The indicator., 1897-12-18
THE SULTAN SPEAKS.
Tells Americans About the Ar.
menian Massacres.
An Interview with the Ruler of Tur-
key by an EX-United States
Minister-says Turks Are
Tolerant.

In an interview with the sultan, Hon.
A. W. Terrell, lately United States
minister at Constantinople, says:
He said that the facts about recent
disturbances in Turkey have never
been faithfully reported by the press
of the United States, and that he hoped
that waAuld make known to the Am~i-
can people what he was then about TO
say. Continuing, he said:
EARLY during the Ottoman con-
quests in Asia Minor, the Armenians,
who were being crushed by repeated
invssions of the Tartars and the Per-
SLAMS, emigrated in larg ars-and
obtained protection from the Ottoman
rulers. They We're kindly received,
Hospitality treated. and received bene-
fits in the protection of their lives and
property. No nation continually en-
gagged iIs war can excel in industrial
and commercial pursuits. Thus it oc-
CURED that while the early sultans
-sSs. busy with conquests. all manu-
featuring and commercial interests
were ponopolized by Christian races.
and chiefly by the Armenians. Their
religion was also tolerated, for Mussul-
mans tolerate the religion of all men
who worship God. Thus the Armenians
prospered. and remained contented I'M
der Mussulman rule for over 400 years.
They became the manufacturers, con-
tractors and bankers of the Ottoman
empire. They enjoyed their religion.
openly worshiped for centuries in their
ancient churches and monasteries, and
built new ones when needed. Their
patriarch could always present their
complaints at the sublime porte. and
they were always protected in the en-
ioyment of their own methods of wor-
Shipping God. :
-Four books are regarded as sacred
by all Mussulmans, namely, the Koran.
the book of Confuclus, the Talmud of
the Jews and the Bible of the Chris
tians. How could Mussulman mur-
der Armenians merely on account of
their religion. when the Koran pro-
hibits cruelty, and requires that all
men who believe in God shall be pro-
tected. except during war?
lone of my ancestors, Selim l.. the
grandson of the conqueror of Constanti-
nople, once thought that his empire
would he stronger if all his subjects
professed the same religion. Some dis
turbances raised by Christian races
caused him to ask the Sbeik-ul-Islam
il it wouldshe lawful for him TO kill all
Christians who refused TO be converted
to Islam. The sneik issued fetva. in
which he answered that it would not he
lawful. and that the Christians who
were peaceful must be protected. So
Selim respected the fetva. Fire-wor-
shippers and idolaters alone have no
right to protection, and Mussulmans
are prohibited from eating meat cooked
by such people,
THE sultan then cited many evil
dences of the favor and partiality ex-
tended to, and of the confidence reposed
in, the Armenians by himself and by
former sultans. to show that their re-
ligion was not the cause of their re-
hi misfortunes.
"The sultan more than once repeated
hia1nuinPntion that no Christians had
ever been prosecuted by his government
or people for their religious faith. and
that their churches and monasteries.
which have stood from the early ages
of Christianity, had been respected,
preserved and worshiped in; that they
had always selected their own patri-
archs and bishops. and were always pro-
tected in the full enjoyment of their
religious freedom.
"Referring to the massacres, he sand;
The truth, unfortunately, is never pub
lished in Christian newspapers about
conflicts between my Moslem and Chris
tian subjects. Though no true Mussul-
! man will ever punish any man on ac-
rount of his religion, if he worships
Mod, yeLu.ken people bind themselves
= together by their religion. and then use
1t to destroy the Ottoman empire a
different question is presented. While
Christian Europe was excited against
the Ottoman empire about eXcesses
committed by its soldiers during the
Greek revolution of 1927. it had no sym
pathy to bestow upon the butchery o'
27,0oO defenseless Turkish men, women
and children who were massacred IN
one city after its surrender. Gen
tury.