The Case of Armenia ^ /rj ,4 ■■). nbJ-B 7j» R^UMH r^ !5* Coat of Arms and Flags of Armenia The Armenian National Union of America n. of D* OCT 6 W9 2*5 TjUl Armenia demands independence and reparation The Case of Armenia The Armenians demand the redemption of their national heritage from alien rule, and its constitution into a free, self-governing and independent State of Armenia. That is, they do not want to become an autonomous member of a confederation; they do not want international control; they do not want to have even the suggestion of any direct or in- direct political connection with any neighboring nation or racial entity. Armenia demands unconditional liberation at the hands of the Allies on the grounds that: — (a). She has suffered terribly through the omissions of the Powers to do their conventional duty towards her; (b). She has, under most adverse conditions, and at tremendous sacrifices, remained faithful to the cause of the Allies, and, (c). She has made vital contributions to the Allied arms by actual fighting. (a) When Russia invaded Armenia in 1828, she availed herself of the services of the Armenians in her military oper- ations; but once her purpose was achieved, she retired from Armenia and left the Armenians a prey to the brewing wrath and vengeance of the Turk. England and France were, in this war, the allies of Russia. After the Crimean war, in the Treaty of Paris, the Turk convenanted to establish com- plete equality between the Christians and Moslems, and to inaugurate certain reform measures for the benefit of all ; in consideration whereof, he was admitted to the advantages 3 of the public law and concert of Europe, as a sovereign and civilized nation; and the Powers further agreed that, "no right shall accrue by virtue of the foregoing stipulations to any power, to interfere either collectively or severally in the relation of the Sultan with his subjects." Great Britain was the principal author of this Treaty. The Sultan, following his admission into the fraternity of the civilized nations, resumed with even a fuller vigor his congenial trade of murder and destruction. He massacred 10,000 Maronites and Nestorians, through the Druses; 30,- 000 Bulgarians, through his soldiers; laid a heavy hand on Bosnia and Herzegovina; plundered and massacred, through the Kurds, the Circassians and his Zaptiehs, the defenseless and peaceful Armenians of the rural districts; and through his chosen officials and military tyrants, inaugurated, in the principal Armenian centres, an era of unprecedented oppression and persecution. The Russo-Turkish war of 1877 was the direct outcome of this state of things. In this war, the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army of the Caucasus, several Corps commanders and a con- siderable part of the Russian Army of the Caucasus, were Armenians. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Armen- ians had helped Russia to conquer from Persia a goodly part of Persian Armenia. And now, Russia, in return for the vital help of the Armenians, promised autonomy for Russian Armenia, and the exaction of adequate guarantees for re- forms in Turkish Armenia. The Armenians, upon these specific promises of Russia, helped her to win the war against the Turk. Under the 16th Article of the Treaty of San- Stefano, dated March 3. 1878, Russia, in fulfillment of her pledge to the Armenians, imposed upon the Turk adequate conditions for the carrying out of needed reform measures for the benefit of the Armenians. The Treaty of San-Stefano was declared, by England, to be too exorbitant an imposition upon the Turk. Russia was forced to submit that Treatv to a European Congress, which met at Berlin and concluded the Treaty of Berlin on July 13. 1878. By the sixty-first Article of this Treaty. "The Sublime Porte undertakes to carry out, without further delay, the amelioration and reforms demanded by local requirements in the provinces inhabited by the Armenians, and to guaran- tee their security against the Circassians and Kurds. It will make known periodically the steps taken to this effect to the Powers, who will superintend their application." Thus, 4 Great Britain, once more, entrusted Armenia into the keep- ^ On Tune^'lX/S, Great Britain entered into a separate Treatv with Turkey, whereby (heat Britain engages to join the Sultan to resist by force ol arms any R«ss£nat tempt against the Ottoman territory, whereupon the Sul- an promised "to introduce reforms to be agreed upon be- ween the two Powers, into the government and for the pro- of the Christians and other subjects ot the Porte in u sc territories (Armenia) ; and in order to enable England to make necessary provision for executing her engagement, the Smtan further assigns the Island of Cyprus to be oc- cupied and administered by England." . Since the Treatv of Berlin, the lot of the Armenian has been one of intense suffering, which reached its culmination in the crowning horrors of 1915. It is clear that the Powe are collecdvely and severally responsible for the plight ot Irmenia! Great Britain, by reason of her leadership in the making of the Treaties of Paris and Berlin, and particularly le- the Convention of Cyprus, holds a paramount and special responsibility for the lot of Armenia In an .equal measure, she has the right to see to it that full justice be done to Armenia, and that Armenia be restored oherw people Be it here said that, notwithstanding the British noUcy in the past, which all right thinking Britishers, no do bt must reo-ret the Armenians have always been and now are nendlv to Great Britain. They persist in the be- lief that the land of Gladstone and Bryce will ultimately do her plain duty toward Armenia. (b) At the out break of the Great War, the Turks *Following the Treaty of Berlin, the systematic P^ 1 ™** 1 ^ Armenians became the official policy of ^Sj^ZS^ffiJ wmnn \rmemans were massacred during l»y4-yo throughout lurKey, nrS SOOOOrSiaTn 1909. The brazenly sympathetic attitude o two ofthe Powers toward the Sultan: the apparent helplessness and resigned ^lousneTo France and Italy; the well intentioned but always abortive efforts of Great Britain, in the face of this hideous harvest in .innocent human live, and the usual promises, evasive tactics lies d^M mtrisnies of the Sultan, spreading over a period oi 35 years, arc record* SXminoufd^omaticdocuments. The) constitute the most disgrace ful ci laptc of modern history. No shifting ol responsibility can lighten i ? f „v one of the great Christian Powers in this sickening out Set" smr^stLnp^ple, A reading of this phase of Je Arm-ian history forces one who believes in the fundamentals of Christian morahtj to the query: What do the Christian Powers really understand bj the term Christianity? 