Abstract
The historiography on Armenian political activism has paid remarkably scant attention to the failed attempt on Sultan Abdülhamid II. This chapter, which provides a detailed account of the attack from the perspective of the plotters, aims to fill this hiatus. Specialists of terrorism agree that Armenian revolutionary committees were pivotal in the history of political violence, and the Yıldız plot was ‘innovative’ as it was the first to make use of a ‘car bomb’. Using sources from the Archives of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), this contribution delves into the secret world of Armenian terrorism during the early twentieth century, analyzing some of the political, organizational and logistical complexities that involved this high-profile assassination attempt. It also tries to evaluate the important role played by the Belgian anarchist Edward Joris. How to characterize his relations with key members of the commando, including the pyro technician Vramshabouh Kendirian and the ARF’s founding father, Christapor Mikaelian? And how did the ARF respond to Joris’s subsequent imprisonment in Istanbul? Finally, the chapter shows that the ARF was more ‘multi-national’, socially diverse, and less monolithically male than usually assumed.
Translated by Cécile Nelson.
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- 1.
After World War One, the ARF was involved in the creation and governance of the first Republic of Armenia in 1918. Since 1919, it has been calling for the creation of a free, independent, reunified, democratic and socialist Armenia. In 1920, it yielded power to Armenian Bolsheviks and started to organize Armenian communities in exile. The ARF returned to Armenia after participating in the Nagorno-Karabakh war in 1990. The party participated in several governments from 1998 to 2009. Today, it is part of the opposition and is represented in at least thirty countries. See L. Nalbandian (1963) The Armenian Revolutionary Movement: The Development of Armenian Political Parties Through the Nineteenth Century (Berkeley: University of California Press) and B. Der Matossian (2014) Shattered Dreams of Revolution: From Liberty to Violence in the Late Ottoman Empire (Stanford: Stanford University Press).
- 2.
V. Dadrian (1996) Histoire du génocide arménien. Conflits nationaux des Balkans au Caucase, (Paris: Stock).
- 3.
Relations with the Macedonians had become ‘official’ in 1898 after the Second World Congress of the ARF (in Tbilissi). Many similarities exist between the revolutionary parties of Macedonia and Armenia. They had a common enemy (the Hamidian state), and actively pursued (albeit in different forms) national liberation. Both were also made up from different rival organizations: Dashnak and Hnchak on one side, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) and the Supreme Macedonian Committee (SMC) on the other. These organizations used the same strategies: interpellation of the European powers, terrorism and insurgency. See G. Minassian (2015) Le Rêve brisé des Arméniens (Paris: Flammarion).
- 4.
In a letter written by Tavtian, initially a member of the Execution Cell. See H. Dasnabedian (ed.) (1934) Nyuter Ho. Hi. Ta. Badmutyan Hamar [Materials for the History of the ARF] (Boston), vol. 1, pp. 388–389.
- 5.
See A. Garo (1986) Jours vécus (Beirut: Voskepar); R. Kevorkian (2006) Le génocide des Arméniens (Paris: Odile Jacob).
- 6.
About the Plodviv meeting, see the minutes in Dasnabedian, Nyuter Ho. Hi. Ta. Badmutyan Hamar (Beirut: Editions Hamaskaïne), 2nd ed., Suppl., pp. 361–336.
- 7.
H. Dasnabedian (1988) Histoire de la Fédération Révolutionnaire Arménienne ‘Dachnaktsoutiouné’, 1890/1924 (Milan: Oemme Edizionne), p. 63.
- 8.
The secret operations in Smyrna were uncovered, however. Dasnabedian, Histoire de la FRA.
- 9.
Under the alias ‘Samuel Fay’, Mikaelian pretended to be a Jew from Russia.
- 10.
Several ARF leaders were opposed to the assassination project as well as to Mikaelian’s involvement in it. According to his biographer, Avedis Aharonian, Mikaelian was obsessed with the idea. See (1926) Christapor Mikaelian, (Boston), p. 162.
- 11.
