Armenian Mythomania

Mythomania
A compulsion to embroider the truth, exaggerate or to tell lies.
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

Mitos
A fair tale, a lie
Langenschaidts Wörterbuch

Mania
Craziness, passion, rage, fury, mania
Langenschaidts Wörterbuch
 The book is dedicated to our
dear friend Erich Feigl whom
we lost during the publication process
of this book.

© 2007 Erich Feigl

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced without prior arrangement with the author.

ISBN 3-85002-583-7
ab 1.1.2007: ISBN 978-3-85002-583-6
 An Illustrated Exposé by Erich Feigl

ARMENIAN
MYTHOMANIA

Armenian Extremism:
Its Causes and Historical Context

EDITION ZEITGESCHICHTE • FREILASSING - SALZBURG

 ERICH FEIGL
4

DEDICATED
TO THE MEMORY OF MY FRIEND
ERDO⁄AN ÖZEN

Anatomy of a senseless crime: On Wednesday,

June 20, 1984, the labor and social affairs
attaché of the Turkish Embassy arrives at work
at 8:45. He parks his car beside the embassy
building, greets the policeman on duty . . . and
then a remote-control bomb explodes. The car is
thrown into the air and lands upside down.
Erdo¤an Özen is dead . . . his body charred
beyond recognition. The 62-year-old policeman,
Leopold Smetacek, is caught in the flash of fire
from the explosion ... He will wrestle with death
for months, his face totally burned. A number of
passers-by are injured. The "Armenian
Revolutionary Army" - ARA - once again
claims "responsibility". The assassin is
undoubtedly convinced of the "justice" of his
deed. He probably has no idea of the true story
behind the tragedy of his people in the First
World War. All he knows is the lessons he has
had drilled into him about the "Terrible Turk".
History – misunderstood history - as the motive
for inhuman behavior - that is unique to the
world of terrorism.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
5

(Photo: Neue Kronenzeitung)

6
ARMENIAN ISSUE ALLEGATIONS-FACTS
Turkish Diplomats Killed by Armenian Terrorists

Date City / Title Name - Surname

27.01.1973 Santa Babara / Consul Mehmet BAYDAR
Consul General Bahad›r DEM‹R
22.10.1975 Vienna / Ambassador Danifl TUNALIG‹L
24.10.1975 Paris / Ambassador ‹smail EREZ
Driver Talip YENER
16.02.1976 Beirut / First Secretary Oktar C‹R‹T
09.06.1977 Vatican / Ambassador Taha CARIM
02.06.1978 Madrid / Ambassador’s Wife Necla KUNERALP
Retired Ambassador Beflir BALCIO⁄LU
12.10.1979 The Hague/ Ambassador’s Son Ahmet BENLER
22.12.1979 Paris / Tourism Counselor Y›lmaz ÇOLPAN
31.07.1980 Athens / Administrative Attaché Galip ÖZMEN
Administrative Attaché's daughter Neslihan ÖZMEN
17.12.1980 Sydney / Consul fiar›k ARIYAK
Security Attaché Engin SEVER
04.3.1981 Paris / Counselor for Labor Affairs Reflat MORALI
Counselor for Religious Affairs Tecelli ARI
09.06.1981 Geneva / Secretary M. Savafl YERGÜZ
24.09.1981 Paris / Security Attaché Cemal ÖZEN
28.01.1982 Los Angeles / Consul General Kemal ARIKAN
08.04.1982 Ottawa / Counselor for Commercial Affairs Kani GÜNGÖR
04.05.1982 Boston / Honorary Consul General Orhan GÜNDÜZ
07.06.1982 Lisbon / Administrative Officer Erkut AKBAY
27.08.1982 Ottawa / Military Attaché Atilla ALKIKAT
09.09.1982 Bourgas / Administrative Attaché Bora SUELKAN
08.01.1983 Lisbon / Administrative Officer's Wife Nadide AKBAY
09.03.1983 Belgrad / Ambassador Galip BALKAR
14.07.1983 Brussels / Administrative Attaché Dursun AKSOY
27.07.1983 Lisbon / Wife of the Counselor Cahide MIHÇIO⁄LU
28.04.1984 Tehran / Wife of Secretary Ifl›k YÖNDER
20.06.1984 Vienna / Labor and Social Affairs Attaché Erdo¤an ÖZEN
19.11.1984 Vienna / UN Official Enver ERGÜN
07.10.1991 Athens / Press Affairs Attaché Çetin GÖRGÜ
11.12.1993 Baghdad / Administrative Attaché Ça¤lar YÜCEL
04.07.1994 Athens / Consul Haluk S‹PAH‹O⁄LU
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
7

A Personal Foreword

"Have you gone crazy?" - "Are you tired of living?" These were the comments of friends and
acquaintances when they heard that I was working on a book about the causes and historical
context of Armenian terrorism. Why should be the one to take on such a dangerous subject?. . .
Shouldn't it be a matter for the Turks and Armenians to work out among themselves? All of
my friends considered my project dangerous, even threaten ing, and I realized that it must be
these concerns, these fears, that have until now prevented unbiased accounts of the historical
reality behind Armenian terrorism from appearing. People are obviously afraid of reprisals and
therefore leave the whole issue to the advocates of reckless violence, who control virtually all
the literature on the subject. In virtually every publication that discusses the Armenian question
or Armenian terrorism, the authors plead for "understanding" toward terror. This is just as re-
markable as when terrorist organizations claim "responsibility" after an attack.
With this "responsibility" - or rather with the perversion of this noble concept - they pretend to
have "power" by creating the illusion of "justice", and with this legitimation they play fate,
shoot down the reluctant and black -mail the hesitant.
It is not only human beings who have fates, however, but films and publications as well. HA-
BENT SUA FATALIBELLI, "books have fates", wrote Terentianus Maurus around 200 A.D.,
and in the preceding verse he says resolutely, "PRO CAPTU LECTORIS", "according to the
grasp of the reader".
I had two key experiences in this connection following the appearance of the German edition of
this book. The first was with a very high official of the Armenian Orthodox (Gregorian)
Church of Central Europe who, in the course of a meeting with the (Catholic) Mekhitarists
(who truly have nothing to do with this statement), said to my face, "How dare you set the
worthless Turks off against the dead Armenians in your book!" When I asked in horror if I had
understood correctly, he repeated even more vehemently, "Yes, I said the worthless Turks!"
The Armenian view of history is for the most part shared by the public at large. That is no sur-
prise, and it should not be taken as a reproach.
While doing the background research for this book and for my films, I took great pains to col-
lect information from a broad spectrum of sources. In so doing, I met many people to whom I
owe the deepest respect: His Beatitude the Armenian Apostolic Patriarch Snork Kalutsyan of Is-
tanbul, for example, and the doctors and nurses of the Armenian hospital in the same city. I
mention these people here in lieu of the many, many noble Armenians whom I know - from
scholars and intellectuals to the Armenian farmers and their families who live on Musa Dagh,
made famous by Franz Werfel. I did, of course, also meet other people in the course of my rese-
arch work. I especially recall Dr. Gerard Libaridian, the head of the Armenian Zorian Institute.
 ERICH FEIGL
8

I spent several hours with Dr. Libaridian in his office in Cambridge, Massachusetts and had an
extremely interesting conversation with him. Dr. Libaridian is a brilliant man, bubbling with vi-
tality, knowledge, talent, and self-confidence. One could write a very compelling play based on
my conversation with him.
I kept notes of my host's most provocative statements in this fascinating discussion. Several ti-
mes he mentioned the so-called "Andonian papers".
Since it seemed reasonable to assume that Dr. Libaridian knew that the papers were forgeries, I
did not want to waste a single word on the subject. There were so many other, more interesting
things to talk about. But remarkably enough, he stuck with Aram Andonian's book and its
"documents". Finally, I had to say, "But Doctor Libaridian, you know as well as I that these
'Andonian papers' are forgeries!"
I will never forget Dr. Libaridian's answer or his facial expression as he replied simply and bri-
efly to my reproach: "AND?"

KHOJALI GENOCIDE
committed by Armenia in
26 February 1992.
"A N D ?"
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
9

Armenian attack on a mosque

 ERICH FEIGL
10

INTRODUCTION
By Afif Erzen, Istanbul

It is hard to imagine anything that could be as detri-

mental to the search for historical truth as mixing
stories with history - or worse yet, confusing one for
the other. A similar error involves the confusion of
politics with the use of violence. All too often, such
confusions are the result of interest groups (seldom
of peoples, who al ways want peace) laying claim to
their "historical home land". Such "historical de-
The foundation inscription of Sardurihinili was discovered in in-
mands" have always meant war, or at least terro- credibly good condition by Afif Erzen. It was written in Urartian,
rism, an ugly variation on war. The right to sovere- an Asian, agglutinative language showing strong similarities to the
ignty and independence can only be seen as legitima- Ural-Altaic language family and in particular to Turkish. The ins-
cription has been translated by Emin Bilgiç (sumerologist at Anka-
te when it is bound up with the rights of a majority. ra University):
Anything else would contradict our commonly re-
cognized democratic principles. Even the Armenian apologists for an "Armenian state" on Turkish terri-
tory clearly share this way of thinking. This is demonstrated by their support of the Greek Cypriots over
the Turkish minority. Many people try to give a superficial glimmer of "legitimacy" to the contempo-
rary Armenian claims to Turkish lands in eastern Anatolia. These people are simply ignoring the fact
that those demands violate the law of nations and international law since virtually no Armenians what –
so ever live in the regions claimed. The standard counter-argument that Armenians once lived in these
areas is indeed correct, but it fails to consider one important fact: Even before 1915, the Armenians only
made up a small minority (roughly a sixth) of the population in the land claimed by them. This minority
had not enjoyed any kind of national sovereignty since long before the arrival of the Seljuks in Anatolia
- in other words, for nearly a millennium. Aside from that, the Armenian minority was in a "state of
war" with their own Ottoman government in 1915. The Armenians' own national leaders confirmed
this repeatedly. They had started a civil war that had produced a genuine bloodbath among the Islamic
inhabitants in eastern Anatolia, mainly in Van.
Another myth, which is equally detrimental to historical truth, involves the attempt to justify Armenian
claims to eastern Anatolia on the basis of the alleged "descent" of the Armenians from the Urartians. In
virtually every publication put out or supported by the Armenian side, there appears, in one form or
another, a certain picture of history. This picture gives the impression that the history of the Haik - as
the "Armenians" call themselves - in eastern Anatolia goes back to the second millenium before Christ.
This impression is created by simply tacking the history of the Urartians onto that of the Haik. This is
made much easier by the fact that many people today confuse the inhabitants of the historical province
of Armenia with "the Armenians", who actually call themselves "Haik", as mentioned above, and are
only one of the countless groups that have lived in the historical region of Armenia in the course of his-
tory. This appropriation of the history of Urartu is the final attempt of certain Armenian historians and
propagandists to bridge the gap between the Haik and their political and historical claims to the histori-
cal province of Armenia. This effort was begun after an older attempt, claiming that the Haik were the
first legitimate heirs of Noah (based on the Ararat legend), failed due to sheer ludicracy.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
11

The foundation inscription of Sardurihinili was

discovered in incredibly good condition by Afif
Erzen. It was written in Urartian, an Asian, agglu-
tinative language showing strong similarities to
the Ural-Altaic language family and in particular
to Turkish. The inscription has been translated by
Emin Bilgiç (sumerologist at Ankara University):
Line 1 Sardur, son of Argishti, <built> this
temple for the god Irmushini.
<So says Sardur. >
*"Biai" is what the Urartians called themselves.
Line 2 Because I ascended my father's throne, "Urartu" comes from the Assyrian. Until the tenth century B. C,
it was written "Uruartu", but later "Urartu". The name "Van"
says Sardur something of this nature has> may well come from "Biai" (Vi-a-i).
never been built <in past times>.
Line 3 I <built up> a temple throne for the
god Haldi there. For the god Irmushini and
for this fortress
Line 4 I have <had> a canal from the Hoshap
River <built, and with> wine gardens, fields
and vegetable gardens. I have
Line 5 surrounded this town. These magnifi-
cent <buildings I have erected there my self >.
Line 6 As the name of the town, I have cho-
sen Sardurihinili (Sardur City). Sardur
says . . .
Line 7 Village houses which were here before
I have built here anew for all time.
Line 8 I have <dedicated> this town to the
god Irmushini, and the gates to the god Haldi
because of the wealth.
Line 9 The son of Argishti (Sardur II) built
this temple with the help of the greatness and
power of the god Haldi.
The Hurrian-Urartian god of weather, Tesheba-Tashpuea, stan-
Line 10 <I> mighty king, I great king, I great ding on his bull. The city of Van was in ancient times called
"Tushpa" after the god Tashpuea. This is indicative of the territo-
king (sic!) of the Biai lands*. The master of rial situation in eastern Anatolia long before the immigration of
small tribes of Indo-European Armenians in the sixth century be-
this city and of Tushpa, Sardur am I. fore Christ.
 ERICH FEIGL
12

The Urartians
Assyrian origin. The Assyrian king Salmanassar (1274-1245 B.C.) reports that he undertook a campaign
against the Urartians in the first years of his reign. The inscription tells us of no less than eight countries
and fifty-one cities which the king (in the year 1274 B.C.) claims to have destroyed. This would indicate
a dispersal of the Urartians in the mountainous regions of eastern Anatolia.
The Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I (1244-1208 B.C.) later reports on the conquest of Nairian lands
(Nairi and Urartu appear to have been largely identical) and the defeat of forty kings who resided in the
area of Lake Van. These were undoubtedly princes of Urartian and Nairian tribes, who ruled between
the Euphrates and Lake Urmia, with the area around Lake Van as a natural center. They
must have been of Hurrian or proto-Urartian origin.

At the beginning of the sixth century B.C., the lands once ruled over by the Urartians became the cause
of a dispute between the Lydians and the Medes. The Medes finally won out. This appears to have been
the time when the Armenian tribes immigrated to eastern Anatolia. They probably came from the Bal-
kan area or from Thrace and had been driven out by the Illyrians. They were first mentioned in an ins-
cription of Darius in the sixth century B.C. At this time, they already belonged to Darius' sphere of inf-
luence. During the course of time their Indo-European language took on certain traces of the old, non-
Arian Anatolian languages, but that certainly did not make the "Haik" "Urartians". The Armenians can
be considered as more or less "related by marriage". They have no linguistic or ethnic connection to the
greater Hurrian-Urartian family, which comes from the Asian linguistic sphere. The Turkic peoples, on
the other hand, share common roots with the "proto-Turkish" peoples of the Hurrian-Urartian world.
These facts were completely irrelevant to later developments and to the peaceful co-existence of so many
peoples and races in eastern Anatolia, especially in the days of the Ottoman Empire. All ethnic groups in
the Ottoman Empire enjoyed equal standing. In fact, no one ever even asked about "ethnic" backgro-
und. It was of absolutely no interest to the Sultan-Caliphs.

URARTIANS: THEIR LANGUAGE AND THEIR HERITAGE

We learn from the Assyrian records that, as early as 1274 B.C., Salamassar I (1274-1245) invades the
land of the Urartu, destroying eight countries and fifty one cities. The land was apparently divided into
several feudal states lacking a central authority. According to Prof. Goodspeed, Shalmaneser crossed the
waters of the Upper Tigris and marched along the southern spurs of the (Taurus) mountains to the he-
ad-waters of the Euphrates, where the chief peoples conquered by him were the "Arami", the Arameans
of the western Mesopotamia. His son, Tukulti-Ninurta I (1244-1208), conquered the "Nairians" in eas-
tern Anatolia, defeated forty kings, put the lands of the Upper Sea (Lake Van) under his dominion and
forced them to pay tribute. Tiglat-Pleser who describes in his inscriptions a victory (1114 B.C.) over a
united force of twenty-three Nairi princes, mentions also the name of Urartu together with that of
Mushki and Milit. We have already referred, in Chapter 7, to the Nairi indicating the possibility that
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
13

they may be the Neuri of Herodotus, a Scythian tribe. We also pointed

out our belief that the Nairi is represented in the Scriptures under the na-
me of Nahor, brother of Abraham and father of Uz. We had also analy-
zed the name and showed that its etymology was Turkish: singular Nair
(Neur, Nahor > ´n-air (´n-eur, ´n-ahor) > Turk. On-Ur/On-Gur/On Oghur
("Ten Oghur") which is a name given later to the Hungarians.

The domination of East and Southeast Anatolia by the Assyrians thus

continued for a few centuries. By 900 B.C., a new situation is observed:

"Civilization was on the rise again in eastern Asia Minor where appeared
the "Kingdom of Urartu", a native kingdom that worshipped Hurrian Silahi Diker : “TEN
gods, including Teshup, and spoke a language akin to Hurrian; its people THOUSAND YEARS OF THE
TURKS AND THE WHOLE
were excellent builders and workers in metal, who on a Hittite [really
EARTH WAS OF ONE
Hattia / Hurrian] foundation developed more brilliant culture than this LANGUAGE”
region has ever known."

The people of the land of Urartu called it Khaldia after the name of its god Khaldis, but to the Assyrians
it was known as Urartu or Uruatri. During the reign of Sardur II (764-735) the Urartian state reached its
most extensive limits. Remains of Urartian settlements have been found in the lands extending from
Gökçegölü-Bayburt in the north, Malatya in the west, Aleppo and Mousul in the south, and Lake Urmia
or even the Caspian Sea in the east. Assyrian king Sargon II, in 714 B.C., intended to deal with the thre-
at of the Urartians. Althrough he defeated Rusa I, who committed suicide, and made peace with them,
he declared in his inscriptions that the Urartian army had the best-trained horses in the world. "In ad-
vancing, wheeling, retreating, or battle disposition, they are never seen to break out of control." The
Assyrians in this battle had probably the help of the Cimmerians.
According to Prof. Erzen, the Hurrians and the Urartians had their roots in the same ancient eastern
Anatolian Chalcolithic culture and that they might even have come as two branches of the same race ha-
ving a language neither Semitic nor Indo-European but rather an Asian language agglutinative in general
form. In fact, the Urartian, due to its word creating capacity by adding suffixes to a given root, has simi-
larities with the Ural-Altaic languages. Further, the gods and the goddesses of the Hurrians and the
Urartians arre of the same origin. For example, Teisheba, one of the main geities of the Urartians, is the
Hurrian chief god Teshup the Storm-god. The wives of these gods are Huba and Hepat respectively.
Urartian sun god Shivini is identical to the Hurrian Shimigi. Capital city of Urartu, today´s "castle" of
the city of Van, was Tushpa, related to the goddess Tushpuea. Oldest Urartian cuneiform inscriptions
found are from the end of ninth century B.C. However, Aramaic inscriptions are also found in the ruins
of the Urartian city of Teishebaini (Karmir Blur) which was apparently destroyed by the Scythians. The
effect of the Urartian script, together with their culture and civilization, on the neighboring peoples is al-
so stressed by Prof. Frye who notes:
 ERICH FEIGL
14

"It has been suggested that one must look for the origins of much of the Achaemenid art, architecture
and even state protocol and writing in Urartu."

We have shown below, in the glossary, that the names of Urartian gods and goddesses, of their cities,
and of their kings, whose names in order of their rule are Aram / Aramu (ab. 840 B.C.), Lutipri (father
of Sarduri I), Sarduri I (830-825 B.C.), Ishpuini / Ushpina (825-815), Menua I (815-790), Argishti I
(790-765), Sardur II (764-735), Rusa I (735-714), Argishti II (714-685), Russsa II (685-645), Sarduri III
(645-635?), Sarduri IV (635?-?), Erimena (father of Rusa III) and Rusa III (last years of the 7th century
B.C.), all can be explained in Turkishwords and grammatical syntax. Additional words including some
geographical names such as Guguna, Khubushkia, Kulha are also analyzed in the glossary where the
Urartian entries are shown in bold letters, Turkish transliterations in italics, and loanwords in normal
letters.

Some significant examples:

-dar Persian loanword: that has, holds, possesses, See: Sarduri / Sardar-in /-nin / ning "of", Turkish ge-
netive. See: Rusahinili, Sardurhinili

Aga: Lord, master. Am /Arame / Aramu Hurrian prince who fought with the Assyrian king Salmanasar
in about 858 B. C.., united the Naurian and the Urartian feudal princedoms in about 845 B. C. And ru-
led over the Urartian lands between the sources of the Euphrates and the sources of Tigris.

Aru: All, totally, entire, to make perfect. See: Urartu

Arzashku: Capital city of Arame king of Urartu [Arzashuk <Turk. Arz-azuk "sacred land, sacred city,"
with Arabic loanword arz "earth" and Turk. Azuk/uzuk "sacred, holy".

Erebuni: Urartian city founded by Argishti I possibly, <Türk Er-e-bunu " (I built) this (city) for the
men"

Sarduri / Sardur: Name of three Urartian kings. Sardur I. (840-83o B. C.) , the real founder of the Urar-
tian kingdom who built the capital Tushpa, today´s Van castle. Turco-Persian "holder of the top, gene-
ral, commander" with Sumero-Persian: Chief, head, top, summit.

Urartu: Assyrian name for the Urartians < Türk. Unaru "man/men-total; men perfect" or Uri-ortu" men
of the center, men of the army; or < (G)ur-arti = "perfect Oghur" opr Uri-arti = "perfect Hurrians" with
Turk. Ortu/ordu "city of the king, the court, the center, the camp, the army" Sumerians knew the
Hurrians under the name of Uri.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
15

The message is clear, best documented at Sarduri-

hinili, today the village Çavufltepe, located exactly
at the same spot as the Urartian village, carefully
excavated by Afif Erzen:

“Virtually no signs of Armenian settlement have

been found there, aside from Urartian inscription-
stones which have been turned into Christian-Ar-
menian tombstones."

The basic historical falsification at the heart of the en-

tire Armenian myth of terror is the constantly repea-
ted claim that the Ottoman government had one and
a half million Armenians put to death. In Montebel-
lo, the authors of the inscription on the Armenian
memorial go one step further. They claim that the ge-
nocide was perpetrated "by the Turkish govern-
ment", although in 1915 there had never been a Tur-
kish government. The point of this exercise is clear.
Modern Turkey is supposed to be linked to matters
that did not even apply to the Ottomans. The fact is
that after the uprisings in Mufl and Van, in March of

A typical Armenian usurpation: an Urartian stele, 2700 years of

age, “bapticed” one millenium later.

1915, an order to relocate the Armenians was issued

by the Ottoman government. The uprisings had cau-
sed tens of thousands of Muslim casualties and amo-
unted to a declaration of civil war. Many Armenians
died in the turmoil of the war and in the constant re-
volts. The Islamic losses were nevertheless many ti-
mes greater. Up to this day, no one has asked about
the fate of the Muslim victims of the riots instigated
by Armenian terrorists.
 ERICH FEIGL
16

A giant spider, cast in concrete - monument to a distortion of history,

Montebello, California. Falsehood turned to stone. It is a monument to
a cruel myth - the myth of the 'Terrible Turk". Heca tombs of innocent
people have already been sacrificed on this altar of ultra-nationalistic
sentiment. The reason for spreading the message of the Terrible Turk
and the war of liberation is the same now as it was in the nineteenth
century: the establishment of an Armenian national state in Anatolia, a
place where the Armenians have never in history been in the majority.
Like every fanatical cult, the Armenian version of the myth of terror
has its own scriptures. These consist of the “Documents officiels
concernant les Massacres Armeniens”, published by Aram Andonian in
1920, and Franz Werfel's Forty Days of Musa Dagh, a novel based en-
tirely on the Andonian documents. The "Documents officiels" are
supposed to prove that the Ottoman government issued a general
order to exterminate the Armenians, but it has been firmly established
that these "documents" were forged from beginning to end. Not even
the ringleaders of the Armenian anti-Turkish campaign dispute this
today. The liturgy of the Armenian terrorists is limited to the constant,
litany-like repetition of false casualty figures – a difference of a million
or two one way or the other has never seemed to matter much - and
the offering of human sacrifices. Those selected for these sacrifices
include not only Turkish diplomats, but also historians who fight aga-
inst the distortion of history and wealthy Armenians who refuse to pay
their tribute to the terrorists. But the terror also strikes people who
have nothing whatsoever to do with the conflict. They just happen to
get caught at the scene of execution of an Armenian terrorist group.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
17

How to bring off a coup against Turkey?

Just "quote" Adolf Hitler: "I have given orders to my Death Units to exterminate without mercy or pity men, women and children belonging to
the Polish-speaking race. After all, who remembers today the extermination of the Armenians?" The Führer, 22 August 1939.
The "quotation" is a pure Armenian mafia´s invention. AND? ...
 ERICH FEIGL
18

Armenia: Myth and Historical Reality

"... and in the seventh month, on the seventh day of the month, the ark came to rest on the moun-
tains of Ararat." So says the Bible. Later, God speaks to Noah, "Go forth from the ark, you and
your wife and your sons and your sons' wives with you. Bring forth with you every living thing
that is with you of all flesh - birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth -
that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply upon the earth." The
early Armenian chroniclers, Moses of Khorene, Thom as Ardzrouni and others, wrote that the Ar-
menian people were the descendants of Noah, whose ark landed on Ararat. They apparently over-
looked, in their holy zeal, that if anyone at all truly comes from Noah, then all man - kind must
be descended from him. Some countries take
their name from their inhabitants. France,
England, Germany or Turkey are home to
French, English, Germans or Turks respecti-
vely. Names of countries such as America,
Bolivia and Ecuador, on the other hand, de-
signate a geographical area without making
any reference to the origins of the people who
live there. In antiquity, there were many na-
mes for the provinces of Anatolia, and these
Bisutun (Behistun): This watercolor by Sir Robert Ker Porter from
the year 1818 shows the cliffs in western Persia where the royal names were also applied to the inhabitants of
inscription of Darius is to be found. each province. Some examples are Paphlago-
nia, Pamphylia, and Cappadocia. The inhabi-
tants of such provinces were by no means all members of a single tribe. They simply had a com-
mon name based on the area in which they lived. As with so many other place names, the name
"Armenia" designates a geographical region, not a people. The Armenians call themselves "Haik"
in their own language. This already indicates that the area known as Armenia is in no way their
place of origin. Just where the "Haik" (singular "Hai") do come from is not exactly clear. Every-
thing indicates that they migrated from the West and finally settled in small groups east of the
Euphrates. The language of the Armenians is for the most part Indo-European. After their migrati-
on, however, it became mixed with non-Aryan, Anatolian languages. Some scholars (such as J.
Karst, author of Die vorgeschicht-lichen Mittelmeervolker) believe that Armenian or proto-Arme-
nian tribes once lived on the northern Aegean in northern Thessaly and neighboring Illyria, in ot-
her words in the Balkans. A similar view holds that the Armenians are descendants of Phrygian-
Thracian tribes who migrated to the East as a result of Illyrian pressure. Although it is virtually
certain that the Armenians originally lived in the Balkans or in Thessaly, the exact date of their
migration to Anatolia cannot be pinpointed with certainty. They did not leave any traces of their
presence in their original home land, but it was certainly not before the sixth century B.C. that the
Armenians arrived in Anatolia.
At the end of the fifth century (401^00 B.C.), Xenophon writes in his Anabasis of the Armenians
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
19

On the walls of this deep canyon south of Van on the edge of the
Hakkari, one finds the caves of Yedisalk›m, just eighty meters abo-
ve the valley floor. The rock drawings here were mostly done in
dark red or brown. Pictures of gods, goddesses with exaggerated Bisutun (Behistun): Depiction of the god Ahura Mazda with the
sexual parts, dancing human figures, sun motifs, wild animals and trilingual inscription of King Darius. Beneath the bas-relief we se-
hunting scenes showing now-extinct beasts are the dominate ima- e figures representing the tribes owing tribute to Darius; among
ges. A depiction of the mother deity standing on an animal is the them is an Armenian.
oldest known drawing of a "queen of the animal kingdom" any-
where in Anatolia.

in connection with other Anatolian tribes. The very first mention of the Armenians anywhere is to be fo-
und in the trilingual (Iranian, Babylonian, and Elamitic) inscription of Behistun in western Iran, in
which the Persian king Darius (485 B.C.) lists Armenia as one of his satrapies. This first written record
could be seen as having symbolic significance, in light of the fact that the Armenian communities almost
never in their history rose above the status of satrapies, or at best semi independent principalities.

The Prehistoric Cultures of Eastern Anatolia –

A Key to The Understanding of The History of Anatolia
From the geopolitical standpoint, eastern Anatolia has played a key role in world history. To the south
lies Mesopotamia. (The Tigris and Euphrates rivers both have their sources in the mountains of eastern
 ERICH FEIGL
20

Anatolia!) To the east is Iran; to the north, the Caucasus; and to the west, central Anatolia. The cultural
puzzles of eastern Anatolia, including those of the Urartians and their predecessors the Hurrians, have
only recently been solved. Because of the unique location of this region, these cultures are very closely
related to the surrounding cultures of Iran, Mesopotamia, and central Anatolia.
Until the second half of the twentieth century, virtually nothing was known of the prehistoric settlement
of eastern Anatolia. When ancient cave paintings were discovered in western Europe, they were thought
to be the oldest examples of human artwork anywhere. Then cave drawings were discovered on the
steppes of Asia and in Africa. It was only recently that Turkish archeologists discovered very old, dense
settlements in eastern Anatolia. The highland of the area provided the hunters and gatherers of the time
with everything they needed: dense forest; plenty of wild game; and water. The sensational discovery in
the last years of innumerable rock drawings in eastern Anatolia suddenly threw an entirely new light on
the understanding of the early development of this region. The depictions of gods, worshippers, animals,
and hunters are in some cases 15.000 years old. The rock drawings of eastern Anatolia are found prima-
rily in four districts: around Malatya-Ad›yaman; near Kars; in the region around Van; and in the moun-
tains of Hakkari. Dr. Oktay Belli, member of the Turkish Historical Society (Türk Tarih Kurumu), dis-
covered the rock drawings of the Van region, which were done between 15.000 and 7.000 B.C. In the
region of Yedisalk›m, in the Hakkari Mountains, there are also prehistoric pictures of gods in the caves
high above the valley floor. Concerning the people who created these works of art, there exist some very
clear indications. Similar rock drawings have been found in eastern Azerbaijan, in Kobistan, in the Altai
region, and in Siberia. The density with which these rock-drawings occur shows beyond a doubt that
they are of proto-Turkish origin. The people who made these drawings belonged to early nomadic and
semi-nomadic Turkish tribes. A similar conclusion can be drawn in the case of the stylized drawings
from the Gevaruk Valley (Hakkari) and those on the Plateau of Tirshin. The rock drawings of Gevaruk
and Tirshin are of particular significance because they bear a strong resemblance to the drawings and
symbols in the Cunni cave, near Erzurum, and on the stone blocks of the temple of Zeus in Aizani (Çav-
darhisar, near Kütahya). They were done by ancient Turkish clans of the region. The latest discoveries
demonstrate clearly that there was already a connection in prehistoric times between eastern Anatolia
and the artistic and cultural centers of the steppes of Azerbaijan and Siberia, as well as the mountainous
regions of the Altai -the original homeland of the Turkic peoples. From prehistoric days right up to mo-
dern times, wandering and seminomadic Turkish and proto-Turkish tribes have formed a living tie bet-
ween Inner Asia and Anatolia. Asia is the home of the yurts. "Yurt" is a Turkish word meaning both
"tent", "home" and “motherland”. Bee-hive houses, similar to yurts, can be seen in Anatolia. They are
a creation of the Hurrians, predecessors of the Urartians, whose realm lay between the Caucasus, Lake
Urmia, and the region around Malatya-Elaz›¤. Various local names have been given to this cultural zo-
ne. These include "Kura-Aras Culture" and "Karaz Culture". The creators and upholders of this culture
spoke a language belonging to the Ural-Altaic family, to which Turkish also belongs. Early Hurri Cultu-
re together with Hurri Culture formed the foundation for the Urartian kingdom which followed. A cha-
racteristic feature of Hurrian culture was the round house, similar to the round tents of the semi-noma-
dic Hurrians. Round houses of the Hurrian type can still be seen today in the region of Urfa and Har-
ran. The later Turkish domed buildings of the Ottoman period would appear to be a logical develop-
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
21

The story of the bull and the princess Europa is neither of Greek nor of Minoan origin. Besides, these old legends roots are not three and
a half, but eight millenia old. The archaeological findings at Çatal Höyük, Central Anatolia, prove without any doubt that the bull-sto-
ries are of Anatolian origin. The people who created them are of unknown descent. Whether we think of “Prototurks” or not is of no
importance... they were highly skilled people with feeling for action and proportion. (Paint ornament on plaster; height 1,19 m, length
3,35 m, Catal Höyük, 6th millenium B.C.)

Rock drawings from the Kurbana¤a Cave, not far from These drawings were done by proto-Turkish tribes living in eas-
Cam›fll›, in the district of Kars. tern Anatolia thousands of years ago. Nomadic Turkish tribes still
dominate the landscape of the mountainous regions of eastern
Anatolia.
 ERICH FEIGL
22

ment from the yurt and the bee-hive house. It was the Greeks and the Romans who developed the tech-
niques for constructing large domes, but the enthusiasm with which the Ottomans adopted these techni-
ques is undoubtedly related to the ancient preference of the Turkic peoples for round houses and yurts.
Anatolia has known many masters: Hittites under the sign of the double eagle; Persians; Alexander the
Great; Greeks; Romans; Byzantines; Arabs; Mamluks; and finally Seljuks and Ottomans. They all ruled
over the historical region of "Armenia" in eastern Anatolia. The name of this region has nothing to do
with the claims of the Armenians (who call themselves "Haik" and probably came originally from the
Balkans). The Haik never constituted a majority in this region.

The "devil worshippers" who have their places of worship in the mountains of eastern Anatolia and in
the Zagros Mountains of Iraq were one of the most remarkable religious communities of the Ottoman
Empire. Their cult, which has many shamanistic elements, combines aspects of Christianity, Judaism, Is-
lam, and Zoroastrianism. Although they could hardly be called "People of the Book" in the sense inten-
ded in the Koran, they have managed to preserve their peculiar character through all the vicissitudes of
history.

View from the castle-rock of Van, looking out on the old Ottoman part of the city, which was destroyed by the Armenians in 1915.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
23

A "yurt" of the Yoruks in central Anatolia. Double-headed eagle,

stamp seal, Karahöyük,
c. 1,900 B.C. (After Alp)

Swastika (Hakenkreuz)
Painted Pottery, Hacilar,
Bee-hive houses in southern Anatolia (Harran) Turkey, c. 5,900 B.C.
(After Mellaart)

The Ottoman preference for domed buildings was a logical deve- Crook-cross (Krukenkreuz) in
lopment from life in yurts and round houses. form of abstract bulls’ heads.
 ERICH FEIGL
24

Double-headed eagle

God Apollo Nemrut Mountain

His Holiness Patriarch Mar Addai II of the

"Church of the East" (Nestorian) in Baghdad.

The Nestorian Christians, who did not recognize Turks in the back during World War I. They were
the decision of the Council of Ephesos to call forced to retreat from the Hakkari Mountains.
Mary "Mother of God", would have been totally The majority of them, roughly 40,000 Nestorian
rubbed out by the power of the Byzantine state Christians (they call themselves "Church of the
and the Greek Orthodox Church, had they not fo- East"), live today in Iraq. Their present fate is
und protection and refuge under the Zoroastrian unknown.
Persians and later under the Ommiad, Abbaside,
and Ottoman Caliphs. Disaster did not befall
them until they, like the Armenians, made com-
mon cause with the Russians and stabbed the
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
25

The Holy Koran, Sura 11/62: Those who believe (in the Quran), /
And those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), / And the Christians
and the Sabians, - / Any who believe in God / And the Last Day /
And work righteousness / Shall have their reward / With their
Lord: on them / Shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.

The Koran mentions the Sabians four times. The Jews and
Christians are also "People of the Book" and have always been
respected as such by Islam.

Following the conquest of eastern Anatolia by the Arabs, the

Caliphs of Damascus became the masters of the Armenians.

A royal inscription on the castle of Van in eastern Anatolia.

Sümela Monastry-Trabzon.

A Seljuks building

The Nestorian Christians, who did not recognize the

decision of the Council of Ephesos to call Mary
"Mother of God", would have been totally rubbed out
by the power of the Byzantine state and the Greek
Orthodox Church, had they not found protection and
refuge under the Zoroastrian Persians and later under
the Ommiad, Abbaside, and Ottoman Caliphs.
Disaster did not befall them until they, like the
Armenians, made common cause with the Russians and
stabbed the Turks in the back during World War I.
They were forced to retreat from the Hakkari
Mountains. The majority of them, roughly 40,000
Nestorian Christians (they call themselves "Church of
the East"), live today in Iraq. Their present fate is
unknown.
 ERICH FEIGL
26

Seljuks, Mongol Invaders and Ottomans

Emperor Romanus IV Diogenus (1068-71) was a skillful and circumspect general. He was left with the
task of trying to cover the mistakes that the "Bulgar-slayer" and "Monomachus" Constantine had made
in their frenzy of excessive expansionism . . . and he failed. The people living in the eastern part of the
Byzantine Empire were tired of endless taxation and loathsome religious pressure. They greeted the
Turkish Seljuks as a lesser evil, if not as liberators. Near Mantzikert (Malazgirt), only a few hours
march north of Lake Van, the deciding battle between Seljuks and Byzantines was fought. It ended in a
total defeat for Romanus Diogenus, who was the first Byzantine emperor ever to be taken prisoner. The
chivalrous victor, Alp Arslan, made a treaty with Romanus IV Diogenus, but as soon as he was back in
Constantinople, the emperor met with a typical fate of the kind that has made Byzantine politics prover-
bial. The traitorous opposition burned his eyes out with hot irons, in spite of written quarantees that
had been counter signed by the church. "It was only this monstrous postlude that turned the defeat of
Mantzikert into a true catastrophe," writes Georg Ostrogorsky, because this made the treaty between
Alp Arslan and the emperor Romanus IV was null and void. The way was now open for the Turkish
Seljuks. Just two years later, Konia (central Anatolia, now Konya) was the capital of the Seljuk Empire
of Rum. Armenian traders and craftsmen, known for their fine talents, were already following their new
rulers - and enjoying an unprecedented religious and social freedom.

Two generations later, the devestating Mongol invasion brought the blossoming Seljuk Empire of Rum
to an abrupt end. In 1236, it was the Mongols who laid waste to flourishing Ani, not the Turkish
Seljuks, who suffered just as much under the Mongol invasion as all the other peoples of eastern and
central Anatolia. In an "official publication" of the "Catholicosate of Cilitia", published in Lebanon, the
following passage appears: "In 1065, when the Armenian kingdom fell simultaneously with the destruc-
tion of its capital, Ani, by the Seljuks . . .". It is no wonder then that countless Armenians who read the
publications of their churches in good faith do not know the truth about the fall of the last semi-inde-
pendent Armenian principalities in
eastern Anatolia, which took place
decades before the arrival of the
Seljuks.

The Seljuk cemetery of Ahlat on Lake Van, a

symbol of the peaceful cooperation between
the Seljuk conquerors and the Haik. Byzantine
rule had meant constant religious persecution
for the Haik, who were finally relieved of that
burden by the Seljuks.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
27

Symbols of power after the collapse of the Byzantines, the Seljuks

and the last semi-independent Armenian principalities: a Mongol
coat of arms and the symbol of Turkish rule, the "Black Ram"
(thirteenth and fourteenth centuries A. D.) To the detriment of all
concerned, the extreme nationalism of the Armenian ruling class
prevented the continued coexistence of the Armenians with the ot-
her peoples and tribes of eastern Anatolia.

The mighty castle of Hoshap formed an Ottoman barrier against

the Persians, who were liable to attack at any time. Hoshap was
built on Urartian foundations.

The battle field of Malazgirt, north of Lake Van. This is where a

Seljuk mounted army led by Alp Arslan destroyed the Byzantine
army in 1071 and took Emperor Romanus IV Diogenus prisoner.
The way was now completely open for the Turks to move into Ana-
tolia. This was made especially easy by the fact that the Byzantines "The Lion of Patnos", bronze, Urartian, early 8th century B. C.
had long since subjugated the Armenian buffer principalities. (All objects are from the museum in Van.)
28

Jews in the Ottoman Empire

Report sent to London by her Majesty's Ambassador in
Istanbul:
No. 350
Sir A. H. Layard to the Marquis of Salisbury,
No. 148
Constantinople, April 13, 1880 (received April 23).
My Lord,
I have the honor to transmit herewith to your Lordship a Report on the Vilayet of Angora (Ankara) by Mr. Vice-Con-
sul Gatheral which I have received from Mr. Consul-General Wilson, who is sending it to me suggests that it should be
printed. I have, &c. (Signed) A. H. Layard
F. O. 424/106, p. 306, No. 151 Turkey No. 23 (1880), p.121, No. 72
Inclosure in No. 350
Report on the Population, Industries, Trade, Commerce, Agriculture, Public Works, Land Tenure, and Government of
City and Province of Angora, Anatolia, by Vice-Consul Gatheral. Extract.
The population of this city and province is a small one, taking into consideration its wide extent and general fertility,
and for five years past that population has been visibly diminishing, owing to the emigration of considerable numbers
during the famine of 1873-74, the drain on the male Muslim population owing to the war of 1877-78, and the special
products of the province having for three years in succession proved unremunerative to the Christians engaged in its
commerce many of them have quitted the province for Constantinople or other parts of Anatolia. A Turkish census ta-
kes no note of females or male children under fifteen years of age, returning only the total of males liable to military
service amongst Muslims, and amongst Christians those from whom the "military service exemption tax" is exigible.
The last enumeration was in 1877, and the total then returned was 449.241; this multiplied by three, according to the
Redhouse rule, gives a total of 1.347.723 souls. These are divided into the follow ing sects or communities: Muslims,
Gregorian or Orthodox Armenians, Catholic Armenians, Protestant Armenians, Greeks, Jews and Gipsies. The num-
bers of each community are stated in the same Return as follows:
Males liable to military service
Muslims. 393.074
Total population (Muslims) 1.179.222
Males paying military service exemption tax - Christians -
Gregorian Armenians 3.445
Roman Catholic Armenians 3.985
Protestant Armenians 660
Jews 280
Gipsies 262
Total population other than
Muslims 168.501
Total of males 449.241
Total population 1.347.723
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
29

Those different races have origins as varied as their creeds.

The Muslims are for the most part the descendants of the
Turkish soldiery who conquered the province from the
Byzantine Empire, A.D. 1344-45, under Sultan Murad I,
then reigning at Broussa (today Bursa). The Armenians are
the result of an emigration from the eastward during the
fifteenth century; they have been subdivided into Roman
Catholic and Protestant in recent times; the leading Roman
Catholic families were exiles from Constantinople in 1830,
during the reign of Sultan Mahmud II; their wealth, intelli-
gence, and commercial relations with Europe added greatly
to the prosperity of the city, later an energetic Jesuit propa-
ganda, directed from Rome, had considerable success, but
in later years they have lost their ascendency, having split
up into old and new Catholics as in Europe; the schism of-
ficially and outwardly has been healed, but the rancorous feeling towards each other remains, and they seem to have
no further success in making converts. The Protestants are the result of American missionary effort during the last
twenty-eight years. Though meanwhile small in numbers, they are as a community better educated, more truthful and
honest, than any of the other Christian sects, and are gaining rapidly in numbers and influence. The Orthodox or Gre-
gorian Armenians are, as a community, ignorant, superstitious, and poverty-stricken, but count more adherents than
either of the later sects. The small Jewish community, being mostly blonde and speaking a bastard Spanish, are evi-
dently of Iberian origin; whilst the origin of the few nomad gipsy tribes who come and go is as great a mystery in Ana-
tolia as in Europe.
(The rest of the letter deals with details of the province of Ankara which, although interesting, are less relevant to the
subject matter of this book.) "The small Jewish community, being mostly blonde and speaking a bastard Spanish, are
evidently of Iberian origin ..." reports the British Vice-Consul, Gatheral, to his ambassador in Istanbul. The ambassa-
dor rushed these precise notes concerning the Vilayet of Angora (Ankara) on to his Foreign Minister in London. The
blond-haired Jewish community with its "bastard Spanish" was indeed of Iberian origin. The Catholic kings had not
only cracked down radically on the Arabs and all other Muslims on the Iberian Peninsula, they had also envisaged a fi-
nal solution for the Jews of the Christian kingdom. Since 1412, the Jews had been forced to wear degrading markings
on their clothes. In 1480, the Inquisition started persecuting them with deadly hostility, and finally the Grand Inquisitor
carried out the expropriation and expulsion of 300,000 Jews. Some fled to Morocco, but many more found refuge in
the Ottoman Empire. The Sultan even sent his own ship to them, in order to speed up the rescue operation. The Tur-
kish government showed similar generosity towards the Jewish refugees from Germany and the countries occupied by
Hitler. Asylum was granted to tens of thousands.

