New Issues, Perspectives and Sources in Armenian Studies
Panel 058, sponsored bySociety for Armenian Studies (SAS), 2016 Annual Meeting
On Friday, November 18 at 1:45 pm
Panel Description
Since the turn of millennium, the scholarship on the Armenian Genocide has made great strides forward. New scholars have entered the field, and a vast amount of evidence has been published. There have been new issues that put the Armenian Genocide in a broader perspective and examine the concept of Ottoman Genocide carried out against minority ethnic-religious groups, including Assyrians and Greeks. Following this new scholarship, this panel will deal with critical and uncovered aspects of the Armenian Genocide by contextualizing within the framework of late Ottoman history. First paper, ''The Hunchakian Revolutionary Party from 1891-1896'', will focus on the Hunchakian Revolutionary Party, and the way in which it organized its underground cells throughout the years 1893-1897, exploring thus the trade networks it created. Moreover, positing the history of the Hunchakian Party within the local socio-economic landscape of 19th century Anatolia and the larger Ottoman Empire will help us understand some of the motives of the massacres of 1894-1896.
After this historical background, next two papers will examine structural elements of the genocidal process itself. The second paper, ''Ritualized Rapes and Body Destruction of the Armenian Women During the Genocide'', will analyze the ritualized rape of the Armenian women and their psychological and physical destruction during the genocide. This research will be based on the survivors' testimonies as well as on the reports on the trials of the Young Turkish perpetrators. Following it, third paper, ''Two Testimonial Accounts of Two Genocide Survivors from Aintab: Life and Survival Struggles of Aintab Deportees in Salamiyya'' will explore Aintab Armenian deportees' day-to-day existence or, more precisely, the day-to-day concerns imposed by their struggle for survival based on diaries of two genocide survivors from Aintab: Krikor Bogharian (1897-1975) and Father Nerses Tavukjian (1870-1934).
Finally, last paper, ''Revisiting the Ottoman courts-martial of 1919-1920 under the light of new archival documents'', will focus on courts-martial in the various regions across the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I that 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. Under the light of a newly discovered archive, this paper will unfold the official documents and recordings about Yozgat, Erzincan and Malatia trials in particular and redraws the framework of related historiography.
The Centennial of the Armenian Genocide is an opportunity to not only examine the tragic events of 1915, but also shed light on the Hamidian period as a socio-political harbinger that prepared the ground for what took place during the Great War. In this respect, the Armenian Revolutionary Movement that emerged in the 1890’s is an important phenomenon the scrutiny of which enables us to understand the dynamics through which the Hamidian Regime categorized different people and hence identified the “undesired” or “perfidious” elements of the Empire.
As the first serious party attempting to alter the existing social order, this paper will particularly focus on the Hunchakian Revolutionary Party, and the way in which it organized its underground cells throughout the years 1891-1895, exploring thus the trade networks it created, as well as the propaganda medium it used inside Ottoman territories. The terminology used to describe the Hunchakian Party in official Ottoman documents provides us with insights to comprehend the way in which the Hamidian Regime perceived such activities and the counter-measures it adopted to thwart them.
Positing the history of the Hunchakian Party within the local socio-economic landscape of 19th century Anatolia and the larger Ottoman Empire will help us understand some of the motives of the massacres of 1894-1896 as well as the nuances that are overlooked when adopting some monolithic notions as “Armenians” vs. “Turks” or “Kurds”. Therefore, analyzing the local context in which the Party operated helps us comprehend the link between “National Ideology” and “Revolutionary Activism” and suggest some new analytic tools when approaching the history of the Armenian Revolutionary Movement in a pre-Genocide landscape.
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.
The Armenian Genocide was gender-based from the moment the Ottoman Turks set it in motion. The Union and Progress Party unleashed its genocide program against the Armenians, targeting Armenian men first. If physical elimination prevailed for men, the plan was quite different for women and children. Women and children were exiled to the remote Arabian deserts. Kidnapping, humiliation, starvation, as well as systematic and widespread rape accompanied their relocation.
Special rituals accompanied gang rapes of the Armenian women from the very beginning of the deportation. Perpetrators undressed women and girls in front of the community and then raped them on the altar of the church. This "ritual" was used in many places of Western Armenia, as a result of which many women committed suicide as they were not able to bear this "shame". The ritual following the sexual assault was cutting and damaging the women’s bodies. Perpetrators injured sexual organs, cutting the breasts and womb. Many victimized women died as a result of these acts, but those who survived were deprived of any opportunity to feel like a woman, become a mother and/or wife, again.
This paper examines the ritualized rape of the Armenian women and their psychological and physical destruction during the genocide. The research was carried out based on the survivors’ testimonies as well as on the reports on the trials of the Young Turkish perpetrators.
During the Armenian Genocide, women and children were traded, usually for the purpose of sexual slavery, forced labor, or providing a spouse within a forced marriage. Instances in which the trade of individuals occurred may fit the definition of what is called “human trafficking” today. This relatively new term, first used in 1988, can be applied to the activity of buying and selling humans that took place during the Genocide. This paper will discuss the examples of human trafficking during the Armenian Genocide as described by genocide survivors.
The United Nations “Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children” (also referred to as the Trafficking Protocol) defines human trafficking as the “recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by means of threat or use of force” for the purpose of exploitation which includes prostitution, sexual exploitation, forced labor, or slavery. Human trafficking involves the trade of individuals, and does not require a movement from one place to another. According to this definition, Armenian women and children were often victims of this crime. Women were forced into marriages, prostitution, or harems, and children were forced to work against their will, with their freedom annihilated.
This paper will examine the practice of human trafficking of Armenian women and children during the Genocide. It will examine the vulnerability of this population, as well as the role of resilience and agency.
Using the UCLA Armenian Oral History Collection of Genocide Survivors, this paper will address the following questions: How were women and children traded? Where did these trades take place (on the death marches, in bazaars, etc.)? What was exchanged during the transactions? What occurred during the negotiation process? How did the victims assert their agency?
