Killing Orders
Killing Orders: Talat Pasha's Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide (Turkish: Naim Efendi'nin Hatıratı ve Talat Paşa Telgrafları: Krikor Gergeryan Arşivi "Memoir of Naim Efendi and Talat Pasha Telegrams: Krikor Gergeryan Archive") is a 2016 book from Taner Akcam about the veracity of the primary source evidence of the Armenian genocide, particularly telegrams sent by Talaat Pasha. He addresses dismissal of the authenticity of evidence as a form of Armenian genocide denial. The original Turkish version was published in Istanbul by İletişim Yayınları. The English version, published by Palgrave Macmillan, came in 2018.
Akcam addresses claims made in a 1983 Turkish Historical Society book that Naim Effendi was not a real person; he obtained copies of the individual's memoirs to prove his existence.[1]
Mark Mazower of The New York Review of Books wrote that Akcam's book is "less a conventional history than a kind of forensic exercise designed to lay to rest once and for all any dispute regarding the authenticity of the Naim-Andonian documents, and to demonstrate their importance in helping to understand the state structures that allowed the genocide to take place."[2] Mazower stated that herefore it is "not an easy read".[2]
Content
[edit]Much of the content is on following claims and counterclaims in accusations of authenticity or lack thereof from recognition and denialist camps. Mazower stated "The reader feels rather like someone who has stumbled into a fiercely argued courtroom drama."[2]
Akçam responded to Şinasi Orel and Süreyya Yuca's statements that The Memoirs of Naim Bey was fabricated and that Naim didn't exist. Orel and Yuca stated that the Ottomans used 4 and 5 digit encryption codes rather than the 2 and 3 ones used by the documents: Akçam stated that the memoirs are in fact real. He also stated that as the Turkish Armed Forces ATASE archive revealed a document with the signature of Naim, there was proof that Naim was real, and that the Ottoman archives in fact had 2 and 3 digit archival codes.[3]
Akcam came upon photographs of the original telegram in New York, where they were in the possession of Armenian monk Krikor Guerguerian.[4] This can be considered as the "smoking gun" evidence of the Armenian genocide, in which there is talk of deportation "without giving neither food, nor water", no mercy for "agony cries and despair", "deport the orphans, not build orphanages". Also for this reason Eric D. Weitz, a history professor at the City College of New York and an expert on the Armenian genocide, called Mr. Akcam "the Sherlock Holmes of Armenian genocide."[5]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Akcam to Discuss 'Talat Pasha's Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide' at Columbia on March 28". Armenian Weekly. 2018-03-23.
- ^ a b c Mazower, Mark (2019-04-04). "An Archive of Atrocities". The New York Review of Books.
- ^ Estukyan, Vartan (2016-10-07). "Are "Talat Pasha Telegrams" real?". Agos. Retrieved 2019-06-23. - Turkish version: "Talat Paşa telgrafları gerçek mi?" - An abridged version of this interview, translated by a different person, is at: “Akçam: The Authenticity of the Naim Efendi Memoirs and Talat Pasha Telegrams” in: The Armenian Weekly, October 11, 2016.
- ^ Mandell, Ariane (23 April 2017). "Lost Evidence of Armenian Genocide Discovered in Jerusalem Archive". The Jerusalem Post. Israel. Archived from the original on 19 May 2017. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
- ^ Arango, Tim (22 April 2017). "'Sherlock Holmes of Armenian Genocide' Uncovers Lost Evidence". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
Further reading
[edit]- Muti, Öndercan (Berlin) (2018-05-04). "Naim Efendi'nin Hatıratı ve Talat Paşa Telgrafları. Krikor Gergeryan Arşivi". Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte. 70 (2): 198–200. doi:10.1163/15700739-07002011. - Review of the original Turkish version, in English
- Schwanitz, Wolfgang G. (Spring 2019). "Killing Orders Talat Pasha's Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide". Middle East Quarterly. Middle East Forum.
External links
[edit]- Killing Orders - Palgrave Macmillan
- Killing Orders - At SpringerLink
- Kucera, Joshua (2018-03-19). "Perspectives | New Book Purports to Offer "Smoking Gun" Proving Armenian Genocide". Eurasianet.
- Bayzdlo, Angela (2018-01-17). "Historian Taner Akçam uncovers 'smoking gun' of Armenian Genocide". Clark University. - Alternate link: "Historian Taner Akçam's new book includes "smoking gun" of Armenian Genocide". Clark University, posted at the History News Network, George Washington University. 2018-01-17.
- https://commons.trincoll.edu/historyblog/2018/03/19/killing-order-talaat-pashas-telegrams-and-the-armenian-genocide-a-lecture-by-professor-taner-akcam/
- Videos
- Hovsepian, Jirar (2018-04-03). "Killing Orders: Talat Pasha's Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide". at Archive.org
- "Talat Pasha's Killing Orders and Denial of Armenian Genocide - Taner Akçam". Rowan University College of Humanities and Social Science (CHSS). 2019-03-20.
- "Dr. Taner Akçam - Killing Orders: Talat Pasha's Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide". American University of Armenia. 2018-06-17.
- "Taner Akcam | Killing Orders: Talat Pasha's Telegrams". National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR). 2018-05-16.
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