Ottoman Armenian casualties
Encyclopedia
Ottoman Armenian casualties refers to the number of deaths of Ottoman Armenian
people between 1914 to 1923. The Republic of Armenia and several other nations recognize the deaths to have occurred during an Armenian Genocide
.Most estimates of related Armenian deaths between 1915 to 1918 range from 300,000 to 1.5 million.
It was allegedly the result of a commission formed by the interior minister Mustafa Arif. It is said that they relied on reports and statistics they had compiled in a period of two months; on March 14, 1919, the results were made public by Djemal. This same figure was mentioned in Rauf Orbay's own memoirs. The initial results apparently represented those who were “massacred” during the deportation, without any indication as to the total number of people who perished. Mustafa Kemal, during a conversation with Major General Harbord, the chief of the American Military Mission to Armenia, in September 1919, repeated the same number. The figure of 800,000, it should be noted, excludes Armenian soldiers in the Ottoman army liquidated in the early stages of the genocide, as well as the number of women and male and female children assimilated into Turkish families.
However, following the dissolution of the military tribunal, those figures were reinterpreted. The Turkish author Taner Akçam refers to a Turkish military estimate published by Lt. Col. Nihat in 1928, in which the figure of 800,000 no longer represented those "massacred" or "killed", but simply those who perished. Then the historian Bayur in a famous work wrote: "800,000 Armenians and 200,000 Greeks died as a result of deportations or died in labor brigades." Bayur concluded: "According to our official sources, these numbers are correct."
's figures are often cited, particularly in works that could be considered to support the Turkish government thesis that the Armenian massacres do not constitute genocide. Even though Professor McCarthy is a Western academic, his numbers of Armenian casualties are derived from his statistics of Armenian population, which in turn were derived from Ottoman records (by applying correction values). Some scholars (like Aviel Roshwald
) therefore consider his figures to be an Ottoman source rather than a Western one. "
McCarthy calculated an estimate of the pre-war Armenian population, then subtracted his estimate of survivors, arriving at a figure of a little less than 600,000 for Armenian casualties for the period 1914 to 1922. But as in the cases of his population, his statistics are controversial. In a more recent essay, he projected that if the Armenian records of 1913 were accurate, 250,000 more deaths should be added, for a total of 850,000. And he is also criticized for overestimating the survivor table. Frédéric Paulin goes as far as comparing his methodology with Rassinier's method in calculating the European Jewry losses during World War II.
's ally. Some speculate that it was due to their access to murder sites.
A report stated that as early as February 1916, 1.5 million Armenians had been destroyed. A report on May 27, 1916, by Foreign Office Intelligence Director Erzberger provided the same figure, as did an October 4, 1916 report by the German Interim Ambassador to Turkey, Radowitz. It seems that the generally cited 1.5 million figure originated from those German sources. German major Endres, who served in the Turkish army, estimated the number of Armenian deaths as 1.2 million. The same figure was mentioned during the Yozgat trial, and before the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal
and is often cited elsewhere.
and Samsun
, Dr. Kwatkiowski on March 13, 1918 reported to Vienna, restricting himself to the six eastern provinces, Trabzon and Samsun district, that of the million deported, most died, while Austria-Hungary's Adrianople (Edirne
) consul Dr. Nadamlenzki reported that for the entire Ottoman Empire 1.5 million had already been deported. The Austrian Vice Marashal Pomiankowski estimated the Armenian losses at about a million.
, an intelligence officer of the British Foreign Office during World War I
, estimated a death toll of 600,000 from a population of 1,800,000 Armenians who lived in Anatolia but excluded most of 1916 and the following years, as Professor Melson writes:
had been included. Whether or not the Armenian casualties were being deliberately understated to increase the Armenian population to support Armenian independence is still a matter of debate. The Armenian wartime losses of a million, the Adana massacre
s, and Hamidian massacres had been combined for the sake of what the commission at one point called "justice," in what appears to have been an attempt to maximize the population count. The Armenian estimates showed the same tendency. At times, they were even reduced to 500,000 when the high Armenian death count endangered the possibility of an Armenian state including Ottoman territory, and in other instances raised to over a million. The United States figures for the period between 1915 to 1917 vary widely, but most figures approach a million or more.
