Revision 119179502 of "Portal:Turkish Courts-Martial of 1919–1920" on dewiki

{{Armenian Genocide}}
'''Turkish Courts-Martial of 1919-1920''' were [[courts-martial]] of the [[Ottoman Empire]] after the [[armistice of Mudros]] during the  [[Aftermath of World War I|aftermath]] the [[World War One]], which the leadership of the [[Committee of Union and Progress]] and selected former officials were court-martialled with/including the charges of [[Subversion (politics)|subversion]] of the constitution, wartime [[profiteering]], and the massacres of both [[Pontic Greek Genocide|Greeks]] and [[Armenian Genocide|Armenians]]<ref>Taner Akçam, Armenien und der Völkermord: Die Istanbuler Prozesse und die Türkische Nationalbewegung (Hamburg: Hamburger Edition, 1996), p. 185.</ref>. 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]], <ref>Public Record Office, Foreign Office, 371/4174/136069</ref>)

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<ref>Klaus-Detlev. Grothusen, "Türkei" page 35</ref>. During the second stage of the international trials, Ottoman politicians, generals, and intellectuals were relocated from Istanbul jails to "International trials in 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 guilt<ref>Türkei By Klaus-Detlev. Grothusen</ref>. The trials formed a key argument in the [[Treaty of Sèvres]], which resulted in the [[partitioning of the Ottoman Empire]].

==Background==
===Hostilities, 1914- October 1918 ===
Beginning of the World War One, regarding the news coming from Anatolia and [[Van Resistance]] on 24 May 1915 the [[Triple Entente]] warned the [[Ottoman Empire]] that "In the view of these...crimes of [[Turkey]] against humanity and civilization ... the Allied governments announce publicly.. that they will hold personally responsible... all members of the Ottoman government and those of their agents who are implicated in such massacres.<ref name="nazi">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</ref>"

===Military administration, November 1918===
{{Further|[[Armistice of Mudros]], [[Occupation of Istanbul]], and [[Malta exiles]]}}
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 <ref>Public Record Office, Foreign Office 371/4172/13694</ref> 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"<ref>Public Record Office, Foreign Office, 371/4172/28138</ref>. 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<ref>Public Record Office, Foreign Office, 371/4172/28138</ref>.  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"<ref>Public Record Office, Foreign Office, 371/4172/23004</ref>.

==The trials==
{{Seealso|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, 1919|Paris peace conference]]<ref>Vahakn N. Dadrian, "The Documentation of the World War I Armenian Massacres in the Proceedings of the Turkish Military Tribunal," International Journal of Middle East Studies 23(1991): 554; idem, "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.</ref>;  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.

===Structure===
===Legal Issues===
The tribunals were held under [[occupation]], thus the [[judge]]s 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<ref>Yılmaz Altug, trans., The Turkish Code of Criminal Procedure (London: Sweet and Maxwell, 1962), art. 232.</ref>. 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 [[forgery|forgeries]]. In some cases 
[[Hearsay in English Law|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) <ref>Heck to State Department, Feb. 7, 1919, U.S. National Archives, RG 59, 867.00/81 (M 820, roll 536, fr. 440)</ref>.  

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."<ref>Public Record Office, Foreign Office, 371/4174/136069</ref>

==Aftermath==
===Outcomes===
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.

===The International Trials===
{{Further|[[Malta Tribunals]]}}
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.

===Operation Nemesis===
{{Further|[[Operation Nemesis]]}}
The Ottoman military tribunal and subsequent international trials, which the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|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|Behaeddin Shakir Bey]], [[Jemal Azmi]], [[Cemal Pasha]], [[Enver Pasha]], as well as several Armenian traitors.

==See also==
*[[Armenian Genocide]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Ottoman Empire]]