"They can live in the desert but nowhere else": a history of the Armenian genocide

Abstract

They Can Live in Desert but Nowhere Else: A History of Armenian Genocide, by Ronald Grigor Suny. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015. 490 pages. $35.Professor Ronald Grigor Suny is distinguished scholar and well-published historian. He is known for his body of work specializing in Armenian history and affairs. The title of book comes from conversation that American ambassador Henry Morgenthau reported he had with Ottoman interior minister Talat Pasha in early August 1915 (p. 269-270), which Suny purports to show that Talat had solved Armenian problem in particularly brutal manner. The introduction presents Professor Suny's thesis is roundabout manner, which is to explain that Young Turks (the alleged perpetrators of had an affective disposition that allowed them, indeed in their minds required them, to eliminate whole peoples (p. xx). Essentially, Suny argues that Young Turks' cognitive and emotional state demonstrated by their observed behavior and actions in 1915 proves genocide. While this kind of argument may be suitable for forensic psychologists, historians rarely attempt it because of dictum that correlation does not prove causation.They Can Live in Desert but Nowhere Else is narrative presentation that begins with history of early kingdom of Armenia and moves through 19th century with an explanation of evolving political, economic, and social relationships between Armenians and Ottomans. Suny then discusses rise of Armenian revolutionary committees and how Young Turks' rise to power and counterrevolution affected these relationships. This takes over half book and sets up reader's understanding of Young Turks' affective disposition to regard Ottoman Armenians with fear and distrust. Chapter Seven is titled War (pp. 208-45) and contains fine description of how and why Young Turks went to war as well an explanation of ideological fissures within Armenian revolutionary committees and Ottoman Armenian polity. Chapter Eight, Removal (pp. 246-80), deals with academically contentious period of January through June 1915 and presents Suny's view of decision to relocate Ottoman Armenians from eastern Anatolia. The lens though which Suny frames his understanding of relocations comes primarily from American Ambassador Henry Morgenthau's diary (39 of 134 chapter endnotes), which was published after these events, in 1918 after United States entered war against Central Powers, as well as from information contained in Raymond Kevorkian and Taner Akcam's books.In Chapter Nine, (pp. 281- 327), Suny presents heart of his case. Here he asserts that that fear and profound sense of insecurity compounded by defeats and Allied threats, combined into a toxic perception of all Armenians as an internal subversive force allied to Russians (p. 281). He also repeats Akcam's fallacious conclusion that the allegations of an Armenian revolt in [Ottoman] documents . . . have no basis in reality but were deliberately fabricated (p. 282) as factual statement of evidence. Later in chapter Suny asserts that relocation camps in Euphrates valley were way stations toward extermination (p. 314) but presents no archival sources to support this. Chapter Ten, Orphaned Nation (pp. 328-49), concludes historical narrative with events of 1918-23, including 1919 show trials and Armenian assassinations of surviving members of Committee of Unity and Progress. Suny's final chapter, Thinking about Unthinkable: Genocide (pp. 350-365), summarizes his thoughts and juxtaposes work of Raphael Lemkin (the international lawyer who coined term genocide) into narrative.There is nothing new in this book for scholars or for those familiar with extant literature. The book is derived exclusively from previously available secondary materials. …