It was not only the Ottomans who offered protection

to the Jews (when they were being threatened by the
Catholic kings of Spain). Kemal Atatürk's Turkey also
provided asylum for tens of thousands of Jewish
refugees in the Hitler era. In spite of massive threats
and attempts at intervention, Turkey never turned over
a single Jewish refugee.
 ERICH FEIGL
30

The Greek Orthodox - Patriarchate

Before the conquest of Constantinople by Fatih Sultan Mehmed (Mehmed The Conqueror) in the year
1453, the sphere of influence of the Greek Orthodox patriarchs had shrunk to the point where it was li-
mited to the city of Constantinople. That changed abruptly when Constantinople (Istanbul) became the
capital of the Ottoman Empire on the 29th of May, 1453. While it is true that the Patriarch had to mo-
ve out of the church of Hagia Sophia (it was turned into a mosque), the power of the Greek Orthodox
patriarchs was greater under the Sultans than it had ever been under the Byzantine emperors. The Greek
Orthodox patriarch ruled like a national king over all the Greek Orthodox citizens of the Ottoman Em-
pire. The Greeks of the "Phanar", the district of Istanbul in which the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate is
still located today, were among the most respected,
wealthy, and influential citizens of the Ottoman Empi-
re, as were the equally capable Armenians. The situati-
on took a tragic turn centuries later when the King-
dom of Greece, and in particular the Venizelos govern-
ment, tried to realize the dream of a "Great Greek Em-
pire" after World War I. In May, 1919, the Greeks oc-
cupied Izmir (Smyrna) and pushed ahead toward cen-
tral Anatolia with their invading troops. Their hope
was to score an easy victory over the disintegrating Ot-
toman Empire.
His Holiness Patriarch Demetrios

The resistance of the Turks led by Kemal Atatürk and ‹smet

‹nönü, however, put an end to the high-flying plans of the
Greeks in 1922. The invading army was forced to withdraw
from Asia Minor in disgrace. Before their retreat, they set fi-
re to Izmir (Smyrna), so that the Turks would be left with
nothing but "scorched earth". The Armenians of Izmir, who
had not been relocated in 1915, repaid the Turks very po-
orly for their tolerance . . . After the collapse of the Greek
offensive, the two sides agree upon an exchange. The Greeks
in Asia Minor moved to Greece, while the Turks living in
Greece moved to Anatolia and Thrace. This exchange natu-
rally weakened the position of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
in Istanbul. After the overthrow of the Greek military junta
in 1974, many more Greeks left Istanbul, so that today the
importance of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate is greatly
reduced (solely because of the inconsiderate expansionist po-
licy of Athens), although the reputations of individuals like
Patriarch Athenagoras and Patriarch Demetrios remain
strong in spite of daily politics and outside influences.
 ERMEN‹ M‹TOMANYASI
31

The church of divine wisdom - Hagia Sophia. Mehmed the Conqueror converted it to a mosque, and Kemal Atatürk made it a museum.

The Greek
Orthodox church in
Taksim (built in the
nineteenth century).
The Monument of
the Republic built by
the Italian Canonica,
in 1928.
 ERICH FEIGL
32

The Armenian Orthodox Patriarchate

The Ottoman Sultan-Caliphs lovingly called them their "most loyal subjects". Under the rule of the Seljuks
and the Ottomans, from the eleventh to the nineteenth century, the Armenians enjoyed their happiest time,
their golden age.
Today, the Armenians are still Turkey's largest minority, and they are still highly respected as businessmen,
artists, engineers, doctors, traders, and craftsmen. They also enjoy the same rights and have the same res-
ponsibilities as all other Turkish citizens, regardless of national origin. The Armenian Question was created
by the Russian dictate of San Stefano in 1878. Before that time, the Armenian population of the Ottoman
Empire was made up of four very distinct groups. In Istanbul and Izmir lived the influential Amiras, who
were prosperous and highly educated Armenians. Anatolia was home to the Kavaragan. These were well-
to-do, provincial craftsmen and traders, whose influence could be felt in the cities as well. The Armenian
peasants had largely the same way of life as their Islamic counterparts. Last but not least were the mounta-
in-dwellers, who had special rights. Even within the autonomy of the Armenian millet, they enjoyed special
rights, one could even call it semi-independence. As long as it was possible, the central Ottoman govern-
ment left the Armenians alone. Unfortunately, there were a few Armenian revolutionaries and Protestant
zealots whose nationalistic fervor knew no bounds. These people used all available means of demagoguery
to stir up unrest in the semi-independent rural communities. The Armenian uprising in Zeitun is an examp-
le of what resulted. Every national / religious community (in Turkish "millet") within the Ottoman Empire
enjoyed extensive autonomy and took care of its own administration.
The Armenian Orthodox patriarch of Istanbul ruled over all Christians who did not belong to the Greek
Orthodox Church. Aside from the Armenian Gregorians themselves, these included the Monophysitic
churches of Asia Minor and Africa, such as the Jacobites and the Syrians, as well as the Copts in Egypt.
In those days, gypsies were believed to come from Egypt and were called "Copti". Therefore, all the gypsi-
es of the Ottoman Empire were also subject to the rule of the Armenian patriarch of Istanbul in matters of
civil law. Another religious group under Armenian Orthodox rule was the Bogomils of the Balkans and
their founding fathers, the Paulicians. They still survived in small communities in eastern Anatolia and held
Manichean beliefs. The history of the historical province of Armenia and the many peoples who have lived
there begins under the banner of the fight between East and West for world supremacy.
The Haik, an Indo-European people, probably from the Balkans or Thrace, migrated to the historical pro-
vince of Armenia in the sixth century B.C. At that time, the Urartian kingdom was collapsing under the
blows of the Scythians.
The newly-arrived Indo-European Haik mixed with the Urartians to some extent. The Asian language of
the Urartians was an agglutinative language like Turkish. It had a certain influence on the Indo-European
language of the Armenians, as did the superior culture of the Urartians. While their immigration to eastern
Anatolia was still going on, the Haik (Armenians) fell under Median rule, and in the year 550 the emperor
Kyros took possession of the ancient lands of the Urartians along with the newly arrived Haik. The first
mention of the Armenians is to be found in the inscription of Behistun in connection with the triumphant
reports of the victories of Darius (486 B.C.) At that time, the Armenians were already Persian subjects.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
33

In the fourth century before Christ, Armenia (with all

its races, tribes, and people of mixed blood) was under
the rule of the Achaemids and later, that of the Seleu-
cids. When the Parthians took over, the Armenian
prince Tigranes became a hostage in the Parthian co-
urt. Tigranes II. (95-55 B.C.) succeeded in freeing Ar-
menia from the Parthians and creating an independent
Armenian nation. His capital was Tigranakert (now
called Silvan, southwest of Lake Van). Tigranes II.
married the daughter of the king of Pontus, Mithrida-
tes VI. Eupator, and made the disastrous mistake of
joining Mithridates in a revolt
against Rome.
In 69 B.C., the Roman general Lucullus defeated the
Armenian ruler Tigranes II., and the short-lived dream
of Armenian independence was over. For the Patriarch Snork Kalutsyan, spiritual leader of the
Armenians of Turkey. In the Ottoman Empire, the patri-
Haik to refer nowadays on occasion to that short peri- arch's power was that of a "national king". All
od of real Armenian rule in eastern Anatolia and for Monophysitic Christians of the Empire - and all gypsies -
were subject to his rule.
Armenian terrorists to base their territorial demands on
that is comparable to Italian mafiosi in the United

When the Armenian king Tigranes refused to hand

over his megalomaniac father-in-law, Mithridates,
ruler of Pontos, to the Roman generals, Lucullus
attacked "Tigranes City".
Tigranes' armored lancers were alone more numero-
us than Lucullus' entire force, which the Armenians
scorned, saying it was "too large for a legation but
too small for an army". The battle lasted just one
day (October 9, 69 A. D.), and the Romans
destroyed the army of Tigranes, which had been
twenty times stronger. According to the Roman mi-
litary report there were virtually no Romans killed
at all, only Armenians. Tigranes managed to escape
unre cognized and met up again with his father-in-
law, Mithridates, who was later killed by his own
people. The subject peoples deserted the tyrant
Tigranes and paid homage to the victors, Lucullus
and Pompeius.
 ERICH FEIGL
34

States wishing to be the successors of the Romans

(or better of Lucullus or Trajan) and taking control
of eastern Anatolia as the heirs of the victors of
Tigranakert . . . The French could demand vast
portions of North America over which they once
ruled. And the examples go on ad infinitum. If
every group of people claimed all the lands over
which they ruled at some point in their history,
then the entire world would have to be evacuated
and resettled, and there would be constant warfare.
There were several eventful centuries during which
dominance in eastern Anatolia belonged sometimes
to the Romans (Trajan, Nero, Hadrian, Diocletian)
and sometimes to the Persian Sassanids. At the end
of this period, the emperor Diocletian named Tiri-
dates III. King of Armenia. Gregory Parthev, a
Parthian, preached Christianity. The most recent
findings indicate that Armenia did not adopt Chris-
tianity until after the conversion of the emper or
Constantine in 313 A.D. The Armenian conversion
most likely occured in 314 at the behest of King
Trdat (Tiridates). The missionizing of Armenia pro- Castle and mosque of the Semiramis near Van. From the art collection of
bably began in Edessa (present-day Urfa). It has be- the bibliographical institute in Hildshausen, West Germany.
A. D. MDCCCXXXXIX (1849).
en proven that Christian communities existed as
early as the second century. The great converter
was Gregory Parthev Lusarevic, the Illuminator. He
was not a Haik, but rather an Armenian in the true
sense of the word, an inhabitant of the province of
Armenia. He was, however, of Parthian origin.
Gregory lived in Roman Caesarea (Kayseri) as a re-
fugee from the Persians. It was there that he beca-
me a Christian. At first, King Tiridates persecuted
Gregory, but then he himself became a Christian,
and with him, gradually, the people of Armenia.
Christianity quickly took hold throughout the Ro-
man Empire, in Georgia as well as in Caucasian Al-
bania and in Armenia. This deeply troubled the When the church of Aghtamar was built in the tenth century, the
Armenians of eastern Anatolia and their princes were subjects of the
Persians. Julian the Apostate, who might have been Abbaside Caliphs of Baghdad. The Caliphs were in turn at the mercy of
able to handle the Persians, died unexpectedly. His the "Mamluks", who lived at the Caliphs' court and controlled art and
culture (not just the military!). These Mamluks were Turkish and
successor, Jovian, relinquished the Caucasus and belonged to the administrative and military caste. They influenced both
Seljuk and Armenian architecture with their classical round buildings.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
35

Armenia to the Persians without a fight. After the de-

ath of Emperor Theodosius in 395, the
Roman Empire was divided into an Eastern and a
Western Empire. The Armenian princes, who suffered
greatly under the intolerant, sometimes fanatically anti-
Christian religious policies of the Sassanids tried in va-
in to obtain more freedom.
In the decisive battle of Avarayr in the year 451, the Ar-
menian leader Vardan Mamikonean was defeated by
the Persians. His pleas to the Byzantines for help were
Recurring themes of Armenian art: the constant struggle with the
of no avail. 451 was a fateful year for the Armenians, it Persians, which lasted from the days of the Armenian immigration
was also the year of the Fourth Ecumenical Council in to the battle near Caldiran in 1514, where the Ottomans drove the
Persians out.
Chalzedon (present-day Kad›köy, in Istanbul). Because
of the tragic war situation, the Christians from beyond
the Byzantine borders were unable to attend the Coun-
cil. The imperial policy, which was also the official po-
licy of the Byzantine clergy, won an unchallenged vic-
tory. The doctrine of the dual nature of Christ, divine
and human, prevailed. The Monophysites did not re-
cognize the decisions of the Council. The most impor-
tant Monophysitic group was the Armenians, but also
in this category were the Syrians, the Egyptian Copts,
their neighbors to the South in Ethiopia, and the Indian
church. One must also mention the Nestorians in Persi-
a, who at that time were quite strong.
Illustration from Codex 189 of Lake Van:
This conflict resulted in a feud between Byzantium and the Haik fighting the Persians in 451. Near
the Armenians - a feud which had grave consequences Avarayr the Haik lost not only the battle
for both sides. The Byzantines watched disdainfully as but also the cream of their fighting nobility
under Vartan Mamigonian. (Illustration
the Armenians were weakened. They failed to recognize
from the sixteenth century from the canon
that they were losing a buffer against their Persian arch- of Saint Vartan and his companions.
enemies, as well as against the new invaders from the Mechitaristenkloster, Vienna.) The same
East. In 484, Byzantium was decisively weakened by theme, the battle of Avarayr, seen through
the eyes of the nineteenth century (Georg
Persians attacking from the East. When the emperor Drah, 1888): The Persian king, Yadzegert
Justinian came to power in Byzantium a generation la- II, tried to force the Haik to return to
ter, there was not a trace left of Armenian independen- Mazdaism in 451 (exactly at the time of the
Council of Chalzedon). He did not succeed,
ce. Power was divided between Persians and Byzantines.
but the Haik ended up in a schism due to
The emperor Maurice even resettled a lot of Armenians their absence at Chalzedon.
in Thrace, which may well have been their original ho- Mechitaristenkloster, Vienna.
me. Following the struggle between Persians and Ro-
mans to gain the upper hand in Armenia, the Arabs
 ERICH FEIGL
36

and Byzantium shared power until Byzantium wiped out what little was left of Armenian autonomy in
1040. As late as 630 A.D., the emperor Heraclios had been hammering out plans for a Church union with
the Monophysitic Armenians, but just ten years later, the Arabs relieved him of this concern by invading
eastern Anatolia and breaking the Byzantines' hold on power. The occasional victories of the Byzantines
(such as those under Emperor Justinian II., 685-695) only led to more brutal attempts to bring the Armeni-
ans into line with the official Greek Orthodox Church. In the end, the Byzantines and the Arabs divided up
control of Armenia in much the same way as the Romans and Persians had done for eastern Anatolia and
the adjoining Caucasus.
At his coronation as King of Armenia, Prince Ashkot received his insignia from both Arabs and Byzantines.
Armenia blossomed as a semi-independent buffer state between Arabs and Byzantines and did not do too
badly. The cleverness of the Armenian princes, who recognized the limits of their power and knew what was
attainable, was always the best guarantee for the well-being of the Haik.
It was during this period that the magnificent buildings of Ani and the church on the island of Aghtamar in
Lake Van were constructed. The supremacy of the Caliphs of Damascus and Baghdad was entirely bearable.
No Arab would ever have dreamed of harrassing the Armenians because of their Monophysitic beliefs. On
the contrary, they gave the Armenians the job of supervising the holy sites of Jerusalem. Under the Bagra-
tids, who were in turn under Byzantine and Arab rule, the Armenians achieved a blossoming of their culture.
Ani was completed, and the church of Aghtamar became the thriving see of the Armenian Catholicoses.
Nevertheless, the Byzantines could not resist shortening the Armenians' leash more and more. New, unsett-
ling reports kept coming in about new tribes out of the East who were advancing across Persia to the West.
But in stead of promoting and reinforcing the Armenian buffer state, the Byzantines forced the prince of
Ani, Hovanes Smbat, to relinquish Ani fully and unconditionally. After his triumph in the Balkans, Empe-
ror Basil II., the "Bulgar-slayer", turned to the Caucasus and Armenia, where he met with equally great
success. His expansionist policies had their crowning glory in Armenia under his successor, the emperor
Constantine IX. Constantine IX. Monomachus was a ruthless Orthodox zealot. He annexed "heretical"
Ani and made it part of the Orthodox Byzantine Empire. The Armenian version reads, "King Gagik II. is
forced to surrender the Kingdom in Constantinople." That was in 1045, another fateful year for the Arme-
nians. Since 1045, there has never been an independent or semi-independent principality or kingdom in

The destruction of the semi-independent

Armenian principalities, which had long served
as buffer states between Byzantium and the
Muslims and Persians of the East, was the work
of the Greeks. They were not willing to tolerate
the Monophysitic Armenians, whom they saw as
inferior heretics, and they were constantly trying
to convert them by force. It was the Mamie
Seljuks and Ottomans who finally saved the
Armenians from this fate.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
37

Ani: the Church of St. Gregory of Tigran Honent. It is part of the unquestioned mythology of the
Armenians that "the Turks" destroyed the capital of the Bagritid dynasty. The historical truth:
Since at least 772 A. D., the one-time Urartian city had been under Arab control.
After the Byzantine invasion, the pillaging of the city by the Georgians and further weakening of
the prinicipality, Hovhannes Smbat was forced to sign an agreement bequeathing his capital to the
Byzantines. In 1041, Basil II (the "Bulgarslayer") was ready to cash this I. O. U. in. When the
Armenians did not want to give their capital up, the Byzantine emperor Constantine Monomachus
sent two armies to Ani. Together with the Arab princes of Dvin, they broke the Armenian resis-
tance. In 1045, the patriarch and the governor of Ani opened the gates of the city to the Byzanti-
nes, and with that the last remnants of Armenian inde pendence in eastern Anatolia vanished. The
Seljuk leader Alp Arslan did not make it as far as Ani until 1065 - a full two decades later - and
he did not fight against Armenians, but rather Byzantines, who at that time shared power in eas-
tern Anatolia with the Arabs.
 ERICH FEIGL
38

eastern Anatolia, the historical region of Armenia.

There has been no trace of Armenian self-government or
autonomy. It was Emperor Basil II., the Bulgar-slayer,
and after him Emperor Constantine IX. Monomachus
who wiped out every kind of Armenian political life in
eastern Anatolia - no one else.

The Triumph of the Ottomans in

Eastern Anatolia and Cilicia

Armenian principalities in Cilicia, suffice it to say that at

the time of the Ottoman takeover of power (1512, by
Sultan Selim I.), there had not been an independent or se-
The island of Aghtamar with its famous church of the Holy
mi-independent Armenian principality in Cilicia for 137 Cross. When the church was built in the tenth century, eas-
tern Anatolia with its Armenian principalities was ruled by
years. Sis was conquered by the Mamluks in 1375. The the Abbaside Caliphs of Baghdad. Before the Abbasides, eas-
struggle for supremacy in eastern Anatolia and the adja- tern Anatolia and its inhabitants had belonged to the realm
of the Ommiad Caliphs, who ruled from Damascus.
cent regions in the south and south-west of the Ottoman
realm ended on the 23rd of August, 1514 at the battle
near Çald›ran. Here, Sultan Selim I. (1512-1520) dealt a
crushing blow to the Persian Safavids, and with that the
entire historical province of Armenia was brought under
Ottoman control. At this time, it had already been nearly
five centuries since an Armenian prince had held any
kind of power here.
Almost exactly two years later, on August 24, 1516, Se-
lim I. opened the way to Syria with his victory at the
battle of Marc Dabik, not far from Aleppo. Selim's suc-
cessor, Süleyman the Magnificent, went on to conquer
Rhodes, Azerbaijan and the entire Caucasus, Mesopota-

The battlefield of Çald›ran. On August 23, 1514, Sultan

Selim I defeated the Persians on this site and finally brought
eastern Anatolia under Ottoman control. The border that
was agreed to at that time still stands today. On the same
day two years later, Sultan Selim I brought southern
Anatolia and Syria under his control. Immediately there-
after, Selim I made his triumphant entrance into Cairo, and
the Sherif of Mecca recognized Selim I as the new Caliph.
Ottomans continued to be Caliphs until the new
Turkish Republic abolished the Caliphate in 1924.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
39

mia (which was not lost again until World War I) and Hungary. The Viennese finally brought him to a
halt in 1529. For the Armenians, this was the beginning of a golden age. As the Ottomans expanded their
realm further and further, the Armenians followed right on the heels of the victorious armies. The domain
for their activities as traders and craftsmen grew until it was a hundred times the size of their original dis-
trict in eastern Anatolia.

The Causes of the Armenian Tragedy

The Armenian tragedy begins. Ultra-nationalistic ideologies together with an unfortunate rivalry between
the various Armenian churches and sects heat up the internal political climate in the Ottoman Empire. The
superpowers of the time - England, Russia and France - wanted to weaken the Ottoman Empire, and they
used the Armenians callously toward this end.
Until this time, Armenians and Turks had lived together in nearly perfect harmony from the time of the
Seljuk conquest of the Byzantine lands in eastern Anatolia (eleventh and twelfth centuries) until well into
the nineteenth century.
The causes of the "Armenian Tragedy" are not to be found inside, but rather outside the realm of the mul-
tinational empire of the Seljuks and Ottomans. In the nineteenth century, it was primarily Russia which
was responsible for bringing unrest to the Ottoman Empire. They did, however, have the help of some
Americans, such as the Protestant missionaries from Boston.
Russia's objective was to gain access to the "warm seas". The American Protestant missionaries proved
themselves to be "useful idiots" for the Russians.

The Rivalry Among the Churches and Sects to

Win the Favor of the Ottoman Armenians
While on a missionary trip to the Choctaw Indians, the North American missionary William Goodell came
up with the idea of "reconquering" the Holy Land for Christianity. At that time, the Holy Land was enti-
rely under Ottoman rule.
This new Crusade - for that is exactly how the undertaking was seen - began with a series of reconnaissan-
ce tours, planned in an almost military fashion. The American missionaries spared no personal sacrifice in
the course of these tours. Their total dedication to a cause in
which they truly believed deserves our respect. In 1821, a small advance troop set up camp on the Holy Se-
pulchre. Their main objective was to have a missionary (Protestant) influence on the many pilgrims there.
This first missionary effort in Jerusalem was a complete fiasco. Neither the Jews nor the Muslims nor an-
yone else was interested in being converted to American-style
Protestantism. Finally the Americans abandoned this unfortunate attempt at proselytizing in Jerusalem, and
they moved their operations to
Beirut. In spite of strong resistance from all the Christian groups in Lebanon, the Americans did succeed in
winning two Armenians over to their camp, Gregor Vardapet and Garabed Dionysius. At that time, the
 ERICH FEIGL
40

Armenians were exclusively Gregorian. They were subject to the rule of their patriarch in Istanbul in
all matters of civil law. It soon became clear that it was the Armenians who were most interested in
what the Americans were offering. What they found most attractive was the generous offer of educa-
tion. The Protestant missionaries started down several false paths in the Ottoman Empire. Their mis-
sionary activities took them to Malta, Greece, and finally on to Izmir (Smyrna). At the same time,
they must be credited with some admirable achievements. In the end, it became quite clear that their
experiences throughout the empire would follow the pattern established in Beirut. In other words,
their mission only met with success among the Armenian Gregorians. Two major facts about the Ar-
menian Orthodox hierarchy contributed to this success. First of all, the hierarchy did not pay enough
attention to the educational needs of the highly intelligent Armenians. Secondly, it was practically
drowning in wealth and power. The Americans finally opened their mission headquarters in Cons-
tantinople under the direction of William Goodell. In studying the history of the American missiona-
ries in the Ottoman Empire, it is quite intriguing to follow the story of all the wrong turns the missi-
onaries took before they finally recognized with great relief that the capital of the huge empire was
also without a doubt the best location for their headquarters.
The studies done by the missionaries Smith and Dwight soon confirmed the pattern established in
Beirut and Izmir (Smyrna). The Armenians, hungry for learning, gratefully and eagerly accepted the
education offered by the "American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions" in Constanti-
nople. As early as 1833, many Armenian students, eager for learning and knowledge, were conver-
ting to Protestantism. In the same year, the Protestant mission already had more than fifteen young
Armenian clergymen. The missionary wave soon spread from Constantinople into the provinces. In
1834, Benjamin Schneider opened a mission in Bursa. Another in Trabzon soon followed. Five years
later, in 1839, came the beginning of what the Protestant Armenian-Americans refer to in their histo-
rical writings as the "spirit of persecution". The Armenian orthodox clergy had become uneasy abo-
ut the incredible success that the American missionaries were having among the most talented and
capable Armenians. They launched an effort to get rid of the missionaries and win back the Armeni-
ans who had gone astray. When persuasion did not work, the church turned to force. Schools were
burned to the ground, and according to the missionary chronicler William E. Strong, "arrests were
made and terror spread". The patriarch was deposed for being too tolerant, and a list was drawn up
of roughly five hundred "principal suspects". They belonged to the highest social classes of the Ar-
menian millet; they were bishops, bankers, businessmen and artists; and they were all accused of he-
resy. That meant expulsion from the Gregorian Church, which at that time was equivalent to losing
one's nationality - a personal catastrophe for those affected. Without membership iri a millet, one co-
uld not marry or have a Christian burial. One enjoyed no protection under the law and was subject
to social ostracism.
Nevertheless, Protestantism continued to gain ground among the Armenians. This was undoubtedly
due to the fine abilities of the American-Armenian clergy, as well as the thirst for learning of the Ot-
toman Armenians. A Protestant mission even sprung up in Van, practically the farthest corner of the
huge Ottoman Empire, and the Protestants won converts among the "Mountain Nestorians" in the
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
41

distant Hakkari Mountains. Protestantism did not In the beginning, the new era looked promising.
bring much luck to either the Nestorians or the pe- The intentions of the Protestant missionaries had
ople of Van, however. Both the Armenians and the undoubtedly been good, and they had shown unpre-
cedented courage and selfless devotion. Neverthe-
Nestorians started collaborating with the Russians
less, the outcome was unintentionally disastrous for
(using American money) and finally drifted into the
the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire.
revolt movement of March, 1915. The Ottomans
responded with a general relocation order. That was
the beginning of the Ottoman-Armenian catastrop-
he of 1915, which claimed so many tragic victims
on both sides.

The Beginning of the End -

The Formation of a Protestant
Armenian Millet
In 1846, the curtain came down twice on the Arme-
nians, both literally and figuratively. In the church
of the Armenian Orthodox Patriarchate in Constan-
tinople, with the curtains drawn and the altar cove-
red, the patriarch read an excommunication order
against the Armenians who had converted to Protes-
tantism. They were accused of - and threatened
with - every kind of evil in the world. Afterwards,
the excommunication edict was read in all the Ar-
menian Orthodox churches in the land under the
same kind of theatrical circumstances. The great po-
wers rushed to the aid of the Protestant Armenians, One of the most important, outstanding individuals in the
who had now been stripped of all their rights. Eng- Armenian millet was Mekhitar of Sebaste (of Sivas in central
Anatolia). He was born on February 7, 1676, the son of Armenian
land was especially eager to help because it saw the
merchants. He soon came in contact with Jesuit missionaries,
situation as a good opportunity for intervention. Fi- "Franks", who relied heavily on Frankish-Armenian relations
nally, the grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire was established at the time of the Crusades in their missionary work
forced to act. On July 1, 1846, a new millet was among the Armenians. Mekhitar became one of the greatest of
Ottoman-Armenian scholars. He founded a congregation and is
created in the Ottoman Empire - the "First Evange-
considered responsible for the renaissance of Armenian literature.
lical Armenian Church". In 1848, the grand vizier His merciless enemy: the Gregorian church.
published an imperial "ferman" (proclamation) con-
cerning this matter, and two years later the Sultan The Catholic Armenians
personally granted a charter to his new Protestant With the establishment of the Protestant millet, a
millet. Now the Protestant Armenians had the right threeway struggle began for the hearts of the Otto-
to elect their own representatives, who could then man Armenians. First, there was the old, established
present their concerns to the Sublime Porte with the "Gregorian" Church, which still referred back to its
same rights as the representatives of the Orthodox
founding by St. Gregory the Illuminator. Next came
Church.
 ERICH FEIGL
42

the Protestant Church, officially established in independent of the Byzantines. "Armenian Cilicia"
1850, and thirdly the Armenian Catholic commu- existed as a wholly or at least partially independent
nity of the Ottoman Empire, although the latter principality until the year 1375, when the Mamluks
must admittedly be measured on a different scale. brought it to an end.
While the Protestants owed their official acceptance The Armenian leaders of Cilicia were of course al-
to English (and to a lesser extent American) inter- ways looking for allies positioned behind their im-
mediate neighbors.
vention, the establishment of the Catholic Armenian
These included the otherwise disparaged
millet was a result of the intervention of the French,
Mongols and the even more hated Catholics. Cilicia
who had always seen themselves as the protectors
even formed an alliance with the Crusaders. The cli-
of Catholics living in the East.
max of this alliance came in 1198 when Conrad
The first Catholic Armenian patriarch Hagop Chu-
Cardinal von Wittelsbach anointed Prince Leo II.
kurian was recognized by the Sultan in 1831. It is
King of Cilicia. The fourteenth century was a time
significant that his first residence was in Adana, in
of bitter, merciless struggle between the Armenian
the precincts of the former Armenian kingdom of
Orthodox and Armenian Catholic families of Cilici-
Cilicia, which had ceased to exist centuries before.
a. In 1342, Cilicia became "Frankish" when it fell
Armenians had been living in Cilicia ever since an
to Guy de Lusignan. The Gregorian majority among
ambitious relocation program carried out by the

Robert College, Istanbul (today, Bo¤aziçi University). Founded in

1840 as a school for gifted Armenians, it also proved to be a train-
ing ground for Armenian nationalism. The founders of Robert
College, in particular Cyrus Hamlin, saw great significance in the
location of the new college. It was built right next to Rumeli
Hisar›, the fortress from which the Ottomans had conquered half
of Europe. The new school buildings were to become a symbol of
the "reconquista". In his history of the "American Board",
William E. Strong describes the school's founder as the "terror of
The location of the Armenian Catholic church in Istanbul could not be
the evasive Turk", whereas the Armenians were to be assisted "in
more appropriate. The church practically grows out of the elegant bu-
every way possible". Misunderstood ultra-nationalism now start-
ilding complex of the former French Embassy. Analogously, the estab-
ed to run its course.
lishment of a separate Armenian Catholic millet in 1831 can be attri-
buted to massive French pressure on the Sublime Porte (Bab-› Ali).

the Cilician Armenians reacted with rebellion, and

Byzantines in the wake of several Byzantine victori-
in 1344 Guy de Lusignan and three hundred of his
es over the Arabs. The Hetums and the Rubens
Frankish knights were killed. Under his Catholic
were the most important Armenian families among
successors, the "kingdom" of Cilicia consisted only
those relocated, and they produced the leaders of
of the city of Sis. In April of 1375, the Mamluks
Cilicia. In 1080, the Rubens felt that they were
conquered Sis and took Leo V. prisoner, thus extin-
strong enough to establish a separate principality,
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
43

guishing the last traces of any Armenian state en-

tity. It is open to question, however, whether Fran-
kish Cilicia really had anything to do with Armenia
in the first place. The death in Paris of the last king
of Cilicia struck many Europeans as very romantic.
A Franciscan monk had bought the king's freedom
from the Mamluks following an ambitious fund-
raising drive. It was especially the French who re-
membered the king's death. This was, among rea-
sons, because Leo V. was laid to rest next to the
French kings in the Celestine Monastery in Paris
following a solemn state funeral.
The fall of the Cilician kingdom occured in the year
1375, a good century and a half before the conqu-
The American Protestant mission to the Armenians of Van began its
est of Cilicia by the Ottomans. Many Armenians work in 1872. The resistance from the indigenous Armenian Orthodox
did of course continue to live in Cilicia, although clergy was bitter. (Van had, after all, been the seat of the Armenian Cat-
holics for a long time.) It was thus a full five years before the Americans
they were always a small minority here, as they we- managed to erect the first place of worship for their mission. The Ame-
re throughout Anatolia. The memory of King Leo ricans called Van "the Sebastopol of the Armenian Church" obviously
alluding to the long siege and eventual assault by the allies in 1855.
was still alive in 1831 when the French forced the Partly because of the bitter rivalry between Orthodox and Protestant
establishment of a Catholic Armenian patriarchate. Armenians over who the "better" Armenian was, Van quickly became
a breeding ground for fanatical nationalism. This erupted in a number
It was probably also still alive in 1915 when they of uprisings and finally led to the revolt of 1915, in which tens of thou-
acted as accomplices to the tragedy suffered by the sands of Muslims lost their lives. What had started with an offer of edu-
cation ended in nationalistic excesses, in spite of the idealistic zeal of
local Ottoman-Armenian population during the re-
many well-meaning missionaries, such as Dr. Reynolds and his wife.
bellion of Musa Dagh. They were accomplices to
another crime in 1918 when they landed troops in
the South and made promises to the Armenian
community which they were unable to keep.
A book that appeared in 1896 with the title Turkey
and the Armenian Atrocities (the author was certa-
inly not aware of the ambiguity of the chosen title)
shows just how far the American Protestants were
willing to go with their propagandistic excesses.
The spirit and content of the book are best illustra-
ted by a few lines from the foreword by Francis E.
Willard. Armenians are apparently the most noble
race in the world since, "in countenance, figure,
and poise they are remarkably attractive.
That is to say that their personal appearance comes Worship service in an Armenian Protestant church in Istanbul
(built in 1914, immediately before the outbreak of World War I).
closer to the probable appearance of Our Lord than
that of any other race." Francis E. Willard describes
 ERICH FEIGL
44

the Armenians as "unarmed" and says that they would never do "any-
thing to harm anyone". In view of the huge quantities of arms that the
Armenians not only stockpiled but also put to use in numerous upri-
sings, these remarks seem to be nothing but pure mockery. 1896 was a
year of intensive Armenian terrorist activity. It was the year of the spec-
tacular raid on the Ottoman Bank, where hostages were taken. But Isla-
mic hostages obviously meant nothing at all to those who had an uncri-
tical preference for the "Armenian race". After all, "the Mohammedans
believe in the harem above all else." Conclusion: "Armenians are the
nation, the Sultan and his soldiers are the devil's scourge. A cold-hear-
ted observer is the Anglo-Saxon race." Apparently the intervention of
England and the United States was not enough to satisfy some Protes-
tant missionaries. Similar views were expressed by the Russians. By the
Artin Dadyan Pasha, Ottoman Under-
turn of the century, the Armenians had become the great powers' favori- Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
te pretense for getting involved in the internal affairs of the Ottoman (1880-1887) actually did not work for
the Sultan but for the Armenian case . . .
Empire.

Trapped by bloodhounds: Sultan Murad V is shown here trying to deal with

the rebellious European provinces of the Ottoman Empire: Bosnia;
Herzegovina; Montenegro; and Serbia. These nations all had the distinct
advantage of having solid, self-contained national minorities on their territo-
ry. (The Armenians, on the other hand, did not even come close to having a
well-defined area of settlement anywhere in the Ottoman Empire in which
they were in the majority.) The Czar of Russia, Austria's Emperor Franz
Joseph, Emperor Wilhelm I, King George I of Greece, and Italy's King
Humbert all look on with interest, while Germany's Bismarck and England's
Beaconfield are ready to jump into the fray. The Armenian patriarch, Nerses
II Vartabedian, declared to the British ambassador at the time, "that if, in
order to secure the sympathy of the European powers, it was necessary to rise
in insurrection, there would be no difficulty in getting up such a movement"
(Letter of the British ambassador, Henry Elliot, to his foreign minister in
London; F. O. 424/46, p. 205-206; December 7, 1876).
Cartoon: PUNCH, July 22, 1876.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
45

The Ottoman-Armenian architect Garabed Amira Balyan (1800- 1866, above left) worked for the Sultan Abdülmecid (center) and Sultan
Abdülhamid II (right). Among his most significant works are the Ortaköy Mosque and the imposing Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul, on
the banks of the Bosphorus. Over the years, virtually all foreign and domestic trade passed into the hands of the Ottoman Armenians.
Later, this fact would contribute to their undoing because the ringleaders of the Armenian uprisings based their actions partly on the belief
that the Ottoman Empire would surely collapse if the Armenians withdrew their friendship.
 ERICH FEIGL
46

The Nineteenth Century: A Golden Age for Armenians and Ottomans,

in Spite of the Beginnings of Nationalistic Agitating from Abroad
After the conquest of Istanbul, Sultan Mehmed Fatih strove to establish a good working relationship
with all the peoples subject to him and to grant wide-ranging autonomy. (It would actually be more cor-
rect to speak of religious communities instead of "peoples". Ethnic and racial concepts hardly existed
at the time.) Just eight years after the conquest of Istanbul, Sultan Mehmed Fatih summoned the
Armenian Orthodox archbishop of Bursa, Hovakim, to Istanbul. He had been chosen by the Ottomans,
and the Sultan named him patriarch. Patriarch Hovakim became the spiritual (and to a large extent also
the secular) leader of all non-Islamic, non-Greek Orthodox inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire. His po-
wer greatly surpassed that of the Armenian Catholicoses of Echmiadzin and Sis. Never in the history of
the Armenian people had an Armenian possessed as much power and authority as Patriarch
Hovakim (and his successors until well into the nineteenth century). The Armenians always got along
better with the Ottoman Sultans than did the Greeks. The Greek Orthodox patriarchs of Constantinop-
le, such as Gennadios II Scholarios, Isidoros II Xanthoüulos, and Sophronios I Syropolos, came and
went so fast that they seemed to be developing a revolving-door patriarchate. The Armenians, on the
other hand, found the right tone for dealing with the Ottomans from the start, and their power
grew ever greater. Photos: His Beatitude the Armenian Orthodox Patriarch of Istanbul Snork Kalutsyan;
scenes from the 29th of May, the anniversary of the conquest of Constantinople in 1453.

An illustration from the "Turkischer Hofer" (Nuremberg, 1721)

shows a typical master builder from the happy days of Ottoman-
Armenian co-existence and mutually beneficial cooperation. In those
days, the Sultan still referred to the Armenians as his "loyal millet".
That was before diabolical ultra-nationalistic sentiments began
His Beatitude the Armenian Orthodox Patriarch creeping into the Armenian community. These sentiments were as
of Istanbul Snork Kalutsyan misunderstood as they were excessive. They have been the downfall
of many a people, and they were indeed the down fall of the Haik.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
47

A few more examples of the total cooperation between

Ottomans and Armenians, which partially survived the
Armenian uprising of 1915 and the subsequent reloca-
tion of the Armenians in Anatolia.

The "turbe" (mausoleum) of the last Sultan to die on Ottoman soil,

Mehmed V Reshad. He ascended the throne on April 27, 1909 and
died when the First World War was at its climax, on July 2, 1918.
His mausoleum was built by an Armenian architect. It was located
below Eyüp, directly on the banks of the Golden Horn.

Krikor Amira Balyan built the charming Nusretiye Mosque (1835).

The conquest of Constantinople by Sultan

Mehmed Fatih in 1453 and the subsequent pro-
motion of the Armenian Orthodox arch bishop of
Bursa to patriarch of Constantinople marked the
beginning of a golden age for the Armenians of
the Ottoman Empire - often in the literal sense of
the word. Armenians took over the minting of
coins in the Ottoman Empire, and the
accounting in the main treasury office in Istanbul A kiosk of Beylerbeyi Palace, across from Ç›ra¤an Palace on the
was conducted in the Armenian language. south bank of the Bosporus. Built by Agop Balyan.
 ERICH FEIGL
48

The English saw what the Russians were demanding of the

Europeans in the dictate of San Stefano as reckless gambling. As
a precondition for their participation in the Congress of Berlin,
which was Bismarck's idea, England insisted that every
single article of the "Treaty" of San Stefano be closely scruti-
nized. (PUNCH, March 30, 1878)

The portal of Dolmabahçe Palace, built by the Ottoman-Armenian

architect, Garabed Amira Balyan, showing the "tughra", the
supreme imperial signature of Sultan Abdülmecid.

