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The Manchester Guardian, 11 september 1915
Bron: The Guardian
Exterminating the Armenians
It may be asserted without fear of exaggerating that the Turkish outrages in Armenian, of which we give further details to-day, are without a parallel in history. Never has there been so resolute an attempt to exterminate a whole race, never one which promised to be so successful. In its conception it has something of the thoroughness of the Germans: In its execution it is as brutal as the Turk can make it. The accounts of the scenes in the provinces tell of mass murders of the most fiendish description — men poleaxed, women outraged and killed, children drowned. Occasionally a family, on adopting Mahometanism, is suffered to go unhurt, but it should be made clear that Mahometanism is not given to them as an alternative to death, but as a favor to those who have friends amongst the Turkish local authorities. Recently, the Government at Constantinople has passed a law forbidding the departure of any Armenian from the country, and the last means of escape for those still in Turkey has thus been cut off. That the outrages are entering upon their final stages is shown by the fact that they are now extending from the provinces to the capital itself.
There is no doubt as to where the responsibility lies. It is the Young Turk Government which gave orders for the deportation, which organised bands of brigands to attack the convoys, and even sent its envoys to supervise the massacres. The names of ENVER PASHA and TALAAT BEY have been mentioned in particular, but it is the whole Government that is to blame for the most savage and maniacal crime in history. At present it is difficult to see what can be done. The Germans will not, or dare not, protest. The efforts of Mr. Morgenthau, the United State Ambassador in Constantinople, have so far proved vain, and it is significant, in any case, that he does not hope for anything better than to obtain permission for Armenians to leave the country. The utmost that can be done now is to help in alleviating the lot of the refugees who have reached the Caucasus, famished and destitute, and are, many of them, perished for the lack of adequate provision. After the war is over, it will be the concern of the Allies, who have proclaimed themselves the champions of small nationalities, but, it is to be hoped, of all humanity, to punish the guilty and to make what amends are possible to those Armenians who are left.
