1915 genocide in Diyarbekir

Genocide of the Christian population of Diyarbakır in the Ottoman Empire 1915 genocide in Diyarbekir World War I The famous Tigris river rafts.jpg Tigris river rafts, similar to those used to kill Christian notables from Diyarbekir in 1915 Diyarbekir, Ottoman Empire 1915 Genocide, death march, and Islamization Christians (vast majority of which Armenians and Assyrians) Committee of Union and Progress In 1915, a systematic anti-Christian genocide was committed by Ottoman authorities in Diyarbekir vilayet, claiming the lives of most Armenians and Syriac Christians living there. The genocide was ordered by governor Mehmed Reshid, partly with the backing of the ruling Committee of Union and Progress. Background Massacres of Diyarbekir (1895) thumb|upright=1.5|Diyarbekir vilayet showing sanjaks of Mardin (red), Diyarbekir (purple), and Arghana (yellow). Diyarbekir vilayet, which had its capital in Diyarbekir, was bordered by the Euphrates (west), Tigris (east), the Armenian highlands (north), and the Syrian Desert (south). The area was ruled by the Ottoman Empire since 1534 and enjoyed prosperity based on its location along the Silk Road. The area was pre-industrial and most inhabitants were subsistence farmers or pastoralists.Üngör 2011 8–9 The province was ethnically and religiously diverse.Kévorkian 2011 355Üngör 2011 12–13 Ottoman Muslims dominated urban areas.Üngör 2011 12–13 Because of the millet system, the Ottoman Empire did not recognize ethnic groups, instead different religious denominations, organized as millets.Gaunt 2015 86 The majority of Diyarbekir Armenians were farmers and inhabited 249 towns and villages concentrated in the north of the vilayet; they belonged to the Armenian Apostolic Church, Armenian Catholic Church, or were Protestant.Kévorkian 2011 355Üngör 2011 13Gaunt 2006 161 The Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople counted 106,867 adherents in Diyarbekir in its 1913/1914 census, although there were only 73,226 Armenians according to the 1914 Ottoman census.Kévorkian 2011 271 The Assyrians in Diyarbekir consisted of Syriac Orthodox Church, Syriac Catholic Church, Chaldean Catholic Church, Church of the East, and Protestants.Üngör 2011 13 Until the nineteenth century, these groups belonged to the Armenian millet.Suny 2015 48Gaunt 2013 318 Midyat was the only town in the Ottoman Empire with an Assyrian majority, although divided between Syriac Orthodox, Chaldeans, and Protestants.Gaunt 2015 87 Syriac Orthodox Christians were concentrated in the hilly rural areas around Midyat, known as Tur Abdin, where they populated almost 100 villages and worked in agriculture or crafts.Gaunt 2015 87Üngör 2011 13 Syriac Orthodox culture was centered in two monasteries near Mardin, Mor Gabriel and Deyrulzafaran.Üngör 2011 15 Escalation After August 1914, wartime requisitions proved an opportunity for implementing the CUP's national economy policy by conscripting economically active Armenians and confiscating property from them.Kévorkian 2011 355–356 On the night of 18/19 August 1914, the bazaar in Diyarbekir city was burned down by police chief Gevranlızâde Memduh Bey on the orders of Intibah Şirketi and Pirinççizâde Feyzi, ultimately orchestrated by the vali (governor) Mehmed Reshid. The police and gendarmerie made no effort to quench the flames and instead prevented shopkeepers from salvaging their wares.Kévorkian 2011 356–357Üngör 2011 50Gaunt 2006 155, 295 Altogether 1,578 shops and warehouses were destroyed, mostly owned by Armenians and Assyrians.Gaunt 2006 295 The act being too outrageous for peacetime, Reshid was dismissed and his replacement as governor, Hamid Bey, dismissed Memduh but was unable to punish the other perpetrators of this arson.Kévorkian 2011 357Gaunt 2006 295 In November 1914, a branch of the Special Organization was organized in Diyarbekir.Üngör 2011 58 The situation worsened over the winter of 1914–1915 as the Saint Ephraim church was vandalized and four young men from the Assyrian village of Qarabash were hanged on charges of desertion. Two were hanged in Diyarbekir city on 18 February, observed by Special Organization operative Ömer Naji tr Ömer Naci and governor Hamid Bey. The day previously, Hamid had resigned or been forced to resign. Assyrian who gathered to protest the execution were clubbed by gendarmes and two died as a result.Üngör 2011 60Gaunt 2006 154–155 In March, many non-Muslim soldiers were disarmed and transferred to labor battalions where they were put to work building roads. Harsh conditions, mistreatment, and individual murders led to many deaths.