The Marquis of Salisbury (British foreign minister,

1878-1880).
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
49

The American Embassy building in Istanbul-Pera, one of the most

elegant parts of town. At the turn of the century, it was the neigh-
borhood of choice for rich Armenians and Greeks. It is unlikely
that any other ambassador in the Ottoman Empire was as depen-
dent as the U. S. ambassador on the reports and translations of his
dragomans (who were without exception of Armenian origin) and
the equally pro-Armenian American missionaries. Although the
United States and the Ottoman Empire were never at war with one
another, the image of the "Terrible Turk" was especially strong in
American public opinion. This was one of the effects of the twis-
ted reports that reached Washington from Constantinople.
 ERICH FEIGL
50

Great-Power Politics and the Armenian Question

The Mongols were, in their day, the great power. In 1236, they laid waste to Ani, and in 1379 they in-
vaded eastern Anatolia once again under Timurlenk. The plight of the Armenian population was so des-
perate that the Catholicosate had to be moved to Echmiadzin. Sis, in southern Anatolia was the last Ar-
menian stronghold. It was conquered by the Mamluks in 1375.
After that date, the religious and cultural activities of the Armenians continued to be of significance, but
as far as power or territory were concerned, they were out of the historical picture.
To understand how an Armenian Question could nevertheless become a factor in great-power politics,
we must consider the expansionist aspirations of Czarist Russia and the chess moves connected with
those aspirations. The Armenians were merely a pawn in an ugly chess game, and the Russians, whether
in Moscow or St.Petersburg, often found it useful to sacrifice that pawn. The speed and determination
with which Russia won Persian and Turkish territory is breathtaking. They conquered the southern part
of central Asia, northern Persia, the Caucasus, the Crimea, and eventually won access to the Balkans. A
quick look at these events makes the importance of an Armenian Question clear, especially if we remem-
ber what Russia's primary goal has always been:
the conquest of the Dardanelles.
1774 was the prelude to the dismantling of the Otto-
man Empire. The Treaty of Karlowitz, sixty-five ye-
ars earlier, had already been bad enough for the
Turks, but now in the Treaty of Küchük Kaynarca,
the Ottoman Empire lost so much of its prestige
that only the Austrians and the Russians were left
with any say in the Balkans. In the East, it was the
Russians all alone.
Eastern Anatolia had been Ottoman since 1515.
Sultan Murad III. had conquered Georgia in 1578.
The Turks' only rivals in the East had been the Per-
sians. In 1639, the Ottomans signed the Treaty of
Kasr-› fiirin with the Safavids, and in spite of the
wars that followed, the Turkish-Iranian border still
follows the line determined in 1639.
The Imperial Russian Embassy complex in Istanbul-fiiflhane. From
All the Turkish-Persian wars affected Armenian ter- the beletage of the embassy, the Russians have a magnificent view
ritory, but "Armenian" is to be understood here as of the Strait.
refering to the historical province. It has nothing to
do with any official authority of the Haik people,
who lived together with other peoples and tribes in
eastern Anatolia and the surrounding area. At the
time of the Treaty of Kasr-› fiirin, 1639, the Crimea
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
51

was Ottoman as was Georgia and the entire coast protecting Christians.
line of the Black Sea. The Black Sea was a Tur- 1783 Russia concluded a defense treaty with the
kish-Ottoman inland sea. Christian princes of Georgia, thus winning a great
Erivan had belonged to the Persians since 1639. It deal of control over ancient "Iberia".
was an almost exclusively Islamic city. Russia's 1787 Empress Catherine II of Russia met with Em-
first step toward the Caucasus came in 1556 with peror Joseph II of Austria in Kherson, on the Cri-
the conquest of Astrakhan. Transcaucasia nomi- mean peninsula, just sixty kilometers from Yalta.
nally belonged to the Persians, but Azerbaijan was From May 14 until June 13, they discussed how
under de facto Ottoman control. Armenians - or they would divide up the Ottoman Empire. The
more accurately, Haik - were only mentioned once leaders agreed to the "Greek Scheme", which envi-
during this period. That was when Shah Abbas saged the formation of a Greek Orthodox state to
be called "Dacia". It was to encompass Bessarabia,
moved the Armenians from Erivan and Julfa into
Moldavia, and Walachia. This would secure the
the interior of Persia in 1603-1604. Mehmed the
Russian lands west of the Dnieper as well as Aus-
Conqueror had founded the Patriarchate of Istan-
trian influence in the Balkans. In case of the fall of
bul in 1461. All the Armenians and Monophysites
Constantinople, a new Byzantium was to be estab-
of the Empire were subject to the patriarchs of Is-
lished. A short time later, the Ottomans declared
tanbul. The Catholicosates of Sis and Echmiadzin,
war on the Russians, and there was once again
which was at that time Persian, had absolutely no
fighting in the Caucasus. No more territory chan-
power in the Ottoman Empire. The Russians beca-
ged hands, however.
me involved in the Turkish-Persian war of 1723- 1796 The Russians took advantage of Persian at-
1727 and sent troops to the Caspian Sea. The tempts to win back lost territory as an excuse for
Khanate of Kuba, north of Baku, fell under Russi- marching into Kuba, Baku, Derbent, Shirvan, and
an influence. Karabagh.
In 1768, a Russian-Turkish war broke out in the
wake of the events in Poland. The Ottoman army
was defeated and the Treaty of Küchük Kaynarca
was signed in 1774. The Russians now advanced
into the Caucasus for the first time. They made it
as far as Kutaisi and Ahiska by way of Poti. In ot-
her words, they were almost to the present-day
border between Turkey and the Soviet Union.
The Treaty of Küchük Kaynarca also gave Kabar-
tay in Transcaucasia (on the east slope of Mount
Elbrus) to the Russians, but more important than
any territorial gains, it granted to the Russians a
certain say in protecting the rights of the Christi-
ans of the Ottoman Empire. From this point on,
Russia was constantly striving to expand its terri-
SIR AUSTEN HENRY LAYARD
tory at the expense of the Turks and Ottomans.
British Ambassador at Istanbul
This was almost always done under the pretense of (1877-1880)
 ERICH FEIGL
52

1801 The Russians annexed Georgia.

1812 Following the Peace of Bucharest, the Russi-
ans gained control of the Rion Basin, west of Sou-
ram in the Caucasus.
1813 Following the Peace of Butistan, the Russi-
ans occupied the Persian territories on the Caspian
Sea (roughly in accordance with the present-day
Russian-Iranian border). When Shah Abbas Mir-
zan tried to win back his lost territory, he was de-
feated once again, this time disastrously.
1828 In the Treaty of Turkmenchai, the Persians The Russian victory in the war of 1878 / 79 was disastrous for the
were forced to cede the Khanates of Erivan and Ottoman Empire and also brought on a catastrophe for the Turks
of the Balkan Peninsula. Within just a few days, 400.000 Islamic
Nakhiche van (today an autonomous S.S.R., just Turks were slaughtered in the newly formed principality of
to the south east of Ararat) to the Russians. The Bulgaria. More than one million Turkish refugees fled to Istanbul.
The refugees tried in desperation to free the deposed Sultan
borders laid down at that time are still valid to- Murad, who was interned in Ç›ra¤an Palace. They believed he
day. This was the first war in which Armenian vo- might be able to change the course of the war. The guards were
responsible for a bloodbath among the rebels. (Drawing from the
lunteers took part in large numbers, as they did VSEMIRNAYA ILLUSTRATIYA, St. Petersburg, May 24, 1878.)
later in 1914-22. The Haik of the Erivan region None of the major powers saw fit to champion the cause of the
Ottoman refugees. The mass murders went unpunished.
were now under Russian rather than Iranian con-
trol. This had very grave consequences, since the
Russians had already seen how they could exploit
the Armenians as useful tools.
Echmiadzin, the seat of an Armenian Orthodox
Catholicos, also fell under Russian control in
1828.
In the wake of the Treaty of Turkmenchai and the
dismal war with the Greeks, British, and French in
the West, the Russians were able to advance as far
as Erzurum.
1829 In the Treaty of Edirne, the Russians obtai-
ned the Black-Sea strongholds of Poti and Anapa,
One of the masterpieces of Ottoman-Armenian architecture.
as well as Ahiska, Ahilkalek, and Akchur, thus es- Ç›ra¤an Palace on the Bosphorus was built by Nigogosh Balyan.
tablishing the present-day Russian-Turkish bor- Sultan Murad V spent his years of banishment here. Today, after
renovation, it serves as a de luxe hotel.
der. The Caucasus now belonged entirely to the
Russians. This peace treaty granted the Haik and
the Muslims the right to choose between Russia
and the Ottoman Empire. More than 100.000 Ar-
menians left the areas beyond Erzurum at that ti-
me and moved to the region that is now the Soviet
Republic of Armenia. Likewise, the majority of
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
53

Muslims left the Caucasus and settled in Anatolia.

Until this time, Erivan had been inhabited almost
exclusively by Muslims. After the Treaty of Turk-
menchai (1828, Turkmenchai is located in nort-
hern Persia, on Lake Urmia), the Czar founded an
Armenia out of the former Khanates of Erivan and
Nakhichevan. He made all inhabitants of the regi-
on Russian citizens, and declared himself "King of
Armenia". He also had the title "King of Poland".
1849 The Caucasus region was divided into two
parts, but in
1854 this division was revoked because of cons-
tant riots as the Muslims simply could not accept Beylerbeyi Palace on the Bosphorus, one of the masterpieces of the
Ottoman-Armenian architect, Agop Balyan, was the scene of a
the rule of the Georgian and Armenian Christians meeting between Sultan Abdulhamid II and Russian Grand Duke
in these large regions. Prince Vorontsov, who was Nicholas. At the beginning of the war, the Armenians had
solemnly declared their loyalty to the Ottoman Empire, but in the
in charge of reorganizing this region, broke it up Ottomans' hour of greatest need, the Armenians, who had always
into a large number of small political provinces. been the "loyal millet" in the past, ran to the Russians and tried
to take advantage of the situation. The Ottomans could never for-
The Armenians lived mainly in the province of Tif- get this breach of faith. Ottoman-Armenian relations started beco-
lis, but they soon came in large numbers to the ming more difficult from that moment on.

Erivan region as well.

1854 was also the year of the Crimean War, which knees.
broke out because the Ottomans refused to recogni- 1863 A "Reglement de la nation armenienne" was
ze a general Russian protectorate of the Christians publi shed. This did not alter the status of the Ar-
of the Ottoman Empire. The goal of the Russians menians within the Ottoman Empire in any way.
was to bring about the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Its purpose was to restrict the rights of the patri-
They wanted to let the "sick man on the Bospho- arch, in accordance with the wishes of the repre-
rus" die and seize power themselves. 1854 Kars fell sentatives of the Armenian minority. The creation
to the Russians after a heroic defense. of the Catholic and Protestant millets had already
1856 The "Protocol of Vienna" brought an end to curbed the power of the patriarch. Now the politi-
the Crimean War. The Peace of Paris, in the same cal representatives of the Armenians were getting
year, was a genuine success for the Ottoman Em- into the act as well, and everyone was fighting
pire. Kars was given back to them, and the odious with everyone else to gain the upper hand within
"protectorate" over the Orthodox Christians of the Armenian millet. The effect was obviously det-
Turkey was abolished. (This protectorate could al- rimental to the Armenians and only profitable for
most be seen as an anticipation of the later Brezh- the radicals.
nev Doctrine.) England, in particular, had refused Sensible Armenians recognized even then that it
to accept the plans for dividing up the Ottoman could only have disastrous consequences for their
Empire because they saw their own interests en- people if the old plans to set up a Greek Orthodox
dangered. Just twenty years later, Russia would try Byzantium under Russian protectorate were realized.
once again to bring the Ottoman Empire to its These plans had not been forgotten since the Crime-
 ERICH FEIGL
54

an conference between Joseph II and Catherine II.

If carried out, they would certainly have led to re-
newed attempts from the Greek (or Russian) Ort-
hodox Church to bring the Armenians entirely un-
der their control. Russian rule in the Caucasus had
already demonstrated quite clearly that the Czar
had never dreamed of granting special rights to the
Armenians and certainly had no thought of gran-
ting them their independence as some had hoped.
That would only have led the other nations under
Russian control to have similar thoughts of inde-
pendence. The fact is that until 1870 the Armeni-
ans were of almost no significance on the interna- The Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, a masterpiece by Architect Sinan.
Representatives of the Armenian patriarch (Khrimian) of Istanbul
tional political scene. The calamity that was to co- met in Edirne in 1878 with the victorious Russians. The Ottomans
me crept up slowly, almost unnoticed. saw this as shameless treachery.
1876 A conference of ambassadors in Istanbul
simply refused outright to accept a demarche from
the Armenian patriarch. The only ones who had
ever shown any interest in the Armenians were the
Russians, who sometimes found the Armenian mi-
nority useful for their territorial expansion in the
East.
Occasionally, they even used the Armenians as
henchmen to spread fear and panic among the
Muslims without getting their own hands dirty. (A
good example is the conquest of Erzurum in 1839
where the Armenians were responsible for a mas-
sacre of Muslims.)
1877 With the Balkans already given away, it be-
came clearer and clearer that the Russians wanted
to advance along the Erzurum-Alexandretta (to-
Meguerditch (or KHIRMIAN (1821 - 1907) with nickname "Hayrig" (lit-
day Iskenderun) axis toward the Mediterranean. tle father) patriarche of Constantinople (Istanbul) (1899 - 1873) then
Now the Armenians started to take on real impor- catholicos (1893 - 1907) responsible for the foundation of the extremist
group YERGIR, "the way, how the Haik called their correspondent home."
tance for the Russians. They were expected to ser- Khirmian, a ruthless Armenian nationalist - his religion was not Christianity
ve as a Fifth Column. At this point, the Russians but Nationality traveled 1878 to Berlin in order to present the Armenian
demands at the congress. At Edirne he met the tarist invadors which was
no longer restricted themselves to exploiting the considered by the Ottomans as high treason. He worked close together with
Armenian clergy. They started using the Armenian the Armenian officers serving in the Russian army (mainly with Loris
Melikian, general Lazarian and general Ter Goukassian in Eastern Anatolia.
revolutionary cadres more and more. At the same The whole enterprise was a typical rehearsal for the Russo-Armenian attack
time, the English developed an interest in the Ar- against Ottoman East-Anatolia 1915. He was one of the creators of the
"Mouvement Révolutionnaire HAY" which ended disastrous.
menians. They came up with the idea of an Arme-
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
55

nian buffer state, which could serve as a check on the great powers in the event of a collapse of the Ot-
toman Empire.
1877 April 24 saw the beginning of a new war with Russia. It was the shortest of all the wars, but also
the most devastating for the Ottomans. "The catastrophe of twelve-ninety-three" (that was the year
according to the Ottoman calendar) is still proverbial for the Turks of today. From the start, the Russi-
ans had the advantage on the eastern front.
Kars fell on November 18. The Russians were under the command of the Armenian general Loris
Melikof. While Erzurum stood firm against all the Russian attacks, the Turks suffered a disastrous
defeat near Plevne on the Balkan front.
1878 The Armistice of Edirne was concluded on January 31. The fate of the Ottoman Empire appeared
to be sealed. Nothing could stop the Russians from marching right on to Constantinople. The Armeni-
ans now established contact with the Russians in Edirne. At the beginning of the war, they had stood so-
lidly behind their Ottoman fatherland. Now, after the catastrophe of Plevne, the entire Armenian camp
swung over to the Russian side. The first contacts took place in Edirne. Whether and in what way the
patriarch and the catholicos were involved in this scenario is a subject of debate. In any case, the result
of these interventions was that the Russians interceded expressly on behalf of the Armenians in the pea-
ce dictate of San Stefano. The wording of the passage was, however, left entirely noncommital since the
Russians clearly had no intention of granting independence to their own Armenians.
Article 16 of the Treaty of San Stefano (Yesilkoy) states: "... la Sublime Porte s'engage a realiser sans
plus de retard les amelioration et les reformes exigees par les besoins locaux dans les provinces
habitees par les Armeniens et a garantir leur securite contre les Kurdes et les Circassiens."
This totally empty clause does nothing more than demand that the Ottomans provide for the security of
the Armenians against Kurdish and Circassian attacks. It was nevertheless a turning point. The Armeni-
ans had now for the first time been mentioned in an international treaty, even if it was in fact a dictate.
The Armenians appreciated it, regardless of its insignificance (and the Russians had good reason
for making it so insignificant). Only too soon did it become clear that the "peace treaty" of San Stefano
was of a very provisional nature. Both England and Austria rejected it. Eventually the parties agreed to
Bismarck's suggestion that a conference be held in Berlin to deal with the Ottoman Question.
The representatives of the great powers met in Berlin from June 13 to July 13, 1878. Aside from the two
chancellors, Gorchakov and Bismarck, those present in the new German capital included Count An-
drassy of Austria-Hungary, Lord Beaconsfield of Great Britain, Waddington of France, Corti of Italy,
and Karatheodori and Mehmed Ali of the Ottoman Empire. The only purpose of the Congress was to
remove those conditions from the dictate of San Ste-fano which were too oppressive for the
Ottomans. And that is just what was done. The strong Armenian delegation, under the leader ship of
Prelate Khrimian - a former Armenian patriarch -had travelled to Berlin in vain. It was al ready common
knowledge that the Armenians did not constitute a majority anywhere in Anatolia. It was only in Van it-
self that they even made up a third of the population. No one wanted to grant autonomy to such a mi-
nority. On what grounds could such an action be justified?
On the 8th of July, 1878, the Congress replaced Article 16 of San Stefano with "Article 61", which
for the most part corresponded to the original. Article 62 also dealt with religious freedom, but
 ERICH FEIGL
56

nowhere was there any talk of autonomy. The Armenian millet was simply not large enough for
that. The nineteenth century had become a century of the triumph of the nation states - but also of the
democratic majority. Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and Romania all became independent, but in every case
the nation constituted a solid majority.
In the case of the Armenians, the situation was totally different. It may have been true that an Armenian
king had once ruled over an Armenian kingdom in the vast territories that the Armenians were claiming,
but that had been almost two thousand years earlier under totally different circumstances. The ninete-
enth century called for majorities, and it was the Muslims who had the majorities - through out
Anatolia.
There were certain Armenian circles that simply could not come to terms with these facts. Groups of
revolutionaries, intellectuals, and clergymen, egged on primarily by the Russians but also to some extent
by the missionaries, turned to ever more daring and adventurous means in order to attract attention and
eventually gain power over the majority.

It´s only one step from myth and mythology to mythomania

"A lie travels round the world while Truth is putting on its boots..."
Used by Rev. C. H. Spurgeon

Modern Greek defines the notion "myth" simply and clearly: It means saying, fairy tale ... and lie. A
"myth" can be a traditional story. A myth is any real or fictional story, a recurring theme which appeals
to the consciousness of a people by embodying its cultural (and political!) ideals. A myth is also one of
the basic fictions or half-truths that make up a part of any society's ideology. A myth is a notion based
more on tradition or convenience than on fact - it is an "idée recue". The world of classical Greece also
had a simple answer: MYTHOS (MYTOS) means word, rumour, legend, lie. Many peoples, empires,
religious bodies, or political parties live off their myths. In the case of Japan it is the myth that the
Imperial family are descended from the sun-goddess Amaterasu. In China the ruler was seen as the son
of heaven. The Romans fed their state myth on the paps of a she-wolf.
During the "Third Reich", Alfred Rosenberg's book Der Mythos des 20. Jahrhunderts, now only regard-
ed as an object of ridicule, propagated the absurd idea of a religiously-based heroic mythology of
national honor. His aim was the foundation of a "Church of the Germanic Nation". For Rosenberg,
who was one of Hitler's closest collaborators, "rassengebundenes Volkstum" (the notion of peoplehood
based on race) was of all principles the one he valued most highly. Four years after the publication of
this creation of his, the Catholic Church - for which, as a "universal" Church, no race or origin has
preference over another - performed the heroic deed of putting Rosenberg's exposition on the Index.
And yet the myth of race and of such a thing as a national Church lives on.

It´s only one step from myth and mythology to

mythomania…

Mythology is a collection of myths about the origin and history of a people and their deities, ancestors
and heroes. So far so good. Unfortunately the way from myth and mythology to mythomania is
extremely short.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
57

Alfred Rosenberg was the head ideologist of the Nazi regime. The
book Der Mythos des 20. Jahrhunderts ("The Myth of the 20th
Century") was the only publication of any note during that peri-
od. He was condemned to death in Nuremberg, 1946, as an
"originator of racial hatred", but sadly, the example made of him
for his terrifying deeds has not had any great effect. His absurd
teachings on descent and extraction are still with us, with all their
tragic consequences.

Mythomania is a compulsion to embroider the

truth, to exaggerate, finally to tell lies. "Mania"
stands for any violent abnormal behaviour e. g. in
form of terrorism.

A highly explosive mix comes into being when

religiously-colored legends from yesteryear are
combined with contemporary myths about alleged
historic rights, usually related to territorial, finan-
cial or power-related claims. The spectrum ranges
from "Großdeutschland" to "Greater
Serbia" and "Greater Armenia". While the conse-
quences are sufficiently well-known to render an
account of them superfluous here, the real tragedy
is that innumerable innocent people thereby lose
property that is rightfully theirs and are compelled
to leave their homeland, and that many lose their
lives in the process ...
In recent times, this has happened as a result of
the brutal and aggressive offensive carried out by
the Armenians on their neighboring country.
Today, more than 20 percent of Azerbaijani terri-
Aggressive Hayastan holds 20% of Azerbaijan´s territory,
1 million Azeris lost their home
 ERICH FEIGL
60

tory is forcibly occupied by Armenia; Armenian

forces have driven more than a million people
from their homes and homeland, with tens of
thousands losing their lives in the course of the
war. And yet the legend of the Armenian people
as a people uninterruptedly subjected to persecu-
tion continues to flourish, so thick and impenetra-
ble is the curtain of obfuscation separating the
myth of "genocide" from the reality. In the course
of the decades, the stage of world history has
degenerated into a spectacle played out in a pup-
peteer's booth. The achievement of the Armenian
propaganda experts has been quite unique - never
before has a political community, forged in this
case out of revolutionaries and fanatics of every
political coloring and with the active assistance of
the Armenian Church, of Protestant sects and
(World-class murderers and child abductors, the Turks
American "missionaries", been so successful in Armenianized (Armenized) their Mongol-Asian genes with
brewing up such a myth (the word is used here in Christian girl and boy bloody abductions numbering in five mil-
the sense: lie, historical lie) as this unholy society lions (plural) across brutal centuries). Ms. Vanou Armenya
Genocidal TURKEY AND THE EUROPEAN UNION Murders
continues to do even today. TURKEY AND THE EUROPEAN UNION NO! Killer Murderer
TURKEY THE EUROPEAN UNION NONO no WAY Black Sea
Turks are Armenians. The Turks ISLAMIFIED THOUSANDS BY
While the Armenians are in the process of forcing
SWORD ON NECK!
literally all Azerbaijanis of the western parts of
Azerbaijan to leave their homeland, a German his-
torian (Heinrich August Winker) is just one of
many who demand in all seriousness "the recogni-
tion of the genocide of 1915". Remarkable - is it
not? - that this man has never wasted a word on
the Bene Decrees, passed after the end of the
Second World War which created a legal basis for
the expulsion of three million Sudeten Germans,
in the course of which 241.000 civilians lost their
lives and 250.000 soldiers of the former
Wehrmacht were shot down, and all of this after
the end of the war. In its negotiations with
Turkey, the European Parliament is now making
"the recognition of the genocide committed
against the Armenians, and respect for the rights A flag, designed after the Armenian model, with Turkey´s Mount
of the Kurds" a condition for membership of the Ararat in the banner of Hayastan: The French tricolore with the
Canadian leaf… a claim…!
EU, while there is no mention of the events that
took place in Czechoslovakia in 1945, in spite of
their being throroughly documented. Prague has
managed to secure Czech membership in the EU
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
61

without having had to distance itself in the slightest from the Bene Decrees, which are in fact still in
force. As a professional historian such as Heinrich August Winkler can hardly be unaware of these facts,
one has to doubt his credibility and cannot but ask the obvious questions. Why does a man do such a
thing?

The roots of the evil lie, as almost always, in a distorted view of history which at any one moment only
perceives what is pleasing to the eye of the beholder. One example of this is related to the Armenians'
claim that they are directly descended from Noah, and to the fact that they regard this descent as a priv-
ilege notable enough that it can provide the foundation for their State myth. Quite apart from its
absurdity (if it is true that the human race is descended from Noah, then this is clearly the case for all
mankind), this claim is also a political danger because if it is given credence it can be used as a pseudo-
historical justification for the demands of the Armenian mafia.

Quite without provoking a reaction either from world opinion or, strangely enough, from Ankara, the
Republic of Armenia has in its state coat-of-arms Mount Ararat, which as nobody would doubt lies on
Turkish territory, and also Noah's ark. This is rather as if Germany were to include in its state arms an
Atlantic Line fortress, France a Canadian maple leaf, or the Netherlands the Statue of Liberty, on the
grounds that it stands in front of New Amsterdam (I beg your pardon: New York). In Armenia's case,
however, the anomaly is related to a real territorial
claim. In this connection, it should not be forgotten that the Republic of Armenia still refuses to accept
either the Treaty of Gümru or the Treaty of Kars, which lay down the frontiers between Turkey and
Armenia, thus leaving open the future option of a war of conquest - with the qualification, of course,
that Turkey is not Azerbaijan.
Here, it should be noted, the matter is not whether Turkey should become a member of the EU or not,
but rather the character assassination that has been committed on the country.

The Armenian mythomania rests on two pillars. Firstly, there is the racist madness of the claim of direct
descent from Noah, which in spite of all its absurdity provides the foundation for the claims to "Greater
Armenia", and at the same time is not only used as a justification for wars of aggression and conquest
of the kind waged at present against Azerbaijan, but is also used to prove their necessity.
Who exactly are the people described so condescendingly by Archbishop Mesrop Krikorian as "worth-
less Turks".

The second pillar supporting the Armenian mythomania is their self-assumed status of a martyr people.
Apart from a few initiates who know the real truth, Armenians all over the world - and the spokesmen
for world opinion whom they have indoctrinated - believe firmly in the "genocide", in which according
to their mood at the time one million or "several millions" lost their lives. Today, after Turkey has for
decades not reacted to these accusations, it is difficult to do anything effective in the cause of truth and
to put the mythomaniacs in their proper place. Does this mean that myths, in the form of lies, are really
more powerful than facts and truth? They may have long lives, but they are certainly not immortal.

"Animosities are
mortal, but the Humanities live forever."
John Wilson (1785-1854)
 ERICH FEIGL
62

Mark Sykes, the Zealots of Zeitun and the Reckless Revolutionaries

Marc Sykes and his young friend John Smith with their servants and guides.The child was put in by the mule-
teers to bring luck. They had!

Mark Sykes, 6th Baronet, 1879-1919. He was a diplomat who represented Great Britain in the socalled
Sykes-Picot negotiations (1915-1916) concerning the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire after
World War I. Sykes served in the South African Boer-War (1899-1902) and was personal secretary in
Ireland to George Wyndham, British chief secretary in Ireland. He traveled in Asiatic Turkey for several
years. His books about life and style within the Ottoman Empire between Istanbul and Baghdad, from
Jerusalem to Van - he knew also I¤d›r, Eriwan and Tiflis - belong to the best ever written reports about
the Sultan´s world. Sykes was a perfect observer, who described the Turkish realm not only with reason
but also with humor and wit. I personally consider his DARUL- ISLAM (1904) as an impeccable mas-
terpiece.

Mark Sykes describes e. g. a rather harmless incident between Turkomans and Armenians from Zeitun
and the consequences:
"Some Revolutionary Society, not beeing satisfied with the general state of affairs in Turkey and scent-
ing collections and relief funds in the future, judged in expedient in the year of grace 1895 to dispatch of
Zeitun they pinned their hopes of raising a semi-successful revolution, and six of their boldest agents
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
63

Some of those "boldest Agents" and "desperados" as Mark Sykes called them: Agassi, Melèhe and Abahe, wolfs in sheep´s clothing

were accorded to that district. What the end of the revolution would be these desperados recked little,
so long as the attention of Europe was drawn to their cause and their collection-boxes.

These individuals, however, found their people by no means ripe for insurrection, and their influence
was but small. True, there were certain persons ready to talk sentimentally and foolishly, possible trea-
sonably, but in no way prepared to rise actually in arms. However, an opportunity of embroiling their
countrymen unexpectedly presented itself, by taking advantage of which they succeeded in forcing the
hand of the Government."

Then came an unimportant incident with the Turkomans, under other circumstances not worth to be
mentioned. Mark Sykes continues:
" The agents saw in this move a chance of bringing matters to a crisis, and either attacked, or persuaded
the villagers to attack, the commission, killing the One of the rare photographs of Zeitun, perhaps a unique speci-
Binbashi (captain) and three of the guard, and car- men. Mark Sykes is doubtless the most reliable honest witness of
these events with all their consequences: How Armenians made
rying off the Christian commissioner with them. money out of blood.
The surrounding Armenians, knowing themselves
hopelessly compromised, accepted the inevitable
and joined the revolutionaries....

The next day the revolutionaries decided to attack

the garrison at Zeitun in order to force that town
(whose inhabitants had but little inclination) to join
a jedad against the Ottoman. After a brief resist-
ance the Castle surrendered, through the incapacity
of its besotted commander.
 ERICH FEIGL
64

Having gained a victory of some importance, the Armenian force proceeded to the Kurtul district, where
they plundered and sacked several Turkish villages, seizing Kurtul and Anderim, where they burnt the
konak. On their way back to Zeitun they committed some most disgraceful murders at Çukarhisar (I
was told some ghastly details, but I doubt the verocity of them, as they were related to me by a town
Armenian, who recounted them with honest pride) in commemoration of the decrease of the late
Armenian kingdom, which was finally ended at that place.
After this anarchy supervened, the Muslims and Kurds, infuriated by exaggerated reports, lusting for
treasure of the wealthy but feeble Armenians, massacred and overwhelmed them at Marafl and else-
where."

Finally the Turkish Government sent soldiers towards Zeitun

"driving before them the Armenian population, and although certain ´outrages´- these would not be so
called if committed by any other troops than those of the Turkish Army - were committed by the troops
during the march, I do not think that they were in any way to blame for the conduct of the campaign.

It would have been a grave military fault to have left a hostile population in his rear; and the Armenians
he called upon to surrender were already too overcome by panic to accept terms, and either awaited
destruction in their villages, resisting to the last. or fled to the town of Zeitun, where the revolutionary
agents, in order to maintain their prestige, were cramming the population with absurd falsehoods of a
British relief column landed at Alexandretta." (Today Iskenderun).

One of them even sent messengers, who returned with hopeful letters which he himself had written. But
this impostor and his collegues were not satisfied with the general disloyality of the inhabitants, and felt
that some deed should be committed which would absolutely debar the people from any hope of mercy
from the Government. Accordingly, they assemled the refugees driven in by Ali Pasha, and repaired with
them to the konak, where the imprisoned garrison was quatered, and proceded to murder them with
bestial cruelty. It must be remembered that this piece of villainy can in no way impuded to the popula-
tion of Zeitun but to the disgraceful ruffianism of the revolutionaries and the crazy fanatism of the exas-
perated and hopeless villagers.
It must also be recorded to the credit of the Zeitunlis themselves that after this abdominable butchery
several crept into the yard and rescued some seventy soldiers who survived beneath the corpses of their
comrades; fifty seven of these were handed over at the end of the war. It is a relief to find in all these
bloody tales of Armenia such noble deeds of kindness on the part of Christians to Muslims, and
Muslims to Christians, and that nearly every massacre can bring similar cases to light.

After that foolish slaughter the revolutionary agents may have plumed themselves on a striking piece of
policy. Zeitun was compromised beyond recall, and the town prepared to withstand the siege to the last;
but here the chapter of Zeitun closes, for within three weeks Edhem Pasha, a noble example of what a
cultivated Turk can be, arrived on the scene, and with the assistance of the European Consuls concluded
an honorable peace with the town, containing, alas! A clause by which the miserable causes of all this
unhappiness and bloodshed were allowed to return unmolested to Europe, where they probably eke out
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
65

an existence as distinguished as their military

adventures. It would appear a grave fault on the
part of the powers to have allowed the revolution-
ary agents to escape, for had these wretched
bungling intriguers been hanged, as they richly
deserved, it would have strengthened the hand of
the Ambassarors at Constantinople."

And the Turks?

"They have their own homes to consider, and if
they had allowed the revolutionaries to continue
their intrigues, there is little doubt that a formida-
ble insurrection would have broken out whenever "The necessary killing in India after the mutiny, although carried
out more formally, was just as mercyless; and from all one can
the moment was favorable (as it seemed to be for
gather the gentle Skobeleff pacified Central Asia (and today Putin
them after the defeat of the Turks in Eastern
Tchechnya) much as the Turks aborted the Armenian revolution."
Anatolia, when the civil war at Van broke out,
March 1915...).
"Also it must be born in mind that in the event of
an Armenian rebellion it was the intention of the
conspirators to have perpetrated similar mas-
sacres; and while no excuse can be made for the
conduct of the Turks in slaughtering Armenians, it
should be remembered that massacre is still a rec-
ognized method of policy throughout the East,
and until lately in the West. Why, indeed, should
one say lately, when the behaviour of the allied
troops at Peking is a matter of to-day?"
(Mark Sykes could not foresee the events a
century later in Bosnia, Iraq..),

It is also a fact that the Armenians have an extra-

ordinary habit of running into danger without General Michael D. Skobeleff (1843-1882) one of the most famo-
possessing the courage to face it, and the revolu- us Russian officers, distinguished by his bravery in the Russo-Tur-
kish War of 1877-78, fanatic panslavist, famous for his merciless
tionists from abroad were always prepared to pro-
fight against the Turkic peoples of Central Asia, in our eyes today
voke a massacre in order to induce the Powers to a true mass-murderer, similar to those who act today in Tchetc-
assist them. I have good reason to know that these henya, or, in Russian interests, against Azerbaijan in a so-called
wretches actually schemed to murder American "Armenian" war against Baku which is actually a war of Russia
missionaries, hoping America would declare war against Azerbaijan on behalf of the interests of Moscow (not Ar-
menia!) to maintain influence in an oil -and gas - rich region at the
on the supposition that the Turks were criminals."
Caspian. Armenians serve, like always in their history, only as
"useful idiots" for a foreign power. (It´s Lenin´s word!).
 ERICH FEIGL
66

Mark Sykes mentions in that connection a typical

event in Malatya:
"The Armenians had intended to fight; had pre-
pared for a revolution; but as usual, on the very
first onslaught they were hopeless and panic-strick-
en, and what they intended to have been a battle
ended in a pityful slaughter.

The only few who maintained anything like a bold

front were those who took possession of the
Armenian Church and held it against the mob; but
One of innumerable similar pictures: Some of the arms taken from
my admiration for them was lost when I learned Armenian bandits of Malatya from where the Armenian insur-
that these miserable hounds when they saw the gents of Zeitun were provided with weapons. This tragic story
lasted until 1915 when the Ottoman government was forced to
Franciscan monks escaping from their convent fired dislocate the Armenian population towards Syria and
on them at two hundred yards in hopes of killing a Mesopotamia, in those days integral part of the Empire.
European, and so forcing the hand of the Powers.
This ruse I have alluded to before, and it seems to
be a favorite stratagem, exhibiting the Armenian nature in its most unpleasant light."

Actually for the Armenian fanatic nationalists there is no difference between any Christian Church
(except their own) and or other religious communities. They even did not respect their Armenian com-
patriots who belonged to the Armenian-Catholic Church (Mechitarists). Meanwhile things have
changed. Also the inheritors of the great Mechitar fell victim to Armenian nationalism, became helpless
servants.

READY TO EXACT VENGEANCE: the Armenian contingent in the Caucasus (Underwood & Underwood)
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
67

The Mechitarists as a special kind of victim of

Armenian terror
First of all, I would like to make a comment from a personal
perspective.

It is now some decades since I enjoyed cordial relations with

the Mechitarists in Vienna. The then Abbot General of this
Catholic-Armenian congregation, His Grace Gregoris Mani-
an was one of my closest friends; together with my revered
fellow-knight (Order of Saint-Lazarus) Erik Engel we orga-
nized a charity concert in the Musikverein, Vienna's celebra-
ted concert hall, which we managed to make into a huge suc-
cess for the cause of the Catholic Armenians.

Top-ranking members of the Austrian aristocracy such as Regi-

na von Habsburg, Duchess of Sachsen-Meiningen, were present,
as were a whole range of distinguished individuals from academia,
the theatre, and the civil and foreign service. The event was followed by
a birthday celebration for our good friend Erik Engel at the house of the
Mechitarists in Vienna.
As a typically unfortunate accident of chance would have it, all this happened just at the time when my
book "A Myth of Terror" was published; furthermore, among the guests was Mesrop Krikorian, at that
time still a fellowknight (Order of Saint-Lazarus) of mine, and Gregorian bishop in Vienna, who has
now long since been archbishop for the Orthodox Armenians in Central Europe. We had had fraternal
relations in the order, but when he saw me on this occasion at the Mechitarists, he turned as pale as a
whitewashed wall and spat out the following words: "How can you dare to play off these worthless
Turks against us Christians?"

It was clear what had happened. He had read my book, and - although the book did not contain a sing-
le word against the Armenian people, but was exclusively directed against Armenian terrorism - he felt
obliged to denounce me on the spot: "How can you dare ...?" It was to be made clear to me that beca-
use Turks were "worthless", it was thus unjust to make any kind of comparison between the casualties
incurred by the Armenians, who had been the tragic victims of a civil war that they had themselves pro-
voked, and the much more numerous victims from among the Islamic population, who were after all
nothing more than "worthless Turks".

All that happened a long time ago, but - one might imagine - the situation has remained the same. In
fact, much has changed - at the Mechitarists' in Vienna, for example. After his death of Gregoris Mani-
an, the Vienna Mechitarists had an influx of extremists, "refugees" from Lebanon who directly threate-
ned not only the solid, decent Mechitarists, but also - so it was said, but practically unverifiably, as all
the strings are pulled by a mafialike organization of planners and intriguers – Archbishop Mesrop Kri-
korian himself, who has certainly become a wiser man since these developments began.
Gregoris Manian had once hoped that he might become Archbishop of the Armenian Catholic Church
(the Armenian church that is in communion with Rome). At that time, however, the Vatican was ma-
king various efforts to loosen their bonds with the so-called Uniates, that is to say the Eastern-rite Ar-
menians who while they follow the Armenian rite are Catholic in their confession of faith. The Vatican's
 ERICH FEIGL
68

ultimate goal was (and remained) that of bringing all Armenian Christians back to Rome, which will
certainly remain a vain hope because the Armenian Orthodox pursue goals which are first and foremost
nationalistic in character.
A particularly striking example of this is related to the "Catholic" Armenians of San Lazzaro, who have

The only member of the Mechita-

since the unrest in Lebanon in the 1970s been infiltrated and undermined rist Congregation to have been be-
by the radicals, and have undergone a diametrical change in orientation. atified - Ter Gomidas, a Catholic-
Armenian priest persecuted and
Their respect for the Ottoman Empire, which in its day bestowed nothing executed by the Armenian Ortho-
but favors upon them, is entirely extinguished, and has been replaced by dox - suffered the fate of having his
blind hatred. The case of the monks of San Lazzaro is unparalleled in this memory damned, for purely politi-
cal reasons.
field.

The truth about the present-day Mechitarists of San Lazzaro

In the Venetian lagoon, about half way between San Marco and the Lido lies the little island of San
Lazzaro: once a place of refuge for the Catholic-Armenian Mechitarists during their persecution by the
Armenian Orthodox, and today a hive of nationalistic fanatics who have left everything "Catholic" -
everything that has anything to do with a universal Church - far behind them, and are now entirely un-
der the control of precisely those whose forebears so bloodily persecuted their own spiritual forefathers
from the school of Mekhitar.
San Lazzaro has had a turbulent history. Many centuries ago, particularly at the time of the crusades,
the isle was a quarantine station for lepers and others suspected of having leprosy. These sad souls were
looked after by the Knights of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, an order which in our own day is still con-
cerned to serve the sick and those deprived of their rights.

The end of the crusades and the gradual disappearance of leprosy meant that there was soon no house
of the Knights of Saint Lazarus on the island named after them, which then fell into decay.
This ended when Catholic Armenians were once again in search of a place of refuge after an inferno of
persecution had broken out in the Ottoman Empire. They had however not been subjected to persecuti-
on by Turkish Muslims, for whom confessional conflicts between the Christian churches were hardly a
matter of any great interest, but rather by the Orthodox Armenians ("Gregorians"), who were beginning
to fear for their position of power and were prepared to use any means to get rid of the Catholic Mechi-
tarists.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
69

The Gregorians stopped short of neither oppression nor terror, nor even of murder. A classic example is
that of the Catholic-Armenian priest Ter Gomidas Keumurdjian, whom the Gregorians had publicly
executed in the year 1707. The Sultan had offered the option of converting to Islam to escape the rough
justice being dealt him at the hands of his fellow Armenians. But in vain: he died as a true martyr, and
was accordingly beatified as Blessed Der Gomidas by Pope Pius XI on June 23, 1929.

Today, the Mechitarists act as if Ter Gomidas had never lived, and do all they can to bring about his
damnation memoriae, the eradication of his memory.

Although the Catholic-Armenian church of S. Nicola in Rome still contains the quite fantastic painting
of a meeting between Gregory the Illuminator with Pope Silvester, the contemporary picture of Ter Go-
midas was taken away without discussion, in order "not to jeopardize ecumenical efforts".
Today the Mechitarists act as if they had never been subjected to incredibly brutal, bloody and merciless
persecution by the Armenian Orthodox; on the contrary, their writings - such as those which are sold on
San Lazzaro - glorify such war criminals as Andranik, a murderer who was guilty of some of the worst
atrocities on the occasion of the Armenian uprising at Sassun.

On 13 April 1904 Ottoman soldiers were dispatched against the rebels of Sassoun. They were not able
to resist for long, but Andranik´s gangs could do so until August. He then fled to Caucasia. The con-
frontations were reported later by his Armenian friends who quote also in plain triumph the amount of
victims: Between May and August 1904 932 - 1132 Turks were killed, as opposed to only 19 Armeni-
ans. These are figures provided by Armenians. But this rebellion, too, was included in the literature as a
"massacre". The booklet ARMENIA AND SAN LAZZARO, on sale at the monastery of San Lazzaro is
full of these sayings.
A similar description in ARMENIA AND SAN LAZZARO concerns "The Dashnaks: a guerilla action
in Constantinople... It was nothing less than the occupation of the most important and famous Eastern
bank, the Ottoman Bank of Constantinople. This courageous and spectacular action had been thought
up and put into effect by the Dashnak party as being sure to have an effect. And so it did. The ambassa-
dors of the Western Powers met and asked the rebels to leae the bank in exchange for concessions from
the Ottoman government of reforms in favor of the Armenian minority..." Can there be any doubt abo-
ut the results of these "concessions", results which the whole
world is feeling more and more confronted with terrorism,
from ASALA to PKK to AL KAIDA? These things must be
stopped before they get out of hand!
Ani fell never victim of Turks. It was hurt by Byzantine and
Mongolian invaders, but finally by an earthquake 1319.

Caption in "Armenia and San Lazzaro", concer-

ning one of the most ruthless terrorists ever:
“General Andranik, one of the most famous
soldiers in contemporary Armenian history. With
outstanding skill and courage he led the resistance
of the Armenian population, writing one of the
brilliant pages of the history of people: the defence
of the of Sassoun against the Turkish attacks at the
beginning of the 20th century.” No comment.
 ERICH FEIGL
70

Nationalism Spreads From the

Church to Secular Organizations
Armenakan, Hunchaks and Dashnaktsutiun:
Revolutionary Parties; Terror as Method
The first political party of the Armenian mino-
rity to attain any significance was the "Armena-
kan" Party. Founded in Van in the autumn of
1885, the party was organized along European
lines and had its own publication. The master-
mind behind this thoroughly revolutionary or-
ganization was the son of a tremendously we-
althy banker from Constantinople. His name
was Mekertich Portukalian. After running into
many difficulties with schools that he had estab-
lished in Van, he emigrated to Marseilles, and
from then on he directed his party from there.
He also published a periodical in Marseilles,
called "Armenia". His objective was to rouse
enthusiasm for an Armenian state among the
Armenians who were scattered across Europe.
The response came in the form of an "Armenian
Patriotic Society", which raised money and bo-
ught arms and munitions. Their aim was to
"win for the Armenians the right to rule over
themselves, through revolution." The members
of the Armenakan in Van and the surrounding
area were equipped with the most modern wea-
pons and trained in the art of guerilla warfare
and in "preparing the people for a general mo-
vement" with due consideration given to the
Theater curtain from an Armenian school in eastern Anatolia sho-
support "of friendly great powers". Soon, the
wing the revolutionary Hunchaks, Habete Tavekelian and Kalust
Armenakan had revolutionary cells in Trabzon Andrassian. Terrorists such as these prepared the ambitious, care-
and Constantinople, as well as cadres in Russia, fully planned "rebellion of Van", which was supposed to arouse
Persia, and the United States. world opinion once again against the "atrocities of the Turks".
According to the pro-Armenian historian Chris- Money was needed for this purpose, lots of money, and the abbot
topher Walker, the "enlightenment developed of the monastery of Aghtamar in LakeVan was expected to contri-
bute his share. He refused to pay tribute to the terrorists because
by Portukalian" was soon lost in the "sterile
he felt that the Armenians had a good life within the Ottoman Em-
brutality" of the Armenian terrorist scene. In pire. Consequently, he and his secretary were murdered. The ter-
1887, Armenians in Geneva founded the first rorists quartered their bodies and threw them into the lake. Abbot
Armenian party emphasizing Marxist principles. Boghos' successor willingly paid the sum demanded. One year la-
Their symbol was the bell ("hnshak" = bell). ter, in June of 1896, the revolt of Van erupted. It was a bloody
The Hunchaks drew their membership almost preview of the tragedy of 1915, when the terrorists wiped out the
entirely from Russian Armenians, who gave the entire population of the Islamic part of town.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
71

party the militant-revolutionary spirit that comes from the Cauca-

sus (the young Dzhugashvili, commonly known as Stalin, also ca-
me from this world.) The party organ was called Hunchak, and in
1890 the group adopted the name "Hunchakian Revolutionary
Party", or "Hun chaks" for short. Their leader was the fanatical
revolutionary Avetis Nazarbekian. He was reportedly "dark, slen-
der, very handsome in an oriental style, and played the violin ex-
cellently". He also saw "revolutionary terror" as the natural con-
sequence of rejecting "capitalist" legislation. Finally, the "Federa-
tion of Armenian Revolutionaries", the "Hai Hegapokhakanneri
Dashnaktsutiun", appeared as a result of the need for an umbrel-
la organization for all the little terrorist groups and revolutionary
cells. The goal of the organization was (and is) to win Armenian
independence by means of a people's war.
July 21, 1905: The "Y›ld›z attempt" on the life
of Sultan Abdülhamid II.
The Dashnaks changed their name to "Hai Hegapokhakan Dash-
naktsutiun" - "Armenian Revolutionary Federation". This name is still used by the
Dashnaks today. In the nineteenth century, some Protestant-Ar-
menian pastors had fought bitterly with the Gregorian priests
over who the best nationalist shepherds were. Now, two political
groups, the Dashnaks and the Hunchaks were competing for the
favor of the Armenians in the same way. The Hunchaks stressed
their socialist convictions where as the Dasknaks put more emp-
hasis on their nationalist views. Together, they produce exactly
the same fanatically distorted, national-socialist world view as ot-
her organizations with the same ideological persuasions.

