1984) Atatürk and the Armenian Question

Below is what Ataturk said about the Armenian question;

“300 armed Armenians, carrying 3 machine guns and plenty of bombs, were learned to have come from Kars to Kosor site on the border in the northeast of Erzurum. I regard it very likely that Armenians will ensure gangs to penetrate in the eastern provinces in order to de facto achieve their political goals and prove that there has been a public disorder, and that the season, being favorable for the first time since the armistice, will facilitate such practices of theirs. The required measures against this probability have been taken by the 15th Army Corps.”

Brigadier General Mustafa Kemal
9th Army Detachments Inspector
May 24, 1919

“… As I presented previously, I view our political situation to be very obscure. The governments of the entente states take it as a service for Christianity to occupy our territories that is our legitimate right inherited from our ancestors. Considering this sentence, it is likely that they will offer our provinces to Armenians as a gift. In such a case, British units will probably pioneer the Armenians in this front as they did for the Greeks and Greeks of Turkish nationality in Izmir. With such an action, dislocation of the hardly settled local people and migrants and thus, implementing the theory of the rule of the majority by the minority may be deemed appropriate by them. In my opinion, we should regard and count such situation as hostility in order to liberate our legitimate territories and national independence.”


Brigadier General Mustafa Kemal
9. Army Detachments Inspector
May 30, 1919

“The Greek and Armenian arsonists, who spoil the Christian elements and put them in crazy positions, display conducts such as, presenting the foreigners the public order as deteriorated and inviting the occupation and intervention and especially in the locations where foreign officers are present, not contacting with the government, but directly consulting the foreigners, and adopt attitudes and behaviors such as triggering events against the Muslims. The Greek and Armenian secret societies and their notables are spoilt by the British officers and some American officials with whom they are continuously in touch with.”


Brigadier General Mustafa Kemal
9. Army Detachments Inspector
June 05, 1919

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Below is what Ataturk said about the Armenian question;

“On May 29, 1919, near Isısu village of Pasinler town, the bodies of three Muslims violently and cruelly murdered Muslims, one having been cut into two parts by his body; the other wounded by bayonets and bullets on six spots on the body; and the third one, nearly a 15-year-old child, the nose, eyes and the ears of whom had been cut off, were found.

It was reported in the written response received about the event from the British representatives of Erzurum that the murder was likely to have been conducted by the former Armenian residents of the village Pernos, 18 km. east of Oltu.

… If we really accept the murder to have been conducted in the way reported by the British representative, the fears and opinions of the populace of the eastern provinces that the Armenians approaching the border to return to Turkey will continue their violence and murders, and they will not refrain from destroying the Muslims one by one, is confirmed…”

Brigadier General Mustafa Kemal
9. Army Detachments Inspector
June 12, 1919

“Being the subjects of the Ottoman Empire, the Greek and Armenian elements, with the encouragement and the assistance they received, have set to impudent aggressions starting from excesses damaging our honor and finally reaching to sad and bloody stages.

The country is subject to disintegration, and as decided, Armenia in our eastern provinces and again Armenia in Adana and Kozan neighborhood, under the name of “Cilicia”…

… As for Armenia, carrying the opinion of invasion in mind, Armenians oppress the whole Muslim populace from Nakhichevan to Oltu and carry out massacres and plunders in some districts. They want to safely approach their desires about our eastern provinces by destroying the Muslims and forcing them to migrate as far as our borders and on the other hand, to expel the Ottoman Armenians they claimed to be 400 thousand into our country as a base.

Let me present here as a sad reality that abundant foreign currency and many propagandas are occurring in our country. The purpose is very clear here; making the national movement fruitless, paralyzing the national ambitions, and facilitating the Greek and Armenian desires and the aims for the invasion of the country…”

The Speech at Erzurum Congress
July 23, 1919

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Below is what Ataturk said about the Armenian question;

…In the East, Armenians started the preparations to expand as far as Kızılırmak, and the massacre policy that has already reached our borders.

… Our mournful borders provinces, which have experienced any kind of distress and agony and witnessed especially the Armenian violence and oppression, have formed fronts called the Association for the Defense of National Law and the Association for the Protection of National Law.

Mustafa Kemal
Sivas Congress – September 04, 1919


“…The fact that after the truce, the government displayed the weakness to cede Adana province and Antep, Maras and Urfa sanjacks guaranteed the Armenian invasion and organization under British and French mandate in this region and the Armenians have worked for over a year to turn those provinces and sanjacks into Armenian cities, and how saddening it is that the individual self-sacrifice of Turks, who lack organization, have resulted fruitlessly although the majority of those places is owned by Turks, and conducting daily aggressions, the Armenians keep to carry out their activities in line with their objectives.