. Melson, for instance, provide' a rough estimate of 500,000. On the other hand, those estimates have no archival grounds, for this reason some researchers considers any such figures could be near to the actual casualty figures or far from it.
(İzmir
) during what was reported as massacres and what followed with the burning of the Armenian and Greek quarters of the city (see Great Fire of Smyrna
). While the total of casualties in this category is estimated to tens of thousands to over hundred of thousand, the number of victims is not well established.
, since he is one of the rare researcher that has worked with Ottoman records, various Ottomanists have recycled his figures. Scholarly consensus, however, has largely followed the conclusions presented by Levon Marashlian's study (arriving at a figure of 1.2 million), which claimed that McCarthy's approach suffers from a fatal methodological flaw: in basing his results on inaccurate records. Marashlian maintain there was a reciprocal undercounting on the Ottoman's government's part on the one hand, and underreporting by Armenians, on the other. McCarthy, nonetheless, claims that his results and the Ottoman adult male records were accurate. Others go on to criticize McCarthy in not only having undercounted the prewar Armenian population, but also overcounting the survivors. McCarthy, for his part, argue that his works are too easily labeled by academia as a Turkish-apologist, and complains of a lack of scholarly debate.
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire or Ottoman Armenians were ethnic Armenian people of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Armenian Catholic Church or the Armenian Protestant Church who lived in the Ottoman Empire...
people between 1914 to 1923. The Republic of Armenia and several other nations recognize the deaths to have occurred during an Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
The Armenian Genocide—also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Crime—refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
.Most estimates of related Armenian deaths between 1915 to 1918 range from 300,000 to 1.5 million.
The statistics provided by Djemal
The official Ottoman statistics compiled for the period between 1915 to 1917-18 were of 800,000 killed. This figure originates from Djemal's bureau. The results were published in the official Ottoman gazette.It was allegedly the result of a commission formed by the interior minister Mustafa Arif. It is said that they relied on reports and statistics they had compiled in a period of two months; on March 14, 1919, the results were made public by Djemal. This same figure was mentioned in Rauf Orbay's own memoirs. The initial results apparently represented those who were “massacred” during the deportation, without any indication as to the total number of people who perished. Mustafa Kemal, during a conversation with Major General Harbord, the chief of the American Military Mission to Armenia, in September 1919, repeated the same number. The figure of 800,000, it should be noted, excludes Armenian soldiers in the Ottoman army liquidated in the early stages of the genocide, as well as the number of women and male and female children assimilated into Turkish families.
However, following the dissolution of the military tribunal, those figures were reinterpreted. The Turkish author Taner Akçam refers to a Turkish military estimate published by Lt. Col. Nihat in 1928, in which the figure of 800,000 no longer represented those "massacred" or "killed", but simply those who perished. Then the historian Bayur in a famous work wrote: "800,000 Armenians and 200,000 Greeks died as a result of deportations or died in labor brigades." Bayur concluded: "According to our official sources, these numbers are correct."
Other Ottoman sources
While the official figures were of 800,000 killed, there were many unofficial numbers presented during the war by some Ottoman authorities—Talat, for instance, presented the figure of 300,000—but there is no indication as to how those figures were obtained. This figure is currently the one used often by the Turkish government officials.Justin McCarthy estimates
Justin McCarthyJustin McCarthy (American historian)
Justin A. McCarthy is an American demographer, professor of history at the University of Louisville, in Louisville, Kentucky. He holds an honorary doctorate from Boğaziçi University, Turkey, and is a board member of the Institute of Turkish Studies...
's figures are often cited, particularly in works that could be considered to support the Turkish government thesis that the Armenian massacres do not constitute genocide. Even though Professor McCarthy is a Western academic, his numbers of Armenian casualties are derived from his statistics of Armenian population, which in turn were derived from Ottoman records (by applying correction values). Some scholars (like Aviel Roshwald
Aviel Roshwald
Aviel Roshwald is an American historian and Professor of history at Georgetown University.He received is B.A from the University of Minnesota in 1980, and his PhD from Harvard University in 1987....