Dadrian, Histoire du génocide arménien.
- 12.
Minassian, Le Rêve brisé.
- 13.
The precise date of his enrolment is unclear. Kendirian presented key members of the commando to Joris in November 1904. Joris himself claimed that it was only after March 1905 that the commando informed him about the assassination attempt. See the verbatim accounts of Joris’s testimonies to the Ottoman police, by one of the Belgian dragomans, Archief van de Federale Overheidsdienst Buitenlandse Zaken, Brussels, [hereafter ABZ], Political files [hereafter PF], nr. 4417/12, vol. 1.
- 14.
Dasnabedian (ed.) (1982) Nyuter Ho. Hi. Ta. Badmutyan Hamar, vol. 4 (Beirut: Editions Hamaskaïne), p. 195.
- 15.
Dasnabedian, Nyuter Ho. Hi. Ta. Badmutyan Hamar, vol. 4.
- 16.
In the report of the Ottoman investigative commission we find the following description of Rubina: “Armenian, originally from the Caucasus, 32 years old, hysterical, not tall, skinny, brown, large dark eyes, vague look [regard vague], pronounced and hooked nose, thin bloodless lips, oval chin, speaks Russian, Armenian and very little German”. (1905) Enquête sur l’attentat commis dans la journée du 21 juillet à l’issue de la cérémonie du Sélamlik: Travaux de la Commission Spéciale (Istanbul: F. Loeffler), p. 75.
- 17.
S. Zétlian (1992) Haygnotch dère hay hérapokhagan charjman meth [The Role of Armenian Women during the War of Liberation] (Los Angeles).
- 18.
W. and B. Suykerbuyk (1997) Dynamiet voor de Sultan. Carolus Edward Joris in Konstantinopel (Antwerp: B + B), p. 16.
- 19.
They married in Istanbul in the summer of 1902.
- 20.
On extraterritorial privileges for European émigré(e)s, see Chaps. 5 and 6.
- 21.
Y. Pamboukian (ed.) (2007) Nyuter Ho. Hi. Ta. Badmutyan Hamar, vol. 5 (Beirut), pp. 397–516.
- 22.
Joris provided his Ottoman interrogators with the following description of Sophie Rips: “Of small stature, she is skinny, blond, with sky blue eyes, blond eyebrows, a small nose, un peu relevé, a normal mouth, thin lips, a round chin, normal teeth”. Verbatim account of Joris’s interrogation on 14 August 1905, by the Belgian dragoman, ABZ, PF 4417/12, vol. 1.
- 23.
Dasnabedian (ed.), Nyuter Ho. Hi. Ta. Badmutyan Hamar, vol. 4, pp. 194–223. Other commando members, all volunteers, were: Carlo Ivanovich (a.k.a Garabed Hovannessian ‘Achod’—no links with Achod, former member of the commando); Terasso Ivanovich (alias Ardash Khatshig Kapoudanian); Yeghia Kahvedjian; Arakel Nahabedian; Hadji Nishan Minassian (see Fig. 1.4 (a) in Chap. 1); Yervant Frangulian; ‘Manol’; ‘Milto’; Manoug Youmoudian; Bro Baghdoyan; George Garaban; Meguerditch Gharibian; Hovsep Topalian (see Fig. 1.4 (b)); Yervant Aladjadjian; Nishan Hovannessian (see Fig. 1.4 (c)); Takvor Hagopian; Mrs Ashkowa. They were porters, shoemakers, and concierges, mainly involved in logistical operations. See (1985) Gaïdzer, heradaragoutioun Ho. Hi. Tachnagtsoutian Yerdassartagan Barperatert [Review of the ARF Youth Movement], 2nd year, (2–3) [April–September], pp. 190–193.
- 24.
Professor Rouher personally prepared the bomb used by Igor Sazonov to kill Russian Interior Minister Plehve on 15 July 1904. The Russian Revolutionary Socialists, an armed group close to ARF, claimed responsibility for the attack.
- 25.
Dasnabedian, Histoire de la Fédération révolutionnaire arménienne; Minassian, Le Rêve brisé.
