7. Payback for (Some) of the Armenian Genocide’s Perpetrators
In 1915, during the First World War, the Ottoman Turk authorities decided to end to the restiveness of their oppressed Armenian citizens by putting an end to the Armenians via genocide. Under the guise of “relocating” them from border regions to the interior of their empire, the Ottomans subjected the Armenians to massacres and death marches, interrupted by widespread and horrendous abuses. Somewhere between 1 million to 1.5 million were killed.
After Turkey’s defeat and surrender at war’s end, desultory efforts were made to bring those responsible to account. However, no international tribunal existed to try the criminals, and their prosecution in Turkish courts eventually petered out due to domestic political pressures. As a result, those who had orchestrated the genocide escaped formal justice, and were able to travel relatively freely throughout much of Europe and Central Asia. That is, until the Armenians decided to take matters into their own hands, and visit payback upon some of the genocide’s architects, vigilante-style.
