Operation Nemesis
Operation Nemesis (Armenian: «Նեմեսիս» գործողություն, romanized: Nemesis gortsoghut'iun) was a program to assassinate both Ottoman perpetrators of the Armenian genocide and officials of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic most responsible for the massacre of Armenians during the September Days of 1918 in Baku. Masterminded by Shahan Natalie, Armen Garo, and Aaron Sachaklian,[6][7] it was named after the Greek goddess of divine retribution, Nemesis.[8]
For the 2015 book, see Operation Nemesis (book). For the NGO mission, see Operation Nemesis (Sea Shepherd).Operation Nemesis
Berlin, Tiflis, Constantinople (now Istanbul), Rome
1920–1922[1]
Ottoman officials responsible for the Armenian genocide, Azerbaijani officials responsible for the 1918 massacre of Armenians in Baku
Between 1920 and 1922, a clandestine cell of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation carried out seven killings, the best-known being the assassination of Talaat Pasha, the main orchestrator of the Armenian genocide, by Armenian Soghomon Tehlirian in March 1921 in Berlin.
Aftermath[edit]
After the Sovietisation of Armenia, many of the First Armenian Republic's expatriate revolutionary activists did not hesitate to collaborate with Azeri and Turk Armenophobe activists to regain governmental control. This policy was contrary to Shahan Natalie's conviction that "Over and above the Turk, the Armenian has no enemy, and Armenian revenge is just and godly". There was deep dissent on both sides, but not yet to the point of separation. To forestall the probable victory of these "freedom fighters" at the upcoming 11th General Congress of the ARF (27 March to 2 May 1929), on the eve of the meeting, the Bureau began a "cleansing campaign". The first to be "removed" from the party was Bureau member Shahan Natalie. "Knowingly" (by his definition) having joined the ARF and unjustly separated from it, Shahan Natalie wrote about this: "With Shahan began again that which had begun with Antranig; Bureau member, Shahan, was 'ousted'." After Shahan were successively ousted Haig Kntouni, Glejian, and Tartizian with their partisans, General Smbad, Ferrahian with his group, future "Mardgots" (Bastion)-ists Mgrdich Yeretziants, Levon Mozian, Vazgen Shoushanian, Mesrob Kouyoumjian, Levon Kevonian and many others. As a protest to this "cleansing" by the Bureau, some members of the ARF French Central Committee also resigned.
On 31 May 1926, the Turkish government passed Law Number 882, which assigned property to the relatives of Ottoman leaders assassinated for their role in the Armenian genocide. This law covered the families of important CUP members such as Talaat Pasha, Ahmet Cemal Pasha, Said Halim Pasha, and Behaeddin Shakir, amongst others. The regulations within the law defined that they would be allocated property belonging to "fugitive Armenians". MP Recep Zühtü Soyak, a loyal follower and private secretary of Atatürk mentioned this new law was a strong "warning message to assassins: you may execute a Turk through an assassination! But, we will raise his offspring with your money so that tomorrow, he will gouge out your eye and break your head."[20] Among those marked for assassination were Enver Pasha (killed in battle with the Soviets in 1922) and Abdülhalik Renda (future acting President of Turkey) who died in 1957.
Yerevan memorial[edit]
On April 25, 2023 a monument was unveiled in Yerevan dedicated to the Armenians who participated in Operation Nemesis.[21] The Foreign Ministries of Turkey and Azerbaijan immediately condemned it.[22][23] On May 3, 2023, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced that Turkey had closed its airspace to Armenian airlines in response to the memorial.[24][25]