gunduz-aktan-kitap-soyledikleri-ve-yazdiklari
gunduz-aktan-kitap-soyledikleri-ve-yazdiklari
gunduz-aktan-kitap-soyledikleri-ve-yazdiklari
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SÖYLEDİKLERİ VE YAZDIKLARI<br />
must refrain from measures which might cause massacre” . The<br />
evidences abo<strong>ve</strong> indicate that the relocation was not arranged with<br />
the aim of destroying the Armenians.<br />
Some pro-Armenian writers claim that the Ottoman archi<strong>ve</strong>s<br />
being opened up with a delay (due to the need for classification)<br />
was a ploy on the part of the go<strong>ve</strong>rnment to eliminate the kind of<br />
documents that would pro<strong>ve</strong> the Ottoman Go<strong>ve</strong>rnment’s decision<br />
to exterminate. They argue that in the aftermath of the war the<br />
İttihatçıs (members of the Union and Progress Party) collected and<br />
destroyed the documents implicating them. Yet, in the Ottoman<br />
recording system all incoming and outgoing documents would be<br />
filed into logs. Once a document was filed into the records, there<br />
was no way to destroy it. Besides, the large numbers of<br />
communications sent out by the Sublime Porte (Prime Ministry)<br />
arri<strong>ve</strong>d in various provincial centers throughout the empire. A<br />
great part of these were the circulars sent from the capital city to<br />
more than one go<strong>ve</strong>rnor office. So, e<strong>ve</strong>n if we were to assume that<br />
the copies kept in the capital city were destroyed, it would be<br />
practically impossible to cofrect and destroy the multitude of their<br />
originals kept at various centers.<br />
There is another piece of clear evidence indicating that the<br />
go<strong>ve</strong>rnment of the time had no intention of exterminating the<br />
Armenians. Members of the gangs that attacked the Armenian<br />
convoys and those officials who exploited the Armenian plight,<br />
neglected their duties or abused their powers were court martialled<br />
and punished. Until 1918, that is, until the Mondros Armistice,<br />
1,397 persons recei<strong>ve</strong>d various kinds of sentences in this context,<br />
with more than half of them being executed during the tenure of<br />
the Union and Progress Go<strong>ve</strong>rnment. Obviously, the Nazi SS, SA<br />
and the Gestapo officers, responsible for the Jewish genocide, were<br />
punished only for not carrying out the genocide effecti<strong>ve</strong>ly, and not<br />
for the kind of reasons mentioned abo<strong>ve</strong>.<br />
Acts of Genocide, most of the acts perpetrated in the Jewish<br />
genocide committed by the Nazis were “the killing of persons<br />
belonging in the group”, that is, the act described in Article 2(a) of<br />
the Con<strong>ve</strong>ntion. These massacres took place in the gassing to<br />
death of the Jews after they were transported, that is, deported to<br />
the camps where they were kept under conditions they would not<br />
be able to survi<strong>ve</strong> for long. In other words, the deportation itself<br />
was not an act of genocide causing deaths. On the other hand, the<br />
Gündüz Aktan<br />
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