5 offered autonomy to Russian Armenia and part of Turkish Armenia, if the Armenians, as a nation, would support Turkey and Germany. The Armenians categorically re- jected the Turkish offer, and for their fidelity to the cause of the Entente, whose fortunes were at the time at a low ebb, suffered, in proportion to their numbers, larger losses in lives than any other race or nation in this war. At the moment of the supreme test, the Armenians, at tremendously heavy sacrifices, stood by those whom they considered as their friends. It should" never be forgotten by America and the Entente that, the appalling tragedy of 1915 was the price which the Armenians paid for their adherence to the cause of right and decency; that, the Armenians want nothing from their friends except their own country and freedom. (c) During the first year of the war, the Armenians organized volunteer forces, and these forces became largely instrumental for the successes of the Russian Caucasus Army. Following the breakdown of the Russian Caucasus Army in the beginning of this year, the Armenians, although isolated and surrounded on all sides by formidable enemies, and shut off from all means of communication with the Entente, threw themselves into the breach and took over the Caucasian front. The Armenians of the Erivan region fought the Turks from January to June ; those of Baku, from March to July, when the British joined them and, according to a communique of the British war office, a force under General Andranig was continuing the battle as late as Oc- tober, 1918.* Lord Robert Cecil said that the intervention of *In the beginning of 1918, following the dissolution of the Russian Army, 10,000 Armenian and several thousand Russian troops which were stationed in Persia, landed at Baku on the way to their homes. The Turko-Tartars had already intercepted all rail and wire communications between Baku and the rest of the Caucasus; and they attacked these Armenian-Russian troops. After several days' fighting, in which the Turko-Tartars suffered losses, in killed. 10.000, and the Armenians and their Russian allies, 2,500, the Armenians conquered the city, and held it against the repeated attacks of the Turko-Tartars until the latter part of July, when a British regiment from Persia joined them. In September, the British-Armenian allies were attacked by a Turko-Tartar force of 40,000. The Armenian Commander, with the approval and advice of the British Commander, entered into negotiations with the enemy for the surrender of the city, upon certain conditions, which, however, were not carried out; and the Armenian-British contingents retired from Baku under fire (British-Armenian detachments have, since, re-occupied Baku.) A few journals in England and in America, which probably had never heard before of the presence of the Armenians at Baku, without 6 tlie Armenians, at that critical moment, became of important service to the British Army in Mesopotamia, and that the Allies should be grateful to them for what they have done under most difficult conditions. General Liman Von Sanders, German Commander of the Turkish Army in Palestine, said, a few days ago, that the collapse of the Turkish Palestinian front was due to the fact that the Turks, contrary to his advice and orders, had sent all their available forces to the Caucasus and Azarbaijan, where they fought the Armenians. We now know from the confessions of authoritative Turks and Russians that, had the Armen- ians acceded to the Turkish proposal at the outbreak of the war to make common cause with them, the Turks would not have had much difficulty in achieving the conquest of the Caucasus even during the first year of the war, and thus effecting a junction with the 18,000,000 Turko-Tartars and the 5,000,000 Afghans, the attainment of which aim was the principal moving cause for the entry of the Turks into the Great War. The Armenians made this impossible for the Turks. They protected the gateway to India, and thus made an indirect but vital contribution to the success of the Allied arms in the West. No prudent man would venture a definite opinion as to what would have been the course of the war, had the Turks conquered the Caucasus, and reached the Trans-Caspian region seven months earlier than they did, which they would have done, without the intervention of the Armenians, any more than it is possible to say definitely as to what would have been the course of the war had Belgium not resisted Germany at Liege for three days. adequate information as to the circumstances surrounding the retirement of the British-Armenians from P>aku, hastily put the blame for that unfortunate incident on the shoulders of the Armenians. The British Government officially repudiated the veracity of such unwarranted asper- sions cast on the steadiness of the Armenian troops. Finally, in order to put an end to the ugly gossip, Lord Robert Cecil, on October 25th, 1918. in the House of Commons, said (translated) "The British Government have been informed that the negotiations which the Armenians have con- ducted with the Turk-; at Baku have been initiated at the instance of the British Commander, General Dunsterville. It is unfair to put any blame for them on the Armenians. There is not the slightest doubt that the cause of the Allies owes a debt of gratitude to the Armenians for all they have accomplished by fighting the Turks, as heroically as the}- did, under most difficult conditions."' An Official British Statement on Armenia's Role in the War. Lord Robert Cecil, writing on behalf of Mr. Balfour, by a letter dated October 3, 1918, and addressed to Viscount Bryce, states that "the military contributions which the Armenians have made to the Allied armies most assuredly cannot be forgotten," and mentions four points which, he thinks, "the Armenians may well regard as the charter of their right to liberation at the hands of the Allies." "One: In the autumn of 1914, the national Congress of the Ottoman Armenians, then sitting at Erzerum, was offered autonomy by the Turkish emissaries, if it would actively assist Turkey in the war, but it replied that while they would do their duty individually as Ottoman sub- jects, they could not, as a nation, work for the cause of i urkev and her allies. "Two : Following this courageous refusal, the Ottoman Armenians were systematically murdered by the Turkish Government in 1915, more than 700,000 people, being exter- minated by the most cold-blooded and fiendish methods. "Three: From the beginning of the war, that half of the Armenian nation under Russian sovereignty organized volunteer forces and, under their heroic leader, General An- dranig, bore the brunt of some of the heaviest fighting in the Caucasian campaign. "Four: After the Russian army's breakdown at the end of last year, these Armenian forces took over the Cau- casian front and for five months delayed the Turks' advance, thus rendering important services to the British Army in Mesopotamia, these operations in the Alexandropol and Eri- van region being, of course, unconnected with those of Baku. "Armenian soldiers are still fighting in the ranks of the allied forces in Syria (10,000 volunteers, principally from America I. They are to he found serving alike in the British, the French, and in the American armies, and have borne their part in General Allenby's great victory in Palestine. "f fThe Hill of Ar-arai ( Palestine I, which was strongly fortified by the Turks and Germans, barred the way to the advance of Gen. Allenby's forces. Two successive determined attacks were beaten