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These figures, which had been put together and revised by the Ottoman government itself, were used as a basis for its propaganda.
All the protests which the Turks and their defenders 114 have presented against the Armenian demands are based on these works, written by a foreigner paid by the Ottoman government, at a time when the Armenian Question was a scarecrow for the leaders in Constantinople.
Statistical surveys compiled by westerners, who were familiar with the situation of Turkey, present an entirely different set of figures than that presented by the Turks. 115
The Situation in Western Armenia
The political line which the Ottoman elite pursued worsened the unbearable situation in which the Armenians were living. 116
Illegal taxes, plundering, confiscation of property, assault, murder, massacre, rape and abduction 117 were the oppressive factors which characterised the regime of horror under which the Armenians lived. 118
The harassment and oppression carried out by a corrupt government lacking all sense of duty 119 towards the Armenians, a government which incited the fanaticism of the non-Christian people and used violence and manipulation of the nomadic Kurds to realise its goals, far exceeded that of the regime which the Christian people in Macedonia were exposed to, which had itself awakened the hate and the wrath of the Europeans. 120
As Lord Bryce summarised: "Chaos and disorder plus paying taxes and fees." 121
In the letter regarding the implementation of paragraph 61 in the Berlin Treaty of September 7, 1880, the representatives of the major powers decried the great "chaos and the disorder which prevails in these provinces and the considerably worsened situation which, quite possibility, would result in the annihilation of the Christian population in large regions." 122
Besides heavy taxes which the officials of the Ottoman government collected from the Armenians, the population was forced to pay illegal fees and bribes to the Kurdish clan leaders. 123 Leberb embarked that if there were two kinds of taxes in the civilized world, one direct and one indirect, then there was another set of taxes for the Armenians, namely legal and illegal. 124
In addition, the Armenian populated villages, during the winter, were forced to give free accommodation to Kurdish nomads, who at the end of autumn would leave their pasturelands in the mountains and came down to the plains. 125
This annual migration was not a new phenomenon; but the Armenian situation became unbearable when the Ottoman government, began to incite the Kurds against the Armenians, encouraging these nomads to use and then confiscate the Armenian properties and estates. 126
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114) These are figure which Hanotaux and Lobanof have quoted in 1895.
115) See J. Bryce, The Future of Asiatic Turkey, The Fortnightly Review, June 1878, p. 931; Major Trotter, General consul in Erzurum, Blue Book, Turkey, 1881, nr. 6, p. 248-260; E. Chantre, De Beyrouth ŕ Tiflis, Le Tour du Monde, Paris, 1889, p. 260; Paul Rohrbach, In Turan und Armenien, Berlin, 1898, p. 231-233; L. de Contenson, Chrétiens et Musulmans, Paris, 1901, p. 125-126 and 150-151; P. Rohrbach, Vom Kaukasus zum Mittelmeer, Leipzig, 1903, p. 150-151; Arnold Toynbee, The Treatmet of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, London, 1916, p. 648-649; K. Hassert, Das Türkische Reich, Tübingen, 1918, p. 145; W. J. Childs, Armenia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1922 edition, vol. I, p. 197
116) See G. Artzrouni, Die ekonomische Lage der Armenier in der Türkei, St Peterburg, 1880; a summerised version of this research book has been rendered in Brayley Hodgett's book, Round about Armenia, London, 1896, p. 113-134
117) About the role of these oppressions and violence in the assimilation of the Armenians see W. Warfield, The Gate of Asia, A Journey from the Persian Gulf to the Black Sea, New York, 1916, p. 294
118) See the English consular reports in the Blue Book, Turkey; C. Watson, The Life of Major-General Sir Charles Wilson, p. 117-131 and 168; Sir Edwin Pears, Forty Years in Constantinople, London, 1916, p. 153-154 and another work by the same author with the title Life of Sultan Abdul-Hamid, London, 1917, p. 228-233; Dillon's report in Daily Telegraph, April 2, 1895; General C. Ballard, Kitchner, London, 1930, p. 20; Sir William Ramsay, Impressions of Turkey during Twelve Years Wandrings, London, 1897, p. 204-212; H. Barkley, A ride through Armenia, London, 1891, p. 109; E. Chantre, De Beyrouth ŕ Tiflis, Le Tour du Monde, Paris, 1889, p. 267
119) About the Ottoman rule see Sir William Ramsay, Impressions of Turkey during Twelve Years Wandrings, London, 1897
120) Paul Rohrbach, In Turan und Armenien, Berlin, 1898, p. 212
121) J. Bryce, Transcaucasia and Ararat, London, 1877, 405
122) Blue Book, Turkey, 1881, nr. 6, p. 140-146, H. Zimmerer, Die Armenische Frage, Helwolt, Weltgeschichte, Leipzig, 1920, p. 425
123) The Foreign Ministry Department: Documents Diplomatiques, Livre Jaune (Yellow Book), Affaires Arméniennes (1893-1897), Paris, 1897, p. 98; Blue Book, Turkey, 1890-1891, nr. 1, p. 80; Deyrolle, Voyage dans le Lazistan et l'Arménie, Le Tour du Monde, 1876, p. 370
124) La Barbe, Die Steuer in türkischen Armenien und die Ursachen der armenischen Bewegung, Neue Zeit, 1897
125) J. Brant, Note of a Journey through parts of Kurdistan, Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, 1841
126) A. Mandelstamn La Société des Nations et les Puissances devant le probléme arménien, Paris, 1925, p. 36
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