3264) How Ara Sarafian Excavates Words & Figures Through His Own Imagination From Ambiguous Notes

Gomidas Institute
© 2011 Ara Sarafian

CONTENTS
Introduction by Ara Sarafian
Map
TALAAT PASHA’S 1917 REPORT
Opening Summary Page: Data and Calculations
WESTERN PROVINCES (MAP)
Constantinople
Edirne vilayet
Chatalja mutasarriflik
Izmit mutasarriflik
Hudavendigar (Bursa) vilayet
Karesi mutasarriflik 28
Kala-i Sultaniye (Chanakkale) mutasarriflik
Eskishehir vilayet
Aydin vilayet
Kutahya mutasarriflik
Afyon Karahisar mutasarriflik
Konia vilayet
Menteshe mutasarriflik
Teke (Antalya) mutasarriflik
CENTRAL PROVINCES (MAP)
Ankara (Angora) vilayet
Bolu mutasarriflik
Kastamonu vilayet 40
Janik (Samsun) mutasarriflik
Nigde mutasarriflik
Kayseri mutasarriflik
Adana vilayet
Ichil mutasarriflik
EASTERN PROVINCES (MAP)
Sivas vilayet
Erzerum vilayet
Bitlis vilayet
Van vilayet
Trebizond vilayet
Mamuretulaziz (Elazig) vilayet
SOUTH EASTERN PROVINCES AND RESETTLEMENT ZONE (MAP)
Marash mutasarriflik
Aleppo (Halep) vilayet
Urfa mutasarriflik
Diyarbekir vilayet
Syria vilayet
Zor mutasarriflik
Mosul vilayet
Beirut vilayet
Jerusalem (Kudus-i Sherif) vilayet
Appendix 1: A Report from the Turkish Military Archives
Appendix 2: Talaat’s “Black Booklet”
Map 1: Destruction of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, 1915-17
Map 2: Surviving Armenian Deportees in the Ottoman Empire, 1917

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We'll publish his response as soon as we receive from him

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31 May 2011

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Updated with the Further Notes as follows :
8 June 2011

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Source: TruckTurkey

Following the publication of the book named ‘Talat Pasha Evrak-ı Metrukesi (Documents Left Behind by Talat Pasha) by Murat Bardakçı in 2008, there were many interpretations of the book as well as many extreme meanings attributed to it both in Turkey and in the west in the name of historiography.



Many comments were flying around some of which were,



‘Denied Deir-El-Zor Massacres’ by Sarafian;

Claim of Hilmar Kaiser about his ‘Death Record’ being a slap in the faces of Turkish historians (Sabrina Tavernise NYT March 8, 2009 - Nearly a Million Genocide Victims, Covered in a Cloak of Amnesia);

Taner Akçam finding the number of the deported low;

Yusuf Halaçoğlu finding the number of the deported high;

Fuat Dündar announcing the document to be the most important of all;

Kemal Çiçek finding the document worthless.



While this theatrical phenomenon of subjective historiography was going on in March 2009, I managed to publish in chronological order the official documents and statistics gathered from US-Armenian and European sources about the relocations of Ottoman Armenians until end of 1920 (until when the Turkish-Armenian War continued).

Link : Armenian Refugees Movements & Genocide Claims

The ‘Death Record’ claimed to be a slap in the faces of Turkish historians by Hilmar Kaiser must have been a slap in his on face after the documents I published, not to mention the fact that nothing serious was heard about the documents of Talat Pasha from that side.

By SABRINA TAVERNISE Published: March 8, 2009 NYT

Further more Taner Akçam, making a sudden reduction of 50% in his claim for the death toll of so-called genocide victims, announced the number as 800,000 in the TV program of Balçiçek Pamir which was a more defendable figure for him although the claim about the number of the so-called genocide victims by the related institutions and committees was 1.5 million.



Not being contented with the documents I published, we also issued the official records of League of Nations about the aid activities for Armenian Refugees.



However, Mr. Ara Sarafian, chairman of Gomidas Institute most probably was not very pleased with the outcome since he attempted to relate miraculously the ‘Deported Armenian’ records in the documents of Talat Pasha with the telegraphs of 1917, with the dream of coming up with a miracle result for the relocation.

[ Generated Analysis by Sarafian about Talat Paşa Evrak-ı Metrukesi ]



Let me remind all of you who express their opinions based on comments by Sarafian of some points one more time:



1) It is very clear that the document presenting the general condition of Armenians after the relocation and attributed to Talat Pasha is used to try to give an image as if it is representing truths recently surfaced (that were being hid on purpose before) although a copy of the very same document with the same hand-writing is with the Attache archives and the telegraphs of 1917 that are referenced by Sarafian are in the Ottoman archives. The aim becomes evident when we hear the claims that the document had been prepared specially for Talat Pasha in order for him to be able to control the number of survivors and to mask the process as a security measure. Unfortunately when you do a simple math on 1914 population census figures, figures on the telegraphs of 1917 and numbers in Attache archives, you get the same result with the document attributed to Talat Pasha, all of these documents being readily available in the archives for many years. Also in the history journal issued by NTV, there is a document published by Derya Tulga dated November 2nd, 1922 and having a stamp on it as ‘true copy’ presenting the number of Armenians relocated as 924,158. The document published by Bardakçı about Talat Pasha is neither a secret nor something specially prepared for him.

Published by Derya Tulga in The NTV History Journal

2) In addition the expressions of Sarafian of ‘masking this process as a security measure’ and ‘his report was not meant for public disclosure and may well have been destroyed were it not for Talat’s untimely death in 1921’ are not appropriate and hereby I remind Sarafian of the official document prepared by American Ambassador Jackson dated February 3rd, 1916 about the Armenian population in Iraq and Syria. Someone who was in the intention of exterminating Armenians secretly would certainly not get Armenians counted by the American Ambassador with the presence of Armenian reverends.

[ US Archives State Department Record Group 59, 867.48/271 by Ara Sarafian, United States Official Documents on the Armenian Genocide, Vol II, s. 112-113 ]

3) Another remarkable comment by Sarafian is ‘Consequently, the eastern provinces of Erzerum, Bitlis, Van, Diyarbekir, Trebizond, Elazig and Janik were not included in the survey because they had been ordered to clear out their Armenian populations in the initial stages of deportations’. Sarafian went too far by further deepening his claim with the remark of ‘Talat knew that many Armenians had managed to escape from the Ottoman Empire, such as those who resisted Ottoman forces in Van in April 1915, as well as those who managed to flee across the Russian border in 1915-16. The number of people who escaped was probably around 150,000 and their ultimate survival was by no means clear. Thousands subsequently perished from privation and disease’. Sarafian did not even have to make any effort to see that a document belonging Lord Major Found proved that the number of the fleeing ones was 250,000 alone in 1915 and that Armenians were not only fleeing from Van but other provinces too.In addition to this, the number of the fleeing ones in the following years to Caucasia, Southern Russia and Iran is no less than 500,000.

Armenian refugees: Lord Mayor's Fund

nationalarchives.gov.uk

4) As a result Sarafian claims that 900,000 Armenians had been systemically terminated by basing his claim also on telegraphs of 1917. In response to this Fuat Dündar claims that since the document attributed to Talat Pasha does not include the number of Armenians in general assembly areas like Deir-El-Zor or Mosul but only includes the ones counted in the cities, there is no way that the claim of Sarafian about the number of Armenians who died can be true. Either way, it is not possible to form a claim based on the document attributed to Talat Pasha or on the telegraphs of 1917. However if Sarafian is in the intention of attaching to his claim for life, then he has to come up with other official and historical documents. He can start by checking the official documents from American archives proving that the number of survivors in Ottoman borders in 1921 is 624,900. He can then also take a look at the documents presented to the League of Nations if he wishes. He can even present the documents.I included in my article headed ‘Armenian Refugees Movement and Genocide Claims’ to world’s public opinion before the article becomes a slap in the face to Sabrina Tavernise. None of these documents are from Turkish archives, they are all official documents and they all include historical information and dates.

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration - NARA, T 1192 R2. 860J.01

The document in Talat’s archive brings forth the following:

* The document does not include either dates or a general outcome based on calculations and therefore does not have unique importance alone in its current form.

* It becomes an extra useful item for calculation following the presentation of Armenian Refugee numbers from the archives of League of Nations in years following WW1.

* It is useful in the sense that it pulls down the baseless claim of Armenian Patriarchate about the Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire before 1914 of 2 million back to its real levels of 1.5 million.


* What has been said and commented about the document produce more efficient results than what is included in the document itself.

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2977) Adana Incidents Distorted by Sarafian at a California College

Sarafian Speaks On Massacre

By Michael Hamlin Jr. | October 14, 2009, Brianna Campbell / The Collegian -

Ara Sarafian, an archival historian who specializes in late Ottoman history, presented information to California State University, Fresno students Monday night about the Adana massacre of Armenian’s in the Ottoman Empire. . .

The year 2009 marks the 100 year anniversary of the state led massacre that killed at least 20,000 Armenians in 1909. The massacre was entrenched in political, economical and religious differences.

In his presentation entitled ‘Remembering Adana’, Sarafian illustrated the destruction the massacre caused through the use of vivid pictures and hauntingly descriptive text that described the devastation and tragedy that occurred in Adana.