The Dashnaks in particular used brutal terrorism again and again

as a political means to accomplish their ends. They have been res-
ponsible for numerous attacks, including some very recent ones.
Their activities are financed largely by means of intimidation and
extortion. One of the ugliest attacks of the Dashnak organization
was the assassination attempt on Sultan Abdülhamid II. The Ar-
menian politician K. Papazian, author of the book “Patriotism
The banner of the Dashnaks with the two le-
Perverted” (Boston, 1934), writes that "the attempt on the life of gends "Revolutionary Committee of the Arme-
Abdülhamid in 1905 constitutes the last episode of the revolutio- nian Dashnaksutiun" and "Freedom or Death".
nary attempts of the A. R. Federation" to achieve political goals Heavily armed Dashnaks are seen coming from
Ararat, and the bomb exploding in the foregro-
by means of assassinations. Since the attempt failed, its consequ- und symbolizes the "work" of the revolutionary
ences were merely unpleasant. The bombs went off too soon be- groups of the Ottoman Empire. This picture
cause the Sultan spent too much time talking to the Sheik ul Islam was published in Geneva in 1909.
after his visit to the Y›ld›z Mosque. The Sultan's pardon of the as-
sailants was futile. The trouble-makers just turned to plotting
flashy uprisings in order to attract European attention.
 ERICH FEIGL
72

The Bab-› Ali Demonstration, the Hunchaks, and the Kusaktsakan

On September 30, 1895, the Hunchak Party orga-
nized a spectacular demonstration in the immedia-
te vicinity of the Sublime Porte (Bab-i Ali). The Re-
volutionary Hunchak Party had planned somet-
hing special, and it worked just as they had plan-
ned. The Hunchaks sent letters in advance to all
the embassies in Istanbul, announcing their "pe-
aceful demonstration" and at the same time deno-
uncing any acts of violence as the work of the poli-
ce and military. Everyone involved knew, however,
that an especially radical wing of the party was
planning well calculated riots. Many demonstra-
tors appeared heavily armed in order to make Sep- A "self-portrait" of the Hunchaks, the Marxist revolutionary organi-
tember 30 a "memorable" day. Around noon, two zation, to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of their founding.
Around the central symbol of the bell, we see a commemorative rain-
thousand people had already gathered in the Kum- bow of especially bloody riots, all incited by Hunchaks or their spiri-
kap› district, near the Armenian Patriarchate. Ex- tual fathers.
travagant demands could be heard, and finally one
of the ringleaders of the Sasun uprising shouted
"Liberty or Death!" into the crowd. With that, the
demonstrators started moving in the direction of
Bab› Ali. A police officer was killed along the way.
That brought about what the organizers had wan-
ted all along: It provoked the soldiers and police to
use violence. For three days, the rioting held the
capital in suspense. On October 3, even "Murad"
(Hampartsum Boyadjian - another professional
agitator from the Sasun revolt) suffered a slight in-
jury.
The Sultan personally asked the patriarch to inter-
cede and restore order, but to no avail. The Hunc-
hak party bigwigs wanted chaos. The expected re-
taliation from the Muslim population finally came,
and as is always the case in such situations, it ma-
Armenian riots in Istanbul, 1896: The tumult always followed the
inly struck innocent people who had nothing to do
same basic pattern. First, an attack was carried out somewhere in
with the trouble-makers. This was, however, part the city. It might be at the Ottoman Bank, in front of the Sultan's
of the plan, just as it was in Sasun and Zeitun. On palace, or near the seat of the patriarch. Where feasible, European
October 10, the last of the Armenians left their correspondents would be invited to these attacks. The troublemak-
churches, where they had sought sanctuary. Any ers were almost always let off, partly due to foreign pres sure and
who wished to do so could place themselves under partly because the Sublime Porte hoped that its show of forgive-
the personal protection of the Russian ambassa- ness would have a calming effect. That is why the same ringlead-
dor. Ambassador Nelidov knew who needed his ers kept turning up at one attack after another. This occasionally
help, considering that arms had been found on angered the people so much that the revolutionaries got their wish:
hundreds of demonstrators. Armenian riots with dead or wounded making news around the
In the wake of the Bab-› Ali demonstration, a new world once again.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
73

Gang leader Kavafian, one of the

troublemakers at Sasun. He is seen
here as a Russian officer, which he
had been all along - even when he
was making trouble in Sasun. The
Armenian revolts in the latter part
of the nineteenth century and in the
years leading up to the First World
War often made international head-
lines. The ringleaders and agitators
behind these revolts were of course
professional revolutionaries. When
the First World War broke out, they An illustration from the book Turkey and the Armenian Atrocities, published in the United States
promptly turned up again as the in 1896. Caption: "Slaughter of Armenians in Sasun. This is a true picture of the slaughter of
commanders of Armenian volunteer innocent people which was inflicted on the innocent Armenians by the bloody Kurds and enraged
units or terrorist groups. They still soldiers. The carnage ended in the massacre of 50,000 people or more. Hundreds of thousands
had the same goal in mind: the were left without food or shelter after the plundering and burning".
destruction of the Turks.

word was coined: kusaktsakan. A kusaktsakan was an especially faithful follower of the Hunchaks, one
who never asked why the party issued an order, but simply obeyed. In Russia, this type of person was la-
ter given the name "apparatchik".
The events of Sasun are truly illustrations for a picture book. It is not, however, the bloodthirstiness of
the Kurds and the "enraged soldiers" that is illustrated by those events, but rather the technique of stir-
ring up trouble with just one purpose in mind: to force one's political opponents to take actions that will
bring one's minority group into the headlines of the international press as a "victim of persecution". The
fact that many innocent people truly did lose their lives in the unrest did not bother the ringleaders one
bit. They belonged, by the way, to the party of the Hunchaks.
In many handbooks of Armenian history, one can read the names of the "heroes" who incited the popu-
lation of Sasun to revolt. These names are Mihran Damadian and Hampartsum Boyadjian. Both had pre-
vious experience in trouble-making, having organized the revolt of Kumkap› (April, 1890). Mihran Da-
madian had plotted anti-Turkish demonstrations in Athens after fleeing from Constantinople. Boyadjian
had come to Sasun from the Caucasus, disguised as a sheik and carrying lots of money. Purchasing arms
was thus no problem for him.
Just how "unarmed" the rebels were becomes clear when we learn that the Kurds needed twelve days of
ferocious battle to capture a single position from the Armenians. The Times of November 17, 1894 pub-
lished an article from the pen of a certain G. Hagopian, writing from Fulham, concerning the events of
Sasun. Even Christopher Walker, in his work Armenia - The Survival of a Nation, speaks of "rather im-
precise details" when referring to this letter. But what did that matter? The world press seized upon Ha-
gopian's account and the entire world was outraged by the suppression of revolts which in fact were alre-
ady taking on the characteristics of civil war. They were supposed to be "unarmed" revolts. It was also at
this time that the world public became accustomed to the totally meaningless casualty figures appearing
in captions (e. g., "50,000 dead or more"). The readers accepted these absurd figures just as uncritically
 ERICH FEIGL
74

as modern readers accept the accounts of two and

a half million Armenian dead in World War I. To
ask about the Islamic victims was already uninte-
resting at the time of the publication of Turkey
and the Armenian Atrocities.

ONE OF THE CLIMAXES OF

ARMENIAN TERROR: THE RAID ON THE OT-
TOMAN BANK
The main door of the imposing facade of the "Os-
manl› Bankas›" in Bankalar Caddesi, Istanbul-fiifl-
hane is still among the most important private
banks in Turkey. In the nineteenth century, it was
the leading financial institution in the Ottoman
The main door of the Ottoman Bank in Bankalar Street, Istanbul.
Empire. It played an especially important role in Scene of the raid of August 26, 1896. The raid on the Ottoman
Bank still serves as a classic model of terror and extortion for ter-
the construction of the rail roads and industries of rorists around the world: taking of hostages; demanding publica-
the time. tion of a "manifesto"; demanding (and receiving!) "safe pas sage"
with the help of foreign powers.
On August 26, 1896, Armenian terrorists raided
the Ottoman Bank, taking hostages in the process.
This was the sad culmination of a year which had
already seen more than its share of violence. This
time, the operation was masterminded by the Ar-
menian Dashnak Party. They saw this spectacular
raid as a chance to catch up with their competiti-
on, the Armenian Hunchak Party, which was res-
ponsible for almost all the other acts of terrorism
in 1896.
The raid was executed by three Armenians from
the Caucasus (which was already in Russian
hands at that time). Their ringleader, Karakin Pas-
dermadjian, would later be elected delegate to the
National Assembly from Erzurum (1908) and lead
a group of Armenian volunteers fighting for the
Russian side against the Ottomans in World War
I. On August 26, the terrorists forced their way A postlude to the spectacular raid on the Ottoman Bank: The
"Leipziger Illustrierte" reported not only on the exposition of
into the bank, threw bombs, barricaded themsel- weapons and explosives confiscated from Armenian terrorists, but
ves in with sacks full of silver coins, and fired also on the prompt closing of the exposition following the interven-
tion of the foreign embassies. This also set a terrorist
wildly in all directions. They example that is still valid today.
took hostages and insisted that their list of de-
mands be published and met. This operation ser-
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
75

ved as a model for all terrorists to come, and the style of this type of terrorist raid has remained largely
unchanged. The demands:
– The appointment of a European high commissioner
for the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire.
– The subordination of the militia and the police to a
European officer.
– Judicial reform consistent with the European system.
– Absolute freedom of the press and of religion.
– An overhaul of the taxation system.
– The annulment of tax debts.
– A general amnesty.
– The formation of a European commission to supervise the implementation of the above demands.

After the standard negotiations that are always held in cases of hostage taking and death threats, the
General Director of the Ottoman Bank, Sir Edgar Vincent, entered the besieged building along with
the head dragoman of the Imperial Russian Embassy, Maximoff. Their negotiations ended with a gua-
rantee that the terrorists could leave the country safely. This also set a precedent which is still valid
today. The seventeen insurgents probably expected the entire British and French fleets to turn up at
Istanbul and give them a festive welcome. While this did not happen, it was nonetheless aboard the
sumptuous private yacht of Sir Edgar Vincent himself that the gang made its get-away. They later bo-
arded the French warship La Gironde, which brought them safely to Marseilles. From there, they we-
re free to continue planning and carrying out terrorist attacks. The raid had only partially fulfilled its
purpose. The expected riots had not materialized. These riots were needed by the terrorists, because
along with the dead and wounded they would bring a flood of contributions for the "Armenian Cau-
se". Other terrorist units therefore helped out by arranging a number of bomb explosions in Galata
on August 30.
This time things worked out better, since it was now possible to dream up tales of "4000-6000 Arme-
nians killed in the rioting". Not the least bit of evidence could be found to support these figures in
the secret report of the British Embassy (F. O. 424/188, Nos. 149 and 169). But what difference did
that make?
A model had been created for all future terrorist raids, complete with hostage-taking, forced publication
of a list of demands, and permission for the terrorists to leave the country - plus all the P. R. that ac-
companies an action of this type.

In 1980 (!), the Briton Christopher Walker wrote in his book Armenia - The Survival of
a Nation the following passage concerning the raid on the Ottoman Bank, "Those
Dashnaks who escaped were the lucky ones. They were put on board the French
steamer Gironde and set sail for France. Their fellow Armenians were left behind to
expiate-many times over-the 'crime' of terrorizing a terrorist society."
 ERICH FEIGL
76

In the year 632, the Byzantines held a synod

here, in the course of which the defeated
Armenian principalities were ordered to
accept Greek Orthodoxy. Under the name
"Karen", Erzurum belonged to the Bagratid
Empire, which was tributary to the Caliphs.
The Koran school "with the two minarets" is a symbol of
Erzurum. "Ars er Rum - Land of the Romans" - was the name The Turks established themselves in Erzurum
given to the town by the Arab geographer Ibn Battuta. It was first following their victory at Mantzikert
attacked by the Seljuks in 1049.
(1071).

The Armenians' Last Chance - Blown by the Dashnaks

In 1914, a Dashnaktsutiun Party Congress was held here. The Dashnaks regarded Erzurum as the capi-
tal of a future "Greater Armenia". The outbreak of the First World War represents a decisive turning
point in the history of the Armenian people. It was on the eve of the Ottoman Empire's entry into the
war on the side of the Central Powers (which did not come until the beginning of November) that the
revolutionary Dashnaktsutiun held its congress in Erzurum. There are widely differing accounts of the
events of the congress, especially concerning the attitude of the delegates towards the Ottoman State.
Hovhannes Kachaznuni, who was later to become prime minister of the independent Armenian Repub-
lic, did, however, present a statement concerning this matter to the Bucharest Congress of the Dashnakt-
sutiun in July, 1923:
"At the beginning of the Fall of 1914 when Turkey had not yet entered the war but had already been
making preparations, Armenian revolutionary bands began to be formed in Transcaucasia (i. e., in Cza-
rist Russia, editor's note), with great enthusiasm and, especially, with much uproar.
Contrary to the decision taken during their gen eral meeting at Erzurum only a few weeks before, the A.
R. F. (Armenian Revolutionary Federation - Dashnaksutyun) had active participation in the formation
of the bands and their future military action against Turkey ..." After commenting briefly
on the (for Hovhannes Kachaz nuni) distressing fact that the A. R. F. of Transcaucasia had never stuck
to its decisions, the former prime minister of the Republic of Armenia continued:
"It would be useless to argue today whether our bands of volunteers should have entered the field or
not. Historical events have their irrefutable logic. In the Fall of 1914 Armenian volunteer bands organi-
zed themselves and fought against the Turks because they could not refrain themselves from fighting.
This was an inevitable result of psychology on which the Armenian people had nourished itself during
an entire generation: that mentality should have found its expression and did so ... If the formation of
bands was wrong, the root of that error must be sought much further and more deeply . . . The Winter
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
77

of 1914 and the Spring of 1915 were the periods

of greatest enthusiasm and hope for all the Arme-
nians in the Caucasus, including, of course, the
Dashnagtzoutiun. We had no doubt the war wo-
uld end with the complete victory of the Allies;
Turkey would be de feated and dismembered, and
its Armenian population would at last be
liberated.
We had embraced Russia wholeheartedly without
any compunction. Without any positive basis of
fact we believed that the Tzarist government wo-
A Seljuk double eagle on the medrese in Erzurum. The old Seljuk
uld grant us a more or less broad self-government cities of Sivas, Erzurum, and Konya, with their rich symbolism,
in the Caucasus and in the Armenian vilayets libe- became centers of Turkish resistance to the partitioning of
Anatolia.
rated from Turkey as a reward for our loyalty,
our efforts and assistance." No one from the inner
ranks ever told the truth to the Armenians in such
a dry, matter-of-fact, uncompromising fashion as
their own prime minister of the Armenian Repub-
lic, Hovhannes Kachaznuni. When he says, "We
had implanted our own desires into the minds of
others," he knows what he is talking about.
As they have almost always done with their poli-
tics, the Russians let the whole truth be known in
1914 concerning their intentions towards the Ar-
menians (in the same way as Lenin openly prono- This picture appeared in the Armenian-American journal "Azk"
on March 2, 1915. That means it was taken at least three months
unced his intentions towards the "capitalist before the Ottoman government's relocation order, which was
world"; it is just that hardly anyone in the West issued in the wake of constant armed uprisings behind the front.
The photo shows Hunchaks who fought against the Ottomans on
has ever believed him). It was enough just to read the Caucasian front. For the most part, these were deserters who
the appeal issued by the Czar, and even that did stood out for their cruelty against the civilian population.
not have to be read very closely, considering how
blatantly it destroyed all Armenian illusions: -
"Armenians! From East to West, all the peoples of
Greater Russia have answered my call respect-
fully. - Armenians!
The hour has come to free yourselves from the
tyranny that has ruled over you for five hundred
years - this tyranny that has massacred, and conti-
nues to massacre, so many of you. The Russians
gladly remember their glorious Armenian compat-
riots. The Lazaroffs and the Melikoffs and others
have fought on the side of their Slavic brothers for Armenian uprising behind the Ottoman front, February-March,
the glory of the Fatherland. Their loyalty is our 1915. Among the faces in this photo is that of Papkene (standing,
far left), who had already helped organize the raid on the Ottoman
guarantee of your loyalty as well. We are certain
Bank, in 1896.
 ERICH FEIGL
78
“HUNCHAK” 1914:
that you will all fulfill your duty and contribute Appeal issued by the Hunchaks at the beginning of the First
everything to the victory of our forces and of our World War
just cause. Armenians! You will be united with The Hunchak Social Democrat Committee . . ., which
your brothers under the regime of the Czars and has been working since over a quarter of a century in
finally experience the blessings of freedom and a bloody path to obtain the liberation of the Armenians in
justice!" What did this appeal contain, aside from Turkey, now descends, driven by the power of actual politi-
cal events, from the Taurus Mountains and the borders of
the assertion that the Armenians would be united
Armenia down to the battle-field, blowing the trumpet of
under the regime of the Czars (assuming a Russi- strife and revolution, to drown in blood the Ottoman tyran-
an victory)? No trace of a promise of independen- ny.
ce. Not even a hint at autonomy or autonomous In this gigantic struggle where existence of nations is
self-government. Nevertheless: The Armenians de- at stake, the Hunchak Committee as well as the entire
livered themselves up to the Russian slaughter. Armenian nation will join their forces, moral and
They willingly let themselves be sacrificed on the material, and waving the sword of revolution in their
hands, will enter into this world war. As comrades of arms
chessboard of Russian superpower politics.
of the Triple Entente and particularly of Russia they will co-
And they apparently still have not learned their
operate with the Allies, making full use of all political and
lesson, since Armenian terrorism is, willingly or revolutionary means they possess for the final victory in Ar-
unwillingly, still offering its services today to Rus- menia, Cilicia, Caucasus, and Azerbaijan . . . Well then, fo-
sian superpower politics. "We had created a dense ward Comrades . . . Foward to work.
atmosphere of illusion in our minds. We had imp- Let us
lanted our own desires into the minds crush down the death, death which threatens Armenia,
so that it lives and it lives forever . . .
of others; we had lost our sense of reality and we-
Paris, 1914
re carried away with our dreams. From mouth to
Head offices of the Social
mouth, from ear to ear passed mysterious words Democrat Hunchak Committee.
purported to have been spoken in the palace of
the Viceroy; attention was called to some kind of
a letter by Vorontzov-Dashkov to the Catholicos
as an important document in our hands to use in
the presentation of our rights and claims - a cle-
verly composed letter with very indefinite senten-
ces and generalities which might be interpreted in
any manner, according to one's desire. We overes-
timated the ability of the Armenian people, its po-
litical and military power, and overestimated the
extent and importance of the services our people
rendered to the Russians. And by overestimating
our very modest worth and merit was where we
naturally exaggerated our hopes and expectations.
The deportations and mass exiles and massacres
which took place during the Summer and Autumn
of 1915 were mortal blows to the Armenian Cau-
se. Half of historical Armenia - the same half whe-
re the foundations of our independence would be
laid according to traditions inherited from the
early eighties and as the result of the course adop- Front page of the Armenian newspaper “Huchak” with the
ted by European diplomacy - that half was denu- Hunchak appeal to take up arms against the Ottoman Empire,
summer 1914.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
79

ded of Armenians; the Armenian provinces of Turkey were without Armenians. The Turks knew what
they were doing and have no reason to regret today. It was the most decisive method of extirpating the
Armenian Question from Turkey. Again, it would be useless to ask today to what extent the participati-
on of volunteers in the war was a contributory cause of the Armenian calamity . . .
The proof is, however - and this is essential - that the struggle began decades ago against the Turkish
government brought about the deportation or extermination of the Armenian people in Turkey and the
desolation of Turkish Armenia. This was the terrible fact!" A short while later, the former Prime Minis-
ter of the Armenian Republic comes to his conclusion: "By an extraordinary mental aberration, we, a
political party, were forgetting that our Cause was an incidental and trivial phase for the Russians (in
their fight against the Ottomans and their drive to the Mediterranean, edi tor's note), so trivial that if
necessary, they would trample on our corpses without a moment's hesitation . . . When the Russians we-
re advancing we used to say from the depths of our subconscious minds that they were com ing to save
us; and when they were withdrawing we said they are retreating so that they allow us to be massacred .
..
In both cases we misunderstood the consequence and the purpose and intention ..."

May 17, 1915

The Armenians invade Van and set fire to the Muslim part of the town

It was a tragic but telling coincidence that April 24 was the day the Ottoman Minister of the Interior ga-
ve the order to arrest the party functionaries, known revolutionaries, and agitators in Istanbul. (There
was not yet any talk about a relocation order.) On that very same day, the governor of Van sent the
following telegram:

UNTIL NOW APPROXIMATELY 4000 INSURGENT ARMENIANS HAVE BEEN BROUGHT TO

THE REGION FROM THE VICINITY. THE REBELS ARE EN GAGED IN HIGHWAY ROBBERY,
ATTACK THE NEIGHBORING VILLAGES AND BURN THEM. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PREVENT
THIS. NOW MANY WOMEN AND CHILDREN ARE LEFT HOMELESS. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE
NOR SUITABLE TO RELOCATE THEM IN TRIBAL VILLAGES IN THE VICINITY.
WOULD IT BE CONVENIENT TO BEGIN SENDING THEM
TO THE WESTERN PROVINCES?

Truly an absurd telegram. The governor of Van wanted to move the Muslim women and children to the
safety of the West. No one was yet thinking of relocating Armenians, only Muslims.
On May 8, the Armenian rebels began a general assault in the vicinity of Van. All the surrounding Mus-
lim villages went up in flames. The Ottoman governor, Cevdet Pasha, now ordered a withdrawal. On
May 17, the Ottoman troops abandoned Van. On the same day, the incoming Armenians set fire to the
Muslim part of town and established total Armenian control.
A few days later, the Russian vanguard arrived in Van. It was made up of Armenian units. Several days
after that regular Russian troops followed. The new Armenian ruler of Van, Aram, presented the Russi-
 ERICH FEIGL
80

Spring, 1915. Armenian irregulars, provided with artillery by the Russians, open a second front behind
Ottoman lines in order to facilitate the Russian conquest of Van.

These troops were said to have been organized by the

Armenian committees in America and Europe, although that may
have just been propaganda invented for fund-raising purposes.

A group from the 8th company of an Armenian Hunchak regi-

ment, which fought alongside the Russians against the Ottomans
on the Caucasian front.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
81

an commander, General Nikolayev, with the keys

to the city. Two days later, Nikolayev confirmed
the Armenian provisional government in office,
with Aram as governor. The point of this Russian
show of generosity was clear. It was intended to
give the Armenians an appetite for similar self-go-
vernment in the wake of similar rebellions. The
specter lasted only six weeks; then the Ottomans
advanced and reconquered Van. They moved into
an empty town. The Muslims had been killed, and
The former Armenian deputy of Erzurum, Karekin Pastirmadjian.
the entire Armenian population, along with the As a revolutionary, he went by the nom de guerre "Armen Garo
American missionaries, had fled north with the No. 1". He is seen here with the group leaders Tero and Hecho.
They are participating in one of the frequent "benedictions", after
Russians to the safety of Transcaucasia. which another group of innocent young idealists would be sent
into the line of fire.
The "Armenskaya Isvestiya" shows us children of distinguished
The Relocation Decision: Its Causes Armenian families who were being sent into battle for a lost cause.
"We were forgetting that our Cause was an incidental and trivial
and Consequences phase for the Russians . . ." That is what the man who was to
become Armenian prime minister would later say in looking back
on this period.

Armenians the world over remember April 24 as

the day on which "the genocide of the Armenians
began". This memory should be reconsidered for
a number of reasons. The day of remembrance,
April 24, intentionally confuses cause and effect.
The Ottoman minister of the interior, Talat Pasha,
did indeed send a telegram on the 24th of April,
1915 ordering the arrest of the insurgents. There
was still no talk, however, of a relocation, since it
was still not seen as necessary.
The coded telegram went to the governors of the
provinces affected by Armenian subversion and
read as follows:
"Once again, especially at a time when the state is The opening of a second front in Van, behind Ottoman lines, ga-
ve a decisive advantage to the Russians. The "struggle for Van"
engaged in war, the most recent rebellions which thus became a favorite theme for the Allies, who supported the Ar-
have occurred in Zeitun, Bitlis, Sivas and Van ha- menian rebellion as much as possible. In the hinterland, this sup-
port was provided through the missionaries, who put their good
ve demonstrated the continuing attempts of the services at the disposal of the Armenians. On a broader scale, arms
Armenian committees to obtain, through their re- shipments and money were provided. The ambitious Armenian
uprising in the Vilayet of Van led to the capture of the provincial
volutionary and political organizations, an inde- capital by the insurgents. At the same time, the Allies were threate-
pendent administration for themselves in Ottoman ning the capital of the Ottoman Empire with massive attacks on
the Dardanelles. The instructions to move the Armenians out of
territory. These rebellions and the decision of the the endangered areas were not given until after the Armenian up-
Dashnak Committee, after the outbreak of war, rising in Van.
 ERICH FEIGL
82

The mighty rock of Van with its fortress, which dates back to Urartian times. Beneath the citadelle are the ruins of the former Islamic
part of Van, which was totally leveled during the Armenian uprising. 30.000 Muslims died here in a period of just a few days.
A "Hiroshima" of terrorism: Only the foundation walls of the Islamic district of Van survived - and a few remains of once proud, mighty
mosques. The Armenian uprising of Van began in February, 1915 and reached its first climax in April. The rebels set fire to the old Islamic
city on May 17, the same day on which the small Ottoman garrison was forced to withdraw from the town. It was not until July 22,
1915 that the Ottomans were able to retake Van. In the meantime, the entire Islamic population of Van, which had not been able to
escape in time, was liquidated by the Armenian terrorists.

On April 7, 1918, Van was back once again in Ottoman hands.

The Turkish part of town lay in ruins. At the foot of the mighty
castle-rock of Van, there was nothing left but a pile of rubble - an
enduring reminder of the horror of violence and terrorism. The
arrests ordered on April 24 began the following day in Istanbul. In
the provinces they began somewhat later in some cases.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
83

immediately to incite the Armenians in Russia against us, and to have the Armenians in the Ottoman
state rebel with all their force when the Ottoman army was at its weakest, are all acts of treason which
would affect the life and future of the country.

It has been demonstrated once again that the activities of these committees, whose headquarters are in
foreign countries, and who maintain, even in their names, their revolutionary attributes, are determined
to gain autonomy by using every possible pretext and means against the Government. This has been es-
tablished by the bombs which were found in Kayseri, Sivas and other regions, also by the actions of the
Armenian committee leaders who have participated in the Russian attack on the country, by forming vo-
lunteer regiments comprised of Ottoman Armenians in the Russian army, and through their publications
and operations aimed at threatening the Ottoman army from the rear.
Naturally, as the Ottoman Government will never condone the continuation of such operations and at-
tempts, which constitute a matter of life and death for itself, nor will it legalize the existence of these
committees which are the source of malice, it has felt the necessity to promptly close down all such poli-
tical organizations. You are therefore ordered to close down immediately all branches, within your pro-
vince, of the Hinchak, Dashnak, and similar committees; to confiscate the files and documents found in
their branch headquarters, and en sure that they are neither lost nor destroyed; to immediately arrest all
the leaders and prominent members of the committees, together with such other Armenians as are
known by the Government to be dangerous; further, to gather up those Armenians whose presence in
one area is considered to be inappropriate, and to transfer them to other parts of the province or “san-
jak”, so as not to give them the opportunity to engage in harmful acts; to begin the process of searching
for hidden weapons; and to maintain all contacts with the (military) commanders in order to be prepa-
red to meet any possible counter-actions. As it has been determined in a meeting with the Acting Com-
mander-in-Chief that all individuals arrested on the basis of files and documents which come into our
possession in the course of the proper execution of these orders are to be turned over to the military co-
urts, the above-mentioned steps are to be implemented immediately. We are to be informed subsequently
as to the number of people arrested, and with regard to the implementation of these orders. For Bitlis,
Erzurum, Sivas, Adana, Marafl and Aleppo: as this operation is only intended to affect the operation of
the committees, you are strongly ordered not to implement it in such a manner as will cause mutual kil-
lings on the part of the Muslim and Armenian elements of the population. 11. April 1331 (24. April
1915). The Minister of the Interior."

These arrests only affected the ringleaders of the Dashnaktsutiun and the Hunchaks, along with a few
wellknown agitators. The order had absolutely nothing to do with a general relocation.
The government's order to move the Armenians as a group out of the endangered areas (Istanbul and Iz-
mir were not affected since they were considered "safe" and "under control") did not come until
months later. It was brought on by the horrifying assault of Armenian terrorists and irregulars on the
city of Van. This event represented a shocking climax of Armenian terrorism. The rebels conquered Van,
declared an "Armenian Republic of Van", and completely destroyed the Muslim part of the city. Some
30.000 Muslims lost their lives in the violence.
 ERICH FEIGL
84

Once again, the idea of moving the Armenian po-

pulation (and not just the terrorist ringleaders) out
of the endangered areas did not arise until after
the catastrophe of Van. The government troops
were forced by the rebels to leave Van on May
17, 1915. At this time, Van was behind Russian
lines, which were moving deeper and deeper into
eastern Anatolia. The spearhead of the Russian-
Czarist assault troops was made up of Armenian
volunteers, who distinguished themselves with the-
ir particularly brutal treatment of the Muslim po-
pulation of eastern Anatolia. In the meantime, the
true dimensions of the catastrophe of Van became
known in Istanbul. It was at this point that the
idea arose of relocating the Armenian population
of Anatolia as a whole. Until this time, there had A Turkish memorial to the Islamic victims of the Armenian upris
ing of the spring of 1915. The bodies of 5000 Muslims lie beneath
only been arrests of ringleaders and known terro- the monument in a gully that opens into Lake Van. The Muslims
rists on a local level - nothing more. were rounded up on this spot and massacred.
The concept of a relocation came up when the ac-
ting commander of the army, who had learned his
lesson from the horrid outcome of the Van revolt,
suggested responding to steps taken by the Russi-
ans (which appear to have been discussed with the
Armenians!) with similar measures from the Otto-
man side. This suggestion was made in a secret
communique of the Minister of the Interior
(No. 2049):
“The Armenians around the periphery of Lake
Van, and in other regions which are known to the
Governor of Van, are engaged in continuous pre-
parations for revolution and rebellion. I am of the
opinion that this population should be removed
One of the countless Islamic buildings of Van destroyed during the
from this area, and that this nest of rebellion be Armenian uprising. Whereas demands for the restoration of
broken up. According to information provided by Armenian buildings in eastern Anatolia are made again and again
(and rightly so), the world public has thus far shown no concern
the Commander of the Third Army, the Russians, whatsoever for the equally endangered Islamic monuments of the
on April the 7th (April the 20th), began expelling region, such as this Ottoman mosque. This lack of concern for
Muslim buildings is not unlike the prevalent attitude towards the
their Muslim population, by pushing them, witho- Muslim victims of the Armenian uprisings – a subject which has
ut their belongings, across our borders. It is neces- yet to be raised outside of Turkey, even though the loss of life on
the Islamic side was tremendous.
sary, in response to this (Russian) action, and in
order to reach the goals that I have outlined abo-
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
85

ve, either to expel the Armenians in question to Russia, or to relocate them and their families in other
regions of Anatolia. I request that the most suitable of these alternatives be chosen and implemented. If
there is no objection, I would prefer to expel the creators of these centres of rebellion and their families
outside our borders, and to replace them with the Muslim refugees pushed across our borders. 19. April
1331 (2. May 1915).”

The importance of this document lies in the fact that it clearly states what the Supreme Military Com-
mander's motive was. The Russians had sent the entire Muslim population of the Caucasus region to
eastern Anatolia, leaving them with nothing but the shirts on their backs. At the same time, the Armeni-
ans in the eastern part of the Ottoman Empire (particularly in Van) had seized total power, killed the
Muslims, and proclaimed their "Armenian Republic of Van". Under these circumstances, the decision to
relocate the Armenians of Anatolia - those living within the borders of the Ottoman Empire - is unders-
tandable. They were to be moved "to areas considered safer", areas not so exposed to the grasp of the
Russians and the Allied powers of Europe.

A few weeks later, on May 19, 1331 (June 1, 1915), the Ottoman government published the following
decree in the Takvim-i Vakaya (the Ottoman official gazette):
Article 1. In time of war, the Army, Army Corps, and Divisional Commanders, their Deputies, and the
Independent Commanders, are authorized and compelled to crush in the most severe way, and to eradi-
cate all signs of aggression and resistance by military force, should they encounter any opposition, ar-
med resistance and aggression by the population, to operations and measures relating to orders issued
by the Government for the defence of the country and the maintenance of order.
Article 2. The Army, Army Corps, and Divisional Commanders are authorized to transfer and relocate
the populations of villages and towns, either individually or collectively, in response to military needs, or
in response to any signs of treachery or betrayal.
Article 3. This provisional law will come into effect when it is published. It is undoubtedly true that
many innocent people lost their property, their health, and even their lives in the relocation of 1915 -
many Armenians and even more Muslims. To try to place blame for a wartime tragedy such as this is
truly senseless, but in light of the almost universal assumption that everything was the fault of the "Ter-
rible Turks", something must be said about the passive behavior of the overwhelming majority of Otto-
man Armenians at the time. Above all else, they just wanted peace, and they remained silent because
they did not want a confrontation with the terrorists. For decades, they tolerated the presence of a small
number of fanatics among them who held absurd, impracticable, and completely unjust ambitions for
independence (unjust because the Armenians did not have a majority anywhere in the Ottoman Empire).
The extremists became more and more powerful; they terrorized Muslims and Armenians; and eventu-
ally, after the beginning of the First World War, they were openly waging civil war.
In the turmoil of the war, with the Ottoman Empire forced to fight for its very existence, there remained
no other choice but to carry out the relocation. The events that followed the end of the war - when the
Allies penetrated into Anatolia and the Greeks advanced almost as far as Ankara - prove just how wisely
those responsible for the relocation had acted.
 ERICH FEIGL
86

If the "silent majority" of Ottoman Armenians

had objected to the insane plans of the extremists
and the "romantic" visions of the missionaries,
many Armenians and even more Muslims would
have been spared tremendous suffering. As it was,
however, many had to pay for the offenses of a
minority. Often - far too often - it is the success of
the rational, level-headed majority in prevailing
over the irrational minority of agitators, fanatics,
and romantics which determines whether or not
disaster will befall a nation. No nation that has let
itself be seduced or silenced by a minority has ever
been spared.

The National Socialists in Professor Justin

Professor Justin McCarthy has devoted a great deal of his work to
McCarthy of the University of Louisville on the studying the population statistics of the Ottoman Empire. He is
results of his research: the author of the book Muslims and Minorities – The Population
of Ottoman Anatolia and the End of the Empire, in which he
"There has been quite a bit of misinformation proves scientifically that the Armenian minority in the Ottoman
that has been told about Armenians in the Otto- Empire did not have a majority in any vilayet – not even in the city
of Van itself, where they were most strongly represented. Muslims
man Empire. Specifically about the number of Ar- and Minorities was published by New York University Press in
menians who lived in the Ottoman Empire and 1983.

what happened to the Armenians. On this map

here, we have an area that is historically called
Armenia - whether or not there were very many
Armenians living there or whether Armenians ru-
led it at any one time. In this area, which stretches
from the Russian border all the way down to the
Mediterranean, there were - at the time of the end
of the Ottoman Empire around the year 1912 or
1915 - six provinces, called vilayets. In these pro-
vinces, there were many Armenians, but in none
of these provinces was more than a third of the Graphic representation of the Anatolian provinces showing the
population Armenian, and in most cases it was population breakdown in 1912. From: Muslims and Minorities -
The Population of Ottoman Anatolia and the End of the Empire.
quite a bit less than a third. In fact, if at the be- New York University Press, 1983.
ginning of the First World War you took the enti-
re Armenian population of the world and you put
it all in this area that has been called Armenia, the
Muslim population would still have outnumbered
the Armenians. Of course they were not there,
and that meant that the Muslims outnumbered the
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
87

Armenians by approximately 6:1.

Now at the beginning of the First World War, the
Ottomans decided that they would move a num-
ber of Armenians who they believed to be a threat
from the areas in which they lived to other areas
in the South. Many more Armenians than were
ever moved in any forced migration, however, fled
with the Russian armies to the north, and in the
World War you have a period of tremendous de-
ath. There was cholera, typhus ... in fact, there
were three years in which no crops were on the
ground. And so the people who lived in the area
simply starved to death - if they did not die of di- The 36-centimetre guns of HMS Canopus fire on the Ottoman for-
sease and if they did not die of outright murder. tifications on the Dardanelles to soften up the Turks for assault,
together with their German allies and the Austro-Hungarian
By outright murder, I mean the murder that came artillery.
when the Russian army invaded this territory.
They came right down to the city of Van, which
was being held by the Armenian revolutionaries
against their own government. When the Russian
armies came in, many groups of Russians and lar-
ge numbers of Armenian irregulars massacred lar-
ge numbers of Muslims.
There was back and forth fighting that went on
for the next three years and quite a bit of killing
of Armenians by Muslims and Muslims by Arme-
nians. When each of the armies retreated, their
own people, the people who identified with them
and were tied to them, left with them. So when The battleship BOUVET was part of the squadron contributed by
the French to the Dardanelles She had a face-hardened amour abo-
the Russians retreated, the Armenians retreated ve the waterline, making her one of the most powerful protected
with them. When the Muslim, Ottoman armies warships of her era. On March 18, 1915 the ship sustained eight
hits from Turkish artillery. At Erin Keui Bay BOUVET struck a
retreated, the Muslims - Turks especially - left mine and sank within two minutes, taking over 600 crews with
her. Despite the loss of the Bouvet, the first such loss of the day,
with them. Through the whole of Anatolia, in the
the British remained unaware of the minefield, thinking the explo-
whole region which extends from the Aegean and sion has been caused by a shell or torpedo. Subsequently two Bri-
tish battleships, the OCEAN and IRRESISTIBLE, were sunk and
the Mediterranean all the way up to the Black Sea the MS INFLEXIBLE as well as the SUFFREN and GAULOIS we-
and the Caucasus, you had approximately re damaged at the same minefileld.
Nevertheless the invasion of the Dardanelles by infantry started
600.000 dead Armenians. In the same region, you April 24.
had 2.5 million dead Muslims, most of them
Turks.
Even in just this area (Armenia), you had more
than a million dead Muslims - Turks - well, some
 ERICH FEIGL
88

were other peoples, but the majority were Turks, which meant that in this area called Armenia there we-
re hundreds of thousands more dead Muslims than there were Armenians. Now, this area has been por-
trayed as an area in which Armenians were slaughtered. To a certain extent that is true, but to be histo-
rically accurate, we also have to call it an area where Muslims were slaughtered - in fact, many more
Muslims. And we have to view this time period around World War I, before and a little bit after World
War I, as a period of great inhumanity - of massacres, of deaths that touched all people - not simply Ar-
menians, not simply Turks. Unless it is viewed as a human problem instead of a sectarian problem - ins-
tead of a problem of just the Armenians - we will never understand what really went on at the time."

Precisely at this time in the early months of 1915 the Armenians were busy instigating innumerable upri-
sings in the Turkish hinterland, not only in Van and the eastern hinterland but also in the immediate vi-
cinity of the Dardanelles: armed uprisings in Yalova, Bursa, Izmit, and Adapazar› were intended to assist
the troops of the Entente to make their landings by preventing the Ottomans from sending reinforce-
ments. This dramatic phase saw the Greeks and Armenians of Istanbul in a state of "high
excitement": they were fully expecting the imminent triumphal entry of the British and French and their
allies into the Ottoman capital.

It was only at the very last possible moment, on April 24, 1915, that the Turks arrested a total of preci-
sely 235 Armenian ringleaders who had already planned a coup and prepared for a transfer of power in
Istanbul.

The Armenian myth of victimhood stands or falls on two legs: the date
April 24, 1915, and Franz Werfel's literary masterpiece,
"The Forty Days of Musa Dagh".
But these legs are not healthy ones - they are artificial limbs.
It is a striking fact that neither in Turkish literature on the subject - nor, naturally enough, in Armenian
literature – is there a thorough account of what happened on "April 23, 1915". From the point of view
of Yerevan or Boston this is quite logical, as neither the Republic of Hayastan nor the diaspora
Armenians have any interest in the real facts being made known - on the contrary, on both sides of the
Atlantic, the practice is to maintain a specious picture of "genocide" by celebrating an anniversary, and
thus giving an appearance of historical relevance to the events in question. After all, the priority is to
perpetuate a memorable and easily grasped myth from which not only the Armenians of the motherland
but also Armenian minorities all over the world can nourish their aggressive raison d'être.

Artificial limb No. 1: April 23, 1915

But what exactly did happen on April 23 and 24, 1915? And why? There is no questioning the fact that
in those dramatic hours, 235 leading personalities from the Armenian community in Istanbul were
arrested and taken to the centre of the land, mostly to Çank›r› and Ayvas, north of Ankara, where they
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
89

Excerpt from the Hamburger Abendblatt, then presented no immediate danger. Many com-
22 April 2005. mentators in our own day, including a pair of
journalists writing in the Hamburger Abendblatt,
The Turks wanted to exterminate them have no scruples about multiplying the number
Genocide: Even 90 years after the planned extermination
arrested by 10 and writing 2,350 - what's in a 0? -
of the Armenians, fear and suppression of the facts domi-
nate Ankara's dealings on the matter. instead of 235, or simply fantasizing about "thou-
(...) sands", as another writer did in the Neue Zürcher
by Thomas Frankenfeld and Stefan Fuhr Nachrichten. Sheer manipulation.
Hamburg/Frankfurt am Main - "Who ever gives a thought It is clear that in the prevailing circumstances the
to the extermination of the Armenians today?" The small
Ottoman authorities could not have organized a
mustached man who tossed out this sarcastic question on
August 22, 1939 for the benefit of an assembly of high-
wave of arrests over a wide area in the capital
ranking Wehrmacht officers and commanders of SS special Constantinople, let alone actually have carried it
units was sure that he would be proved right. He was con- out. The planning took at least ten days and the
vinced that just as the extermination of the Armenians had fact that most able-bodied men were on active
long been forgotten, in decades to come nobody would gi-
service on one of the many fronts of war meant
ve a thought to the genocide perpetrated on the Jews by
the Nazis.
that the Ottoman authorities had to act with the
... greatest caution if the Armenians they were to
April 24, 1915, saw the beginning of the genocide: the exe- arrest were only to be the militant leaders who in
cution of the entire Armenian leadership cadre – 2.350 previous years had repeatedly been the perpetra-
men - in Constantinople. In the months that followed, al- tors of evil deeds.
most all the Armenians in Ottoman Turkey were forcibly
taken to concentration camps by Turkish gendarmes and
soldiers in units specially created for the purpose. The Armenian residential and administrative areas
centred on Kumkap› on the shore of the Sea of
(See: http://www.abendblatt.de/da- Marmara, where even today the Gregorian
ten/2006/10/13/624031.html) Patriarchate is to be found. The wealthy
Armenians lived, as did the Greeks, mainly in the
new quarter known as Pera. The historic city of
Constantinople was thus situated between the
teeth of a pair of pincers consisting of dissident
inhabitants who in April 1915 were waiting for
their hour to come.