) therefore consider his figures to be an Ottoman source rather than a Western one. "
McCarthy calculated an estimate of the pre-war Armenian population, then subtracted his estimate of survivors, arriving at a figure of a little less than 600,000 for Armenian casualties for the period 1914 to 1922. But as in the cases of his population, his statistics are controversial. In a more recent essay, he projected that if the Armenian records of 1913 were accurate, 250,000 more deaths should be added, for a total of 850,000. And he is also criticized for overestimating the survivor table. Frédéric Paulin goes as far as comparing his methodology with Rassinier's method in calculating the European Jewry losses during World War II.
Germany
German sources gave the highest estimates of Armenian losses during the war even though they were the Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
's ally. Some speculate that it was due to their access to murder sites.
A report stated that as early as February 1916, 1.5 million Armenians had been destroyed. A report on May 27, 1916, by Foreign Office Intelligence Director Erzberger provided the same figure, as did an October 4, 1916 report by the German Interim Ambassador to Turkey, Radowitz. It seems that the generally cited 1.5 million figure originated from those German sources. German major Endres, who served in the Turkish army, estimated the number of Armenian deaths as 1.2 million. The same figure was mentioned during the Yozgat trial, and before the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal
Permanent Peoples' Tribunal
The Permanent Peoples' Tribunal is international opinion tribunal that was founded in Bologna June 24, 1979 at the initiative of Senator Lelio Basso. - International opinion tribunal :...
and is often cited elsewhere.
Austria-Hungary
The Austrian consul at TrabzonTrabzon
Trabzon is a city on the Black Sea coast of north-eastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. Trabzon, located on the historical Silk Road, became a melting pot of religions, languages and culture for centuries and a trade gateway to Iran in the southeast and the Caucasus to the northeast...
and Samsun
Samsun
Samsun is a city of about half a million people on the north coast of Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Samsun Province and a major Black Sea port.-Name:...
, Dr. Kwatkiowski on March 13, 1918 reported to Vienna, restricting himself to the six eastern provinces, Trabzon and Samsun district, that of the million deported, most died, while Austria-Hungary's Adrianople (Edirne
Edirne
Edirne is a city in Eastern Thrace, the northwestern part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Edirne served as the capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1365 to 1453, before Constantinople became the empire's new capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of the Edirne...
) consul Dr. Nadamlenzki reported that for the entire Ottoman Empire 1.5 million had already been deported. The Austrian Vice Marashal Pomiankowski estimated the Armenian losses at about a million.
Arnold J. Toynbee
Arnold J. ToynbeeArnold J. Toynbee
Arnold Joseph Toynbee CH was a British historian whose twelve-volume analysis of the rise and fall of civilizations, A Study of History, 1934–1961, was a synthesis of world history, a metahistory based on universal rhythms of rise, flowering and decline, which examined history from a global...
, an intelligence officer of the British Foreign Office during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, estimated a death toll of 600,000 from a population of 1,800,000 Armenians who lived in Anatolia but excluded most of 1916 and the following years, as Professor Melson writes:
- Toynbee’s description and analysis stop with the winter of 1915 and the spring of 1916, by which time the bulk of the Armenian population has been killed or deported. As valuable as it is, this work cannot take into account what subsequently happened to the deportees in 1916, nor can it take into account the Armenians who were deported from some of the major urban areas after 1916.
The King Crane Commission
The King Crane Commission estimated a million for wartime losses, but also stated that the Hamidian massacresHamidian massacres
The Hamidian massacres , also referred to as the Armenian Massacres of 1894–1896, refers to the massacring of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire, with estimates of the dead ranging from anywhere between 80,000 to 300,000, and at least 50,000 orphans as a result...
had been included. Whether or not the Armenian casualties were being deliberately understated to increase the Armenian population to support Armenian independence is still a matter of debate. The Armenian wartime losses of a million, the Adana massacre
Adana massacre
The Adana massacre occurred in Adana Province, in the Ottoman Empire, in April 1909. An massacre of Armenian Christians in the city of Adana amidst governmental upheaval resulted in a series of anti-Armenian pogroms throughout the district...
s, and Hamidian massacres had been combined for the sake of what the commission at one point called "justice," in what appears to have been an attempt to maximize the population count. The Armenian estimates showed the same tendency. At times, they were even reduced to 500,000 when the high Armenian death count endangered the possibility of an Armenian state including Ottoman territory, and in other instances raised to over a million. The United States figures for the period between 1915 to 1917 vary widely, but most figures approach a million or more.
