The Triumvirate Behind the Armenian Genocide

By Varouj Pogharian, Bogota, 11 March 2025

The  Armenian Genocide, perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire during World War I, was  a systematic campaign of relocation, mass murder, and cultural destruction targeting the Armenian population. The  leadership of the Committee of Union and   Progress (CUP),  particularly the triumvirate of Talaat Pasha, Enver Pasha, and  Jemal Pasha,  drove the decision-making process behind this campaign. Their actions were shaped by a combination of wartime paranoia, nationalist ideology,  and  a desire to create a homogenized Turkish state.

Talaat Pasha, the Minister of the Interior, faced  mounting pressure  from provincial governors and  influential factions within the CUP  to implement policies  targeting the Armenian population. Under the guise  of wartime security and  nationalist  policy,  the CUP  sought to seize Armenian assets and  eliminate perceived threats. The  Armenian relocation decree, which began in 1915,  was  a key instrument in this plan. It authorized the forced relocation of Armenians from their ancestral  lands, leading to widespread massacres and  deaths from starvation  and disease.

Enver Pasha, the Minister of War, played a  central role in  justifying these actions. Following the disastrous Sarikamish campaign against Russia in  1914–1915, Enver blamed Armenian civilians for the Ottoman military’s  failures, accusing them of collaborating with the enemy. This  accusation became a pretext for the genocide. Enver’s reckless ambition and  obsession with self-aggrandizement had  earned him  the derisive nickname “Napoleonlik” among his  peers. His  portrait, hung between those of Napoleon and  Frederick the Great in his  sitting room, symbolized his inflated ego.

Jemal Pasha, the Minister of the Navy  and  governor of Syria, had  a more complex  relationship with the Armenian population. During the 1909 Adana massacres he  had  intervened to protect Armenians, earning a reputation for relative sympathy. However, his  harsh policies  in Syria, including grain embargoes and  public  executions of Arab nationalists, overshadowed this legacy.  Despite his  occasional gestures of humanity, Jemal ultimately supported the CUP’s broader agenda of Turkification and  the removal of non-Turkish elements from the empire.

The  CUP  leadership framed their actions as  a wartime necessity. Talaat Pasha defended the relocations as  a security measure in  a meeting with U.S.  Ambassador Henry Morgenthau. Morgenthau condemned the relocations as  inhumane and  warned of their consequences. Talaat’s infamous response, “We make mistakes, but we are Turks and  never regret,” underscored the regime’s unyielding stance.

The  CUP  drew on racist and  nationalist ideologies to justify their actions. German intellectuals like  Friedrich Naumann and  botanist Walter Siehe propagated anti-Armenian sentiments, which   the Ottoman leadership exploited.  However, not all  Germans supported the genocide. Pastor Johannes Lepsius, a German missionary, openly  criticized the atrocities, describing them as “race annihilation.”

The  CUP  was  prepared to adopt extreme measures to achieve their goals.  Historical precedents of imperial violence  influenced their policies. Enver Pasha compared the Armenian Genocide to the Russian expulsion of Circassians in the 1860s,  the British actions during the Boer War, and  the German suppression of the Herero and  Nama in Southwest Africa.

The  genocide was  not only an  act of ethnic cleansing but also  a means of economic  exploitation. Armenian properties, businesses, and  personal belongings were systematically  confiscated  and  redistributed  to loyal  Muslims, creating a  new  Turkish bourgeoisie aligned with the CUP. Talaat Pasha meticulously documented the value of abandoned properties, highlighting the regime’s focus on material gain.

Jemal Pasha, though complicit  in  the genocide, occasionally expressed reservations.  He  advocated for the Islamization of Armenians as  an alternative to outright extermination, believing that converted Armenians could  be assimilated into the Turkish nation. However, Talaat and Enver, who insisted on a homogeneous Anatolia, overruled his suggestions.

By  1916,   the  genocide had   reached its final   stages.  Armenian survivors in  concentration  camps in  the  Syrian Desert faced   systematic annihilation. Talaat Pasha’s chilling decision to eliminate these survivors marked the culmination of the CUP’s campaign of destruction.

The   aftermath  of  the  genocide saw   the  downfall of  the  CUP   leadership.  Soghomon Tehlirian,  an   Armenian  survivor  seeking  justice, assassinated Talaat in Berlin in 1921.  During Tehlirian’s trial, witnesses exposed the extent of Talaat’s crimes, leading to Tehlirian’s acquittal. Jemal was  killed by an Armenian avenger in Tbilisi in 1922.

The  last surviving member of the triumvirate was  Enver. He had  escaped to Central Asia,  harbouring dreams of orchestrating a coup  against the new  government in Istanbul, which, in his  mind, was  led by Jemal’s allies. He sought an  alliance with the Bolsheviks by promising to ally the  Turkic peoples of Central Asia  with the Bolsheviks. In  truth,  Enver aspired to establish an  empire with himself as  the caliph. The Bolsheviks saw  through his  deceit and   dispatched a  military unit  to track  him  down.  The  head of the unit was  Hagop Melkumyan,  an Armenian. As the unit closed  in,  Enver rallied a  small force of loyal  followers. The  confrontation in  August 1922  in  Tajikistan was  brief. A bullet from Melkumyan’s rifle ended Enver’s life and  his grand designs.

The irony was inescapable. Enver’s life was  taken by the hand of history.

The Armenian Genocide remains a dark chapter in history, driven by a toxic blend of nationalism, racism, and  imperial ambition. The decisions made by Talaat, Enver, and  Jemal resulted in  the deaths of over one  million Armenians and  the destruction of a  centuries-old civilization. Their actions serve as a stark reminder of the consequences of intolerance and  hatred.

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Varouj Pogharian was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. His grandparents were from Van, Arapkir and Urfa. His family moved to Canada when he was 18. He retired from the Canadian federal government following a career that included assignments in South America. He is currently working on a historical novel, which is set in Asia Minor during the tumultuous period that spanned the reign of Sultan Abdulhamid II and the rise of the Young Turks. His narrative is poised to explore the complexities of this historical backdrop.