Evening star., 1916-03-19
ARMENIA WAS TO BE SUPPRESSED

Time develops the monstrous GER
tainty that Turkey-rather tho govern
ment Of the Young
Turkish Policy Turk. represented by
Dictator Enver Pasha
was dalted. adopted the policy
Of the systematic suppression by de-
its Christian Armenian subjects.
The capture OF Erzerum marks a halt
in this fiendish policy. The national
hymn Of the Armenian nation, Glad
Tidings." is glad tidings. indeed. for
this long-suffering people. and the Ar
menian soul is thrilled to its depths. 1t
is glad tidings, also. to all Christian
peoples. appalled, at the atrocious crime
of the Young Turk.
Nor does all Turkey participate in
this crime of the Young Turk against
Christian Armenia. A dispatch dated
London. March IA. says: Seventy thou
sand in three Turkish vilayets have pc
Young Turk government and negotiate
peace. Otherwise a revolution is sure
to ensue." From other sources serious
trouble is reported brewing and that
The Daily Graphic of London. COM
menting the fall Of Erzerum. writes: "A
great part OF Turkish opinion has al
ways opposed the policy of Enver
Pasha, who has sold his country, and
who will now find 1t more and more
difficult to maintain his authority
For a fact the disaster to the Turk
ish army OF the Caucasus was followed.
according to reports. by an insurrec-
ton at Constantinople. and the rumor-
assassination nf ia
repeated, but not from official sources.
The victory of the Grand Duke Mich
olas at Erzerum, aside from its rec
ognized strategic Importance in con-
nection with that at Saloniki, which
places Turkey on the points of two
spears. delivers the Armenian from the
tolls Of the Young Turk and checks the
systematic suppression of the Arme-
nian race. This should be welcomed as
glad tidings not only to the Armenian.
but to the Christian and sympathetic
of all nations appalled, by the horrid
policy of the Young Turk far more de-
testab1e than that of the old Turk of
Abdul Hamid
Russia in the capital OF Turkish Ar
menia is the point of a lance toward
Asia-Minor, Bagdad
Snreadino the and kut-el-Amara
for It is difficult 70
possible for Turkish army to escape
the net which the grand duke has al
ready flung around the besiegers of
Kut-el-Amara. The retreat or capture
of the Ottoman army operating in Per-
sia is almost certain. because no longer
in touch with its base and hence
withstanding the distance. must feel
the shock of coming crisis, and will
feel 1t electrically. perhaps, when the
post OF Trebizond, on the Black sea.
Is definitely Joined to Erzerum. for
these two places are the keys to Con-
stantinople. establishing complete COM
munication with Russian routes Of re-
victualing and reprovisioning of the
army.
The hour. if it has not come. will
come fatally. when the government OF
the Young Turk will be obliged to rem
der an account of misdeeds. first, to
the honest Turk represented bv the
friends of NaZim Pasha. generalissimo
of the Turkish army. assassinated by
Enver himself. and, second by the re-
cent arrest and murder of Prince Yous-
souf Izzedin. heir apparent to the OF
toman throne. This crime has been
officially attributed to suicide but, aside
from letters left by the prince it is
currently rumored in Constantinople
that Enver Pasha is the assa ssin.
Prior to the creation of the Young
Turk party NJ. Rene Pinon wrote an
article entitled. 1.-The Reorganization of
Turkey in Asia in which he explained
the demand of the Armenians NJ
Pinon subsequently. in 1912. alluded to
an incident which pointed to Armenian
nationality svmbolized by the visit of
the Car Nicholas to the religious and
political chief the Armenian "cathol-
fcos. whose residence was at Etch-
miatzin,'' in Russian Caucasus terri
tory.
1t may be recalled just here that in
representatives of the
Project of catholicos caused the
D-e powers to suggest to the
sublime porte a project
of reforms and administrative organ
ization of the regions inhabited by Ar
menians. The porte accepted in prin-
ciple the reforms. and inspectors were
chosen to execute the conditions. The
Turkish government. quick to utilize
the dissensions among the powers, re-
sorted to it's customary tactics to de-
lay and embarrass the application of
the system. "a la turka." 1t was In
the midst of this policy Of tergiversa-
tion the great war in Europe came.
1t is charged that Baron Wangen-
helm, German ambassador at Constan-
tinople, openly adhered to the policy OF
the Young Turks. represented by Enver
Pasha On the other hand. DR.: Lepsius,
we'll known author of book on the
massacres of 1895, espoused the cause
of the Armenians and expressed NM
self in favor of their race. The oppo,
sition held that the reforms conceded
to Armenians would give aid and sup
mort to Russian ambitions; that IL was
better to favor the "turkization ana
Generalization adopted by the commit
tee of union and progress.
DIR. Paul Rohrback. the well known
writer. in his pamphlet. '"The Bagdad
Railway" suggested an ingenious way OF
conciliating the two policies. He pro-
nosed that the Armenians should De m
duced to descend from their mountain
habitations and establish themselves
along the Bagdad railway. The German
line would thus run through rich coun-
try inhabited by an energetic and M
dustrial people who would build villages
and increase the value of the lands,
or all the peoples who inhabited Ana
toiia or Asia Minor prior to the Turkish
conquest only the Armenians have sur
yived They owed their survival perhaps