Self-determınatıon vs. terrıtorıal ıntegrıty: Ottoman-Armenıan conflıct of 1915 from two perspectıves of statehood

Bu makale yaklaşık 750000 Osmanlı Ermenisinin İttihat ve Terakki yönetimi tarafından sevk ve iskan edilmesini, kendi kaderini tayin hakkı ve toprak bütünlüğü kavramları açısından ele almaktadır. On yıllardır sürmekte olan “soykırım mı? tehcir mi?” tartışmalarına girmeden, makale bu ihtilafa özgün bir açıdan yaklaşarak ayrılıkçı talepleri haklı kılabilecek kendi kaderini tayin hakkının dayandığı meşru temellere ilişkin teorik bir yaklaşım sunmaktadır. Kötü muamele, barışçılık, çoğunluk ve tarihsel imtihan, meşru ayrılıkçılık için teorik önkoşullar olarak tanımlanmaktadır ve 1915 tehcirinin arşivsel bir analizi bu önkoşullardan üçünün Ermenilerin bağımsızlık arayışında bulunmadığı ortaya koyulmaktadır.

Kendi kaderini tayin vs. toprak bütünlüğü: İki farklı devlet oluş perspektifinden 1915 Osmanlı-Ermeni çatışmas ı

This article investigates the 1915 relocation of approximately 750,000 Ottoman Armenians by the İttihat ve Terakki (Union and Progress) administration with respect to the notions of self-determination and territorial integrity. While it remains distant to the decades-old “genocide or relocation?” debate, this paper promises to discuss this controversy from an original angle, and offers a theoretical framework for the legitimate grounds on which the right to self-determination exists to justify secessionist demands. Mistreatment, peacefulness, majority and historical tests are proposed as theoretical prerequisites of legitimate separatism, and an archival analysis of the 1915 relocation suggests that three of these conditions were not satisfied in the Armenians’ pursuit of independence.

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