in ww2 armenian dashnak party collaborated with hitler and killed jewish people it is a historical fact.
by Karniyarikyan
Yes. and how eloquently and thoroughly you present all these facts. Thank you for enlightening us.
ARMENIAN-NAZI COLLABORATION
To validate a spurious genocide allegations,the Armenians curry favor with the Jewish people,and manipulate the Holocaust tragedy to gain some undeserved recognition from this uniquely Jewish experience.Historical evidences point to a devious Armenian collusion with Hitler to exterminate the Jews during WW II.Today,no matter how much the Armenians try to conceal this heinous episode from the public knowledge the Armenian conspiracy with Hitler is in the history books-indelibly.Soon it will be in the public conscience too.In early 1930s,when Hitler ascended to power,he began cultivating the Armenians to use their long-standing and strong anti-semitic feelings in his plans and policy.The Armenians,through their publications,radio broadcasts and meetings supported and cheered the Nazis on their attacks on Jews.ALFRED ROSENBERG,who was to become later Hitler's Minister of the Occupied Territories,declared that the Armenians were Indo-European or Aryans,which honored them and put them in the same league with the Nazis.
In Hitler's foreign policy the Armenians fitted very nicely too.Hitler's future invasion plans of Russia provided a golden opportunity for the Armenians to liberate what they considered to be ''HISTORIC ARMENIA'' from the Soviet as well as the Turkish rule.The short-lived Armenian Republic established in 1918 in the southern Caucasus by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (The Dashnaks) was conquered by the Russian Bolsheviks in 1920 and ceased to exist.This time,the Dashnaks saw a good opportunity in the collaboration with the Nazis to regain those territories.To that end,on December 30,1941 they formed a battalion of 8,000-strong known as the ''812TH ARMENIAN BATTALION OF WEHRMACHT'' under the command of Dro(Drastamat Kanayan),a seasoned guerrilla leader who had fought against the Turks in the Eastern Turkey before and during the Turkish War of Independence following World War I.Later,he became the supreme commandant of the Armenian army in the short lived Armenian Republic,and in 1920-1921 he organized a wide-spread genocide against the Azeri and the Turkish populations in the region.
This is documented in the book World Alive by the U.S. Naval officer ROBERT STEED DUNN who was an eye-witness to those Armenian atrocities.Lieutenant Dunn was the Intelligence officer of Rear ADMIRAL MARK L.BRISTOL,the American High-Commissioner in the region and also a de facto American Ambassador in Turkey.Between 1919-1921 Lieutenant Dunn travelled extensively with Dro and his army in the region,and both made several contacts with the Russian Bolsheviks,the Turkish and the Armenian National forces.With this historical perspective,this new task assigned to Dro by the Nazi leadership after a quarter of century later seemed to be a break to fulfill his dream of conquest.This alliance alarmed Turkey and the Turkish Jews.The British Ambassador in Ankara reported to London that ''THE ARMENIANS [in Turkey] are extremely fruitful ground for German activities,and these non-Muslim elements with their pre-Kemalist (i.e. Ottoman period) mentality are always viewed with mistrust by the Turkish authorities''(Public Record Office,Foreign Office document:F.O 371/30031/R5337)
This infamous 812th Battalion later developed into a so-called ''Armenian Legion'' of 20 000-strong with the efforts of Alfred Muradian a GERMAN-ARMENIAN,and by Armik Jamalian,the son of the Arshak Jamalian,the Foreign Minister of the short-lived Armenian Republic.The troops of this Legion were trained and led by the SS and its Security Division S.D. and they joined the Nazi Einsatz Gruppen in the invasion of the Crimea and the North Caucasus.These Armenian Battalions rendered valuable services to the Nazis as police units for internal security duties in the occupied territories.It was their duties to round up the Jews and the other ''undesirable'' elements and organize the death marches to the concentration camps.Pursuing those familiar utopic dreams,and shrewdly manipulated by the Nazis,the Armenians foolishly tied their lot to Hitler and praised him lavishly in the Armenian-language daily Hairenik on September 17,1936.''...and came (to power)Adolph Hitler after herculean struggles.He spoke to the racial heart strings of the German,opened the fountain of his national genius...''Then,in August 19,1936 the same daily Hairenik published the following:''Sometimes it is difficult to eradicate these poisonous elements (the Jews) when they have struck deep root like a chronic disease,and when it becomes necessary for a people (the Nazis) to eradicate them in an uncommon method these attempts are regarded as revolutionary.During a surgical operation the flow of blood is a natural thing.::::::::www.tallarmeniantale.com::::::
ARMENIAN ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE OTTOMAN PERIOD
The Ottoman experience proves that anti-Semitism is an old Armenian habit. The main reason for anti-semitism among the Ottoman Armenians was mainly religious biases. For the Christian Armenians the Jews were in great sin. It was a common belief among the Armenians that the Jews slaughter young Christian Armenians and use their blood at the Passover feast. In Amasya province for instance local Armenian priests and notables claimed that an Armenian woman had seen Jews slaughter a young Armenian boy and use his blood for religious purposes. Stanford J. Shaw describes the following events:
‘Several days of rioting and pillaging and attacks on Jews followed, with Armenian mobs devastating the Jewish quarter of the city, beating men, women and children alike. The Armenian notables convinced the local Ottoman governor to imprison several Jewish leaders, including Rabbi Yakub Avayu, who was accused of having supervised the blood letting. They were said, after undergoing severe torture, to have confessed to their crimes and were hanged. Later, however, the Armenian boy who supposedly had been murdered was found and a new Ottoman governor punished the accusers, though nothing could be done about the Jews who had suffered in the process.’[3]
As Abraham Ben-Yakob put it, the Armenian and Greek attacks against the Armenians continued in the following years:
‘There were literally thousands of incidents in subsequent years, invariably resulting from accusations spread among Greeks and Armenians by word mouth, or published in their newspapers, often by Christian financiers and merchants who were anxious to get the Jews out of the way, resulting in isolated and mob attacks on Jews, and burning of their shops and homes.’[4]
Apart from the religious prejudices, the Jewish community in the Empire dramatically rose in numbers and their influence over the administration and economy increased, and this development made the Christian subjects (Armenians, Greeks etc.) worried. Unfortunately this competition between the Jews and Christians resulted in a long series of attacks against the Jews by the Armenians and Greeks, who simply did not want to lose their influential position in terms of politics and economy. In these assaults many Jews were assassinated. When the Europeans increased their economic and political influence over the Ottoman Empire they publicly supported the Ottoman Christians and the Armenians and Greeks gained a clear privilege in trade, which was unfavourable to the Jews. The local Armenians and Greeks had the American and the European diplomats and businessmen with them, while the Jews had to rely on their own sources and their good relations with the Ottoman bureaucracy. In addition, as the Armenians and Greeks got richer and more influential, harassments and the constant attacks against the Jews increased as witnessed in Izmir during the 19th century. The competition between the Armenians and the Jews was severe in Palace and the financial system in particular. When the Armenian bankers sustained monopoly over the Ottoman financial system they did everything to get the Jews out of the Palace, and even libelled Jews by accusing the Jews of not being loyal to the Sultan. As a result of these slanders, many Jews lost their life.[5]
Another dramatic development for the Jews was the impact of the European military victories and conquests of Ottoman territories by the European armies, because when the Christian European armies occupied the Ottoman possessions they were supporting their Christian ‘brothers’, Armenians, Greeks and Bulgarians, and punishing the Jews and Muslims alike.[6] Consequently the Jews became the most loyal ones to the government in the 19th century and this also worsened the relations between the nationalist Armenians and the Jews. The radical Armenians perceived the Jews as the agent of the state against their ‘revolutionary’ movement. Even some Armenians would claim that some of the responsible officers for the 1915 events, which the Armenians see these events as ‘genocide’, were Jews, freemasons or supported by the Jews or freemasons. Although this kind of claims cannot be considered as serious or scholarly, they are useful to understand the degree of the Armenian anti-semitism.
The fourth negative development for the Ottoman Jews was the nationalist-separatist movements in the Arab territories, the Balkans and in Anatolia. The only protector of the Jews in these regions was the Ottoman state and its governor because the Arabs and the Christians hated the Jews due to the tradition and religion. That is why the Jews became more and more loyal to their state, and this more annoyed the nationalist groups, particularly the Greeks and the Armenians. In many Greek uprisings for instance the Jews supported the Ottoman State against the rioters as witnessed in the Ottoman – Greek War in 1897 for Crete island. The Ottoman security forces had to intervene to protect the Jews from the Armenians, Greeks and the Arabs especially in the 19th century. In Syria in particular the Christian Arabs and Armenians hated the Jews as a result of the religious biases.[7]
In summary, the Armenians continually attacked the Jews for the religious reasons and for personal and ethnic interests. In the words of Shaw, ‘the attacks were brutal and without mercy. Women, children, and aged Jewish men were frequently attacked, beaten and often killed’.[8] These attacks inevitably caused a severe tension and nourished mutual hate between the Armenians and the Jews. As a result the Jews sometimes co-operated with other ethnic groups against the Armenians as Shaw puts it:
THE SECOND WORLD WAR: ARMENIAN-NAZI COLLABORATION?
