Germany -- Foreign relations -- Turkey; Turkey -- Foreign relations -- Germany; World War, 1914-1918 -- Turkey
“No, I did not cable that,” I replied. “I admit that I have sent a large
amount of information to Washington. I have sent copies of every report
and every statement to the State Department. They are safely lodged
there, and whatever happens to me, the evidence is complete, and the
American people are not dependent on my oral report for their
information. But this particular statement you make is not quite
accurate. I merely informed Mr. Lansing that any influence Bulgaria
might exert to stop the massacres has been lost, now that she has become
Turkey’s ally.”
We again discussed the deportations.
“Germany is not responsible for this,” Wangenheim said.
“You can assert that to the end of time,” I replied “but nobody will
believe it. The world will always hold Germany responsible; the guilt of
these crimes will be your inheritance forever. I know that you have
filed a paper protest. But what does that amount to? You know better
than I do that such a protest will have no effect. I do not claim that
Germany is responsible for these massacres in the sense that she
instigated them. But she is responsible in the sense that she had the
power to stop them and did not use it. And it is not only America and
your present enemies that will hold you responsible. The German people
will some day call your government to account. You are a Christian
people and the time will come when Germans will realize that you have
let a Mohammedan people destroy another Christian nation. How foolish is
your protest that I am sending information to my State Department. Do
you suppose that you can keep secret such hellish atrocities as these?
Don’t get such a silly, ostrich-like thought as that--don’t think that
by ignoring them yourselves, you can get the rest of the world to do so.
Crimes like these cry to heaven. Do you think I could know about things
like this and not report them to my government? And don’t forget that
German missionaries, as well as American, are sending me information
about the Armenians.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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