The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-01-01
THE NEWS N(1IMITAR DAILY Home HELPS

frank with me-the Circumstautial re-
ports which 1 possessed made il useless
Tor him to attempt to conceal the true
situation further-and we had many
long and animated discussions on tho
suhJed. one Of these | recall with
particular ~vividness. | notified Envdr
that ! intended to take up the matter
In detail and he laid aside enough time
to 60 over the whole situation.
The Armenians had a fair warn
ing, EnVer began, OF What would
happen to them IN case they Joined our
enemies. Three months & / sent for
ne Armenian patriarch and | told him
mat II the ATmenians attempted TO
start a revolution or to assist the Rus
SLAMS, would be unable to prevent mis-
chlel from happening to them. My
warning produced no effect and the
Armenisns started a revolution and
helped the Russians, You know what
happened at Van. They obtained con
trol OF the city, used bombs against
government buildings and killed a large
number of Moslems. We knew that they
we're planning uprisings IN other places.
You must understand that we are now
lighting for our lives at the Dardanelles
ana that we are sacrificing thousands
OF men. While we are engaged in such
a struggle as this, We can not permit
people IN our W country to attack us
IN the back. We have got TO prevent
'' $50 ~ ia lllFAlin w ilhNt W
resort TO, 1t Is absolutely true that | I'm
not opposed. to the Armenlans as a
people, | have the greatest admiration
Tor their intelligence ana industry, and
| should Xix nothing better thar to see
mem become a real part of our nation
but II they ally themselves with our
enemies, as they did In the Van dis
tTici, they viii have to be destroyed.
have taken pains to see that nu in
justice Is done; only recently | gave
orders to have three Ar1nenlans who
mad been depOrted returned TO their
homes, when ! found that they were
innocent, Russia, France, Great Brit
am ana America arc doing the Arme-
mans no Kindness by syinpathiZing
with and encouraging them. | know
what such encouragement means to a
people who are inclined to r%eyOlution,
W men our union and progress party at
tacked Abdul Hamid, We received all
our moral encouragement from the out
SIDE world, This encouragement was Of
great help to us and had much to do
with our success, It might similarly
now help the Armenianb and their
revolutionary program. am sure that
II these outside countries did not en-
courage them they would give up all
their efforts to oppose the present gov
eminent and become ~law-Abiding clti-
zens, We now have this country in
our absolute control and we can easily
revenge ourselves on any revolution.
lists"
After ALL" l said. suppose what
you say IL true, why not punish the
guilty? Why sacrifice a whole race
for the alleged, crimes OF indlviduals?'
Your point Ia all right during peace
times" replied Enver. we can then
use Platonic mean to quiet Armenians
and Greeks, but in time Of war we can
not investigate me negotiate. We
must act promptly and with determi-
nation, | also think that the Arme-
mans are making a mistake In depend
ing upon the Russiansl The Russians
really would rather see them killed
than alive, They are rs great "A danger
TO the Russians as they are to us. II
they should form an Independent gov
eminent in Turkey, the ATmenians in
Russia would attempt to form an in
dependent government there. The Ar
menians have also beer guilty of mas
saCros; in the entire district around
Van only 80, 600 Turks escaped, all the
rest were murdered by the Armenians
and kurds. | attempted to protect the
noncomhatants at the Caucasus; ! gave
orders that they should not be injured,
but | found that the situation WAS be-
yond my control, There are about 70
Geo Armenians in C~onstantinOple and
they viii not be molcsted except those
who are Distinguishes and those who
are plotting against the Turks. How
ever, | think you can ease your mind
ON the whole subject as there will be
no more massacrest of Armenians."
| did not "A seriously Enver's con-
Guiding statement, Al the time that he
was speaking, masslcres and deporta -
tons were taking pace all over Ar
menian provinces and they went on al
most without interruption Tor several
months,
Az o as the reports reached the
| IfBltAl 3 40 Nkn NA, ~ ali A.
came a pressing one. In the latter
part OF July, ] heard that there were
5000 Armenians from Zeitoun and Sui.
TAME who were receiving no food what
ever, | spoke about them to Fnver
who positively declared that they would
receive proper food. He did not re.
ceive favorably any suggestion that
American representatives should go &c
that part Of the country and assist and
care for the eXlles.