What did he??

[Türküm]

One of the most significant Armenian allegations regarding the immigration implementations is the telegrams, which —also allegedly- contained Talaat Pasha’s orders for killing the Armenians. However, Talaat Pasha himself has expressed in number of occasions that the measures taken with regard to Armenians have no object of massacring them in any way. In fact; in a cryptic telegraph —communiqué wired on August 29, 1915 to the Governors of Hüdaverdigar, Ankara, Konya, Izmit, Adana, Maras, Urfa, Halep, Zor, Sivas, Kütahya, Karesi, Nigde, Mamuretülaziz, Diyarbekir, Karahisar-i Sahib, Erzurum and Kayseri Provinces and sub-Provinces; the purpose of the immigration was explained as the follows (1).

“The purpose of the Government regarding the moving of Armenians from their original settlements is to prevent their anti-governmental actions; and to discourage their ambitions of establishing an Armenian State. Their massacre is completely out of question; on the contrary the safety of the groups during immigration should be ensured; and while measures for their catering should be taken, the “Immigrants Allocation” should be used to meet the cost. Armenians who are allowed to stay in their original settlements should not be re-located afterwards. As it was stated before the immigration of the dependents of military forces; protestant and catholic Armenians; and artisans (in accordance with the need) are definitely prohibited by the Government severe legal measures. Against the gendarmes and government officials who attack the immigrating groups or those who lead such attacks severe legal measures should be taken and such individuals should immediately Court-Martialled. Relevant provincial and sub-provincial authorities shall be held responsible for such events.

In another cryptic note sent to Ankara on May 27 1915 it was said that; “The measures taken by the Government regarding the Armenians are based on the necessity to ensure and protect the welfare and order of the Country. Exclusion of the Catholic and Protestant Armenians —who are at present observed as impartial at the present- from immigration, is the indication that the Government has no intention to massacre them” (2).

However, the communiqué which was issued by the Government for deporting the terrorist Armenians and their Gang leaders has been understood incorrectly in some places. Hence, several Armenian Bands, which were caught, were sent to places in which they continued their actions more freely. Upon such occurrence’s Talaat Pasha issued another communiqué on June 1, 1915, stressing that such Armenians should be transported to the places where they would not be able to continue their harmful actions, and also there deportations should be limited to the terrorists and rebels only (3).

Furthermore, in still another cryptic note dated June 13, 1915 dispatched to Mamuretüllaziz province, it was stated that the Armenians, besides those who were handed to the Court Marshall should be kept at suitable locations within the province under a previous order, hence not necessarily sent to Mousul province (4).

In a cryptic note dated June 14, 1915 which was sent to Erzurum, Diyarbekir, Mamuretülaziz and Bitlis provinces, after stressing that the Armenians should be protected during the immigration process; it was mentioned that it was natural to take measures against those who would try to flee or rebel against the gendarmes; however in no case Moslem peoples should be involved in such corrective acts; and also no opportunities should be set to start conflicts between the Moslems and Armenians.

Coming to the telegraph which is the core of the alleged claims of Armenian massacre (5).

An Armenian named Aram Andonian referred to it in his book, titled : “Memoirs of Naim Bey / Official Turkish Documents Regarding the Deportation and Massacre of the Armenians” published in London in 1920. This book was published under the titles: “Official Documents Regarding the Massacre of the Armenians”; and “The Gross Offence, the Last Armenian Massacre and Talat Pasha; the Originals of the Signed Official Telegraphs” in Paris and Boston respectively.

The telegraphs in the book, which were attributed to Talat Pasha, are false documents, which were originated to create a “massacre criminal”. As a result of the examination and research which was carried out by Messrs. Sinasi Orel and Süreyya Yuca on the subject documents a number of positive evidences, which prove the falsity of them were found. Among these evidences are: “that the person named Naim Bey — from whom the documents have been said that obtained- had never been employed in the “Celleppo Re-Settlement Department, that neither the said documents were authentic, nor the type of the papers were the same of those used in the official communication of that time; that the original counterparts were not among the Ministry of Interior documents in the Prime Ministry’s Archives; that the deed numbers on the documents could not fond in the registration logs of the relevant department; that there were some mistakes on the dates according to Mohammedan and Gregorian Calendars; that there were inconsistencies between the signatures; and there were some big grammatical and spelling mistakes in them.”

