Turkish Courts-Martial of 1919-20

Turkish Courts-Martial of 1919-1920 were courts-martial of the Ottoman Empire after the armistice of Mudros during the aftermath the World War I, which the leadership of the Committee of Union and Progress and selected former officials were court-martialled with/including the charges of subversion of the constitution, wartime profiteering, and the massacres of both Greeks and Armenians [cite book
last = Akçam
first = Taner
authorlink = Taner Akçam
title = Armenien und der Völkermord: Die Istanbuler Prozesse und die Türkische Nationalbewegung
publisher = Hamburg: Hamburger Edition
year = 1996 p. 185.] .

Most of the Turkish courts-martial were dismissed and the serious ones were relocated to the "International Court-Martial in Malta" rather than being held in a Turkish court whose "findings cannot be held of any account at all." (John de Robeck, The copy of document Public Record Office, Foreign Office, 371/4174/136069 is on page 8 of cite book
last = Şimşir
first = Bilâl N.
authorlink = Bilâl Simsir
title = The Deportees of Malta and the Armenian Question
publisher = Foreign Policy Institute
year = 1999
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=U5MiAAAAMAAJ&q=The+Deportees+of+Malta+and+the+Armenian+Question&dq=The+Deportees+of+Malta+and+the+Armenian+Question&as_brr=0&pgis=1
pages = 83also page 121 uses the same document referred in page 342 of cite book
last = Dadrian
first = Vahakn
authorlink = Vahakn N. Dadrian
title = The History of the Armenian Genocide
publisher = Berghahn Books
year = 2003
ISBN = 1571816666
url = 480
pages = 83] ) The courts-martial were labelled "Turkish" because of their selective accusation of only the Turkish subjects of the Ottoman Empire. These courts-martial became a stage for political battles. The trials helped the Liberal Union (Ottoman Empire) root out the Committee of Union and Progress from the political arena. During the second stage the international trials, Ottoman politicians, generals, and intellectuals were relocated from Istanbul jails to "Malta" (cf. Malta exiles), where they were held for some three years while searches were made in the archives of Istanbul, London, Paris and Washington to find proof of their guiltcite book
last = Detlev Grothusen
first = Klaus
authorlink = Klaus Detlev Grothusen
title = DIE TUERKEI IN EUROPA: Beiträge des Südosteuropa-arbeitskreises der ...
publisher = Berghahn Books
year = 197 page 35] . The trials formed a key argument in the Treaty of Sèvres, which resulted in the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire.

Background

World War I

Beginning of the World War I, regarding the news coming from Anatolia and Van Resistance on 24 May 1915 the Triple Entente warned the Ottoman Empire:quotation|In view of these new crimes of Turkey against humanity and civilization, the Allied Governments announce publicly to the Sublime Porte that they will hold personally responsible for these crimes all members of the Ottoman Government, as well as those of their agents who are implicated in such massacres. [1915 declaration
* [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/T?&report=hr933&dbname=106& Affirmation of the United States Record on the Armenian Genocide Resolution] 106th Congress,,2nd Session, House of Representatives
* [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.RES.316: Affirmation of the United States Record on the Armenian Genocide Resolution (Introduced in House of Representatives)] 109th Congress, 1st Session, [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:HE00316: H.RES.316] , June 14, 2005. 15 September 2005 House Committee/Subcommittee:International Relations actions. Status: Ordered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 40–7.
* "Crimes Against Humanity", 23 British Yearbook of International Law (1946) p. 181
* Schabas References pp. 16-17
* [http://www.armenian-genocide.org/Affirmation.160/current_category.7/affirmation_detail.html Original source of the telegram sent by the Department of State, Washington containing the French, British and Russian joint declaration] ] William S. Allen, "The Nazi Seizure of Power: The Experience of a Single German Town 1922-1945", Franklin Watts; Revised edition (1984). Also see: William A. Schabas, "Genocide in International Law: The Crimes of Crimes", Cambridge University Press, 2000, pp. 16-17]