In the early months of 1915 the Ottoman authori-

ties were confronted with the problem that
Constantinople was threatened on two sides, by
the French and British fleets lying in wait before
the Dardanelles on one hand, and from the
Eastern front on the other. After the collapse of
the winter offensive under Enver Pasha and the
Map of Constantinople.
The Armenian quarters are marked around KUMKAPI. annihilation of the 3rd Army, which had under
 ERICH FEIGL
90

his command failed to advance towards Russia over the Caucasus, Eastern Anatolia was left almost
entirely without any means of defending itself against Russian attack. Only a few regiments of the
95.000-strong 3rd Army had survived; almost 75.000 men had been lost. It was clear to all concerned
that the losses had been incurred not only because the troops had been poorly armed and equipped but
also because they were massively betrayed by the Armenian inhabitants of the region, who put their
hopes -vainly, as it turned out - in the Russians. The letter of thanks which Enver sent on ahead in
February to the Gregorian Bishop of Konya only proves that the commander clearly recognized the
importance of the Armenian forces.
In March 1915 a carefully prepared uprising broke out in Zeitun which was intended to break open the
sparingly manned Ottoman front from behind. The motivation behind this attack was the Armenians'
strategically well conceived plan to conquer the zone around Alexandrette (Iskenderun) in south-eastern
Anatolia, where the Ottomans only had a limited troop presence, and thus to cut the Empire into two
parts. A few months later, in July 1915, this offensive was indeed carried out with French support on
Musa Dagh, but failed as a result of the resistance of the defending forces.

The goal of the Armenians - who were undeterred by the fact that they were nowhere in the majority -
was the establishment of an independent State. And the Russian authorities in St. Petersburg - neither
Tsar Nicholas nor the "red Tsars" who followed him ever dreamt of granting the Armenians independ-
ence - were attracted by the imminent possibility of an attack on Constantinople and a breakthrough to
the "warm seas". All this was to be made possible
by the Armenian uprisings in the east and south-
east of the Empire, and the advance of the united
French and British forces over the Dardanelles to
Constantinople-Istanbul, the latter to be assisted in
a special way by Armenian bands in and around the
capital. The model was to have been Van.

The advance of the British-French fleet before the

Dardanelles (Çanakkale), and their attempt to
break through to Constantinople (Istanbul) in con-
junction with the same kind of Armenian uprising
in the capital as had been carried out successfully in
Van.

The Gallipoli (Gelibolu) campaign took actually

place between April and December 1915 in an
effort to conquer the Dardanelles from the Turkish The picture is rounded out by uprisings in Van, which fell into the hands of
Ottoman Empire and thus force it out of the war. the Armenian franctireurs in 1915, and in Mufl, Sassun, Erzincan, Erzurum,
Kharput, Sivas, Diyarbak›r, Ankara, and Trapezunt, not to mention also
Some 60,000 Australians and 18.000 New within the boundaries of Istanbul itself (Bursa, Yalova, Adapazar› ...).
Zealanders were part of a larger British force.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
91

The right man at the right moment at the right place: Mustafa
Kemal (bright uniform) with his absolutely loyal and enthusiastic
staff of the 3rd Ottoman Army.

General map of the Battle of the Dardanelles (Çanakkale) which

reached a high point in April 1915 but in fact lasted from March
through into the autumn and constituted a permanent threat to the
security of the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

At the end some 26.000 Australians and 7.500 New Zealanders were wounded; and 7.594 Australians
and 2.431 NZs were killed. The final death-poll alone at the Gallipoli Campaign: 33.000 allied and
86.000 Ottoman troops died in the eight month fight campaign which achieved none of its objectives.
The Turkish nation who lost about 253.000 men at battle had managed to emerge in honor against the
Allied forces. This was the biggest failure of Winston Churchill and of the Allies of course. They had
underestimated the military skills of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his brave soldiers.
The allied fleet began bombarding the Turkish batteries at the entrance to the Straits already 3rd
November 1914 and it continued intermittently until 12th March 1915. Having failed their own two
offensives at the Caucasian front and at Suez the Ottomans were now faced with an offensive by the
Allies. From the beginning of 1915 onwards it became evident, from intelligence reports of enemy naval
and troop movements that the French and the British Empire forces were assembling on the islands
before the Dardanelles - mainly at Imbros.

THE ANGLO-FRENCH ATTACK ON CONSTANTINOPLE, THROUGH THE NARROWS AND ACROSS THE
SEA OF MARMARA, WAS NOW IMMINENT. DATE: APRIL 24!

The 18th March 1915 marks the real beginning of the Dardanelles campaign under the commander
Admiral de Robeck.
The mood of the Turkish population of Istanbul reached a low point. First the failures of the Caucasian
and Egyptian campaigns and now the threatening situation of the Ottoman capital... Some of the people
of Constantinople, also from the remaining Turks, began to talk despondently about the capture of the
city as though it had already occurred. Most of the Turks who could afford it or had well situated rela-
 ERICH FEIGL
92

tives in Anatolia began to leave for inner Anatolia.

The government prepared two special trains for the
Sultan and his entourage while the administration
was ready for evacuation to Eskiflehir where the
gold of the Ottoman Bank and the state treasure
had already been brought.
These days of danger produced two results, one out-
standing and one which had to be expected as "nor-
mal". The outstanding event was the reappearance
of Enver Pasha, who had kept out of the public eye
since his defeat in the Caucasus. All at a sudden, he,
the son in law of the Sultan, behaved like a true
Ottoman prince. He declared that the Allied forces Some of the Armenian insurgents, the leading figures in the
Dashnaksutiun; a party which was also responsible for the incident
would never succeed to gain the Dardanelles with the Ottoman Bank and innummerable other atrocities.
because the fortifications at the straights were
impregnable. His behaviour was absolutely calm
and confident and finally Enver was proved right.
"Normal" was the attitude of the Armenian citizens
of Constantinople. They were ready to fight - side
by side with the Allies while the Greek community
waited silently for the outcome of the events.
In those days the capital had had around 1.000.000
inhabitants, a little bit more than 55% of them
Turks, around 150.000 Greeks and the same
amount Armenians, others were Jews, and again
150,000 foreigners (estimates, because the popula- 24/25th April Australians land at Bay of Anzac in Gallipoli..Their
tion was counted according to households). aim: Istanbul. The same day the Ottoman authorities arrest 235 of
the most prominent and dangerous ringleaders of the Armenian
Definitely the number of Turks decreased during terror network in the capital. Their dream: to take over power in
the dramatic days in March 1915, while the Istanbul with the help of the British and French invaders. The
dream became soon a nigthmare: the Gallipoli battle cost the life
Armenians prepared themselves for combat, eagerly of 33.000 Australians and New Zealanders and 83.000 Turks.
waiting for the victory of the Allies at the The Armenians lost their hope to become masters of Istanbul...
and more.
Dardanelles. The Armenians who really pulled the
strings, apart from those who sat in Russia, France
or Boston were concentrated mainly in Constantinople.
Everything was ready for the decisive coup, just as it had been in Van, which was taken from the
Armenians with Russian help on May 17. As early as March 20, the Ottoman governor had informed
the government that the Armenian uprising had spread over the whole eastern province. Exactly one
month later on April 20, 1915, the governor sent reports of the attack on the Islamic quarters of Van.
In these circumstances, the Ottoman government in Istanbul had no other choice than to opt for self-
defence, and to arrest the Armenian ringleaders in the capital and to take them to a secure place.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
93

Faced by a situation such as this, no government in the world could have acted differently. After the
attack on Pearl Harbour, Americans of Japanese extraction who lived thousands of miles from Japan
were arrested and taken away to camps in a most humiliating manner; the French did not act any differ-
ently towards their German speaking citizens, nor did the Muscovites towards the Volga Germans ... the
list could be continued indefinitely.
To say that is not of course to justify high-handed attacks carried out by Ottoman authorities or robber
Kurds who vented their aggressions on the helpless refugees, enriching themselves in the process in
accord with age-old traditions. It is a grotesque irony that decades later these two parties - ASALA and
PKK - were to join forces against Ankara, their only motivation once again to get their hands on the
booty, regardless of the human lives lost in the process.
The difference between Turks and Armenians, however, lies in the fact that while the Ottomans inter-
vened wherever possible and passed prison and sometimes death sentences, the Armenians have never
made a single condemnation of any of the innumerable mass murders and outrages committed on the
Islamic civilian population.
This is a thought that could perhaps be commemorated on April 24. On 18th March (the preparation to
take under custody Armenian insurgents had already started) eighteen battleships
entered the straits. The fleet included Queen Elizabeth, Lord Nelson, Agamemnon, Inflexible Irresistable
and others from Britain the Gauloise, Suffren and the Bovet from
France. At first they made good progress, until the Bouvet struck a
mine, heeled over, capsized and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Soon afterwards the Irresistable and Ocean hit mines. The Allied
fleet retreated, over 700 men had been killed, three ships had been
sunk and three more had been severely damaged...

Artificial limb No. 2:

Franz Werfel´s novel
THE FORTY DAYS OF MUSA DAGH
A bestseller serves as a fake bible
What means the word "BIBLE"? Undoubted above all
"the sacred book of Christianity". But it means also "any book or
collection of writings constituting the sacred text of a religion",
and, at the same time, "any book considered authoritative in its
field". Unfortunately it concerns also Werfel´s "Forty Days of Musa
Dagh". Franz Werfel, born 1890 in Prague, Bohemia,
By the way, it´s one of the most macabre after-wits, a paradox in one of the most beautiful towns of Austria-
history that the word "bible" origins from ancient Phoenicia´s Hungary, was in his best years - when he wro-
te his novel "The forty days…" which appea-
Byblos from where the papyros was exported; a seaport-town not red 1933, just the time when Adolf Hitler, his
far from a place called "Musa Dagh", theatre of events which absurd, deserting Austrian compatriot took
never had happened in the way as described by Armenian forgers over power in Germany.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
95

The facts: "… thrilling

novel" is correct. Werfel´s
masterpiece is indeed
thrilling... but it has hardly to
do with reality. This bookco-
ver, anyhow, reveals exactly
the Armenian lies and unmasks
them them.

1. Musa Dagh is not a "vulca-

no"but a rather harmless
chain of hills.

2. Downhill the typical

"bloody Turk" with a whip:
nonsense.

3. The impression of rapes.

We know about a rape, the
victim was Lawrence
("Seven Pillars of Wisdom")
but...

4. The most typical fraud is

the scene with a man and
his flag. Acccording to
Werfel (victim of Andonian´s
deceits) the Armenians got
help from the French by
hoisting bedsheets(!)
"Christians in Need". What
a deception. The French
fleet had expected a victory
of the Armenians and was
ready for invasion. The con-
tacts beween the insurgents
and their clients were
made by wireless radio and
not by bedsheets!
 ERICH FEIGL
96

and their victim and tool Franz Werfel.

There is hardly another book in world-literature
which has brought so many misunderstandings and
so much mischief to a nation as Werfels´s "40
Days", with the possible exception of "The Elders
of Zion", which brought so much misery over the
world of the Jews.
Werfel´s unique, great novel humilated into a primi-
tive Sex & Crime-story by Caroll & Graf
Publishers. Whips, brutality, deportation, minarets
in the background, heroic gestures… nothing is for-
gotten to impress the potential reader: Turks are
criminals, Armenian innocent heroes. Not one word
about the fact that this Edition has been robbed of
its sensitive Historical passages. The reader is the Armenians from Musa Dagh on board the French vessel Foudre.
victim of a fraud since he is never made aware that Examine their appearance and judge for yourself.
he is buying an edition from which the most signifi-
cant passages have been cut.
This is, however, confirmation of the fact that those
behind this censorship - the Armenian Mafia -
know full well that Werfel was taken in by publica-
tions like those of Morgenthau, Pastor Lepsius,
Andonian and others.
The Protestant Churches, so long and so hard fight-
ing for a Protestant Armenian Republic in Eastern
Anatolia willingly joined this devilish party. They
failed anyhow some fifteen years later they reached
a new starting point in their work against Turkey
and the Turks. With Werfel´s masterpiece "The 40 Men and the Commanders of the first platoon of the 8th Company
of the Armenian Hintchakian Regiment and the staff of the
Days" an absolutely unique new standard was attached professional Red Cross team: A priviledge which
reached: perfect poetic art combined with perfectly belonged only to the well trained best equipped Armenian insur-
presented biassed historical constructions. Hardly gents all over the Ottoman Empire, thanks to the funds sponsored
by American protestants and Russian imperialists.
any reader considered the fact that nowhere in the
Ottoman Empire the Armenians had a majority.
And the fact that a historic landscape named "Armenia" has absolutely nothing to do with the race or
origin of the inhabitants was (and is) forgotten. In "America" live "Americans" with Italian, German,
Irish, British, Indian, Chinese or African roots etc. etc.
And in "Armenia" people of Turkish, Iranian, Georgian, Azerbaijanian origin, also a minority of
"Haiks" who make just use of the habit to be called "Armenians". When Franz Werfel´s book appeared
it had a remarkable echo, right from the beginning. A thriller, pretending to present history!
At first within the German-speaking world and soon later within the entire "educated" reading public
where the on dit counts more than knowledge the "40 Days..." became a kind of a new Bible. The mes-
sage was clear:
"How long, O LORD, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on
earth?"
Werfel had chosen this verse (Revelation VI,19) as a motto for his masterpiece. Unfortunately he became
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
97

with this motto and his book - the father of Armenian

post-war terrorism, which killed not only so many inno-
cent people but also the reputation of a whole nation.
The creation of terror-groups and fanatic murders who
blindly killed and killed (remember Orly!") absolutely
innocent passengers or Turkish diplomats (remember my
friend Erdo¤an Özen) who were born long after the
events during World War I was only possible with
indoctrination - and the base was always Werfel´s fake
story.

The mountain of Moses and the A number of wounded Turkish soldiers travelling on
home leave were ambushed and brutally killed by Ar-
lowlands of Alma and Franz Werfel menian bands in the vicinity of Kum and Çum, in the
district of Lice, Diyarbak›r, on July 25, 1915.
Borrowed from "Ermeni Âmâl ve Herekât-i Ihtalâliyesi;
While rocks and cliffs are indeed a feature of the
Tesâvir ve Vesâik”. The Armenian aspirations and re-
"mountain of Moses", the general landscape corre- volutionary movements.-Albums No: 1 and 2. 1919.
sponds in no way to the picture that Werfel suggests to
his readers. The area is just as unheroic as the truth
about the uprising provoked by the French with all the
technical means at their disposal. French warships
brought the Armenian soldatesca firstly to Suez and then
to the Syrian front, but their behaviour resulted in the
British and French immediately withdrawing them from
active service.
At the end Werfel decided to describe the story (not his-
tory!) of an Armenian settlement near the crossroads
Damascus-Iskenderun, i. e, Anatolia and Syria.
Armenians should serve as victims, bloody Turks as
killers.
Actually Werfel did not definitely mean unscrupulous
"Young Turks" and innocent "Haik"... no, Werfel, as a
poet and most sensible seismograph already feeling the
coming earthquakes, caused by the German Nazis who
would start to extinguish the Jewish race, just took the
chance. Charade? No. Parable? Yes. At the expense of The "Chef´s Armeniens dans Djebel Mousa" on
the Turks… board of the French warship DESAIX, still playing
with gun and field glass, still in best mood.
We cannot understand that Franz Werfel did not investi-
gate a little bit more. He would soon have discovered
that the Ottomans had saved lakhs of Jews - around 200
000 - from the terror of the "Catholic kings" in Spain (1494). By the way, again during Hitler´s tyranny
some 30.000 German, Austrian, European Jews found a save heaven in Turkey; not a single one was re-
pulsed or handed over to the Nazis despite most severe German threats. (It is a shame for the Swiss aut-
horities how t h e y handled this problem… Jewish property and funds were welcome, but human be-
ings?) But let us come to the point of the "40 Days": When Franz Werfel aimed at the Nazis, calling
them "Turks" and the Jews "Armenians" Franz Werfel commited a crime. He commited murder - in
 ERICH FEIGL
98

German there is the word "Rufmord", murder of

one´s reputation - by defaming the name of the
Turkish nation, the killing of one´s good name.
Sometimes "Rufmord" is worse than murder. It
leads easily to further crimes, in our case against
Turkey and Turks, up to today.
In his note - or intoduction - to the "40 Days..."
Werfel wrote:
"This book was conceived in March of 1929, in
the course of a stay in Damascus. The miserable
sight of some maimed and famished-looking refu-
gee children, working in a carpet factory. that ga-
ve me the final impulse to snatch from the Hades
of all that was this incomprehensiible destiny of
the Armenian nation."
Finally Werfel remarks that he had selected for his
readings in Germany, March 1933 the "historic
records of a conversation between Enver Pasha
and Pastor Johannes Lepsius".

The source of this "conversation" were the memo-

irs of a German protestant pastor, a certain Dr.
Johannes Lepsius. But how could it come that
Werfel, this most sensitive poet, fell into this trap?
It seems that the inititive came from his wife, Al-
ma Maria Mahler-Werfel

Alma, the alter ego of Franz

Alma Werfel was doubtless one of the most fasci- The book by Oliver Hilmes, WITWE IM WAHN (literally, "Wi-
nating women of her time. She was born in 1879 dow in Madness"), looks into Alma Mahler-Werfel's diaries and
as the daughter of the Viennese landscape painter reveals both her tendency to hysteria and her constantly growing
E. J. Schindler and grew up in an environment anti-Semitism. This attitude would seem to have been more than
just a remnant from the good old days of the Empire, and is on the
with artists like Gustav Klimt or Alexander
contrary evidence of her Aryan / Nazi assumption of superiority.
Zemlinsky - her composer tutor - and at the age
In our cultural-historical consciousness, Alma Mahler-Werfel is a
of 22, she married the meanwhile world famous kind of sexual alter ego to such figures as Zemlinsky, Mahler, Ko-
composer Gustav Mahler who dedicated his 8th koschka, Werfel and Gropius, and she is treated as such in Hil-
symphony to Alma. After years of marriage Alma mes's study. If one left aside the artists mentioned, the book wo-
sought refuge with an indefinable amount of uld read like a cheap paperback account of the life of an intelli-
(again world famous) lovers, admirers plus hus- gent, elegant and sensitive opportunist. But it is also the psychog-
bands like Walter Gropius or Werfel and her rela- ram of a woman struggling at once for recognition and sexual sa-
tisfaction, a salon lady drenched with the transient fragrances of
tion with Oskar Kokoschka who contributed to
late Romanticism and Impressionism.
her fame with his famous painting "Die
Windsbraut" (something like "bride of the wind")
but, it fits in this case perfectly, Windsbraut can
also be something like a hurricane... and Alma
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
99

The camp near Suez of the Armenian combattans from Musa Dagh; young, at best health, ready for the next murderous attack. How said their pres-
ident Boghos Nubar 1919: "... les Arméniens dès le début de la guerre, ont eté des belligérants de facto". De facto: they were a war-leading nation
since the beginning of the war. This and the other photographs are from the Musée d´histoire contemporaine, Paris. They are absolutely authentic.

Werfel was such a phenomenon. Die Windsbraut gave also reason for a Hollywood film, describing her
turbulent life, her love-affairs and her attractive qualities which she doubtless had. The list of her ado-
rants is sheer endless: Erich Wolfgang Korngold dedicated to her his famous violin concerto, she made
friendship(?) with Gabriele d´Annunzio, Toscanini, Arnold Schönberg, Darius Milhaud, Poulenc, Marc
Chagall, Thomas Mann, met Bernhard Shaw, liked H. G. Wells, liked Romain Rolland, Auguste
Rodin... it´s an endless list of great personalities who all adored this femme fatale. She fascinated men.
Unfortunately in her personal life as a mother she was less lucky. Her daughter Anna Maria (from
Gustav Mahler) died at the age of five. From Walter Gropius, the famous creator of the "Bauhaus" she
had another daughter, Manon, in 1916. She also died at a very young stage. In 1918 she became, still
married with Walter Gropius, pregnant by Franz Werfel. The child, named Martin, only lived ten
months. A series of personal tragedies. Why is this excurse to failed motherhood and painful pregnan-
cies so important for the background of our problem with Franz Werfel? These facts seem to be the key
to the "40 Days of Musa Dagh".
While Werfel himself mentions in his "note" to the book just "famished-looking children, working in an
carpet factory" Alma Mahler-Werfel in her memoirs "Mein Leben" (Alma Mahler -Werfel "Mein
Leben" Fischer Taschenbuchverlag, ISBN 3-596-20545-x) writes about the days in Damascus, 1929:
"The owner (of this carpet-factory) guided us through his establishment. We walked along the weaver´s
looms and everywhere we saw the starved out children, with pale El Greco-faces and over dimensioned
dark eyes. They rolled upon the floor, took spools and might, sometimes, have swept the floor.
Franz Werfel asked the owner about these remarkable children. "Oh, these poor creatures, I collect
them from the streets and I give them one pisatster per day, so that they should not die from starvation.
They are children of Armenians, slaughtered by the Turks. If I do not shelter them, they would die of
hunger. Nobody cares for them. They can afford nothing, they are too weak... Werfel and I left the
place, nothing from now on seemed to be of importance or beauty..."
This moving moment provokes, beyond any irony, two questions:
How is it possible that AD 1929, fourteen years after the tragic events of 1915, starved out Armenian
children, apparently not older than four or five years, could be orphans, begetted 1914, children whose
 ERICH FEIGL
100

parents were "slaughtered by Turks" AD 1915??

And: Who made money out of these poor children? Who let them work for one piaster a day in a carpet
factory? A Turk? Or an Armenian slave-owner?
The reason, why Alma Werfel was so moved when she saw these poor children we explained already.
She had lost three of her four children and when the Werfels were at Damascus she was already far
beyond the age of another motherhood. Anyhow, she could somehow substitute her personal tragedy
with the doubtless tragic story of the Armenians who were victims of their own fanatic leaders.
There is little difference between the Taliban of today and the ASALA, the Dashnaks and all the other
fanatics, including the Nazis, who put their race or racism and nationalism beyond any reasonable
thought. And, again beyond reasonable fact-finding until our days nobody cares for the horrible fate of
the Turks and their children who suffered much more than the Armenians under the circumstances of
1915 and later... the death-toll Muslims: Armenians counts 3:1 in a civil war which was instigated,
again beyond any doubt, by the Armenian fanatics.

The poet and his world

Anyhow, to understand Franz Werfel (and his "40 Days") one has to know about his roots and environ-
ment. He was born in Prague, 188o, in those happy days capital of the kingdom of Bohemia under the
rule of Kaiser Franz Joseph I., king of Bohemia, House of Hapsburg. Werfel, son of a wealthy Jewish
glove manufacturer surrounded himself with poets like Franz Kafka ("The Castle", "The Trial") or Rai-
ner Maria Rilke. In 1911 he published his first poetry volume.
Typical for the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy the young poet was, at the beginning of the war, 1914, like
other writers and artists transferred to the Military Press Bureau. Werfel never forgot this token of tole-
rance.

By and by Werfel published a series of plays and

became as popular as well-to do. But 1929 and
the years later his and the public´s conception of
world-history reached a new dimension.

Such a man as Dr. Joseph Goebbels had no tro-

uble recognizing how dangerous Franz Werfel
was ... and his book of course ended up being
burned in public, in accordance with a practice
which only testifies to the low character of the
many regimes and potentates who have resorted
In 1915, when the great resettlement of the Armenians began, the railroad
lines from central Anatolia ended in Pozant›, in the middle of the Taurus to it: it was the fate of the works of Arius and Sa-
Mountains. From there, one had to continue by road to Syria. It was not un-
til 1916 that the Germans were able to complete the railroad to Aleppo. vonarola, and also of the Papal bull Exurge Do-
From Pozant› on, all travelers had to walk or use wagons. The transportati-
on of military supplies was also accomplished with the simplest of means. mine when it was burnt by Martin Luther. But
(The photo shows troops on their way across the Taurus Mountains to Syri-
the censoring of Franz Werfel's masterpiece was a
a.)
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
101

The French Fleet at Musa Dagh

particularly perfidious kind of book-burning, for while it was in public praised to the (Armenian) skies,
in secret it was cut, falsified and meddled with.
Today, however, precisely the passages cut from the original provide the knowledgeable reader with
proof of the deception to which Werfel fell victim when writing his masterpiece.
 ERICH FEIGL
102

Adolf Hitler, this uneducated jobless Austrian

who hated nothing more than the Hapsburgs and
the Hebrews gained more and more power in
Germany. One of the secrets of his success was
his ardent, fanatical fight against everything Je-
wish (although exactly these people had helped
him to survive during his needy years in Vienna
where he had spent his life in an alms-house.)
When the Nazis occupied Austria (1938) Werfel
went to Paris, where he became one of the best
cooperators of Austria´s young emperor Otto von
Habsburg (son of Charles I.), in these days the
only one who fought with a handful of friends
against the Nazi-aggression and for the renaissan-
ce of an independent Austria. From Paris Werfel
and his wife could escape to America, just like
Otto von Habsburg and his family. Werfel could
establish himself again as a great writer. "The
Song of Bernadette" e, g. ... nearly one million of
copies sold, alone 20th Century Fox bought the
rights for US$125 000! And the film again beca-
me a world success.) Unfortunately a book like
the "Song of Bernadette" which deals with the
miracles of Lourdes, a book which brought total
credibility within the Christian world contributed
also to his authenticity as an attorney of the Ar-
menian case. The real power of the Armenians: better education, motivation,
He died in his villa in Beverly Hills, August 1945, obligation, nation. A. C. Swinburne remarked, perhaps these or
similar pictures in mind a century ago: "Not with dreams but with
his grave is in Vienna´s Zentralfriedhof. blood and with iron shall a nation be moulded at last." What a
tragic word, what a horrible result...

They followed just an appeal for rescue: With the

most modern equipment of those days the French
fleet had been alarmed that the Armenians of Musa Dagh had failed to conquer the road between Ana-
tolia and Syria which would have cut the Ottoman Empire into two pieces. As soon as it was clear that
the Armenian revolt on Musa Dagi had been a failure, the French rescue fleet, consisting of five battles-
hips and one transport ship, appeared in the Bay of Samanda¤ and evacuated the Armenian mercenaries.
Around 4.000 young men were transferred to Suez and Cyprus from where, after continued military
training, they once more fought against Turkey.
The French fleet consisted of the warship Guichen, Desaix, Jeanne D´Ark, D´Estres, Foudre and the
transporter Charner. If anyone can be described as "helpless" in this case, then it was the Ottomans, as
they had not a single warship at their disposal nor were they prepared for an internal fight against their
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
103

own Armenian citizens, who had led not only a

peaceful but also an extremely prosperous life un-
der their rule.
If we seek evidence in Werfel´s work for these
facts we have to read - unbelievable but a fact -
those parts of the book, which do not appear in
his book, at least not in the latest English and
French editions.
At any rate the Armenian mafia has already made
I fine job. Werfels "40 Days..." had, in their
hands, to undergo a true "purgatorium"... they
clent the book from all passages which could
create doubts at the reader or any historian. Armenians from Musa Dagh Reinforcements for the Armenian
"Légion d'Orient" in Suez. The thoroughly able-bodied men were
intended to be trained up and put into action on the Syrian front,
Let us forget many of the "minor" omitments, alt- but were in fact soon withdrawn from active service on account of
their notorious cruelty and cowardice. All that was
hough they are all typical and fit in a pattern to left at the end of the day was - as usual - a myth, bereft of any fac-
make Werfel´s statements as plausible as possible. tual foundation. Several thousand fighters from Musa Dagh were
trained in Egypt and Cyprus... but their behavior was so cruel and
If, for instance Werfel goes to very far to describe
shameless that France and England decided to call
Enver Pasha as a kind of travestite who loves his them back from service at the front.
female hands and his cufflinks more than the
words of the great (falsificator) Pastor Lepsius,
they delete these words. But although typical, it is
not essential.
The truth behind the story is: Did the Armenians start a civil war right in the days when the Russian
army advanced towards Van? This is the point.

Now, carefully reading the words of Franz Werfel (translated from the original German edition) we re-
ceive the inner message of the falsifications Werfel had fallen victim. He writes about the preliminary
victory of the well equipped Armenians from Musa Dagh:
"Therefore a war ending in defeat often means a set back of such races for decades whereas other peop-
les less military-minded are able to overcome military misfortune far more easily and more productively.
But the most horrible humiliation for a belligerent upper class is to be taught in a bloody lesson by an
"inner enemy", i. e. an inferior minority ..."

Excuse me for this intermission but we hear now something so sensational that it has to be announced
in a proper way: "... i e. an inferior minority oriented to trade, the crafts, and education."

Armenians from Musa Dagh Reinforcements for the Armenian "Légion d'Orient" in Suez. The thoro-
ughly able-bodied men were intended to be trained up and put into action on the Syrian front, but were
in fact soon withdrawn from active service on account of their notorious cruelty and cowardice. All that
was left at the end of the day was - as usual - a myth, bereft of any factual foundation. Several thousand
 ERICH FEIGL
104

fighters from Musa Dagh were trained in Egypt and Cyprus... but their behavior was so cruel and sha-
meless that France and England decided to call them back from service at the front.
Back to the "40 Days..." and the reason of the civil war. Werfel says that the Turkish defeats in Urfa
and Van were of less importance for the Turks than this minor and temporary defeat at Musa Dagh
"because these (Van, Urfa) were very populous Armenian towns whose insurrection was under the ban-
ner of the Russian advance." True! "From the foreign policy angle, the desperate appeal of Van was
even highly welcome in view of the advancing enemy of the Empire because, before the eyes of the
world, it supplied the best possible excuse to justify, a posteriory, the crimes against the Armenian Mil-
let very convincingly. There you have clear proof that the Armenians are traitors and that we have to
free ourselves from them. The raison d´etat has never considered it too important to make a gracious
turn from cause to effect. The bad conscience of the world, too lazy to think, the press of the groups in
power and readers´ distorted brain always turned and understood matters only the way they wanted
them. In certain places one could write with indignition, and read with even greater indignition, about
the matter of Van: Yes, the Armenians have risen in arms against the Ottoman leading nation which is
involved in a serious war, and have defeated to the Russians".
Remark: It was not only a serious war (which war is not serious?) but a war of survival fought at the
frontiers of Suez, Sinai, Mekka and Medina, Basra and Baghdad, the Dardanelles, the shores of the
Black Sea, Eastern Anatolia, the Caucasus...
"The Vilayets inhabited by Armenians therefore have to be freed from that people by deportation" Simi-
lar statements could be read in their Turkish announcements, but not the reverse which was the truth:
"In despair about the deportation, started long before, the Armenians of Van and Urfa defended them-
selves against the Turkish military power until they were rescued by the advancing
Russians".

The fact that the clever Armenians or their servants deleted this fundamental original passage in their
translation has a reason: It is absolutely clear that the Armenians of Van started the insurrection behind
the Ottoman lines already in February 1915, waiting for the Russian offensive. Before the Russians had
reached Van they had already extinguished the whole Muslim (Turks and Kurds alike) population of
Van with all the neighboring villages. Meanwhile there is also archeological evidence of these mass-mur-
ders as countless mass-graves with Muslim victims have been spotted, excavated and identified.
The initial signal was given by the Armenians, well equipped, young and powerful. The Turks defended

Abraham Sever:
My dear departed friend, Franz Werfel, who wrote that book, "The 40 Days at Moussa
Dagh", never was in that region to investigate what he wrote. He wrote it as his Armenian
friends in Vienna had told him. Before his death, Werfel told me that he felt ashamed and
contrite for having written the book and for the many falsehoods and fabrications the
Armenians had foisted on him. But he dared not confess publicly for fear of death by the
Dashnag terrorists.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
105

their lands at the frontiers, leaving behind aging

people, gendarms beyond any fighting power or
ability. Thanks God the triumph of the Armenians
was documented by themselves, photographs and
reports were sent to the Entente-magazines. There
is no doubt about the origin of the calamities and
one - just one, but an important one - is the fact
that the Armenian mafia wanted to get rid of
Werfel´s statement concerning Van.

The bed-sheets of the

Musa Dagh-fighters
A poet is a poet and a novelist a novelist. But how
can bed-sheets be a message for a battleship, A grotesque picture from the training camp of the
"Legionaries" on the Suez Canal. I discovered these photos in the
cruising somewhere in the Mediterranean? museum at the Invalides, Paris, in time, before the Armenian mafia
Let us imagine the situation: Armenians from could affect their disappearance ... just as they have done with so
many other documents and pictures before.
Musa Dagh take some white(?) bed-sheets and
write in big letters (in that situation: from where
the colors, the ink?) CHRISTIANS IN NEED! and
expose these textiles at the beach. Now, what a
miracle: A French fleet, headed by the Jeanne d´
Arc appears all at a sudden at the shores of Musa
Dagh, frees the poor Armenians and disappears.
The story is so childish that it is impossible to
take the CHRISTANS IN NEED as a fact. The
truth is that the entire insurrection of Musa Dagh
was well prepared by the Armenians and the
Entente. The aim was, to cut the Ottoman Empire
into two pieces, separating Anatolia from Syria
and the Suez. They were equipped with the most Musa Dagh, the ship´s gun of the GUICHET and
modern wireless of those days to communicate Armenian insurgents, fresh, healthy, ready for the next fight. No
trace of hunger, exhaustion. The Armenian revolt at the probably
with the French fleet which stood in waiting-posi- most vulnerable point of the Ottoman Empire between Anatolia
tion near Musa Dagh, ready for operation. and Syria was in each detail with the help of the French best pre-
pared. The real victims -nobody speaks about them -were the
The "poor, miserable and starving Armenians" Turkish farmers of Samanda¤ and their families.
proved immediately after their rescue that they we-
re powerful young fighters and the French and the
British made immediately after their transfer to Su-
ez and Cyprus practical use of them. They fought
within Armenian battalions and they were fighting
in such a way against the Ottomans that the French
and British authorities withdrew them from the
front because their behavior was intolerable.
 ERICH FEIGL
106

Anyhow, Werfel´s novel is a masterpiece, a gem in the crown of world literature. But it is at the same ti-
me shameless fiction, a story which paved the way for Armenian terrorism and aggression until today. It
delivered the absurd raison d´ etre of a nation which can not survive without the backbone of marty-
rdom, while they are the most aggressive nation of our age as we can witness their crime and crimes
against Azerbaijan. In that sense the "40 Days of Musa Dagh" is not a bible, but a pamphlet, finally not
better than Hitlers "Mein Kampf". It´s a peak of absurdity. Because Werfel and his - our - world fell
victim of this pamphlet too.

Back to the "40 Days": Doubtless the poet Werfel had a foreboding presentiment of evil. Towards the
end of the twenties, at the beginning of Hitler’s incredible rise... what should he do?

Searching for a story his wife Alma remembered a visit to an Armenian carpet-factory in Damascus,
where he had seen Armenian orphans working at the weaver´s looms. Armenian go-betweens immedia-
tely recognizing that they got a turn provided him with "material", stuff which consisted of Aram Ando-
nians "documents".

Werfel´s substratum of "truth"

fiinasi Orel and Süreyya Yuca published at the be-
ginning of the eighties a blue-book "The Talat
Pasha Telegrams - Historical fact or Armenian fic-
tion" (K. Rustem &Brother, Levkosa, ISBN 9963-
565-07-7) where they precisely disprove the Ar-
menian allegations. They write: "For many years
a campaign has been directed against Turkey with
the claim that Armenians were "massacred" by
the Ottoman Government during the First World
War.
After the Second World War the term "Genocide"
was added to these "massacre" charges, with the
intention of bringing to mind the Nazi holocaust
of European Jewry... Immediately following the
First World War... the claim was advanced to en-
sure that a share of the Ottoman territories... wo-
uld be set aside for the Armenians."
As we know, powers love the treason but never
the traitors and the Armenians were all at a sud-
den empty-handed. In this situation an unknown
Armenian named Aram Andonian produced a col- fiinasi Orel und Süreyya Yuca unmasked Andonian´s claim
that Armenians were "massacred" by the Ottomans. The
lection of "official papers" under the title The me- authors compiled the forged "historical" documents. They are
moirs of Naim Bey: Turkish official documents indeed "historical" in the sense of a unique effort to betray
relation which to the deportations and Massacres world opinion.

of Armenians" which should brand mark the

Turks as a nation of murderers, not worthy to ha-
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
107

ve a state of their own.

Andonian published this work 1920 in Paris, Lon-
don and Boston and distributed it worldwide in
French, English and Armenian. "Since that day
these "documents were the backbone of their cla-
ims" writes fiinasi Orel in his book "and until re-
cent no one had subjected Andonians falsificati-
ons". But with the scientific approach of fiinasi
Orel and Süreyya Yuca to unmask this typical Ar-
menian forgery, more than half of a century too
late, Andonians fame ended in shame. In the book
of Orel and Yuca we find an initial remark, an ex-
cuse by the noble authors who did not want to
blame their government(s) "Turkey, the modern
Republic, had more important things to do than
deal with Armenian propaganda". I doubt. In my Talat Pasha, the former grand vizier and Ottoman-Turkish minis-
ter of the interior was shot by the Armenian student Soghomon
opinion it would have been one of the most im- Tehlirian on March 15, 1921, in Berlin. To the amazement of all
portant tasks of the Turkish authorities to blame those following the trial, the assassin was acquitted at the Berlin
the Armenians immediately after the appearance court of law. The jury came up with the paradoxical statement
that it was not the murderer but the victim himself who was guilty
of these "papers". Actually the were no papers at of the deed: Talat Pasha, they claimed, had been responsible for
all, all what Andonian had to show were photog- the deportation of the Armenians.
raphic reproductions. They disappeared meanwhi-
le, and as good as all copies of this forgery have
been removed from public libraries in order to hi-
de the truth about the falsifications.
Unfortunately Werfel got these "documents", a
fact, which can be easily demonstrated by several
passages in his book, e. g. when he describes the
moment of Talat´s decision to extinguish the Ar-
menian race:
"The same forthright and stumpy fingers (of Talat
Pasha) had composed that order sent out to the
walis and mutessarifs: The goal of these deportati-
ons is annihilation."

These dramatic words fit perfectly with Andoni-

an´s fake papers where, already in "document No
1 the word appears: "Of course the Government
will give the necessary instructions about their ne-
cessary massacres to the Governors "and the next
document states, by November 18, 1915, "It is Part of the Armenian cemetery at Musa Dagh: The sarcophagi
the duty of all of us to effect on the broadest lines stem from 1923. Until today there is a rather prosperous
Armenian community at Musa Dagh. Who was responsible for the
the realisation of the noble project of wiping out tragic events of 1915? Not the Ottomans but the Armenian war-
of existence the Armenians..." lords, useful idiots of their French, English an Russian puppeteers.
 ERICH FEIGL
108

For sure one has to read this nonsense twice befo-

re believing that a forger could have expressed
such humbug after Turks, Muslims and others
had lived together for nearly a millennium.
But Werfel took it - did he take it really? - for
truth. I think that he finally considered his real
aim, the fight against the rising Nazis for more
important than these old stories about the Otto-
man Empire which did not exist anymore. For su-
re he did not expect that the Armenians would ta-
ke his fictions for the base of her terror against
Turkish diplomats and so many others who had
in no way to do with these allegations.
For sure he did not xpect that his novel will Henry Morgenthau (1856-1946), lawyer, real estate developer,
was United States ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during the
became the basement of that what is called in Armenian "Genocide." Hoping to get the United States involved
Germen "RUFMORD" - character assassination. in the war, the ambassador freely accepted at face value any and
"Rufmord" means perhaps even more, because all reports critical of the Turks, as they arrived from the network
of U.S. consuls, relying mainly on the claims of Armenians and
"Ruf" means one´s reputation, credibility, honor... missionaries. It didn't help that Morgenthau had an unabashed,
and "Mord" is "murder". The old DAMNITIO racist dislike for Turks, looking upon them as inferior beings...
and outraged that any Christian should be ruled by such a subhu-
MEMORIAE might have been more tolerant. man race - a view shared by many of his contemporaries... includ-
Meanwhile Werfel´s novel became a kind of pub- ing most of his Consuls.
lic general opinion, is considered as a "historical
fact" and not as a great "story" which has hardly
to do with "history". It seems that zombies, those
"revived corpses" like Morgenthau, Aram and
Hagop Andonian or Pastor
Johannes Lepsius will reign some time more... but,
finally, in the light of bright sunshine, they will
vanish.

A Gang of Forgers
Henry Morgenthau (1856-1946), lawyer, real
estate developer, was United States ambassador to
the Ottoman Empire during the Armenian
"Genocide." Hoping to get the United States
Hagop Andonian was Ambassador Morgenthau's right hand man
involved in the war, the ambassador freely accept- who may have played a significant part in making up
ed at face value any and all reports critical of the "Ambassador Morgenthau's Story." He apparently typed the tran-
script called "Diary," among the collections of Morgenthau
Turks, as they arrived from the network of U.S. papers. Likewise, he probably also prepared the lengthy weekly
consuls, relying mainly on the claims of letters to members of Morgenthau's family. The American ambas-
Armenians and missionaries. It didn't help that sador wrote that this relieved him "of all responsibility for any
error," and these were the writings that formed the basis of the
Morgenthau had an unabashed, racist dislike for book. Morgenthau further wrote that his secretary's services
Turks, looking upon them as inferior beings... and were "indispensable."
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
109

outraged that any Christian should be ruled by

such a subhuman race - a view shared by many of
his contemporaries... including most of his
Consuls.
Although Jewish, Morgenthau fancied himself a
hero of Christians, as evidenced by his continued
articles for the Armenian cause (especially in his
succeeding role as Vice-Chairman of Near East
Relief, an organization that vilified the Turks in
order to raise money... becoming the most suc-
cessful charity in American history) and by his
egoistical decision to appear in the 1919 film,
RAVISHED ARMENIA, as himself. (In his book,
the superior American tells Talat Pasha that his
"affairs are too important to be trifled with,"
after which Talat buckles under.) He allowed his
Armenian secretary to elaborate on his own writ-
ings, further suggesting doing so would let him off
the hook for "any error." A ghost writer scribed
Aram Andonian, writer and forger, who had separately published
the commercially popular "Ambassador
a 1920 book ("The Memoirs of Naim Bey") in three languages
Morgenthau's Story," which deviated, at times (English, French and Armenian), either referred to or printed so-
significantly, from the letters and diaries it was called "documents" that he attributed to the Ottoman leaders,
principally to Talat Pasha... never being able to show the originals
based on; the book is still referred to as one of the of the so-called "documents," later claiming to have "lost" them.
big bits of evidence for the "Genocide," complete While the victors of the First World War were searching all cor-
with presenting the made-up quotes by Turkish ners for such documents to accuse the Ottoman leaders, then
detained in the Island of Malta, they chose not to assess the
officials as authentic. The book contains many "telegrams" fabricated by Andonian. Aram Andonian eventually
racist lines such as, "The Turks, like most primi- admitted, in a letter (July 26, 1937) to an Armenian lady (Mary
tive peoples, wear their emotions on the sur- Terzian) residing in Geneva (Switzerland) that his book was not a
historical piece, but a propaganda work, and that others used it
face..."; no wonder the Armenians hero-worship freely in the way that they preferred.
this man.
Andonian followed his boss to America, and was
a guest at Morgenthau's dinner table and even a
sometime movie companion; eligible for the draft
in 1918, Morgenthau got him out by insisting his
friend's services were indispensable for the writing
of his book. Andonian might have been related to
fellow maker-upper Aram Andonian, as it has
been speculated "Andonian" is not that common
a name in the Armenian community.
Anyhow, to understand Franz Werfel (and his "40
Days") one has to examine the author's roots and
his environment. Werfel was born in Prague in
1880, which was in those fortunate days capital
of the kingdom of Bohemia, under the rule of
 ERICH FEIGL
110

Kaiser Franz Joseph I., belonging to the House of Habsburg. Werfel, who was the son of a wealthy
Jewish glove manufacturer was surrounded by poets like Franz Kafka
("The Castle", "The Trial") or Rainer Maria Rilke. In 1911 he pub-
lished his first poetry volume.
The young poet was transferred to the Military Press Bureau like other
writers and artists, which was typical for the Austro-Hungarian
Monarchy, at the beginning of the war in 1914. Werfel never forgot this
token of tolerance. By and by Werfel published a series of plays and
became as popular as well-to do. But starting in 1929 his and the pub-
lic´s conception of world-history reached a new dimension.
Adolf Hitler, this uneducated jobless Austrian, who hated nothing more
than the Habsburgs and the Jews, gained more and more power in
Germany. One of the secrets of his success was his ardent, fanatical
fight against everything Jewish (although exactly these people had
helped him to survive during his needy years in Vienna where he had
spent his life in an alms-house).
When the Nazis occupied Austria in 1938, Werfel went to Pastor Johannes Lepsius (1858- 1926) one of the styli-
Paris. Later he became one of the best co-operators of tes for the anti-Turkish Armenian mafia. Until recent
Austria´s young heir to the crown Otto von Habsburg (son years he was the last resort for them, after the total un-
masking of Andonian, Morgenthau & Co. Meanwhile
of Charles I.). Otto von Habsburg was in those days the only we know that also Lepsius was an unscrupulous mani-
one, who together with a handful of friends fought against pulator. (Read: Cem Özgönül´s documentation
the Nazi-aggression and the renaissance of an independent "Der Mythos eines Völkermordes") The damage,
created by Lepsius is beyond description as also Franz
Austria. Later Werfel and his wife could escape from Paris to Werfel fell victim to Lepsius´ falsifications.
America, just like Otto von Habsburg and his family did.
Werfel, again, could establish himself as a great writer. His
novel "The Song of Bernadette" sold nearly one million
copies. 20th Century Fox bought the rights for US$125 000 to make a movie! Just like the novel, the
film became a world success, too. Unfortunately a book like "The Song of Bernadette",
which deals with the miracles of Lourdes, a book, which brought a complete credibility within the
Christian world, contributed also to Werfel's authenticity as an advocate of the Armenian case.

