THE PLIGHT OF ARMENIANS*

October, 1915

TELEGRAMS and letters continue to describe the awful sufferings of the

Christian
population of Armenia at the hands of the Turks. A letter from a
British
resident of Constantinople says:

"Zeitun has ceased to exist as an Armenian town. The inhabitants have

been
scattered, the city occupied by the Turks, and the very name changed.
The same
is true, to a large extent, of Hadjin. The Armenians of the regions of
Erzerum,
Bitlis, and Erzingan have, under torture, been converted to Islam.
Mardin
reports 1895 (the year of the infamous massacre) conditions as
prevailing there.
The tale is awful to the last degree. . . . The inhabitants of cities
like
Zeitun and Hadjin are driven out like cattle, and made to march long
distances
under burning sun, hungry and thirsty. More than a thousand families
from Hadjin
recently arrived in Aleppo in the last degree of misery, and yet the
purpose is
to send them much farther."

So critical is the situation that Mr. Morgenthau, the American

Ambassador at
Constantinople, who, almost single-handed, is fighting to prevent a
wholesale
slaughter, has asked and obtained the cooperation of the Ambassadors
there of
Turkey's allies, Baron von Wangenheim and Margrave Pallavincini. They
have
joined Mr. Morgenthau in trying to convince the Turkish government that
a
renewal of the atrocities of the former Turkish regime would be a
crime.

"Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved,

but for
the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened." These words of Christ
give
light and encouragement in the dark scenes now transpiring in Turkey.

"The atrocities being committed there surpass anything that has ever
preceded,
even in the days of Abdul Hamid II," so writes a special correspondent
in
Turkey. The massacres are carefully planned and executed, and include
the most
revolting torture, murder, and a cruel methods of deportation that
separates
families and sends large numbers of the victims to inevitable death.
There are
even rumors that Enver Pasha is responsible for the program, and that a
massacre
of Christians is even planned in Constantinople.

In one city of Armenian twelve of the leading Armenians were taken out
upon the
road under pretense of deportation and were then put to death. A few
days later
300 more men followed the same path.

This same methods is being followed in many other cities and villages
in the
interior of Turkey. "Women and children, old men and invalids are
driven from
their homes at the point of the bayonet and sent along different routes
covering
many days, even weeks, of travel. No preparations for the journey are
made or
permitted. Children born upon the road are strangled by the mothers,
who are
forbidden to lag behind the caravan of death. Those too ill to proceed
are left
alone by the roadside to die.

"The women who survive the journey are scattered among Moslem
households, where
the alternatives before them are Islam or death. This method of
extermination is
going on from Smyrna to Persia and from the Black Sea to the
Mediterranean. Some
entire Armenian towns have been depopulated, and Moslems from Macedonia
have
been brought in to occupy the houses." Can we wonder that these
stricken ones
join in the cry of the martyrs in Revelation: "How long, O Lord, Holy
and true,
dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the
earth?"

A German official recently told an American who was traveling in the

country
that they were definitely planning to eliminate the Christian races in
Turkey.
They are succeeding, and there are few to raise a protest, for since
the
restraining influence of the Allied powers is not felt, Turkey is free
to
satisfy her thirst for the blood of the Christians in the Empire. Never
in
Moslem history has there been such a riot of crime and murder aimed at
the
annihilation of the Armenian and Greek race. Is it not time for America
to act
in behalf of these unfortunate people?

THE ARMENIAN OUTRAGES.

Evidence of terrible Armenian outrages in Turkey continues to grow in
volume and
authority. It is impossible to disprove such statements as those, for
example,
which we presented in these pages last week. Count Bernstorff, the
German
Ambassador, at first denied that were any Armenian atrocities whatever,
and
while he carefully avoided attaching the veracity of the Church in
Turkey, he
asserted that the latter's account of the atrocities could not be
relied on
because he was writing under the duress of the Russian Government. Now,
the
Catholicos of the Armenian Church as a prelate of distinction. To
accuse him of
conniving at false statements under duress is at least undiplomatic and
indicates how little Count Bernstorff respects the Armenian Church. HE
would
hardly think of accusing the Pope of making false statements of
atrocities in
Italy under Italian duress. Great Christian prelates do not so conduct
themselves, and it is unpardonable for so accomplished a diplomat as
Count
Berstorff to make such a statement.

The German Ambassador has now modified his attitude, and says that the
reports
are "Greatly exaggerated." He does not deny that the Turks have imposed
severe
punishments upon the Armenians, but says that this has been called down
upon
them by their own rebellious activities. A Turkish-American writes an
interesting letter to the "Evening Sun," of New York, in which he
assert that
the requirements of military efficiency have demanded that unflinching
measures
be taken against the Armenians on the ground that they are traitorous.
His
argument is as follows:

It must be remembered in the time of war, when a nation is struggling

for its
existence, measures which ordinarily are considered as strict become
permissible
and imperative. Thus we see that Baron Bissing, a wealthy British
subject of
Germany. Turks have found that the Armenians of Van district have
actually gone
into the enemy's camp or have helped to facilitate the invasion of the
enemy.
There would be some ground for this position if individual Armenians,
proved to
be traitors, were incarcerated in prisons or in detention camps: but
when
thousands of Armenians, including women and children, are killed,
starved, and
outraged such explanations as those of Count Bernstorff or Mr. Djevad
Eyoub--the
Turkish-American from whose letter we quote--are no explanation at all.
Lord
Bryce says over his own name that in Trebizond many hundreds of
Armenians,
including men, women, and children, were driven by Turkish troops into
the sea
and drowned. Would Mr. Eyoub or Count Bernstorff compared this to
imprisonment
in a concentration camp or defend it as being the necessary treatment
of
traitors in war?