Malta Tribunals (International Tribunals^[1])of the WWI was defined as "retributive justice [that] gave way to expedience of political accommodation" by Vahakn N. Dadrian^[2]. This article covers the process regarding the Malta exiles, bring them to persecution, demanded in the Treaty of Sèvres with the Article 230 ^[3] However, the so-called Malta Tribunals ordered by the treaty refer to a judicial process that no defendants were ever brought to Persecution. Even though the detention and collection of evidence was performed by the Allied powers. After the Armistice of Mudros Malta become the location for a British prison where various CUP officials were held in the hopes that they wouldn't be able to easily escape. Among the 141 men only 17 were held for crimes against Armenians. ^[4] and eventually all but 20 were exchanged for British prisoners of war. ^[5] WWI may be an acronym for: World War I World Wrestling Industry This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Professor Vahakn N. Dadrian, currently the director of the Genocide Research, at Zoryan Institute, is an authority in the history of the Armenian genocide and probably the most prolific researcher in his field. ... A graphical timeline is available here: Turkish War of Independence Malta exiles (Turkish: Malta sürgünleri) (between March 1919 – October 1920) is the term for men of politics, high ranking soldiers (mainly), administrators and intellectuals of the Ottoman Empire who were sent to exile in Malta after the armistice... The Armistice of Mudros was signed between the Ottoman Empire (represented by the Ottoman Minister of Marine Affairs Rauf Beg) and the Allies (represented by the British Admiral Arthur Calthorpe), in the Mudros port in the island of Lemnos on 30 October 1918. ... ...

Peter Balakian - refering to the Post War Ottoman Military Tribunals - none of which were held in Malta by the way - commented that "The trials represent a milestone in the history of war-crimes tribunals." Although they were truncated in the end by political pressures, and directed by Turkey's domestic laws rather than an international tribunal, the Constantinople trials (Turkish Courts-Martial of 1919-20) were an antecedent to the Nuremberg Trials following World War II.^[6] Turkish Courts-Martial of 1919-1920 were court martials of the Ottoman Empire after the armistice of Mudros during the aftermath the World War One, which the leadership of the Committee of Union and Progress and selected former officials had court-martial with/including the charges of subversion of the... Turkish Courts-Martial of 1919-1920 were court martials of the Ottoman Empire after the armistice of Mudros during the aftermath the World War One, which the leadership of the Committee of Union and Progress and selected former officials had court-martial with/including the charges of subversion of the...

Turkish Courts-Martial of 1919-1920 were court martials of the Ottoman Empire after the armistice of Mudros during the aftermath the World War One, which the leadership of the Committee of Union and Progress and selected former officials had court-martial with/including the charges of subversion of the... Operation Nemesis is the Armenian Revolutionary Federation code-name for the covert operation in the 1920s to assassinate the Turkish masterminds of the Armenian Genocide. ... Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire is direct consequence of the World War I with the Ottomans involvement in the Middle Eastern theatre. ... Turkish Denial: To have genocide denied is to die twice — An advertisement for the Armenian Genocide Commemoration Holiday on 24th April, 2006 posted in The Times newspaper. ...

Name

There was no unique name pinpointed as the process was suspended at the persecution level. However depending on the source the "tribunals", "international trials", the International Tribunals of the Ottoman Empire or "tribunals of Malta Exiles" has been used. However, beyond the name used the process of preparation for the Allied trials is summarized by Vahakn N. Dadrian using the British document FO 371/4173/53351 (folios 192-93), which the summary is presented in the Preparation_of_Charges ^[7]. Also given the fact the British detained around 141 Malta exiles based on charges.^[8], and later for the detainees "British high commission" gathered through its Greek-Armenian sections a large mass of information ^[9] is a substantial events that support the reality of the process. Professor Vahakn N. Dadrian, currently the director of the Genocide Research, at Zoryan Institute, is an authority in the history of the Armenian genocide and probably the most prolific researcher in his field. ... A graphical timeline is available here: Turkish War of Independence Malta exiles (Turkish: Malta sürgünleri) (between March 1919 – October 1920) is the term for men of politics, high ranking soldiers (mainly), administrators and intellectuals of the Ottoman Empire who were sent to exile in Malta after the armistice...