back. On the morning of Sept. 16th, the Armenians assaulted and swept over the enemy's defenses. The Turk commander, who was captured, said: "I have fought in the Balkans, in Tripoli and in Palestine, and never before have I experienced so savage an assault from an enemy. We at once realized that we were being attacked by Armenian revolutionists and ordered our men to make haste and find a way to surrender to the British." The Armenians demand that their own country be re- stored to them, in accordance with the specific pledges of America and the Entente in favor of the self-determination of nations. Mr. Balfour, replying to an interpellation by Mr. Ram- sav MacDonald in the House of Commons on July 11th, 1918, said: "His Majesty's Government is following with earnest sympathy and admiration the gallant resistance of the Armenians (in the Caucasus) in defence of their liberties and honour. I would refer the Honorable Member to the public statements made by leading statesmen among the Allied Powers in favor of a settlement (of the Armenian Case) upon the principle of self-determination." M. Clemenceau, by a letter dated July, 1918, and ad- dressed to His Excellency Boghos Nubar, President, Arme- nian National Delegation, Paris, said: "France, the victim of the mosl unjust of aggressions, has included in her peace terms the liberation of oppressed nations. "As the traditional protectress of these peoples, she has. on many occasions, manifested her profound sympathy for the Armenians. She has strained every effort to help them. "The spirit of self-abnegation of the Armenians, their loyalty towards the Allies, their contributions to the Foreign Legion, to the Caucasian front, ami to the Oriental Legion, have strengthened the ties that connect them with France.* "I am happy to confirm to you that the government of the Republic, like that of Great Britain, has not ceased to place the Armenian nation among those peoples whose fate the Allies intend to settle according to the supreme laws of 1 lumanity and Justice." Mr. Lloyd George, on January 5, 1918, solemnly de- clared in the House of Commons that the recognition of the separate condition o\ Armenia shall constitute one of the war aims of Great Britain. Last September, at Manchester, he said that the British Government recognizes its respon- sibility to Armenia. Mr. Balfour, speaking in the House of Commons on *Of the 900 Armenian volunteer- in the Foreign Legion I I 865 have been killed. The Russian Armenians, in addition to volunteer contingents, have contributed 160,000 men to the Russian army. 9 November 6th, 1918, stated that Great Britain had reserved to itself the right to advocate at the Peace Conference full liberty for Armenia. On November 30, 1918, the Italian Chamber of Deputies, by two hundred votes, adopted a resolution in favor of the independence of Armenia. President Wilson, in his message of January 8th, con- ceded to Armenia the right of "fullest autonomy." In his Mt. Vernon and Metropolitan Opera House speeches, he clearly and emphatically pledged this Republic to the prin- ciple of the emancipation of oppressed nationalities and the recognition of their right to choose their own allegiance. Ex-President Roosevelt has repeatedly advocated full inde- pendence for Armenia.* ARMENIA — Armenia consists of the Turkish, Russian and Persian Armenias. The Turkish Armenia has an area of 101,000 square miles, the Russian Armenia an area of 26.491 square miles, and the Persian Armenia an area of 5,789 square miles. Total, 133,289 square miles. The Turkish Armenia includes the Provinces of Erze- rum, Van, Bitlis, Harpoot, the Eastern part of the Province of Trebizonde, the Northern part of the Province of Diar- bekir, the Eastern part of the Province of Adana, the North- western part of the Province of Aleppo and the Eastern part of the Province of Sivas. At different periods, notably in 1878, the Turkish Government juggled with the bounda- ries of the last named four Provinces, by incorporating into them Turkish districts, or by incorporating an Armenian dis- trict into a Moslem district. Under the Treaty of Berlin, the Provinces of Erzerum, Van, Bitlis, Diarbekir, Harpoot and *Anv proposition for the settlement of the Armenian case which does not immediately put all of Armenia on the map as a separate Ar- menian State, will not be acceptable to the Armenians. The case of Armenia must not be mixed or bound up with that of any other geograph- ical division or racial entity of Turkey, or with the alleged special interest or claim of another nation. Armenia belongs to the Armenians in the same sense that France belongs to the French. The Turks and the Kurds, who are invaders and wrong-doers, may remain in Armenia, if they so elect, and they will be assured of an impartial rule ; but, their spurious and pre- tended claims as to their own numbers, etc., have no more weight and validity than the claim of a criminal to the possession of the house of his neighbor whom he has murdered. The slightest suggestion of willingness on the part of the Powers to lend ear to the arguments of the Turks, or of those who argue like Turks, will be tantamount to condonation and ap- proval of the Turk's crimes. It will mean that they are willing to take advantage of the result of their own omission. It will mean that they are 10 Sivas, which have an area of 96,600 square miles, were recog- nized as constituting parts of Armenia. In 1913 the Arme- nian National Delegation asked the Ambassadorial Confer- ence at London for the institution of international control over the Armenian portions of the Six Provinces and over Lesser Armenia or Cilicia. Turkey, at the instigation of German)-, balked at the inclusion of Lesser Armenia in the proposed project of reform, — since the Bagdad railroad crosses through it, — and instead, included in the Armenian scheme the Province of Trebizonde.t In January, I'M I, a final agreement was reached between the Powers, represent- ing the Armenians, and Turkey, by and under which two Christian inspectors-general were appointed over the said seven Provinces, but the complete execution of the project was thwarted by the outbreak of the war. At that time, Germany talked of a separate reform measure for Lesser Armenia which, however, did not materialize. Thus, in 1914, Turkey conceded to the Armenians an area of 109,100 square miles, which is 8,100 square miles more than the Armenians claim as their right and heritage in Turkey. The case of Lesser Armenia or Cilicia is of most vital importance to the Armenians. Therefore, a few additional words on the subject are desirable. Under the terms of the Treaty of 1916, which was en- tered into between Great Britain, France and Russia, Lesser Armenia was allotted to France. A French financial group is now seeking to bring about the carrying out of that part of the said Treaty. Lesser Armenia is about 17,000 square miles in area. It means nothing to France, except so much land that can be exploited. But, it is the heart and the very willing to establish a precedent wherein- a ruling nation may destroy a subject race, as a means of disposing of the rightful claims of that race. The point at issue is one of essential morality which cannot be determined by hair-splitting arguments as to relative numbers. That sort of pre- tended evidence by criminals must be ruled out by a court of equity. I lad the Powers done their duty since 1878, there would have been over four million more Armenians than there are to-day. The fact is, however, that with the union of the Russian and Persian Armenias to Turkish Armenia, the Armenians will constitute not less than sixty-six per cent, of the population of the reunited Armenia. fin May, 1895, following the 1894 massacre, the Ambassadors of the Powers at Constantinople agreed upon a el of reform measures for all of Turkish Armenia, including the Six Provinces and Cicilia, to which the Sultan gave his adhesion. This new reform measure, like its predecessors, has not been carried out. The boundaries of Armenia — Turki h, K and Persian — are as well defined and fixed as those of England, 11 life of Armenia.