The historical Armenian mistrust towards the Jews continued in the 1930s and 1940s and some radical Armenians did not hesitate to support the Nazi administration. Ayhan Ozer claims that Hitler aimed to get the Armenian support in his anti-Semitic campaign. In other words both, Nazi party and the radical anti-Semitic Armenians saw each other in the same side. Apart from the ‘common feelings’ about the Jews, in foreign policy, ‘Hitler’s future invasion plans of Russia provided a golden opportunity for the Armenians to liberate what they considered to be “Historic Armenia” from the Soviet as well as the Turkish rule’.[11] The Armenian-German alliance alarmed not only Turkey but also the Turkish Jews. The British Ambassador in Ankara reported to his government that ‘the Armenians (in Turkey) are extremely fruitful ground for German activities, and these non-Muslim elements with their mentality (rooted in the Ottoman years) are always viewed with mistrust by the Turkish authorities’.[12] Ozer claims that as a result of the Armenian-Nazi alliance, the 812th Battalion later developed into a so-called ‘Armenian Legion with the efforts of Alfred Muradian, a German–Armenian, and by Armik Jamalian, the son of Arshak Jamalian, the Foreign Minister of the short-lived Armenian Republic. Some of this 20,000-strong Armenian legion were trained by the SS and its Security Division S. D. and later they joined the Nazi Einsatzgruppen in the invasion of the Crimea and the North Caucasia.[13] The skilled legion served the Nazi army as police unit for internal intelligence and controlling the ‘undesired elements’ like the Jews.
Moreover as Christopher Walker, a pro-Armenian researcher, admits that the relations between the Nazis and the Dashnaks living in the Nazi occupied areas were very close and active. The Armenians of Bucharest in May 1935 for example attacked the local Jews.[14] Walker summarise the close ties between the Nazis and Dashnag Armenians:
‘There remains the incontestable fact that relations between the Nazis and the Dashnags living in the occupied areas were close and active. On 30 December 1941 an Armenian battalion was created by a decision of the Wehrmacht, known as the Armenian 812th Battalion. It was commanded by Dro, and was made of a small number of committed recruits, and a larger number of Armenians from the prisoners of war taken by the Nazis in their sweep eastwards. Early on the total number was 8,000; this number later grew to 20,000. The 812th Battalion was operational in the Crimea and the North Caucasus.’[15]
Apart from the assaults against the Jews, the Armenians also published a German language magazine, with fascist and anti-Semitic tendencies. In these publications the radical Armenians supported the Nazi doctrines and justified the anti-Semitic Nazi policies.[16]
Though pro-Armenian researcher Christopher J. Walker admits that the Armenians collaborated with the Nazis, some of the Armenian authors may refuse these claims. However the Armenian periodicals of that period provide abundant proof for the Nazi-Armenian collaboration. For example the Armenian-language daily Hairenik on 17 September 1936 tried to legitimate the Nazi administration:
‘…and came (to power) Adolph Hitler after Herculean struggles. He spoke to the racial heart strings of the German, opened the fountain of his national genius…’[17]
Similarly Hairenik named the Jews as ‘poisonous elements’ in its 19 and 20 August 1936 issue:
‘Sometimes it is difficult to eradicate these poisonous elements (the Jews) when they have struck deep root like a chronic disease, and when it becomes necessary for a people (the Nazis) to eradicate them in an uncommon method these attempts are regarded as revolutionary. During a surgical operation the flow of blood is a natural thing…’[18]
‘…Jews being the most fanatical nationalists and race-worshippers, are compelled to create an atmosphere of internationalism and world-citizenship in order to preserve their race. As the British use battleships to occupy lands, the Jews use internationalism or communism as a weapon…’[19]
These quotations need no further comment as they speak for themselves. In this context, the next section will focus on the current Armenian scepticism towards the Jews.
THE MAIN REASONS FOR ARMENIAN SCEPTICISM TOWARDS ISRAEL AND JEWISH PEOPLE IN MODERN ERA
As will be seen the anti-Semitic and sceptic attitude towards the Jewish minority inside and Israel and Jewish diasporas outside continued in the independent Armenian Republic period. Surprisingly the most significant factors which nourished the ‘Armenian paranoia’ and the Armenian hostility towards the minorities were as mentioned were not the minority activities inside, but mainly the international developments. Three developments in particular were very important at this stage; Baku oil project, Turkey - Israel strategic cooperation and the improving relations between Turkey and Georgia. Armenia has perceived all these developments as an extension of anti-Armenian conspiracy, which for the Armenians orchestrated by the Turks and Israeli lobbies.[48]
In this context it can be argued that there are seven different main reasons for the Armenian mistrust towards the Jews:
a. Historical Reasons,
b. Religious Reasons,
c. The Armenian Western Scepticism and the Armenian Isolationist Perception,
d. Armenia Feels Isolated: From Fears to Paranoia?
e. Israel-Turkey Friendship’s Impact on Armenia
f. Azerbaijani Oils, Israel and the American Jewish Lobby,
g. Israel’s Attitude to the Armenian Allegations.
The Historical Reasons
As discussed in the previous sections anti-Semitism is an old Armenian habit or ‘disease’ and experienced in the Ottoman period. Unfortunately the Soviet period did not help in curing this ‘disease’, contrary the Soviet’s scepticism nourished anti-semitism among the Armenians. In this period and later the Armenians have seen the foreigners including the Jews as the main source of their problems (scapegoat).
Apart from the historical mutual mistrust between the Armenians and the Jews, the traditional Turkish-Jewish friendship also affected the Armenian-Jewish relations. As a well known fact that when Jews suffered persecution in Spain in 15th century, the Ottoman Turks offered them sanctuary and ten thousands of them migrated to the Ottoman Empire. For the centuries the Ottoman Turks provided legal and political protection to the Jews and this friendly relations continued in the 20th century. However, ‘my enemy’s friend is my enemy’ understanding has made the Armenians more sceptical about the Jews.
Religious Reasons
As the religious reasons of Armenian-Jewish scepticism were discussed above these reasons are not detailed here.[49]
Armenia’s Western Scepticism
One of the most important characteristics of the newly independent Armenian state is the feeling of an isolated Armenia. The Armenian decision makers similar to the laymen have accused the Western states of being indifferent toward the Armenians’ problems. For them the West had used the Armenians for their own interest yet in the end they deserted the Armenians in ‘cold’ before the Turks, Iranians and the Russians. Second, the Armenians have seen the Jewish people and Israel as the agents or representatives of the West. As a direct result of this perception the Armenian people’s Western scepticism shapes their policies towards the Jewish and Israel. In many cases when the Armenians accuse the Jewish people and the State of Israel they mostly mean the West in general not only the Jews and Israel. For many Armenians the CIA, MOSSAD, Israel, Jews and the United States are identical.[50]
Armenia Feels Isolated: From Fears to Paranoia?
The dissolution of the Soviet ‘Empire’ made the Armenian independence possible, and Armenia became an independent state for second time in history. However Armenia was born as a weak and in a problematic geography, which made preserving independence highly difficult. Armenia was the smallest of the successor states of the former Soviet Union. It was located in the Caucasus mountains as a completely landlocked country. All these factors increased the Armenian insecurity feelings and led scepticism towards the minorities including the Jews.
Furthermore, after gaining independence in 1991 the country continued to be a zone of Russian influence. Moscow had economic, political and military leverages over the ‘independent’ Armenia,[51] and Armenia had to improve good relations with the neighbouring states, namely Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Iran, in order to overcome its internal economic and political problems and to escape from the Russian hegemony. Moreover, it needed economic aid from the Western powers, notably the United States and the European Union. As a matter of fact that the environment was suitable for the Armenian policy makers to follow a more constructive foreign policy; Russia was in a domestic economic and political turmoil; the West was enthusiastic to integrate the former Soviet Union territories into the European political system and Turkey was ready for co-operation with Armenia despite of the historical disputes. Turkey even was one of the first countries to recognise the independence of Armenia. The moderate government under Ter-Petrosian, which put aside the historical Armenian claims in order to improve relations with Turkey, was another positive factor in the Armenian side. However, the Karabakh problem restricted Armenia’s freedom of action in foreign policy; When Armenia clearly supported the Karabakh Armenians against Azerbaijan, and occupied about 20 percent of the Azerbaijani territories, Turkey could not improve its relations with Armenia,[52] and diplomatic ties were never established between the two countries since Turkey indexed it to the settlement of the Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia.[53] Instead of improving relations with Armenia, Turkey moved into Georgia, Azerbaijan and the other former Soviet Union republics, and declared that it cannot improve its relations with Armenia until the Armenian occupation forces withdrew from the Azerbaijan territories. For instance, Mehmet Ali Irtemçelik, former Turkish State Minister, summarised the situation as ‘Turkey’s ties with Armenia can improve in parallel with the development of relations between Baku and Yerevan’.[54] In practice Turkey restricted its economic and political relations with Armenia, and focused on relations with its kin-state, Azerbaijan. Yet, Turkey’s good relations were always perceived as hostile in both Yerevan and Moscow, and two states got closer each other during the 1990s. Yet the Armenians could not trust the Russians fully, and the co-operation in this period was limited.[55] In another word, Armenia saw almost all its neighbours as ‘enemy, Turks, Russians, Georgians and Iranians.
The Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territories was not approved by the Western states as well and none of the countries recognised Nagorno-Karabakh as an Armenian territory except Armenia. The leading Western states called the Armenians to withdraw their forces from the region. As far as the Western interests are concerned, another consideration regarding the Armenians was that the Russians and the Iranians were planning to use Armenia’s problems with the other states to implement their regional policies against the Western block and this obviously disturbed the US, Israel and some of the European States and they warned Armenia not to turn its face to Moscow or Tehran.[56]
Apart from the security considerations, Armenia had to rebuild its devastated economy and strengthen its fledgling democracy. Under these circumstances Armenia could not get a serious aid from the West, and widespread dissatisfaction with the moderate Ter-Petrosian government increased, and although he won the 1996 elections, thanks to the growing opposition and street demonstrations, he had to resign in two years (3 February 1998). The resignation of Ter-Petrosian granted power to the radical nationalists, and Robert Kocharian, a hard-core nationalist and a war veteran from Karabakh, became the President of Armenia after the second round of the 1998 elections.[57] Kocharian’s foreign policy was so different than Ter-Petrosian; Kocharian implied the change in Armenia’s Turkish policy before the elections:
‘If I am elected, there will be some new developments in our relations with Turkey, there will be some new emphases; we shall soon clarify our new line regarding our relations’.[58]
His first action in office was lifting the ban on the activities of the fanatically anti-Turkish Dashnak Party, which was considered as terrorist organisation by the Turkish state. The Dashnak Party had been banned by the previous Armenian President Ter-Petrossian in 1994 on the grounds that it was engaged in terrorist activities. Ankara’s response was calming. Ankara advised Kocharian to solve the Karabakh problem and withdraw its soldiers from the Azerbaijani territories, give up the ‘genocide’ claims and respect the international borders of his neighbours. Yet Kocharian choose the worst alternatives for Turkey; he refused all peace plans for Nagorno Karabakh claiming the problem was already solved since Karabakh was an Armenian territory and approached to the Russians, the traditional rival of the West and Turkey in the region, to counter-balance the Turks. Armenia under Kocharian’s rule furthermore focused on the ‘Armenian genocide’ claims, and tried to apply pressure on Turkey and pushing Turkey to accept to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia by simply threatening it with the international pressure.[59] But the worst of all was to open the Armenian territories to the Russian military forces. By doing this, Armenia was challenging not only to Turkey but also to the Western interests while Georgia and Azerbaijan have viewed as a way to counter-balance Moscow and as an aid in building their relations with the US in order to escape permanently from the Russian sphere of influence and became a really independent state.[60] In this framework Georgia and Azerbaijan implied that they wanted a NATO or a NATO member’s military base in their country, while there has been Russian soldiers in Armenia.
These policies increased the gap between Armenian policies and the Western Block’s policies in the Caspian region including Turkey, Israel and the US. Apart from the problems in the external relations, the economic depression caused a social turmoil in the country and the politicians accused the foreigners for all these problems. Under these circumstances the mistrust and fears among the Armenians dramatically increased towards the foreign powers and the fears became a paranoia, which as will be seen below, ultimately stroke the minorities, namely Jewish, Azerbaijanis etc.
Israel-Turkey Friendship’s Impact on Armenia
Apart from the mistrust towards the West and isolated Armenian foreign policy, one of the most important factors caused anti-Semitic attitudes and sceptic Israel policy in Armenia has been Israel’s friendly relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan, both of which are Armenia’s traditional enemies. As Inbar puts it the relations between Israel and Turkey greatly expanded and reached an unprecedented degree of closeness.[61] Turkey upgraded its diplomatic relations with Israel to ambassador level at the end of 1991 and then the two states have exchanged many high – level state visits and bilateral trade has grown significantly. As a cooperation of two pro-American democracies of the Middle East Turkey-Israel partnership has become an important factor in the region. Not only the Arab states[62], but also Greece, Southern Cyprus, Iran[63] and Armenia panicked and perceived the ‘alliance’ as a threat for their security.[64] For the radical Armenians the ‘alliance’ targeted Armenia. Haik Marcar for instance said: ‘Israel is now is in bed with Turkey, the mortal enemy of Armenia’.[65] As a matter of fact that Israel was trying to counter-balance Syria and other Arab states in the Palestine problem while Turkey was making efforts to find a strategic partner against the Syria, which supported the PKK terrorism by providing a safe haven to its leader and bases, and logistical support for its armed operations against Turkey. Naturally there were more reasons for such a sensitive partnership yet none of the partners perceived the ‘entente’ against Armenia or Greece. Despite this, the strategic Turkish-Israeli alignment ‘reinforced’ Erivan, Tehran and Athena partnership. Later Syria and the Greek Cyprus joined the Armenia-Iran-Greece co-operation.[66] It is understandable that the Israeli-Turkish co-operation was a great disappointment for the radical Armenians and it can be said that Turkish-Israeli co-operation has played a crucial role in Armenia’s search for co-operation with the above mentioned states half of which are in the United States’ Terrorist States List. In addition, Armenians argued that Turkey-Israel relations have shaped Israel’s position regarding the Armenia issue and because of this Israel has never given support to the Armenian cause. Tsoluk Mornjian, Armeni’s Consul-General in Jerusalem clearly expressed the official Armenian view:
‘I understand Israel’s position for the time being. Turkey is very strategic ally for Israel, especially because of Syria (which borders, and is hostile to, both countries)’.[67]
In brief, while Turkey has extremely good relations with Israel and the United States, Armenia has developed military and political co-operations with Israel’s enemies and rivals like Syria and Iran, and all these choice has affected Armenia’s attitude towards Israel and the Jews in general, including the Jewish minority in Armenia. However at the next stage, Armenia’s good relations with Iran and Syria as a reaction to Israel-Turkey close ties worsened Armenia-Israel relations and Israel openly declared that ‘one of the reasons for the frozen relations is Iran-Armenia political and military co-operation’
Azerbaijani Oil, Israel and Jewish Lobby: Israel-Turkey and Azerbaijan Block?
Both sides have always sympathised with each other and had good relations since the independence of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan in particular has given enormous importance to develop close ties with Israel.[69] All Azerbaijani Prime Ministers have not allowed any anti-Semitic movement in their country and opposed Iranian type fundamentalism. Israel has also seen Azerbaijan as a potential partner with Turkey. One of the most import factors determined Israel’s Caucasus policy has been the Caspian oil in the last decade. Israel who does not have good relations with the Arab states and Iran has seen the Azerbaijani oil and the natural gas in the other Turkish republics namely Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan as an opportunity to lessen its dependency in the energy sector. Moreover, Israel has perceived the rise of the Muslim and Turkish republics as important actors in international arena as an opportunity to balance the other Muslim states and legitimate itself in world politics by getting support of Turkish Muslims against Iranians and Arabs. Furthermore the American Jewish businessmen viewed the area with the commercial considerations. For the American Jewish businessmen Azerbaijan would be ‘another Kuwait’ and it was a golden opportunity for the American petroleum companies. To get the biggest portion from this market, good relations with Azerbaijan, Armenia’s archenemy, was essential. Apart from these factors Armenia as a small and isolated state with no natural resource or industry can provide any cooperation opportunity to Israel and the American Jews. Because of these factors, the American Jewish lobby has made enormous efforts in the name of Azerbaijan. The efforts by some Jewish groups in the United States (US) to repeal Section 907 of US foreign assistance legislation that prohibits most the US aid to Azerbaijan are significant. In 1992, the well-financed Armenian lobby in the Congress had succeeded in inserting Section 907 into the Freedom Support Act. That provision prohibited direct U.S. Government assistance to the government of Azerbaijan and in effect had labelled Azerbaijan the aggressor although the Armenian forces still occupy more than 20 per cent of the Azerbaijani territories. The 11 Jewish organisations in the United States in Autumn 2001 declared that they were against the Section 907.[70] The Jewish lobby groups clearly argued that Azerbaijan is an important partner for Israel, the US and the West and must be supported by the US.[71] Thanks to the Jewish organisations’ and Turkey’s efforts the US Congressmen were convinced, and the Section 907 was repealed. However this was perceived as a Turkish-Jewish conspiracy against Armenia and led nationalist Armenians to blame the local Jews, whom they see as representatives of Israel.[72]
Apart from the Jewish lobby and oil policies, Israel has seen Azerbaijan as an important actor in the Caucasus against Iran and the Russian policies. In the early years (Elcibey Period) Azerbaijan had troubles with Iran and searched good relations with Israel. According to Elcibey Israel could help Azerbaijan in Karabakh problem by convincing the Americans to stop the Armenians. Though some researchers, like Jane Hunter, claimed Israel sent arms to Azerbaijan to use against Armenians,[73] it can be said that Israel avoided from directly involving Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict. For the Armenians, Turkey has encouraged Israel to support Azerbaijan[74] yet it can be argued that such an argument would be simplification of the case and this strategy seems Israel’s own choice.
