GO TO MASTER INDEX OF WARFARE THE TURKISH GENOCIDE HDT WHAT? INDEX ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE GO TO MASTER INDEX OF WARFARE “Denial is an integral part of atrocity, and it’s a natural part after a society has committed genocide. First you kill, and then the memory of killing is killed.” — Iris Chang, author of THE RAPE OF NANKING (1997), when the Japanese translation of her work was canceled by Basic Books due to threats from Japan, on May 20, 1999. “Historical amnesia has always been with us: we just keep forgetting we have it.” — Russell Shorto HDT WHAT? INDEX ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE GO TO MASTER INDEX OF WARFARE 1825 Ever since the 14th Century, Turkey had been impressing the sons of Christian families into a special yeni chéri or “new army” branch of its armed forces. The size of this special religiously and ethnically segregated brigade of “janissaries” had reached 135,000, and it had become politically powerful, and it had become obnoxious to Muslims. The Sultan therefore had his faithful Muslim officers surround this Christian brigade 1 with Muslim formations of overwhelming size, and after a brief struggle all 135,000 were slaughtered. 1. The same sort of thing would happen at the conclusion of the Iran/Iraq war in our contemporary era. Iran had placed liberal secular young men in a special formation, and had placed this special formation in charge of a given sector of the frontier for the duration of the long war against Iraq. But at the end of the war, faced with the specter of having to reincorporate these liberal secular men into the Khomeini revolution, the religious leadership decided to trick them, disarm them, charge them with treason for not having behaved with sufficient martyr spirit (that is, basically, the treason of still being alive at the end of the war), and machine-gun them right there in the positions they had defended for nine years on the Iraqi border. But this only involved a slaughter of some 10,000, order of magnitude, not 135,000, and when the matter was reported in the Western press, it sank without a bubble because, of course — these men had no Western constituency. HDT WHAT? INDEX ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE GO TO MASTER INDEX OF WARFARE 1895 October 8, Sunday: Viscount Miura, Japanese representative in Korea, hired a gang of thugs who murdered the queen of Korea. The Turkish government implemented a planned attack against the Armenian population of the nation, beginning on this day with a massacre at Trabzon and Akhisar. HDT WHAT? INDEX ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE GO TO MASTER INDEX OF WARFARE 1896 August 27, Thursday: Lev Sergeyevich Termen (Leon Theremin) was born in St. Petersburg, the initial of 2 children born to Sergei Emilievich Termen, a lawyer, and Yevenia Antonova Orzhinskaya, of noble birth. Russia and China agreed to terms of the building of a railroad in eastern China. United Kingdom v. Zanzibar, the shortest war so far, beginning at 9AM and ending at 9:45AM. (Even an intercontinental exchange of nuclear warheads would need longer than this!) At 3:30AM after lengthy negotiations with European embassies, Armenian radicals occupying the Ottoman Bank in Constantinople were dispatched toward safety in France (this would be used as a pretext for 3 days of Muslim mayhem and slaughter, in which 6,000 Armenians would be killed in the district of the city in which the Armenian citizens had their homes). HDT WHAT? INDEX ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE GO TO MASTER INDEX OF WARFARE 1903 January 15, Thursday: Mehmed Ferid Pasha replaced Küçük Mehmed Said Pasha as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. HDT WHAT? INDEX ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE GO TO MASTER INDEX OF WARFARE 1906 May 3, Thursday: Britain obliged the Ottoman Empire to surrender the Sinai to Egypt. HDT WHAT? INDEX ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE GO TO MASTER INDEX OF WARFARE 1908 July 5, Sunday: Turkish army units in Macedonia rebelled, under the leadership of Ahmed Niyzai. Claude Debussy signed a contract with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, to produce his opera project “La Chute de la Mainson Usher.” July 21, Tuesday: The Committee of Union and Progress (Young Turks, Jöntürkler) demanded that Sultan Abdul Hamid II restore the constitution, or 100,000 troops would march on Constantinople and depose him. Great Britain laid claim to part of the Antarctic continent from 20°W to 80°W. South Georgia, the South Shetland Islands, the South Sandwich Islands, South Orkney, and Graham Land were all placed under the dependency of the Falkland Islands. Dance rhapsody for orchestra by Frank Bridge was performed for the initial time, at the Royal College of Music, directed by the composer. July 22, Wednesday: Küçük Mehmed Said Pasha replaced Mehmed Ferid Pasha as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. July 23, Thursday: The Committee of Union and Progress (Young Turks, Jöntürkler) led by Enver Bey proclaimed a revolution in favor of a new constitution, at Salonika. Turkish troops stationed there joined the rebellion. July 24, Friday: Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II restored the constitution of 1876. He retained the titles of Sultan and Caliph but has no more effective political power. August 6, Thursday: Kibrisli Mehmed Kamil Pasha replaced Küçük Mehmed Said Pasha as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. December 17, Thursday: The 1st legislature of the Ottoman Empire since the restoration of the constitution met, with a large majority for the Committee of Union and Progress (Young Turks, Jöntürkler). HDT WHAT? INDEX ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE GO TO MASTER INDEX OF WARFARE 1909 April 13, Tuesday: A counter-revolution against the 9-month-old liberal constitution broke out among army units in Constantinople. Troops surrounded Parliament, deposing Grand Vizier Hilmi Pasha. The Superintendent of Public Buildings and Grounds for Washington DC initiated the purchase of 90 “Fugnezo” Japanese Cherry Trees from Hoopes Brothers and Thomas Co., West Chester, Pennsylvania. The trees were planted along the Potomac River from the present site of the Lincoln Memorial south toward East Potomac Park. After planting the trees were determined to be not Prunus serrulata “Fugenzo” but instead the cultivar “Shirofugen” — these have since disappeared. April 14, Wednesday: The Ottoman government began wholesale massacre of the Armenian Christians in the Adana region. During the initial 2 days of this more than 2,000 would be slaughtered. April 19, Monday: The Ottoman Empire officially recognized the independence of Bulgaria. A Sonata for Violin and Piano by Karol Szymanowski was performed for the initial time, in Warsaw. Into the Twighlight for orchestra by Arnold Bax was performed for the initial time, in Queen’s Hall, London. April 23, Friday: Troops of the Committee of Union and Progress (Young Turks, Jöntürkler) movement entered Constantinople and, after some fighting, put down a counterrevolution that had begun 10 days earlier. The Second Symphony of Mily Balakirev was performed for the initial time, at the Free School of Music, St. Petersburg. April 24, Saturday: Army units loyal to the new constitution subdued counter-revolutionaries in Constantinople. April 25, Sunday: Committee of Union and Progress (Young Turks, Jöntürkler) troops arrived in Adana and began again to massacre Armenian Christians. 2,000 more were killed. Moslems set fire to the Mouseghian School in which not only students but also thousands of others had sought refuge. They either burned to death or were slain as they attempted to escape the flames. HDT WHAT? INDEX ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE GO TO MASTER INDEX OF WARFARE April 27, Tuesday: Sultan Abdulhamid II of the Ottoman Empire was overthrown by unanimous vote of both houses of Parliament and replaced with his brother Mehmed V, who had supported the recent counterrevolution. Celebrations broke out through the streets of Constantinople. Massacre of Armenians in the Adana region was halted after, in the course of a couple of weeks, 25,000 had been slaughtered. The Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy recognized the independence of Bulgaria. Phantasy in c minor for piano trio by Frank Bridge was performed for the initial time, in London.