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Revisiting the Ottoman courts-martial of 1919-1920 under the light of new archival documents
Abstract
Pursuant to the Armenian Genocide, courts-martial in the various regions of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I were established to basically charge the leadership of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) and selected former officials regarding subversion of the constitution, wartime profiteering, and the massacres of the Armenians. A few tribunals were able to gather evidence, shed light on the massacres, and give a verdict regarding the responsible officials. On the other hand, the overwhelming majority of war criminals got away scot-free by getting involved in the Turkish national struggle and after a while later the courts-martial were fruitlessly dismissed. In addition, after the foundation of Turkish Republic, the ones who were executed by court decision were declared as national martyrs, and the tribunal had been labeled as treason. Nonetheless, these tribunals achieved to unearth many important testimonies and documents relating the genocide, although most of them had remained unnoticed and unobtainable; theretofore the field has unfortunately understudied. In this context, a newly discovered archive, however, will make a huge contribution to the related field. Under the light of that archive, this article unfolds the official documents and recordings about Yozgat, Erzincan and Malatia trials in particular and redraws the framework of related historiography. In addition, this article presents totally new findings and sheds light on the local war crimes.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Ottoman Empire
Sub Area
19th-21st Centuries