Germany, Turkey, and Armenia: A Selection of Documentary Evidence Relating to the Armenian Atrocities from German and other Sources — John Shaqi
Germany, Turkey, and Armenia: A Selection of Documentary Evidence Relating to the Armenian Atrocities from German and other SourcesAnonymous
History
Germany, Turkey, and Armenia: A Selection of Documentary Evidence Relating to the Armenian Atrocities from German and other Sources
Anonymous
Armenian question; World War, 1914-1918 -- Armenia
It was Sister DA.'s impression that the deportation and massacre
of the Armenians had ruined Turkey economically. The Armenians had
been the only skilled workers in the country, and industry came
to a stand-still when they were gone. You could not replace copper
vessels for your household; you could not get your roof re-tiled. The
Government had actually retained a few Armenian artisans--bakers,
masons, etc.--to work for the Army, and whatever work was still done
was done by these and a few others who had gone over to Islam. But
though the sources of production were cut off, the Turks had not
begun to feel the pinch. Having laid hands on the property of the
Armenians, they were richer, for the moment, than before. During the
past year bread had been plentiful and cheap, cattle and meat had been
abundant, and there were still enough supplies, she thought, to last
for some time yet. Under these circumstances, the Turkish peasantry
were well content--except for the women, who resented the absence of
their husbands at the war. The dearth of men, Sister DA. said, was
everywhere noticeable. She had been told, however, that some Kurdish
tribes had refused to furnish recruits, and that the Kizil Bashis
of the Dersim had furnished none at all. The Government had been
preparing an expedition against the Kizil Bashis to extort a toll of
conscripts, but the plan had been thwarted by the Russian advance. In
the Turkish villages agricultural work was being largely carried on
by the Armenian women and children, who had been handed over to the
Moslem peasants by the authorities. Sister DA. saw quantities of them
everywhere, practically in the condition of slaves. They were never
allowed to rest in peace, but were constantly chivied about from one
village to another.
As she came down to Aleppo she found the country under good
cultivation. Great stores of bread had been accumulated for the
army in Mesopotamia. In Anatolia, on the other hand, the fields were
neglected, and she thought that there famine was not far off. But it
was not till she reached Constantinople that she found any present
scarcity. In the provinces only sugar and petrol had been scarce;
at Constantinople all commodities were both scarce and dear.
Sister DA. was told at Constantinople that Turks of all parties
were united in their approval of what was being done to the
Armenians, and that Enver Pasha openly boasted of it as his personal
achievement. Talaat Bey, too, was reported to have remarked, on
receiving the news of Vartkes' [17] assassination: "There is no room in
the Empire for both Armenians and Turks. Either they had to go or we."
6. MALATIA.
Statement by a German Eye-Witness.
In Malatia there were 10,000--12,000 Armenians. A German, who left
Malatia immediately before the deportation, reports as follows on
the events which preceded the execution of that measure:--
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