Üngör 2011 60–61 Hamid was initially to be replaced by Mustafa Bey, the governor of Bitlis, who accepted the position in late February. Due to pressure from local CUP circles, Mustafa was rejected in favor of Reshid who assumed the position on 25 March.Gaunt 2006 155Üngör 2011 61 Chosen for his previous record in perpetrating anti-Armenian violence,Gaunt 2006 153, 155 Reshid was one of the founding members of the CUP and a perpetrator of the 1914 Greek deportations.Gaunt 2006 155–156 During his hiatus from leadership in Diyarbekir, Reshid held positions in Iraq during which he orchestrated several assassinations and built up a private army of a few dozen Circassians, who he brought with him to Diyarbekir upon his return. These were joined by convicts released from prison to serve in the Special Organization.Üngör 2011 61 Reshid organized a committee for the "solution of the Armenian question".Üngör 2011 63–64 On 6 April, following Talat's order, Reshid replaced the moderate mayor of Diyarbekir with Pirinççizâde Sıdkı, an anti-Armenian radical, and completed the stuffing of all key positions in the city with CUP stalwarts.Üngör 2011 64 Many local officials (kaymakams and mutesarrifs) refused to follow Reshid's orders and were replaced in May and June 1915.Kévorkian 2011 379 Kurdish confederations were pressured into allowing their Assyrian clients to be killed. Those allied with the government complied (including the Milli and Dekşuri), but those opposed to it—especially the Heverkan—sometimes resisted.Gaunt 2017 65–66 thumb|Tigris flowing through Eğil. In 1915, many Christian men were killed by drowning in the river. Although both Christians and Muslims deserted in large numbers, in his memoirs Reshid emphasized the threat of Armenian deserters, who he imagined were conspiring in revolutionary action.Üngör 2011 62–63 Reshid did not distinguish between Armenians who were guilty or innocent of anti-state activity.Üngör 2011 67 On 1 April, Reshid launched a major operation against desertion in Diyarbekir and demanded the surrender of all arms. Warrantless searches through Armenian districtsÜngör 2011 65—accompanied by "extremely violent incidents", such as rapesKévorkian 2011 360—escalated into arbitrary arrest of Armenian men throughout Diyarbekir city. Two weeks later, more than 600 Armenian artisans and notables were under arrest, where they were tortured to extract information about arms caches. Unsatisfied, he requested reinforcements from Constantinople to supplement the available strength of 300 police and gendarmes. These requests were refused, pushing Reshid to increasingly radical action.Üngör 2011 65 On 20 April, Armenians from all religious denominations and the Dashnak, Hnchak, and Ramgavar parties met to discuss a proposal for self-defense. Ultimately this proposal was rejected because of the insufficient weaponry at their disposal to hold out.Kévorkian 2011 360–361 Deportations and massacres January 2024 Diyarbekir sanjak Arğana sanjak Mardin sanjak Propaganda After the search and seizure of weapons photographs were taken for propaganda purposes. The resulting pictures were described by eyewitness Rafael de Nogales as "composed almost entirely of fowling-pieces easily disguised" with no other aim than to "impress the public". In another case, Armenian deportees were massacred in Kozandere (an hour south of Diyarbekir) and dressed in turbans and Muslim clothing. These photographs were claimed to be of Muslims massacred by Armenian "insurgents", in order to stir up anti-Armenian sentiment.Kévorkian 2011 364 Responsibility Under Reshid's leadership, a systematic anti-Christian extermination took place in Diyarbekir vilayet.Üngör 2017 35 All contemporary observers attributed these massacres to Reshid personally.Gaunt 2006 155 Although the genocide began in April 1915, there were no orders, even for the persecution of Armenians, until the end of June. During this crucial period, all actions were taken on Reshid's authority.Gaunt 2006 158 Historian Uğur Ümit Üngör states that, in Diyarbekir, "most instances of massacre in which the militia engaged were directly ordered by" Reshid.Üngör 2011 99 In September 1915, Reshid reported the deportation of 120,000 "Armenians" from the vilayet, exceeding their prewar population.Kévorkian 2011 365Gaunt 2006 152 On 12 July 1915, Talat telegraphed Reshid, ordering that "measures adopted against the Armenians are absolutely not to be extended to other Christians ... you are ordered to put an immediate end to these acts".Gaunt 2015 96 No action was taken against Reshid for exterminating non-Armenian Christians, or even assassinating Ottoman officials who disagreed with the massacres, and in 1916 he was rewarded by appointment as governor of Ankara. As a consequence, it is debatable whether Talat's telegram was sent to appease German and Austrian opposition to the massacres and not intended to be implemented.Kévorkian 2011 379Gaunt 2015 96 Historian Raymond Kévorkian argues that the genocide of Assyrian Christians in Diyarbekir was likely ordered by the CUP Central Committee.Kévorkian 2011 379 In November 1918, during the occupation of Istanbul, Reshid was arrested and his roles in the massacres were exposed. He later escaped from prison in January 1919, but committed suicide after being cornered by local authorities the following month. Death toll According Rhétoré's estimates, Syriac Orthodox in Diyarbekir lost 72 percent of their population, compared to 92 percent of Armenian Catholics and 97 percent of Armenian Apostolic Church adherents. In Mardin sanjak the Syriac Orthodox lost 57 percent. According to Gaunt, "These figures indicate that although the eradication of the Assyrian population was extreme, it was still not as total as for the Armenians."Gaunt 2017 65 According to Üngör, "all Christian communities of Diyarbekir were equally hit by the genocide, although the Armenians were often particularly singled out for immediate destruction".