The Blackest Page
of
Modern History
Events in Armenia in 1915
The Facts and the Responsibilities
By
Herbert Adams Gibbons, Ph.D.
Author of
“The Foundation of the Ottoman Empire,” “The
New Map of Europe,” etc.
G. P. Putnam’s Sons
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
1916
COPYRIGHT, 1916
BY
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
Second Impression
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
“And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I
know not: am I my brother’s keeper?”
_Genesis_ iv., 9.
The Blackest Page of Modern History
FOREWORD
_The war that started on August 1, 1914, has gradually involved
nations, large and small, not originally participants. Other nations,
large and small, while still managing to maintain an official
neutrality, have found themselves drawn into diplomatic controversies
with both groups of belligerents. With the exception of South America,
the continents of the world have sent contingents to fight in Europe.
The destinies of Africa, Asia, and Australia are at stake, and the
destinies of the western hemisphere will, long before the end is
reached, be influenced vitally by the tremendous events that are taking
place in Europe. We can, then, without exaggeration, call the war that
was provoked by the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Servia, a world war._
_Still in the midst of war, still prejudiced by our sympathies and
our interests, neither participants nor spectators are in a position
to form a definitive judgment upon the many problems of the origin of
the war, and upon controversial points that have arisen between the
belligerents and between belligerents and neutrals, because of acts of
war._
_But can we assume the attitude of suspending judgment in regard to
=all= that has happened since August, 1914, and =all= that is happening
to-day? The world at heart is not cold-blooded. The world at heart
is not hopelessly selfish. The world at heart is not deaf to the
appeal of the innocent and helpless. Else we should have reason indeed
to believe in the complete disappearance of our twentieth-century
Christian civilization. If some issues are debatable, if some events
are obscure, if some charges and counter-charges cannot be determined,
there are others that can be determined._
_It is because the Armenian massacres in Turkey are clearly
established, because responsibilities can be definitely fixed, and
because an appeal to humanity can be made on behalf of the remnant of
the Armenian race in the Ottoman Empire without the slightest suspicion
of political interest, that I feel it advisable =and imperative= at
this moment to call attention to what is undoubtedly the blackest
page in modern history, to set forth the facts, and to point out the
responsibilities._
HERBERT ADAMS GIBBONS.
_Paris, December 1, 1915._
CONTENTS
PAGE
FOREWORD 5
INTRODUCTORY 11
CHAPTER I
IN APRIL, 1915, THE OTTOMAN GOVERNMENT
BEGAN TO PUT INTO EXECUTION
THROUGHOUT TURKEY A SYSTEMATIC
AND CAREFULLY-PREPARED PLAN TO
EXTERMINATE THE ARMENIAN RACE.
IN SIX MONTHS NEARLY A MILLION
ARMENIANS HAVE BEEN KILLED. THE
NUMBER OF THE VICTIMS AND THE
MANNER OF THEIR DESTRUCTION ARE
WITHOUT PARALLEL IN MODERN HISTORY 17
CHAPTER II
THE ARMENIANS, AS A RACE, HAVE NEVER
BEEN, AND ARE NOT, A MENACE TO THE
SECURITY OF TURKEY. THEY ARE
BLAMELESS OF THE CHARGE OF DISLOYALTY,
WHICH HAS BEEN THE EXCUSE
FOR THEIR MASSACRE AND DEPORTATION 30
CHAPTER III
THE PRESERVATION OF THE ARMENIAN
ELEMENT IS ABSOLUTELY INDISPENSABLE
TO THE WELL-BEING AND PROSPERITY
OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. IT
HAS BEEN PROVED THROUGH CENTURIES
THAT CHRISTIANS AND MOSLEMS ARE
ABLE TO LIVE IN PEACE AND AMITY
IN TURKEY, WHICH IS EQUALLY THE
COUNTRY OF BOTH 43
CHAPTER IV
THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT COULD HAVE
PREVENTED THIS EFFORT AT EXTERMINATING
THE ARMENIAN RACE, BUT
HAS CHOSEN NOT TO DO SO. THERE IS
GRAVE REASON TO BELIEVE THE GERMAN
GOVERNMENT HAS WELCOMED, IF
NOT ENCOURAGED, THE DISAPPEARANCE
OF THE ARMENIANS FROM ASIA
MINOR, FOR THE FURTHERANCE OF
GERMAN POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL
DESIGNS ON THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE 54
CONCLUSION 65
SOURCES 69
INTRODUCTORY
In the summer of 1908, when the Young Turks compelled Abdul Hamid to
re-establish the constitution he had granted, and almost immediately
suppressed, at the beginning of his reign thirty years before, they had
a good press throughout the civilized world. Writers of all nations
lauded the Young Turks, and described in glowing terms the wonderful
future of the Ottoman Empire under the régime of Liberty, Equality,
and Fraternity. The goodwill of Europe and America, and practical
encouragement as well, was given to the reformers of Turkey in every
possible way. Especially among the Powers, Great Britain and France
aided the Young Turks to establish the new régime by lending them money
and capable advisers for the Treasury and Navy, the two departments of
the Turkish Government that were the weakest.