“The massacre was completely out of the blue,” Sarafian said during his presentation. “The devastation is breathtaking; the pictures bring the damage to life. I like to show them because if I did not, you would think I was lying or telling a story.”

Fresno State student and audience member Lauren Beal believes Fresno State students can learn many things from Sarafian’s presentation.

“Students can learn a lot about Armenian history,” Beal said. “If you can learn from history, it most likely will not be repeated.”
Barlow Der Mugrdechian, director for the center for Armenian studies, agrees that history can teach many things.

“History tells us a lot about ourselves,” Mugrdechian said after Sarafian’s lecture had concluded. “It [history] can happen again, we have to be careful of that fact and learn from our past mistakes.”

The Turkish government disputes the history of the events in Adana in 1909. The government contends that the Adana Massacre was an Armenian attack on the Muslim majority.

Sarafian addressed this issue while speaking about the importance of writing the correct history of the past. He said there is no place for lies or inaccuracies.
“The Turkish government said the Armenians were rebels [speaking about the Adana massacre of 1909]. That is a flat-out lie,” said Sarafian, founding director of the Gomidas Institute in London, a leading research center which republishes English translations of Armenian texts about the Armenian Genocide. “Historical writing is up to you. History does not write itself, states do not write history, people do.”

As well as speaking about the Adana massacre, Sarafian also had a message for Fresno State students.

“Students should have awareness for prejudice,” Sarafian said. “We are the guardians of our own freedom. We need to take a moral stance. Maybe the real question we should ask is how to stop the violence.”

On Oct. 10, the countries of Turkey and Armenia signed an agreement to establish diplomatic relations and open their border after one century of hostility towards each other. The issue of whether or not the killings of Armenians during the end of the Ottoman Empire is only hinted at, but none the less, the peace treaty was still signed.

Sarafian also put a positive perspective on the tragic massacre of 1909.

“History doesn’t always have to be negative, it can bring people together,” Sarafian said. “The legacy of Adana may not be to divide people, but to bring them together.”

http://collegian.csufresno.edu/2009/10/14/sarafian-speaks-on-massacre/comment-page-1/#comment-39516

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Comments posted by Ergun KIRLIKOVALI:

Salahi Sonyel’s book “The Great War and the Tragedy of Anatolia”, TTK, Ankara, 2001, has an entire chapter on Adana; “Chapter 3: The Counter-Revolution” whose four sub-chapters are:

“The Events of 13 April 1909 (31 Mart Val’asi), pages 48-52

“The Adana Incidents”, pages 52-60

“Who was responsible for the Adana Incidents”, pages 61-64

“The Commission of Inquiry into the Adana Incidents”, pages 65-70.

All of these findings squarely refute Sarafian's claims. Here is one excerpt from page 66 where one of the most experienced American missionaries in Anatolia, Rev. Dr. Christie, gives an account to of the very origin of the Adana incident to the American diplomatic representative who, in turn, furnishes it to British ambassador in Istanbul (Lowther):

"... that the young Armenians of Adana were nearly all revolutionaries, that arms and ammunition were on sale for months, and that both sides had been laying in store of them. He also attributed a large share in the (Adana) events to the 'evil counsels' of the Armenian bishop, whom (Dr. Christie) described as 'a very bad man'..."

These comments of Dr. Christie refute Sarafian's claims and show that the idea of a revolutionary plot did in fact exist among many Armenians headed by their 'evil' bishop. The Armenians were well armed and supplied, motivated, even arrogant, and quite aggressive; attributes in stark contradiction with the Sarafian misrepresentation of innocent, unarmed Armenians.

There is much more in this book and elsewhere to clearly demonstrate to truth-seekers that one-sided accounts of historic controversies, such as that by Sarafian of Adana incidents, do not help promote scholarship, truth, peace, or closure.

Dr. Gwynne Dyer, a London-based independent journalist, may have put it best in1976 after all:

“… The deafening drumbeat of the propaganda, and the sheer lack of sophistication in argument which comes from preaching decade after decade to a convinced and emotionally committed audience, are the major handicaps of Armenian historiography of the Diaspora today…”

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Note to members of the Turkish-American community:

The above was also posted in the "ACTION ALERT" at www.mediawatchnow.com . Are you "action alert" yet?

An Armenian scholar (Sarafian) travels all the way from London, England, to brainwash your kids here in a California college. Did you lift your finger to help combat this anti-Turkish propaganda in your own backyard yet?

Or would you kindly rather “the protocols” do it for you as you cannot be bothered?

You can come out of your self-isolation now, register with www.mediawatchnow.com and start speaking up. We need you more than ever today…

Tell a friend!

Ergun.

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