Armenian notables deported from the Ottoman capital in 1915

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Armenian Genocide
Background
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire · Armenian Question · Hamidian Massacres · Zeitun Resistance (1895) · 1896 Ottoman Bank Takeover · Yıldız Attempt · Adana Massacre · Young Turk Revolution
The Genocide
Armenian notables deported from the Ottoman capital · Tehcir Law · Armenian casualties of deportations · Ottoman Armenian casualties  · Labour battalion
Major extermination centers: Bitlis · Deir ez-Zor · Diyarbakır · Erzurum · Kharput · Muş · Sivas · Trabzon
Resistance: Zeitun  · Van · Musa Dagh · Urfa · Shabin-Karahisar · Armenian militia
Foreign aid and relief: Reactions · American Committee for Relief in the Near East
Responsible parties
Young Turks: Talat · Enver · Djemal · Committee of Union and Progress · Teskilati Mahsusa · The Special Organization · Ottoman Army · Kurdish Irregulars · Topal Osman
Aftermath
Courts-Martial · Operation Nemesis · Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire · Denial of the Genocide
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The number of Armenian notables deported from İstanbul/Constantinople in 1915 in the larger framework of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, plausibly part of that same vast and organized processus, differ greatly from one source to the other.

Contents 1 Issues of validity 2 Issues of size 3 List of Armenians deported 4 References

[edit] Issues of validity

There is also a tendency among sources to concentrate the event around the date of 24 April 1915, giving an impression of immediate arrests on that date and prompt exiling. A case-by-case approach diminishes the validity of this impression.

Another point to tackle would be the numerical proportion of the arrested inside the large Armenian community of the capital and the significance of their names within that community, since there were also many notables who were not arrested. Others, like the poet Alpaslan (Alexander Panossian who used the name of the Seljuk sultan as pen-name) were reportedly arrested and then set free without being deported.

[edit] Issues of size

Turkish sources tend to provide higher figures for the number of deportees from the capital.

• Kamuran Gürün states that "Upon this instruction of the Ministry of the Interior, 235 people were arrested in Istanbul" ^[1].

• U.S. lawyer Michael Bobelian, referring to colleague Vartkes Yeghiayan's 2001-2004 New York Life Armenian insurance policies case, notes in a judicial context, "Similar scenes played out across İstanbul as 250 Armenian leaders were arrested and sent to camps in central Turkey." [9].
• The Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) claims, "In the midst of the chaos of World War I, suddenly and without warning the Turkish government sent sealed orders to every city and hamlet in which Armenians lived. On the designated day, April 24, 1915, all the prominent Armenians, clergymen, intellectuals and businessmen, were gathered in the middle of the night [10].

• Armenian review states that "of about 150 Armenian leaders held at Çankırı, 44 survived the ordeal." The deportations of notables from the capital was (at least initially for some) directed to Çankırı and Ayaş. Dr. Khachig Boghosian, himself one of the deportees, writes in his 1955 memoirs, "[We] were 39 persons altogether, the majority of whom had no value as intellectuals...We learned that the previous ones, more than 150 Armenian intellectuals had been sent to an unknown place by train during the time I was brought to the Central Prison (immediately after the arrest on 24 April).[11].

[edit] List of Armenians deported

Below is a list of Armenians deported from the Ottoman capital (İstanbul) during the First World War, as made available by the Ottoman archives and the rare Armenian sources with precision. The names have been cited according to international and (in parenthesis) Ottoman Turkish spellings respectively.