It also should be noted that Israel further makes efforts to develop its relations with another regional state, Georgia. Israel and Georgia signed many co-operation agreement and Israel now is one of the most leading foreign investors in Georgia[75] while Turkey is Georgia’s the biggest trade partner.[76] It is also a well known fact that Israel pays extra attention not to contradict with the American interests in the region.[77] Considered the United States’ political support for Georgia, Israel’s ‘friendly’ Georgian policy can be understood more easily. As a result of their importance for Israel have embassies in Tbilisi and Baku while the Israeli ambassador to Tbilisi is at charge for the affairs concerning Armenia.[78]
However Turkey’s and Israel’s good relations with Georgia and Azerbaijan cause conspiracy theories in Yerevan, and the radical Armenians argue that the Jews play the main role in this ‘anti-Armenian great strategy’.[79] As a matter of fact that Israel’s interest regarding to Azerbaijan and Georgia should not be interpreted as an anti-Armenian policy because Azerbaijan and Georgia’s commercial and political potentials cannot be compared with the Armenia’s potential.
Israel’s Approach to the Armenian Allegations
One of the formidable obstacles in Jewish-Armenian and Israel-Armenia relations is Israel’s attitude towards the Armenian anti-Turkish claims. As expected for the Armenians, Israel is the most important state in convincing the world to the ‘Armenian genocide claims’ and as Asbarez pointed out, for the Armenians, the importance of the recognition of the Armenian political claims by the Jews, and more importantly by Israel, cannot be overstated.[80] Therefore, the Armenian international campaign especially has focused on Israel and the Jews.[81] However Israel has consistently refrained from acknowledging the Armenian claims. Israel even in the recent years officially declared that the 1915 Relocation and the following inter-communal clashes couldn’t be called ‘genocide’ or ‘holocaust’. Government representatives have never participated in the memorial assemblies held by the Armenians every year on 24 April to commemorate the ‘genocide’.[82]
In last two decades four significant events show Israel’s opposed position against the Armenian arguments. First of all in 1978 the screening of a pro-Armenian film about the Armenian quarter in Jerusalem was cancelled and the film has never been shown since that time because the Israeli authorities thought that the film was a political and a propaganda material. As a matter of fact that Israeli Broadcasting Authority (IBA) had requested a documentary on the historical Armenian quarter in the city. However, though the film was supposed to be about the Armenian quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem, Michael Arlen, director of the film, had focused on the 1915 Armenian Relocation and had accused the Turkish people. In another word, Arlen was repeating the well known Armenian political claims instead of concentrating on the Armenian quarter of Jerusalem. Naturally the IBA refused to broadcast the film. In convincing the IBA the Turkish Jews and the Jews had emigrated from Turkey to Israel played a significant role. Jews in Turkey argued that the documentary was a ‘one-sided political propaganda film’.
In 1982, when some Armenian researchers aimed to participate in an international conference on the subject of the Holocaust and Genocide in Tel Aviv (Israel), the Israeli Government saw this attempt as a part of the politically motivated propaganda campaign. For the Israeli Foreign Ministry, the Armenians were trying to manipulate the public opinion by using the conference in Israel. As a result the Foreign Ministry rejected the Armenian applications and tried to limit the subjects regarding the Armenian claims. However the Armenian applicants started an international campaign against Israel and blamed the Israeli Government of damaging academic freedom.[83]
The third significant development occurred at the end of September 1989 when some American senators mainly led by the Armenian and Greek lobby proposed a bill in the American Senate Judiciary Committee to commemorate the so-called ‘Armenian genocide’ indicating a memorial day in the American calendar. As a matter of fact that the United States House of Representatives had previously rejected two similar attempts in 1985 and in 1987.[84] In the previous cases the US Presidents, the Government and the Congress had clearly showed that the US does not agree with the radical Armenians and never recognised such political claims. Turkey as expected condemned the attempt, yet the campaign against the bill was mainly organised by the Turkish Jews. The Chief Rabbi of Turkey sent a personal letter to every member of the US Senate and said ‘We recognise the tragedy which befell both the Turks and Armenians ... but we cannot accept the definition of “genocide”. The baseless charge harms us just as it harms our Turkish countrymen.’[85] The Chief Rabbi, moreover, pointed out that the Turks were tolerant towards the minorities in the Ottoman and Republican periods. However, the Turkish Jews and the official Turkish representatives were not able to affect the balance in the Congress as the Armenian and Greek lobbies were strong enough to manipulate the other senators for such a bill. Israel’s and the Jewish lobby in this context played a vital role by working behind scenes.[86] The American Jews officially did not accept their efforts in preventing the Armenian bill, because they did not want to alienate their relations with the American Armenians. Though Israeli diplomats denied such an initiative, Ha’aretz, the respected Hebrew daily, on 17 October 1989 declared that the Jews and Israeli diplomats worked to prevent the commemoration. Similarly The Jerusalem Post later wrote ‘the Israeli Embassy in Washington actively lobbied to block a US congressional measure to commemorate the Armenian events. In that instance, the Foreign Ministry chided embassy officials for their excessive involvement…’[87] Not only the Israeli and Turkish lobbies but also the American administration was against the bill and another Armenian attempt also failed, and this once more underscored that the Turkish and Jewish have a similar view on the issue.
Another case showing the Israeli attitude about the Armenian allegations was witnessed in 1990. IBA cancelled screening another pro-Armenian documentary called ‘Journey to Armenia’ in 1990. As IBA confirmed 100.000 Turkey immigrant Jews sent protest letter to the institution. In all these letters the Turkey Jews argued that the Ottoman Empire protected the Jewish minority for the ages and the Turkish people have been outstanding in its humane and tolerant treatment of its Jewish minority for 500 years following the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain and saved masses of Jews from massacre. In this framework the letters further argued a massacre against the Armenians or any other ethnic group cannot be expected. A member of the IBA Board of Directors clearly said that the documentary is a propaganda film:
‘The film contains propaganda and injury to part of the public, because a Holocaust happened only to part of the public, because a Holocaust happened only to the Jewish people’
Yet another historical fact: a fact that for years has been deliberately forgotten, concealed, and wiped from memory — the fact of Armenian-Nazi collaboration. A magazine called Mitteilungsblatt der Deutsch-Armenischen Gesselschaft is the clearest and most definite proof of this collaboration.
The magazine was first published in Berlin in 1938 during Nazi rule of Germany and continued publication until the end of 1944. Even the name of the magazine, which implies a declaration of Armenian-Nazi cooperation, is attention-getting. This magazine, every issue of which proves the collaboration, is historically important as documentary evidence. It is a heap of writing that should be an admonition to world opinion and to all mankind.
To give specific examples of actions; In May 1935 the Armenians of Bucharest attacked the Jews of that city, while the Greeks of Salonika attacked the Jews in the August of the same year. During World War II, Armenian volunteers, under the wings of Hitler's Germany, were used in rounding up Jews and other ''undesirables'' destined for the Nazi concentration camps. The Armenians also published a German-language magazine, with fascist and anti-Semitic tendencies, supporting Nazi doctrines directed to the extermination of 'inferior' races [1]. This is confirmed by Armenophile Christopher J. Walker, who admits that the Armenians collaborated with the Nazis. According to him, members of the Dashnak Party, then living in the occupied areas, including a number of prominent persons, entertained pro-Axis sympathies.
A report in an American magazine went so far as to claim that the Nazis had picked on the Dashnaktsutiun to do fifth-column work, promising the party an autonomous state for its cooperation. Walker goes on to claim that relations between the Nazis and the Dashnaks living in the occupied areas were close and active.
On 30 December 1941 an Armenian battalion was formed by a decision of the Army Command (Wehrmacht), known as the 'Armenian 812th Battalion'. It was commanded by Dro, and was made up of a small number of committed recruits, and a larger number of Armenians. Early on, the total number of recruits was 8,000; this number later grew to 20,000. The 812th Battalion was operational in Crimea and the North Caucasus. (These are the dates and numbers given by Walker).
