Taner Akçam & Umit Kurt 
The Spirit of the Laws [PDF ebook] 
The Plunder of Wealth in the Armenian Genocide

Introduction

Chapter 1. The Laws and Decrees of the Committee of Union and Progress Period

• The Decrees and Regulations of 17, 30 and 31 May 1915


• The Regulation of 10 June 1915


• The Temporary Law of 26 September 1915 and the Regulation of 8 November 1915


• A Brief Evaluation

Chapter 2. The Armistice Period and the Returning Armenians

• The First Ones Returning from Deportation


• 12 January 1920: The Ittihadist Laws Are Annulled


• A Brief Evaluation


• The Treaty of Sèvres of 10 August 1920


• The Prohibition against the Return of Greeks and Armenians Staying Outside of Turkey


• The Articles of Law Used to Prevent Their Return


• Policies to Obstruct Repatriation


• The Prohibition of Domestic Travel and Migration


• A Brief Evaluation

Chapter 3. The Turkish Republic Prior to Lausanne

• The First Laws and Regulations of the Turkish Grand National Assembly


• The 20 April 1922 Abandoned Properties Law


• The Regulations of November to December 1922


• Regulations Relevant to Istanbul


• The 14 September 1922 “Abrogation of the Property Regulation”


• Why Was There a Return to the Ittihadist Laws of the Genocide?


• The Plunder of Izmir and the Independence Tribunals


• Return to the Ittihadist Mentality: The 15 April Law and 29 April Regulation of 1923


• A Brief Evaluation


• Abandoned Properties and National Tax Obligations (Tekalif-i Milliye)

Chapter 4. The Treaty of Lausanne: A Turning Point

• The Abandoned Properties Question in the Negotiations and Treaty


• Mass and Individual Repatriations and the Armenian Homeland


• A Plan to Expel the Armenian Population


• The Question of the Belongings Which Were Left Behind


• The Amnesty: Draft Proposal and Final Form


• The Lausanne Regulations: The Question of Nationality


• The Lausanne Regulations: Property, Rights and Interests, or, The Issue of Compensation


• A Brief Evaluation of Lausanne

Chapter 5. After Lausanne: The Armenians Remaining Outside of Turkey

• The Treaties of Alexandrapol (Gyumri), Kars and Moscow


• Turkey-France: A Pair of Treaties


• The 25 October 1934 Turkey-US Compensation Treaty


• An Interim Note on the US Compensation Treaty


• The International Commission and Mixed Arbitral Tribunals

Chapter 6. Turkey after Lausanne: Virtually Raising a Wall around Its Borders Like a Fortress

• Armerican Armenians Are Not Permitted to Enter Turkey


• The Return of the Armenians: A Question of the Honor and Pride of the State


• “To Allow Their Return…Means to Waste the Blood We Spilled”


• The Legal Vacuum Created by Lausanne on Repatriation


• The Travel Regulation: Bans on Entry into the Country and Domestic Travel


• Prohibitions on Domestic Travel


• Passport Laws

Chapter 7. Domestic Legal Regulations During the Republican Period

• The First Adjustments


• The 13 June 1926 Regulation


• 1928: The Distribution of Title Deeds and the Transfer of Revenue to the Treasury Begin


• The 22 April 1963 Constitutional Court Decision


• The Citizenship Laws of 1928 and 1964


• Those Removed from Citizenship and the Liquidation of Their Properties


• The Abandoned Properties Laws and the Present Situation


• The 1983 and 2001 Circulars of the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadaster


• Profound Fear: Title Deed Registries

Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

Umit Kurt received his Ph D in History from Clark University in 2016, and his MA in European Studies from Sabancı University in 2008. He was a visiting professor in the Armenian Studies Program at California State University in 2015–16, and a post-doctoral fellow at CMES, Harvard University in 2016–17. Currently, he is the Polonsky Fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, Polonsky Academy for Advanced Studies.