Enver Pasha
One of the triumvirate rulers
publicly declared on 19 May 1916...
The Ottoman Empire should be cleaned up of the Armenians and the Lebanese.
We have destroyed the former by the sword, we shall destroy the latter through
starvation.
Enver Pasha's reply to US Ambassador Morgenthau who was deploring the massacres against
Armenians and attributing them to irresponsible subalterns and underlings in the
distant provinces:
You are greatly mistaken. We have this country absolutely under our
control. I have no desire to shift the blame onto our underlings and I am
entirely willing to accept the responsibility myself for everything that has
taken place.
Talaat Pasha, Minister of the Interior
September 6, 1916. - To the Government of Aleppo.
It was at first communicated to you that the Government, by order of the Jemiet had decided to destroy
completely all the Armenians living in Turkey...An end must be put to their
existence, however criminal the measures taken may be, and no regard must be
paid to either age or sex nor to conscientious scruples.
Talaat Pasha said, after the German Ambassador persistently
brought up the Armenian question in 1918:
What on earth do you want? The question is settled. There are no more
Armenians.
Talaat Pasha
In a conversation with Dr. Mordtmann
of the German Embassy in June 1915...
Turkey is taking advantage of the war in order to thoroughly liquidate its internal foes, i.e., the indigenous Christians, without being
thereby disturbed by foreign intervention.
Henry Morgenthau (U.S. Ambassador to Turkey)
The real aim of deportations is killing and burglary. In reality, it was a new way
to eradicate a nation. When Turkish powers were giving out the order for deportation,
they sentenced a whole nation to death, (1916).
Arnold Toynbee (noted British historian)
All these atrocities have been committed toward Armenians even though they
have not done anything to invite them, (1915).
Anatole France (French author)
Armenia is dying, but it will survive. The little blood that it still has left is
precious blood that will give birth to a heroic generation. A nation that does
not want to die, does not die, (1916).
Fritof Nansen (Norwegian public figure)
The massacres that started in 1915 have nothing to compare with the history of
mankind. The massacres by Abdul Hamid are minor in comparison to what today's
Turks have done, (1916).
Jacques de Morgan (French scientist)
The deportations of Western Armenians are nothing but concealed race extermination.
There is no language rich enough to describe the horrors of it, (1917).
Valerii Brusov (Russian poet)
Turks continued their previous
policy. They would not stop committing massive and most awful massacres that even
Leng Timur would not dare to do, (1916).
Fayez el Husein (Arab publicist)
Who can describe the feelings
that an eyewitness experiences when he thinks of this heroic and unfortunate
nation. Its courage and spirit surprise the world. A nation that yesterday was
one of the most energetic and progressive nations of the Ottoman Empire is
becoming a memory, (1917).
Joseph Markwart (German scientist)
Even after proclamation of the
Constitution, the main slogan of the Turkish policy has been "Without Armenians
there will be no Armenian problem, (1919).
Dr. Martin Niepage, From the Horrors of Aleppo, seen by a German eyewitness,
translated
by the New York Times publication (its magazine) Current History Vol. 5 Nov. 1916 pp 335-37.
The German Consul from Mosul
related, in my presence, at the German club at Aleppo that, in many places on
the road from Mosul to Aleppo, he had seen children's hands lying hacked off in
such numbers that one could have paved the road with them.
Henry Morgenthau
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey (1914-1916)
When the Turkish authorities
gave the orders for these deportations, they were merely giving the death
warrant to a whole race: they understood this well, and in their conversations
with me, they made no particular attempt to conceal the fact.
John Loftus
Genocide & Human Rights (1992)
There is a strong
circumstantial case that the vice consul to Armenia, von Scheubner, was the man
who carried the lesson of the Holocaust forward from the Armenians and
transmitted it to Hitler, that Hitler recalled it formulated it as part of his
foreign policy as early as 1931, a decade before the Jewish Holocaust was to be
released in full fury. The essence of what Hitler understood was indifference.