- 26.
(1985) Gaïdzer, (2–3), pp. 188–189.
- 27.
Resseler and Suykerbuyk, Dynamiet voor de Sultan, p. 17.
- 28.
Dasnabedian (ed.), Nyuter Ho. Hi. Ta. Badmutyan Hamar, vol. 4, p. 201.
- 29.
The Narodnaïa Volia (Will of the People) is a 19th-century Russian terrorist organization responsible for several bomb attacks, including the assassination of the Russian Emperor Alexander II in 1881. It defended a form of neo-socialist populism, sacralizing the earth. Mikaelian left it in the early 1880s.
- 30.
See the verbatim accounts of Joris’s testimonies to the Ottoman police, by the Belgian second dragoman, ABZ, PF 4417/12, vol. 1.
- 31.
Resseler and Suykerbuyk, Dynamiet voor de Sultan, p. 17.
- 32.
Dasnabedian (ed.), Nyuter Ho. Hi. Ta. Badmutyan Hamar, vol. 4, p. 205.
- 33.
Report by the Belgian consul-general to de Favereau, 22 March 1905, Sofia, ABZ, PF 4417/12, vol. 1.
- 34.
Report by the Belgian consul-general to de Favereau, 22 March 1905, Sofia, ABZ, 4417/12, vol.1.
- 35.
(1985) Gaïdzer, (2–3), p. 27.
- 36.
Dasnabedian (ed.), Nyuter Ho. Hi. Ta. Badmutyan Hamar, vol. 4, p. 214.
- 37.
Dasnabedian (ed.), Nyuter Ho. Hi. Ta. Badmutyan Hamar,, p. 264.
- 38.
According to Joris’s testimony to the Ottoman police his wife had left at least a week earlier.
- 39.
Pamboukian (ed.), Nyuter Ho. Hi. Ta. Badmutyan Hamar, vol. 5, p. 436.
- 40.
Resseler and Suykerbuyk, Dynamiet voor de Sultan. See also the verbatim accounts of Joris’s testimonies to the Ottoman police, by the Belgian second dragoman, ABZ, PF 4417/12, vol. 1.
- 41.
According to a later account by Joris this celebration took place on the 22nd. Joris claimed he had gone for a long walk to Yıldız on the 21st. Joris to his wife, 20 March 1907, in Resseler and Suykerbuyk, Dynamiet voor de Sultan, pp. 128–129.
- 42.
Dasnabedian (ed.), Nyuter Ho. Hi. Ta. Badmutyan Hamar, vol. 4, p. 198.
- 43.
On this issue, see Chap. 7.
- 44.
Resseler and Suykerbuyk, Dynamiet voor de Sultan, p. 72.
- 45.
Over the next 10 days 1432 people were arrested. See C. Siljianov. (1943) Les luttes de libération de la Macédoine, vol. 2, pp. 343–358. (Reissued in Bulgarian in 1983 as Makedonskite Osvoboditelni Borbi.)
- 46.
See the verbatim accounts of Joris’s testimonies to the Ottoman police, by the Belgian second dragoman, ABZ, PF 4417/12, vol. 1; and Siljianov, Les luttes de libération. The police forces of Semlin and Belgrade also received the order to arrest any person carrying a passport in the name of Rips, but it arrived too late.
- 47.
(1985) Gaïdzer, (2–3), p. 189.
- 48.
M. Varandian (1992 [1932]) Tachnagtsoutian badmoutioun [History of the ARF] (Yerevan: University of Erevan Publishing), p. 376; see also the verbatim accounts of Joris’s testimonies to the Ottoman police, by the Belgian second dragoman, ABZ, PF 4417/12, vol. 1.
- 49.
Resseler and Suykerbuyk, Dynamiet voor de Sultan, pp. 117–119.
- 50.
Resseler and Suykerbuyk, Dynamiet voor de Sultan, p. 120.
- 51.
Resseler and Suykerbuyk, Dynamiet voor de Sultan, p. 37.
