Latest / The Story of Armenia: Survival Through Empires and Genocide — Fexingo History / Operation Nemesis: Armenia's Revenge for the Genocide
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about the Armenian Genocide — the deportations, the massacres, the resistance at Van and Musa Dagh. But after 1915, what happened to the men who ordered it? Most of them just... walked away. Luna: Wait — no trials? Lucas: Well, there were Allied courts-martial in Constantinople in 1919. They convicted a few, like Talaat Pasha and Enver and Djemal, in absentia. But the British and French quickly lost interest. By 1920, most of the perpetrators were free, and some even held positions in the new Turkish nationalist government. Lucas: To the Armenian community, it felt like the world had turned a blind eye. So the Armenian Revolutionary Federation — the Dashnaks — decided to take justice into their own hands. At their ninth congress in Yerevan, in the fall of 1919, they authorized a secret mission. Code name: Operation Nemesis. Luna: Nemesis, like the Greek goddess of retribution. That's heavy. Lucas: Exactly. They drew up a hit list of about 40 people — the key architects of the genocide. Led by a strategist named Shahan Natalie, a Dashnak intellectual. He was the brain. The executioner they chose for the biggest target — Talaat Pasha — was a 24-year-old Armenian from Erzincan named Soghomon Tehlirian. Luna: Tehlirian — I've heard that name. He's the one who killed Talaat in Berlin, right? Lucas: That's him. March 15, 1921. Talaat was living under a fake name in Berlin, very quietly. Tehlirian tracked him down to his apartment on Hardenbergstrasse. He waited for him to leave, then caught up to him, pulled a pistol, and shot him in the head. Then he just stood there, didn't run, and told the police what he did. Luna: He didn't try to escape? Lucas: No. That was part of the plan. Natalie wanted a trial. He knew that if they could turn the courtroom into a stage, they could educate the world about the genocide. And that's exactly what happened. Tehlirian was tried in a Berlin court, and his defense lawyer brought in witnesses, including a former Ottoman governor, to testify about the systematic destruction of Armenians. Lucas: The jury deliberated for just an hour and acquitted him. Not because they condoned murder, but because they saw it as an act of desperate justice. The verdict sent a shockwave. It was the first time the genocide had been aired in a major European court. Luna: And the other names on the list? Lucas: The Nemesis team kept working. In 1922, they got Cemal Azmi, the governor of Trebizond, and Bahattin Şakir, one of the chief organizers — both assassinated in Berlin. Later that year, Cemal Pasha was killed in Tiflis by a team led by Aram Yerganian. Even the former grand vizier, Said Halim Pasha, was shot in Rome. All told, they got about a dozen of the top perpetrators. Luna: So it actually worked. But what happened to the operatives? Tehlirian lived a long life, right? Lucas: He did. He moved to the United States, married, lived quietly. Shahan Natalie died in 1983. But the operation wasn't without controversy. Some Armenians worried it would invite reprisals, and the Dashnaks themselves debated whether it was morally right. But for many in the diaspora, Nemesis became a symbol: we would not forget. Lucas: If this story is hitting you the way it hits me — if learning about how a small, desperate community carved out its own justice feels meaningful — then I want to mention something quickly. The reason we can do these deep dives without ads is that listeners who find value here sometimes support the show. It's as simple as buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Just a way to keep these conversations going. Luna: Yeah, absolutely. And it does keep it independent, which matters. Lucas: So back to Nemesis. After those assassinations, the operation was officially wound down in the early 1920s. The Dashnaks worried it might cause more harm than good, and the targets were getting harder to find. But the legacy is real. When you visit the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, you'll see a small plaque dedicated to the 'heroes of Operation Nemesis.' Not everyone agrees with that label, but it's there. Luna: What about the international reaction? Did it change anything politically? Lucas: Short term, it hardened Turkish nationalist attitudes. Long term, it kept the genocide in the public eye. The Tehlirian trial is often cited as a precursor to later human rights activism. It showed that even if governments won't act, individuals might. It's a messy, uncomfortable chapter, but it's real. Lucas: One last thing: Shahan Natalie wrote a book after the war called 'The Nemesis of the Armenian Nation.' In it, he argued that the operation was about restoring the honor of a people who had been told they were powerless. Whether you agree with the method, you can't deny the courage it took. Luna: Courage or desperation, maybe both. Thanks for telling this story, Lucas. I think a lot of people don't know it. Lucas: It's one of those history threads that's easy to miss. But that's why we're here — to pull them out and look at them.