H.H. Dashnaktsʻutʻiwn - Sacred justice: the voices and legacy of the Armenian Operation Nemesis

Sacred
Justice

Armenian Studies
Series Editor, Gerard J. Libaridian

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Library of Congress Catalog Number: 2014010854

ISBN: 978-1-4128-5503-7

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

MacCurdy, Marian M.

Sacred justice : the voices and legacy of the Armenian Operation Nemesis / Marian Mesrobian MacCurdy, Ph.D. ; translations from the Armenian by Arsine Oshagan, Ph.D.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-4128-5503-7 (acid-free paper) 1. H.H. Dashnakts'ut'iwnHistory. 2. H.H. Dashnakts'ut'iwnBiography. 3. RevolutionariesArmeniaBiography. 4. Armenian massacres, 1915-1923Political aspects. 5. JusticeReligious aspectsChristianityHistory20th century. 6. JusticePolitical aspectsArmeniaHistory20th century. 7. RevengePolitical aspectsArmeniaHistory20th century. 8. AssassinationTurkeyHistory20th century. 9. Subversive activitiesTurkeyHistory20th century. I. Title.

DS195.5.M313 2015

956.6'20154dc23

2014010854

To my beloved family
grandparents Aaron and Eliza, Elizabeth and Garabed,
parents Arpena and William,
and my brother Bill,
who left us too soon.

And to the leaders of Nemesis:
Aaron Sachaklian
Armen Garo
Shahan Natalie
who risked all for their people.

Foreword

In the early 1980s, the French journalist and author Jacques Derogy decided to write a book on Operation Nemesis, the project designed and implemented by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) or Tashnagtsutiune to assassinate the otherwise unpunished Young Turk leaders responsible for the massacres and deportations of the Ottoman Armenians during World War I. Derogy was inspired by the framework used by Gerard Chaliandthe French Armenian author, strategic thinker, and historianto articulate the role of this project in Armenian and wider consciousness. Chaliand also facilitated the research on Derogys writing project.

With the kind permission of the ARF Bureauthe highest executive body of that political partyI was in a position to assist Derogys research in the central archives of the party in Boston; at the time, I was the director of these archives. The research interested me too. There was so little that was really known about the organizational aspects of Operation Nemesis. The ARFs policy at the time of the trial of Soghomon Tehlirian, responsible for the most important of these assassinations, that of former Ottoman Prime Minister Talat Pasha in Berlin in 1921, had been to cover up any direct responsibility of the ARF for the assassination.

We all knew better. What was present in the ARF archives was sufficient to confirm the generally known picture: Tehlirians act was far more than what was argued by his defense attorneys in the German court where he was tried, that is, the act of a single survivor deeply and emotionally disturbed by the massacre of his family. While Tehlirian was indeed a traumatized survivor, his actions had been planned and supported by a group that provided financial and strategic assistance. Derogy was able to produce the first accounting of the operation in 1986, published by Fayard. The original French version was titled Operation Nemesis. Les Vengeurs Armniens. The English version of the work was published by Transaction Publishers in New Jersey as Resistance and Revenge. The Armenian Assassination of the Turkish Leaders Responsible for the 1915 Massacres and Deportations, with a foreword by Gerard Chaliand (1990). Archival evidence in Derogys work also indicated that the logistical base of the operation was in Boston, USA. We also learned there the name of Aaron Sachaklian as one who had played an important role in the finance committee that did much more than support the operation financially abroad.

Yet there was so little in the party archives on this project, considering the scope and significance of the operation. At that time, Derogy and I wondered whether the large amount of correspondence necessary for such an operation might have been destroyed for security reasons.

In this book by Marian Mesrobian MacCurdy, we have the answer to that puzzle: Aaron Sachaklian kept the absolute majority of his correspondence, accounting, and other material related to Operation Nemesis in his personal possession. For security reasons, he apparently cut off his family from his involvement in the project. He was concerned, most probably, with the security of involved individuals still alive then and that of his own family. But the boxes of papers did survive. Upon his death, one of Aaron Sachaklians daughters, Arpena Sachaklian Mesrobian, did a general inventory of the documents. But not much else was done with or to them; they remained hidden and unknown to the rest of the world.

It is when Arpena passes away that her daughter Marian Mesrobian MacCurdy, granddaughter of Aaron, now custodian of the papers, decided to bring to light the voices represented in this collection and, in the process, made both historical and familial discoveries. The result is this book.

The author introduces these never seen before documents in two contexts. One is what Operation Nemesis symbolizes in the history of her family, actually to the two sides of her Armenian heritage. The maternal side: fighting, resisting, avenging; the paternal side: accepting, fleeing, almost submissive to whatever fate brings to them, as long as they survive. This familial dichotomythat has in some way been reproduced in the larger Armenian cultureprovides challenges to creating a unified vision of its past, present, and future. The second context is the opening up of the story of Operation Nemesis to its last detail: from the internal party political debates surrounding the operation, to logistical dimensions, down to the accounting to the last cent of the funds raised for and expenditures of the operation. In addition to being a grand strategist and a good judge of characters and situations, Aaron Sachaklian happened to be a certified public accountant.