Eric Bogosian's Operation Nemesis

Critique of Operation Nemesis: The Operation That Avenged the Armenian Genocide In Eric Bogosian’s Operation Nemesis: The Operation that Avenged the Armenian Genocide, he describes the reasons and events that led up to Armenian Genocide, which triggered the creation of Operation Nemesis. Bogosian’s book starts with his own background, revealing that he is third generation Armenian. He states that Armenian Genocide is an event, with Turkey refusing the event taking place, and Armenians strongly opposing. This tension led to the formation of Operation Nemesis, an assassination plot that murdered Turkish leaders that led the genocide. However, as time passed, the story of Operation Nemesis were mixed with fiction and myth, this inspired Bogosian

However, he is only looking at the event from an Armenian perspective. He describes the process assassinating Mehmed Talat Pasha through the point of view of the assassin, Soghomon Tehlirian “Tehlirian wanted to storm into the shop and “shoot the dog” but Azmi was not “Number One”” (Bogosian, pg.154). This statement describes Jemal Azmi as a “dog”, while this statement may seem like a fair description, since Bogosian was trying to describe how Tehlirian was on the edge most of the time before he murdered Talat. However, it does not change the fact that the statement is heavily one sided, with no quotes or statements from the Turks to balance the opinions evenly. Furthermore, Bogosian goes as far as dedicating two chapters to explain Soghomon Tehlierian’s past and internal thoughts, despite the fact the fact that he never talked to him before: “...perhaps he [Soghomon Tehlirian] could gain some sort of peace. Perhaps he could move on with is life” (Bogosian, pg.122). Additionally, from eleven chapters of the book, two of them were dedicated to describing Tehlirian’s point of view and his inner thoughts. “Memories of his family, and of their anguish, flooded into him. A deep anxiety seized him” (Bogosian, 164) expresses how Tehlirian feels about his family that he lost in Armenian Genocide, a key reason why he decides to murder Talat Pasha, as stated in chapter four, “if he could not find his mother or his family, Tehlirian would revenge” (Bogosian, 121). While developing Tehlirian’s character in the book may help construct the viewpoint from Armenians, with no statements from Turkish viewpoint, makes the story heavily one sided. Bogosian explains that the Armenian Genocide begun with the Committee of Union and Progress (otherwise known as the CUP) concluding that Armenians will bring bring an end to Ottoman Empire, only looking at Armenian fedayeen harassing Ottoman troops in the eastern