Financing the Ruling Party and Its Militants in Wartime:The Armenian Genocide and the Kemah Massacres of 1915

Abstract

Based largely on Ottoman documentation, the article discusses the deportations in the eastern Ottoman province of Erzerum in general and more specifically the massacres in and around Kemah in Erzindjan district. It highlights the central role of key perpetrators like Tahsin [Uzer], Ebu Hindi Djafer Bey, Fuat Sabit [Agacik] and other CUP and Teshkilat-i Mahsusa operatives, as well as that of CUP-controlled civil organizations. Critically, the available evidence provides new insights into the plundering of movable Armenian property and the distribution of the booty. While the economic interests of the ruling party and those of perpetrators on the ground shaped the annihilation of Armenian deportees, commanders, killers, and the ruling party in Constantinople competed for the spoils. Even during this period, a 1915-1916 Ottoman court martial investigation on corruption in connection with the Kemah massacres produced conclusive evidence on the premeditated and state-sponsored nature of the crime.