The total Armenian population in the Turkish Empire in 1912 numbered
between 1,600,000 and 2,000,000. Of these 182,000 escaped to the
Russian Caucasus, where now again they have been placed in peril of
extermination at the hands of the Turks. About 4,200 escaped into
Egypt, while 150,000 still remain in Constantinople. To these figures
must be added the relatively small number of survivors still in hiding
or scattered in distant provinces. Mr. Morgenthau concludes that
1,000,000 Armenians were harried out of their homes in Asia Minor,
that the murdered number between 600,000 and 800,000. The remainder, in
pitiful want of the barest necessities of life, hold out their hands to
the Christian fellowship of America for aid.
In how far was the German Government responsible for the murder and
deportation of the Armenians in Turkey? Mr. Morgenthau, summing up
the story own fruitless efforts to get Baron Wangenheim, the German
Ambassador, to intervene in their behalf, says: "Let me say most
emphatically, the German Government could have prevented it." Now again
it is the German Government that has handed over the Armenian refugees
in the Russian Caucasus to the tender mercy of the Turks.