The Young Turks' Crime against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire (Human Rights and Crimes against Humanity)

Any work on the Ottomans and Armenians in 1915-1916 runs into three major problems: Turkish denial, Armenian intransigence, and lack of documentation. Taner Akçam attempts to address the third. In doing so, he has become the hero of the second and the victim of the first.I have traveled extensively in Turkey, speak some Turkish, and love the Turkish people. I am always dismayed, though, at the lack of understanding many Turks have of their own history. When the alphabet was changed from Arabic to Latin in 1928, most Turks became instantly "illiterate". After a generation, there were few who could read their own history or the documents that it produced. Turkish school books were written to sanitize and idealize the founding of the Republic. The Armenian "genocide" was rewritten to mean a period in which Turks were victims of Armenian terror and massacres. I have visited museums in Turkey that proclaim that the only "genocide" was that attempted on the Turks by the Armenians, or proclaim that Armenians were treasonous for not supporting the government that was destroying them.On the other hand, the most vocal of those publicly taking the Armenian side are almost hysterical in their hatred of all things Turkish. They vituperously attack writers who point out that, indeed, there were many Armenians who sided with the Russians, or that there were some Armenian terrorist groups, or that Ottoman incompetence created many of the problems, or that not all Turks agreed with the actions against the Armenians.Akçam has made an admirable effort to sort through the available information, putting a turbulent time into some kind of order. Most documents are missing, printed histories are usually biased, and frankly the story is so convoluted as to be almost impossible to understand.The Young Turks had determined that to have a nation, it must be based on Turkish speaking Sunni Moslems, who in turn must be a majority in all areas. Large minorities (such as Christians, Shi'a or Kurds) were seen as a threat. The Armenians were to be partially dispersed to predominately Moslem areas, where they would never exceed 5% of the population. The excess was to be relocated by force and, through a mixture of incompetence, unconcern and violence, "eliminated".Post World War One, Turkey was torn by vindictive minorities and partially ruled by the victorious Entente. The Turks themselves were tired and worn; their leaders were divided into those who were resigned to their fate and those who were angry. The government itself was divided between those who ruled from Istanbul and tried to comply with the wishes of the victors, and the Nationalists who ruled from Ankara and who accepted accused war criminals into their leadership.In addition, Greeks, Kurds and Armenians attempted to form their own autonomous homelands based on Woodrow Wilson's proclaimed principles. Greeks of Turkey were supported by the Greek nation; the Armenians received help from abroad and from Russian Armenia.I know that Taner Akçam is not a favorite of most Turks, but by rejecting the myths of the Republic's early history he is illustrating the only way to come to terms with an embarrassing past. I highly recommend this book, as well as Akçam's "A Shameful Act".

It is shameful that my nation was born by exterminating part of its own citizens based on religion. The decisions, as documented by Mr. Akcam, were made before even the start of the war that the new nation was to be "pure" with only very limited allowance for those not having the correct religion.Here we are 90 years later still in the same mindset sending anyone who even questions religious fairly tales and superstitions to prisons. Our government still supports the cannibals in Syria and arms and supports them on behalf of the US and the EU while these consumers of human flesh are housed, harbored, taken care of inside our borders so they can attack more and eat more raw human flesh for their religion! As these terrorists attack the Turkish and Kurdish villages with impunity inside Turkey because (still the same argument that killed millions of Armenians 90 years ago) now they believe this time the Alevites or Kurds or Shiites do not have the correct religion, the Turkish state turns a blind eye.Once you are on the slippery slope of bigotry events never stop there. First they came for the Greeks, then they exterminated the Armenians, then it was the communists, then the time came for the Kurds and the poor and the Alevites, now it is the Gezi Park Capulcu Turkish/Muslim people demanding democracy and justice being targeted. As long as you have the imperialist, Saudi and Israeli money and support behind you the tradition continues. Isn't it strange that those who started this genocide against their own citizens all for the fear of imperialism and internal opposition and fear of an Armenian nation have now become the very puppets of the same imperialism in attacking the peoples of the region. I guess once you are a murderer, once you tasted the blood, it is hard to leave old habits.Thank you Mr. Akcam for a very informative research.

So far I have read only the first chapter and part of the second chapter of The Young Turks Crime Against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing. When I write a book on this subject I would make a very clear distinction between hungry eyed human beings or Turks, and only hungry stomached humans or Turks. The former are the most evil people on earth. No matter how much they eat, they are never satisfied. The only time their hunger is abated is when a palm full of dirt is thrown on their graves. And I don't care to be involved in their death, save in self defense. In addition to Taner Akcam there are many other Turks who are many other good Turks. Also all Armenians are not good. During the Genocide there were some Armenians who called to the attention of the Hungry eyed murderers, "Effendim bourdada gevur var." Meaning, "My lord, there is an infidel here also, kill him also." A turkish family in the same street in Aintab where my parents lived, took into their home some orphaned Armenian kids and raised them as their own. When things calmed down, they put them in an Armenian home, so they could be raised as Armenians. My final comment is any human being that does not live by the golden rule, his humanity stops at his looks. This applies to people of all nations, especially to leaders such as Erdogan.

Taner Akcam has come up with new evidence I have not seen before which clearly explains what happened and why. He has used Turkish and German sources extensively to back up findings from the more well known sources used by other historians. In particular he has used Turkish Government sources to refute Turkish Government arguments propounded by other historians that this was a misunderstood humane exercise,

A most comprehensive analysis of true causes and routes of the Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey. A reference is made to a great number of official documents from Turkish archives, most of them made available for a detailed review for the first time. The analytical side of this comprehensive narrative is as impressive as the quality of the extensive literature that formed the basis of this analysis.Dear Sir, you can surely be very proud of your work. Any individual that cares about the problem of genocide should extend their great appreciation for the work you have done. It is very human of you to make such a great effort to get to the real picture of what happened almost a century ago; yet the routes and the tragedy of these horrible events seem so much contemporary today. Sincerely, Anushavan

The author has done excellent research in documents so far not available to the public. German, Austrian, British and American documents known so far had already provided sufficient proof for the fact that the Turkish genocide of Armenians cannot seriously be denied. Now for the first time we get access to Osman and Arab sources in translation, which complete this picture for the Turkish part of the picture. The analysis of about 600 documents from Osman/Turkish archives shows that, while there has not been a single big order for annihilation, there have been massive and widespread, clearly named efforts of the so called Young Turks to get rid of the Armenians by all means, first by means of deportation losses and then by conscious killing.The widespread dumb view of Turkish nationalism denying these facts since many decades is definitely history with this book. Turks finally should open their minds and begin to face the bitter truth in their history. An open minded discourse about the terrible failures of the past would in fact not harm Turkish interests, but rather show that they have reached some of the maturity belonging to modern democratic structures, with open dicourse not supressing bitter truth, like the German example shows.

As someone who lost his maternal grandfather in the "Armenian Massacres" in Turkey, this book was painful but instructive to read.Some of the stories which are well documented in this book agree with what my maternal grandmother told me about how she lost her husband around 1918. Her husband (my granfather) was killed by the Turks in Mardin when she was 6 months pregnant with my mother. I used to think these stories were exaggerated but after reading this book, I realize they were not exaggerated at all !!.This book presents a very well documented,academic account of the "Young Turks' Crime Against Humanity".It makes for an interesting though sad commentary on the Turks ongoing denial of the "Armenian Massacres" that they have perpetrated.A must read for any Armenian or other person who is interested in this period of Turkey's modern history.

Excellent ouvrage, publié par un historien turc sur des événements qui continuent à hanter notre présent. Il faut clore cette blessure.