Armenians and the Allies in Cilicia, 1914-1923

In the midst of World War I, the Ottoman government forcibly removed many of its Armenian citizens from their eastern Anatolian lands. While recognizing the controversy and tragedy of the events of 1915 that led to the death of hundreds of thousands of Armenians, author Yücel Güçlü refrains from accepting the genocidal label that other scholars have assigned the episode.

Güçlü bases his claim largely on evidence from state and military archives in Turkey, Britain, France, and the United States that look specifically into the Ottoman version of history, placing the whole question of forced population displacements in a wider and more nuanced perspective than that in which it is usually depicted. According to the author, revolutionary Armenian forces were threatening the Ottoman Empire from within as it was simultaneously threatened by external forces. Armenians were also actively involved with Allied forces throughout World War I. In response, the Ottoman government ordered the movement of the Armenian population away from protected and sensitive war zones. The actions taken by the Ottoman Empire to control the Armenian population were those of relocation, not extermination.

Working to explain why the Armenian conflict emerged and how it was eventually resolved, this book discusses the Armenian revolutionary and separatist movements, Turkish measures of self defense, and Allied schemes regarding the region during the period. It places special emphasis on the influence of Allied forces on the actions of Armenians in Cilicia.

Yücel Güçlü is first counselor of the Turkish Embassy in Washington D.C.

Table of Contents:

Maps
Introduction

1. Current Political Implications of the Armenian Question
2. Geopolitical Overview of Cilicia
3. Armenians in Cilicia before the First World War
4. Allied Landing Schemes on Cilicia and Armenian Subversion
5. Measures of Self-Defense and Relocations
6. Attempts at Including Cilicia in the Proposed Armenian State
7. The Ankara Agreement of 20 October 1921 and Its Aftermath
8. The Lausanne Peace Conference of 20 November 1922 to 24 July 1923
Conlcusion
Appendix 1: Report dealing with the Armenian question read at the conference of the Committee of Union and Progress held at Istanbul on 29–30 September 1916
Appendix 2: Memorandum handed on 18 January 1919 to the high commissioners of the Allied powers and the high commissioner of the United States of America
Appendix 3: Proclamation of General Henri Gouraud of 9 November 1921
Appendix 4: Proclamation of Henri Franklin-Bouillon, Muhittin Pasa, and Hamit Bey of 1 December 1921
Appendix 5:Proclamation of Mustafa Kemal Pasa of 5 December 1921

Notes
Bibliography
Index