#	Name	birth	Fate	Affiliation	Profession	Date of Arrest&exile	Place of deportation	Notes on fate
1.	Komitas Vardapet	b. 1869, Kütahya	Survivor		Composer, ethnomusicologist	24 April 1915	Çankırı	Permitted to return to the capital by special telegramme from Talat Pasha on 7 May 1915 [12] - d. 1935 in Paris
2.	Vahram Torkumian (Vahram Torkumyan)		Survivor		Doctor, medical historian	24 April 1915	Çankırı	Permitted to return to the capital by special telegramme from Talat Pasha on 7 May 1915 [13]. After the war, he published a book (a list of Armenian doctors) in Evreux, France in 1922 and a study on the taenicide kosso in Antwerp in 1929. [14]
3.	Agop Nargilejian (Agop Nargileciyan)		Survivor		?	24 April 1915	Çankırı	Permitted to return to the capital by special telegramme from Talat Pasha on 7 May 1915 [15].
4.	Karabet Keropeian (Karabet Körpeyan)		Survivor		?	24 April 1915	Çankırı	Permitted to return to the capital by special telegramme from Talat Pasha on 7 May 1915 [16].
5.	Zare Bardizbanian (Zare Bardizbanyan)				?	24 April 1915	Çankırı	Permitted to return to the capital by special telegramme from Talat Pasha on 7 May 1915 [17]. There was possibly also another Bardizbanian (Dr. Levon Bardizbanian) among the deportees [18].
6.	Pozant Kechian (Pozant Keçiyan)		Survivor		?	24 April 1915	Çankırı	Permitted to return to the capital by special telegramme from Talat Pasha on 7 May 1915 [19].
7.	Pervant Tolaian (Pervant Tolayan)		Survivor		?	24 April 1915	Çankırı	Permitted to return to the capital by special telegramme from Talat Pasha on 7 May 1915 [20].
8.	Rafael Karagozian (Rafael Karagözyan)		Survivor		?	24 April 1915	Çankırı	Permitted to return to the capital by a telegramme from Talat Pasha on 7 May 1915 [21].
9.	Sarkis Shahinian (Sarkis Şahinyan)		Survivor		?	24 April 1915	Çankırı	"Pardoned on condition on not returning to İstanbul" according to a telegramme from the Ministry of the Interior on 25 August 1915 on the subject of exiles erroneously unlisted in a former 3 August telegramme[22].
10.	Ohannes Hanisian (Ohannes Hanisyan)		Survivor		?	24 April 1915	Çankırı	"Pardoned on condition on not returning to İstanbul" according to a telegramme from the Ministry of the Interior on 25 August 1915 on the subject of exiles erroneously unlisted in a former 3 August telegramme [23].
11.	Artin Boghosian (Artin Boğosyan)		Survivor		?	24 April 1915	Çankırı	"Pardoned on condition on not returning to İstanbul" according to a telegramme from the Ministry of the Interior on 25 August 1915 on the subject of exiles erroneously unlisted in a former 3 August telegramme [24].
12.	Baghdasar Serkisian (Bağdasar Serkisyan)		Survivor		?	24 April 1915	Çankırı	"Pardoned on condition on not returning to İstanbul" according to a telegramme from the Ministry of the Interior on 25 August 1915 on the subject of exiles erroneously unlisted in a former 3 August telegramme [25].
13.	Zare Mumjian (Zare Mumcuyan)		Survivor		?	24 April 1915	Çankırı	"Pardoned on condition on not returning to İstanbul" according to a telegramme from the Ministry of the Interior on 25 August 1915 on the subject of exiles erroneously unlisted in a former 3 August telegramme [26].
14.	Roupen Chilingirian (Rupen Çilingiryan) pen-name Rupen Sevag	b. 1885 in Silivri	Perished		Physician, prominent poet and writer, formerly captain in the Ottoman Army during the Balkan Wars	24 April 1915	Çankırı	"Permitted to reside freely in Çankırı" according to a telegramme from the Ministry of the Interior on 25 August 1915 on the subject of exiles erroneously unlisted in a former 3 August telegramme [27]. Killed in a village called Tuneh in 1915, together with Gülistanyan and Mağazacıyan (below)according to an Armenian source [28]. His house in Elmadağı, İstanbul now a museum [29].
15.	Gulistanian (Gülastanyan)				Dentist	24 April 1915	Çankırı	"Permitted to reside freely in Çankırı" according to a telegramme from the Ministry of the Interior on 25 August 1915 on the subject of exiles erroneously unlisted in a former 3 August telegramme [30]. Killed in a village called Tuneh in 1915, together with Çilingiryan (above) and Mağazacıyan (below)according to an Armenian source [31].
