March 15 1921, was the last day of the life of one of the greatest slaughterers of the Armenian nation, Talât Pasha. Shahan Natalie explained to the 25-year-old Armenian avenger Soghomon Tehliryan what he should do after killing Talât in Berlin: “You blow up the skull of the Number One and you don’t try to flee. You stand there, your foot on the corpse, and surrender to the police, who will come and handcuff you.”
This is how Tehliryan describes the last hour of Talât’s life: “I woke up in the morning earlier than usual. The sun’s rays had already reached the window of the opposite building. I had barely finished my tea and wanted to push the armchair close to the edge of the window, when I suddenly saw Talât in the balcony of the opposite building. I froze. Was that him? Yes. He walked one or two steps forward, attentively studied the pavement: firstly up, then down, with his head lowered as if under the weight of his thoughts. It appeared that life was not easy after the crimes he had committed. Even though five or six years had passed, fear had not abandoned him. His broad shoulders carried two public death sentences, the war court of Constantinople and that of the ARF. The first one probably had moral meaning to him, as instead of revealing his great ‘patriotic’ work, he was sentenced to death in his native country, just like an ordinary criminal. But time could clarify that ‘misunderstanding’. Future generations would understand the value of the work carried out, if the verdict of the ARF did not exist. I looked at the clock: it was 10 o’clock, his usual hour to go to Uhland. I took my weapon, ready to go out. Suddenly he appeared near the door and started moving downwards as heavy as an elephant. My head told me that this time he would not be able to escape me, but my emotions were raging inside me in a tumultuousuproar.”
The Young Turk criminals, or a majority of them, would have avoided punishment for organising and implementing the annihilation of the Armenian nation, if the young Armenian avengers and the Nemesis operations of the ARF had not existed. Nemesis is the Goddess of Divine Retribution in Greek mythology. In the autumn of 1919, the Ninth ARF General Congress decided to punish the leaders of the Young Turks and the other executors of the Armenian Genocide. Six hundred and fifty names were selected, 41 of which were the chief criminals. A responsible body was created to carry out Nemesis. Armenia’s Ambassador to the United States Armen Garo was elected as the head, alongside a special fund headed by Shahan Marchaklyan. Shahan Natalie was appointed as the immediate leader of the operation, with Grigor Merjanov as his assistant. Hratch Papazyan, who was fluent in Turkish and, as Mahmed Ali, had become Cemal Azmi’s son’s “friend”, had infiltrated the Turkish ranks and was gathering information.
The decision to punish the executioners of the Armenian people was handed down by the ARF’s Ninth General Congress. According to Hratch Dasnabedian, prominent ARF member and historian, for understandable reasons, the brochure containing the resolutions of the Ninth General Congress makes no mention of this decision, but the memoirs of Sogomon Tehliryan, Misak Torlakyan, and Arshavir Shirakyan clearly lay out and confirm the nature of this series of political executions as an organised initiative.
Tehliryan writes in his memoirs, “I was level with Talât, on the opposite pavement. With brisk steps I went well ahead and crossed to the same pavement he was on. I turned around. We were approaching one another. He was walking as if strolling, carelessly swinging his cane. A short distance remained. A surprising calm took over my spirit. When we met, Talât looked straight at me.The shudder of death flashed in his eyes. His last step changed. He tilted a bit to avoid me, but I immediately removed my gun and shot him in the head. It seemed as if Talât shuddered from the blow and for one second his strong body stiffened, but unsteadily then, like the trunk of a sawed oak tree, he fell on his face with a thud.”
Tehliryan was born in the village of Bagarij, in Kamakh, Erznka. After the genocide, during which his mother and other family members were killed, Tehliryan enlisted in the Nemesis operation. After killing Talât67 he was arrested, but on June 3, 1921, he was freed from the court room, where Johannes Lepsius testified in his defence.
Presiding Justice – Why don’t you consider yourself guilty?
Defendant – I do not consider myself guilty because my conscience is clear.
Presiding Justice – Why is your conscience clear?
Defendant – I have killed a man. But I am not a murderer.
Presiding Justice – Did you want to kill Talât Pasha?
Defendant – I do not understand this question. I have already killed him.
Presiding Justice – What I want to say is, did you have a plan to kill him?
Defendant – I did not have any plan.
Presiding Justice – When did the idea first occur to you to kill Talât?
Defendant – Approximately two weeks before the incident. I was feeling very bad. I kept seeing the scenes of the massacres over and over again. I saw my mother’s corpse. The corpse stood up before me and told me, “You know Talât is here, and yet you do not seem to be concerned? You are no longer my son”.
Presiding Justice – So what did you do?
Defendant – I woke up all of a sudden and decided to kill that man.
The Verdict
After an hour’s deliberation, the members of the jury returned and the foreman of the jury declared:
“I avow with honour and clear conscience to the verdict of the jury.”
“Is the defendant, Soghomon Tehliryan, guilty of having intentionally killed a man, Talât Pasha, on March 15, 1921, in Charlottenburg?”
“NO.”
Presiding Justice – I now sign the verdict and I ask the clerk to do the same and read the verdict out loud. The following sentence is issued. ‘The defendant is acquitted at the expense of the state treasury. In accordance with the decision of the jury, the defendant is not guilty of the punishable act with which he has been charged.’
Then the following decision was announced.
“The order of imprisonment as regards the defendant is hereby annulled.”
Note- This chapter is from Tatul Hakobyan’s book– ARMENIANS and TURKS