One has only to look through the files of the newspapers of Occidental
Europe to establish the truth of this statement. As one of the group of
writers for the European and American press on Turkish affairs, during
the first difficult (and disappointing!) years of the constitutional
régime, I can say honestly that our loyalty to the Young Turks was
unswerving. In the hope that the end would justify the means, I am
afraid that there was not one of us who did not occasionally sin
against his own convictions by _suppressio veri_, if not by actual
_suggestio falsi_. Occidental diplomacy was just as loyal to Young
Turkey as was Occidental journalism. Successive Grand Viziers assured
me that the loyal co-operation of London and Paris, through willingness
to forbear criticism and to leave much unsaid, had made possible the
maintenance of the newly-established constitution throughout the first
difficult winter, and the weathering of the storm of Abdul Hamid’s
attempted counter-revolution.
It was my fortune to go to Turkey during the first month of the new
régime, and to live in Asia Minor and Constantinople until after the
disastrous war with the Balkan States. From 1908 to 1913, I enjoyed
exceptional opportunities of travelling in European and Asiatic Turkey,
of becoming acquainted with the men who were guiding the destinies of
the Ottoman Empire, and of witnessing the fatal events that changed in
five years the hope of regeneration into the despair of dissolution.
At Smyrna, at Constantinople, and at Beirut, I took part in the fêtes
to celebrate the birth of the new régime, and saw the ostensible
reconciliation of Christian, Moslem, and Jewish elements. Christian
priests and Moslem ulema embraced each other and drove through the
streets in triumphal procession in the same carriages.
Above all, from the very beginning, I was in a position to become
intimately acquainted with the Armenians of Turkey and to find out
their real sentiments towards the Young Turks and the new régime. I was
in Adana, in April, 1909, when their enthusiastic loyalty was rewarded
by a massacre of thirty thousand of them in Cilicia and northern
Syria. I was able to observe the attitude of the Armenians before the
massacre. Their blood was spilled before my eyes in Adana. I was with
them in different places after the fury of the massacre had passed.
This preamble in the first person is reluctantly written. But I feel
that it must be given, in order that I may anticipate exception to my
statements on the ground that I am “not acquainted with the problem,”
and that “it is impossible for an outsider to form a judgment on these
matters.” For I have always found that the Turk _and his friends_, when
you speak to them on the Armenian question, flatly deny your facts and
challenge the competency of your judgment. It is necessary, then,
for me to state that the facts set forth here are given with intimate
personal knowledge of their authenticity, and that the judgments passed
upon these facts are the result of years of study and observation at
close range.
CHAPTER I
IN APRIL, 1915, THE OTTOMAN GOVERNMENT BEGAN TO PUT INTO EXECUTION
THROUGHOUT TURKEY A SYSTEMATIC AND CAREFULLY-PREPARED PLAN TO
EXTERMINATE THE ARMENIAN RACE. IN SIX MONTHS NEARLY A MILLION
ARMENIANS HAVE BEEN KILLED. THE NUMBER OF THE VICTIMS AND THE MANNER
OF THEIR DESTRUCTION ARE WITHOUT PARALLEL IN MODERN HISTORY.
In the autumn of 1914, the Turks began to mobilize Christians as well
as Moslems for the army. For six months, in every part of Turkey, they
called upon the Armenians for military service. Exemption money was
accepted from those who could pay. A few weeks later the exemption
certificates were disregarded, and their holders enrolled. The younger
classes of Armenians, who did not live too far from Constantinople,
were placed, as in the Balkan wars, in the active army. The older
ones, and all the Armenians enrolled in the more distant regions,
were utilized for road, railway, and fortification building. Wherever
they were called, and to whatever task they were put, the Armenians
did their duty, and worked for the defence of Turkey. They proved
themselves brave soldiers and intelligent and industrious labourers.
In April, 1915, orders were sent out from Constantinople to the local
authorities in Asia Minor to take whatever measures were deemed best
to paralyse in advance an attempt at rebellion on the part of the
Armenians. The orders impressed upon the local authorities that the
Armenians were an extreme danger to the safety of the empire, and
suggested that national defence demanded imperatively _anticipatory_
severity in order that the Armenians might be rendered harmless.
In some places, the local authorities replied that they had observed
no suspicious activity on the part of the Armenians and reminded the
Government that the Armenians were harmless because they possessed no
arms and because the most vigorous masculine element had already been
taken for the army. There are some Turks who have a sense of pity and
a sense of shame! But the majority of the Turkish officials responded
with alacrity to the hint from Constantinople, and those who did not
were very soon replaced.
A new era of Armenian massacres began.