Controversial issues

Turks who deny the Armenain genocide like to publicized this fiction and claim that trials did occur and that as no one was conviceted in these non-trials this exonerates the purpetrators of the Armenian Genocide. However, as documented by Vahakn Dadrian, no such trials were ever planned or executed - there were no "international" trials of the Malta exiles^[10] - the British were only detaining suspected Turkish war criminals as they were escaping from Ottoman confinement at an alarming rate. Few if any would characterize any of the detainiies as intellectuals and not even Turkish Genocide apologists can really do such with a straight face. A graphical timeline is available here: Turkish War of Independence Malta exiles (Turkish: Malta sürgünleri) (between March 1919 – October 1920) is the term for men of politics, high ranking soldiers (mainly), administrators and intellectuals of the Ottoman Empire who were sent to exile in Malta after the armistice...

While there was some discussion of the desire for "international" trials of these criminals at a future date there was no precedent for such nor was there ever any mechanism in place to do such a thing - no judges, no prosecutors, no balifs or what not - didn't exist. No charges were ever filed.

Background

Allied Reactions, 1915-17

On 24 May 1915, regarding to the Van Resistance, reported by Henry Morgenthau, Sr. the Triple Entente warned the Ottoman Empire that "In the view of these...crimes of Turkey against humanity and civilization ... the Allied governments announce publicly.. that they will hold personally responsible... all members of the Ottoman government and those of their agents who are implicated in such massacres.^[11]" May 24 is the 144th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (145th in leap years). ... 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar). ... Combatants Ottoman Empire Armenian residents of Van Commanders Jevdet Bey Armenak Yekaryan Strength 12,000 1,500 Casualties  ? 12,000 ? (mass civilian casualties) For the conflict of 1896 see Defense of Van. ... Henry Morgenthau Henry Morgenthau (April 26, 1856 - November 25, 1946), was a U.S. diplomat and businessman, most famous as the American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Motto دولت ابد مدت Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (The Eternal State) Anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Borders in 1680, see: list of territories Capital Söğüt (1299–1326) Bursa (1326–65) Edirne (1365–1453) Constantinople (Ä°stanbul, 1453–1922) Language(s) Ottoman Turkish Government Monarchy Sultans  - 1281–1326 Osman I  - 1918–22 Mehmed VI...

Legality of Tribunal

The legal position is formed with the following the Armistice of Mudros in January 1919, the preliminary Paris Peace Conference, 1919 established "The Commission on Responsibilities and Sanctions" which was chaired by U.S. Secretary of State Lansing. Following the commission's work, several articles were added to the Treaty of Sèvres, and the acting government of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Mehmed VI and Damat Adil Ferit Pasha, were summoned to trial. The Treaty of Sèvres gave recognition of the Democratic Republic of Armenia and developed a mechanism to bring to trial the criminals of "barbarous and illegitimate methods of warfare... [including] offenses against the laws and customs of war and the principles of humanity"^[11]. The Armistice of Mudros was signed between the Ottoman Empire (represented by the Ottoman Minister of Marine Affairs Rauf Beg) and the Allies (represented by the British Admiral Arthur Calthorpe), in the Mudros port in the island of Lemnos on 30 October 1918. ... The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 was a conference organized by the victors of World War I to negotiate the peace treaties between the Allied and Associated Powers and the defeated Central Powers. ... The Treaty of Sèvres is a peace treaty that the Allies of World War I and the Ottoman Empire signed on 10 August 1920 after World War I. Representatives from the governments of the parties involved signed the treaty in Sèvres, France. ... Motto دولت ابد مدت Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (The Eternal State) Anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Borders in 1680, see: list of territories Capital Söğüt (1299–1326) Bursa (1326–65) Edirne (1365–1453) Constantinople (Ä°stanbul, 1453–1922) Language(s) Ottoman Turkish Government Monarchy Sultans  - 1281–1326 Osman I  - 1918–22 Mehmed VI... Mehmed VI (Arabic: محمد السادس), original name Mehmed Vahdettin or Mehmed Vahideddin, (January 14, 1861 – May 16, 1926) was the 36th and last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, reigning from 1918–1922. ... The Treaty of Sèvres is a peace treaty that the Allies of World War I and the Ottoman Empire signed on 10 August 1920 after World War I. Representatives from the governments of the parties involved signed the treaty in Sèvres, France. ... National motto: n/a Language Armenian (official) Capital Yerevan Independence From Imperial Russia, 1918 Currency Armenian dram National anthem Mer Hayrenik The Democratic Republic of Armenia (DRA; Armenian: Ô´Õ¥Õ´Õ¸Õ¯Ö€Õ¡Õ¿Õ¡Õ¯Õ¡Õ¶ Õ€Õ¡ÕµÕ¡Õ½Õ¿Õ¡Õ¶Õ« Õ€Õ¡Õ¶Ö€Õ¡ÕºÕ¥Õ¿Õ¸Ö‚Õ©ÕµÕ¸Ö‚Õ¶, Demokratakan Hayastani Hanrapetutyun; also known as the First Republic of Armenia), 1918–1922, was the first modern establishment of a Republic of...

