging to the public or to educational or charitable institutions (article 56); the arbitrary destruction of public or private property; deportation and forced labor (article 46); and the execution of civilians under false allegations of war crimes. The report recommends the formation of a High Tribunal to punish these crimes. ** (Kévorkian, 2006: 937-938).

1919; March 10: The Ottoman police carries out arrests of Said Halim; Hayri Bey, former Sheikh ul-Islam; Musa Kâzım, Sheikh ul-Islam; Rifât Bey, former Minister of Finance; Halil Bey Menteşe, former Minister of Foreign Affairs; Ahmed Şükrü Bey, former Minister of Public Instruction; Ahmed Nesimi Bey, former Minister of Foreign Affairs; İbrahim Bey, former Minister of Justice; İsmail Müştak Bey, Secretary-General of the Senate; Habib Bey, Deputy from Bolu; Ali Münif, former Secretary of State for the Interior; Hilmi Bey, Deputy from Ankara; Ahmed Emin Bey, Deputy from Istanbul; the Editor in chief of Vakıt, Celal Nuri Bey; the Editor in chief of Attı, Osman Bey; Secretary-General of the Ministry of the Interior, Fethi Bey Okyar; former Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of Teceddüd, Salah Cimcöz; former Deputy, Fuad Bey; Director of Telephones, Sabancalı İsmail Hakkı; Editor of İstiklal, İzzet Bey; CUP member Hoca Hasan Fehmi; Deputy of Sinop, Mustafa Reşad Bey, Director of the political division of the Ottoman police. *** (La Renaissance, No. 85, March 11, 1919; and Kévorkian, 2006: 882).

1919; March 20: Arrest of Ahmed Ağaoğlu, member of the CUP Central Committee. *** (La Renaissance, No. 93, March 21, 1919; and Kévorkian, 2006: 882).

1919; Mars 27: Arrest of Cevad bey, military Commander of Istanbul, Yusuf Ziya bey, member of the CUP Central Committee and Necati bey. *** (La Renaissance, No. 100, March 28, 1919 and Kévorkian, 2006: 882)

1919; April 17: Arrest of Midhat Şükrü Bey, Secretary-General of the CUP; and Küçük Talat Bey and Ziya Gökalp, members of the CUP Central Committee. *** (La Renaissance, No. 118, April 18, 1919; and Kévorkian, 2006: 882).

1919; April 27: The trial of member of the CUP Central Committee and Council of Ministers opens before the extraordinary military tribunal at Istanbul. Those on trial include: Halil Menteşe (former President of Parliament and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, and member of the CUP Central Committee); Midhat Şükrü (Secretary-General of the CUP Central Committee); Ziya Gökalp (rector of Istanbul University and member of the central bureau of the CUP); Kara Kemal (former Minister of Provisions and member of the CUP Central Committee); Yusuf Rıza (member of the central bureau of the CUP and head of the S.O. at Trabzon); Said Halim (former Grand-Vizier and member of the CUP Central Committee); Ahmed Şükrü (former Minister of Education and member of the CUP Central Committee); Giritli Ahmed Nesimi Sayman (former Minister of Foreign Affairs and member of the CUP Central Committee); Atıf Bey (CUP delegate, then Governor of Ankara and Kastamonu, and member of the CUP Central Committee); Ahmed Cevad Bey (Military Commander of the Capital); İbrahim Bey (former Minister of Justice, then President of the Council of State); Küçük Talat Bey (member of the CUP Central Committee). Eventually added to this group on June 3 were: Hayri Effendi (former Sheikh ul-Islam and member of the CUP Central Committee); Musa Kâzım (former Sheikh ul-Islam and member of the CUP Central Committee); Mustafa Şerif Bey (former Minister of Commerce and Agriculture and member of the CUP Central Committee); İsmail Canpolat (Director-General of Security and member of the CUP); Abbas Halim Pasha (Minister of Public Works and brother of Said Halim); Ali Münif Bey (former Secretary of the State to the Ministry of the Interior); Hüseyin Haşım (Minister of Post and Telegraph); and Rifât Bey (President of the Senate), in the absence of the main individuals indicted. *** (T.V., No. 3571, June 11, 1919, p. 127).

1919; May 4 to 17: Seven hearings are held in the trials of six members of the CUP Central Committee for Midhat Şükrü, Ziya Gökalp, Ahmed Cevad, Küçük Talat, Yusuf Rıza, and Atıf Bey, who remain in the Capital. *** (T.V., No. 3543, May 12, 1919, pp. 15-31; No. 3547, May 15, 1919, pp. 33-36; etc.; and Kévorkian, 2006: 961-963).

1919; May 22: Forty-one Young Turks charged with crimes are freed by the military tribunal at Istanbul. ** (Kévorkian, 2006: 945).

1919; May 28: British authorities decide to take control of the Young Turk members still interned in the prison of the Istanbul military court. They are put onto a warship and imprisoned at Malta. ** (Kévorkian, 2006: 945).

1919; July 5: The military tribunal at Istanbul delivers a verdict aimed solely at those charged in the trial of Young Turk Ministers. Condemned to death in abstentia are: Talat, Enver, Cemal, and Dr. Nâzım; and sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor are: Cavid, Mustafa Şerif, and Musa Kâzım. *** (T.V., No. 3604, August 5, 1919, pp. 217-220).

1920; January 21: A “law to restore Armenian properties”, made up of 33 articles, is adopted by the Ottoman Parliament, but is never applied. *** (T.V., No. 3747, January 25, 1920, p. 6, col. 1-2).

1920, Spring: Social service branches of the Armenian Patriarchate at Istanbul estimate that 6,000 women and children remain captive throughout Istanbul, İzmit, Bursa, and Eskişehir along with 2,000 at Karahisar, 1,500 in the Bolu district, 3,000 at Konya, 500 at Kastamonu, 2,000 at Trabzon, and 3,500 at Sıvas and Kayseri, 3,000 at Erzerum, 25,000 in the Diyarbekir-Mardin region, 3,000 at Harput, and 5,000 in the towns of Bitlis and Van. *** (Kévorkian, 2006: 929).

1921; March 15, Berlin: The former Grand-Vizier, Mehmed Talat, who had taken refuge in Germany since November 1918, is assassinated by an Armenian militant, Soghomon Tehlerian.

1922; April 17,Berlin: Bahaeddin Şakir and Cemal Azmi are executed in the street by two Armenian militants.

1922; July 25, Tiflis (Georgia): Ahmed Cemal is assassinated by an Armenian militant.

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