ABSTRACT
Being forced to do nothing weighed on Tehlirian. One evening at the end of the month, the Armenian militants' long watch was rewarded. The observer with the Italian visa barely had time to clamber into the train, which was starting, but the pasha remained on the platform with the group of students who accompanied him back to the exit. He received the following order: "We order you to kill Talaat without delay and to leave the other criminals be, even if it means they escape". On the morning of March 13, Tehlirian fired a bullet towards Talaat, but had not emptied his chamber. In his inner self Tehlirian knew that by bringing down the statue of the Commendatore, he had exorcised the ghost of his mother. The day following Talaat's execution, a "friendship and fraternity" agreement was signed in Moscow between the Soviets and the Kemalists.
