Dr. J. Lepsius, from whose work—Armenia and Europe—we quoted in the preceding chapter, and whose words stand at the head of this chapter, is the author of the following statement: “Truth about Armenia must be made known at last. During the past nine months (1896) the German press has been flooded with statements not merely biased, but, as we shall be able to show, false, and deliberately intended to deceive Europe. Care has been taken that the conduct of the so-called ‘rebellious’ Armenians should be set forth in the strongest light as the cause of all the mischief, and at the same time the story of how a great Christian nation has been subjected to massacre and pillage, and how multitudes have been compelled to abjure their faith, is practically unknown in Germany.”
Thus the sultan was sure of the support of Germany. Then again, he was not quite sure whether England could hold with her the other two powers, France and Russia. So he took the traditional course pursued by his predecessors, to move slowly, so far as the reforms were concerned, but the work of the extermination of the Armenian nation must by no means be slackened; every opportunity must be seized, and if no opportunity was forthcoming, one must be devised for excuses of slaughter.
In Armenia and Asia Minor, where most of the Armenians used to live, there was and is hardly any industry. Though a rich country in mineral and agricultural products, yet on account of the absence of good roads and markets, and of robberies and misrule, all efforts toward securing a livelihood have been paralyzed. Money consequently has always been scarce. Continual demand of the government for taxes—sometimes a year in advance—the exactions of the tax-collectors and petty officials keep the Armenians in abject poverty and distress. For these reasons thousands of young men flock to Constantinople to earn money to support their families and to meet these demands.
These men have been hearing of heartrending calamities which had fallen upon their families. Some had heard of the confiscation of their properties, some of their young wives being abducted, some of their sisters being violated, and their aged parents and tender children butchered. A year had passed since the massacre at Sassoun, yet the so-called Christian powers, under whose protection the Christian subjects of the sultan were placed by the Treaty of Berlin, had apparently done nothing. But by attempting to do something and failing, they had actually aggravated their misery.
An open enemy is not as implacable as a secret foe. The Armenians may have also thought that they would, by petitioning the sultan, emphasize the pressure of the Powers for the fulfillment of the promises of reform contained in the Treaty of Berlin. Anyhow the Armenians had prepared a petition to present to the grand vizier in which their complaints and requests were set forth. The authorities were aware of the matter and had instructed the police to prevent the presentation of the petition and had prepared also a counter demonstration against the petitioners by a large number of softas and Turks. On September 30th, 1895, the petitioners started towards the Sublime Porte with their petition to present it to the grand vizier. The police ordered them to disperse and the softas and Turks attacked them. The peaceful procession of the petitioners was turned into a riot, and some five or six hundred Armenians were killed, some of them were arrested and taken to prisons and were there stabbed to death.
The following letter, written by an American resident in Constantinople, who had ample opportunity to verify the facts, will suffice to show how the sultan could and did create opportunities to slaughter the Christians:
“It was very astonishing that the Turks were so foolish as to resist the efforts of the Armenians to present their petition to the sublime Porte. It was contrary to the usage of the country to do so, and could only be explained as a wilful act of hostility to the Armenians; unless the Armenians had broken the peace before the Turks attacked them—which is denied. When the grand vizier, Said Pasha, told the sultan that the demonstration was to take place and asked for his will, the sultan committed the matter to the grand vizier and the minister of the interior to arrange together, giving them full powers. They decided to allow the petitioners to present their grievances, merely taking the precaution to have troops in the neighborhood, out of sight, but so posted as to prevent any surprise in case the Armenians should prove to be riotous. All was ready, and the Grand Vizier was just setting out for the Porte to receive the Armenians, when he was informed by the sultan that he (the sultan) had decided against the demonstration, and had already ordered his troops to resist and disperse any groups of Armenians that might appear. So the whole responsibility for the carnage falls upon the foolish (wicked) decision to override the plans of the ministers.”
If in the capital of the empire, in the presence of the ambassadors of the Powers who were demanding the protection of the Christians from cruelty and oppression, such a barbarism can be permitted, what could prevent the bloodthirsty wretch from inaugurating a general slaughter of the defenseless Armenians throughout his dominions? Thus this terrible occurrence on the 30th of September, of 1895, was the signal for hundreds of other massacres which followed one after the other, not only in the provinces where the reforms were expected to make the people happy, but throughout the empire. And not only over one hundred thousand Christians were in the most frightful manner slaughtered and burnt, but two or three times as many more were left in such destitution, that they had to choose between starvation and apostasy. “Over the most fruitful provinces of the Turkish Empire, a country as large as Germany a stream of blood and desolation was poured forth which was intended to destroy a whole Christian people.... There can be no doubt that the Turks enjoyed the work of massacre, and carried it out with admirable exactness, according to a previously arranged programme, with processions, blowing of trumpets, and prayers from the mullahs, who from the highest minarets invoked the blessing of Allah on the butchery.”[141]
According to press reports, the scheme of reforms submitted by Great Britain, France, and Russia to the Turkish government on the 11th of May, 1895, was signed in due form and on the 17th of October, 1895, handed over to the ambassadors of the powers. Before this, however, the general massacres had begun.
The massacres took place in the following places and times: