There is no need to tell the same monotonous tale of most fiendish murders which took place all over Armenia and Asia Minor wherever the Armenians were found; and the local authorities with scrupulous exactness obeyed the behests of their superiors, the arch fiends at Constantinople. Some of our Prussian friends, in spite of all, still say: “If the Porte deems it necessary that the Armenian rebellions and other riotous proceedings be repressed with all available means, so that a repetition becomes impossible, such actions are not to be designated either as murders or as atrocities. They are simply justifiable and necessary measures....”
Woe to the men, women and children of the Armenian race, that have been judged and dealt with by the Prussian sense of justice! The Belgians in the West, the Armenians in the East were treated by the same Prussian sense of justice.
Here is another instance of the “bloodthirsty Armenian rebellions” whose suppression is “simply justifiable and necessary,” as Count Ernst von Reventlow says:
“To give one instance of the thorough and remorseless way in which the massacres were carried out, it may suffice to refer to the case of Trebizond, a case vouched for by the Italian Consul, who was present when the slaughter was carried out, his country not having then declared war against Turkey. Orders came from Constantinople that all the Armenian Christians in Trebizond were to be killed. Many of the Moslems tried to save their Christian neighbors, and offered them shelter in their houses, but the Turkish authorities were implacable. Obeying the orders which they had received, they hunted out all the Christians, gathered them together, and drove a great crowd of them down the streets of Trebizond, past the fortress, to the edge of the sea. There they were all put on board sailing boats, carried out some distance on the Black Sea, and there thrown overboard and drowned. Nearly the whole Armenian population of from 8000 to 10,000 were destroyed—some in this way, some by slaughter, some being sent to death elsewhere.”[166]
Allowing that, at the least there were 1,500,000 Armenians in the Turkish empire in the autumn of 1914, the government could draw out at least 100,000 soldiers—most probably she did draw twice as many. These soldiers could and gladly would render excellent service to the empire. Their loyalty has not been suspected, neither has their fidelity been in question. What a criminal folly to disarm them, what an unpardonable sin, and a suicidal act to massacre them. But that is what the Young Turks did. They are trying to get rid of the Christian population of Turkey by the sword and fire on the one hand, on the other hand, they were letting the Germans take charge and have control of the army and navy and make the Turkish government a German vassalage; and yet they say they are going to “have Turkey for the Turks.”
The following is from the pen of Dr. Herbert Adams Gibbons, who tells us what the Armenian ex-soldiers were doing and how they were treated by the government which they were serving:
“In the autumn of 1914, the Turks began to mobilize Christians as well as Moslems for the army. For six months, in every part of Turkey they called upon the Armenians for military service. Exemption money was accepted for those who could pay. A few weeks later the exemption certificates were disregarded, and their holders enrolled. The younger classes of Armenians, who did not live too far from Constantinople, were placed, as in the Balkan wars, in the active army. The older ones, and all the Armenians enrolled in the more distant region, were utilized for road, railway, and fortification building. Wherever they were called, and to whatever task they were put, the Armenians did their duty and worked for the defense of Turkey. They proved themselves brave soldiers and intelligent and industrious laborers....
“... In order to prevent the possibility of trouble from Armenians mobilized for railway and road construction, they were divided into companies of from three to five hundred, and put to work at intervals of several miles. Regiments of the Turkish regular army were sent ‘to put down the Armenian revolution,’ and came suddenly upon the little groups of workers plying pickaxe, crowbar, and shovel. The ‘rebels’ were riddled with bullets before they knew what was happening. The few who managed to flee were followed by mounted men, and shot or sabred.
“Telegrams began to pour in upon Talaat Bey at Constantinople, announcing that here, there, and everywhere Armenian uprisings had been put down, and telegrams were returned, congratulating the local officials upon the success of their prompt measures. To neutral newspaper men at Constantinople, to neutral diplomats, who had heard vaguely of a recurrence of Armenian massacres, this telegraphic correspondence was shown as proof that an imminent danger had been averted. ‘We have not been cruel, but we admit having been severe,’ declared Talaat Bey. ‘This is war time.’”[167]