By Anahit Astoyan

 It is a well known fact that preceding the First World War, the Armenians held crucial positions in the domestic and foreign trade, industrial production and banking areas of the Ottoman Empire. 

Due to their talents and entrepreneurship, Western Armenian bourgeoisie, bankers and industrialists, even under the conditions of the Ottoman despotism and arbitrariness, managed to come into possession of certain wealth and accumulate significant financial capital. 

Seeing a serious threat in such economic strengthening of the Armenians, the Young Turks, during their closed meetings, discussed the questions of liberation from their economic rivalry and establishing Turkish economic power in the country through the elimination of the Armenians, while at the same time developing measures for expropriation of private and common property of the Armenian nation. 

Robbing a whole nation, first of all required making the property of Armenians ownerless. For this purpose, on June 1, 1915, the Young Turk government passed the Law on Deportation, by implication of which, more than 1,500,000 Armenians were forcefully deported and exterminated. 

On June 10, 1915 a 34-clause directive “On the Forms of Governing the Real Property and Land of the Armenians Relocated to Other Places” was been published. On September 13, 1915, the Young Turk government passed a temporary law “On the Abandoned Properties”, and on October 26 of the same year - the regulations for implementation of this law on how to deal with the vacated properties and debts of the relocated individuals. 

Thus, the apparent robbery and abduction of the belongings, properties, lands and the entire wealth of the Armenian population, already being carried out throughout the Ottoman Empire were legalized. 

These legal acts on the vacated properties were developed not to defend the rights of the Armenians, but to restrain the mass looting and to fill up the state treasury.  

The Armenian massacres were accompanied by the depredation of the movable and immovable properties of the Armenians, in which all the sectors of society were affected. The perspective of a rich haul mobilized a large army of followers and broad masses around the Young Turk government.   

The Young Turk administration passed the vacated properties to the local authorities of the deported Armenians, generously granting houses and lands to the ministries, and in return gaining a huge army of followers, obtaining their support in the extermination of Armenians. 

Numerous testimonials about this planned plunder were left by the survivors, in reports of the diplomats who were operating on the territory of the Ottoman Empire, as well as in Turkish sources. These confirm that the expropriation of Armenian properties was a crucial motive for the extermination of the Armenian nation.    

 Taking possession of the private and common property of the Armenians, the Young Turk authorities also confiscated the deposits of Armenians kept in the Ottoman banks and insurance companies.

The human life, just like the material possessions of Armenians, became a subject of bargaining. The Turkish government gained vast sums by also selling Armenian women and children. 

On January 8, 1920, under the pressure of the Triple Entente countries, the Turkish government denounced the “Abandoned Properties” law and passed the decision to return the vacated Armenian properties to their owners and to retaliate for their losses. However, contrary to the promises of the authorities, the process of seizure of the Armenian property continued. 

During the entire Kemalist movement, the Armenian survivors were subjected to plunder, massacre, and forceful deportation. After cleaning the country from Armenians, in 1920, 1923, and 1927, the Turkish authorities passed laws that deprived Armenians from citizenship and the right to return to their ancestral land. These laws allowed the Turkish authorities to gain possession of everything they owned. 

 In order to give a legal power to the expropriation of Armenian property, the Kemalist authorities in the period between 1922 and 1929 passed nine “Abandoned Properties” laws.  Thus, the Kemalist regime continued and completed the Young Turk government plan of the dispossession of Armenians.

 During the Republican period, the Turkish authorities passed various laws and acts, purposefully and consistently expelled the remaining Armenians from the economic life, and by various means transferred their capital to the Turks. 

 Western Armenians were robbed. However, there still was the conspicuous wealth of the Constantinople Armenians. The Turks found the opportunity to once again plunder the Armenians. 

On November 11, 1942, The Grand National Assembly of the Turkish Republic passed the “Wealth Tax Law” under which the Constantinople Armenians were completely ripped off and doomed to poverty. Thus, the Republican authorities finalized the process of dispossession of Western Armenians.    

Foreign countries also received a share from the Armenian wealth. Part of the abandoned property was in the form of sums paid by Armenians in gold to foreign insurance companies. These insurance companies, failing to meet their financial obligations to Armenians, took possession of their money. 

Foreign banks operating on the territory of the Ottoman Empire acted similarly.  By dispossessing the whole nation, by appropriating their possessions accumulated through the centuries of hard work in blood, sweat and tears, the Turkish authorities were able to solve lots of questions that posed a threat to the state and national security. 

 Firstly, with the help of Armenian assets the Turkish authorities filled their state treasury, covered the huge war costs, and paid off a significant part of their foreign debt. The Young Turks, and later on the Republican authorities, eliminated their mighty rival from the economic arena and created their national capital by appropriating Armenian private movable and immovable properties. Today’s Turkish economy is based on the possessions expropriated from the Armenians. 

The nationalistic movement headed by Mustafa Kemal, whose victory resulted in the creation of the Turkish Republic on October 29, 1923, was once again due to Armenian property, as it was funded by Turkish landowners, merchants and military men, enriched through the expropriation of Armenian property.

 The wealth expropriated from Armenians and held in the Ministry of Finances repeatedly saved Turkey during the Republic period as well, time and again bringing the state out of economic disorders. 

As the Turkish historian Taner Akcam rightly observes, the Turkish Republic is founded on the Armenian genocide of 1915. 

The Turkish Republic must bear financial responsibility, as it has been formed at the expense of the wealth created by the Armenians over the centuries. 

Anahit Ashtoyan is a senior researcher at the Matenadaran (Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts) in Yerevan