Operation Nemesis: The Assassination Plot that Avenged the Armenian Genocide - Bogosian Eric - Страница 73

Soghomon Tehlirian assassinated Talat Pasha in Berlin in March 1921 and was subsequently freed by the German court. (Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives, Watertown, MA, [email protected] /* */)

Sultan Abdul Hamid II was the last sultan with any real power. He ruled for over thirty years, ever wary of assassination. He created the Hamidiye militias in the east and fostered a “culture of massacre” in the Armenian territories, leading to tens of thousands of deaths. Abdul Hamid was deposed by the Young Turks in 1909. (Universal Images Group / SuperStock)

William Gladstone served as British prime minister during the late nineteenth century. His views reflected the most virulent anti-Turkish sentiments. (© Bettmann/Corbis)

The fedayeen were paramilitary Armenian fighters who made it their “holy mission” to attack Turkish troops and Kurdish militias. General Adranik is seated in the center. (CPA Media / Pictures From History)

Kurdish Hamidiye were militias organized in the name of Sultan Abdul Hamid that were encouraged to commit massacres against the Armenian population in Eastern Asia Minor. (CPA Media / Pictures From History)

Armenian deportations southward to the Syrian desert were designed to be unsurvivable. Deportees were driven through harsh terrain while being systematically starved. Those who lagged behind were often killed on the spot. Armenians who endured to the end of the line found themselves condemned to a slow death by starvation or disease in concentration camps surrounded by desert. (The Art Archive at Art Resource, NY)

A gathering of the Committee of Union and Progress sometime in 1909. The three men seated in the center (Talat Pasha, Said Halim Pasha, and Djemal Pasha) were assassinated by Operation Nemesis agents. Behind them, center, is Enver Pasha, assassinated by Soviet troops. Also in attendance were former minister of finance Djavid Bey; Alusa Mussa Kiazim, former Sheik ul-Islam; Rifaat Bey, president of the Senate; and Halil Bey, foreign minister. The man standing on Enver’s left has been identified as Mustapha Kemal. (CPA Media / Pictures From History)

Enver Pasha was an admirer of Prussian military culture. At the end of the war he escaped his conviction for war crimes by moving to Moscow. After attempting to foster Islamic revolution in Central Asia, he was hunted down and killed by Soviet troops. (akg-images / Interfoto)

General Otto Liman von Sanders was Germany’s man in Turkey during World War I. He had little regard for the Ottoman military leadership and disagreed openly with Enver Pasha’s tactics. Liman von Sanders would testify at Tehlirian’s trial, denying German involvement in the destruction of the Armenians. (© Hulton-Deutsch Collection / Corbis)

Talat Pasha was interior minister of the Ottoman Empire during World War I. He was in effect the leader of the CUP and directly responsible for the Armenian Genocide. Talat was assassinated by Soghomon Tehlirian in Berlin in the spring of 1921. (akg-images)

Djemal Pasha was a key leader in the CUP government of World War I Ottoman Turkey. He commanded the military in Arab regions and governed the populations there. After the war he objected to his conviction by the war crimes tribunal held in Constantinople, claiming that he was a friend of the Armenians. He was assassinated outside secret Cheka headquarters in Tiflis, Georgia, by three Nemesis operatives on July 21, 1922. (© Robert Hunt Library / Mary Evans)

Along with Dr. Nazim, Dr. Behaeddin Shakir ran the “Special Organization” (Teshkilati Mahsusa), a secret paramilitary outfit that organized the lethal deportations. With the approval of Talat Pasha, Shakir’s priority was a full eradication of the indigenous Armenians as part of a program of “Turkification.” He was assassinated by Aram Yerganian on April 17, 1922. (CPA Media / Pictures From History)

Misak Torlakian was the Nemesis fedayee who assassinated Azerbaijani leader Khan Javanshir in Constantinople during the postwar occupation. Though he stood trial and was convicted, Torlakian was released because the court was convinced that he was mentally incapacitated at the time of the murder. Like Tehlirian and Shiragian, Torlakian would quietly spend his last years in the United States a free man. (CPA Media / Pictures From History)

Shahan Natali (Hagop Der Hagopian) was a prolific author of short stories, plays, and poetry who ran the Operation Nemesis actions in Europe. Placing a pistol in Tehlirian’s hand, Natali claimed to have said, “It has been tried and is ready for the command of your index finger.” (CPA Media / Pictures From History)

Revolutionary Armen Garo (Karekin Pastermadjian) was the executive in charge of Operation Nemesis. Garo was a seasoned operative and statesman who participated in the Bank Ottoman attack, the Ottoman Parliament, and the first Armenian Republic. (CPA Media / Pictures From History)

While residing in the United States, Aaron Sachaklian oversaw strategy and kept the Nemesis books, managing cash flow for the organization. When the operation was disbanded, he hid letters and accounting and maintained silence on Operation Nemesis for the rest of his life. (Marian Mesrobian MacCurdy / Transaction Publishers)

Arshavir Shiragian was the most flamboyant of the Nemesis assassins, describing his exploits in his memoir, The Legacy. Shiragian gunned down Vahe Ihsan in Constantinople, Said Halim Pasha in Rome, and Djemal Azmi in Berlin. Though Shiragian wounded Dr. Behaeddin Shakir, Aram Yerganian is credited with that assassination. (Sonia Shiragian / Hairenik Association)

Johannes Lepsius was a German humanitarian who attempted to publicize atrocities committed against the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Testifying at Tehlirian’s Berlin trial, Lepsius laid the blame for the Armenian deportations squarely on Talat’s shoulders. (CPA Media / Pictures From History)