The Forgeries of Aram Andonian and Johannes Lepsius

In the First World War, the Ottoman Empire fought on the side of the Central Powers - Germany, Aus-
tria-Hungary, and Bulgaria - against the Entente powers - England, France and their allies. At least since
that time, the Ottomans have been accused of a conscious policy of extermination towards their Arme-
nian minority.
During the war, such accusations belonged to the standard repertoire of war propaganda, as used by all
nations in all times. In the case of the Ottomans and their Turkish heirs, however, events took a more
dramatic course than usual.
The virulent attacks on Turkey did not let up. On the contrary, the Ottomans were soon being accused
of massacre, and after the Second World War the word became genocide. The intention here was obvio-
usly to draw a parallel between the fate of the Armenians in the turmoil of the First World War and
Hitler's extermination policies towards the Jewish people.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
111

The basis for the accusations against the Ottomans (and later against the Turks) was a book written by
Aram Andonian in 1920, The Memoirs of Nairn Bey: Turkish Official Documents Relating to the
Deportations and Massacres of Armenians — in French, Documents Officiels concernant les mass acres
armeniens. He published his book simultaneously in Paris, London, and Boston - in English, French, and
Armenian. Ever since then, these "Documents" have formed the backbone and the basis of all Armenian
accusations against the Ottomans and their Turkish heirs. Aram Andonian claims to have met an
Ottoman official by the name of Nairn Bey in Aleppo, after the entry of the British. This official suppos-
edly passed the papers with the death orders to Andonian. Without going any further into the serious
differences between the French and English editions of these "Documents Officiels", it must be said that
after having studied both editions it is no longer clear whether these are supposed to be the memoirs of
Nairn Bey or of Aram Andonian. In the text of the English edition, there are altogether forty-eight "offi-
cial Ottoman documents" scattered
through the book. These are attributed to the following persons and institutions:

Person/Organization Number of documents

Minister of the Interior Talat Pasha 30
Director of the Settlement Commission
of Aleppo, Abdülahad Nuri Bey 8
Governor of Aleppo, Abdulhalik Bey 3
Committee of Union and Progress
(the government party at the time, to
which Enver and Talat Pashas also belonged 2
Minister of War Enver Pasha 1
Ministry of the Interior 1
Governor of the region Deir es Zor, 1
Governor of the region Antep, Zeki Bey 1
Ahmed Bey Unknown 1

Not all of these "documents" are complete. Sometimes the date is missing, sometimes the serial number,
occasionally both. All in all, exactly half are lacking in some way. The originals of the papers copied by
Andonian were never seen. Photographs of fourteen "documents" appear in his books. When asked for
the originals, he claimed they were lost. Not a single one of the documents reproduced by Andonian can
be found today. They were probably destroyed to make it more difficult to prove that they
were forgeries.

Andonian made so many mistakes in preparing the papers, however, that it is possible to prove with
absolute certainty that they were forgeries, even without the originals.

Wrong dates:
The simplest, absolutely irrefutable proof of the forgery involves Andonian's incorrect use of calendar
information. To give just one example, Andonian has the governor of Aleppo signing documents at a
time when he had not yet been named to the post and was still living in Istanbul. Naturally, for his for-
 ERICH FEIGL
112

geries Andonian used the Rumi calendar, which was in use in the Ottoman Empire at the time. The
Rumi (Roman) calendar of the Ottomans was a special variation on the common Islamic calendar,
which takes the Hegira (Mohammed's emigration from Mecca to Medina in 622 A. D.) as a starting
point. Because it used lunar years, it was only necessary to subtract 584 years to convert from the
Gregorian to the Rumi year. 1987 A. D., for example, would be 1403 on the Rumi calendar. There is
another trick, however. In addition to the 584 years, one also has to figure in a difference of thirteen
days. Moreover, the Rumi calendar began on March 1. That meant that the last two months of the
Rumi calendar (January and February) were already the first months of the Christian calendar.

The correct date - according to the Christian calendar - for these last two months of the Rumi calendar
is obtained by adding 584 plus one year. An example:
January 5 of the year 1331 (Rumi) corresponds to January 18, 1916 (1331+584+1 and 13 days).
That, however, is still not all the tricks. As mentioned above, the Ottoman year always began on March
1. In February 1917, the difference of thirteen days between the Rumi and Gregorian calendars was
eliminated in order to facilitate conversion. The difference of 584 years remained unchanged, however.
Thus, February 16, 1332 (February 1917) suddenly became March 1, 1333 (March 1, 1917 A. D.). At
the same time, the year 1333 (1917) was made into a year with only ten months, running from
March 1 to December 31.
January 1, 1334 thus became January 1, 1918 A. D. (Note: the Turkish Republic adopted the Gregorian
calendar in 1925, so that the Rumi year 1341 became 1925 A.D.) These calendar technicalities may
seem very complicated and uninteresting. They are, however, of tremendous importance in connection
with The Forty Days of Musa Dagh and the forgeries of Aram Andonian, which at first fooled Franz
Werfel.
In considering the dating (and the sequential numbering) of the "Andonian papers" and the authentic
documents, one must also keep in mind that the numbering of the incoming and outgoing documents
always began with March 1 (1333 Rumi = 1917 A. D.) and continued sequentially through February 28
(the last day of the Rumi year). It was then "New Year's" once again on March 1.
In forging the most important of his "documents", which he called Number 1, Aram Andonian already
committed a serious error. Here is the text of the most important part of this "document":

Document No. 1
"In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful, To the delegate at Adana, Jemal Bey.
February 18, 1331 (March 2, 1916). (Note: This is the
date which appears on Andonian's original Turkish 'document'. See below for discrepancies in the
French and English editions.)
The only force in Turkey that is able to frustrate the political life of the ‹ttihad and Terakki (Committee
of Union and Progress) is the Armenians. From news which has frequently been received lately from
Cairo, we learn that the Dashnaktsutiun is preparing a decisive attack against the Jemiet."
After a short transition, the alleged "Document No. 1"
comes to the following conclusion: "The Jemiet has decided to save the fatherland from the ambition of
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
113

this cursed race, and to take on its own patriotic

shoulders the stain which will blacken Ottoman
history. The Jemiet, unable to forget all old scores
and past bitterness, full of hope for the future, has
decided to annihilate all Armenians living in
Turkey, without leaving a single one alive, and it
has given the Government a wide scope with
regard to this. Of course the Government will give
the necessary injunctions about the necessary mas-
sacres to the Governors ..."
After some further details, the "document" ends
with an unreadable signature.
For the sake of completeness, is should also be
mentioned that this key letter in Andonian's col-
lection of documents is dated February 18, 1331
(February 18, 1915) in the original French version
of his book, but bears the date February 8, 1331
(March 25, 1915) in the English version. The
original Turkish text, however, clearly bears the
date February 18, 1331. Let us recall: according
to the rules of calendar conversion, February 18,
1331 corresponds to March 2, 1916. (1916 was a
A letter forged by Aram Andonian with the date, February 18,
1331 (March 2, 1916). The letter opens with a "Bismillah" (bles- leap year, so February had 29 days).
sing), which would never have been written by a Muslim. The for-
ger, Andonian, made his most fatal mistake with the date, howe-
ver. He was obviously not well enough versed in the tricks of con-
verting to the Rumi year of the Ottomans, where a difference of
thirteen days between the Rumi and Gregorian calendars must be
taken into account. The date he put on the letter was off by a full It does not correspond to February 18,1915, as in
year. Instead of 1330 (1915), he wrote 1331 (1916). The contents
of the letter are supposed to be evidence of the long advance plan- the French translation, nor to March 25, 1915, as
ning of the resettlement operation of 1915. in the English translation. In other words, Aram
Andonian should have written 1330 instead of
1331 if he wanted to forge the correct date. A let-
ter written on March 2, 1916 can hardly have
brought about events that are supposed to have
occurred nine months earlier!
Anyone who thinks that this might have just been
an accident, a mistake on the official's part, will
be set straight by "Document No. 2" in
Andonian's collection. The second letter in his col-
lection should naturally have been dated March
A murder weapon in the hands of the forger, Andonian: a Morse
telegraph of that period. 25, 1332 (April 7, 1916), but in fact bears the
 ERICH FEIGL
114

date March 25, 1331. It is quite clear that the forger simply knew too little about the Ottoman calendar
and overlooked these tricky details in converting.
The Turkish historians fiinasi Orel and Sürreya Yuca published an extensive scientific work in 1983 con-
cerning the forgeries of Aram Andonian. They follow up on all the details (there are hundreds) of the
unsuccessful forgeries. These range from dates and counterfeit signatures to trans mogrified greetings
such as "Bismillahs", which no Muslim would ever have dared to write.
A particularly insidious section of the forged Andonian papers deals with the "broadening of the mas-
sacre" – in particular to include children. This section is brilliantly done from a psychological stand-
point. One "document" of this type reads as follows:

Document No. 4
Deciphered copy of a ciphered telegram of the Ministry of the Interior. No. 502, September 3, 1331
(September 16, 1915).
"We recommend that the operations which we have ordered you to make shall be first carried out on
the men of the said people (the Armenians), and that you shall subject the women and children to them
also. Appoint reliable officials for this.
The Minister of the Interior,
Talat
Note:
To Abdülhalad Nuri Bey. September 5. Have you met with the commandant of the gendarmerie?
The governor,
Mustafa Abdülhalik"

Aside from the fact that the governor's signature is clearly (and crudely) forged, Andonian was sloppy
and let another blunder slip through in composing this telegram. No "Governor Mustafa Abdülhalik"
could possibly have had anything to do with an administrative act in Aleppo on September 3 or
September 5. The governor of Aleppo at that time was Bekir Sami Bey. Mustafa Abdülhalik was
still in Istanbul at the beginning of September. He took office in Aleppo on October 10, 1915. There is
indeed a telegram from September 3, 1331 in the Ottoman archives addressed to the governor of
Aleppo, Bekir Sami Bey. At any rate, it bears the serial number 78 and not Andonian's fantasy number
502. It appears that Franz Werfel, in writing The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, was especially moved by
Andonian's chapter on "The Broadening of the Massacre". It was no longer just the men who were to
be killed (according to Andonian's forgeries). Now, the women and children were to be put to death as
well. Twelve of Andonian's "documents" deal with this issue. Five of them are supposed to be from
Talat Pasha himself. Fortunately, these telegrams were especially easy to expose as crude forgeries, based
on several criteria (date, signature, names, serial number).
Franz Werfel was at first completely convinced by the forgeries of Aram Andonian. He undoubtedly also
believed the stories of his circle in Vienna, who supplied him with reports of "the crimes of the Turks".
It is thus understand able that he passes judgement on the Mevlevi dervishes without having any clear
idea of Islamic mysticism or the objectives of the dervish order of the Mevlevi. Occasionally Franz
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
115

Werfel's comments are clearly in tended (by his

informants) to appeal to certain instincts. One
example is when he is speaking of Ottoman
Minister of War Enver Pasha and calls him a
"vain playboy of the Ottoman Empire". Another
example follows a description of the meditation
exercises of the Mevlevi dervishes, where Werfel
writes, "The love-celebration here below him did
not come out of the mind, the spirit, but out of
these wild contortions of the body," – as if the
harmonious movements of the whirling Mevlevi
dervishes had anything whatsoever to do with
"wild contortions"! But in light of the monumen-
tal task that Franz Werfel had set for him self, all
this might well be overlooked.
The forged signature of Governor Mustafa Halik, who had not even been
named to his post yet at the time Andonian had him "signing".
Franz Werfel knew that he had
been taken in by forgeries
Abraham Sou Sever is a Sephardic Jew, born in Iz-
mir, Turkey, before World War I. He later emigra-
ted to the United States and now lives in California.
Abraham Sou Sever has filed a written Deposition
and Testimonial in which he tells the truth about
the Armenians' "genocide" claims and their propa-
ganda methods from his own personal life experien-
ces and knowledge. Particularly significant is his tes-
timony on Franz Werfel. Mr. Sever's notarized de-
position has been transmitted to research instituti-
ons in the United States as part of a writ ten and
oral history collection on the Armenian claims for a
genocide. Here is what Mr. Sever has to say about
Franz Werfel and the events which took place on
Musa Dagh: "Moussa Dagh (Mount Moussa), if the
truth be known, is the best evidence of the Armeni-
an duplicity and rebellion. Fifty thousand Armeni-
ans, all armed, ascended the summit of that moun-
tain after provisioning it to stand siege. Daily sallies
from that summit of armed bands attacked the rear
of the Ottoman armies, and disappeared into the
A page of an old calender, multi-cultural and multi-lingual as the Ottoman
mountain. Empire presented life-style: No surprise that the crook Andonian was
When the Ottomans finally discovered the fortifica- caught in his own trap...
tion the Armenians had prepared, they could not as-
 ERICH FEIGL
116

sault and invade it. It stood siege for 40 days, which is a good indication of the preparations the Armenians
had made surreptitiously under the very nose of the Ottoman Government. Nor was it ever explained that
the rebellion of the Armenians had been fostered, organized, financed, and supplied with arms and muniti-
ons by the Russians. Leaders of the Armenian revolutionary organization DASHNAGTZOUTIUN have sin-
ce admitted to have been seduced by Russia with promises of independence and a New Armenia. They have
admitted that they were financed and armed by Russia. They have admitted that bands of Armenian revolu-
tionaries had been organized to sabotage and interfere with the Ottoman armies defending their homeland,
even before the Ottoman Government had entered the war against Russia. The thousands who occupied the
summit of Moussa Dagh for 40 days escaped by descending the mountain by a secret exit fronting on the
Mediterranean, while the Ottoman armies were besieging the front of that mountain. The Armenians had
communicated by flambeau signals with the French and British naval ships patrolling the Mediterranean.
Those (thousands) who escaped were taken aboard the ships of the British and French and transported to
Alexandria in Egypt. The Armenians found it to their interest to invent that these thousands had perished -
keeping their rescue by the British and French a secret. Only a small contingent of Armenians who had
remained fighting the Ottomans finally surrendered.
My dear departed friend, Franz Werfel, who wrote that book, The 40 days at Moussa Dagh, never was in
that region to investigate what he wrote. He wrote it as his Armenian friends in Vienna had told him. Before
his death, Werfel told me that he felt ashamed and contrite for having written the book and for the many
falsehoods and fabrications the Armenians had foisted on him. But he dared not confess publicly for fear of
death by the Dashnag terrorists. Christian missionaries had found the Armenians willing and easy converts
from their ancestral orthodox Christianity to the Protestant and Catholic brands. Sympathetic to their con-
verts, they helped spread the false stories of massacre throughout the Western World. Modern day Armeni-
ans heard the false stories from their elders who were never there themselves, but had heard them from the
Dashnag revolutionaries who had made deals with the Czar and the Bolsheviks. The Republic they establis-
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
117

hed died aborning because of the intrigues and subtle dealings typical of the Dashnag fanatics. The false cla-
ims of genocide and holocaust have gained for them great sympathy throughout the Western World.
They cannot tolerate disproof and refutation. They try to stifle and prevent disproof by threats."

The Collapse of the Central Powers and the Continuing Resistance of the
Ottoman Empire
The armistice-agreement ball was opened on the Balkans. On October 2, 1918, the Bulgarian western
front collapsed under the weight of the far superior Allied forces, and Sofia had to capitulate at
Thessalonica. Almost simultaneously, the British and the French made a breach in the Ottoman Palestine
front with strong support from Armenian combat troops.
The Armistice of Mudros between the Ottomans and the Allies came on October 30. Immediately there-
after, British and French ships passed through the Dardanelles, where they had suffered a humiliating
defeat in 1915. A mighty fleet of fifty-five warships now cast anchor beneath the walls of the Caliphs'
city. Admiral Calthorpe, who had signed the Armistice of Mudros for the British side, be came Allied
high commissioner in Istanbul, and was thus the most powerful man in the Ottoman Empire. Austria-
Hungary surrendered in Padua on November 3. The representatives of Germany signed the capitulation
at Compiegne on November 11.
The signing of the peace dictates of Versailles and St. Germain followed fairly soon thereafter, and on June
28 the defeated Germans accepted the dictated peace which would become a major factor leading to the
outbreak of World War II just twenty-one years later. Austria's representatives signed on September 10,
1919. Bulgaria signed at Neuilly on November 27, 1919 (thus losing its access to the Aegean - i.e., the terri-
tory which it had taken from the Ottomans in the Balkan War). Finally, on June 4, 1920, the Kingdom of
Hungary - or what was left of it - had to give in at Trianon.
The culmination of the victors' "triumphs" appeared to have been reached at Sevres. The new rulers of
Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, and Hungary had already submitted helplessly and without resistance to the
conditions of the dictated peace. Now, the same conduct was naturally expected of the representatives of the
Ottoman Empire. They did not disappoint.
The dictate of Sevres was nothing to be ashamed of. At the very worst, it might be compared to what
Austria had been forced to accept at St. Germain. The territory of the Ottoman Empire shrunk to about one
tenth of what it had been in 1912. Armenia, which had only been "discovered" by the Western powers after
the collapse of the Czarist empire, was to take over roughly the area which had been set aside for Russia in
the secret treaties between the Al lied powers.
It is quite remarkable - and undoubtedly painful - that the Ottoman delegation signed this absurd dictate.
There is one excuse: The capital of the Ottoman Empire was occupied by the Allies, and the Sultan was
entirely at the mercy of the victors. Nevertheless, the Ottoman delegation should never have put their signa-
ture to this dictate. A refusal could not possibly have worsened the Sultan's predicament. In the eyes of the
imperial people (the Turks) and the faithful (meaning all the Muslims of the world - the Sultan was, after all,
still the Caliph!), it could only improve. Losing was worse than nothing. At any rate, the dictate of Sevres,
like the earlier one signed at Brest-Litovsk, never took effect. Independently of the Ottoman government in
Istanbul, which in its state of de facto imprisonment could no longer speak for the people, a new Turkish
leadership had been formed in central Anatolia under Mustafa Kemal, who would later be given the hon-
orary title "Father of the Turks" -Atatürk.
 ERICH FEIGL
118

The Struggles for Survival of Turkey and

Armenia: Both Nations Salvage Their
Existence - The Turks in the Form of
Traditional Independence; the
Armenians in the Equally Customary
Form of Limited Sovereignty

Following the peace dictates of Versailles,

St. Germain, Neuilly, and Trianon, a struggle for
survival began. It was the struggle of a drained,
impoverished populace, but for the states of the
defeated Central Powers this struggle could at least
be carried on within new, "safe" borders. For the
Turks, on the other hand, it was not just a struggle
for the bare survival of each individual, it was also
a struggle for a piece of land somewhere where they
could survive. According to the plans of the Allies,
not much more than the region around Ankara was
to be left to the Turks . . . Everything else was
reduced to colonies and occupied territories of the
Allies.
Two zones of power promptly appeared on the ter-
ritory of the time-honored Imperial Ottoman com-
monwealth. First, there was Istanbul with the An Ottoman delegation appointed by the Sultan and led by
Damad Ferid Pasha left Istanbul on June 6, 1920 aboard the
Sultan and his government. They had been con-
French warship "Democratic". They were on their way to Sevres,
demned to impotence by the victorious Allies, where on August 10 they would obediently accept the "peace" dic-
whose forces occupied Istanbul. There was still, tated by the Allies in much the same way as the Austrians and
however, the Turkish heartland - Anatolia. It was Germans had done in Versailles and St. Germain. The dictate
never went into effect, however, because the Turkish National
here that the resistance formed . . . "thanks" not Assembly refused to accept it.
least of all to the invasion of Greek troops, who
were hoping to inherit the defeated Ottoman Empire. On May 15, 1919, more than half a year after the
Armistice of Mudros, a mighty Greek expedition corps landed in Izmir, with the approval of the Allies.
Their objective was to "finally" realize the megali idea, the "grand idea of a Great Greek Empire". Who
was to defend Anatolia against this new, unexpected enemy? On May 19, 1919, Mustafa Kemal Pasha,
disembarked in Samsun. He was determined to organize and lead the national resistance. On September
11, 1919 a congress was held in Sivas. The delegates made it their objective to maintain the integrity of
"the parts of the Ottoman Empire within the borders as they stood at the conclusion of the Armistice of
Mudros, October 30, 1918":
"1. The Ottoman Empire which is within the borders of October 30, 1334 (1918), the date when the
truce between the Great Ottoman State and the Allied States was signed, and every part of which has an
overwhelming majority of Muslims, constitutes a whole, which will not be divided for any reason ..."
The full strength and historical impact of this first clause of the declaration of Sivas have never been fully
appreciated by many people. The principles agreed to by the free congress in Sivas met with the unani-
mous approval of the last Ottoman parliament, which endorsed the entire contents of the proclamation of
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
119

Under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal, Ankara became the center of the Turkish struggle for national survival. View of the old city of Ankara.

Sivas on January 20, 1920. This resolution is known today in Turkey as the "National Pact". With the spirit
of resistance surging up everywhere, the British occupied Istanbul, still the capital of the Ottoman Empire,
on March 16, 1920. The Ottoman parliament was forcibly dissolved. Ottoman dignitaries were arrested by
order of the British, based on the names provided by Ottoman-Armenian informers. These high officials
were suspected of improper conduct towards the Armenians during the war, and they were all shipped off to
Malta. Grand Turkish National Assembly had been founded Ankara in central Anatolia, electing Mustafa
Kemal president on April 23, 1920. From that day on, Ankara was the nerve center of the Turkish national
resistance, which was just getting into full swing.
Up until that time, the Turks had always thought in supranational terms, as the people of an empire, not as
the people of a Turkish national state. Circumstances finally forced the Turkish people, as the last national
group in their multi-national state, to think in national terms as well. It was necessary for survival in a
thoroughly nationalistic environment. Large parts of Anatolia were already under foreign occupation. In
order to defend it, the army was quickly reorganized to fight a war on three fronts, forced upon them by the
occupational forces. In the West, the Greeks had invaded and were already approaching the gates of
Ankara. The Armenians, who were allied with the French, were advancing in the South and had already
brought large parts of Cilicia under their control. In the East, the Armenians, seeing that the Ottoman
Empire had been defeated and expecting its imminent collapse, had already begun realizing their Greater
Armenian dream.
 ERICH FEIGL
120

The Turmoil of a War That Would Not End

Turks and Armenians between the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (December, 1918) and the Treaties of
Gümru, Moscow, and Kars (October, 1921)

Between 1917 and 1918, the collapse of the Russian Czardom robbed the Western powers of their great
Eastern ally, thus giving the Central Powers a little breathing-space. Armenian irregulars continued figh-
ting on the eastern Anatolian and Egyptian-Arabian fronts and attack ing the Turks, Austrians, and Ger-
mans with rhetoric. During this period, the Armenians became a factor to be reckoned with in the battle
against the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Germany, who were all putting up a tough
defense. Now, negotiations were finally held that had a certain real foundation. The concessions made
to Czarist Russia in the Sykes-Picot Agreement had served the Czar's interests, not those of the ever-ho-
peful Armenian extremists (extremist not only in their political methods, but also in their exaggerated
expectations). Communist-Bolshevist Russia would long remain
The routes between Anatolia and an unknown entity. (No one could have guessed that its politics
central Asia (the cradle of the would differ in absolutely no way from those of the Czars; the
Turkic people) are 15.000 years Armenians suspected this least of all!) So after the collapse of the
old. If any nation can claim Czardom, everything that had been promised to the Czars in the
Sykes-Picot Agreement was now promised to the Armenians. It
"squatter's rights" to Eastern
was thus reasonable to expect them to distinguish themselves a
Anatolia, then it is the Turks.
little bit more in the fight against the Ottoman Empire! Lloyd
George, in his well-known flowery style, described Armenia as a
land "soaked with the blood of innocents". Little did he know
that he was telling the truth but that the blood was mostly that of Muslims, who in fact had many more
dead to mourn than the "Christian" Armenians. Lloyd George was just as much a hypocrite as Wilson
and Clemenceau. They had all picked out a "roman tic" victim and then dropped her by the wayside as
soon as she ceased to be useful.
When the "peace conference" - which was actually nothing but a dictate-preparation conference - began
meeting in Paris in January of 1919, it appeared as if the Armenian extremists' hour had arrived. The
Armenians sent two delegations to the "peace conference". One was led by the professional emigrant
Boghos Nubar, who had been working towards the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire for many
years. The other was from the Republic of Armenia (the existence of which had only been made possible
by the Turks after the Treaty of Baku on May 28, 1918).
The two delegations immediately began "auctioning" - outbidding each other in demands for territory
and underbidding each other in rational arguments. They were apparently confusing politics with a car-
pet bazaar, where the important criteria are the pattern, the number of square meters, and the age of the
desired item. Their demands became so excessive that even such inveterate carpet-lovers as the Allied
rulers lost interest in making a real offer. After all, it did not have to be an Armenian carpet. Those of
the Turks were much older, more valuable, and more reliable. After the Armenian delegation led by
Boghos Nubar started things off by demanding an Armenia in eastern Anatolia, the joint delegation (the
group led by Avetis Aharonian from the Republic of Armenia had in the meantime merged with Nubar)
worked its way up to territorial claims stretching from the Black Sea, with Trabzon as a harbor, all the
way to Cilicia. The Armenian population of this "Greater Armenia" would not even have accounted for
a fifth of the total population of the region - and that is based on the figures from 1914! Moreover, even
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
121

Reproduction of the letter from Boghos Nubar to the French foreign

minister. (The first page is shown in its entirety; from the second
page, only the salutation and Boghos Nubar's signature are shown.)
 ERICH FEIGL
122

Armenian rebellions, had to defend themselves by

moving the Armenian population out of the
endangered areas:

Monsieur le Ministre,
I have the honor, in the name of the Armenian
National Delegation, of submitting to Your Excel-
lency the following declaration, at the same time
reminding him that the Armenians have been, sin-
ce the beginning of the war, de facto belligerents,
as you yourself have acknowledged, since they ha-
ve fought alongside the Allies on all fronts, endu-
Eastern Anatolian landscape above Lake Van (Yedikilisse-Warakwank). ring heavy sacrifices and great suffering for the sa-
ke of their unshakeable attachment to the cause of
if back then in 1914 the entire Armenian popula-
the Entente:
tion of the world had gathered in eastern Anatolia,
In France, through their volunteers, who started
there still would not have been an Armenian
joining the Foreign Legion in the first days and co-
majority in the region.
vered themselves with glory under the French flag;
But so what? In the nineteenth century, the various
In Palestine and Syria, where the Armenian volun-
Armenian churches had wrestled over who was the
teers, recruited by the National Delegation at the
"most Armenian". Later, the Dashnaks and
request of the government of the Republic itself,
Hunchaks both wanted to carry off the palm in
made up more than half of the French contingent
the fight to be the best terrorists.
and played a large role in the victory of General
And now, the delegation from the Republic of
Allenby, as he himself and his French chiefs have
outbidding each other in the same way. As men-
officially declared; In the Caucasus, where, witho-
tioned above, their "common memorandum"
ut mentioning the 150.000 Armenians in the Impe-
claimed not only the "six vilayets" of Van, Bitlis,
rial Russian Army, more than 40.000 of their vo-
Diyarbak›r, Karput, Sivas, and Erzurum (in which
lunteers contributed to the liberation of a portion
the Armenians had never in history had a majori-
of the Armenian vilayets, and where, under the
ty), it also laid claim to Trabzon, Karabagh (where
command of their leaders, Antranik and Nazerbe-
virtually no Armenians had ever lived), Sansegur,
koff, they, alone among the peoples of the Cauca-
and large parts of Georgia, as well as Cilicia.
sus, offered resistance to the Turkish armies, from
At the same time, the reputation of the Armenians
the beginning of the Bolshevist withdrawal right
as a nation of peace-loving victims who had been
up to the signing of an armistice."
defenselessly and helplessly murdered (or rather
exterminated) by the bloodthirsty Ottomans was
(The letter bears the date on which it was received
shaken. The reason: The young, autonomous
in the French Foreign Office - December 3, 1918).
Armenian Republic could not think of anything
In this manner, Boghos Nubar explained that the
better to do than start a whole series of wars of
Armenians had waged constant war with the
conquest. The president of the "Armenian
Ottoman Empire from November 1, 1914 right up
National Delegation" sums up, in a letter to
to the signing of the Armistice of Mudros on
French Foreign Minister Stephen Pichon, why the
October 30, 1918 and had thus been, in his eyes,
Ottomans, who were fighting on five fronts at the
"de facto belligerents".
same time and were also confronted with internal
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
123

The Wars of the Republic of Armenia

The Georgians became the young Armenian Republic's first victim. The origins of the Georgian-Armeni-
an conflict go all the way back to the beginning of the Armenian immigration in the sixth to the fourth
centuries B.C. Wars and feuds between Georgians and Armenians had broken out again and again.
A preliminary climax was reached in 1920 when the Armenians pushed beyond Alaverdi and advanced
all the way to the northern Iori region. If the Georgians had given in to the Armenian demands, it would
have meant the end of Georgia . . . the Georgian capital would have been completely surrounded by
"Armenian" territory. The claims to the Iori region were as extravagant as the claims to Kars, Erzurum,
and Adana, but they were even more disturbing because they affected a weak neighbor who was already
struggling with a thousand problems as a newly independent state.
For certain regions along the Iori, the ruling Dashnaks had at least a small excuse - there were indeed a
few Armenians north of Tiflis. But just like everyplace else where Moslems had once ruled, the Armeni-
ans here were a minority among majorities. No legitimate claims could grow out of such a situation.
The Armenian army under General Dor did not, however, even restrict itself to "incorporating"
Armenian farms and villages. It pushed its way directly into areas in which there were no longer any
 ERICH FEIGL
124

In the spring of 1919, the Armenians launched an expansionist campaign into Anatolia.
Their first attack was directed against Oltu.

Armenians at all. Armenian units advanced right into the precincts of Tiflis. It was not until this critical
stage of the war that the Georgians finally managed to rouse themselves to determined resistance and
repel the Armenian invasion.
At any rate, the Armenian advance on Tiflis had opened the eyes of the now astonished world public.
For the first time, people realized that the neighbors of the Armenians were not dealing with a "perse-
cuted, innocent, unarmed, pacifist, Christian" nation, but rather with an unfortunate people in the
hands of a terrorist organization. This organization, the Dashnaktsutiun, fought indefatigably for power
and land, without regard for the boundaries of the areas in which Armenians actually lived. It was
undoubtedly this same excessiveness which eventually destroyed all the Greater Armenian dreams - first
in eastern then in southern Anatolia, and finally in the Caucasus.
The next victim of the aggression of the young Armenian
The war of aggression which
"Christian" Armenia waged against Republic was its neighbor to the east, Azerbaijan. The British
Christian Georgia in 1920 had pulled their troops out of the Caucasus region in August, 1919,
territorial expansion as its aim. We but not without leaving their Armenian protégés with large
can only hope that that was the last quantities of the most modern weapons. The only place in the
time an army will set out under the Caucasus where Allied forces were still located was Batum.
sign of the cross to subjugate a From this base, the British were still participating heavily on the
Christian neighbor. side of the Armenians.
The withdrawal of Allied forces from the Caucasus led immedi-
ately to open hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The
lands claimed by the Armenians included not only Turkish territory and areas settled by Muslims
(Turks, Kurds, Circassians), but also pieces of Azerbaijani land, mainly residential areas and pasture
lands of the Tatars. Nakhichevan and the mountains and valleys of Karabagh soon became the sites of
determined Tatar resistance to the Armenian occupation. The uprisings of the Muslim population soon
struck the district of Erivan itself. (We must not forget that the Muslims were originally in the majority
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
125

throughout the region, including of course the area

of the later "Republic of Armenia".) Norashen was
conquered by the rebellious Tatars, and - according
to the Armenian accounts - "the defenseless
Armenian village population" was massacred by
the Tatars.
There is no mention of the first act of this drama, in
which Armenia had occupied Karabagh and Nakhic-
hevan . . . The worst display of Armenian ferocity
came in Zangezur, where forty (!) Muslim villages
were razed to the ground and the population was wi-
ped out in the course of a "punitive expedition". The
bloody, cruel fighting lasted until the end of the win- The Armenian offensive against its Christian neighbor, the
ter of 1920 and drastically weakened Armenia as well Republic of Georgia, had the same sort of expansionist objectives
as Azerbaijan. The dawning of the Bolshevist age in as the Armenian war against Azerbaijan. Such aggressive actions
destroyed not only Armenia's image as a "peace-loving martyr
the Caucasus was now approaching, and the countries nation", but also countless churches and monasteries in the
of the region had had little chance to enjoy their short- contested regions.
lived independence – which had only been made pos-
sible by the Ottomans. Azerbaijan, greatly weakened by the war with Armeni-
a, fell to the Soviets in April of 1920. With Soviet help and arbitration, Zange-
zur and Karabagh became Azerbaijani, thus ensuring the survival of the local
Moslem populations. Then came the Armenian campaign against the Turks.
Shortly before the Armistice of Mudros on October 30, 1918, the Republic of
Armenia had been created under Ottoman protectorate. As soon as the Armis-
tice was signed, the Armenians began pushing their way back into eastern
Anatolia. The remarkable interregnum which (chronologically as well as geog-
raphically) encompassed the Caucasus and eastern Anatolia, appeared to deal A Georgian eagle.
It was only with the help of
all the trumps to the Armenians. The local Islamic units, some of which were
international
under Tatar command, had very limited financial and material means. They intervention that the Georgians
could not withstand the combined strength of the British and Armenian forces. were able to withstand the
Armenian war of aggression of
In April of 1919, the Armenians made it as far as Kars with British help. While 1920.
Oltu and Ardahan came under British administration (at least outwardly), the
new colonial masters left Kars entirely to the Armenians. At the same time, the
Armenians occupied Islamic Nakhichevan. It was then, in April of 1919, that the young Armenian Repub-
lic found itself at the preliminary height of its power. The final objective could only be to use Kars as a
bridgehead for the occupation of Trabzon in the North (thus obtaining access to the Black Sea) and then to
try to join up with the French-Armenian invasion troops moving north from Adana. This would result in a
"Greater Armenia" stretching from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean (as was loudly demanded at the Pa-
ris Peace Conference in 1919). That the Armenians, even back in the days when their number had been at
its greatest, only made up a sixth of the population of the region; that even in their strongest vilayet, in
Van itself, they only accounted for a third of the population ... So what? Kars was the starting point for
expansion - to Erzurum and Sivas in the West, to Trabzon in the North, and to Adana in the South. It was
the cautious cleverness of Mustafa Kemal and the military genius of Kaz›m Karabekir that combined to
thwart these Armenian plans.
 ERICH FEIGL
126

The Reconquest of Kars and the End of Armenian Expansion

In the last days of August and the first days of September, 1920, a "Congress of the Peoples of the East"
was held in Baku on the invitation of the International. At this congress appeared a united front of all
the peoples of the Caucasus and the Turkic peoples living in and around the Caucasus.
All the tribes and ethnic groups represented - great or small - seemed to have a common motive: fear of
Armenian rule. In the case of the Soviets, there was also of course the intent to bring the Republic of Ar-
menia under Soviet-Russian control, just as Russian Armenia had been totally under the control of the
White Czars. For the Armenians, nothing really changed in the end.
After having shed a tremendous amount of Islamic and Armenian blood, the Armenians landed right
back where they had almost always been - dependent on another state. The only difference was that
now they would be under the Russian Bolsheviks instead of under the Czars. Meanwhile on the interna-
tional front, the young Armenian Republic had lost all credibility. The incessant wars with their Georgi-
an and Azerbaijani neighbors had destroyed the illusion of the "unarmed, peaceful martyrnation". In
constructing this illusion, the Armenian extremists had shown great skill in making the world forget the-
ir decades of terrorist activity. The same Dashnaks who had once led terrorist groups were now in char-
ge of an entire (though admittedly small) state machinery.
On June 27, 1920, Armenian troops attacked Tuzla, not far from Oltu. When they were beaten and had
to retreat, they launched an artillery attack on Oltu (June 30, 1920). On July 8, they advanced to Dügün
Tepe, and a few days later they were in Cambar. Immediately thereafter, they set their sights on the bor-
der regions of Nakhichevan and Kagizman and advanced as far as Kulp.
After a careful and conscientious period of preparation, Kaz›m Karabekir launched a counter-offensive
in September of 1920. The Turks had only very old-fashioned, second-hand weapons and no air force
whatsoever. The Armenians possessed a small squadron. On September 29, the Turks retook

In April of 1919, the Armenians occupied Kars with British help. They made it their key position for the assault on
Anatolia. Their objective was to win access to two seas: in the north at Trabzon and in the south at Adana. This would
mean a "Greater Armenia" stretching from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. The Armenians had always been a small
minority in this region.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
127

Sarakamish, and on October 1 they reached Kag›zman,

just eighty kilometers south-east of the key fortress of
Kars. The assault on Kars began on October 27, and
three days later the fortress, complete with a tremen-
dous booty, was in Turkish hands. Among the prison-
ers taken were a cabinet minister, three generals, six
colonels, and twelve provincial governors . . .
The captured Armenian minister of war, Aratov,
finally realized that the drive to the Black Sea and the
Mediterranean was now nothing more than a dream . . .
luckily not a bloody one. A few days later, the Turks
reached Gümrü-Alexandropol, and on November 6 the
Armenians asked for a truce. Unfortunately, the fight-
ing flared up again a short time later, but then in the
night between the 2nd and 3rd of December, 1920,
there was finally peace: the agreement of Gümrü was
signed. Three months later, the agreement of Gümrü
(Alexandropol; today "Leninakan") was signed once
again in Moscow. By this time, the Soviet Russians
were already the only ones who had any say in the
Kaz›m Karabekir Pasha
matter. The countries named in the "Treaty of
Moscow", Armenia and Georgia, were neither invited
nor even asked for their opinion. They were once again Russian subjects. It is also interesting to note
that the agreement of Gümrü was signed not only in Moscow, but also in Kars on September 22, 1921,
after approval by the Grand National Assembly. On September 26, 1921, general peace talks among the
Caucasus countries opened in Kars. Along with the Russian delegation, there were representatives from
Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. Turkey was represented by Kaz›m Karabekir.
The negotiations ran until October 13, and then there was yet another treaty-signing. On that day,
peace finally came to the war-weary eastern Anatolia-Caucasus region. Except for some minor
Armenian terrorist attacks, that peace has survived all the vicissitudes of history, including the danger-
ous situation during World War II. After that war, it looked as if the Soviet Union, like the Czarist
regime before it, wanted to try once again to snatch Kars and eastern Anatolia. Luckily, the people of
that area, who still had such vivid memories of the tragic events of 1915 and everything that followed,
were spared a new war. The Treaty of Kars, dated "October 13, 1921, 1-2 p.m.", is filled with details
concerning the validity of borders (which all remained unchanged) and the nullification of any other
agreements applying to this treaty. (Even the dictate of Sevres and the Peace Treaty of Lausanne did not
affect the Treaty of Kars.) The treaty also contains a clause, legally signed - even by Armenia - which
reads as follows:
"15. The governments signatory to the agreement (Russian S. S. R., Armenian S. S. R., Azerbaijan S. S.
R., Georgian S. S. R. and Turkey) are engaged in dedaring a general amnesty restricted to the citizens of
the other side 'pour tous les meurtres et delits commisen temps de guerre' (for all the murders and
offenses committed in time of war) ..." And the Armenians were indeed "de facto belligerents" from
August of 1914 on, that has been established based on the information provided by the Armenians
themselves. In truth, they had been "de facto belligerents" since 1878 when the Armenian "leaders of
the people" thought they could neutralize the Ottoman Empire with Russian help.
 ERICH FEIGL
128

An Equally Tragic Sequel on the Southern Front

The murderous Armenian uprisings of Mush and Van in 1915 had amounted to the opening of another front aga-
inst the Ottomans within the borders of the Empire. Under these circumstances, the Ottoman government had seen
it necessary to protect the threatened part of Anatolia by moving the Armenians elsewhere. Several hundred thou-
sand Armenians ended up in Syria. Almost as soon as the Armistice of Mudros was concluded, these people started
streaming back to their original homes. Their intention now was to found a new Cilician-Armenian state, but in
the region where they wanted to have this state they were just as much a minority now, after the war, as they had
been before it. Since it is not possible to go into the events of this secondary theater of war in more detail, a des-
cription of a single episode will have to suffice. This episode illustrates the dimensions of a campaign that was sup-
posed to "recall the tradition of the Crusades" (and unfortunately did so): After the French- Armenian invaders
had been thrown back by the Turks, Mersin and Taurus were once again in the hands of their inhabitants, who
were not about to have French-Armenian rule forced upon them. A gang of Armenian fanatics, however, decided
to declare the region between the Sehun and Jehun rivers "self-governing".
The ringleader of this ridiculous operation was Mihran Damadjian, a terrorist who had grown old disgracefully.
He had won his first bloody laurels inciting rebellions in Sasun.
When the French tried to put him in his place, he declared an "independent Armenian state of Cilicia" on August
5, 1920. With a handful of blindly loyal followers, he occupied the 'Palais des Gouverneurs' of Adana in terrorist
fashion. As representative of the "Armenian National Delegation" (whatever that might have been in Cilicia), he
declared himself "Armenian governor under French protectorate". This unfortunate farce ended an hour later,
when the French commanding officer asked him and his "government" in no uncertain fashion to end "cette come-
die ridicule" as soon as possible. The French ended their Cilician adventure shortly there after. On December 11,
1918, a French battalion made up of four hundred Armenians had occupied Dörtyol, the notorious region of Ar-
menian rebellion surrounding Musa Dagh and Zeitun.
On January 20, 1920, the French began pulling out of Marafl. (On February 6 the patriarch in Istanbul sent a te-
legram to Paris saying that two thousand Armenians had been "massacred" by the Turks; on February 25, Reuters
sent a telegram around the world saying that the Turks had slaughtered 70.000 [seventy thousand!]
Armenians in Marafl . . .) It is true that the fighting on Turkey's southern flank was taking on a genuine warlike
character, even if the situation did not resemble the rumors that Reuters was peddling, apparently still in the tradi-
tion of wartime slander.
The fighting was in fact taking place between the best equipped Armenian units and recently resurrected Turkish
troops led by their efficient government in Ankara. They made up for their lack of equipment and means of trans-
port with love for their country. On October 20, 1921, an agreement was signed between the Turkish government
and M. Franklin-Bouillon, representing France. It called for the unconditional withdrawal of French troops.
The overwhelming majority of the Armenian population, which had just moved back to Cilicia in 1918, joined the
French in their withdrawal. This happened in spite of the fact that the Armenians in the South of Turkey were a
valuable part of the Turkish community and would have been just as welcome as the Armenians were everywhere
else in Anatolia.
All the facts indicate that the emigration en masse of the Armenians from Cilicia was planned and programmed
with a single goal in mind. Someone wanted to prove to the "dumb, incompetent Turks" that things "simply wo-
uld not work" without the Armenian element. Trade –especially international trade - would surely fall apart per-
manently. But what happened was just the opposite. The tremendously capable Armenians settled by the hundreds
of thousands in all the nations that were founded out of the old Ottoman Empire. (They had not been moved out
in 1915; they had just been moved around]) None of these other nations, however, could possibly stand compari-
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
129

A hub of Anatolian-Middle Eastern civilization. The water

blocked by the Keban Dam near Elaz›¤ comes from the sources of
the Euphrates, while the source of the Tigris is located right on the
south-east edge of Lake Keban. Archeologists have found evidence
of an early neolithic culture in the area, proving beyond a doubt
that the culture of the Hurrians, which came from Asia and is
closely related to Urartian culture, developed first in Anatolia and
spread out from there to the Caucasus and Iran.

son with the progress made in Turkey. Only Turkey

has managed to build the road to a safe, peaceful pre-
sent, with a virtually certain option on an even better,
peaceful future. The other states, Syria and Lebanon in
particular, have meanwhile sunk into a sea of blood
and terror (of which no small part is contributed by
Armenian terrorists).
Speaking of Lebanon:
The French supreme commander in Cilicia, General The gate of the dtadelle of Van. The treaties of Gümrü, Kars, and
Dufieux, was a notorious Turk-hater. Right up to the Moscow (1920 and 1921) assure Turkish sovereignty over eastern
Anatolia.
last moment, he avoided making contact with even a
single Turk. He left Adana on November 24,1921. Just
 ERICH FEIGL
130

before his departure, he visited the French war cemetery, and as he laid down the obligatory wreath he said sadly:
"To the French soldiers who sacrificed their blood in vain."
He could almost have been saying those words vicariously for all the French people who wish to remember the vic-
tims of terror in Lebanon and the victims of the Lebanese disaster. The incomprehensible waves of terrorism from
Lebanon have in the meantime reached France and Paris, claiming countless innocent victims.
They are in fact all exclusively victims of a French policy that held that France could win power and influence in
the Ottoman Empire (and thus in Syria and Lebanon as well) by tolerating and even supporting Armenian terro-
rism. Meanwhile, countless Armenian bombs have gone off in Paris, killing many innocent French citizens. For the
most part, these bombs came from Lebanon, a country which was once propped up artificially by France in order
to gain influence in the Ottoman Empire.
The Armenian terrorists and their Shüte accomplices regard this slaughter of the French people of today, who had
absolutely nothing to do with the tragedy of Lebanon, as their "legitimate" contribution to a belated campaign of
vengeance. The Turks of today, however, had even less to do with the events for which they must "pay". They are
much less guilty than the French for the present situation in the Middle East. The French did, after all, at one time
help the Russians and the British and the American missionaries drive the unfortunate Armenians into the inferno
of rebellion and civil war . . .
On Wednesday, December 1, 1921, Turkish troops advanced to the coast, and the solemn transfer of authority
from the French to the Turks took place in Adana. This meant that the unfortunate civil war on the southern
front, which had flared up again so cruelly after the French intervention, was finally over. There was still the Tur-
kish western front, however. Since the beginning of their invasion on May 15, 1919, the Greeks had managed to
capture half of western Anatolia and were now preparing for the conquest of Ankara.
The Peace of Gjrumri (Alexandropol; Today Leninakan) of December 2, 1920 The severe fighting between the tro-
ops of Kaz›m Karabekir and the Republic of Armenia brought heavy losses. The fighting first ended with the truce
of November 6, which the Armenians had requested after the Turks had taken Kars and advanced to Gümrü.
After some tough preliminary negotiations and renewed Armenian attacks, the most modernly-equipped Armenian
army was defeated near Shahtahti on November 15. The Armenians now appealed once again for a truce. The pea-
ce negotiations of Gümrü began ten days later. On December 2, 1920, these negotiations produced a peace treaty
between Turkey and the Republic of Armenia which is still valid and binding today. (Shortly thereafter, on March
16, 1921, the Turks signed the Treaty of Moscow, since Armenia was, as it had almost always been in its history,
not a sovereign state itself, but rather under Russian sovereignty. Armenia had already made an agreement on Oc-
tober 11, 1920 with the Soviet-Russian representative Legrand, saying that "Armenia accepts the mediation of
Russia in solving its territorial problems." In other words, Armenia had signed away its sovereignty in foreign po-
licy matters to Moscow.) The Treaty of Alexandropol-Gximru establishes the borders between Turkey and its Ar-
menian neighbor quite clearly, including of course the border north-east of Mount Ararat. Ararat is the highest pe-
ak in Turkey. Nevertheless, the Soviet Republic of Armenia still includes Ararat in its coat of arms. This is nearly
as absurd as it would be for the British to include Kilimanjaro in their coat of arms, simply because they once held
sovereignty there.