At first, in order that the task might be accomplished with the least
possible risk, the virile masculine Armenian population still left in
the cities and villages was summoned to assemble at a convenient place,
generally outside the town, and gendarmes and police saw to it that
the summons was obeyed. None was overlooked. When they had rounded
up the Armenian men, they butchered them. This method of procedure
was generally feasible in small places. In larger cities, it was not
always possible to fulfil the orders from Constantinople so simply and
promptly. The Armenian notables were assassinated in the streets or in
their homes. If it was an interior city, the men were sent off under
guard to “another town.” In a few hours the guard would return without
their prisoners. If it was a coast city, the Armenians were taken away
in boats outside the harbour to “another port.” The boats returned
astonishingly soon without the passengers.
Then, in order to prevent the possibility of trouble from Armenians
mobilized for railway and road construction, they were divided in
companies of from three hundred to five hundred and put to work at
intervals of several miles. Regiments of the Turkish regular army were
sent “to put down the Armenian revolution,” and came suddenly upon
the little groups of workers plying pickaxe, crowbar, and shovel. The
“rebels” were riddled with bullets before they knew what was happening.
The few who managed to flee were followed by mounted men, and shot or
sabred.
Telegrams began to pour in upon Talaat bey at Constantinople,
announcing that here, there, and everywhere Armenian uprisings had
been put down, and telegrams were returned, congratulating the local
officials upon the success of their prompt measures. To neutral
newspaper men at Constantinople, to neutral diplomats, who had heard
vaguely of a recurrence of Armenian massacres, this telegraphic
correspondence was shown as proof that an imminent danger had been
averted. “We have not been cruel, but we admit having been severe,”
declared Talaat bey. “This is war time.”
Having thus rid themselves of the active manhood of the Armenian race,
the Turkish Government still felt uneasy. The old men and boys, the
women and children, were an element of danger to the Ottoman Empire.
The Armenians must be rooted out of Turkey. But how accomplish this in
such a way that the Turkish Ambassador at Washington and the German
newspapers might be able to say, as they have said and are still
saying, “All those who have been killed were of that rebellious element
caught red-handed or while otherwise committing traitorous acts against
the Turkish Government, and _not women and children_, as some of these
_fabricated_ reports would have the Americans believe?” Talaat bey was
ready with his plan. Deportation--a regrettable measure, a military
necessity--but perfectly humane.
From May until October the Ottoman Government pursued methodically
a plan of extermination far more hellish than the worst possible
massacre. Orders for deportation of the entire Armenian population to
Mesopotamia were despatched to every province of Asia Minor. These
orders were explicit and detailed. No hamlet was too insignificant to
be missed. The news was given by town criers that _every_ Armenian was
to be ready to leave at a certain hour for an unknown destination.
There were no exceptions for the aged, the ill, the women in pregnancy.
Only rich merchants and bankers and good-looking women and girls were
allowed to escape by professing Islâm, and let it be said to their
everlasting honour that few availed themselves of this means of escape.
The time given varied from two days to six hours. No household goods,
no animals, no extra clothing could be taken along. Food supply and
bedding was limited to what a person could carry. And they had to
go _on foot_ under the burning sun through parched valleys and over
snow-covered mountain passes, a journey of from three to eight weeks.
When they passed through Christian villages where the deportation
order had not yet been received, the travellers were not allowed to
receive food or ministrations of any sort. The sick and the aged and
the wee children fell by the roadside, and did not rise again. Women
in childbirth were urged along by bayonets and whips until the moment
of deliverance came, and were left to bleed to death. The likely girls
were seized for harems, or raped day after day by the guards until
death came as a merciful release. Those who could committed suicide.
Mothers went crazy, and threw their children into the river to end
their sufferings. Hundreds of thousands of women and children died of
hunger, of thirst, of exposure, of shame.
The pitiful caravans thinned out, first daily, and later hourly. Death
became the one thing to be longed for: for how can hope live, how can
strength remain, even to the fittest, in a journey that has no end? And
if they turned to right or left from that road to hell, they were shot
or speared. Kurds and mounted peasants hunted down those who succeeded
in escaping the roadside guards.
They are still putting down the Armenian revolution out there in Asia
Minor. I had just written the above paragraph when an English woman
whom I have known for many years came to my home. She left Adana,
in Cilicia, only a month ago. Her story is the same as that of a
hundred others. I have the identical facts, one eye-witness testimony
corroborating the other, from American, English, German, and Swiss
sources. This English woman said to me, “The deportation is still going
on. From the interior along the Bagdad Railway they are still being
sent through Adana on the journey of death. As far as the railway
exists, it is being used to hurry the work of extermination faster than
the caravans from the regions where there are no railways. Oh! if they
would only massacre them, and be done with it, as in the Hamidian days!
I stood there at the Adana railway station, and from the carriages the
women would hold up their children, and cry for water. They had got
beyond a desire for bread. Only water! There was a pump. I went down on
my knees to beg the Turkish guard to let me give them a drink. But the
train moved on, and the last I heard was the cry of those lost souls.
That was not once. It was almost every day the same thing. Did Lord
Bryce say eight hundred thousand? Well, it must be a million now. Could
you conceive of human beings allowing wild animals to die a death like
that?”
But the Turkish Ambassador in Washington declares that these stories
are “fabrications,” and that “no women and children have been killed.”