Below is the English translation of an interview conducted by
Turkey’s Agos Newspaper with Professor Taner Akcam on the authenticity
of long disputed Armenian Genocide documents—the memoir of Naim Bey and
the Talat Pasha telegrams. Akcam is the Robert Aram, Marianne
Kaloosdian, and Stephen and Marion Mugar Chair in Armenian Genocide
Studies at Clark University.
Agos: A new work of yours, named The Naim Efendi Memoirs and Talat Pasha Telegrams has been published. Could you briefly tell us what your book is about?
Taner Akcam: As the title indicates, the book is
about the memoirs of an Ottoman officer by the name of Naim Efendi and
the Talat Pasha telegrams, which ordered the killing Armenians.
Agos: Aren’t these part of the so-called “Talat Pasha fake telegrams” claimed to be fabricated by the Armenians?
T.A.: Yes, these are the memoirs of Naim Efendi and
the telegrams he gave to [Aram] Andonian, which everyone regards as fake
or, if they find them legitimate, do not speak up about it.