- 52.
ABZ,PF 4417/12, vol. 1, Farde F ‘Joris devant la justice turque’.
- 53.
Resseler and Suykerbuyk, Dynamiet voor de Sultan, p. 116.
- 54.
The person in contact with Victor Resseler was Droshak journalist Vahram Kalfayan. See Resseler and Suykerbuyk, Dynamiet voor de Sultan, pp. 88, 112 and 116.
- 55.
These were: Manoug Humadian, Nishan Hovanesian, and Arakel Nahabedian.
- 56.
These concerned the following persons: Safo (Liba Rips), Rubina, Yervant Frangulian, George Petri Varshamow, Fenerdjian, Carlo Ivanovich, Terrasso Ivanovich, Meguerditch Gharibian, Sophie Rips and Anna Nellens. See (1985) Gaïdzer, (2–3), p. 193.
- 57.
Hovanes Gharibian, Hovsep Topalian, and Bro Baghdoyan.
- 58.
Their names are: Manoug Oroyan, ‘Boghos’, and Manoug Kechian.
- 59.
Dasnabedian, Histoire de la FRA, pp. 69–70.
- 60.
Dasnabedian, Histoire de la FRA, pp. 77–81.
- 61.
Resseler and Suykerbuyk, Dynamiet voor de Sultan, p. 120.
- 62.
Dasnabedian (ed.), Nyuter Ho. Hi. Ta. Badmutyan Hamar, vol. 3, pp. 278–279.
- 63.
According to Belgian official sources, however, the Ottoman investigative commission had found out about the identities of the remaining members in Istanbul without the help of Joris. See on this issue also Chap. 3.
- 64.
In 1919, the 9th ARF Congress cancelled the decision of the 1907 Congress and rehabilitated Safo in his rights as party member. However, he never tried to go back. He died in Romania in the 1920s. See S. Vratsian (1960) Gianki Oughinerov: Tebker, Temker, Abroumner [On my Life: Facts and Figures] (Beirut: Mchag Printers), vol. 2, p. 97.
- 65.
Resseler and Suykerbuyk, Dynamiet voor de Sultan, pp. 154–155.
- 66.
Quoted in Resseler and Suykerbuyk, Dynamiet voor de Sultan, p. 166.
- 67.
According to Dashnak sources, the party leadership gave Anna 500 francs for Edward Joris. She left Geneva with an extra 100 francs also given by the ARF for her travel expenses. See Pamboukian (ed.), Nyuter Ho. Hi. Ta. Badmutyan Hamar, vol. 7, p. 46.
- 68.
Pamboukian (ed.), Nyuter Ho. Hi. Ta. Badmutyan Hamar, vol. 6, p. 169.
- 69.
- 70.
Kevorkian, Le genocide des Arméniens.
- 71.
Nyuter Ho. Hi. Ta. Badmutyan Hamar, p. 22.
- 72.
(1985) Gaïdzer, (2–3), p. 31.
- 73.
Minassian, Le Rêve brisé.
- 74.
G. Işıksel and E. Szurek (eds.) (2014) Turcs et Français. Une histoire culturelle, 1860–1960 (Rennes, Presses universitaires de Rennes).
- 75.
(1900) Droshak, nr. 8 [October], pp. 113–116.
- 76.
‘Ashod’ Yeghiguian (1911) Ariuni Djampoun Vera [On the Trail of Blood: Memories of a Revolutionary] (Istanbul: Vaghinag Piutian Publishing). He appealed his ban from ARF, in vain.
- 77.
Pamboukian (ed.), Nyuter Ho. Hi. Ta. Badmutyan Hamar, vol. 5, p. 513.
- 78.
Pamboukian (ed.), Nyuter Ho. Hi. Ta. Badmutyan Hamar, vol. 6, p. 169.
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Minassian, G. (2018). The Armenian Revolutionary Federation and Operation ‘Nejuik’. In: Alloul, H., Eldem, E., de Smaele, H. (eds) To Kill a Sultan. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-48932-6_2
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