To put it crudely, it takes one hundred people to kill each child in a genocide:
one to pull the trigger, but ninety nine to shrug their shoulders. It was this
legacy of indifference, this lack of deterrence that led Hitler to make his
famous statement, 'Who now remembers the Armenians?'
Henry Morgenthau,
U. S. Ambassador to Turkey, 1914-1916.
One day Talaat made what was
perhaps the most astonishing request I had ever heard. The New York Life
Insurance Company and the Equitable Life of New York for years had done considerable
business among the Armenians. The extent to which this people insured their
lives was merely another indication of their thrifty habits.
'I wish,' Talaat now said, 'that you would get the American life insurance companies to send us a complete list of their Armenian policy holders. They are practically all dead now and have left no heirs to collect the money. It of course all escheats to the State. The government is the beneficiary now. Will you do so?' This was almost too much, and I lost my temper.
'You will get no such list from me,' I said, and I got up and left him.
From a speech presented to the Turkish
Committee of Union and Progress
February, 1915
It is absolutely necessary to
eliminate the Armenian people in its entirety, so that there is no further
Armenian on this earth and the very concept of Armenia is extinguished.
Yossi Beilin
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister.
April 27, 1994 on the floor
of the Knesset
in response to a TV interview of the Turkish Ambassador
It was not war. It was most certainly massacre and genocide, something the
world must remember... We will always reject any attempt to erase its record,
even for some political advantage.
Gerald Ford
Addressing the US House of Representatives
Mr. Speaker, with mixed emotions we mark the 50th anniversary of the
Turkish genocide of the Armenian people. In taking notice of the shocking
events in 1915, we observe this anniversary with sorrow in recalling the
massacres of Armenians and with pride in saluting those brave patriots who
survived to fight on the side of freedom during World War I. - Congressional
Record, pg. 8890
George W. Bush
President of United States
Presidential Message on Annihilation of Armenians U.S. Newswire April 24, 2001.
Today marks the commemoration of one of the great tragedies of history: the
forced exile and annihilation of approximately 1.5 million Armenians in the
closing years of the Ottoman Empire. These infamous killings darkened the 20th
century and continue to haunt us to this day. Today, I join Armenian Americans
and the Armenian community abroad to mourn the loss of so many innocent lives. I
ask all Americans to reflect on these terrible events.
While we mourn the tragedy that scarred the history of the Armenian people, let
us also celebrate their indomitable will which has allowed Armenian culture,
religion, and identity to flourish through the ages. Let us mark this year the
1700th anniversary of the establishment of Christianity in Armenia. Let us
celebrate the spirit that illuminated the pages of history in 451 when the
Armenians refused to bow to Persian demands that they renounce their faith. The
Armenian reply was both courageous and unequivocal: "From this faith none
can shake us, neither angels, nor men, neither sword, fire or water, nor any
bitter torturers." This is the spirit that survived again in the face of
the bitter
fate that befell so many Armenians at the end of the Ottoman Empire.
Today, that same spirit not only survives, but thrives in Armenian communities
the world over. Many Armenian survivors and their descendants chose to live in
the United States, where they found safety and built new lives. We are grateful
for the countless ways in which Armenian Americans continue to enrich America's
science, culture, commerce and, indeed, all aspects of our national life.
One of the most important ways in which we can honor the memory of Armenian
victims of the past is to help modern Armenia build a secure and prosperous
future. I am proud that the United States actively supports Armenia and its
neighbors in finding a permanent and fair settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh
dispute. I hope that this year we will see peace and reconciliation flourish in
the south Caucasus region between Armenia and all its neighbors. efforts by the
Armenian people to overcome years of hardship and Soviet repression to create a
prospering, democratic, and sovereign Republic of Armenia.
Let us remember the past and let its lessons guide us as we seek to build a
better future. In the name of the American people, I extend my heartfelt best
wishes to all Armenians as we observe this solemn day of remembrance.