League of Nations
The League of Nations estimated a million dead, but the list of refugees in the Caucasus and Russian Armenia who were not from Ottoman Empire was not clearly defined, which suggests that the list of 400,000 to 420,000 Ottoman Armenians may have included Armenians who were not really Ottoman Armenian. This would explain why other estimates projected the casualties over the million given by the League.Armenian casualties, 1917-18 to 1923
While the Ottoman official statistics covered 1917-18, and some of German figures, most other figures excluded them. Another problem remains, as to the availability of the sources for what followed 1917. More recent scholars have called this period the second phase of the Armenian GenocideArmenian Genocide
The Armenian Genocide—also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Crime—refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
. Melson, for instance, provide' a rough estimate of 500,000. On the other hand, those estimates have no archival grounds, for this reason some researchers considers any such figures could be near to the actual casualty figures or far from it.
Armenian casualties outside of the Ottoman borders during Ottoman invasion
Few commissions were formed though, such as the investigations for Kars and Alexandropol. The Alexandropol investigation by its nature is seen as the most serious such endeavor. It presented 60,000 as directed killed, in a total of 150,000 victims which condition would have ultimately led to their death sentences. But the investigation apparently came to an end abruptly. The Germans on the other hand, not presenting any numbers, have reported Russian Armenia condition, in what they considered as an Ottoman attempt to destroy it. Without taking in account the Ottoman excursion of what was considered as Persian Armenia.Ottoman Armenian casualties
Most of the victims could be counted in Cilicia, as well as the Eastern zone, and without ignoring SmyrnaSmyrna
Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...
(İzmir
Izmir
Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...
) during what was reported as massacres and what followed with the burning of the Armenian and Greek quarters of the city (see Great Fire of Smyrna
Great Fire of Smyrna
The Great Fire of Smyrna or the Catastrophe of Smyrna was a fire that destroyed much of the port city of Izmir in September 1922. Eye-witness reports state that the fire began on 13 September 1922 and lasted until it was largely extinguished on September 22...
). While the total of casualties in this category is estimated to tens of thousands to over hundred of thousand, the number of victims is not well established.
Lack of consensus
While there is no clear consensus as to how many Armenians lost their lives during the Armenian genocide and what followed, there seems to be a consensus among Western scholars with the exception of few dissident and Turkish national historians, as to when covering all the period between 1914 to 1923, over a million Armenian might have perished, and the tendency seem recently to be, either presenting 1.2 million as figure or even 1.5 million, while more moderately, "over a million" is presented, as the Turkish historian Fikret Adanir provides as estimation, but excludes what followed 1917.Armenian casualties revisited
Far from finding the exact figure of Armenian casualties, some researchers have at least tried to provide some figures of losses during the war and what followed based on some sources. But most of it is rough estimates or are based on calculations of others. An example here might be the cases of Justin McCarthyJustin McCarthy (American historian)
Justin A. McCarthy is an American demographer, professor of history at the University of Louisville, in Louisville, Kentucky. He holds an honorary doctorate from Boğaziçi University, Turkey, and is a board member of the Institute of Turkish Studies...
, since he is one of the rare researcher that has worked with Ottoman records, various Ottomanists have recycled his figures. Scholarly consensus, however, has largely followed the conclusions presented by Levon Marashlian's study (arriving at a figure of 1.2 million), which claimed that McCarthy's approach suffers from a fatal methodological flaw: in basing his results on inaccurate records. Marashlian maintain there was a reciprocal undercounting on the Ottoman's government's part on the one hand, and underreporting by Armenians, on the other. McCarthy, nonetheless, claims that his results and the Ottoman adult male records were accurate. Others go on to criticize McCarthy in not only having undercounted the prewar Armenian population, but also overcounting the survivors. McCarthy, for his part, argue that his works are too easily labeled by academia as a Turkish-apologist, and complains of a lack of scholarly debate.