A year later, on 15 December 1942, an Armenian National Council was granted official recognition by Alfred Rosenberg, the German Minister of the occupied areas. The Council's president was Professor Ardashes Abeghian, its vice-president Abraham Giulkhandanian, and it numbered among its members Nzhdeh and Vahan Papazian. From that date until the end of 1944 it published a weekly journal, Armenien, edited by Viken Shant (the son of Levon), who also broadcast on Radio Berlin.
The whole idea was to prove to the Germans that the Armenians were 'Aryans'. With the aid of Dr. Paul Rohrbach, they seemed to have achieved this as the Nazis did not persecute the Armenians in the occupied lands [2]. "Members of the Dashnak party living in the occupied areas, including a number of names famous from the period of the republic, adopted a pro-Nazi stance." [2]
"Wholly opportunistic the Armenians have been variously pro-Nazi, pro-Russia, pro-Soviet Armenia, pro-Arab, pro-Jewish, as well as anti-Jewish, anti-Zionist, anti-Communist, and anti-Soviet - whichever was expedient." [3] Sources: [1] Turkkaya Ataov: Armenian Extermination of the Jews and Muslims, 1984, p. 91. [2] C.J. Walker: _Armenia_ London, 1980, pp. 356-8. [3] John Roy Carlson (Arthur Derounian), _Cairo to Damascus_ Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1951, p. 438.
The preceding was published in a guestbook of an Armenian web site, 1999-05-27 04:27:00; the author is unknown.
The Armenian-Nazi Collaboration in WW II
To validate a spurious genocide allegations, the Armenians curry favor with the Jewish people, and manipulate the Holocaust tragedy to gain some undeserved recognition from this uniquely Jewish experience. Historical evidences point to a devious Armenian collusion with Hitler to exterminate the Jews during WW II. Today, no matter how much the Armenians try to conceal this heinous episode from the public knowledge the Armenian conspiracy with Hitler is in the history books-- indelibly. Soon it will be in the public conscience too.
In early 1930s, when Hitler ascended to power, he began cultivating the Armenians to use their long-standing and strong anti-semitic feelings in his plans and policy. The Armenians, through their publications, radio broadcasts and meetings supported and cheered the Nazis on their attacks on Jews. Alfred Rosenberg, who was to become later Hitler's Minister of the Occupied Territories, declared that the Armenians were Indo-European, or Aryans, which honored them and put them in the same league with the Nazis. In Hitler's foreign policy the Armenians fitted very nicely too. Hitler's future invasion plans of Russia provided a golden opportunity for the Armenians to liberate what they considered to be "Historic Armenia" from the Soviet as well as the Turkish rule.
Mr. Dro, in his pre-Nazi days
The short-lived Armenian Republic established in 1918 in the southern Caucasus by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (The Dashnaks) was conquered by the Russian Bolsheviks in 1920, and ceased to exist. This time, the Dashnaks saw a good opportunity in the collaboration with the Nazis to regain those territories. To that end, on December 30, 1941 they formed a battalion of 8,000-strong known as the "812th Armenian Battalion of Wehrmacht" under the command of Dro (Drastamat Kanayan), a seasoned guerilla leader who had fought against the Turks in the Eastern Turkey before and during the Turkish War of Independence following World War I. Later, he became the supreme commandant of the Armenian army in the short lived Armenian Republic, and in 1920-1921 he organized a wide-spread genocide against the Azeri and the Turkish populations in the region. This is documented in the book World Alive by the U.S. Naval officer Robert Steed Dunn who was an eye-witness to those Armenian atrocities.
Lieutenant Dunn was the Intelligence officer of Rear Admiral Mark L. Bristol, the American High-Commissioner in the region and also a de facto American Ambassador in Turkey. Between 1919-1921 lieutenant Dunn travelled extensively with Dro and his army in the region, and both made several contacts with the Russian Bolsheviks, the Turkish and the Armenian National forces. With this historical perspective, this new task assigned to Dro by the Nazi leadership after a quarter of century later seemed to be a break to fulfill his dream of conquest.
This alliance alarmed Turkey and the Turkish Jews. The British Ambassador in Ankara reported to London that "The Armenians [in Turkey] are extremely fruitful ground for German activities, and these non-Muslim elements with their pre-Kemalist [i.e. Ottoman period] mentality are always viewed with mistrust by the Turkish authorities."
(Public Record Office, Foreign Office document: F.O 371/ 30031/ R5337)
The Armenians loved this man
This infamous 812th Battalion later developed into a so-called "Armenian Legion" of 20,000-strong with the efforts of Alfred Muradian, a German-Armenian, and by Armik Jamalian, the son of the Arshak Jamalian, the Foreign Minister of the short-lived Armenian Republic. The troops of this Legion were trained and led by the SS and its Security Division S.D., and they joined the Nazi Einsatz Gruppen in the invasion of the Crimea and the North Caucasus. These Armenian Battalions rendered valuable services to the Nazis as police units for internal security duties in the occupied territories. It was their duties to round up the Jews and the other "undesirable" elements, and organize the death marches to the concentration camps.
Pursuing those familiar utopic dreams, and shrewdly manipulated by the Nazis, the Armenians foolishly tied their lot to Hitler, and praised him lavishly in the Armenian-language daily Hairenik on September 17, 1936:
"... and came [to power] Adolph Hitler after herculean struggles. He spoke to the racial heart strings of the German, opened the fountain of his national genius..."
Then, in August 19, 1936 the same daily Hairenik published the following:
"Sometimes it is difficult to eradicate these poisonous elements (the Jews) when they have struck deep root like a chronic disease, and when it becomes necessary for a people (the Nazis) to eradicate them in an uncommon method these attempts are regarded as revolutionary. During a surgical operation the flow of blood is a natural thing. Under such conditions dictatorship seems to have the role of a savior."
The daily Hairenik dated August 20 exposed the following bigotry:
"Jews being the most fanatical nationalists and race-worshippers, are compelled to create an atmosphere of internationalism and world-citizenship in order to preserve their race. As the British use battleships to occupy lands, the Jews use internationalism or communism as a weapon..."
The September 25, 1936, Hairenik Weekly, an English language organ of the Armenians (edited in Boston) denounced Zionist aims, and adopted a strong anti-Jewish and pro-Arab view, and printed the following:
".. the type of Jews who are imported to Palestine is not anything to be proud about. Their loose morals, and their vices... and on top of all, their communist activities were the cause of most of the Arab criticism."
The August 9, 1935 issue of the Hairenik Weekly published a vitriol about "the Jewish controlled film industry", then ascribed the massacres of the Jews by the Greeks and Armenians in Salonica to the Jewish love of gain.
The May 10, 1935 issue of the Hairenik Weekly quoted the vice-Mayor of Bucharest, Romania as saying: "The Armenians have helped us Romanians not to become slaves of the Jewish elements." Romania was one of the foremost anti-Semitic country where the hatred for the Jews reached hyperbolic dimensions.
Starting in the summer of 1942, a twenty-five year old Armenian by the name Suren Begzadian Paikhar organized and led the Armenian National Socialist (Nazi) movement called Hossank (Lightening), which gained a considerable following among Armenian youth in German-occupied Europe and to some degree in Turkey too. On December 15, 1942, these Armenian-Nazis and their supporters in Germany coalesced into the Armenian National Council under the direction of professor Ardeshir Abegian, and the vice-president Abraham Chulkandanian, and several old Dashnak guerillas, like Vahan Papazian and Karakin Nezhdeh, who were the veterans of the Turkish wars in the Eastern Anatolia after the World War I. Blessed by Alfred Rosenberg, this organization spew forth anti-Semitic and racist vituperations through the broadcasts of the Radio Berlin, and their weekly journal Armenian, published until the end of 1944, and edited by Viken Shant, son of the another well-known Dashnak leader Levon Shant. Suren Begzadian Paikhar and some Hossank followers worked as commentators/ announcers in the French and Armenian radio services of the Nazi Ministry of Propaganda under Goebbels. In those programs Paikhar was usually introduced as the Fuhrer of the Armenian people. (Patrik von zur Muhlen, Zwischen Hakenkreuz und Sowjetstern - Dusseldorf, Droste, 1971, pp. 105-106)
The Armenian general Karekin Nezhdeh also founded the racist Armenian Tseghagron movement, through which the Armenian youths flocked to the SS and the other elite Nazi military forces. (Karekin Nazhdeh by James Mandalian - The Armenian Review I, 1958)
Other Armenians living in France and Germany joined the 58th Panzer Corps, and the Ostlegion of the Wehrmacht's 19th Army, based in Lyon, France. The Dashnaks and the Hossank Armenian-Nazis worked closely with Admiral Canaris, who was the chief of the the German Military Intelligence (Abwehr), and his principal agent Hans Pickenbrock, the chief of the Branch No: 1, who was in charge of spying to obtain military information, as well as with Dr. Paul Leverkuhn, a key agent in Istanbul and the Director of the Istanbul Substation (KO-Nebenstelle) of the "War Organization Middle East" (Kriegsorganisation Naher Osten) from July 1941 until August 1944. This organization administered a major Nazi intelligence network, not only in Turkey but throughout the Middle East. The Armenian nationalists actively worked in those Nazi organizations to hunt down the Jews, and cooperated with Reichspropagandaleiter in spreading the Nazi propaganda in Turkey and in the Middle East. In these efforts they enlisted the support of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who was a close ally of Hitler.