* Armenia cannot live without it. Armenia major is surrounded on all sides by Tartars, Persians, Arabs and Turks, and Cilicia offers Armenia the only outlet through which she can establish direct contact with the civilized world. It is inconceivable that heroic and noble France, which has suffered so much through the iniquity of another nation, would permit an act of injustice against a small race, which has always been, and wishes to remain, her faithful friend. Besides, Cilicia is an integral part of Armenia. Over 3,300 years ago, when the Armenians first immigrated into Asia Minor from their original home in Southeastern Europe, they lived for several hundred years in Northern Cilicia. Again, when they lost the kingdom of Armenia Major in the eleventh century, they returned to Cilicia, and there they established and maintained the Kingdom of Lesser Armenia or Cilicia from 1080-1375. During the mediaeval ages, the ten harbors of this kingdom were among the most renowned in the Mediterranean, and the Gulf of Alexan- dretta and its adjacent waters were known as the Sea of Armenia. This kingdom became the base and the ally of the Crusaders. Following the downfall of all of the five States, which the Crusaders had founded in the East, Lesser Arme- nia, single-handed, fought and retarded the westerly ad- vance of the Mameluke and the Turko-Tartar, for a period of 85 years. 1 lore the Armenians did, for over eight decades, what brave Belgium did at Liege for three davs.t POPULATION— In 1912. there were 2,103,000 Armen- ians in Turkey; 2.008,000 in Russian Armenia and the ad- jacent regions; 165,000 in Persian Armenia, and over 300,000 in America. Europe and elsewhere. That is, nut of a total of k576,000 Armenians in the world, over 4,250,000 lived in or around their homeland. This means that, if 1,000,000 Armenians have perished during the war. there still remain over 3. (MH), (Mil) Armenians in or in the adjacent regions of Armenia. *Armenia should include the Russian and Turkish Armenias, with outlets at Trebizonde and on the Mediterranean, in Cilicia, the ancient home of Armenia. Without Cilicia Armenia will be like a man without a pair of lungs — will be asphyxiated. — From an editorial headed "The Passing of Turkey," in The Evening^ Post, N. Y., Nov. 1, 1918. tThe Armenians of Zeitun, Cilicia, never submitted to the domina- tion of the Portr. According to Lord Bryce, they had, from 1800-1895, forty successful battles against superior Turkish forces. In 1895, eight thousand of them fought for three months sixty thousand Turkish regu- lars, and only at the intervention of the Pritish Ambassador did the con- flict come to an end. 12 In 1912, the population of Turkish Armenia numbered 3,100,000, divided as follows: Armenians, 1,425,000; Assy- rians, 123,000: Kizil-Bachiz, 220,000; Yezidiz, 37,000; Mo- hammedan Kurds, -124,000; Turks, 871,000.* The decision of the Ambassadorial Conference at London, in 1913, in favor of the institution of international control over parts of Turkish Armenia, was based on ll/ese figures. Armenia is to-day No Man's Land. About two-thirds of the Armenians of Turkey lived in Turkish Armenia. Possi- bly one-half of the Armenians of Turkish Armenia have per- ished, and the other half have either found refuge in the Rus- sian Armenia (300,000), or deported to Mesopotamia or Syria. But, the Turks and the Kurds of Armenia have suf- fered even more than the Armenians, particularly those who lived in the region which was invaded by Russia. The fol- lowing is an extraordinary but significant instance to ex- plain the point under discussion. The city of Diarbekir had a normal population of 65,000, of which 30,000 were Arme- nians, and the rest were Turks, Kurds and Assyrians. In 1915, the Armenians of that city were either murdered or deported. In 1916, 30,000 Turk refugees from the Bitlis district were settled in Diarbekir. In the fall of 1917, dis- ease and privation had reduced the 65,000 non-Armenian population of Diarbekir to 6,000. Thus, Talaat and Enver succeeded in destroying possibly one-half of the Armenians of Turkish Armenia, and they also destroyed possibly 75% of their own people in Armenia. In other words, Talaat and Enver, instead of exterminating the Armenian race, as they had schemed, made possible and necessary the union of the Turkish and Russian Armenians, who now number more than ♦The population of Turkey is estimated I 1914) at 17,500,000, divided as follows: Arabs, 5.000,000; Turks, 4,400,000; Armenians, 2,103,000; Greeks, 2,000,000; Syrian Christians, 1,000,000; Kurds, 1,250,000; Jews, 400,000; Circassians. ! Tartar-, Kizil-Bachiz, Yezidiz, Lazes, Druses, Assyrians and others, 1,250,000. The Turks ordinarily include in their own number all the Moslem communities, except the Arabs. Ac- cording to a credible report from a German source, which has been sub- stantiated from other sources, the population of the Turkish Empire has, since 1914, been reduced by 25 per cent. « »ver 2,000,000 Turks have perished from all causes, and the percentage of the Turkish losses in Armenia has been heavier than elsewhere, since a considerable portion of Armenia has been invaded by Russia. This means that the number of Armenians in the Armenia to be, will be considerably larger than all the Turks in Turkey, as it is constituted to-day. 13 the scattered remnants of the heterogeneous Turkish race in Turkey.