ANKARA, Turkey (A.W.)—Armenian member of Turkish Parliament Garo Paylan recently presented a research proposal to the Presidency of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, to examine the results of Turkey’s Temporary Deportation Law enacted on May 27, 1915.
MP Garo Paylan at the HDP Parliamentary office in Ankara (Photo: Rupen Janbazian)
Below is Paylan’s official letter to the Presidency of the Grand National Assembly, which also includes the legal grounds and rationale behind the proposal.
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Subsequent to the Temporary Deportation Law, which was enacted on May 27, 1915, to be in effect after being published in then the official journal Takvim-i Vekâyi on June 1, 1915, the Armenian population residing in the Ottoman Empire has been deported. The Deportation Act caused major destruction in Assyrian, Chaldean, Yazidi, Greek and especially Armenian communities.
Although 102 years passed over the enactment of the law, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey has still not researched the consequences of the mentioned act. It is a known fact that due to the Deportation Law, great numbers of lives were lost. As a result of the execution and application of the mentioned law a large number of cultural assets and property were seized or confiscated pursuant to act of government.
I hereby submit and propose a Parliamentary Inquiry in accordance with the Turkish Constitution’s 98th, Parliamentary rules’ 104th and 105th articles, aimed at (a) unraveling the responsibilities of public officials and government of the period in regards to the process of annihilation of the deported population; (b) understanding the consequences of the deportations up to date; (c) establishing social peace and reconciliation as a whole in our country by facing the past and truth; (d) contributing to the unraveling of the ‘truth’ so as to avoid the manipulation and abuse of the conflict in all manners; providing opportunities for the future generations to live together, freely and in peace in Turkey.
Garo PAYLAN
Member of Parliament representing Istanbul
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Legal Grounds/Rationale
The Armenian population residing in the Ottoman Empire was deported due to the Temporary Deportation Act, which had been enacted on May 27, 1915, to be in effect after being published in, then the official journal Takvim-i Vekâyi on June 1, 1915. The Act, which condoned the army and party commanders ‘to send the locals, whom the army and party commanders deemed exercising espionage and treason, individually or in groups’ on the grounds of ‘military requirements’, has in reality authorised use of force only against those who ‘stood against and committed ‘armed assault and resistance’ to the government orders, the national defense, existing social order and security’.
Journalist Murat Bardakçı in 2008 has published a book including Ottoman Minister of Domestic Affairs (Dâhiliye Nazırı) Talât Pasha’s personal papers and documentation and correspondence on the Armenian deportations (Murat Badakçı, Talat Paşa’nın Evrak-ı Metrûkesi – Sadrazam Talât Paşa’nın özel arşivinde bulunan Ermeni tehciri konusundaki belgeler ve hususî yazışmalar, Everest Yayınları, İstanbul, 2008). The report, that has been published in the book, is? beyond a reasonable doubt, produced by Talât Pasha, and, demonstrates the distribution of Armenian population within certain Ottoman provinces based on a comprehensive and extensive research (inquiry). The report starting with the summary estimates on Ottoman Armenian population in 1914 and 1917, indicates both how in 1914 Armenians had been dispersed across various provinces and mutasarrifates (districts) and place of origins of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire counted in 1917. According to Talât Pasha’s numbers, between 1914 and 1917 1.150.000 (or 77% of the total Armenian population residing in Ottoman territories) “disappeared.”
Talat Pasha’s report openly shows that the deportation of Ottoman Armenians in 1915 was aimed at the annihilation of Armenians rather than necessary military security measures. The difference in numbers between the deported Armenians and exiled Armenians in the re-settlement regions in 1917 shows how this policy was administered and concluded.
Government and officials of the time committed acts that transgressed their jurisdiction defined by the law. Incidents led to inhumane results.
The Deportation Act caused major destruction in Assyrian, Chaldean, Yazidi, Greek and especially Armenian communities. In the face of 102 years, Grand National Assembly of Turkey still has not researched the consequences of the mentioned act yet until today.
I hereby submit and propose a Parliamentary Inquiry in accordance with the Turkish Constitution’s 98th, Parliamentary rules’ 104th and 105th articles, aimed at (a) unraveling the responsibilities of public officials and government of the period in regards to the process of annihilation of the deported population; (b) understanding the consequences of the deportations up to date; (c) establishing social peace and reconciliation as a whole in our country by facing the past and truth; (d) contributing to the unraveling of the ‘truth’ so as to avoid the manipulation and abuse of the conflict in all manners; providing opportunities for the future generations to live together, freely and in peace in Turkey.