UNDERSTANDING THE EVENTS OF 1915: A COMPARISON WITH THE HOLOCAUST

Year 2009, Issue: 32, 87 - 105, 01.01.2009

Sevin Elekdağ

Abstract

The events of 1915 have been the subject of much literature.
However, the great majority of such studies have lacked a discerning, impartial
voice. This article seeks to encourage positive discussion, and contribute to a
greater understanding of the events that befell the Armenians as of 1915 by way
of comparing the Armenian case to that of the Holocaust. To this end, the
ensuing analysis focuses on the ideologies purported to have facilitated the said
tragedies as well as the intentions and responsibility of the respective ruling
civilian and military elites in both cases. In doing so this article seeks to reveal
the true nature and scope of the events of 1915 by way of utilizing archival
documents and sources written predominantly by non-Turkish authors

Keywords

Turanism, Nazi ideology, Final Solution, International Military Tribunal, Ottoman courts-martial.