* The Armenians possess moral fitness for self-rule. Out of 3,300 years of national existence, they have been, for about 2,500 years, either independent or autonomous. Since the downfall of their independence in 1375, they have submitted to the spiritual, as well as the civil authority of the Catholicos. (The Primate of the Apostolic Church of Armenia.) The Armenian National Delegation, which is officially recognized by the Entente as representing the cause of Armenia, derives its authority from the head of the *Abdul-Medjid Effendi, heir presumptive to the throne of Turkey, according to an Associated Press report, regards the Armenian atrocities as the most shanu-ful occurrence in Turkish history, and puts the blame for them on the shoulders of certain ministers. The writer of these lines has had sufficient personal association with Turkish ministers, ambassa- dors and officials of all grades — young and old — and also with the common Turkish people, to enable him to make the deliberate statement that mur- der and plunder of Christians have always been favored by an over- whelming majority of the Turks. The exceptions are so few that no par- ticular attention need he given them in considering this phase of the Turk- ish question. Turkish history has been uniformly marked with blood, fire and destruction. The Turks have never ruled with justice and efficiency, and they have not, during their entire career, contributed one jot to the make-up of our civilization. Between 1S21 and 1914 they massacred Greeks, Nestorians, Maronites, Bulgarians, Serbs. Armenians and Mace- donians. Dr. Ahmed Riza, President of the Turkish Senate, who is also the leader of the so-called liberal wing of the Young Turk party, during his exile in Paris, justified in his paper, "Meshveret," the Armenian mas- sacres of 1894-96. The Young Turks, in 190'), nine months after their ion t" p^wer, in conspiracy with Abd-ul-Hamid, planned and carried out the Cilician massacres, and Abd-ul-Hamid, for his own account, plotted an abortive coup against the Young Turks, which took place on the same day that the massacres were started. The ringleaders of the in massacres remain unpunished. The so-called Turkish liberals, who lived in Switzerland during the Great War, and who are now at the helm of tin- new Turkish Government, did not raise a voice of protest against the Armenian horrors of 1915. No right-thinking person can offer one word of apology for the policy of the Turks against their sub- jects; and no intelligent person would advocate that the Turks should be entrusted once more with the government of any part of Turkey. The unfitness of the Turk to rule the subject races, or even himself, is no longer a debatable question. In so far as the Armenians are concerned, they are definitely resolved not to have any further direct or indirect po- litical connection with the Turk. Armenia will no longer be a pawn in a selfish game. Unfortunately, there are to be found, even to-day, a few men here and there whose visions are so defective and whose souls are so completely imbued with the discredited Machiavellian school diplomacy, that they advocate doing "full justice" to the Armenians by assuring for 14 Church.* There are to-day, over 10,000 Armenian men and women who have received a college or university education; over 5,000 men who have had experience in the various branches of government, and over 150 men who have been ambassadors or ministers, or members of the ministries or parliaments of Russia, Egypt or Persia. The general ratio of literacy among the Armenians is high. Not less than 75% of the Armenians know how to read and write. A British journalist with international reputation, who has made Russia and the Near East special subjects of study for over quarter of a century, said, a few days ago, that the Armenians are better fitted for self-rule than the Balkan nations, even as they are to-day. A race which has given, during the last 35 years, Prime Ministers to Russia, Hun- gary and Egypt, of which members have held, in recent days, and now hold, high administrative and executive posts and military ranks in the governments of four countries, and which, during this war, has revealed a resolute will to die for ideals and liberty, must certainly be lit for self-rule. The Armenians have physical sufficiency to maintain an independent State of Armenia. Out of a population of 4,000,000 to 4,500,000 that there may be within the boundaries of the Armenia to be, over them, under some makeshift arrangement, "security of life, honor and property," instead of giving them unconditionally what, according to the law^ of God and man, belongs to them. Men with such mentality and morality have a very great responsibility for the ills of the past, and it would be manifestly unwise and immoral to pay the slightest heed to their arguments or advice in the adjustment of Turkish affairs, which must be based on reason and justice. As for the Armenian horrors of 1915, the direct responsibility for them belongs to the Turks, who perpetrated them ; to the Germans, who possessed absolute power to prevent them, and did not, and to the neutral world, which did not make an earnest and timely effort to mitigate, if it could not prevent, this most ghastly and col crime in recorded history. *The organization of this Church has stood the test of 1700 years of political and religious upheavals. It is an organization based entirely on the consent of the people. Not the Catholicos only, but all the eccle- siastics of higher and lower ranks, and the administrators of the Church, are elected directly or indirectly by votes of the people. The Armenian people, in their homeland or in foreign centers, have, through the organi- zation of this Church, always directed and sustained their own religion-, educational and eleemosynary institutions. This Church is at once a nony to the inherent orderly character of the Armenian race and an effective source of power upon which the new State of Armenia may draw- at the inception of its organization. 15 3,000,000 will be Armenian. There will be, within that State, over 200,000 Armenians, who shall have received military training in the Armies of Russia, France, Great Britain, America and Turkey. Armenia will, to be sure, need financial assistance and expert counsel during' her formative period. But, her favorable geographical situation, her considerable natural wealth and the industry of her people will accelerate her economic recuperation. Besides, Turkey and Germany must pay Armenia an adequate indemnity. Over 1,600,000 Armenians, or about 400,000 families, have been driven away from their homes, and possibly one-half of them have been destroyed. Turkey and Germany, co-partners in their Ar- menian adventure, are jointly and severally liable for the ravages they have wrought in Armenia, and must, therefore, pay the Armenians a minimum indemnity of $1,000,000,000, which is at the nominal rate of $2,500 per family. Armenia, indomitable in her resolve to live and to be free, invites the civilized world to the support of her case. She asks the friends of liberty, of justice, and of fair play everywhere to help her secure her freedom, after five cen- turies of martyrdom. an Girls at the American College for Girls, at Constantinople, in 1908, in aJPageant Repr ol Armenia at Different Periods and Places. 