Tarihi Bir Vesikanın İncelenmesi Üzerine Bir Deneme: Erivan Murahhası Yüzbaşı Bahaeddin Bey’in Raporu

The most distinctive objective of the discipline of history is to distinguish the right from wrong in history. The principal method pursued to this end is the application of the peripheral and contextual elements of criticism on the historical documents. Thus, the authenticity of historical information can be verified. It is evident that history does not directly reach the incidents but scrutinizes them within the context of the pertinent documents. Documents become parts of the discipline of history following a close examination subject to certain procedures and methods. In this study the report Captain Bahaeddin Bey, a member of the Turkish Delegation at Yerevan, wrote to Shahtaxtı Platoon is scrutinized. In the analysis of the mentioned document elements of historical criticism - external and internal means of criticism - have been exploited. Within the context of external elements, the date it was written, writer, the place the report was written, competent authority writing the document and the receiving authority are determined. As for the contextual analysis, criticism of the report writer and the incidents mentioned in the report are made. Hence, whether the incidents mentioned reflected the current state of affairs is tried to be determined. A sample document from the Turkish National War of Sovereignty Collection at the ATASE Archive is chosen. The primary reason in choosing this document is its embodying of informational diversity and presenting of information on Armenia then. Mentioned information is studied through qualitative method, and the issue is clarified by exploiting the information available in relevant literature.