NPR: Operation Nemesis

NPR – National Public Radio
May 6 2021
May 6, 202112:01 AM ET


The ARF Representative Convention of 1919, when they agreed to carry out Operation Nemesis. This photo includes five known Operation Nemesis participants: Armen Garo, first row, fourth from the left; Zadig Matigian, fourth from the right; Aaron Sachaklian, second row, second from the right; Shahan Natalie, second row, third from the right; and Zaven Nalbandian, top row, seventh from the left.

Courtesy of Marian Mesrobian MacCurdy/Kerning Cultures

An estimated 1.5 million Armenian Christians were killed by the Ottoman government during World War I, in what came to be known as the Armenian Genocide. The perpetrators escaped Constantinople in the middle of the night and began new lives undercover in Europe. So, a small group of Armenian survivors decided to take justice into their own hands. In this episode from Kerning Cultures, the secretive operation to avenge the Armenian Genocide, and how it changed the idea of justice in the modern world.

This story originally aired on Kerning Cultures, a podcast telling stories from across the Middle East and North Africa and the spaces in between.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM AT THE LINK BELOW