Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-05-22

mains only the remnant OF an ancient
kingdom hemmed in between the
despotic empires of Russia and Turkey
and belonging almost to the latter.
While all these conditions exist, there
are others which present curious
paradox. Armenians are commercial,
in their nature a trait unknown among
the Turks They are modern, progress
sive, competitive They are the bank
ers and brokers where conditions per-
NIT Many have risen to positions OF
prominence and Importance in the
Turkish service. 1t has been said by
students OF the Armenian question that
they rival Mohammedans in clever ras-5
calfty. Through centurie. of persecu 2
ton they have become clannlsll. Their
position In Turlsey is declared by con-
servative critics to be similar to that
of the Hebrews In Russia In many
respects the Armenian question is the
Semitic question over again.
Former Armenian Troubles.
A hurried review OF. previous trou-
bles In Armenia will enable one 10 un-5
derstand moro clearly present condi-
lions.
What Is known as the ancient land
is divided among the Turks, the Rus
slams and the Pcrsians and the AR
menian people have been scattered over
Asia Minor and considerable terri :
| tory Ia Europe. The Arinenians. cs-
pecially those in Asiatic Turkey, have
had aspirations toward national unity.
A revolutionary movement was In
spired by the Russian nihilist propo-
n fto,. n q
the country was intrusted by the porte
to tho Kurds. who constituted the ma
tional police Many conflicts marked
by extreme cruelty occurred between
the revolutionists and the police In the
provinces Of Irebizond. Bitilis and Err
zeruna. The atrocities committed by
the Kurds, acting in their official ca
paclty, stirred Europe and America to
horror in 1895 ana 1896. Anti-Arme-
man feelings had appeared throughout
Asiatic Turkey in the spring of 1894
In August OF that year a massacre of
.Armenians was perpetrated at Sas-
sun, and the fever of murder spread
all over Asiatic Turkey. In the spring.
and summer of l S95 the slaughter OF
Armenian men. women and q children
continued until the representatives of
England, France and Russia. backed
up by their assembled warships, wrcst-
ed from the sultan the promise Of
PREPARATION and reforms a commission
was sent to the scene of conflict to
Investigate conditions. and the Ar
menian patriarch was summoned to
Constantinople to state the demands of
the Armenians. The sultan's trade
went forth, the commission labored
and the massacrcs continued r.
merians We're butchcred mt Trebizond
Erzerum and in othe- places At Diar-l
bekr a pitched battle was fought be-
tween Armenians and Turks in which
5000 men persisted, In the provinces
OF Erzerum and Trebizond whole VIII
lagos were devastated Famine and
plague attacked the survivors of the
massacres. and the Turkish govern
ment was forced. after great reluctance
into permitting the work OF relief or
ganized by Clara Barton ana tile Red
Cross society to be carried on. The
outrages subsidized IN 1896. but in Au-
gust occurred a frishtful carnage of
Armenfans In the streets of Constanti-5
nople. perpetrated by a mob at the In
stigation ofTthe government. In retaiia
tion for the attack on the Ottoman
bank made by Armenian patriots II
was estimated that at least 5000 Ar
menians were beaten To death In the
streets and on the roofs by hired ruff
fans, No PREPARATION could be de-
mandcd of the Turkish government. In 1
asInuch as the Armenian repolutionists
by thci- riotous action had put them
selves and their innocent couhtrymen
outside the law Since that time the
sporadic slaughter of Arnenians on
major and minor scales has continued
at various times Massacres broke out
with renewed ferocity Within the Inst
few weeks
When one thinks cf Persia one nj
most Immediately recalls the saving
OF an English writer that a Persian
bushes when he tells the truth, and
the Persian diplomacy is horseplay
THE shah is trembling on his peacock
throne Tor his life, His troops have
invested Tabriz, and the Constitution
alists are making q stubborn stand
The newspapers OF the new party mrs
hein! suppressed. and the. leaders are
heing imprisoned or driven into exile
Mr.. StuiSpin's organ in St PETERSBURG
draws dark picture of the situationl
in the shah's dominion. It declares
that the policy of tic shah. IF it may
be disnifled as a policy. is insincere.
and tyrannical Nevertheless /
the St Petersburg organ is forced II
conclude that the demands for the
restoration Of the constitution cannoI
be listened 10 by Russia II Russia +
cannot listen TO the voice OF the new
party in Persia 1t Is UNLIKELY that the /
other governments of Europe viii (
open their ears
FRANK II ]. BROOKS