The Armenians, wherever they could, attempted resistance, manning defences of Van, Shatakh, Sasoun, Shabin Gharahisar, Ourfa and Musa Dagh . During that time of terror, sacrifices were made which can only be compared to those of the first centuries of Christianity.
It was all too clear, however, that the Armenians, like the Bulgarians in 1876, could not resist the Turkish forces who butchered their way through the defences. To quote from Hume , "an established government, in regard to its establishment alone, has a great advantage."
There are countless stories and descriptions of the inhuman crimes which took place, told by German, American, English, Arabic, Austrian, Danish, French, Italian, Polish and Swiss eye witnesses; misdeeds so indescribably cruel as to almost warrant their removal for ever, for the sake of humanity, from the pages of history. 6
The head of the Turkish government, Faid Pasha (son-in-law to the federal chancellor), who succeeded the Young Turk committee after the war, later confessed to the peace delegation in the Paris Conference of June, 17, 1919: "During the course of the war almost the entire civilised world learnt about the crimes which the Turks committed and were saddened. God forbid me if I try to conceal these crimes, crimes which will shake the consciousness of humanity. Nor will I attempt to reduce the guilt of the responsible persons for this enormous ill-deed. "
In his comment of June 25, 1919, which Clemenceau sent to the peace council, he observed: "Turkey has, officially or unofficially, made itself guilty of a number of crimes which in horribleness are far worse than all the ill-deeds which are documented during the course of the war."
Among the incriminating documents against the Turkish government, there is the order from Interior Minister Talaat to the Governor of Allepo, which was found and published after the defeat of Turkey in 1918 7. Among these documents is the following telegraph:
"To the Governor of Aleppo,
We have already notified you that the government has decided to annihilate the Armenians in Turkey. Those who oppose this order can no longer be members of the government. Irregardless of women, children or invalids, regardless of how terrifying or regretful these massacres are and regardless of the voice of your conscience, the Armenians must be exterminated…"
September 15, 1915, Interior Minister Talaat
Nothing can deny or excuse such a document.
|