16 American and Entente Official and Representative Public Opinion for an Independent Armenia On December 10, 1918, Senator Lodge offered the follow- ing resolution in the Senate of the United States: Resolution : "Resolved, That in the opinion of the Senate, Armenia (including the six vilayets of Turkish Armenia and Cilicia), Russian Armenia, and the northern part of the Province of Azerbaijan, Persian Armenia, should be independent, and that it is the hope of the Senate that the peace conference will make arrangements for helping Armenia to establish an independent republic. "It is also the opinion of the Senate that provision should be made for the Syrians and other Christian populations of Asia Minor, and that those portions of Asia Minor where the Greeks are predominant should be placed under the control of the Government of Greece." Senator Charles S. Thomas, Democrat, Member Senate Foreign Rela- tions Committee, on December 16, 1918, said: "I heartily approve of the Lodge Resolution, and of every resolution which farms Armenian independence. I not only approve it heartily but I would go further and plaee muter Armenian subjection as many Turks as may be necessary for the reconstruc- tion of the Armenian country. "Of course it is impossible to compensate Armenia for the terrible butchery of her people and impossible for the Allies to retaliate in kind upon the Turks; but upon that country should In- placed the burden of retribution to the full extent thai retribution may be in the power of the Allies to enforce." Mr. Balfour, by a letter dated ( >ctober 12. 1918, and addressed to His Excellency, Boghos Xubar, President, Armenian National Delegation, Paris, said : "The liberation of Armenia is one of the war aims of the Allied Powers." On November 30, 1918, the Italian Parliament adopted a resolution in favor of the independence of Armenia. 17 s Viscount Bryce, on December 19, 1918, through the Associated Press, said : "English friends of America trust that American public opin- ion, recognising the sufferings long endured by the Armenian peo- ple, its fidelity to the Christian faith, and the splendid services rendered by its soldiers in the war, will heartily support Armenia's claim to complete deliverance from Turkish rule and its own national independence. By its industry, intelligence, and education, Armenia is well fitted for freedom and capable of restoring pros- perity to its ancient home." Former Ambassador Oscar S. Straus, on December 13, 1918, said: "We shall have no assured peace in the world until the op- pressed nationalities are set free. One of the important reasons for which America went into the war was to make democracy safe, which of course embraces bringing oppressed nationalities from under the yoke of their oppressors. Turkey has shown her inability to rule her own people, and certainly not other nationalities that have come under her bloody yoke. "The Armenians hare suffered most from the united barbari- ties of the Hun and Ottoman. Armenia should and must be free, and she should have her ancient country under the guarantee that all nationalities shall have coital political and religious rights. I fee! quite sine that all of the new nationalities that will be carved out of the former autocracies will be constituted under charters that will be very much alike. To ask for more would be unreasonable and unjust, to be content 'with less would be equally so.'' Dr. James L. Barton, Secretary, American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and Chairman of the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief, on November 28, 1918, said: "I believe Armenians should be given their independence within the boundaries of their historic kingdom, including Russian and Turkish Armenia ami Cilicia. This laud belongs to Armenians by right of occupancy for centuries, and they now constitute the only people there morally and intellectually capable of self-government and with capacity to develop to the full the resources of the coun- try." On December 21, 1918, ninety-three American Bishops cabled a col- lective message to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and, through their Lordships, asked that the Anglican churches do their utmost to bring about the unconditional liberation of Armenia and her restoration to her own people. On December 18, 1918, the Armenian National Delegation, Paris, proclaimed the independence of Armenia, and placed it under the guarantee of the Entente, the United States and the League of Nations. 18 Armenia s Snare in the Winning of the War LORD ROBERT CF.CITj "Id the beginning of the War, the Russian Ar- on October 3. 1918, wrote: menians organized volunteer forces, which bore the blunt of sume of the heaviest fighting in the Caucasian campaign. After the Russian Army's break-down last year, the Armenians took over the Caucasian front (over two hundred miles long), fought the Turks for five months, and thus ren- dered very important service to the British Army in Mesopotamia. They also captured Baku from the Turko-Tartars, and held it from March to July, 1918. until the arrival of the British. They served alike in the British, French and American Armies, and have borne their part in General Allenby's victory in Palestine. The services ren- dered by the Armenians to the common cause can ne\ er be forgotten." EX-PREMIER KERF. N SKY on August 20, 1918, said: "At the outbreak of the War, the Turks (the Turkish Caucasus Army was over 50U,000 in 1914) captured Sary-Kamish, and were marching on Tif • lis. All the high officials, including the Viceroy, were preparing for a hasty flight. Of all the races of the Caucasus, the Armenians alone stuck to their posts, organized volunteer forces and, by the side of their Russian comrades, faced the formid- able assaults of the enemy, and turned his vic- torious march into a disastrous rout." GEN. IHSAN PASHA, "We were advancing victoriously into the Cau- Commander, Right Wins, casus when, with the intervention of Armenians, Turkish Caucasus Army, the Russian right wing was stiffened up. I then in November, 1915, said: ordered a fresh army corps to attack the Russian left. But this corps was delayed for three days by Armenian volunteer contingents, and arrived too late to the scene of battle to save us from the terrible defeat we suffered. I don't blame the Ar- menians. We gave them a bad treatment. But, I must confess that, had it not Ixen tor the Ar- menians, we would have conquered the Caucasus. We will do that yet. When we do, then the Allies can't win the War. We will have India and the whole Mohammedan world on our side, which will force Great Britain to send armies from the ti ni iroiit to the East, and thus offer Germany the opportunity to overcome 1 The Russian Armenians were within their right tn fight the Turks from the beginning; and the Armenians of Turkey did not take up arms against the Turks until they were attacked. GEN. MM AN VON SANDERS, "The collapse of the Turkish Palestinian front German Commander in was due to the fact that the Turks, against my or- Syria, following Turkey's ders and advice, sent all their available forces to surrender, said: the Caucasus and Azarbaijan, where they fought the Armenians." GEN. ALLENBY, "I am proud to have Armenian contingents un- After Turkey's debacle in der my command. They fought brilliantly and Palestine, telegraphed to took a leading part in the victory." President Armenian Na- tional Delegation, Paris: 19 The Turks An editorial in the New York Times, December 16, 1918. Mr. Ward Price's Constantinople dispatch to The Times is curious reading-. He shows us the survivors of the Party of Union and Progress, which has led Turkey to destruction in ten years ; which had torn the