Üngör 2011 99 + Christian population in Diyarbekir vilayet in 1915–1916 according to Jacques Rhétoré frGaunt 2006 433 Denomination Prewar population Postwar population DisappearedArmenian Apostolic Church60,0002,00058,000 (97%)Armenian Catholic Church12,5001,00011,500 (92%)Chaldean Catholic Church11,1201,11010,010 (90%)Syriac Catholic Church5,6002,1503,450 (62%)Syriac Orthodox Church84,72524,00060,725 (72%)Protestantism725225500 (69%)Total 174,670 30,485144,185 (83%) The few Greeks, Orthodox or Catholic, living in Diyarbekir weren't spared either. 425 out of 583 Greeks in the Silvan district (79 percent) were killed, including the Greek Orthodox priest of Diyarbekir.Üngör, U. Ü. (2017). How Armenian was 1915 Genocide. Gaunt, David/Atto, Naures/Barthoma, und Soner O.(Hg.): Let Them Not Return. Sayfo–The Genocide Against the Assyrian, Syriac, and Chaldean Christians in the Ottoman Empire, New York: Berghahn Books Incorporated (War and Genocide Ser, v. 26), 33-53. See also List of massacres in Turkey Late Ottoman genocides List of genocides References 20em Sources yes Gaunt David David Gaunt Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia During World War I 2006 Gorgias Press 978-1-59333-301-0 en Gaunt David David Gaunt Social Relations in Ottoman Diyarbekir, 1870-1915 2012 Brill 978-90-04-23227-3 241–266 en Relations between Kurds and Syriacs and Assyrians in Late Ottoman Diyarbekir Gaunt David David Gaunt Shatterzone of Empires: Coexistence and Violence in the German, Habsburg, Russian, and Ottoman Borderlands 2013 Indiana University Press 978-0-253-00631-8 illustrated Failed Identity and the Assyrian Genocide Gaunt David David Gaunt The Complexity of the Assyrian Genocide Genocide Studies International 2015 9 1 83–103 10.3138/gsi.9.1.05 en 2291-1847 https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/690 Gaunt David David Gaunt Sayfo Genocide: The Culmination of an Anatolian Culture of Violence Let Them Not Return: Sayfo - The Genocide Against the Assyrian, Syriac, and Chaldean Christians in the Ottoman Empire 2017 Berghahn Books 54–69 978-1-78533-499-3 Kévorkian Raymond Raymond Kévorkian The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History 2011 Bloomsbury Publishing 978-0-85771-930-0 en Üngör Uğur Ümit Uğur Ümit Üngör The Making of Modern Turkey: Nation and State in Eastern Anatolia, 1913–1950 The Making of Modern Turkey 2011 Oxford University Press 978-0-19-965522-9 en Üngör Uğur Ümit How Armenian was the 1915 Genocide? Let Them Not Return: Sayfo - The Genocide Against the Assyrian, Syriac, and Chaldean Christians in the Ottoman Empire 2017 Berghahn Books 33–53 978-1-78533-499-3 Suny Ronald Grigor Ronald Grigor Suny "They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else": A History of the Armenian Genocide They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else 2015 Princeton University Press 978-1-4008-6558-1 Further reading Çelik Adnan Dinç Namık Kemal Yüz yıllık Ah!: toplumsal hafızanın izinde 1915 Diyarbekir 2015 İsmail Beşikçi Vakfı 978-605-9073-05-9 tr Courtois Sébastien de The Forgotten Genocide: Eastern Christians, the Last Aramaeans 2004 Gorgias Press 978-1-59333-077-4 Kaiser Hilmar The Extermination of Armenians in the Diarbekir Region 2014 İstanbul Bilgi University Press 978-605-399-333-9 en Kieser Hans-Lukas Hans-Lukas Kieser From 'Patriotism' to Mass Murder: Dr. Mehmed Reşid (1873-1919) A Question of Genocide: Armenians and Turks at the End of the Ottoman Empire A Question of Genocide 2011 Oxford University Press 978-0-19-979276-4 126–150 Jongerden Joost Social Relations in Ottoman Diyarbekir, 1870-1915 2012 Brill 978-90-04-23227-3 55–84 en Elite Encounters of a Violent Kind: Milli İbrahim Paşa, Ziya Gokalp and Political Struggle in Diyarbekir at the Turn of the 20th Century Yacoub Joseph Joseph Yacoub Year of the Sword: The Assyrian Christian Genocide: A History 2016 Hurst 978-0-19-063346-2 External links Diyarbekir (1915-1916): Young Turk Mass Killings at the Provincial Level Category:History of Diyarbakır Province Category:Armenian genocide Category:Sayfo Category:Genocide of indigenous peoples in Asia Category:1915 in the Ottoman Empire Category:1915 mass murders Category:Sexual violence in World War I Category:Military history of Diyarbakır Category:Genocidal rape