The Relocation Trials in Occupied Istanbul
1st Edition
Published on 19. November 2018
Book
Paperback/Softback
357 pages
978-3-939795-92-6 (ISBN)
Description
Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War, the victorious states occupied Istanbul. As soon as they arrived, the occupational forces, put a lot of pressure on the government following the Mondros Armistice Agreement (30th October 1918). This was in order to punish the Unionist leaders, ministers, deputies and high ranking state officials for the deportation of Armenians. As the Ottoman authorities had to do everything the victors said as a result of this pressure, a military court was set up and former officials were given harsh punishments, including execution. The new political understanding after the war was that if a passive attitude was adopted and everything the occupational forces wanted was taken care of, then there would be peace and the independence of the country would be protected.
After the war, punishments were given by taking advantage of claims that there was an "Armenian massacre". However, the decisions made in these trials where objective and unbiased norms did not apply, were void. As there was no right to appeal the decisions made in the beginning, some punishments were unfortunately carried out. However, after 23rd April 1920, when the right to appeal was given, the previously declared death penalty sentences and other verdicts were reversed.
As the public were dissatisfied with the fact that in the 1919-1921 Armenian relocation cases it was forbidden to have a lawyer, it was impossible to speak in favour of a defendant, and it was impossible to appeal decisions, a black mark was left in legal history. In this book, the aim has been to present concrete evidence that because of political concerns, an institution responsible for handing out justice openly ignored all matter of rights and justice.
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Prof. Dr. Ferudun Ata was born in 1966 in Konya, Turkey. He graduated from the History Department of the Literature Faculty at Selçuk University, in the same city, in 1992. Ferudun Ata who has been researching more recent Turkish political history, completed his PhD on The Armenian Deportation Cases from years 1919-1921, a crucial time for the Armenian Issue, at Marmara University (Istanbul) under the guidance of Dr Cevdet Küçük. Feredun Ata who has worked mostly on the last years of the Ottoman Empire and Republican Turkey, has a lot of books and articles on this subject. In his book Süleymaniyeli Nemrut Mustafa Pasa- Bir Isbirlikçi Portresi, he examines the attempts at blocking the Istanbul government made by the new state in Anatolia in the last days of the Ottoman Empire. Likewise, he has published books which explain the symbolic heroes who worked for Turkey's independence in this transition period and memoirs about them. At the university where he works, he gives undergraduate and masters lectures on Turkish-Armenian relations, The History of the Turkish Republic, and The History of the Turkish Press. Ferudun Ata who spend time researching and investigating in the US, is still a teaching fellow at the Selçuk University History Department in Konya.
Prof. Dr. Ferudun Ata was born in 1966 in Konya, Turkey. He graduated from the History Department of the Literature Faculty at Selçuk University, in the same city, in 1992. Ferudun Ata who has been researching more recent Turkish political history, completed his PhD on The Armenian Deportation Cases from years 1919-1921, a crucial time for the Armenian Issue, at Marmara University (Istanbul) under the guidance of Dr Cevdet Küçük. Feredun Ata who has worked mostly on the last years of the Ottoman Empire and Republican Turkey, has a lot of books and articles on this subject. In his book Süleymaniyeli Nemrut Mustafa Pasa- Bir Isbirlikçi Portresi, he examines the attempts at blocking the Istanbul government made by the new state in Anatolia in the last days of the Ottoman Empire. Likewise, he has published books which explain the symbolic heroes who worked for Turkey's independence in this transition period and memoirs about them. At the university where he works, he gives undergraduate and masters lectures on Turkish-Armenian relations, The History of the Turkish Republic, and The History of the Turkish Press. Ferudun Ata who spend time researching and investigating in the US, is still a teaching fellow at the Selçuk University History Department in Konya.
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