During the early years of World War II, Germany was sweeping through the Western Europe, and all the prognosis for the outcome of the war were in favor of Germany. As the Armenian ethics always dictate fawning on the victor, they calculated — or, miscalculated — that it was about time to commit themselves entirely to Hitler's victory. They summarily formed a "provisional" Armenian government as a dress rehearsal for their soon-to-be-realized aspirations. However, in 1943 the fate of the war began shifting from Hitler to the Allies. The Armenians, the perennial political chameleons, summarily renounced their allegiance to Germany, and did an about-face, this time groveling before the Allies.
From Armenophile Christopher J. Walker
If one can't trust Mr. Walker, whom can you?
"...Nevertheless there remains the incontestable fact that relations between the Nazis and Daschnaks living in occupied areas were close and active. On 30 december 1941 an Armenian batallion was created by a decision of the Wehrmacht, known as the Armenian 812th Battalion. It was commanded by Dro, and was made up of a small number of committed recruits, and a larger number of Armenians from the prisoners of war taken by the Nazis in their sweep eastwards. Early on the total number was 8000; this number later grew to 20,000. The 812 th Batallion was operational in the Crimea and the North Caucasus. A year later, on 15 December 1942, an Armenian National Council was granted official recognition by Alfred Rosenberg, the German minister of the occupied areas. The Council president was Professor Ardasher Abeghian, its vice-president Abraham Guilkhandanian and it numbered among its members Nzhdeh and Vahan Papazian. From that date until thje end of 1944 it published a weekly journal, Armenian, edited by Viken Shantn (the son of Levon) who also broadcast on Radio Berlin... What was the motive for the collaboration in the occupied areas ? It is possible to see it as a purely vengeful desire to retake Armenia from the Bolsheviks..... There is in the untutored mind a tendency to class Armenians and Jews together (offensive to both peoples); and the malevolent paranoia of the Nazis might have manifested itself against Armenians as well as Jews. Hence it was important to prove to the Nazis that the Armenians were Aryans. With the aid of Dr. Paul Rohrbach they seem to have achieved this. The Nazis did not persecute Armenians, just for being Armenians, in the occupied lands..."
The preceding is from Christopher J. Walker's "Armenia —The Survival of a Nation," page 357, para 2.
Holdwater: That's funny. There was no mention of the Armenian-Nazi connection in the PBS program adapted from this book. Oh, there must have been some innocent oversight... it's not like the program desired to be intentionally misleading, or anything.
Prof. Richard Hovannisian:
"(Dro) was not a Nazi"
In "Armenian hero's wish is honored" (Boston Herald; Boston, Mass.; May 4, 2000; Jules Crittenden), Prof. Hovannisian actually denied Dro was a Nazi.
"He remains an idealized figure," Hovannisian was also quoted as saying about the mass murderer. "His main concern was the support and rescue of the Armenian people."
The article reports Robert Najarian of the General Dro Memorial Committee (in Armenian-friendly Massachusetts) as saying if Dro were not successful in defeating the Turks ("in a decisive battle at Bash Abaran in 1918, stopping what Armenians say was a systematic effort to destroy the Armenian people," as the article reports elsewhere) there would be "a good chance many of us would not be alive today."
Uhhhh... but I thought the "genocide" covered the years 1915-1916. If Dro engaged in his blood-spilling during 1918 ("In the brief First Republic of Armenia from 1918 to 1920, he served as minister of war"), what exactly was Dro rescuing the Armenian people from?
These were, after all, the years when the Ottoman Empire was gutted, and the Armenians who were in charge of Ottoman lands were busily massacring Turkish villagers. These were the years when Armenia felt free to wage war against neighbors Georgia and Azerbaijan.
"After the Turks and Soviet Russians invaded again in 1920 and divided Armenia between them, Dro fled to Romania, where he lived until the end of World War II." The article sure makes poor little Armenia out to be a victim, doesn't it? The fact of the matter is the well armed Armenian military was preparing its own attack against Turkey, but was caught with her pants down when Ataturk's forces first attacked the Armenians, instead of the invading Greeks to the west. According to the first prime minister of Armenia and American officers who accompanied Dro, the cowardly Armenians simply would not fight. And the Armenians then willingly hooked up with the Soviets.
Where was the Armenian "hero" Dro during this decisive period, the general who proved so effective in mass-murdering unarmed Turkish women and children? The hero bravely "fled to Romania, where he lived until the end of World War II... After the war, Dro lived in Beirut and then Watertown, remaining active as an Armenian nationalist until his death in 1956."
Leave it to Richard Hovannisian to give an accurate portrayal of the facts, as usual.
The Boston Herald gushingly devoted ten one-sided articles to this notorious killer of innocents and Nazi war criminal in only one month (May) of 2000, all written by Jules Crittenden.
Armenian Nazi Tidbits, from an Unknown Writer
Altogether 30,000 Nazi Armenians served in various units in the German Wehrmacht, according to Ara J. Berkian. 14,000 in predominantly Armenian army units, 6,000 in German army units, 8,000 in various working units and 2,000 in the Waffen-SS.[1]
A number of these Nazi Armenians were volunteers from France and Greece who had chosen to commit themselves to the extermination of the European Jewry. Derounian says that
_Nazi Armenians from France bore the mark 'Legion Armenienne.'_[2]
That Nazi Armenians like Dro 'the Butcher', Armenian architect of the genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people, and Nezhdeh sided with the Germans probably had an impact on the decision of Armenians who overwhelmingly opted for armed service.
[1] Enno Meyer, A. J. Berkian, _Zwischen Rhein und Arax, 900 Jahre Deutsch-Armenische beziehungen_ (Heinz Holzberg Verlag-Oldenburg 1988), pp. 118/119.
[2] John Roy Carlson (Arthur Derounian), ibid., p. 19.
In fall 1942, the Armenian infantry battalions 808 and 809 were formed, to be followed by battalions 810, 812 and 813 in spring 1943. In the second half of 1943 infantry battalions 814, 815 and 816 were created. These battalions together with other indigenous Caucasian units were attached to the infantry division 162. Also attached to ID 162 were the field battalions II/9, I/125 and I/198 which were formed between May 1942 and May 1943. Altogether twelve Armenian battalions served the Nazi army, if battalion II/73, which was not employed at any time, is to be included.[1] Most battalions were commanded by Nazi Armenian officers. Armenians wore German uniforms with an armband in the Dashnag colours red-blue-orange and the inscription _Armenien._
[1] Joachim Hoffmann, _Dies Ostlegionen 1941-1943, Turkotataren, Kaukasier und Wolgafinned im deutschen Heer_ (Verlag Rombach Freiburg 1976), p. 172.
The Armenian SS unit was formed following a directive of Himmler in the beginning of December 1944.[1] The Armenian Liaison Staff actively recruited volunteers[2] and by February 1945 a cavalry formation of twenty thousand Armenians was integrated into the larger Caucasian Waffen-SS unit. The Armenian SS formation was employed last in Klagenfurt.[3] In addition to this exclusively Armenian unit, Nazi Armenians also served in the thirty eight other SS divisions, one of them even in the elite _Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler._[4]
[1] Meyer, Berkian, ibid., pp. 136-137.
[2] United States National Archives, T-175, Roll 167, pp 2700157/2700158, SS-Headquarters, Amtsgruppe D - Oststelle,
see _Documents 3 and 4._
[3] Georg Tessin, _Verbaende und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im zweiten Weltkrieg 1939-1945,_ (Frankfurt am Main 1965-1980), Volume 14, Armenian Legion/Waffen SS.
[4] Meyer, Berkian, ibid., p. 119.
Derounian says that
"Greece was honeycombed with Armenians serving as Nazi spies." [1]
Many Nazi Armenians were arrested by the British and sentenced by the Greek government as collaborators in espionage.[2] In Rumania many Nazi Armenians were found in Antonescu's Iron Guard during arrest of members after the war. Bulgaria was the operational base of Tzeghagrons-founder Garagin Nezhdeh, who commanded a network of espionage from there.
[1] John Roy Carlson (Arthur Derounian), ibid., p. 20.
[2] Meyer, Berkian, ibid., p. 150.
In Russia General Dro (the Butcher), the architect of the Muslim
Holocaust in ex-Soviet/Russian Armenia and Eastern Anatolia, was
working closely with the German Secret Service. He entered the war zone with his own men and acquired important intelligence about the Soviets. His experience with the Muslim Holocaust in ex-Soviet/Russian Armenia and Eastern Anatolia made him an invaluable source for the Germans.[1]
[1] Meyer, Berkian, ibid., p. 113; Patrick von zur Muehlen, ibid., p. 84.
