gunduz-aktan-kitap-soyledikleri-ve-yazdiklari

WHAT HE SAID AND WHAT HE WROTE
intent to destroy a specific group, hence whether the relocation was
a covert genocide. I recounted earlier in this article that the
relocation decision was aimed at preventing the Armenians from
collaborating with the Russian armies and, at the same time, from
saving the Turks living in the areas specified by the Hinchag’s map
from being subjected to ethnic cleansing as in the case of the Turks
in the Balkans. The Armenians had formed their own units inside
the Russian military forces and were fighting the Ottoman armies
along the eastern front. Ethnic Armenian soldiers were deserting
the Ottoman armies fighting on other fronts, joining guerrilla
bands inside the country, attacking the Ottomans from behind and
cutting their logistic supply lines. The Van rebellion constituted the
first step of these activities.
Having seen that all hope of reaching an agreement with the
Armenians had been lost, and that the warnings it had issued via
the Patriarch were not being heeded, the Ottoman Government
was left with no workable alternative but to decide to transfer the
Armenians to a region in Syria and northern Iraq, which were then
both Ottoman lands. In a telegram sent to Talat Paşa, the Minister
of Interior, on 2 May 1915, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief
Enver Paşa reported that the Russians were driving the Muslims
in Russia towards the Ottoman border, and that these people were
in a pitiful state. He referred to the Armenian rebellion in the
vicinity of Van and suggested that the Armenians should either be
driven towards the Russian border or dispersed towards some
other areas. As a result, Talat Paşa personally assumed
responsibility to initiate the removal of the Armenians to other
parts of the empire instead of pushing them towards the Russian
border, and eventually to Russia. After a while, to share the
responsibility he ensured the passing of an interim law (30 May)
relevant to the issue. The commanders were authorized to
instantly deal with those persons who disrupted law and order,
staged attacks or put up resistance, and to relocate one by one or
en masse the population of those villages or towns that engaged in
espionage and committed high treason. Thus, the relocation task
was handed over to the army.
It should be obvious that it was out of the question for a
decision to have been made well in advance for the Armenian
relocation. No advance planning had been made prior to that
decision, and the organizational preparations needed had not been
done either. A top military commander concerned about the grave
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