remnants of the Ottoman Empire into fragments even before the begin- ning of the war; which made the Arabians and the Albanians furious in its passion for Turkification ; which played with the phrases of fraternity and equality and liberty and justice and parliamentary institutions for the purpose of organizing the massacre and ruin of non-Turkish races and a cruel, corrupt and futile autocracy. Mr. Price shows us the survivors, by their want of conspicuity not yet forced to seek shelter from punish- ment, unrepentant, still affecting to hold the German view that Turkev is "unbeaten."' The partv which has achieved disruption and decadence under the name of the Party of Union and Progre-- now takes the title of the Partv of Renovation. Preserve and guarantee our independence — that is the cry. Ger- main, into whose arms the Young Turks flung themselves so recklessly, having broken down, shall not the old Concert of the Powers, an incursion of European officials pledged to supervise "reforms," be revived? Shall not the policy, so successful in Macedonia and Crete, be revamped? Ad- ministration must always be maladministration wdiile the Turks have power in Turkey. From London comes a strange amendment of the old benevolent plural-Power effort to "reform"' the Turk-. Let the United States do it! No more international jealousies among the tutors of Turkey. "There "is a very marked tendency in London opinion in favor of the United "State- undertaking the task of teaching the Turks how to govern them- "selves." The suggestion is well meant. A similar proposal was made by an English Liberal organ many years ago. The United States has quite enough to do in teaching itself self-government. It has no time or disposi- tion foi issioi ary "civic" work in Turkey. Indeed, it is far from enthu- siastic ab iu1 its opportunity and duty in the Philippines. Self government of the Turks is their business and none of our con- cern. What they should never be allowed to do, what for nearly five hun- dred years they have shown their incapacity for, is the government of Christians. These are their "herd," to be exploited or slaughtered, accord- I pleasure. Xo system of foreign control or supervision, -mule or joint, will serve. Drive the Turks back to Asia, whence they came and where they belong. There is much more than 'plenty of room for them in Anatolia. // they can learn to behave themselves and let an independent Ann, and good. If not, "reform" should be pressed upon them by the only means and suasion they understand, the -word. . . . She (Turkey) should be moved, bag and baggage, into Anatolia. 20 Armenia and the Armenians The Armenians, a race of the Indo-European stock, about 1300 years B. C, left their original home in Thrace, Southeastern Europe, crossed the Bosphorus over into By- thinia, pushed Easterly into Cappadocia, and Northern Cili- cia, and in about the 8th century B. C. reached the region of the mountain of Ararat, where they founded the State of Armenia.* "Herodotus"; "Plonius"'; "J. De Morgan." King Herachia of Armenia was an ally of Nebuched- nezzar in the capture of Jerusalem 600 B. C. King Tigranes of Armenia was the ally of Cyrus the Great in the conquest of Babylonia and the consequent liberation of the Jews from 70 years' captivity 538 B. C. Under Tigranes the Great, (fl. 1st Century B. C.) Arme- nia attained the height of her glory and power, and extended from the Caspian to the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, from the Caucasus to the Mesopotamian plains, with an area exceeding 500,000 square miles and a population of 25,000,- 000. "Langlois"; "Lanormant." Religion. — Armenia has the first Christian National Church in the world. Apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew preached the Gospel in Armenia. Since, in unbroken succes- sion, the Church has had 137 Pontiffs, whose seat, since 309, (with occasional transfers elsewhere) has been at Etch- Miadzin, the Great Monastery, in Russian Armenia. Of the 4,576,000 of Armenians the world over (in 1912), about 150,000 are, since 1830, under the jurisdiction of the Church of Rome; about 100,000 have joined, since 1847, Protestant denominations, through the American mission- aries, and the remainder are the adherents of the Apostolic Church of Armenia. To-day the Church has 100 Bishops and *The Illyrians, who are the present Albanians, the Phrygians, who have heen subsequently merged in the Greeks, and the Greeks were the immediate neighbors of the Armenians in Thrace, and they all belong to the same branch of the Aryan family. 21 Archbishops; about 10,000 ecclesiastics of lower rank and 3909 parishes. Bertrand Bareilles writes as follows of this Church: "In the essentially democratic constitution of the Armenian Church, there is inherent a liberality of thought ; and the first thing which strikes us when we study the framework of her society is, that her clergy do not form a distinct and separate class." Post-Christian Period. — Following her conversion to Christianity, Armenia was in continual death-grapple with the Zoroasterian Persia and the ever surging hordes of bar- barians from the wilds of Asia. Armenia was the highway upon which crossed and recrossed the alien enemies of civili- zation — the Arab, Mongol, Tartar, Turk. The Armenians, isolated and separated from the rest of civilization, repre- sented the West in the East and fought its first battles. And now exhausted by the swelling and pressing tide of the pagan and Moslem forces, they retreated Westerly and set up the Kingdom of Lesser Armenia, along the coast of the Mediter- lanean, in 1080. Here they became the active allies of the Crusaders. But with the collapse of that unfortunate move- ment, they fell a prey to the wrath and vengeance of the Mameluke Sultan of Egypt. King Leon VI., after eight months' defense of Sis, his capital, laid down his arms in May. 1375, and thus ended the independence of Armenia. Armenia was eventually divided between Turkey, Russia and Persia. "Dulaurier"; "Stubbs"; "Neumann." Sir Edwin Pears makes the following observations about them : ■'They are physically a fine race. The men are usually tall, well built and powerful. The women have a healthy look about them which suggests good mother- hood. They are an ancient people of the same Indo- European race as ourselves, and speak an allied lan- guage. During long centuries, they held their own against Persians, Arabs, Turks and Kurds. Whenever they have had a fighting chance they proved their cour- age. ... A large proportion of them remained tillers of the soil. In commerce they are successful not only in Turkey, but in France, England and India. Though sub- ject to persecution for centuries under Moslem rule (be- cause of their Christian faith, their superior intelligence, 22 their industry and thrift), they have always managed to have their race respected." Language — Literature — Arts — Music. — Villefroi, Dore St. Martin, Hubschmann recognize the Armenian as one of the Indo-Germanic languages that has attained the highest degree of development, by a varied and ancient intellectual culture. Sir Henry Norman considers the ancient, mediaeval