Armenian casualties of deportations

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Armenian casualties of deportations, part of World War I casualties, only cover a subset of Ottoman Armenian casualties during the Tehcir (deportation) activities of the Ottoman Empire under the Tehcir Law May 27, 1915 February 8-1916 what is known as Armenian genocide. The death toll of Armenians during this period is controversial. Most historians claim the size of this process is the proof of statewide activity in terminating the Armenian people, which is categorized as the state organized genocide.

The Armenians who were displaced by the Tehcir (deportation) process was only a subset of the total Armenian population in Anatolia. Even though the exact number of Armenians living in Anatolia (see: Ottoman Armenian population) is a very controversial topic, the Ottoman records were much more clear of this period because of regulation of the enforcement ^[1], which demanded that there would be three copies of information, one which will be kept in the regional churches, and one in the regional administration, and one will be kept by the commission responsible of the execution of the law. The second (regional administration) and third party (commission responsible) of this law was hold responsible for the protection of the properties until the immigrants return ^[2]. Also there are American Relief Committee reports about the deportees.

[edit] Deportation

See also: Tehcir Law

The total Armenians can be classified as = (Not Deported + Deported) and among the deported = (Survived + Not Survived).

[edit] Not Deported

There were two important Armenian communities [living in two regions] of the Ottoman Empire that were not deported; first one was province of Smyrna and second one was province of Istanbul^[3]. The Tehcir was ordered for Gregorian Armenians, so there the Catholic and Protestant Armenians were exempted [note some regions did not differentiate] ^[3]. If Gregorians were converted to Islam, they were not given the same treatment^[3]. There were those who managed to escape the process^[3]. According to the investigations of the Patriarchate, there were 580,000 Armenians in 1912 in the Vilayets of Erzeroum, Bitlis, and Van, which were within the Russian lines [some were under the control of Administration for Western Armenia] when the deportation put forward^[3]. According to Arnold Toynbee a quarter of a million Protestants, Catholics, converts and others who were spared, and estimated the total number of Armenians in Ottoman Empire who escaped deportation at not more than 600,000^[3].

[edit] Deported

USA channeled relief efforts under ACRNE, which produced reports to coordinate its efforts. Report published after the "abolishment of the law," locates the refugee number in 486,0000 which was higher than Ottoman records that claim 438,758

According to Arnold Toynbee at least 1,000,000 people comprised the deportation and massacre, with the likelihood that the real number was probably 1,200,000 or more^[3]. Lewy, Guenter, quote the Salahi Sonyel claims that 700,000 Armenians were deported^[4]. According to The Catholic Encyclopedia (1922) the number of deported was 600,000^[5]. The USA government source puts the number of deported people 486,000, and it also includes the resource size requested to coordinate the American Committee for Relief in the Near East efforts^[6]. According to Turkish sources a total of 438,758 people were "relocated" ^[7]. The regional breakdown of the deportations were claimed as follows:

[edit] Casualties

According to Arnold Toynbee at least 50 per cent [500,000 - 700,000] would be casualty of the deportations^[3]. The Turkish official documents claim that total casualties of deportations fall into 9-11 per cent, [(40,000/38.758)*100] . The Turkish official (TTK Publication) claim that it was understood from Ottoman documents that many people were fallen victim to hunger while on the road^[7]. Apart from these, some 25-30 thousand people had lost their lives when struck by fatal diseases such as typhoid and dysentery^[7]. In all, an estimated 40,000 casualties had been registered during relocation^[7]. The number of casualties based on attacks occurred as follows:^[7].:

1. 500 people on the road between Erzurum and Erzincan ^[7].
2. 2000 in Meskene, between Urfa and Aleppo^[7].
3. 2000 others on the outskirts of Mardin were massacred in attacks launched by bandits or nomadic Arabs^[7].
4. 5000 people were killed in attacks on convoys passing through Dersim^[7].

• Total (1,2,3,4): 9,500-10,000 were killed in attacks to convoys

[edit] Survived

In the Bulletin of the 5th April, 1916 the American Relief Committee has published a cable recently received in the United States from a competent source, in which the total number of "Armenians exiles alive at the time in the regions of Der-el-Zor, Damascus and Aleppo is estimated roughly at 500,000^[3] According to The Catholic Encyclopedia (1922) the number of survivors were 90,000, however this number was the Armenian population in Aleppo (Syria) in 1919^[5]. There is no record about the fate of the 510,000 in this source, which they could have been relocated to other places. According to Turkish sources 382.148 of these safely reached their new destinations^[7].

[edit] Summary

This data only covers the deportations, but not total the death of Armenians during WWI. Short description of the information.

[edit] See also

• World War I casualties
• Ottoman Armenian casualties
• Armenian Genocide

[edit] References