Akçam Confirms Authenticity of Andonian Papers in Explosive Talk about New Book

Another major help to Akçam was the collection compiled by the Very Rev. Krikor Guerguerian, a Catholic priest and survivor of the Armenian Genocide, who had one of the largest collection of materials on the Armenian Genocide. As Akçam noted, Guerguerian was the pioneer in the field of studying the Armenian Genocide. In 1965, the self-trained researcher published a detailed analysis of the Andonian text in Beirut, verifying it.
The denialist argument was based on three points: there was no such person as Naim Bey; there is no actual memoir, since a non-existing person cannot write a memoir; and the so-called Talat Pasha telegrams, like the alleged memoir, were invented by Andonian.
Although noted researcher Guerguerian (who use the penname Kriger) in 1965 published a detailed examination of Andonian’s materials and Vahakn N. Dadrian in 1986 published a lengthy response to Orel and Yuca, in general the scholarly world ceased using the memoir and telegrams as trustworthy sources. Until now, the claims against Andonian have remained unanswered and have become the cornerstone of denialism.

Naim Effendi Offers Help
Naim Effendi had secretly copied many Ottoman documents by hand (perhaps to deflect blame should there have been repercussions for the mass extermination). Naim sold his collection to Andonian, who proceeded to publish them in Armenian. An English and French translation followed. Akçam cautioned, however, that the only serious edition is the Armenian one, with the French translation decent, but the English one full of errors.
There are 52 handwritten copies of Ottoman records and 21 original documents in the book. The documents were ciphered (in a numerical code) and Andonian also published the key for the documents.

Most incriminating were the telegrams from Talat Pasha, who specifically orders the extermination of Armenians. One order that Akçam showed, verified in his book, dated from September 22, 1915. The order was for the elimination of all rights for Armenians on Turkish soil, such as the right to live and work, which “have been eliminated. Not one is to be left, not even the infant in the cradle; the government accepts all responsibility for this.”
One by one, Akçam took on the three main arguments of Orel and Yuca.
The central point of the deniers is that a person called Naim effendi does not exist. Akçam said that his research showed that Naim was a real officer and there are various documents in the Ottoman archives to prove it.

In fact, he said, he first found a document on Naim Bey in the Turkish Military Archives in Ankara, ironically in as part of an eight-volume collection published in 2007 to refute Armenian claims. It was in the seventh volume, on the investigation of army officers. The text related that in the spring and summer of 1916, the Meskene concentration camp experienced a larger-than-usual number of escapees, all of whom headed to Aleppo. The minister of interior, Talat Pasha, had initiated the inquiry to understand how the prisoners escaped. In that investigation was the account of one “Naim Effendi, age 26, from Silifke,” a former dispatch officer at Meskene and later the store house officer in Aleppo.

Another telegram, the order by Talat to kill Krikor Zohrab, the writer and parliamentarian, bears the same signature. The telegram is now in the Boghos Nubar Library in Paris.
At the bottom of the document are the signatures of Mustafa Abdulhalik, the governor of Aleppo, and Abdulahad Nuri, the director of the Deportation Office. Naim Effendi’s name appears twice. In the first note is written “Ask with an official communiqué Naim Effendi,” while the second states “preserve this Naim Effendi.”

Akçam went on to list more and more documents in the Andonian book, including telegrams from Talat complaining that American consulates were obtaining secret information regarding the goings-on in the Ottoman lands.
Some of the incriminating documents listed by Andonian were photographed and saved for posterity by Guerguerian. “Now they are gone,” Akçam said.
The Turkish “debunkers” used the discrepancies between the Andonian text and the Guerguerian material as proof that the documents are forged. One major reason for the discrepancies, Akçam said, is that Andonian did not use all the material at his disposal, deeming some less important.