Article 230 of the Treaty of Sèvres required the Ottoman Empire: The Treaty of Sèvres is a peace treaty that the Allies of World War I and the Ottoman Empire signed on 10 August 1920 after World War I. Representatives from the governments of the parties involved signed the treaty in Sèvres, France. ...

"to hand over to the Allied Powers the persons whose surrender may be required by the latter as being responsible for the massacres committed during the continuance of the state of war on territory which formed part of the Ottoman Empire on August 1, 1914." Motto دولت ابد مدت Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (The Eternal State) Anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Borders in 1680, see: list of territories Capital Söğüt (1299–1326) Bursa (1326–65) Edirne (1365–1453) Constantinople (Ä°stanbul, 1453–1922) Language(s) Ottoman Turkish Government Monarchy Sultans  - 1281–1326 Osman I  - 1918–22 Mehmed VI...

—Treaty of Sèvres The Treaty of Sèvres is a peace treaty that the Allies of World War I and the Ottoman Empire signed on 10 August 1920 after World War I. Representatives from the governments of the parties involved signed the treaty in Sèvres, France. ...

The will of Allies to go to International Trials is also forced on Ottoman Empire, as a signature of the Treaty Ottoman Government "Recognize the Allied Powers' right to try and punish the perpetrators with^[12]:

The allied powers reserve to themselves the right to designate the tribunal which shall try the persons so accused, and The Turkish Government undertakes to recognize such "Tribunal". The provisions of the Article 288 apply to the cases dealt with in this Article.

—Treaty of Sèvres The Treaty of Sèvres is a peace treaty that the Allies of World War I and the Ottoman Empire signed on 10 August 1920 after World War I. Representatives from the governments of the parties involved signed the treaty in Sèvres, France. ...

Prosecution

Vahakn N. Dadrian by using Yalman's first 2 volumes of this memoir informs that a welt of information on the Ittihadist chief's who, along with the autor, were interned in Malta for Later trials before an international court on charges of war crimes, including Armenian Massaceres^[13].

Preparation of Charges

Vahakn N. Dadrian using the British document FO 371/4173/53351 (folios 192-93) gave the dip note:

There was similar agitation in the Unitates States where in the fall of 1918 Charles H. Livermore of the World Peace Foundation drew up a list of eleven "outlaws of civilization" meriting "condign punishment." The list included the three leading Young Turk leaders, comprimising the Ittihad triumvirate. A similar, but larger list, was prepared in 1917 in France by Tancrede Martel, an international law expert, who argued that the men he indicated deserved to be tried as common criminals by ordinary civil and criminal courts of the Allied countries because of the type and scope of the atrocities they were accused of having perpetrated. In its final report, completed on March 29,1919, the commission on Responsibilities through Annex 1, table 2, identified thirteen Turkish categories of outrages liable to criminal prosecution"^[14]. The Three Pashas are the famous Pashas who enabled the Ottoman Empire to enter the WWI. Talat, along with Enver Pasha and Djemal Pasha formed a group called the three pashas. ...