16.	Onnik Mağazacıyan (Onnig Maghazajian)	b. 1878 in İstanbul		Chairman of Kumkapı Progressive Society	Cartographer, bookselller	24 April 1915	Çankırı	"Permitted to reside freely in Çankırı" according to a telegramme from the Ministry of the Interior on 25 August 1915 on the subject of exiles erroneously unlisted in a former 3 August telegramme [32]. Killed in a village called Tuneh in 1915, together with Çilingiryan and Gülistanyan (above)according to an Armenian source [33].
17.	Khachig Boghosian (Haçik Boğosyan)		Survivor		Doctor, psychologist	Arrested 24 April 1915, exiled 3 May 1915	Ayaş	Lived in Aleppo after the war. Founded a hospital. Published his memoirs of exile[34] - d. 1955 in Aleppo.
18.	Mikael Shamdanjian (Mikael Şamdancıyan)		Survivor		Newspaper editor, writer, teacher	24 April 1915	Çankırı	Published his memoirs of exile after the war. [35] - d.?
19.	Rev. Krikoris Balakian (Krikor Balakyan)	b. 1879 in Tokat	Survivor		Clergyman	24 April 1915	Çankırı	Lived in Manchester and Marseille after the war - Published his memoirs of exile - [36] - d.1934 in Marseille
20.	Haig Hojasarian (Hayik Hocasaryan)		Survivor		Teacher, politician in Ramgavar	24 April 1915	Çankırı	Permitted to return to the capital mid-June 1915. Later became chancellor of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America [37]
21.	Nakoulian (Nakulyan)		Survivor		Doctor	Arrested 24 April 1915, exiled 3 May 1915, later returned to the capital	Ayaş where, according to Khachig Bogosian, passed his time in the most debauched manner, almost every night he ate and got drunk with the gendarmes in the next room. [38]	Returned to the capital.
22.	Diran Kelekian (Diran Kelekyan)	b. 1862, Kayseri	Survivor		Writer, philologist, academician, freemason, author of a French-Turkish dictionary which is still a reference.	24 April 1915	Çankırı, then Sivas	Permitted to reside with his family anywhere outside the capital by special order from Talat Pasha on 8 May 1915 [39], chose Sivas, d. 1918 in that city.
23.	Nazareth Dagavarian		Survivor		Doctor, deputy for Sivas in the Ottoman parliament, founding member of Armenian General Benevolent Union.	24 April 1915	Ayaş, then dispatched to Diyarbakır to appear before a court martial	Removed from the Ayaş prison on 5 May and taken under military escort to Diyarbakır along with Agnouni, Jangulian, Khajag, Minassian and Zartarian (below) to appear before a court martial there and they were, seemingly, murdered by the [well-known] band of brigands led by Cherkes Ahmet, and lieutenants Halil and Nazım, at a locality called Karacaören shortly before arriving to Diyarbakır. [40]. The murderers were tried and executed in Damascus by Cemal Pasha in September 1915, and the assassinations became the subject of a 1916 investigation by the Ottoman Parliament led by Artin Boshgezenian, the deputy for Aleppo.
24.	Agnouni (Haçatur Malumyan)	b. 1865 in Zangezur	Perished	Dashnak	Dashnak militant, newspaper editor, He played a role in organizing an assembly of forces in opposition to the Ottoman Sultan, resulting in the proclamation of the Ottoman Constitution in 1908.	24 April 1915	Ayaş, then dispatched to Diyarbakır to appear before a court martial	Removed from the Ayaş prison on 5 May and taken under military escort to Diyarbakır along with Dagavarian (above), Jangulian, Khajag, Minassian and Zartarian (below) to appear before a court martial there and they were, seemingly, murdered by the [well-known] band of brigands led by Cherkes Ahmet, and lieutenants Halil and Nazım, at a locality called Karacaören shortly before arriving to Diyarbakır. [41]. The murderers were tried and executed in Damascus by Cemal Pasha in September 1915, and the assassinations became the subject of a 1916 investigation by the Ottoman Parliament led by Artin Boshgezenian, the deputy for Aleppo.
