The treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire: Documents presented to Viscount Grey of Fallodon
History
The treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire: Documents presented to Viscount Grey of Fallodon
Armenian question; Armenians; World War, 1914-1918 -- Atrocities; World War, 1914-1918 -- Refugees
I have spent some time studying the documents you are about to
publish relative to the deportations and massacres of Armenians in
the Turkish Empire during the spring and summer of 1915. I know, of
course, how carefully a historian should scrutinize the evidence for
events so startling in character, reported to have occurred in
regions so far removed from the eyes of civilized Europe. I realize
that in times of persecution passions run high, that oriental races
tend to use hyperbolical language, and that the victims of
oppression cannot be expected to speak with strict fairness of their
oppressors. But the evidence of these letters and reports will bear
any scrutiny and overpower any scepticism. Their genuineness is
established beyond question, though obviously you are right in
withholding certain of the names of persons and places. The
statements of the Armenian refugees themselves are fully confirmed
by residents of American, Scandinavian and even of German
nationality; and the undesigned agreement between so many credible
witnesses from widely separate districts puts all the main lines of
the story beyond the possibility of doubt.
I remain,
Yours sincerely,
GILBERT MURRAY.
LETTER FROM MR. MOORFIELD STOREY,
EX-PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN
BAR ASSOCIATION, TO VISCOUNT BRYCE.
735, Exchange Building,
Boston, U.S.,
_7th August, 1916_.
MY DEAR SIR,
I have examined considerable portions of the volume which contains
the statements regarding the treatment of the Armenians by the
Turks, in order to determine the value of these statements as
evidence.
I have no doubt that, while there may be inaccuracies of detail,
these statements establish without any question the essential facts.
It must be borne in mind that in such a case the evidence of
eye-witnesses is not easily obtained; the victims, with few
exceptions, are dead; the perpetrators will not confess; any casual
spectators cannot be reached, and in most cases are either in
sympathy with what was done or afraid to speak. There are no
tribunals before which witnesses can be summoned and compelled to
testify, and a rigid censorship is maintained by the authorities
responsible for the crimes, which prevents the truth from coming out
freely, and no investigation by impartial persons will be permitted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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