A continuation...
Almost from the start the "Memoir of Naim Bey" was labeled as fake. The situation got so bad that by 1937 Andonian was admitting that the book was not a historical work, but rather a bit of propaganda whipped up (mostly) by the "Armenian Bureau" in London. He furthermore claimed that, contrary to popular opinion, Naim Bey actually existed but could not be found owning to his alcoholism and gambling addiction. Critics had sought out Bey only to come away empty handed. In fact, in our era, scholars have made this same search only to discover that no Ottoman official of that name has ever existed. Others choose to focus only on the 31 purported telegrams and documents contained within the book.
As with all Turkish military documents in WWI, these were sent by cipher. Unlike all other Ottoman documents of the era the Cipher Registry numbers affixed to the 31 documents do not correspond to any in Ottoman records. They are not on official Ottoman documentation paper, and were composed by a non-Turkish speaker- very strange given their purported origination with Enver Pasha. Today very few scholars accept the work as anything other than an outright fraud.
The second strand of purported Mens Rea is the Turkish Military Tribunals of 1919 and 1920. There were at least six regional tribunals held at the behest of the Entente, the WWI equivalent of WWII's "Allies." The one tibunal serving in this regard is the second one, held in Istanbul. Not only was Enver Pasha (in absentia) and other members of the Turkish Government during WWI held to account, but 42 documents were included in the indictment sheet. Certainly those documents would establish Mens Rea, right?
After clamoring for implementation of the Tribunals the Entente was horrified with what took place. Ottoman Justice had no Due Process whatsoever. Cross Examination was not permitted, legal counsel was denied during prosecutorial depositions, the inditment sheet was read into the record as fact and on and on and on. But what about those 42 documents?
British High Commissioner, Admiral Calthorpe labeled the Tribunals a farce. His underling John de Roebuck did the same in parallel correspondance and American High Commissioner Lewis Heck agreed full heartedly. In fact, after the Entente had the Turks shelve the Tribunals, the British attempted to hold legitimate tribunals on Malta. Not one of the 42 documents were judged authentic and all were rejected from use.
Genocide is far too serious an accusation to be made based upon emotion. If the case cannot be made factually it should not be made. To use the term too freely is to disrespect those who truly suffered from it. This has always been my view. Unfortunately, in the Politically Correct climate of our day such a view horrifies most people. Then again, most people believe Nelson Mandela to be a saint and not the baby killing terrorist he truly is.
Almost from the start the "Memoir of Naim Bey" was labeled as fake. The situation got so bad that by 1937 Andonian was admitting that the book was not a historical work, but rather a bit of propaganda whipped up (mostly) by the "Armenian Bureau" in London. He furthermore claimed that, contrary to popular opinion, Naim Bey actually existed but could not be found owning to his alcoholism and gambling addiction. Critics had sought out Bey only to come away empty handed. In fact, in our era, scholars have made this same search only to discover that no Ottoman official of that name has ever existed. Others choose to focus only on the 31 purported telegrams and documents contained within the book.
As with all Turkish military documents in WWI, these were sent by cipher. Unlike all other Ottoman documents of the era the Cipher Registry numbers affixed to the 31 documents do not correspond to any in Ottoman records. They are not on official Ottoman documentation paper, and were composed by a non-Turkish speaker- very strange given their purported origination with Enver Pasha. Today very few scholars accept the work as anything other than an outright fraud.
The second strand of purported Mens Rea is the Turkish Military Tribunals of 1919 and 1920. There were at least six regional tribunals held at the behest of the Entente, the WWI equivalent of WWII's "Allies." The one tibunal serving in this regard is the second one, held in Istanbul. Not only was Enver Pasha (in absentia) and other members of the Turkish Government during WWI held to account, but 42 documents were included in the indictment sheet. Certainly those documents would establish Mens Rea, right?
After clamoring for implementation of the Tribunals the Entente was horrified with what took place. Ottoman Justice had no Due Process whatsoever. Cross Examination was not permitted, legal counsel was denied during prosecutorial depositions, the inditment sheet was read into the record as fact and on and on and on. But what about those 42 documents?
British High Commissioner, Admiral Calthorpe labeled the Tribunals a farce. His underling John de Roebuck did the same in parallel correspondance and American High Commissioner Lewis Heck agreed full heartedly. In fact, after the Entente had the Turks shelve the Tribunals, the British attempted to hold legitimate tribunals on Malta. Not one of the 42 documents were judged authentic and all were rejected from use.
Genocide is far too serious an accusation to be made based upon emotion. If the case cannot be made factually it should not be made. To use the term too freely is to disrespect those who truly suffered from it. This has always been my view. Unfortunately, in the Politically Correct climate of our day such a view horrifies most people. Then again, most people believe Nelson Mandela to be a saint and not the baby killing terrorist he truly is.