Shared Intent in a Collapsing Empire: Pan-Turkism as Mens Rea Evidence of Genocide against Distinct Populations in the Late Ottoman Period

• Published in: Transnational law & contemporary problems Vol. 30; no. 1; pp. 29 - 62
• Main Author: Kelly, Michael J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Iowa, Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems 22-09-2020
• Subjects: Criminal intent; Evidence; Evidence (Law); Genocide; History; Laws, regulations and rules; Political aspects; Remedies
• ISSN: 1058-1006

Several mass atrocities were perpetrated by the government against distinct non-Muslim populations during the waning days of the Ottoman Empire. These occurred against the backdrop of Pan-Turkism--an aspect of the Young Turk Movement through the infamous Committee of Union and Progress, which began as a constitutional reform coalition seeking to curtail the absolute power of the sultan but progressively morphed into a replacement government stripped of its originally liberal democratic leanings. By promoting Turkishness over and above aities within the multi-ethnic empire, Pan-Turkism assumed many forms throughout this progression, including discrimination, persecution, exclusion, and ultimately, extermination. Which form it took depended on the context in which it was expressed (when, where, against whom, and by whom). This enquiry studies several instances of mass killings against non-Turks during the rise of the Young Turks and their consolidation of power within the collapsing Ottoman Empire to determine whether those atrocities qualify as genocide by in turn determining whether the associated expression of Pan-Turkism qualified as specific intent. In other words, can specific intent to commit genocide be inferred in the context of a movement that seeks to exclude rival populations? I. Introduction 30 II. Specific Intent in the Context of Pan-Movements 31 A. The Nature of Pan-Movements 35 B. Pan-Turkism 39 C. Comparative Ethnic Cleansing Pan-Movements 44 D. The Akayesu Case 45 III. Massacres of Christian Populations in the Late Ottoman Empire 47 A. Adana Massacre (1909) 47 B. Destruction of Thracian Bulgarians (1913) 50 C. Greek Genocide (1914-1922) 52 D. Assyrian Genocide (1914-1920) 55 E. Armenian Genocide (1915) 57 IV. Conclusion 61