Turane Jutu

Turane Jutu (1880-1932) was a Turkish officer who witnessed the Armenian Genocide occurring. He reported Armenians being cleansed and massacred continuously in the years of 1914-1917. He saw many perish at the hands of his government where he was not eligible to do anything or else the government would have forced action on his family and friends. [Turane Jutu, "The Human Rights Battle", p.59] Jutu did successfully contact newspaper organizations but the campaign for the cleansing of Armenians was exceeding and he did not finish in time. [Revolution and Genocide: On the Origins of the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust by Robert Melson, p.47]

Biography

Jutu was born in the province of Van in 1880. He died at the age of 52 where he was murdered by an unknown person in Van. His parents were raised in the same city as he was born [The Armenian Genocide: History, Politics, Ethicsby Richard G Hovannisian, p.36] . He was a quiet person, who enjoyed the mountainous hills of Van, beginning in 1914 he witnessed genocide in Van. According to New York Times, "Turane Jutu was a witness of hundreds of Armenians being massacred and deported from there native lands, a scene that is hard to image." [Jody Rosen, "Armenian Genocide documentation", 2006.] As a young boy he noticed Muslims were seen as the higher authority against the Christian minorities, he had a different view. He knew one day it would not go right. The day came of the Armenian Genocide where millions were perished and Jutu was a witness of the rhetorically events. When he was about 35 he was already a Turkish officer in 1915 where he saw the thousands of people die. He started to report these events to international newspapers but failed. The Genocide was done in a sneaky way where outer countries had no idea or were too caught up with there problems.

In 1915 he witnessed hundreds of public hangings of Armenian officials, doctors and government leaders. [Genocide?: Birth Control and the Black American By Robert G. Weisbord, p.64]

Death

Turane Jutu was murdered in Van with him only being 52. He was killed by an unknown man, reports were flying through the media and public radios. Rumors were circulating his death that government officials were sent out to kill him, for his speaking of the Armenian Genocide and spreading the hidden events [Bloxham, 'On the Memory of the Armenian Genocide', p.98] . But not enough evidence was found to take the government leaders to jail so all charges were dropped on his murderer. He died at age 52 and his murderer was let go, without his identity being disclosed. [Genocide: A Critical Bibliographic Review By Israel W. Charny, p.288] He has had numerous publications about his memoirs and has been noted for his information to stop the massacres but obviously a systematic cleansing of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire was nearly impossible to stop. He has had his quotes and newspaper interviews saved for future purposes, he contacted different stations in France, Russia and America to plee for help but did not succeed.

Comparison with the assassination of Hrant Dink

The Turkish government has actively played a role in persecuting individuals who have tried to advocate for justice for 1.5 million Armenians that were killed in Turkey. [http://.www.amnestyusa.org/news/document.do?id=ENGEUR440352005] Turane Jutu was suspected to have been assassinated because he advocated justice for the Ottoman Armenians who were murdered during the Armenian Genocide. Similarly ,the Turkish Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was also assasinated for discussing the Armenian Genocide in 2007. [http://.www.internationalpen.org.uk/go/news/turkey-publisher-sentenced-under-article-301] . Hrant Dink had been originally prosecuted under article 301 of the Turkish penal code for talking about the Armenian Genocide. [http://.hrw.org/english/docs/2008/01/18/turkey17817.htm]

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