Numerous articles in major newspapers (London Times) and periodicals (Newsweek) during the war, had suggested the existence of a significant collaboration between Armenians and the Nazis. Arthur Derounian deserves credit for being the first person to deal with this issue extensively. Derounian's motives were twofold: his deeply held democratic convictions gave him a sense of duty and he felt obliged to shed light on this yet another dark chapter of Armenian history. Concurrently, Derounian embarked on what one would call "crisis control" or face-saving. In order to forestall any potential attacks on the larger Armenian community in the United States, he marginalized collaboration as deplorable but insignificant.[1]
[1] John Roy Carlson (real name Arthur Derounian), _The Plotters_ E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., New York 1946, p. 182.
Also, it is not surprising that the Armenians collaborated with the Nazis.
"Wholly opportunistic the Armenians have been variously pro-Nazi, pro-Russia, pro-Soviet Armenia, pro-Arab, pro-Jewish, as well as anti-Jewish, anti-Zionist, anti-Communist, and anti-Soviet - whichever was expedient." [1]
[1] John Roy Carlson (Arthur Derounian), Cairo to Damascus Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1951, p. 438.
Francalajian
Tell us something relevant and new.
To Francalajian
I believe every thing that he said is relevant but it is not new, at least for me. Israel does not support the Armenian allegations at all. Some of the most famous pro-Turkish Ottoman historians are Jewish. Ex. Bernard Lewis and Stanford Shaw.
we arent so creative like u.u always find new lies. u have created a so called genocide. go and find a lie relevant and new.
the collaboration shows how bloodthirsty armenians are.
by Francalajian
Yes, and we eat babies for breakfast and hunt Turks for leisure.
"the collaboration shows how bloodthirsty armenians are."
You missed the point of your own argument. The cooperation was for "the greater good" in hopes of receiving a piece of land from the Nazi regime. On top of everything, there are so many stories of the Armenian regiment sparring lives of captives. Give me a break with this pathetic argument "King Fox".
To: Francalajian
collaborate with hitler
kill jews
carry out khojaly genocide
invade azerbaijan
....
for a piece of land and c urself as angel.
u should proud of urself.
Also, the Turkish Embassy in Germany saved Jewish Germans from prosecution by giving them Turkish passports.
Karniyarikian
"Yes, and we eat babies for breakfast and hunt Turks for leisure."
hahahaha, yes. very true.
ok, just kidding.
All jokes aside, citing TallArmenianTale.com as a legitimate academic source is like someone citing the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' as an academic source. Rachel knows what I'm talking about.
Also, I love how the copy/paste function allows illiterate jackasses like this King Fox character to feel as though he has some sense of dignity/credibility. The guy has trouble putting together a single sentence or a mere phrase in English. I find individuals like this very counter-productive to this groups (as well as society's) goals.
I may have severe disagreement with individuals in this group... like with Rachel, Lynn, or Bugra... but at least we can ACTUALLY express our disagreements like human beings and in full sentences when we are arguing.
Please don't give me that bullshit about being a non-native English speaker. I'm not a native English speaker, and I can put together sentence at a level above that of a 3rd grader. For god's sake, Bugra isn't even from America and even he can express his thoughts in words quite well.
Ok, that was my rant on idiots in the group that are still at elementary English levels.
To: Karniyarikian
his strengths academically may not be the English language.
Having said that, you prompted him to provide information and he did. The man in essence answered your call to him to provide facts.
So again, I'm sure "King Fox" has strengths in other fields you maybe weak on. Ultimately making you "illiterate" when he has home field advantage.
I respect Fox's commitment on the AG issue.
By the way Karniyarikian if you're going to put one illiterate person down, you mind as well not segregate them because of their ethnicity. There have been countless Armenians who struggle just as much as Fox on this forum.
Armenians that come on here and say "I am Armenian, second generationian survivorian of the genocidian.." Just an example, but I guess you get the idea..
To: Karniyarikian
thx kar-miki-an
the topic was my english and ur comments were very relevant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loizHeP1INU
khojaly genocide carried out by armenians in one night.
when it taken account i dont want to think what those bloodthirsty armenians did during ww2.
instead of talking about a so-called genocide, the Armenians should worry about their shameful past cooperation with the Nazis in the genocide of Jews in Europe between the years of 1935 and 1945
by Francalacian
What exactly do you know about Khojaly?
I informed myself from a first hand account of a soldier.
Before I share it with you, I am just curious the extent of the knowledge that "King Fox" (PLEASE CHANGE YOUR NAME!!!) has on this issue.
And about your English, A for effort but if you want to, write it in Turkish underneath so that one of our friends here can provide people like me and Shant with your views and arguments without having to decipher butchered English.
PS: Don't tell me that your only source of information was the video. This will prevent me from splitting my ribs.
To: Francalacian
actually i heard khojaly genocide last year.when i was in taksim a group of people were protesting armenia over khojaly genocide and i made some research about it i read a lot and last mounth there was a program on trt
(Turkish Radio and Television Company).also i have some azeri friends at university one of them lost his relatives during armenian occupation.
i think my english isnt topic.i have never claimed i have perfect english. i started learning english last year and still i am trying to learn.my teacher allways says write sth even if it isnot correct.but shant uses it to dilute topic .his comments about my english shows that what can be done when people s past mistakes were shown.it s very effective way to hide past cooperation and to make me silent by using my bad english.
on the other hand in my view turks dont have to learn prfect english because turkish is one of the most prevalent languages in the world spoken by 300.000.000 ppl even armenians use it as second language. unfortunately i cant say the same thing for u. u should learn english very well.
also my real name is önder abatay.pls write sth about topic not my english and name.
Antisemitism in Armenia
Although the contemporary relations between Israel and Armenia are normally good, some anti-Jewish sentiments are still present.
In April 1998, Igor Muradyan, a famous Armenian political analyst and economist, published an anti-semitic article in one of Armenia's leading newspapers Voice of Armenia. Muradyan claimed that the history of Armenian-Jewish relations has been filled with "Aryans vs. Semites" conflict manifestations. He accused Jews of inciting ethnic conflicts, including the dispute over Nagorno-Karabagh and demostrated concern for Armenia's safety in light of Israel's good relations with Turkey.[6]
In 2002, a book entitled National System (written by Romen Yepiskoposyan in Armenian and Russian) was printed and presented at the Union of Writers of Armenia. In that book, Jews (along with Turks) are indentified as number-one enemies of Armenians and are described as "the nation-destroyer with a mission of destruction and decomposition." A section in the book entitled The Greatest Falsification of the 20th Century denies the Holocaust, claiming that it is a myth created by Zionists to discredit "Aryans": "The greatest falsification in human history is the myth of Holocaust. <...> no one was killed in gas chambers. There were no gas chambers."[7] A speaker at the event also suggested the book should be distributed in schools in order to "develop a national idea and understanding of history." The event was marked with public accusations that Jews were responsible for the Armenian massacres of 1915.
Similar accusations were voiced by Armen Avetissian, the leader of the nationalist Armenian Aryan Order (AAO), on 11 February 2002, when he also called for the Israeli ambassador Rivka Kohen to be declared persona non grata in Armenia for Israel's refusal to give the Armenian massacres of 1915 equal status with the Holocaust. In addition, he asserted that the number of victims of the Holocaust has been overstated.[8]
In 2004, Armen Avetissian expressed extremist remarks against Jews in several issues of the AAO run The Armeno-Aryan newspaper, as well as during a number of meetings and press conferences. As a result, his party was excluded from the Armenian Nationalist Front.[9]
Shortly after, during a prime time talk show, the leader of the People's Party of Armenia and the owner of ALM television channel, Tigran Karapetian, accused Jews of assisting Ottoman authorities in the 1915 Armenian Genocide. His interviewee, Armen Avetissian stated that "the Armenian Aryans intend to fight against the Jewish-Masonic aggression and will do what it takes to repress evil in its own nest." Speaking about Armenia's Jewish community Avetissian said that it consists of "700 of those who identify themsevles as Jews and 50,000 of those whom the Aryans will soon reveal while cleansing the country of Jewish evil." The Jewish Council of Armenia addressed its concerns to the government and various human rights organizations demanding to stop promoting ethnic hatred and to ban ALM. However these demands were mostly disregarded.[9]
On 23 October 2004, head of the Department for Ethnic and Religious Minority Issues, Granoush Kharatian, publicly commented on so-called "Judaist" xenophobia in Armenia. She said: "Why are we not responding to the fact that on their Friday gatherings, Judaists continue to advocate hatred towards all non-Judaists as far as comparing the latter to cattle and propagating spitting on them?" [9] Kharatyan also accused local Jews of calling for "anti-Christian actions."[10]
The Jewish Council of Armenia sent an open letter to President Robert Kocharian expressing its deep concern with the recent rise of antisemitism. Armen Avetissian responded to this by publishing yet another antisemitic article in the Iravunq newspaper, where he stated: "Any country that has a Jewish minority is under big threat in terms of stability." Later while meeting with Chairman of the National Assembly of Armenia Artur Baghdasarian, head of the Jewish Council of Armenia Rimma Varzhapetian insisted that the government took steps to prevent further acts of antisemitism. Avetissian was eventually arested on 24 January 2005, however several prominent academic figures, such as Levon Ananyan (the head of the Writers union of Armenia) and composer Ruben Hakhverdian, supported Avetissian and called upon the authorities to release him. [11] In their demands to release an anti-semite, they were joined by opposition deputies and even ombudsman Larisa Alaverdian.[12]
In September 2006, while criticizing the American Global Gold corporation Armenian Minister of Nature Protection Vardan Aivazian said during a press-conference: "Do you know who you are defending? You are defending kikes! Go over there [company headquarters] and find out who is behind this company and if we should let them come here!"[13] [14] After Rimma Varzhapetian's protests, Aivazian claimed he didn't mean to offend Jews and such criticizm was intended strictly for the Global Gold company.