The Treaties of Gümrü, Moscow and finally Kars

The severe fighting between the troops of Kaz›m Karabekir and the Armenians brought heavy losses. The war with
the Armenian ended with the truce of November 6, 1920, which the Armenian aggressors had requested after the
Ottomans had taken Kars and advanced to Gümrü. After some tough preliminary negotiations and renewed Arme-
nian attacks, the most modern-equipped Armenian army was defeated near Shabahti on November 15. The Arme-
nians now appealed once again for tuce. The peace negotitions of Gümü began ten days later. On December 2,
1920, these negotiations produced a peace treaty between Turkey (still the Ottoman Empire) and the Republic of
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
131

Armenia. (The full text is easily available in the Mavi Boucuk Archives and in my book "A Myth of Terror" (inter-
net), in English and French in form of a facsimile with the signatures of Kaz›m Karabekir and Alexandre Khatissi-
an. Gouvernement d´Erivan s´´engage á considérer et declarér nul le Traité de Sèvres... (The Government of Yere-
van declares the Treaty of Sèvres for null and void.)
Some time later, on March 16, 1921, the Turks signed the Treaty of Moscow. Armenia had made before an agree-
ment on October11, 1920 with the Soviet-Russian representative Legrand, saying that "Armenia accepts the medi-
tation of Russia in solving its territorial problems".
The Treaty of Gümrü established the borders between Turkey and Armenia, including, of course, the border north-
east of Mount Ararat. Ararat is the highest peak of Turkey.
Nevertheless Armenia still includes Mount Ararat in its coat of arms. This is a similar absurdity as if Serbia would
show the Greek Mount Athos in its flag, because there exists a Serbian monastery there.
The final act was a meeting at Kars, in order to definitely ratify the Treaty of Moscow. It "sealed" the Turkish-Ar-
menian border of today, October 13, 1921. The Armenians did everything to get Ani in vain. Since that day they
denounce Turks to have destroyed this place, which is not true but one of the innumeral Armenian allegations.
Typical for these circumstances Armenia had meanwhile occupied Zangezur, an old an integral part of Azerbaijan,
inhabited mainly by Azeris, but at least Karabagh and Nakhichevan could be saved. Anyhow, Armenian and Rus-
sian forces occupied May 1992 in a dirty war of aggression Karabagh and Lachin - but definitely not for ever.

The End of the Armenian-Greek Invasion

When the devastating Armenian uprisings in eastern Anatolia (especially in Van) forced the Ottoman government
to order the relocation of the Anatolian Armenians to the safe southern provinces, the Armenian populations of Is-
tanbul and Izmir were explicitly excluded, because there did not appear to be any danger in those areas. In the
spring of 1919, it became clear how much better it would have been for everyone concerned if the Armenians of
Izmir had also been moved sooner, since they did everything they could to harm their Turkish compatriots in the
course of the Greek invasion. Certain Armenians truly distinguished themselves in the first days of the Greek occu-
pation of Izmir with acts of violence against the Turks.
When the terror in Izmir got totally out of hand, the Greeks were finally forced to take action against their own
supporters in order to stop the murdering and looting. Two Armenian agitators were among those condemned to
death. The report of the Bristol Commission, which can be found in the Library of Congress in Washington, conta-
ins an assessment of the situation by an Allied officer. He speaks explicitly of Armenian gangs pillaging the Tur-
kish villages in the area between Izmir and Istanbul, particularly around Yalova and Gemlik. These gangs also
"cleaned" the area of Turks, since it was to be ruled only by Greeks and Armenians in the future.
Later, the leader of the Turkish delegation brought up these incidents expressly at the Lausanne Peace Conference -
and no one contradicted him. The surprise Greek attack against the Turks began on May 15, 1919 with the ambi-
tious invasion of western Anatolia. At last, the "Great Greek Empire" would rise again - after two thousand years!
- on the soil of Anatolia, which had long since become Turkish. The Allies had given their advance "blessing" to
the adventurous Greek operation. That did not mean, however, that they would stand by the victims of this mega-
lomania when it foundered. This was soon made vividly clear by the fate of the Greek and Armenian refugees.
The Greek aggression was carried out using the most modern weapons and tremendous capital outlay, with the re-
sult being that the expeditionary forces soon reached Haymana - i.e., the city limits of Ankara, the new capital. At
this point, the aggression became life-threatening for Turkish Anatolia. The sound of canon on the battlefield co-
uld be heard constantly in Ankara. The government did not consider surrendering, but rather moving - or fleeing -
to Sivas. The Greeks had, however, overstretched their expansionist capacity. Starting from the gates of Ankara,
the Turks gradually won back territory. After eleven days of fighting (from August 21 to September 2, 1921), they
 ERICH FEIGL
132

broke the spearhead of the Greek attack outside Ankara. The defenders drove
the aggressors back to the west. The Turks may have been barefoot and mise-
rably equipped, but they were victorious nonetheless. France realized very qu-
ickly that the tide was turning and hurried to establish good relations with
Ankara. Foreign Minister Henri Franklin-Bouillon rushed to Anatolia, thus
letting it be known that his future negotiating partner was in Ankara - not in
Istanbul where a powerless Ottoman government was still feigning sovere-
ignty. France thus accepted the new Turkish "National Pact" and at the same
time made it clear that they considered the dictate of Sevres null and void.
This was the same France that had once been the most stubborn and brazen of
all the powers in goading the Armenians on to terrorism and war. But back
then the goal had been to weaken the Ottoman Empire. The French quickly
changed their tune when it became apparent that they could not get the better
of the Turks in this fashion. The "cause of the Armenians" fell into oblivion
overnight, just like the "Great Greek Empire", which also self-destructed by
overstretch ing its opportunities.
In August, 1922, after careful preparation, the Turks began their assault on
the Greek invaders. The Greeks, in the meantime, had formed a hedgehog de-
fense in Anatolia and were putting all their chips on "victory". King Constan-
tine himself even visited the Anatolian theater of war on June 13, 1921. In a
gesture that was truly pregnant with symbolic meaning, he set foot on land in
The horrific end of the Greek war of the same spot where the Crusaders had come ashore centuries earlier (also in
aggression with the Turks: A flood of
vain). On September 2, 1922, Turkish troops liberated Eskiflehir. A week later
refugees flee the burning city of Izmir.
Many people lost their adopted ho- they were in Manisa, which the Greeks burned before their departure. They
mes, both in Greece and in Anatolia, in did the same a short while later to Izmir. The Turks were to be left with not-
the wake of these events. The calcula- hing but "scorched earth". Just before Mustafa Kemal's victorious forces
tions of the Greek aggressors were just
as far off the mark as those of the Ar-
marched into Izmir, a devastating fire broke out in the Armenian quarter of
menian terrorists. the city. 25,000 buildings, which amounted to half of the entire city, were re-
duced to ashes. Fire brigades ran around helplessly, searching in vain for water
supplies. The cisterns were empty, the fire hoses cut, and the water supplies cut off. This "holokauston" was the
greatest "burnt-offering" ever made in the lands of the ancient world. It may well have been the work of the Dash-
naks. If so, it is second only to the annihilation of Van (spring, 1915) on the list of most appalling Dashnak terro-
rist acts ever to plague the world. The arsonists naturally spread the rumor throughout the world that the Turks
had laid waste to the second largest, second richest, and second most beautiful city in Anatolia - on the day of the-
ir triumphant entry!
The world public swallowed this nonsense, just as they had swallowed the earlier atrocity reports with great satis-
faction. The tale of the "Terrible Turk" was a sure-fire hit. On October 11, 1922, the victorious Turks and the de-
feated Greeks signed the Armistice of Mudanya. (Mudanya is a town near Yalova where the Armenian irregulars
had wreaked havoc during the Greek occupation.) This armistice brought the "‹stiklal Harbi", (The Turkish War
of Independence), to a triumphant close. The government of His Majesty the Sultan - still prisoner of the Allies in
Istanbul - sent its regards. The peace negotiations in Lausanne began on November 22, 1922. ‹smet Pasha, the vic-
torious general at ‹nönü, was leader of the Turkish delegation. He now emerged as a talented diplomat after alre-
ady having proved himself on the battle fields of Anatolia. He succeeded in presenting the Turkish delegates as ne-
gotiating equals. He made it clear that nationalisms. Consequently, the word "Armenian" is not even hinted at in
the Treaty of Lausanne.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
133

When Lord Curzon finally brought up the subject of

the Armenians (apparently because he felt it was his
obligation - they certainly did not interest him anymo-
re, having served their purpose as useful pawns for the
Allies), ‹smet ‹nönü cut him short:
"As regards the internal political factor, that is to say,
the natural desire of minorities to free themselves, there
is occasion to observe that the Ottoman Empire, redu-
ced to essentially Turkish provinces, no longer contains
any minority which can form within it an independent
State. Until the principle of nationalities receives an
equal application everywhere, separatist movements,
designed to liberate parts of the Ottoman Empire con-
taining a consider able number of non Turkish inhabi-
May 15 1919: The Greeks invade Anatolia. On this day the first
tants, could perhaps be justified. The situation is enti-
troops with excellent equipment landed in Smyrna / Izmir in order
rely different today. Just as the Greeks established at to conquer the western part of Anatolia, as far as Ankara, to make
Marseilles could not reason ably think of creating there their dream named "megali idea" - the idea of a great Greek king-
dom - true. May 1920 they occupied Bursa, July 1920 Edirne.
an independent Greek State or of annexing it to their Indeed, with all their help from Britain and France, they reached
Mother-Country: in the same way the Greeks or Arme- the outskirts of Ankara but were defeated finally by ‹smet ‹nönü
nians in Turkey could not legitimately desire the same and his brave soldiers.

thing in Turkey."
The Greek Prime Minister Venizelos also thought he
had to touch upon the Armenian issue in his speech.
This was the same man who was responsible for all the
bloodshed caused by the Greek invasion of Anatolia
and the subsequent debacle of that war of aggression.
(It was he who bore responsibility for the entire refugee
tragedy!) ‹smet ‹nonü broke him off:
"... Without any doubt, M. Venizelos pretends not to
see that the occupation of Asia Minor has been a sour-
ce of new miseries for the Armenians. This poor com-
munity was forced to enlist and to join the ranks of the
Greek army . . . The Armenians were sent to the front
and were forced to shoot at the Turks.
After the defeat many pillages occurred. Moreover, the
Greek authorities engaged in propaganda to attribute September 9, 1922, the Turkish forces re-conquered Izmir. Just
one day before the Armenians set fire. The Turks should not enter
these offences to the Armenians. Later, when the Gre-
a still blossoming ancient town and perfect modern harbour, but
eks left Asia, they dragged the Armenians along. It is ashes. (When the Germans retreated from Russian soil 1944/45
necessary to accept that the last government in the they also left behind "verbrannte Erde"... scorched earth). This is
the simple truth, an answer to the old question: C U I B O N O ?
world which can have the audacity to pity the Armeni- Whose benefit? (Cicero/ Lucius Cassius).
ans in front of everybody is the Greek Government
which has directly created these misfortunes for the Ar-
menians." When Lord Curzon began blathering about
"three million Armenians who once lived in Asia Mi-
nor", ‹nonü answered him by saying that in the entire
 ERICH FEIGL
134

course of world history there had never been a populati-

on of three million Armenians in Anatolia. (1.5 million
was the actual figure before the outbreak of World War
I.) ‹nonü remarked bitterly that the Armenians own re-
volutionary committees had recently forced the Armeni-
ans of Cilicia to leave their homeland and follow the
retreating French forces to Syria. The ulterior motive be-
hind such forced emigration was the belief that the Tur-
kish economy would completely collapse without the
Armenian infrastructure and the Armenians' experience
in international trade. This belief was quickly refuted by
reality.
When on January 6, 1923, the subject of the Armenians Old Smyrna - Izmir: A shelter for all religions, races: a perfect har-
bour for all. These were the happy and prosperous days of
came up again, ‹nönü declared: "It is entirely the Allies
Ottoman Smyrna, where Turks, Armenians, Jews and inmummer-
who bear the responsibility towards the Armenians. It is abe foreign businessmen enjoyed a happy and prosperous life.
the Allies who turned the Armenians against Turkey During the turmoils of spring 1915 nobody was deported from
Smyrna, the Ottoman authorities believed in the loyalty of their
and used them as a political tool . . . It is the Allies who subjects, all together around 200 000 people, approximately half
delivered the Armenians up to hunger, epidemics, and fi- of them of Greek or Armenian origin.
nally emigration. We are not to blame for this, but rat-
her the powers of the Entente. If the Armenians deserve
compensation for everything they have endured, you gi-
ve it to them!"
After this dramatic day, the issue of the unfortunate
Armenians, who had let themselves be seduced by the
promises of the Allies, was not brought up again at the
conference. The Russians had created a diabolical pre-
text by inserting an Armenian clause at San Stefano and
at Berlin (1878).
Since the words "Armenia" and "Armenian" do not
A Greek stamp, printed 50 years after his death. (1986).
appear in the text of the Treaty of Lausanne, that pre- The portrait under the new - and old - circumstances could
text was finally destroyed. This was to the benefit of not be better illustrated: Venizelos bears a kind of an
Armenian clercyman´s headgear. A strange coincidence.
those Armenians who remained in Turkey and now live Or a historical remark? (Remember: in our days started the noto-
there as citizens like all other people in the Turkish rious cooperation between Greece and Öcalan´s murderous PKK
and the criminal ASALA).
community, with the same rights and responsibilities as
everyone else. ria. In the thirties, Stalin turned this cynicism into hor-
On July 24, 1923, the powers signed the Treaty of Lau- rifying reality when he started a large-scale relocation of
sanne. The Armenian delegation had already left Lau- the Armenians to - of all places - the Altai region, the
sanne on February 2 when they recognized the futility of original homeland of the Turks.
their efforts and the helplessness of their "allies". For There is one thing that is usually overlooked in connec-
the sake of completeness it should be mentioned that the tion with the Armenian tragedy - Article 31 of the Tre-
Soviet Russians, who had total control over Russian Ar- aty of Lausanne. It contains the stipulation that every
menia again since the founding of the "Armenian Soviet former citizen of the Ottoman Empire who had acquired
Socialist Republic" on November 29, 1920, were - thro- a new nationality through the establishment of the new
ugh their foreign minister, Chicherin - talking of a "na- independent states could come to Turkey as a Turkish
tional foyer for the Armenians" on the Volga or in Sibe- citizen any time within two years. Article 31 naturally
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
135

applied to all the Ottoman-Armenian citizens who had The folder of Housepian´s story is a web of simple lies, it
been relocated during the war, or who - for whatever has absolutely nothing to do with the historical truth: In
reason - did not happen to be on Turkish soil after the September of 1922, Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk), the victori-
war. Article 31 was tailor-made for the Armenians who ous revolutionary leader of Turkey, led his troops into
had been relocated and now wanted to move back to Izmir, as a flotilla of 27 Allied warships - including 3
American destroyers- looked on. The Turks soon proceed-
Turkey. In accordance with this clause, every Armenian
ed to indulge in an orgy of pillage, rape and slaughter that
who had once been an Ottoman citizen had until July
the western powers anxious to protect their oil and trade
24, 1925 to come to Turkey as a Turkish citizen with
interests in Turkey, condoned by their silence and refusal to
the same rights as every other Turkish citizen. All talk intervene. Turkish forces then set fire to the legendary
of "expulsion" is thus unfounded, especially in light of city and totally destroyed it. There followed a massive
the fact that the Armenians had never even been moved cover-up by tacit agreement of the Western Allies. By 1923
out of the Ottoman Empire after the uprisings in eas- Smyrna's demise was all but expunged from historical
tern Anatolia; they had simply been moved to less thre- memory.” Expunged from historical memory? Izmir is a
atened provinces within the Empire. blossoming city, full of activities, economical power, seat of
“Finally, Peace with Turkey” NATO, modern harbour, shelters the most important fair
Reads the caption under the “leading personalities” at of the Middle East....
the Peace Conference of Lausanne. The treaty between
the powers of the Entente, Greece and Turkey was rati-
fied in Lausanne on July 24, 1923. The delegates (be-
ginning with the third one on the right): Alexander
Stamboliyski (Bulgaria), General Pellé (France), ‹smet
Pasha (‹nönü, Turkey), the hostile Swiss Federal Presi-
dent Scheurer, Sir Horace Rumbold (Great Britain), M.
Diamandy (Romania), the Marchese di Garriona (Italy)
and Ambassador Ochiai (Japan). On the far left, the
delegates of the “Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and
Slovenes”, who did not sign. The Turkish delegation
had brought about an unprecedented favourable conc-
lusion to the treaty thanks to the prudent, skillful and

While contemporary commentators praised them as “The Great

Three” of the Peace Conference of Lausanne, with the hindsight
afforded by history they appear rather miserable: Lord Curzon, a
self satisfied, unreasonable and violent diplomat who infested
self-confident leadership of ‹smet Pasha. This result Central Europe, just as he had earlier done in India in his capaci-
might first of all be attributed to the fact that his man- ty as viceroy of India; Benito Mussolini, at that time already prime
minister of Italy, and M. Poincaré, the notorious warmonger and
ner rendered him as a not inferior, but a party with occupier of Rhineland (January 1923), indirectly one of the per-
equal rights. sons primarily to blame for the rise of the National Socialists in
Germany.
 ERICH FEIGL
136

Terrorism as Bloody Real Fantasy-War

Terrorism is the manner of fighting used in fantasy-war. Terrorism and fantasy-war are phenomena that induce so-
me people to behave as if there really were a "war", with all the license to kill that comes with it. The "enemy" on
the other hand (usually a country), almost always tends to deny what is happening, to suppress it, to act as if the
fantasy declaration of war did not exist. If the authorities should ever happen to catch anyone from the terrorist
enemy, they usually try to get rid of the demon, to set him free as quickly as possible in order to avoid burdensome
extortion. France can be cited as one shocking example of this type of behavior, especially towards the Armenian
terrorists. This kind of fantasy-war requires at least two opposing, organized
groups. (It is apparently for this reason that some countries try to give the im-
pression that they do not want to act in an organized manner). The state invol-
ved in a fantasy-war usually finds itself exposed to the attacks of a more or less
extensive organization which arrogates certain attributes of an official govern-
ment (full authority to enforce its "verdicts" - which means control over life,
freedom, and death - extraordinary collection of taxes, influence or even control
over the media). Terrorist groups perpetrate the most heinous crimes in the na-
me of their "sovereignty"and their own standards of lawfulness, which they rai-
se to the common norm and would like to see recognized as such. The fantasy-
wars of the terrorists may lead to open, "real" war, ending in the defeat of one
side - all too often the downfall of a state - or they may drag on, with the atro-
cities continuing for decades, or in the case of Armenian terrorism, for more
than a century. Organizations such as the Armenian terrorist squads can be cha-
racterized by their special (albeit perverted) "love-relationship" to a certain "lo-
ve-object". The Armenian terrorists want a grand Armenian state, even though
such a thing only existed for a very short time two thousand years ago and was
located on land where there has never in all of history been an Armenian majo-
rity. Aside from that, they want revenge for a specific historical event which ne-
ver took place, at least not in the form which they espouse. We are thus dealing
here with a doubly irrational motive, and that obviously doubles the danger
compared to other terrorist groups with at least a trace of realism and historical
equipment. Terrorists - especially Armenian terrorists - live among us and build
their own subculture with its own system of values. They are always looking for
new converts, seeking people who prefer their terrorist anti-church to an Ortho-
dox Armenian church or some other, peaceful Armenian organization.
The Armenians are a people of above-average intelligence, and through their
hard work and ability they have also achieved above-average incomes and abo-
ve-average levels of education. For these reasons, the cadres who are won over
by the Armenian terrorist leaders distinguish themselves through their outstan-
ding efficiency. They do their job so well that journalists, historians, filmmakers,
and television executives timidly avoid doing anything to try to stop the crimi-
nals, even though they would have the influence and knowledge to expose Ar-
30.000 innocent victims of the PKK menian terrorism and the false premises upon which it is based. That is one of
terror put not only the PKK but also the main reasons, if not the main reason, why there is a standard line tacked on-
their protectors and advisers in
Yerevan and Athens in the dock. to the end of every report of a new bomb or machine-gun attack carried out by
Armenian terrorists. It is like a solidly ingrained ritual: "The terrorist organizati-
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
137

Contemporary Armenian postcards with the "heroes" of terror-

ism. In the middle of the top row is one of the ringleaders of the
on claiming responsibility for the attack cited the 1915 raid on the Ottoman Bank, Papkenian.
genocide as justification for the assault." This is a case
where an ordinary public relations spot is purchased
with blood instead of money! Simply dropping this ina-
ne, inexcusable sentence would already destroy the es-
sential motive of the terrorist assassins: to have an
event cited repeatedly in the media, although it never
took place at all in this form. As long as it is so easy to
"get the message across" however, we can be sure that
terrorist attacks from these quarters will continue. In
the "normal case" of human existence, the biologically
based survival instinct plays an all-important role. It
does a masterful job of suppressing the thought of de-
ath and a permanent "end". It uses a thousand mecha-
nisms to fool us, with the final result being that hu-
mans live their lives from year to year as if there were
no permanent "end", even though it could in fact come
at any second. In some cases the idea of immortality
helps, the hope (or certainty) that death is just a step-
ping-stone from this worldly, temporal life into the
eternal one. In almost every human existence, death is
seen as something awesome, some-thing to be put off
as long as possible. Doctors occasionally do inhuman
things in the name of this "putting-off", while priests
pray and administer the sacraments for longer life and
eternal life. Terrorists on the other hand have, in many Certain Armenian circles, particularly in the United States, main-
cases, a nonchalant attitude toward life whether it be tain the "hero" cult surrounding contemporary terrorists as well
as their spiritual fathers from the nineteenth century. The title of
their own or someone else's. The people they kill are this book, Das Verbrechen des Schweigens, means "The Crime of
merely the rubble they must leave by the wayside as Silence". The true crime of silence has to do not so much with the
they pursue their goal, and their own death is a tribute misfortune of the Armenian people - which has received a tremen-
which they would be honored to pay to their ideal, dous amount of publicity - but rather with the authors and histo-
rians who know the historical context but choose not to tell the
whether that be an "Armenian Utopia" or simple ven- truth because they fear Armenian terrorist reprisals.
 ERICH FEIGL
138

geance, even if there is nothing real to avenge. There is,

at any rate, an exceptional situation in human society
where death occurs on such a large scale that men ap-
pear to lose all fear of it, as well as all sense of propor-
tion. In this exceptional situation, death is sometimes
actually sought with great enthusiasm. Friends and re-
latives greet the death of a loved-one with rejoicing,
pride, and approval - especially if the deceased mana-
ged to kill as many as possible of the "enemy" before
his own death - if, for instance, he caused an airplane
to crash or a passenger ship to sink or a city to be
swallowed in flames. Such people are honored and
highly decorated. Their superiors even lay diplomas
and distinctions on their graves. It is war that publicly
sanctions this primacy of death over life. It is war that
makes it appear desirable for one society to wipe out
another, for one highly advanced civilization to grind
another into oblivion. Every single soldier in a war has
the right to kill as many fellow human beings as he li-
kes, the more the better as long as they are on the "ot-
her" side. The state of war makes it possible for highly
decorated prisoners of war, who wear the proof of the-
ir killing capacity, so to speak, proudly on their chests,
to be honored and respected even by the victorious
enemy. A captured terrorist, a killer from the terrorist
front who gets nabbed, also typically demands to be
treated as a "prisoner of war" by those who nabbed
him. This is not only because of the better prison con- Vicious propaganda comes in various forms. One of
ditions, but also because of the difficulty of obtaining a the most sinister is the hidden falsification. This pam-
conviction and the high probability of an early release. phlet, "Der Volker - mord an den Armeniern vor
Every terrorist is indeed (subjectively) at war, although Gericht" (The Armenian Genocide on Trial - the title is
it is his own personal fantasy-war. To carry on a real already a lie in itself), is adorned with a montage made
war, there must be at least two clearly distinguishable up of a portrait of the accused, Talat Pasha, and a hor-
sides that have at least a limited degree of sovereignty.
rid mountain of skulls. Casual observers - and they are
the ones who matter, for they are the majority - will
inevitably make a connection between Talat and the
crania on the cover. They may even assume that Talat
is the villain responsible for this specter. The truth is
quite different: The heap of skulls is taken from a
painting by the Russian artist Vassili Vereshchagin
(1842-1904), "The Apotheosis of War" (1871; Prussia-
France). It was painted at
a time when the "Armenian problem" did not yet exist
- i. e., before the Russian dictate of San Stefano (1878).
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
139

In addition, at least one of the parties must recognize an "enemy". (In the case of the Turks and the Armenians,
this last point is problematic, since the Turks still respect the Armenians very much and have a high opinion of
them. Anyone who travels to Turkey can easily see this for him self.) There must also be a casus belli, a reason for
war. This almost always forces even the most peaceable opponent to adopt a hostile stance similar to that of the
enemy, if he wants to survive. The inferences to be drawn for the terrorist scene are clear: regardless of the pretexts
under which they operate, the terrorists have in fact declared war on human society. In studying the development
of Armenian terrorism, one is struck by the attitude adopted by some Armenian communities toward the terrorist
scene. This is especially true in the United States and France, where the Armenians constitute an important, finan-
cially powerful, highly intellectual element of public life. Armenian clubs and associations in these countries are in
some cases remarkably conciliatory, if not openly supportive, towards terrorism. It has even been known to hap-
pen on more than one occasion that a moment of silence has been observed in a public worship service for terro-
rists who had been killed or arrested.Similar expressions of sympathy and remembrance can be observed in the se-
cular world. The frame of mind at work here cannot be entirely attributed to the fact that many Armenians are the
victims of terrorist blackmail at the hands of their own terror organizations. Much more important is the exagge-
rated, largely false understanding of history, which is mainly propagated by certain newspapers and periodicals of
the Armenian diaspora. The fact that one can often find gems li-
ke "ONE million dead in 1915" and then perhaps in the same
publication "two or two and a half million victims" does not
seem to bother the editors very much. Some Armenian intellec-
tuals also show a remarkable intolerance towards scholars who-
se view of history differs from their own. Professor Justin
McCarthy is the author of the tremendously important, scienti-
fically irrefutable work Muslims and Minorities, in which the
true population figures for Anatolia appear for the first time.
He can only hold his lectures with massive police protection.
The version of historical events presented in Stanford J. Shaw's
History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey did not
match the picture presented by certain Armenians. His house
was bombed in an attempt to intimidate him and keep him
from publishing further. This intimidation has reached the point
where it is doubtful whether an Armenian publisher could be
found today for a book like Louise Nalbandian's "The Armeni-
an Revolutionary Movement". The book is thoroughly pro-Ar-
menian, but it is also somewhat objective and contains a few
critical words.

The Armenian Terrorist Organizations

The Armenian terrorists use the names of several different front
organizations in carrying out their attacks. In spite of the see-
mingly bewildering multitude of acronyms and pretentious tit-
les, however, everything can in fact be traced back to just two
organizations. The oldest Armenian terrorist organization grew They defend their murderers and assassins ... at first
out of the Dashnak Party, which had been under the spell of the they force a 20 year-old lad into a capital offense.
Russian anarchists and ultras from the beginning and reached Then they pretend to 'defend' the poor youth who
sacrificed his life for a lifeless bloody myth!
maturity in Russian Armenia. The party was a response of the
extremists to their own unsuccessful efforts to give the Armeni-
 ERICH FEIGL
140

an minority within the Ottoman Empire a state of its quite well under the Soviet system. The careers of such
own. These efforts were actually doomed to failure men as Anastas Mikoyan and Yuri Andropov, who ro-
from the beginning, given the small percentage of Ar- se to become Soviet head of state, are striking proof of
menians in the eastern Anatolian population. These this. The countless other terrorist groups which appear
first Armenian terrorists bear an uncanny resemblance in the lists of crimes committed are nothing more than
to the Shüte suicide squads. (Extensive accounts can be alternate acronyms for the "big two", which take on
found elsewhere in this book of Armenian terrorism in new names at will. They do this partly to fool the pub-
the Ottoman Empire of the nineteenth and twentieth lic about their true size and partly to satisfy the vanity
centuries.) Their main heirs from an historical viewpo- of members who want to lead a "new" terrorist group.
int, however, are the JCAG (Justice Commandos of the The public should not let itself be fooled by occasional
Armenian Genocide). The terrorist actions of the JCAG quarrels and jealousies (when, for example, JCAG and
are regarded - as funny as this may sound - as being ASALA have to fight it out to determine who killed
carried out by "conservatives". Their specialty appears whom when and where). In this bizarre world of sha-
to be the assassination of Turkish diplomats and their dows and mirrors, unfair competition is just part of the
families. ASALA (Armenian Secret Army for the Libe- whole unfair bloody trade. In the end there is only one
ration of Armenia) is, by contrast, generally considered goal: terror for terror's sake.
to be a Marxist terrorist organization, closely control-
led by the Soviet Union. They see the existence of an The Political Background of the
"Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic" as the ideal and Armenian Terrorist Organization
work for the "unification" of eastern Anatolia with the ASALA
ASSR. It is only with some reservations that the Soviets An unprecedented terrorist "summit" was held in Tah-
can con done this objective, since they worry that a lar- ran in February, 1986, on the occasion of the seventh
ger Armenia could easily become rebellious. They sup- anniversary of the Ayatollah Khomeini's revolution.
port the activities of the ASALA anyway, however, sin- "Ismailian revolutionaries" - of the Iranian persuasion
ce they are directed against Turkey (which is also an - met with leaders of the Lebanese Hezbollah move-
important partner in the NATO alliance). For many ye- ment, Hussein Moussavi's men of the Jihad organizati-
ars, the ASALA also enjoyed the hospitality and sup- on, the Saudi Arabian Mujahedeen, the Shüte Amal
port of the Shüte terrorist groups in Lebanon. There grouping from Bahrain, delegates from the Moro gangs
appears to be a special affinity between the Armenian in the Phillipines and Libyan intelligence officers.
terrorists and the Shütes. This can be seen in the wil- What especially concerned Western observers about
lingness (or longing) to die and in the radical nature of this Teheran terrorists' conference was that the Arme-
the attacks, where there is never any indication what- nians were also represented. Roughly 200,000 Armeni-
soever that the fate of innocent bystanders has been gi- ans live in Iran. They have so far remained remarkably
ven any consideration.In spite of this manifest spiritual undisturbed by the fanatical Shütes of the Ayatollah.
closeness to the Shüte conception of the value of life These Armenians are used extensively against Turkey.
(or lack thereof), the ASALA has proclaimed in their Iran officially maintains good relations with Turkey
mouthpiece ARMENIA: "Our forces never strike aga- and depends heavily on goods transported through
inst S. S. R. of Armenia, which is already liberated." Anatolia. Since the improvement of Turkish relations
This corresponds entirely to the interests of the Soviet with Iraq however, Iran has taken an anti-Turkish
Russians. Just like their Czarist predecessors, they want turn. The Armenians are once again serving as useful
access to the "warm waters", and that means using all pawns for the rulers of a country which is only looking
available means to gain control over eastern Anatolia after its own interests. The ASALA was in the past kept
(as a bridge to the Gulf) and the Bosporus (as a gate- under some restraint in Iran, but now they have official
way to the Mediterranean). In spite of the mass depor- Iranian support to strengthen their cooperation with
tations of Armenians to Inner Asia under Stalin, the terrorist groups such as that of Abu Nidal. Observers
Armenian intellectuals have for the most part managed point out again and again the astonishing parallels bet-
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
141

ween Armenian and Shüte terrorist attacks. (The air-

port attacks in Vienna, Rome, and Paris are good
examples.) The Armenian newspaper "GAMK", which
is published in Paris, recently printed a major article
promoting "armed struggle". GAMK asked the rheto-
rical question, "Is the effort to weaken the West rela-
ted to the Armenian question?" The response said in
part: "There are American and NATO bases in Tur-
kish Armenia. Therefore, the United States will oppose
and fight any force that tries to upset the stability of
that region and to change the status quo. In other
words, to liberate the Armenian lands we will have to
deal not only with the Turkish government but also
the Atlantic Alliance and the United States . . . When
the Armenian liberation struggle intensifies, the U. S.
government will impose tighter restrictions on the free-
dom' of Armenians inside and outside the United Sta-
tes and will employ every possible means to crush the Varujian Garabedian, the leader of the gang that committed mass mur-
Armenian liberation struggle. Either we give up the der at Orly Airport on July 15, 1983. Eight people were killed in that
bomb explosion and sixty others were wounded. Many of the woun-
dream of liberating the Armenian lands and appease ded will remain cripples for the rest of their lives. Garabedian was sen-
Turkey and the United States, or we fight to liberate tenced to life imprisonment. Some observers believe that Garabedian,
the Armenian lands and upset Turkey, NATO and the operating under the alias Hagop Hagopian, could even be the head of
the ASALA. The authorities have never been able to establish Hagopi-
United States ... A weakened NATO and a weakened an's true name and identity.
United States would make it easier to liberate the Ar-
menian lands . . . (and) would help free the Third in the Near East. Both the ASALA and the ARA have
World from the yoke of American imperialism." The repeatedly demonstrated that they can operate worldwi-
strongest Armenian terrorist group, the ASALA, has al- de, in cooperation with Palestinian as well as Kurdish
ways relied entirely on the Soviet Union. Lately howe- extremist groups. Their stated goal of weakening the
ver, they have also found very strong support from United States and its NATO allies, above all Turkey,
Iran. Two strongly Marxist-oriented splinter groups strengthens the suspicion that it is ultimately the Soviets
have recently broken off from the ASALA: the DF- who are behind all the Armenian terrorist activities. (So-
PMLA (Democratic Front of the Popular Movement urce: "Confidential Early Warning", Vol. IV, No. 1,
for the Liberation of. Armenia) and the ARA (Armeni- February, 1986. The validity of the arguments presented
an Revolutionary Army), until recently called the "Jus- here was proven by the ghastly series of attacks of Sep-
tice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide" (JCAG). tember, 1986. The ASALA was behind these attacks.
The ASALA enjoys widespread support in France, whe- "Early Warning" is convinced that there is plenty of evi-
re the Armenians make up a very wealthy, influential dence available pointing to the Soviet Union as the "ulti-
group numbering more than 400.000. Some 5000 Ar- mate sponsor" of the Armenian terrorists.) An unparal-
menians took part in a protest march organized by the leled glorification of terrorists can be found in the book,
ASALA in France, many of them sporting badges and The First Genocide of the 20th Century by James Frazer
flags of the terrorist organization. Many ASALA sup- (New York: T&T Publishing, Inc.) The assassins Arsha-
porters are also associated with the Armenian National vir Shiragian, Soghomon Tehlirian, Aram Yerganian,
Movement led by Ara Toranian. A number of captured and Missak Torlakian are celebrated as "Armenian na-
Armenian terrorists have acknowledged the support tional heroes" - as if political murder, "execution" wit-
that the ASALA receives from George Habash's PFLP. hout trial or proof of guilt, ever did a nation any good.
The PFLP also supports Kurdish separatist movements
 ERICH FEIGL
142

Some examples of Armenian tirades of hatred: They poisoned worldwide

public opinion. A myth of mental terror.

Anti-Turkish horror propaganda has quite a

tradition: Around 1576, Jacopo Ligozzi created
a cruel miniature entitled Mufti - II Papa
Delli Turchi (a mufti depicted as the "pope of
Turkey" the word "mufti" stands doubtless
for caliph) with a mostro thus insinuating that
Turkish religious leaders were masters of "mon-
sters". Who cares for the fact that all countries
and peoples of the vast Ottoman Empire could
not only preserve their languages but also their
religions?

The strange heritage: without any artistic values

the Armenians spread out all over the world their
dirty campaign to drag the Turks through the
mud.

Propaganda is all, facts are nothing. As early as

1919, the Armenians had released an American
film full of lechery and voyeurism. The principal
actress was an "Armenian girl, Aurora
Mardiganian, who, "(oh wonder!)" escaped from
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
143

Julius Streichers "Der Stürmer" the most brutal sheet of the Nazis appeared as an excellent pupil of Armenian propaganda. By the
way: Streicher was sentenced to death on the Nurenberg process, 1946. The knive´s inscription: TALMUD. Today they would write
KORAN.

Turkish soldiers and found refuge in the United

States, and exhibited her experiences in front of
the camera". The feature is supported through-
out by quotations from the official report of the
Bryce Commission on Armenia. Lord Bryce and
Lord Gladstone attented a private exhibition of
the film at the Queen´s Hall, probably in order
to prevent anyone in the audience from shout-
ing "Ireland" or "Boer massacre". Today, the
Kurds are misused in the same way at the
expense of the Turks and, again the source is
Armenian know-how.

Even President George W. Bush fell victim of the Armenian mafia.

Other pictures we can not show because they are absolutely indecent,
if somebody is interested, search in internet.
 ERICH FEIGL
144

WATER and OIL

Turkey, the Energy Bridge of the Third Millenium
Let us begin with the less important ressource: oil and gas (we could definitely survive without oil and
gas or other natural sources of energy, but never without water). In fact, three quarters of the proven oil
and gas reserves of the world exist in the vicinity of Turkey. In this context, the reserves of the Caspian
basin are an estimated 16 billion barrels of oil and 3.3 billion cubic metres of gas, potentially even
greater. But not only this. There are the immense reservoirs of oil and gas in Central Asia which shall be
transported via Baku and Turkey to the west.
This means more independence from Russia, a benefit for all of us. Turkey, being at the epicentre of the
world´s energy fields, has the utmost importance in terms of eco-strategy. Turkey, an integral part and
ally of Europe, with its modern and Western values, stands in the middle of the crossroads of three con-
tinents, three seas and a multitude of different cultures, religious heritages and political developments. In
this highly vulnerable region, Turkey is Europe´s most reliable friend, despite having recently (and most
probably also in the coming years) been at the geographical centre of most of the problems and disputes
which have occupied the world agenda. Turkey is an energy bridge between Europe and Asia - which is,
by the way, the "Eurasian" continent. Turkey is able to assure - due to its political stability and geo-
graphic proximity - new and independent access to international markets for Caspian and oil and gas
and the treasures of Turkmenistan and Kazakhkistan. In this context, the Turkish proposal for the
Caspian Sea-Mediterranean Sea pipeline project as the
main export pipeline will not only create vital economic
activity and interdependence among suppliers, consumers
and all concerned transit countries, but will also create an
atmosphere of peace, stability, prosperity and security;
qualities so greatly needed not only in this sensitive, vulner-
able region, but all over Europe.

Armenia´s war of aggression against

Azerbaijan: a barrel burst

According to the Faculty member of Yerevan Public

University, Aram Arutunyan, "the Baku-Tbilisi-Ankara
strategic bloc is a very serious danger for Armenia."
Immediately after the 25th of May, 2005 where oil was pumped into the pipeline for the very first time,
the declaration of the Armenian Prime Minister, Andranik Margaryan indicates the highest degree of
anxieties that are felt in this country. As a matter of fact, Margaryan stated that "the pipeline will have
a negative effect on the balance of powers in the region" and that "Armenia is looking for alternatives
to get the balance right once again". Via a new war of aggression? After all, Yerevan's anxieties, created
by Armenia and Russia, are comprehensible, for in Southern Caucasus, a transportation system is being
built without passing through Armenian soil. Besides the Baku-Tbilisi- Ceyhan pipeline, the Kars-Tbilisi-
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
145

The new railway is a way outside the aggressive Republic Hayastan, from Kars to Akhalkalaki and Tbilisi (Tiflis). In future the
railway- connection between Turkey - Europe - and Baku - with the Asian links - will avoid Armenian territory, in order to avoid
any contact with the warlords in Yerevan who occupy Azerbaijanian territory.