25.	Haroutiun Jangulian (Harutyun Cihangülyan)	b. 1855 in Van	Perished	Hunchak	One of the organizers of the 1890 Kumkapı affray, political activist, member of Armenian National Assembly, published his memoirs in 1913.	24 April 1915	Ayaş, then dispatched to Diyarbakır to appear before a court martial	Removed from the Ayaş prison on 5 May and taken under military escort to Diyarbakır along with Dagavarian (above), Agnouni, Khajag, Minassian and Zartarian (below) to appear before a court martial there and they were, seemingly, murdered by the [well-known] band of brigands led by Cherkes Ahmet, and lieutenants Halil and Nazım, at a locality called Karacaören shortly before arriving to Diyarbakır. [42]. The murderers were tried and executed in Damascus by Cemal Pasha in September 1915, and the assassinations became the subject of a 1916 investigation by the Ottoman Parliament led by Artin Boshgezenian, the deputy for Aleppo.
26.	Karekin Khajag (Karekin Çakalyan)	b. 1867 in Alexandropol	Perished	Dashnak	Newspaper editor, teacher.	24 April 1915	Ayaş, then dispatched to Diyarbakır to appear before a court martial	Removed from the Ayaş prison on 5 May and taken under military escort to Diyarbakır along with Dagavarian, Agnouni, Jangulian (above), Minassian and Zartarian (below) to appear before a court martial there and they were, seemingly, murdered by the [well-known] band of brigands led by Cherkes Ahmet, and lieutenants Halil and Nazım, at a locality called Karacaören shortly before arriving to Diyarbakır. [43]. The murderers were tried and executed in Damascus by Cemal Pasha in September 1915, and the assassinations became the subject of a 1916 investigation by the Ottoman Parliament led by Artin Boshgezenian, the deputy for Aleppo.
27.	Sarkis Minassian (Aram Ashod)	b. 1873 in Çengiler, Yalova	Perished		Editor of Armenian newspaper in Boston till 1909, teacher, writer and political activist in the Ottoman capital after 1909.	24 April 1915	Ayaş, then dispatched to Diyarbakır to appear before a court martial	Removed from the Ayaş prison on 5 May and taken under military escort to Diyarbakır along with Dagavarian, Agnouni, Jangulian, Khajag (above) and Zartarian (below) to appear before a court martial there and they were, seemingly, murdered by the [well-known] band of brigands led by Cherkes Ahmet, and lieutenants Halil and Nazım, at a locality called Karacaören shortly before arriving to Diyarbakır. [44]. The murderers were tried and executed in Damascus by Cemal Pasha in September 1915, and the assassinations became the subject of a 1916 investigation by the Ottoman Parliament led by Artin Boshgezenian, the deputy for Aleppo.
28.	Roupen Zartarian	b. 1874 in Harput	Perished		Writer, poet, newspaper and textbook editor, considered as a pioneer of Armenian rural literature.	24 April 1915	Ayaş, then dispatched to Diyarbakır to appear before a court martial	Removed from the Ayaş prison on 5 May and taken under military escort to Diyarbakır along with Dagavarian, Agnouni, Jangulian, Khajag and Minassian (below) to appear before a court martial there and they were, seemingly, murdered by the [well-known] band of brigands led by Cherkes Ahmet, and lieutenants Halil and Nazım, at a locality called Karacaören shortly before arriving to Diyarbakır. [45]. The murderers were tried and executed in Damascus by Cemal Pasha in September 1915, and the assassinations became the subject of a 1916 investigation by the Ottoman Parliament led by Artin Boshgezenian, the deputy for Aleppo.
29.	Krikor Zohrab		Perished		Writer, jurist, deputy in the Ottoman parliament	21 May 1915	Dispatched to Diyarbakır to appear before a court martial	Ordered to appear before a court martial in Diyarbakır, together with Vartkes Hovhannes Serengülyan (below), both went to Aleppo by train, escorted by one gendarme, remained in Aleppo for a few weeks, waited the results of infructuous attempts by the Ottoman governor of the city to have them sent back to the capital (some sources mention Cemal Pasha himself intervening for their return, but Talat Pasha insisting on them to sent to the court martial), and then dispatched to Urfa and remained there for some time in the house