Occupation of Istanbul, November 1918

The Allies did not wait for a peace treaty after the Armistice of Mudros for claiming the Ottoman territory. Just 13 days after the Armistice of Mudros, a French brigade entered İstanbul on November 12, 1918. The first British Troops entered the city on November 13 1918. Early in December 1918, Allied troops occupied sections of Istanbul and set up an Allied military administration. High Commissioner Admiral Somerset Arthur Gough-Calthorpe was assigned as the military adviser to Istanbul. His first task was to arrest between 160 and 200 persons from the Government of Tevfik Pasha on January 1919 The copy of document Public Public Record Office, Foreign Office 371/4172/13694 is on page 11 of cite book
last = Şimşir
first = Bilâl N.
authorlink = Bilâl Simsir
title = The Deportees of Malta and the Armenian Question
publisher = Foreign Policy Institute
year = 1999
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=U5MiAAAAMAAJ&q=The+Deportees+of+Malta+and+the+Armenian+Question&dq=The+Deportees+of+Malta+and+the+Armenian+Question&as_brr=0&pgis=1
pages = 83] . Among this group, he send thirty to Malta (Malta exiles). Calthorpe included only Turkish members of the Government of Tevfik Pasha and the military/political personalities. He wanted to send a message that a military occupation was in effect and failure to comply would end with harsh punishment. His position was not shared with other partners. French Government's response on these presumed guilty people was "distinction to disadvantage of Muslim-Turks while Bulgarian, Austrian and German offenders were as yet neither arrested nor molested"The copy of document Public Record Office, Foreign Office, 371/4172/28138 is on page 13 of cite book
last = Şimşir
first = Bilâl N.
authorlink = Bilâl Simsir
title = The Deportees of Malta and the Armenian Question
publisher = Foreign Policy Institute
year = 1999
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=U5MiAAAAMAAJ&q=The+Deportees+of+Malta+and+the+Armenian+Question&dq=The+Deportees+of+Malta+and+the+Armenian+Question&as_brr=0&pgis=1
pages = 83] . However, government and Sultan got the message. On February 1919, allies was informed that Ottoman Empire was in compliance with its full apparatus to the occupation forces. Any source of conflict (including Armenian questions) would be investigated by a commission which neutral Governments can attach two legal superintendents. Calthorpe's correspondence to the British Foreign Office was "The action undertaken for the arrests was very satisfactory, and has, I think, intimidated the Committee of Union and Progress of Constantinople"The copy of document Public Record Office, Foreign Office, 371/4172/23004 is on page 79 of cite book
last = Şimşir
first = Bilâl N.
authorlink = Bilâl Simsir
title = The Deportees of Malta and the Armenian Question
publisher = Foreign Policy Institute
year = 1999
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=U5MiAAAAMAAJ&q=The+Deportees+of+Malta+and+the+Armenian+Question&dq=The+Deportees+of+Malta+and+the+Armenian+Question&as_brr=0&pgis=1
pages = 83] .

Court martial

Establishment, April 28, 1919

The message of Calthorpe on Military administration fully noted by the Sultan. There was an eastern tradition of presenting gifts to the authority during the serious conflicts; sometimes "falling of heads". There was no higher goal than preserving the integrity of the Ottoman Institution. If the anger of Calthorpe could be calmed down by the foisting the blame on a few members of the Committee of Union and Progress, which Ottoman Empire could thereby receive more lenient treatment at the Paris peace conference [Vahakn N. Dadrian, "The Documentation of the World War I Armenian Massacres in the Proceedings of the Turkish Military Tribunal," published in "International Journal of Middle East Studies 23(1991): 554; idem, " [http://hgs.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/11/1/28 The Turkish Military Tribunal's Prosecution of the Authors of the Armenian Genocide: Four Major Court-Martial Series,] " Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 11(1997): 31.] ; that could be achieved. The local court-martial were establishing while the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 with "The Commission on Responsibilities and Sanctions", were adding several articles to the treaty demanding the acting government of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Mehmed VI and Damat Ferid Pasha, should be summoned to trial.

tructure

After the people summoned to trial an an inquiry commission, invested with extraordinary powers of subpoena, arrest, et cetera, which the ottoman's called the "Mazhar Inquiry Commission" was established. This organization secured Ottoman documents from many provinces of Ottoman Empire.