and modern Armenian literature, including works of imagina- tion, novels, romance and poetry, comparable to any other literature. F. D. Lynch, referring to the architecture of a few of the 1,001 churches and other ruins of Ani, the capital of Armenia in the 9th century, expresses the opinion that the Armenians were the originators of the Gothic style of archi- tecture, and further says: "These monuments of an ancient civilization leave no doubt that the Armenian people may be included in the small number of races who have shown them- selves susceptible of the highest culture." Sir Edwin Pears considers the Armenians as the most artistic and musically talented race in Turkey. Armenians in Foreign Lands and Under Alien Rule. — During and after their independence, many Armenians dis- tinguished themselves, almost in every field of the life of the country in which they settled. Nerses, the favorite of Theodora and the Commander-in- Chief of the legions of Justinian; Dadarshis, the renowned general of Darius Hystaspis; Proersios, the teacher of St. Gregory Nazianzen, of St. Basil, and of Julian the Apostate; Isaac, the Exarch of Ravenna, who held sway over Italy (625-643) were Armenians. According to Gelzer, it was dur- ing the reigns of the twelve Armenian Emperors, such as Maurice, Leo, Basil, Zemisces, and of Empress Theodora Augusta, that Byzantium reached the zenith of her glory and power. In 1410, the Armenian nobility fought with the armies of Poland against the German invaders, and thus contributed to the victory of Grunwaldt, without which "the German deluge would have effaced Poland." In 1683, five thousand Armenian warriors aided Sobieski in beating back the high tide of the Turk invasion from the 23 gate of Vienna, which victory saved Europe from the threat- ened domination of the Turk. In 1812 it was an Armenian General, Prince Pakraduni, that matched his skill against that of Napoleon at Moscow, and thus struck the mortal blow at the ambition of the Great Emperor. During the Russo-Turkish war of 1877, of the dozen or more Armenian generals in the Russian army, Loris Melikoff was the Commander-in-Chief of the Caucasus forces, who subsequently became the Prime Minister of Russia and drafted her first constitution. According to Lord Cromer, "the Armenians have at- tained the highest administrative ranks, and have at times exercised a decisive influence upon the conduct of public affairs in Egypt." The first Prime Minister of Egypt, following British occupation, was an Armenian. Lucasz, who was the Prime Minister of Hungary in 1913, was also an Armenian. Prince Malcolm, one of the first leaders of the Persian reform movement ; Aivazovsky, the greatest marine painter of the 19th century; Althen, who introduced to France the cultivation of rubic tinctorum; Manuelian, one of the fore- most of the histologists of our time; the late Dr. Kassabian of Philadelphia, who was one of the leading Roentgen ray investigators in the world; the late Governor Thomas Cor- win of Ohio, who also at one time became Secretary of the U. S. Treasury, belong to the Armenian race. In Turkey, the Armenians have been one of the principal constructive forces, despite the oppressive and obstructive Turk rule, and they have, together with the Greek, supplied the Turk with his manifold wants. Even the Turkish print- ing press, the Turkish grammar and the Turkish theatre owe their origin to the initiative of the Armenian. General Sherif Pasha, the former Turk Ambassador at Stockholm, made the following statement in October, 1915: "If there is a race which has been closely connected with the Turk by its fidelity, by its services to the country, by the statesmen and functionaries of talent it has furnished, by the intelligence which it has manifested in all domains — commerce, industry, science and the arts — it is certainly the Armenian." Prof. Von Eucken, the foremost German authority on 24 the Near East, says of them : "Any one who is to some extent acquainted with the political and intellectual history of the Armenian nation, and knows with what enormous difficul- ties this people of an ancient civilization has had to struggle, and has especially to-day to contend with, will be filled with sincere respect for a people who could accomplish so much in the midst of all those tribulations." Dr. Paul Rohrbach, the well known German Orientalist, writes as follows: "We may say without exaggeration that not only in Armenia proper, but far beyond its boundaries, the economic life of Turkey rests, in great part, upon the Armenians." Dr. Barton, Secretary of the American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions, formerly President of the Euphrates College. Armenia, writes as follows in the Octo- ber issue, 1918, of The World Court: "In the modern intellectual revival in Turkey the Ar- menians were the first to respond. They not only eagerly fostered modern education among themselves and in their own country, but thousands of bright Armenian young men and women have studied in the educational centers of the world and have won distinction by the superiority of their intellect and their unconquerable desire and zeal for educa- tion. There is no race on the face of the earth more worthy. by its inheritance, its intrinsic worth, its intellectual capacity and ability, its traditional industry, its peaceful temper and spirit, its domestic hopes and purposes, of a free and inde- pendent existence. In no commercial enterprise, no form of industry, no profession, and in no institution of learning in Turkey or elsewhere do the Armenians take second place. "It was at this race that the blow of destruction was pri- marily aimed by the government of the Young Turks in the winter of 1914 and the spring of 1915. This historic, edu- cated and refined people were maltreated in a thousand forms, starved and exiled. Its greatest crime is that in con- tact with its Turkish neighbors, it has far outstretched all the rest in enterprise and industry: and in religion it has stood firmly against the persecution of its Mohammedan over-lords, refusing t" exchange Jesus Christ tor Mo- hammed." V. C. New York, December 3, 1918. 25 A Few of the Armenian Intellectuals Murdered by the Turks During 1915 Prof. G. Matossian (Yale), Professor of Psychology and Philosophy, Central I | ib, Armenia. .-.. Poel Dr. N. Daghavarian (Sorbonne), Former Member Turk Parliament. Prof. L. H. Habigian (Yale), r, Mathematics. Central College Prof. N. Tenekejian, History, Euphrates College, Armenia. His Holiness Gueorg Y. Catholicos of all the Armenians. The 1.57th Incumbent of the Catholicosate of the Holy Apostolic Church of Armenia, Since the Establishment of the Church by Apostles St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew. NNES AYVAZOVSKY of the foremost arine painters of e Nineteenth Cen- Twice Prime Minister of Egypt before and tinguished son is I. nt, Ar- menian National Del- egation to Europe. Gen. Ter-Gugassoff A corps commander in the R during th<- Turkish War of 1S77. Prof. Alex. IJezjian Late Professor of Nat ural Sciences, Cen- tral College. An. tab. 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