The Twenty Classes

The incident of the Twenty Classes (Turkish: Yirmi Kur'a Nafıa Askerleri[1] literally: "Soldiers for Public works by drawing of twenty lots" or Yirmi Kur'a İhtiyatlar Olayı[2][3] literally: "Incident of the Reserve soldiers by drawing of twenty lots") was a so-called conscription used by Turkish government to enslave its male non-Muslim minority population mainly consisting of Armenians, Greeks and Jews during World War II. All of the twenty classes were consists of male minority population including the elders and mentally ills[4]. They were given no weapons and quite often they did not even wear military uniforms. These non-Muslims were gathered in labor battalions where no Muslims were enlisted, even more deepening the suspicions and widespread fear that they were pulled together to be annihilated when a suitable moment comes. They were forced to work in constructions under very bad conditions which caused fatalities. The prevailing and widespread point of view on the matter was that wishing to partake in the World War II, Turkey gathered in advance all unreliable non-Muslim men regarded a “fifth column”.

One of the main intention of the Turkish government was to seize the assets of the minorty popualtion. The enslaved minorities bankrupted since they could not manage their business during the event and as a result they had to sell their companies and assets for almost free. After this event, two major events followed with almost same intentions Varlık Vergisi and Istanbul Pogrom[5].

See also

Sources

  1. ^ Rıfat N. Bali, Yirmi Kur'a Nafıa Askerleri: II. Dünya Savaşında Gayrimüslimlerin Askerlik Serüveni, Kitabevi Yayınları, İstanbul, 2008, ISBN 978-975-9173-86-9. (Turkish)
  2. ^ Elçin Macar, İstanbul Rum Patrikhanesi, İletişim Yayınları, İstanbul, 2003, ISBN 9789750501180, p. 174. (Turkish)
  3. ^ Ayşe Hür, "'Türk Schindleri' efsaneleri", Taraf, December 16, 2007. (Turkish) ["Turkish Schindler"]
  4. ^ Melkonyan, Ruben. "ON SOME PROBLEMS OF THE ARMENIAN NATIONAL MINORITY IN TURKEY" (pdf). p. 2. http://www.noravank.am/upload/pdf/5.Ruben%20Melkonyan_02_2010.pdf. 
  5. ^ Baskın Oran, "Azınlıklardan alınıp sermaye biriktirildi", Radikal, February 9, 2008. (Turkish)