1. The kinds of the aggressions conducted so far are summarized below:

A) The overt attacks of the French and British officials, Armenian committees and the local Armenian populace at the rights of Muslims.

B) Facilitating the migration of the Armenians living in various places in the Ottoman territories to those cities, and increasing the Armenian population there.

C) Sending Armenian units dressed in foreign uniforms to those places and integrating them with those already present there.

D) The annihilation, murder and forced migration the Muslim people in a short time through economic or other kinds of pressure.
E. Forcing the Muslim population to accept the foreign mandate through the gradual divisiveness created among them.

The Representative Delegation of the Anatolian and Rumelia
Association for the Protection of Law
September 22, 1919

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From Ataturk’s statements on the Armenian issue;

(…) A 800 strong force consisting of local Armenians of Maras is being prepared in the barracks,

(…) It is reported that the French troops of 800 strong have been perpetrating terrible massacre of the inhabitants in Bababurnu. It is noteworthy that the French, who told that they would withdraw Armenians and stop the oppression of Muslim people, are killing Muslim population together with them.

On behalf of the Representation Committee
Mustafa Kemal
January 11, 1920

It is understood from reports that despite deceptive pleasant promises of certain French officials, they have began to oppress civil servants and the Muslim population through their officials in Islahiye, Antep, Maras, Kilis and Zeytun for a long time and that meanwhile they martyred many Muslims.

On behalf of the Representative Committee
Mustafa Kemal
January 14, 1920

(…) Recent aggressions and oppressions by the French in our villages particularly in Maras region has risen to an intolerable level.

On behalf of the Representative Committee
Mustafa Kemal
January 21, 1920

Continuation of the brutality proves that people’s lamentation and screams over the terrible and bloody events that have been taking place in Maras for seventeen days get no response from the civilized world and humanity.

On behalf of the Representative Committee
Mustafa Kemal
February 8, 1920

While the innocent blood of our brothers in Maras is still terribly being shed, the French under the guise of civilization and the Armenians who were their pioneering forces began ruthless massacres against Muslim population in Urfa and its environs.

On behalf of the Representative Committee
Mustafa Kemal
February 14, 1920

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From Ataturk’s statements on the Armenian issue;

(…) Armenians are not subjected to massacre in any place. If it is the Maras event that is mentioned, Armenians who attacked our people together with French troops were not killed, on the contrary they enjoyed the protection and compassion of Muslims after they were abandoned by the withdrawing French troops.

(…) The reality is that our nation does not show aggression against any foreign element anywhere.

On behalf of the Representative Committee
Mustafa Kemal
February 22, 1920

It is reported that lots of Turks were filled in a church in Kozan, and Feke district was surrounded by 80 Armenians. Moreover, Turks will end up very miserable, unless reinforcements are deployed in a short while, therefore general measures should be taken urgently...
…Unarmed Armenians should not be attacked.

Mustafa Kemal
March 2, 1920

(…) Very disgusting and definitely unreal news saying that 20.000 (twenty thousand) Armenians were killed again in Anatolia have been fabricated by those who deem it convenient to their interests to bring about negative trends in Europe.

As there were certain individuals and information sources belonging to the Entente Powers and to the American government across Anatolia, we had hoped that mentioned news would not be deemed as plausible by foreign sources and we had even considered it unnecessary to deny such massacre which had never occurred.

(…) We would like to make recourse to the sense of justice of the Allies and the American government in order to illuminate the civilization and humanity about the fictitious Armenian massacre and about the nature of these propaganda resulting from hatred and greed and produced to deceive the whole world, and thus to cleanse the Turkish nation of a disgusting and mean accusation.

Mustafa Kemal
March 7, 1920

In his speech delivered in the House of Commons and published in the newspaper Temps on March 13th, Lord Curzon told the following regarding Armenians; “It seems to me that you think Armenians is like a pure and innocent eight years-old girl. You are very mistaken in that. Because Armenians proved with their latest brutal actions how a bloodthirsty nation they are.

On behalf the Representative Committee
Mustafa Kemal
March 27, 1920

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Source: Ataturk’ten Ermeni Sorunu /Armenian Issue in Ataturk’s Expressions – Dr. Ismet Gorgulu

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Source: GenocideReality.com

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