Deportation of Armenian intellectuals on 24 April 1915

The number of Armenian notables deported from İstanbul/Constantinople in 1915 in the larger framework of Armenian deportations in the Ottoman Empire, plausibly part of that same vast and organized processus, differ greatly from one source to the other. There is also a tendency among sources to concentrate the event around the date of 24 April 1915, giving an impression of immediate arrests on that date and prompt exiling, although a case-by-case approach may diminish the validity of that impression. Another point to tackle would be the numerical proportion of the arrested inside the large Armenian community of the capital and the significance of their names within that community, assuming there were also notables who were not arrested.

"Similar scenes played out across Istanbul as 250 Armenian leaders were arrested and sent to camps in central Turkey." (Michael Bobelian on Armenian insurances case)[1]. In the midst of the chaos of World War I, suddenly and without warning the Turkish government sent sealed orders to every city and hamlet in which Armenians lived. On the designated day, April 24, 1915, all the prominent Armenians, clergymen, intellectuals and businessmen, were gathered in the middle of the night [2]. [We] were 39 persons altogether, the majority of whom had no value as intellectuals...We learned that the previous ones, more than 150 Armenian intellectuals had been sent to an unknown place by train during the time I was brought to the Central Prison (immediately after their arrest on 24 April). [3]

Ottoman Flag	Armenian notables under the Ottoman Empire during the First World War	Hunchak emblem	Tashnak emblem
List of Armenians deported from the Ottoman capital during the First World War Name Profession Date of deportation Place of deportation Notes on fate 1. Komitas Vardapet Composer, ethnomusicologist arrested&exiled 24 April 1915 Çankırı Permitted to return to the capital by a telegramme from Talat Pasha on 7 May 1915 [4] - d. 1935 in Paris 2. Vahram Torkumyan (Torkomian) Doctor, medical historian arrested&exiled 24 April 1915 Çankırı Permitted to return to the capital by a telegramme from Talat Pasha on 7 May 1915 [5]. - Published a book (a list of Armenian doctors) in Evreux, France in 1922 and a study on the taenicide kosso in Antwerp in 1929. [6] 3. Agop Nargileciyan ? arrested&exiled 24 April 1915 Çankırı Permitted to return to the capital by a telegramme from Talat Pasha on 7 May 1915 [7] 4. Karabet Keropeyan ? arrested&exiled 24 April 1915 Çankırı Permitted to return to the capital by a telegramme from Talat Pasha on 7 May 1915 [8] 5. Zare Bardizbanyan (Bardizbanian) ? arrested&exiled 24 April 1915 Çankırı Permitted to return to the capital by a telegramme from Talat Pasha on 7 May 1915 [9]. - Porn actress Christy Canyon's grandfather (?). 6. Pozant Keçiyan ? arrested&exiled 24 April 1915 Çankırı Permitted to return to the capital by a telegramme from Talat Pasha on 7 May 1915 [10] 7. Pervant Tolayan ? arrested&exiled 24 April 1915 Çankırı Permitted to return to the capital by a telegramme from Talat Pasha on 7 May 1915 [11] 8. Rafael Karagözyan ? arrested&exiled 24 April 1915 Çankırı Permitted to return to the capital by a telegramme from Talat Pasha on 7 May 1915 [12] 9. Haçik Boğosyan (Khachig Boghosian) Doctor, psychologist arrested 24 April 1915, exiled 3 May 1915 Ayaş Lived in Aleppo after the war - Founded a hospital - Published his memoirs of exile[13] - d. 1955. 10. Alpaslan (Alexander Panossian) Poet with strong Turkish nationalist tones (he used Alpaslan -the name of the Seljuk sultan- as pen-name) arrested 24 April 1915, exiled 3 May 1915, later returned to the capital Ayaş d. 1919 at 60 [14]. 11. Nazareth Dagavarian Doctor, deputy for Sivas in the Ottoman parliament, founding member of Armenian General Benevolent Union. arrested&exiled 24 April 1915 Ayaş, then dispatched to Diyarbakır to appear before a court martial removed from the Ayaş prison on 5 May and taken under military escort to Karacaören near Diyarbakır, where they were murdered by a [renowned] band of brigands led by Cherkes Ahmed, Khalil and Nazim. [15].