Gomidas Institute in London publishes Talaat Pasha's Report on Armenian Genocide

PanARMENIAN.Net - Gomidas Institute in London published Talaat Pasha's Report on the Armenian Genocide, 1917 (Bibliodetails: Ara Sarafian (ed. and intro.)

Recent documents released in Turkish archives, combined with surviving documents from Talaat Pasha's private papers, confirm that Talaat was indeed the architect of the Armenian Genocide, according to Sarafian.

There is a clear record that he ordered and supervised the general deportation of Ottoman Armenians in 1915-16, and that he followed the fate of such deportees from close quarters. According to Talaat's report on the Armenian Genocide, most Armenians in the Ottoman Empire had disappeared between 1915 and 1917, or they were dispersed in different provinces of the Ottoman Empire for assimilation.

Talaat Pasha's Report on the Armenian Genocide, 1917 is the closest official Ottoman view we have of the Armenian Genocide. The report was undoubtedly prepared for Talaat Pasha and meant for his private use. It was not meant for publication and probably only survived because Talaat was assassinated in 1921 and his widow gave the report to a Turkish historian who eventually published it, said Sarafian. No such record has been released by Turkish archives to date, though the data presented in the 1917 report can be checked against the available Ottoman records and stands scrutiny.

According to Talaat's figures 1,150,000 Armenians disappeared in the Ottoman Empire between 1915-1917. This number includes well over 100,000 Armenians who fled from the Ottoman Empire in 1915 (and died in large numbers from hunger, exposure and disease), but it does not include tens of thousands of Armenian women and children who were absorbed into Muslim families or placed into state orphanages for assimilation.