Recent vandalism by unknown individuals on Jewish Holocaust Memorial in central Yerevan was witnessed in one of the central parks of Armenian capital on 23 December 2007. A Nazi swastika symbol was scratched and black paint was splattered on the the simple stone. After notifying the local police, Rabbi Gershon Burshtein, a Chabad emissary who serves as Chief Rabbi of the country's tiny Jewish community said "I just visited the memorial the other day and everything was fine. This is terrible, as there are excellent relations between Jews and Armenians." The monument has been defaced and toppled several times in the past few years. It is located in the city's Aragast Park, a few blocks north of the centrally-located Republic Square, which is home to a number of government buildings
by Francalacian
Ok good . I like your answer. Believe me my English is perfect, so are my 3 other languages. I'm a cunning linguist ;)
So about the "Khojaly Genocide". First it cannot be a genocide, for it was not an attempt to systematically exterminate the Azeri population. It was a war as you know it.
Second, the Armenian troops had Khojaly surrounded. Khojaly obviously had a civilian population, accompanied by a small armed force. The Armenian troops offered the evacuation of the civilian population. The local militia advised against it, because they were using the civilians as a shield. Believe me, the Armenians could have easily gone in and killed everyone had the civilians not been there. So basically they wanted the civilians out so they can kill/take prisoner the armed forces. To this regard, they opened up a passage so that a column of civilians could get out and they could invade the village. There was Azeri military accompanying the column and they opened fire, both on their own people to scare them and on the Armenians.
And the Armenian troops stood there and got massacred because the Azeri forces were using a civilian shield.... NOT
They retaliated. I mean yes you shouldn't hurt civilians but if the enemy is going to use that in order to kill you, screw that....
It wasn't a genocide. It can be called a massacre and the responsibles are the Azeri armed forces for bringing such a sad fate upon their own people. The Armenians are also somewhat responsible... But their options were pretty limited.
-Stay and do nothing=death
-Run=Heavy casualties probably as you are turning your back to the enemy
-Try and shoot at the people with guns and in the process stray bullets from both sides wounding civilians=victory but breach of war conventions
Can you come up with another solution?
And now, a few years ago, some people came up with a dubious video and started yelling Khojaly Genocide.... Give me a break Onder and let this go...
To: Francalacian
i think your ideas about khojaly genocide are illogical and in favour of armenians.you only accuse azeris.did azreis want armenians to invade their country and to kill azeri people.
do you think regarding only one side s ideas is objective way to decide wether it s genocide.your post is totally armenian side s view about khojaly genocide.
lte s look topic objectively
the executive director of Human Rights Watch has stated that: “we place direct responsibility for the civilian deaths with Karabakh Armenian forces. Indeed, neither our report nor that of Memorial includes any evidence to support the argument that Azerbaijani forces obstructed the flight of, or fired on Azeri civilians”.
actually your coment refutes your own ideas about armenian genocide you wrote that So about the "Khojaly Genocide". First it cannot be a genocide, for it was not an attempt to systematically exterminate the Azeri population. It was a war as you know it.
i can say the same thing about armenian genocide.first it cannot be a genocide, for it was not an attempt to systematically exterminate the armenian population.it was a war as you know it.also ottoman soldiers never killed babies and women.it was a relocation as you know it.
shortly i know u arent objective but at least u can try to be and when you write pls read both sides views.
*still you havent given a logical reason for armenian nazi collaboration.
To: Karniyarikian
citing TallArmenianTale.com as a legitimate academic source is like someone citing the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' as an academic source.
------------------------
Hi there, Karniyarikian,
Is there any specifics you could point out at the TallArmenianTale site so that the site content could be viewed along with your version aired here at least.
I can neither defend the site or nor can understand your particulars until I find out, if you care to explain please
To: Karniyarikian
TallArmenianTale.com is a site specifically geared towards glorifying Turkey while degrading Armenians. It claims to be geared towards falsifying the genocide claims, but a great chunk of its content has nothing to do with issues about the genocide and its surrounding debates. It attempts to portray Armenians in a negative way by any means possible. It is basically an anti-Armenian hate site. It is a collection of any and all information that can make Armenians look evil. Instead of dealing with the issue at hand, it simply attacks the character of Armenians. And it also glorifies Turks.
A simple example of this can be found on the 'Jewish' (which is already a pretty offensive title) section of the site. First of all, why the hell would you label a section of the site as 'Jewish.' Wouldn't 'Armenian-Jewish Relations' or 'Turkish-Jewish Relations' or 'Jews and the Armenian Genocide Claims' all be more appropriate title?
The first subsection in the 'Jewish' section is entitled 'Jews of Turkey.' It simply speaks of how there is a strong connection between Turks and Jews and how Jews have lived in Turkish lands for a long time. It also throws in random unsubstantiated claims of Armenians killing Azeri Jews. I apologize, but I fail to see how establishing/document a relationship between Turks and Jews does ANYTHING whatsoever to falsify the Genocide claims. In fact, I feel that people of a Jewish background might even find it offensive that the creator of this site somehow believes that by present a connection between his people and the Jewish people, Turkish claims somehow should become more credible. This seems to somewhat play into the nasty stereotype of Jewish world domination conspiracies. The author is pretty much implying "Jews are powerful, so if we establish a clearer connection between us and them, we'll look good."
Just visit the site and you will find a plethora of example of slander against Armenians or just non-Genocide related stories about Armenians whose sole purpose is to make Armenians look less credible. Some of the stories on the site are just simply stupid and have nothing to do with the Genocide and don't even make the Armenians look bad. For example, why the hell does an supposed "academic source" on Genocide issues need an entire page about "How the "Thanksgiving Bird" Acquired its Name" (http://tallarmeniantale.com/turkey-bird.htm). You really want to be the one citing from a source that has an article about how a bird was named 'Turkey.' The same subsection features a story about how Turks are 'kind to animals.' Is this a joke or what?
To: Karniyarikian
Thanks for that,
By just looking at your comments, you do have some valid points,
however, some of the stuff I've read at the site, as far as I remember -It is kind of too much for me to read A-Z of the whole site as one can imagine- there are some (Anti-Armenian) truth, which an Armenian may not be able accept gracefully in front of others, it is like "them against us" thing.
i.e. if an Englishman calls you wog in England, you get angry. On the other hand if an Armenian calls you wog in England you just laugh and take it easy.)
I need to go an read that site's few articles along with your comments in hand in order to respond to you better & to be fair to both of you ( site & you)
I also agree that there are some unrelated Turkish-Armenian issues at the site too.
Then again one can not be expected to be satisfied 100% in any given message but could still pick and choose if needed.
To me, it is like buying a newspaper or a magazine and finding some content very intriguing and to my liking very much, and some others are so against my common understanding -whether it is the truth or not- god knows.
Maybe it is not so related here but there is an editorial strategy to employ the totally opposite view journalists, writers. I am of course not relating it to that site here, and personally I like reading conflicting views as part of my studies (second year journalism student, I am) these days.
and if you happen to be into journalism, please feel free to share your resources in investigative journalism as well.
by Francalacian
"To me, it is like buying a newspaper or a magazine and finding some content very intriguing and to my liking very much, and some others are so against my common understanding -whether it is the truth or not- god knows."
Unfortunately some people do not have that common sense, or that ability of sorting out and believe everything they want to hear. Ex. Religious groups who twist religious edicts such as the Corran or the Bible to their evil means.
And unfortunately, most of the stuff on TAT is pre-evilized so their is a huge bias on almost every single article
To: Francalacian
So about the "Khojaly Genocide". First it cannot be a genocide, for it was not an attempt to systematically exterminate the Azeri population. It was a war as you know it.
Yes, you are right the people who got exterminated were not Armenian's so it cannot be a genocide, we got that. But, if the same happens to Armenian's it is Genocide that doesnt even need to be proven :))
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