Baku railway project will be functional very soon. That means: Armenia will gradually lose its regional
advantages and ways of transportation of great importance for the country, while its neighbors will
increase their economic power. According to political observers: "If Armenia had ended to occupy
Karabakh, had cooperated with Azerbaijan and it had gone beyond the perspective of historical revenge
in its relations with Turkey, the situation would have been a much more different for Armenia".

The strange inherent similarity between the sons of William Tell and
those of Haik:
Mythomaniac teachings on descent
The connection between the Swiss confederates with the Armenian terrorists and whippers-in is old, very
old. And as will be shown in this account, they are both profoundly true to type. Geneva was the centre
of the Armenian machinations, an historic city which has often provided a home for machinating anar-
chists, marxists, or nationalists, from Bakunin and Lenin to the anarchist murderer of the Empress
Elisabeth, Lucheni, who with his deed in fact gave this mad woman her just deserts, for she had always
given anarchists financial support from her own private purse.
Another name that belongs on this infamous roster is that of a certain Avetis Nazarbekian, "a dedicated
revolutionary and propagandist". He and his heirs were responsible for innumerable murders and acts
of violence, not to mention the deliberate defamation of the Ottoman Empire, the Kurds, and the Turks.
Nazarbekian (1866-1936) wrote initially in Portugalian´s (another fanatic) "Armenia", finally separated
and founded, together with six companions the Hunchak-Party in Geneva, August 1887. As usual in
these days for these guys he had also contact with Uljanov ("Lenin") although without success, not
because of different ideas about terror and murder, but because of different plans for the later develop-
 ERICH FEIGL
146

ment of an Armenian state as it was

planned by Nazarbekian, while Lenin thought in
Russian ideology.
Founding Members of the Social Democrat
Hunchakian Party: Avetis Nazarbekian, Mariam
Vardanian/Nazarbekian (Maro), Gevorg
Gharadjian, Ruben Khan-Azat, Christopher
Ohanian, Gabriel Kafian and Manuel Manuelian.
Nazarbekian´s dream was the creation of an inde-
pendent absolutely Armenian "socialist" state,
created at the expense of the already existing
empires. His "speaking-trumpet" was a quite
shrill organ, named "Hunchak", the bell. This
"bell" was actually not a bell but a bomb.
Nobody will accuse the Swiss confederates of
involvement in terrorist activities, but it is a fact
that in the days of the PKK terror, even such a
reputed newspaper as the Neue Zürcher Zeitung
(NZZ) declared its sympathy more or less openly
for "the Kurds", without consideration for
the fact that the overwhelming majority of "the
Kurds" had no sympathy for the PKK whatsoever
- after all, a huge number of Turks of Kurdish
extraction had fallen victim to these madmen.
Whatever the case, the NZZ were not at all shy of
falsifications of any kind, whether home-made or
adopted from elsewhere, as is shown unambigu-
ously by two photographs from the newspaper.
On the left-hand picture, the falsifier went to the
trouble of covering up the mountains in the back-
ground, but failed to see the window in the taller
building, while cleverly covering up the buildings
in the middle ...
It is of no importance whether these manipula-
tions were carried out beforehand or whether they
were done in the NZZ's workshop. In any case,
even a semi-educated lector should have noticed
these falsifications, and this was not the case,
whether on purpose or not.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
147

Where does this strange sympathy come from?

Does it perhaps have something to do with depth psychology, something to do with the mythical - or to put it more exactly, fictitious -
founders of the two states of Switzerland and Armenia?

The statistic of 1.5 million Armenian fatalities

GROUNDS FOR THE JUDGMENT
in the civil war is entirely unfounded, and is in
direct contradiction with the original data
I I. THE FACTS OF THE CASE
communicated to the French Ministry of Fore-
1. "On September 26, 1995, the Armenian
ign Affairs by Boghos Nubar. The document
Committee for the Commemoration submitted a
can be found at the end of this reply. Further-
petition to the Swiss councils, appealing to them to
more, Justin McCarthy made an evaluation so-
'pave the way for the political steps necessary for
me years ago of the Ottoman and Armenian
the acknowledgement of the facts of the Armenian nationalist statistics in his book Muslims and
massacres, and for these to be recognized and con- Minorities, which contains a chapter on the
demned as genocide.' The petition claims that hun- subject with further detailed information. It is
dreds of Armenian intellectuals were arrested and illuminating that the Armenian diaspora never
executed in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, follow- has a word to say about the Muslim victims. It
ing which a planned genocide took place in which is a fact that more than two million Muslims
around 1.5 million Armenians died." who died of starvation, disease and attacks.
2. In reaction, the coordinating body for Turkish Has any Armenian politician ever bothered to
associations in Switzerland submitted the follow- bring that in to the argument?
ing petition to the Swiss councils on January 30,
1996: "We, the undersigned, condemn the smear large number of Armenians (with estimates rang-
campaign initiated by the Armenian Committee ing from 800.000 to 1.5 million).
for the place nearly 100 years ago. The expression After a survey of the historical events and of Swiss
'Armenian genocide' is tantamount to a massive reactions at the time, Parliament declared that on
distortion of the historical facts." August 29, 1985, the Subcommission for Human
In its answer, Parliament condemned the "tragic Rights of the United Nations, and on June 18,
events" of the time which, in the wake of mass 1987, the European Parliament recognized the
deportations and executions during the uprisings events as constituting genocide.
and wars between 1894 and 1922, but particularly b) Motion made by Ziegler on June 11, 1998, run-
in 1915, had led to the deaths of an extremely
 ERICH FEIGL
148

ning as follows: "Parliament is invited to proceed

as quickly as possible in the name of the country
of Switzerland in the issuing of a public declara-
tion relating to the atrocities committed by the
Ottoman Government on the Armenian people in
1915, resulting in 1.3 million deaths, and in the
recognition of these events as genocide."
Here the figures are rounded down somewhat.
Instead of the quite fantastic figure of 1.5 million
appears the figure 1.3 million.
"The genocide against the Armenians before the
courts: the Talat Pasha case": In 1980, following
a commission from the "Society for Threatened
Peoples", a book by Tessa Hofmann was pub-
lished about the legal case against the Armenian
student Soghomon Tehlirian, who lost almost his
whole family at the time in question. The
Armenian was in court for the assassination of
Talat Pasha, the former Turkish minister of the
interior. The case led to the consideration of the
degree to which Talat Pasha had been responsible
for the Armenian massacres from 1915 onwards."
The book contains not only the various statements
made by eyewitnesses and experts but also a pic-
torial documentation. The book gives a very
detailed, revealing and comprehensive account of
the facts of the matter and the background to the
This powerful work of art standing in the middle of Eriwan is a
case.
representation of Haik. Who was that?
Originally, Haik was probably a pagan god. But after
Continuation of the original text: Christianization things moved fast and he mutated into a direct
1. In accordance with Art. 261bis Abs. 4 StGB descendant of the Archpatriarch Noah - the fact that his name
does not even appear in the Bible seems not to have been a prob-
(StGB: Strafgesetzbuch = penal code): "whoever lem. On that point the Haik are nothing if not generous, and even
through word, writing, picture, gesture, deed, or go so far as to call the country HAYASTAN. There are only a few
in any other way belittles or discriminates against countries (Columbia, Bolivia, Saudi Arabia) which are named after
historical personalities. But after a figure from legend?
a person or a group of persons on account of their
This question may at first seem superfluous or irrelevant, but this
race, ethnic origin, or religion, in a way offensive is not the case with HAYASTAN. In fact, it hits the nail right on
to human dignity, or who denies, or makes light the head in that the matter is quite irrational. The answer can only
be: That is the politics of Hayastan and its diaspora, which is quite
of, or tries to justify genocide for these reasons"
incomprehensible in rational terms.
shall be liable to punishment.
As has already been mentioned, those who stand
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
149

accused are not historians and have no expert

knowledge of the facts relating to the period. The
only historical facts that they have at their disposal
are drawn from the one-sided view of history for-
mulated by the Turkish government and influenced
by the Turkey's view of itself as a state. This gener-
al view has been consistently confirmed and cor-
roborated by the media in public debate on the
issue, as the expert's report has also attested. Given
that the accused only had an ill-thought-out and
ideologically-based knowledge of the history of the
time in question, as is shown by their methods of
proof, and thus neither acted en pleine connais-
sance de cause nor had any racist motivation, one
cannot charge them with having acted deliberately.
As there is not sufficient indication of their subjec-
tive guilt, the accused are to be pronounced not
guilty of racial discrimination.
This begs the question as to exactly which party in
this case can be held to have had "an ill-thought-
out and ideologically-based knowledge of the histo-
This imposing monument shows William Tell, who never really
ry of the time in question"...
existed, in spite of Friedrich Schiller's play and Giuseppe Verdi's It is quite inconceivable that Switzerland, a country
opera. Schiller created another myth in his Don Carlos, and again, with a worldwide reputation as the home of the
Verdi gratefully made it his own. Somehow, it all reminds one of Red Cross and of numerous renowned internation-
that other masterpiece, the "Forty Days of Musa Dagh", in that al organizations, should give such one-sided and ill-
although it has hardly anything to do with reality it still has a cer- considered support for such a deviant line of argu-
tain effect in reality.
ment. Or could the explanation lie in the old saying
The story of William Tell is a myth, and there is nothing wrong
that the best form of self-defense is attack? During
with that, whether we are talking about the Swiss with their legen-
the Second World War Switzerland was quite
dary figure of Tell, or the Armenians (the Haik), whose "HAIK"
gave them their "raison d'être". Confederates did in fact exist who
happy to receive any amount of money from
defended themselves with the crossbow against those they conside- Jewish refugees (and this money is in part still
red to be enemies. Many Swiss know that, but for the majority it deposited in Swiss banks), but refugees themselves
is probably a matter of indifference. Could it be that this founda- were mercilessly turned away at the Swiss borders
tional story has something to do with their absurd sympathy for in their thousands; Turkey, on the contrary,
the Haik? although it was likewise under a very serious threat
from Hitler and was surrounded by enemies, ful-
filled its humanitarian obligation entirely, and nei-
ther rejected a single refugee nor ever handed a sin-
gle refugee over to the Nazis.
 ERICH FEIGL
150

Where blind and naked ignorance

Delivers brawling judgments, unashamed,
On all things all day long.

Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

A MASTERPIECE OF IGNORANCE
Johannes Lepsius (* 1858 - † 1926)

German Federal Parliament, 15th term of office the organized expulsion and extermination of Ar-
Printed matter 15/5689 / 15.06.2005 menians did not make one single attempt to stop
the atrocities.
Proposal by the parliamentary groups: SPD, It is noble - even so late in the day - to bow one's
CDU/CSU, BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN and FDP head in memory of the Armenian victims. What
the author of this pamphlet (it is no more than
(An excerpt containing the most important - and that) overlooks (or consciously fails to mention) is
mostly grotesque - formulations.) the fact that in the course of a civil war which was
provoked by the Armenians, the losses incurred by
Remembrance and commemoration of the expulsi- the helpless Muslim population were many times
ons and massacres committed against the Armeni- greater than those suffered by the Armenians. No-
ans in 1915: Germany must make a contribution body wastes a thought on the Muslims who lost
to reconciliation between the Turks and the Arme- their lives. Is there not a single member of the
nians. German Federal Parliament who has read Justin
McCarthy's book "Muslims and Minorities"? If
It is proposed that the Bundestag approves the fol- not, is this perhaps because the book is only pub-
lowing: lished in English?

The German Federal Parliament bows its head to ARMENIA: "A German pastor and the genocide
the memory of the victims of violence, murder and He was an eye-witness of the genocide committed
expulsion lost by the Armenian people before and against the Armenians. His was the voice of cons-
during the First World War. It deplores the deeds cience while other Europeans were silent. A num-
of the Young Turk government of the Ottoman ber of people in Potsdam now wish to give him the
Empire that led to the almost complete extermina- honor he is due - but there is resistance ..."
tion of the Armenians in Anatolia. It also regrets
the shameful role of the German Reich which in
spite of having been informed many times over of
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
151

HE WAS NOT. HE WAS A SHAMELESS MANI- murderer: "The report of Lepsius contributes to
PULATOR WHO HAD NEVER SET HIS FOOT the assassin's acquittal." That is the point where
IN THE EASTERN REGIONS AND HE the present-day worldwide terror network took
FALSIFICATED REPORTS AND DOCUMENTS root.
EN MASSE..
"In order to expose the murders, the pastor disgui- With this act of commemoration the German Bun-
ses himself as a carpet-dealer. During his travels destag pays tribute to the efforts of all those Ger-
through the Armenian areas he transcribes eye-wit- mans and Turks who, in difficult circumstances
ness reports and collects statistics. He combines and against the resistance of their respective Go-
these with his personal thoughts and polemic aga- vernments, acted to save Armenian women, men,
inst the perpetrators to make up the documentati- and children. A particular intention is to rescue
on Armenien und Europa.." An eye-witness?? from oblivion the work of Dr Johannes Lepsius,
This man had never left Constantinople/Istanbul; who fought energetically and effectively for the
all what he reported came from Armenian sour- survival of the Armenian people, and to use the
ces, similar to the reports which Morgenthau had memory of his work as a means of improving rela-
received from his Armenian dragomans. These are tions between the Armenian, German, and Turkish
the essential points in the Lepsius legend, never peoples.
had left Constantinople which has hardly to do The author of this piece of writing may well be
with reality and truth. unaware that Pastor Lepsius was a cunning trick-
ster, as is demonstrated by many pieces of eviden-
What can be found under the Internet address ce which are on the Internet for anyone to read
"chrismon- ARMENIEN Ein deutscher Pfarrer who wishes. The author was clearly also unaware
und der Genozid" is a classic example of the falsi- that Lepsius never spent any time in the crisis-
fication and manipulation of historical fact, but stricken areas. His source was the US Ambassador
this was obviously the source used by the authors Morgenthau, who never set foot over the bounda-
of the parliamentary proposal. ries of the city of Istanbul and received his infor-
mation exclusively from his Armenian interpreters.
Lepsius was himself never witness to a single act Add to these the incredibly cleverly written book
of violence. Everything he wrote or reported he by Aram Andonian and you have the three traps
had from the lips of his Armenian informants, just which even as clever a man as Franz Werfel fell in-
as was the case with Morgenthau, the Ambassador to when he wrote his masterpiece "The Forty Days
of the United States. The short section " ... the of Musa Dagh", which is almost certainly the so-
pastor as carpet-dealer" gives the truth away, urce from which the members of the German Bun-
which is that his documentation is only composed destag derives their "knowledge" of the matter.
of "eyewitness reports ... personal thoughts". A
document in the style of Aram Andonian, whose But research into and assessment of these historical
falsifications were later to cost Talat Pasha and events is also of immediate significance for our
subsequently many others their lives. The "chris- own day, when the normalization of relations bet-
mon" website gives the following commentary on ween the Republic of Turkey and the Republic of
the trial of Tehlirian, Talat Pasha's Armenia is of particular importance for the future
 ERICH FEIGL
152

of the whole region. It is urgently necessary that for the poor. With respect to Turkey, Germany
confidence-building measures, in the sense of the plays the judge without knowing the facts; with
word as used in the principles of the OSCE. The respect to the Czech lands, nothing is said even
opening of the border to Turkey, for instance, co- though everyone knows the facts. Is that pragma-
uld contribute to the termination of Armenia's iso- tism? Or it is perhaps plain injustice?
lation and to the resumption of diplomatic
relations. The German Bundestag appeals to the Federal
Government:
At this point the arguments presented by the aut-
hor or authors reach the culminating point of their - to contribute to the establishment of an equable
at all times considerable ignorance. Anyone can se- relationship between Turks and Armenians thro-
e from a glance at the map that the Republic of ugh study and reassessment of the past, and to for-
Hayastan (Armenia) is not subject to any "isolati- giveness and reconciliation in the present;
on". The borders to Georgia (in the direction of
the Black Sea) and to Iran to the south are quite - to contribute to ensuring that the Turkish Parlia-
open. The authors of this pamphlet are clearly also ment and Government, and Turkish society com-
unaware of Armenia's ill will towards Turkey mit themselves unreservedly to study and assess-
(non-renewal of the Treaty of Gümrü, resulting in ment of their historical and present relations with
the maintaining of positively absurd territorial cla- the Armenian people;
ims; the inclusion in Hayastan's national coat of
arms of Mount Ararat, which is clearly on Turkish - to contribute to the normalization of relations
national territory), as are the individuals most clo- between Turkey and Armenia.
sely associated with the proposal, namely Müntefe-
ring, Merkel, Göring, and Gerhardt. Berlin, June 15, 2005
Franz Müntefering and parliamentary group,
It is the responsibility of our educational policy to Dr. Angela Merkel, Michael Glos and parliamen-
contribute to ensuring that research into and as- tary group,
sessment of the expulsion and extermination of the Katrin Göring-Eckardt, Krista Sager and parli-
Armenians is carried out as part of the work on amentary group,
the history of ethnic conflicts in the twentieth Dr. Wolfgang Gerhardt and parliamentary group
century.
Substantiation
Would it not be better to spare a little time to talk Ninety years ago, on April 24, 1915, Istanbul's
about the Bene Decrees and to commemorate the Armenian political and cultural élite were, at the
mass murder and expulsion of Sudeten Germans? orders of the Young Turks government which held
power in the Ottoman Empire, arrested and taken
And yet no steps are taken in this direction. The to inner Turkey, where almost all were then mur-
Czech Republic was admitted to the EU in spite of dered. On this date, Armenians all over the world
the continued validity of the Bene Decrees, which remember annually all those expulsions and
is a clear case of one rule for the rich and one rule massacres to which Armenian subjects of the Otto-
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
153

April 23 are a slap in the face of historical truth.

According to independent reports, over one milli-
Muslims on Armenians fell victim to deportations and mass
executions. Numerous independent historians, par-
and liaments, and international organizations designate
the expulsion and extermination of the Armenians
Minorities as genocide.
The Population of Ottoman Anatoliya
and the End of the Empire The honorable ladies and gentlemen of the Bun-
destag are recommended to read “Muslims and
Minorities” by Justin McCarthy, if they read Eng-
lish.

Justin McCarthy The legal successor to the Ottoman Empire, the

Republic of Turkey, still disputes, in contradiction
with the facts, that these events were planned, and
claims that neither the mass loss of life of those
In the book they would find the contemporary Armenian and
Ottoman statistics (even then there were such things) and realize
who died en route towards their planned resettle-
that the figures for the victims (which range from "more than a ment or the massacres were willed by the Ottoman
million" to "millions") are simply absurd, because there were ne-
ver so many Armenians living in the respective areas.
Government. While it is admitted that the Armeni-
ans were treated harshly, the action taken is justifi-
ed by the fact that first in 1878 and then in
man Empire were already subjected at the end of 1914/15 many Armenians had fought on the side
the nineteenth century, and which then took place of the Russians against Turkey, and that there was
on a larger scale during the First World War. a serious danger of the Armenians would have tur-
ned against the Ottoman Empire. Other justificati-
The German press reported in April 2005 that on ons proffered by the Turkish side include the vio-
April 23, 1915, a total of 2,350 Armenians were lence perpetrated by Armenians on Turks during
arrested in Istanbul, deported and executed. Un- their armed resistance to the Turkish resettlement
fortunately, German precision had managed to measures.
add an extra nought to the number arrested,
which in fact amounted to 235. And the real rea-
son why they were arrested? The British-French
fleet and a huge invasion army were entering the
Dardanelles in order to storm the capital of the
Ottoman Empire, where the Armenians had alre-
ady made preparations for an uprising which was
to take place behind the backs of the Ottoman de-
fenders. The annual "ceremonies in commemorati-
on of a genocide" which take place on
 ERICH FEIGL
154

GENOCIDE-HOLOCAUST-TERROR
the magic triangle of human inhumanity
"Death does not have a nationality, but it has pe-
ople that are responsible for it. Never forget them,
and demand that their works are evaluate
appropriately."
(Quoted from www.lietuvos.net/istorija/communism.
The pictures in this section come from the same so-
urce.)

GENOCIDE
"Genocide" is an artificial word, half Greek and
half Latin in derivation, like "television".
“GENOS” means roughly the same as descent, ex-
traction, or lineage, but is far from meaning a "pe-
ople". “CAEDO” means to strike down, fell, or
kill.
"Threesame" by Felix Nussbaum, 1944. He describes here in a
unique way the situation of all those persecuted which lies some-
The inventor of this word, which has since gained where between fear of death, death and vague hope.
currency in all cultures of the world, was a man
from the part of Poland then belonging to Russia.
His life was from the very beginning dominated by
the persecution of Russian Jews. One terrible word
hung dark over his whole existence: "pogrom".

Raphael Lemkin, father of the artificial word "ge-

nocide" was born in 1900 in the town of Bezvod-
ne in Belarus. The most important factor determi-
ning the character of his earlier life was the massi-
ve and well-planned series of persecutions of the
Jews that took place in the Russian Empire of the
time. The motivation for these persecutions was The creator of the term "genocide" Raphael Lemkin.
not only religious but also purely economic. Envy
has always been a strong motivating force behind menians in eastern Anatolia. At home, St Peters-
persecution, as have religious convictions and fear burg pursued a sophisticated policy of misinforma-
of those who are intellectually superior. tion, propagating throughout Russia reports of at-
The year 1915 saw the outbreak of a large-scale rocities in the Ottoman Empire that were either
uprising, supported by Russia, of Ottoman Ar- pure fiction or vastly exaggerated. Never, howe-
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
155

ver, did they waste a single word on the sufferings

undergone by Ottoman Muslims - predictably, be-
cause they, along with Protestant sects from the
USA, were the ones who had been responsible for
these sufferings. Their propaganda was intended
to distract public opinion from their own ill de-
eds.

Like all his compatriots, the young Raphael Lem-

kin had no other information about what was go-
ing on in the Ottoman Empire than that propaga-
POGROM -
ted by the Russian misinformers. He was shocked Means "to wreak havoc, to demolish violently; a massive violent
by what he read. attack on a particular group, ethnic or other ..."

When, a few years later, an Armenian mercenary

killer by the name of Soghomon Tehlirian (*Ke-
makh 1896 - ‡San Francisco 1960) assassinated
Talat Pasha on an open street, this outrage clearly
met with the approval of Raphael Lemkin, whose
story is told as follows by sources from the Arme-
nian side:

"After graduating from a local trade school in Bi-

alystok he began the study of linguistics at the
John Casimir University in Lwów.

It was here Lemkin became interested in the case

of Soghomon Tehlirian, an Armenian who assas-
sinated the former Turkish Minister Interior The United States Ambassador Henry Morgenthau with his clo-
sest collaborators. Recognizable in the second row above the na-
Talat Pasha in Berlin, Germany on March 15, val attaché is one of Morgenthau's informants, Agop Andonian,
1921 as an act of vengeance for his role in orc- probably a relative of the forger Aram Andonian, who fabricated
Talat's "murder orders".
hestrating the Armenian Genocide. Lemkin tho-
ught it inconsistent for it to be a crime to kill a
man but not a crime to orchestrate the destructi-
on of an entire people, genocide."

This statement is self-defeating. There is no evi-

dence whatsoever that either Talat or Enver Pasha
ever gave orders for killings to take place: all the
"documents" presented to this effect have long
 ERICH FEIGL
156

since been proved to have been forgeries made by

Aram Andonian, Johannes Lepsius, or Henry
Morgenthau, who has also been shown to have
been entirely under the influence of the
Armenians.

The relatively prosperous and independent pea-

sants of the Ukraine were called "kulaks" and we-
re regarded as "capitalists" within a Communist
state. They strongly resisted the collectivization of
their holdings, but the Communists used even mo-
re brutal measures to enforce their program. Who-
le villages were compelled, by force of arms, to ac-
Chodschali cept the collectivization of their holdings. Some 2
On February 26, 1992, the Armenian occupying forces annihilated the
little town of Chodschali in collaboration with former Soviet units. million kulaks with their families – perhaps 8 mil-
This atrocity is reminiscent of the fate of the village of Nemmersdorf lion people altogether - were driven from their ho-
in East Prussia in October 1944, when Red Army forces massacred the
whole population of the village in a matter of hours, provoking a mass mes, with many being killed in the process. Many
flight from the neighborhood. But it would go beyond the bounds of
the present list of atrocities to include pictures of Nemmersdorf taken starved to death and many more ended up in Sibe-
when the village was taken back shortly afterwards.
ria. In the period 1918-1929, the Communists kil-
led about 10-15 million people who resisted, exc-
luding those who died from starvation and so on.
And the Soviets committed similar atrocities in the
Baltic states.

It is well known that the Soviet regime was res-

ponsible for mass murders of Poles and Ukraini-
ans and for the annihilation of the Azerbaijani in-
tellectual elite and that of other "minority" peop-
les. However, the regime's brutality became even
clearer on the discovery of the mass graves at
Katyn.

It goes without saying that the other prosecutors,

first and foremost the prosecutor-in-chief Jackson,
were fully aware of the atrocities committed by
the Soviets, which outstripped even those of their
accomplices the Nazis.
1941, Lithuania, Rainiai: The communists butchered anyone who
But in that case the motivation was simply political.
they thought might resist Marxist teaching. However, nobody has RAPHAEL LEMKIN, one of Jackson's closest ad-
yet been held responsible, nor has anyone been sentenced for
crimes against humanity.
visers, was even better informed about the truth
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
157

than any of the prosecutors. And yet he never ma-

de the slightest reference to the atrocities commit-
ted by the Soviets, who had sent literally millions
of innocent men and women to their deaths.
"Genocide" to the nth degree, the extermination
of whole ethnic groups, the destruction of the
Jews' very identity. That the defendants at the
Nuremberg Trials did not escape
their just punishment is only one side of the coin.
The other side is the fact that the Western allies
willfully cast a blind eye over the atrocities com-
mitted by the Soviets, pursuing a policy which is
just as incomprehensible as the attitude of Rapha-
KATYN
1940, Russia: The Katyn massacre in the forest near the village Gnez- el Lemkin.
dovo, a short distance from Smolensk. That thousands of
Polish officers were murdered there was a fact that was clear to every-
body, above all to Stalin, Berija and all their accomplices, including
RETROACTIVE LAWS ARE ALSO IMPORTANT
"Marshall" Voroschilof and a certain Anastas Mikojan, an Armenian IN THIS CASE
who was one of the most cruel and irresponsible creatures of the Sta- In Stalin's case there was no need to talk about
lin period. Absent were Kalinin (whose name is still used in the desig-
nation for the ancient city of Königsberg) and Kaganovic, who agreed "retroactive laws" - the corpses of his victims still
in writing to the deaths of a huge number of POWs. stank to high heaven.
It was different matter with Churchill and

Yalta, November 4, 1945. The negotiations at Yalta were not only

concerned with the fate of those millions of Central and Eastern
Europeans who, in the decades following the disintegration of the
old pre-war Germany, were left entirely at the mercy of the Soviet
Rudenko terror.
All these facts were quite clear to the Russian Other matters were at stake, such as the responsibility for real
chief prosecutor in Nuremberg, Roman genocides. Who sat here? Churchill (weary and already power-
Rudenko. less), Roosevelt (terminally ill), and a savage barbarian by the
name of Dschugaschvili, "the man of steel", better known as
Stalin. In the second row, behind Stalin to the left, stands Roman
Rudenko.
 ERICH FEIGL
158

Australia

The British "discoverers" of Australia - thousands of years after

the real discovery of the southernmost continent by the "aborigi-
nes" - considered the natives to be subhuman. Like the Indians in
the USA they were ruthlessly massacred, and the few who survive
to this day lead an absurd existence as showpieces - even cult
objects - of the new lords of the continent.

The British did not act any differently towards the Irish. Those
who did not escape to America fell victim to London's hunger
blockades. Exactly the same treatment was meted out to the Indi-
ans whom the British brought under their yoke using all possible
means. If it were possible to pass just judgments now and to de-
mand compensation, then Germany would have to bear responsi-
bility for the extermination of the elite of the Hereros in former
German South-West Africa (Namibia).
WOUNDED KNEE
A symbol for the extermination of a whole race: The dead at
Wounded Knee South Dakota, December 29, 1890. They died
because of their religious beliefs. That day over 300 Indians were
killed, 200 of them women and children. This man's body was
turned on top of the others and the rifle was laid across him by the
photographers who sold postcards. A crowd of whites came to
watch the shootings.

Roosevelt.
They were the heirs of an unscrupulous war of destruction waged by their predecessors on all those who
were standing in their way.
Question: Where are the original inhabitants of the present-day United States? Where are the American
Indians? They were simply exterminated. The few who have survived lead a pitiful existence in reservati-
ons, like animals in a zoo. On December 9th 1948, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment
of the Crime of Genocide was adopted unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly. For some
time now - even after decades of silence, they were still aware of their guilt - Armenian extremists and
propagandists have been attempting to use the magic word "genocide" for their own ends. Their intenti-
on - quite apart from the fact that there has never been a "genocide" committed on the Armenian peop-
le - is to distract the attention of world opinion at all costs from the real crimes that were committed. Si-
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
159

The new technical term "GENOCIDE" and

its creator Raphael Lemkin

Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959), the man who coined the term "ge-
nocide". He rose to become one of the advisers to the US Chief
Prosecutor R. H. Jackson at the Nuremberg war trials in 1945. Thousands of Cambodian Christians died
Both of them were fully aware of the crimes committed by the So- as martyrs. Europe did not react, the UN
viets but neither mentioned a word about them. The trials dealt did not react . . . nobody cared.
only with cases of war guilt only and "genocide" in times of pea-
ce was not punishable under those terms. These circumstances
caused Lemkin to resolve to carry on his campaign for the estab-
lishment of genocide as a crime under international law.

In the years between 1975 and 1979, the period of Pol Pot and the Chodjali
"Khmer Rouge", up to 2 million Cambodians were murdered, the
purpose being to extinguish the old Cambodian culture and to A little Azerbaijani town is annihilated at a stroke by Armenian
create a "new mankind". soldiery, helped by Soviet irregulars.
This was one of the most terrible occurrences of the end of the
twentieth century, and quite comparable to Srebrenica. But while
milar events in Ruanda have brought similar re-
the Serbian murderers were with only a few exceptions soon to be
sults and reactions. The term "genocide" was alre- subjected to international law and the object of widespread con-
ady part of a "newspeak" (in George Orwell's tempt, those Armenians responsible for the atrocity of Chodjali
sense), finally in the hands of the Armenian pro- are still free to hold their heads high in the public sphere and are
considered by world opinion as "victims".
pagandists. Giordano Bruno, one of the most im-
portant theologists of his time was burnt - a holo-
 ERICH FEIGL
160

caust - 17th Feb. A. D. 1600 after two years of

custody. He was imprisoned by the Grand Inquisi-
tor to hear his sentence on bended knee, Bruno
answered the sentence of death by fire with the
word: "Perhaps you, my judges, pronounce this
sentence against me with greater fear than I recei-
ve it!"
One of the most blatantly criminal acts of the Re-
public of "Hayastan" was committed only a few
years ago: the occupation of 20% of the territory
of Azerbaijan, resulting in a flood of refugees,
with over a million fleeing to the surviving part of
the country. Tens of thousands of lives were lost
in the course of this Armenian war of aggression
and conquest. World opinion is more or less una-
ware of this fact. Everything revolves around the
word "genocide", which has been appropriated by
he Armenians and used to suggest that they were
the victims of an atrocity of this kind in 1915.

The end of Robespierre: The inventor of the mo-

dern term "terreur" ends as victim of his own in-
vention. No comment...

Kocharian, president of the Republic of Hayastan and the

Armenian clercy: NOT ONE WORD ABOUT CHODJALI! In Ka-
rabagh on April 26, 2005, the president of the Republic Hayastan,
initially leader of the Armenian terror organizations, officially tur-
ned down Turkey's offer of a joint academic study on the mass kil-
lings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and said that Ankara
should instead work to normalize relations with Yerevan. He did
not say one word about the occupation of Western Azerbaijan, or
about the refugees and the victims of this aggression. Instead he re-
jected the idea out of hand, saying that the genocide is a proven
fact that cannot be disputed…
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
161

Perhaps the most important document concerning hate, whih always exeggerated, in 1912 (according
the real amaout od Armenian victims during the ci- to Justin McCarthy´s absolutely reliable book
vil war of 1915: "Muslims and Minorities" 1,018000 people!
It is a letter, witten and singed by the head (quasi Source: Archives des Affaiees Etrangères de France,
prime minister) of the exiled Armenians, Bogos Serie Levant, Armenie, 2, folio 47).
Nubar addressed to the French foreign ministry. From the same archive the letter of Bogas Nubar
Alone the sentence that he has no idea about the where he declares the armenians were a " war-lea-
fate of the "reste de deportés dans le désert" shows ding nation" (page 109).
the underhanded way of his words, relying on the
fact that hardly somebody would care about which
"desert" he spoke. And finally: THE ARMENIAN
POPULATION OF "TURKISH ARMENIA" had,
according to the statistics of the Armenian Patriarc-
 ERICH FEIGL
162
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
163

1. Turkey 2. Cyprus 3. Nachitschevan 4. Azerbaijan

5. Turkmenistan 6. Uzbekistan 7. Kazakhstan
8. Kirgizistan 9. Altay Autonom Rep. 10. Hakas Auton. Rep.
11. Tannu-Tuva Auton. Rep. 12. Saka (Yakut) Auton. Rep.
13. Bashkirdistan Auton. Rep.
14. Tataristan Auton. Rep. 15. Cuvashistan Auton. Rep. 16.
Bosnia-Herzog. 17. Dogu Turkistan 18. Sari Uygurs and Salurs
19. Dagestan 20. Kumuk Turks 21. Checen-Inqush Rep. 22.
Kabarda-Balkar Auton. Rep.
23. Karacay-Cerkez Auton. Rep. 24. Abaza Auton. Rep. 25.
Acar Turks 26. Ahiska Turks 27. Krim turks
28. Gagauz Turks 29. Balkan Turks 30. Uskup Turks
31. Kosovo Turks 32. Turks in Germany 33. Finland Turks
34. Saka (Yakut) Turks 35. East Sibir Turks
36. Tobol Turks 37. Tatar Turks 38. Bashkurt Turks
39. Misher Turks 40. Magays 41. Stavropol Turkmens 42.
Azeri Turks 43. Iraq Turkmens 44. Syria Turks
45. Horasan Turks 46. Afghanistan Turks 47. Tadjikistan
Uzbeks 48. Kashgay Turks 49. Hamse Turks.
 ERICH FEIGL
164

Aghasse. Zeitun depuis les Origines jusqu'á l’Insurrection de 1895. Paris,

Selected Bibliography 1895
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1953.
The number of publications discussing the subject of Andonian, Aram. Les Mémoires de Nairn Bey; Documents officiels turcs
"Armenia" is legion. This is particularly true for the relatifs á la deportation et au massacres des Arméniens. Paris, 1920.
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The Assembly of Turkish American Associations. Myth and Reality. A
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Handbook of Facts and Documents. Washington, 1986
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with the title Aspirations et Agissements Revolution-
naires des Comites Armeniens avant et apres la procla- Bliss, Edwin M. Turkey and the Armenian Atrocities. Philadelphia, 1896.
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on this subject. Almost without exception, they pre-
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is forced upon them, they are the first to forgive their Armenia. Senate Doc. No. 226 (1920).
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Howard, Harry N. The Partition of Turkey. New York. 1966.
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tant books on this subject does not by any means pre-
tend to be exhaustive. Both points of view are repre- Korganof. La Participation des Arméniens á la Guerre Mondiale sur le
Front du Caucase 1914-1918. Paris, 1927.
sented - the Turkish and the Armenian. An annex gi-
ves the titles of some recent publications from the Tur- Krikorian, Mesrop. Armenians in the Service of the Ottoman Empire 1860-
kish side which -better late than never - present the 1908. London, 1978.
events as seen from the Turkish standpoint. Lang, David Marshall. Armenia, Cradle of Civilization. London, 1980.
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
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Lowry, Heath W. The U. S. Congress and Adolph Hitler on the Armenians. Recent Turkish Publications
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Lang, D. M. The Armenians, A People in Exile. London, 1981. §imsir, Bilal. Apergu Historique sur la Question
Armenienne. Ankara, 1985.
Lepsius, Johannes. Deutschland und Armenien. Tempelverlag, Potsdam,
1919.
Ataov, Türkkaya. A British Report (1895): The Armenians
Lepsius, Johannes, ed. Die Grofie Politik der Europdischen Kabinette Unmasked. Ankara University, 1985.
1911-1914. Berlin, 1922-1927.

Lepsius, Johannes, L'Armenie et I'Europe. Lausanne, 1896. Ataov, Türkkaya. "A 'Statement' Wrongly Attributed to
Mustafa Kamal Atatürk". Ankara University, 1984.
Mansfield, Peter. The Ottoman Empire and Its Successors. The McMillan
Press, London, 1979. Ataov Türkkaya. "An Armenian Author on 'Patriotism
Mayéwski. Les Massacres d'Arménie. St. Petersburg, 1916. perverted'". Ankara University, 1984.

McCarthy, Justin. Muslims and Minorities. The Population of Ottoman Ataov, Türkkaya. "Documents on the Armenian Question:
Anatolia and the End of the Empire. New York University Press, 1983.
Forged and Authentic". Ankara University, 1985.
Moser, Pierre A. Arméniens - où est la réalite? Editions Mallier, Saint
Aquilin de Pacy, 1980. Ataov, Türkkaya. "Hitler and the 'Armenian Question'".
Ankara University, 1984.
Nalbandian, Louise. The Armenian Revolutionary Movement: The
Development of Armenian Political Parties Through the 19th Century.
Berkeley, 1963. Ataov, Türkkaya. "The Andonian 'Documents' Attributed
to Talat Pasha Are Forgeries". Ankara, 1984.
Nazer, James, comp. The First Genocide of the 20th Century. New York,
1970. Cem Özgönül: "Der Mythos eines Völkermordes". Köln:
Norman, C. B. Armenia and the Campaign of 1877-1878. London, 1878. Önel Verlag 2006.

Orel, §inasi and Yuca, Sureyya. Les "Telegrammes" de Talât Pacha. Fait Türkaya Ataöv "The Armenians Ottoman Period". Ankara
historique ou fiction. Société turques d'Histoire, Ankara, 1983. 2001.
Papasian, K. S. Patriotism Perverted. Boston, 1934.
Selahi Diker "And the whole Earth was of one Language",
Schemsi, Kara. Turcs et Armeniens devant I'Histoire. Geneva, 1919.
Izmir 2000.
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 ERICH FEIGL
166

Epilogue
Armenian terrorism: History is both poison and antidote. Histo-
rians usually contribute little or nothing to discussions of pre-
sent-day terrorism. Middle-East historians have especially avoi-
ded comment on Armenian terrorism, preferring topics more re-
mote and less likely to shoot back. However, in considering Ar-
menian violence, history cannot be ignored, for history is both
the cause of Armenian terrorism and its only cure. Armenian ter-
rorism is rooted in a false view of history. Only by correcting
that view will Armenian terrorism be defeated. I therefore wish
to suggest a method not usually used to combat terrorism: the
study of history.
Each terrorist needs a raison d'etre - a philosophy and a cause
for which he can kill and die. History usually plays a part in this,
both because terrorists often look back to an idyllic past in
which all was well with their people, and because terrorists al-
most always remember real or imagined historical injuries and
vow vengeance. But the main wish of terrorists is always to free
their people from foreigan bondage. That was the case with the
Viet Kong, and that is the case today with the I. R. A. Today's
Armenian terrorists are unique in that history, or at least their
version of it, is their only real justification. In recent days I. R. A.
seems to be of "minorr" importance. Same for the "freedom
fighters" of Sardinia, Kosovo or Spain´s problem with the ETA-
separatists. Also the most cruel events in the Middle East made
Armenia´s criminal attack against Azerbaijan somehow forgot-
ten. But the refugees from Western Azerbaijan will never forget.
And the Turks will never forget the Armenian ruthless
accusations.

For the Armenian terrorists, there are no people to be "libera-

ted". The Armenian terrorists have only one cause: revenge - re-
venge for what they see as mistakes made by the other side (the
Turks).
I began by stating that the best weapon against Armenian terro-
rism is the study of history. Perhaps it would be more accurate to
say: The best weapon is the truth. Then perhaps we could make
the words of the late Gregorian patriarch of Istanbul Snork Ka-
lutsian might become true:
"May all those unhappy events which take place in every country
have an end. May the Peace of God be with all people of good
will.”
 ARMENIAN MYTHOMANIA
167

A Personal Foreword 7
Introduction 10
Urartians: Their Language and Their Heritage 12
Armenia: Myth and Historical Reality 18
The Prehistoric Cultures of Eastern Anatolia –A Key to The Understanding of The History of Anatolia 19
Seljuks, Mongol Invaders and Ottomans 26
Jews in the Ottoman Empire 28
The Greek Orthodox - Patriarchate 30
The Armenian Orthodox Patriarchate 32
The Triumph of the Ottomans in Eastern Anatolia and Cilicia 38
The Causes of the Armenian Tragedy 39
The Rivalry Among the Churches and Sects to Win the Favor of the Ottoman Armenians 39
The Beginning of the End -The Formation of a Protestant 41
The Catholic Armenians 41
The Nineteenth Century: A Golden Age for Armenians and Ottomans, in Spite of the Beginnings of Nationalistic Agitating from Abroad 46
Great-Power Politics and the Armenian Question 50
It´s only one step from myth and mythology to mythomania 56
Mark Sykes, the Zealots of Zeitun and the Reckless Revolutionaries 62
The Mechitarists as a Special Kind of Victim of Armenian Terror 67
The truth about the present-day Mechitarists of San Lazzaro 68
Nationalism Spreads From the Church to Secular Organizations 70
The Bab-› Ali Demonstration, the Hunchaks, and the Kusaktsakan 72
One df theclimaxes of Armenian terror: The raid on the Ottoman Bank 74
The Armenians' Last Chance - Blown by the Dashnaks 76
May 17, 1915 The Armenians invade Van and set fire to the Muslim part of the town 79
The Relocation Decision: Its Causes and Consequences 81
The Armenian myth of victimhood stands or falls on two legs: the date April 24, 1915, and Franz Werfel's literary masterpiece,
"The Forty Days of Musa Dagh". 88
The Anglo-French Attack on Constantinople, through the narrows and across the sea Marmara, was now imminent. Date: April 24! 91
The mountain of Moses and the lowlands of Alma and Franz Werfel 97
Alma, the alter ego of Franz 98
The poet and his world 100
The bed-sheets of the Musa Dagh-fighters 105
Werfel´s substratum of "truth" 106
A Gang of Forgers 108
The Forgeries of Aram Andonian and Johannes Lepsius 110
The Collapse of the Central Powers and the Continuing Resistance of the Ottoman Empire 117
The Turmoil of a War That Would Not End 120
The Wars of the Republic of Armenia 123
The Reconquest of Kars and the End of Armenian Expansion 126
An Equally Tragic Sequel on the Southern Front 128
The Treaties of Gümrü, Moscow and finally Kars 130
The End of the Armenian-Greek Invasion 131
Terrorism as Bloody Real Fantasy-War 136
The Armenian Terrorist Organizations 139
The Political Background of the Armenian Terrorist Organization ASALA 140
Some examples of Armenian tirades of hatred: They poisoned worldwide public opinion. A myth of mental terror. 142
Water and oil Turkey, the energy bridge of the third millenium 144
Armenia´s war of aggression against Azerbaijan: a barrel burst 144
The strange inherent similarity between the sons of William Tell and those of Haik: Mythomaniac teachings on descent 145
Grounds for the judgment 147
A masterpiece of ›gnorance 150
Genocide - Holocaust - Teror 154