The Link Between Ergenekon and the Armenian Genocide- 

Taner Akcam looks into the links between Ergenekon and the Armenian Genocide –

On August 14, 2013, Turkish historian Taner Akcam published an article in the Turkish newspaper “Taraf” entitled “Ergenekon and the Armenian Genocide” highlighting the direct connection between the  two.

On August 5, the Ergenekon trials ended after nearly five years. For many political analysts, the verdict marks the end of an era in Turkey during which the military essentially controlled the government. 254 people were sentenced, most of whom were connected to the “Deep State” which was planning yet another coup d’etat.  

Akcam boldly states that the Armenian Genocide is now talked about freely because of the arrest of prominent Turkish General Veli Kucuk and his gang in the Ergenekon case. He says that Ergenekon was not just a terrorist organization that prepared the grounds for a coup, it is also a political movement. Their political activities focuses primarily the “Unfounded Armenian Genocide Claims”, as Akcam puts it.

He says the Talat Pasha Committee (Movement) was established in order to direct  international hostility toward Armenians. The Committee staged protests and circulated anti-Armenian propaganda starting from 2005-07. According to Today.az, first president of Northern Cyprus, Rauf Denktas, said that “the Talat Pasha Movement is Turkey’s beating heart against the alleged Armenian ‘genocide’…”

Many members of the Talat Pasha Committee were arrested and the connection leads to prominent retired Turkish General, Veli Kucuk. Akcam compares the 1919 court martials against the C.U.P. for perpetrating the Genocide to the recent Ergenekon trials. Moreover, he sees parallels in Kucuk’s case and that of District Governor Kemal Bey, who was responsible for the mass deportations of Armenians in Yozgat and sentenced in 1919 to be hanged. Kucuk received two life sentences on August 5.

Akcam adds that Ergenekon was responsible for organizing commemorations for Kemal Bey, but now those responsible are in prison and the commemorations will no longer continue.

He stresses the important relationship between Ergenekon and the Armenian Genocide and pledges to continue investigating it.

CIVILNET.AM