Revenge of the Armenians: an untold spy thriller

Eric Bogosian always knew something terrible had happened to Armenians in Turkey. As an American of Armenian descent, he grew up hearing stories of the genocide.

But when he delved into Armenian history, the award-winning playwright, actor and novelist was startled to discover a spy thriller-like plot involving a little-known group of Armenian men who took revenge on the core Young Turk leaders who planned and executed the mass killings.

The result was his book Operation Nemesis, a seven-year plunge into the dark archives of the genocide, yielding the forgotten history of the secret assassination plot conceived by the exiled Armenian Revolutionary Federation and planned by an inconspicuous gaggle of expats based in Boston. When it ended, at least six top Turkish officials were dead.

The targets of the killings were actually condemned to death by an Ottoman military tribunal at the end of the First World War, showing that they recognized the enormity of the crime against the Armenians. But the perpetrators were never executed.

They actually hanged one or two people. But there was a major backlash against the sentences because the Turks were very offended by the way they were treated by the West. In the 1920s, there was an erasure of history, the tribunal records were lost, then carefully pieced back together. They were very intense and detailed. But we also have to realize that there were people in Turkey who were moderate, and not behind these terrible acts.

How were the hit men chosen?

First there was an apparatus set up to finance the plan with charitable money. Then they chose men who were experienced with arms — volunteers who were with the Russians, assassins and gun runners. Some were very good at planning, others bold and willing to charge into (a crowd) and shoot. And some didn’t work out.

Amazingly, most of the assassins escaped and led long lives in exile. Soghomon Tehlirian, who was caught, was let off, although he was arrested at the scene in Berlin after killing Talat Pasha, one of the top Turkish leaders.

Tehlirian had a very sweet, civilized quality. At his trial he was taken at face value. He told a story about seeing all his family massacred, and how he dreamed of his mother wanting justice. He said he decided suddenly to kill Talat when he found he was in Berlin (at the same time), but hadn’t planned it. The court believed he had been irretrievably damaged by the traumatic experience and was not responsible for his actions.

There were originally 200 people on the “black list” for assassination. How did the operation end?

It was very sudden. The killers weren’t caught and wanted to keep on going. The leadership lost their enthusiasm for assassination. They asked, “where is all this leading?” They knew that if somebody was caught it wouldn’t look good for them. So they insisted it stop (in 1922) after the killing of Jemal Pasha (known as the Butcher). They pulled back the funding.

What did Operation Nemesis accomplish?

They wanted to avenge the genocide even though the killings aren’t equal to the enormity of it. The assassinations also had an existential aspect: we exist, we have agency and we aren’t going to lie down and take it.

It eradicated the leaders of the genocide and left the door open to (first Turkish president Mustafa) Kemal Ataturk, who negotiated a relationship with the West that the others couldn’t. It led to a position for Turkey in NATO, as recipient of vast amount of arms, etc.

But the most important thing was for the spirit of the Armenian people. The killers weren’t thinking of what God wants, but of a moral justice that is required of us. In some way the assassinations were an attempt to bring balance back into the world.