of a Turkish deputy friend, taken under police escort and led to Diyarbakır by car -allegedly accompanied on a voluntary basis by some notable Urfa Armenians, and with many sources confirming, they were murdered by the [well-known] band of brigands led by Cherkes Ahmet, Halil and Nazım, at a locality called Karaköprü or Şeytanderesi in the outskirts of Urfa, some time between 15 July and 20 July 1915. The murderers were tried and executed in Damascus by Cemal Pasha in September 1915, and the assassinations became the subject of a 1916 investigation by the Ottoman Parliament led by Artin Boshgezenian, the deputy for Aleppo.
30.	Vartkes Hovhannes Serengülyan		Perished		Deputy in the Ottoman parliament	21 May 1915	Dispatched to Diyarbakır to appear before a court martial	Same as Krikor Zohrab. (Cherkes Ahmet and Halil were led to Damascus and executed there on orders from Cemal Pasha, in connection with the murder of the two deputies, in 30 September 1915, Nazım had died in a fight before that.)
31.	Hamparsum Boyacıyan (Khampartsum Boyajian (Mourad)	b. 1867 in Haçin (Saimbeyli today)	Survived	Hunchak	Doctor, with a long and well-known history of political activity and agitation, one of the first organizers of the Hunchak in 1888 and one of its leaders, principal organizer of the 1890 Kumkapı affray, leader of the 1894-1895 Sasun revolt, after 1908 Armenian National Assembly delegate from Kumkapı and deputy of Ottoman Parliament from Adana. Mourad was his militant name. [46]	24 April 1915	Çankırı	Armenian sources claim that he was led to Kayseri to appear before a court martial and then was executed there in 1915. Turkish sources contend that, being an experienced guerilla leader since twenty years, he fled from Kayseri and is the same person as the Mourad (called "Mourad of Sivas" in Armenian sources) who emerged in that city in autumn 1915, ransacked Şebinkarahisar in north-central Turkey at the head of Armenian irregulars, and who, by way of sea from Trabzon, took refuge in Russian-controlled Batum, took part in the Russo-Turkish war as a leader of Armenian paramilitaries, and who died in 1918 during the fight for Baku between Turkish and Armenian forces (sources).
32.	Harutyun Kalfayan (Harutiun Calfaiyan	b. ? in Üsküdar	Perished	Hunchak	Director of Arhanyan College.	24 April 1915	Çankırı	Died in 1915 according to an Armenian source[2]. Not to be confused with his namesake, also a deportee but a Dashnak member (below), who was mayor of Bakırköy (Makriköy) quarter of the capital.
33.	Harutyun Kalfayan (Harutiun Calfaiyan	b. 1870 in Talas	Perished	Dashnak	Lawyer, mayor of Bakırköy (Makriköy)	24 April 1915	Çankırı	Died in 1915 according to an Armenian source [3]. Not to be confused with his namesake, also a deportee but a Hunchak member (above), who was a schoolmaster.
34.	Parsegh Shahbaz	b. 1883 in Boyacıköy, İstanbul	Perished	Dashnak	Journalist, columnist	24 April 1915	Çankırı	"Murdered on Harput-Malatya road" according to an Armenian source[4].
35.	Sempad Purad (Der-Ghazarents)	b. 1862 in Zeytun (Süleymanlı today)	Perished		Nationalist writer, teacher	24 April 1915	Çankırı	Died in 1915 according to an Armenian source[5].
36.	Jak Sayabalyan (Pailag)	b. 1880 in Konya	Perish	Armenian National Assembly	Interpreter for the British Consul in Konya between 1901-1905, then vice-consul for a year and a half. After 1909, journalist in the capital.	Arrested&exiled 24 April 1915	Çankırı	Died in 1915 according to an Armenian source[6].
37.	Arisdages Kasbarian	b. 1861 in Adana		Armenian National Assembly	Jurist, businessman,	24 April 1915	Çankırı	Died in 1915 according to an Armenian source[7].
38.	Harutiun Shahrigian	b. 1860 in Şebinkarahisar	Perished	Dashnak	Dashnak leader, lawyer, member of Armenian National Assembly.	24 April 1915	Çankırı	Died in 1915 according to an Armenian source [8].
39.	Topjian (Topçuyan)		Survivor		Doctor	24 April 1915	Çankırı	Permitted to return to the capital mid-June 1915. [9]
40.	Dr. Khachig Boghosian		Survivor		Doctor	24 April 1915	Çankırı	Wrote his memoirs. [10]

[edit] References