The British foreign office estimated it had demanded 141 men for crimes against the British soldiers, and only seventeen for the crimes against Armenians during the WWI. ^[15]

Collection of Evidence

According to Armenian Historian Vahakn N. Dadrian the British high commission had gathered through its Greek-Armenian sections a large mass of information concerning the prisoners and some 1,000 others, all alleged to have been directly or indirectly guilty of participation in massacres. ^[16] Professor Vahakn N. Dadrian, currently the director of the Genocide Research, at Zoryan Institute, is an authority in the history of the Armenian genocide and probably the most prolific researcher in his field. ...

The Allies had mountains of documents related to the Armenian Genocide, but these were mostly general and did not clearly implicate specific individuals^{[citation needed]}.

Suspension of Persecution

Why the allies did not go with the Tribunals even though it was specifically decided at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919? Some sources claim that it is a brutum fulmen (A noisy but harmless threatening; an innocuous thunderbolt) of the entire process (collection of people and evidence)^[17]. British ultimately gave up on the idea of prosecution. The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 was a conference organized by the victors of World War I to negotiate the peace treaties between the Allied and Associated Powers and the defeated Central Powers. ...

Admiral de Robeack was similarly concerned. 'It would be hard under these conditions to convict most of the exiles before an Allied court^{[citation needed]}.

Foreign Affairs Minister Lord Curzon, who felt the release of many of the prisoners was "a great mistake" wrote the following:

Aftermath

Further information: Operation Nemesis

The Ottoman military tribunal resulted in the convictions and death sentances of many of the masterminds behind the Great Calamity commonly and officially known as the Armenian Genocide. These trials are appropriatly discussed in the Armenian Genocide article. As many of the principle architects and convicted Turkish criminals had already managed to escape prior to sentencing the Armenian Revolutionary Federation took up the issue of justice at their 9th General Congress, which convened in Yerevan from September 27 to the end of October 1919, with the issue of retribution against those responsible on the agenda. A task force, led by Shahan Natalie, working with Grigor Merjanov, was established to assassinate Talaat Pasha, Pipit Jivanshir Khan, Said Halim Pasha, Behaeddin Shakir Bey, Jemal Azmi, Cemal Pasha, Enver Pasha, as well as several Armenian traitors. Operation Nemesis is the Armenian Revolutionary Federation code-name for the covert operation in the 1920s to assassinate the Turkish masterminds of the Armenian Genocide. ... Foundation: 1890 Founders: Christapor Mikaelian, Stepan Zorian, Simon Zavarian Head: Hrant Markarian Ideology: Socialism,[1] Nationalism[2] International alignment: Socialist International[1] Colours: Red Seats: Armenia – 11 seats out of 131 Nagorno-Karabakh – 3 seats out of 33 Lebanon – 2 seats out of 128 Website: Partys Official Web Site... Location Location of Yerevan in Armenia Government Country Armenia Established 782 BC Mayor Yervand Zakharyan Geographical characteristics Area  - City 227 km² Population  - City (2004)    - Density 1,088,000   5196. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Mehmed Talat Pasha. ... Said Halim Pasha (1863-1921), Ottoman Empire Grand Vizier from 1913-16. ... Behaeddin Shakir (d. ... Ahmed Djemal Pasha (Turkish: Ahmet Cemal Paşa) was born on May 6, 1872, in Midilli. ... Ismail Enver Ismail Enver, known to Europeans during his political career as Enver Pasha ( Istanbul, November 22, 1881 - August 4, 1922) was a military officer and a leader of the Young Turk revolution in the closing days of the Ottoman Empire. ...

See Also

• Malta exiles
• Young Turks
• Committee of Union and Progress
• Armenian Genocide

A graphical timeline is available here: Turkish War of Independence Malta exiles (Turkish: Malta sürgünleri) (between March 1919 – October 1920) is the term for men of politics, high ranking soldiers (mainly), administrators and intellectuals of the Ottoman Empire who were sent to exile in Malta after the armistice... The Young Turks (Turkish Jön Türkler (plural), from French Jeunes Turcs, Turkish: Genç Türkler) was a coalition of various reform groups in favor of reforming the administration of Ottoman Empire. ... Foundation: 1890 Dissolved: 1918, Court Martialed Head: Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) (Turkish: İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti) was a political organization during the dissolution period of the Ottoman Empire which came to power between 1908 and 1918. ... Armenian Genocide photo. ...

References