A Hundred Years Ago: The Assassination of Mehmet Talaat (15 March 1921) And The Berlin Criminal Proceedings Against Soghomon Tehlirian (2/3 June 1921): Background, Context, Effect

Abstract

A hundred years ago, on the late morning of March 15, 1921, the Armenian Soghomon Tehlirian (Soġomon T’ehlirean - Սողոմոն Թեհլիրեան; also: Soghomon Tehliryan; Soġomon T’ehlerean - Սողոմոն Թեհլերեան (1897-1960)) shot the former Ottoman Minister of the Interior (21 January 1913 to 4 February 1917), Minister of Finance (November 1914 to 4 February 1917) and head of government (Grand Vizier; 4 February 1917 to 8 October 1918), Mehmet Talaat (1874-1921) on Berlin’s Hardenbergstrasse. In an unusually short time by today’s standards, after two and a half months, the assassin was put on trial on 2 and 3 June of the same year at the jury court of Berlin District Court III (Landgericht Berlin III) in Berlin-Moabit. The trial lasted one and a half days, which was also unusually short. Obviously, the German or Prussian judiciary wanted to get rid of the accused and with him the subject of German-Turkish relations as quickly as possible. Tehlirian was acquitted on 3 June 1920, on the grounds of incapacity of guilt and was immediately deported from Germany. This article explains the background, context and lasting effects of his crime.