Tehlirian Memoir, Translated Into English, Sheds Light on Historical Figure

The main portion of the talk featured Demirdjian. Describing himself as having been interested in Tehlirian’s story since his youth, he stated that the assassination of Talaat was a commonly discussed topic in the Armenian community of Beirut in the 1970s and ’80s, when he was growing up there.

Demirdjian presented the challenges associated with the translation, such as the fact that Tehlirian travelled to so many places and was associated with so many historical figures that the average reader would be confused by the plethora of references. To remedy this, Demirdjian began preparing footnotes explaining little known historical people and places in detail, but this would have proved to make the book too long. Therefore, Sarafian as editor helped him cut the annotations to only the most important. In addition, a preface written by someone else at the time was deemed obsolete and referenced the current political climate of 1953; Demirdjian felt its inclusion would take away from telling Tehlirian’s own story.

Demirdjian shared the general outline of how the book was created; Tehlirian, who was living in Belgrade, Serbia at the beginning of WWII, told his life story to Vahan Minakhorian, who wrote it down. Minakhorian was a Genocide survivor and political figure from the WWI era; having been a member of Parliament in the First Republic of Armenia, he was a political exile during the Soviet Regime and also living in Belgrade, although he did not belong to the ARF; interestingly enough, he had been a representative of the little known Social-Revolutionary Party. Minakhorian’s deep understanding of the people, places and events, and his skills as a writer made him an excellent arranger for the book, but the memories are mostly Tehlirian’s.

Demirdjian discussed the contents of the book: the story starts with Tehlirian in Serbia, where he had gone as a young man to help his father in business, leaving his mother and siblings behind in Yerzinga. When the war breaks out, Tehlirian goes to the Caucasus to join General Antranik’s battalion. Antranig and his men help occupy Western Armenia and reach as far as Yerzinga, Tehlirian’s hometown. There he finds his niece, who tells him that his mother, brothers, and sisters-in-law are all dead. The Armenians are forced to retreat and after the war Tehlirian goes to Europe, where he is enlisted by Shahan Natalie and the ARF to participate in Operation Nemesis, the plan to assassinate the former Ottoman leaders responsible for the Armenian Genocide.

Shahan Natalie, who was the mastermind of the operation, had been ousted from the ARF ranks some years before, and by the time the book was written, had become the head of the AGBU’s New England District Office. Since the original book’s publication was supervised and edited by the editorial staff of Housaper, which included former Armenian Prime Minister Simon Vratsian and other members of the ARF’s Central Bureau, they demanded that Natalie’s name be left out of the book. However, Tehlirian insisted that the true events be recognized, and therefore Shahan Natalie’s part in the events is mentioned, but referring to him only as “the comrade responsible” and other titles.

The book concludes with Tehlirian going to Berlin, the assassination, the trial and subsequent acquittal.

Importance of Truth in History

Demirdjian stressed that the importance of this publication is that it is the true version of the events of Operation Nemesis, or at least the closest testimony we have. When Tehlirian gave testimony at his trial in Berlin, he stated that he was in Yerzinga during the massacres and saw his family, including sisters, killed. Tehlirian was lying — the truth was, he was living in Serbia and he had no sisters. This raises some good philosophical questions about the nature of law and justice — as does the entire issue of the assassination and why it had to be done in the first place, which is what Lemkin had pointed out. Nevertheless, Tehlirian’s family was in fact killed and he did travel to Yerzinga and witness the aftermath of the decimation of its Armenian population.

However, since Tehlirian’s memoirs have never been translated into English, few people are aware of the true facts of his life and a popularized account of his story has circulated ever since the court transcripts from his trial were published by the Mekhitarists in the 1920s. Previous historians and scholars outside the Armenian-speaking world have relied on the court testimony to tell Tehlirian’s story; Demirdjian stated that Tehlirian himself came clean about what really happened, and we too should be careful to tell the truth, because Tehlirian’s story can be incorrectly used by Armenians who don’t know any better, as well as abused by our adversaries who can twist the story in order to condemn us. Demirdjian would like to see Remembrances serve as the foundation for future academic study of the Genocide and of the Armenian revolutionary movement and Operation Nemesis.

In addition, Demirdjian stated, the book would be an excellent tool for educators to teach about the Genocide and modern Armenian history, considering that it contains a sort of “micro-history” of the Genocide. There are numerous incidents in the book that tell the story of the Armenians in that time, as Tehlirian traveled throughout Western Armenia, the Ottoman Empire, Europe, the Caucasus, and so on. His experiences included working with Sepastatsi Mourad’s administration over Yerzinga as a “collector of orphans,” rescuing Armenian orphans who had been taken by Kurdish families in the region, among other moving episodes and historical testimonies. In other words, the book is a historical primary source and should be treated and used as such. Demirdjian and Garapedian are both optimistic about the value of an English translation of this historic memoir, not only for the Armenian community and not only for justice for the Armenian Genocide, but for the world and for the understanding of genocide, law, and human rights in general.