Legal Issues

The tribunals were held under occupation, thus the judges were under the scrutiny of the occupying forces. Due process did not exist, and there were gross absences of legal rights; defenders and lawyers feared for their life. The Ottoman penal code did not acknowledge the right of cross-examination. Some Western authors claimed that these were matters of local jurisprudence and the verdicts had to be trusted. However, the validity of the evidence presented in these testimonials has been questioned owing to a lack of defendant rights. Historians familiar with Ottoman jurisprudence do not hold the process of these trials in a positive light [cite book
last = Yilmaz
first = Altug
title = The Turkish Code of Criminal Procedure
publisher = London: Sweet and Maxwell
ISBN = 9998061628
year = 1962 p. 232. [http://hukuk.iku.edu.tr/kadro/yaltug.html Yilmaz Altug] ] . The decision was taken by evidence submitted during the preparatory phase, the trial, and how the defender present his defense. During the trials, none of the presented evidence was verified. The validity of the evidences presented, such as letters and orders have been in study. Some of them had proven to be forgeriesFact|date=August 2007. In some cases
hearsay was an issue as direct evidence has never been presented (one direct evidence regarding Talat Pasha was claimed to be a forgery (the signature, the code/number of the document, and the missing stamp). During the trials, testimonies were not subjected to cross-examination, or some of the materials were presented as "anonymous court material" (i.e., not sponsored by a witness, who has sworn or solemnly affirmed to tell the truth) [Heck to State Department, Feb. 7, 1919, U.S. National Archives, RG 59, 867.00/81 (M 820, roll 536, fr. 440)] .

When the international trials were staged, the High Commissioner at Constantinople, Calthorpe, was replaced by John de Robeck, the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, who said "that its findings cannot be held of any account at all."

Aftermath

The article which were proposed to be added at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 under "The Commission on Responsibilities and Sanctions" demanding the acting government of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Mehmed VI and Damat Ferid Pasha, should be summoned to trial, was not included in the Treaty of Sèvres. Interestingly, Damat Ferid Pasha was one of the four signatories. Malta Tribunals are the much publicized otherwise planned but not executed "international" trials of the Malta exiles. Under the pretext of "international trials" administrators and intellectuals of the Ottoman Empire were sent into exile on Malta after the armistice of Mudros during the Occupation of İstanbul by the Allied forces. It become a British prison where various CUP officials were held in the hopes that such an "international" trial would be held at a future date.

The Ottoman military tribunal and subsequent international trials, which the British dismissed, exonerated those the Armenian Revolutionary Federation perceived as the masterminds behind the Great Calamity. At the Armenian Revolutionary Federation's 9th General Congress, which convened in Yerevan from September 27 to the end of October 1919, the issue of retribution against those responsible was on the agenda. A task force, led by Shahan Natalie, working with Grigor Merjanov, was established to assassinate Talaat Pasha, Pipit Jivanshir Khan, Said Halim Pasha, Behaeddin Shakir Bey, Jemal Azmi, Cemal Pasha, Enver Pasha, as well as several Armenian traitors.

Notes

References

;Printed
*cite book
last = Şimşir
first = Bilâl N.
authorlink = Bilâl Simsir
title = The Deportees of Malta and the Armenian Question
publisher = Foreign Policy Institute
year = 1999
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=U5MiAAAAMAAJ&q=The+Deportees+of+Malta+and+the+Armenian+Question&dq=The+Deportees+of+Malta+and+the+Armenian+Question&as_brr=0&pgis=1 | pages = 83

*cite book
last = Balakian
first = Peter
authorlink = Peter Balakian
title = The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America's Response
publisher = HarperCollins
year = 2004
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=Ry8AMhNuwyIC&pg=PA331&dq=Court+martial+1919+Turkish&sig=C-5R3LDR6bRlp9u25e01Fzl35pY
pages = 582
ISBN = 0060198400
*William A. Schabas, "Genocide in International Law: The Crimes of Crimes", Cambridge University Press, 2000.;Published in a journal
* [http://hgs.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/11/1/28 The Turkish Military Tribunal's Prosecution of the Authors of the American Genocide: Four Major Court-Martial Series]