Furthermore, although it was mentioned that; “the original copies of the documents which were used in the book were kept at the Armenian Office in Manchester” since then they have persistently been concealed from the examination of the World opinion, and since their “authenticity was based on the report of the Aleppo Armenian Unit during the Ottoman times; is an important indication of the falsehood of the alleged claims of Armenian massacre.

REFERENCES:
Hallacoglu, Prof. Dr. Yusuf, Ermeni Tehcirine Dair Gerekceler (1915), TTK Yayini, Ankara, 2001.

Published by:
Turkish Hutorical Association, Ankara, 2001.

FOOTNOTES:
1) DH. EUM 2. Branch, 68/80
2) DH. EUM 2. Branch, 68/71; 2. Branch 68/84 (see doc: 192, 200)
3) DH. EUM 2. Branch, 68x101 (see doc 217).
4) An Armenian group which consisted of 26.064 people and lived in Aleppo were not actually included in the immigration process. Because; the population re-settled in the new settlement location were brought from Anatolia. On the other hand while the number of those who arrived at Aleppo were given as around a hundred thousand, (see: DH EUM. 2nd Branch, 68/80) the population arrived here was taken as 100.000

[Türküm]

Read more truth ...

[glennmiller]

They don't care. They don't want want to care. This genocide story is their national identity. Nothing can convince them to other.

[winoman]

Yeah....of course he would attempt to justify his actions..and it is already well known that public orders - designed for external consumption were countermanded by secret orders - this was proven by the Post war Ottoman Military Tribunals and by observers at the time - including German and Austrian governmental officials in secret dispaches to their governments back home...and these materials are in their respective archives...additionally the clear evveidence of what occured - including that all Armenians were ultimatly massacred and uprooted and that only a handful remained in the Empire after the war and less are even in Turkey now is evidence of the crime and of the duplicity of Talat's words (as if we would believe Hitler writing that there was every effort to care for the xxxs and no intention to exterminate them - etc)...and if you would say that the Armenians of Istanbul and Smyrna were untouched - this is untrue - it is documented that daily round ups of innocent Armenians in Istanbul occured according to a quota system and that wholescale "deportation" was only avoided because of interferrence on the part of the Germans who forbade it. General Limon Van Sanders specifically prevented the "deportation" of the Armeninas from Smyrna and this is well documented. etc

You are full of s hit - so ive it up already - just what are you trying to prove? (when you truly know nothing at all...)

[glennmiller]

Originally Posted by winoman

Yeah....of course he would attempt to justify his actions

These cables are written at 1915, when Ottoman army was confident to win the battle. Talat can't write these things to justify anything at those early stage of battle. This is your funny paranoia.

Originally Posted by winoman

You are full of s hit - so ive it up already - just what are you trying to prove? (when you truly know nothing at all...)

As I said before, you don't care about reality. You don't want to hear anything that falisfy your genocide story. Because if this genocide myth is proven as fake then you can't beg sympathy from western countries anymore.

[winoman]

Its quite a laugh that someone could even seriously write the words "genocide myth" or concieve that it could ever be "proven" as fake etc - get real...

[glennmiller]

If you have anything to say seriously, just answer the cable of Talat above.
Is it a fake cable? No, the original is at Turkish archives, you can check whether it is fake or not. If it is not fake, so you are a liar nation.
Very simple isn't it? Why are you afraid to talk about this very simple and specific issue? Do you afraid that your myth will collapse?
Just answer this specific queastion if you can, OK?

[winoman]

Originally Posted by glennmiller

These cables are written at 1915, when Ottoman army was confident to win the battle. Talat can't write these things to justify anything at those early stage of battle. This is your funny paranoia.

The CUP was never confident of anything - they were highly paranoid, fearful and had extemely low self esteem - even while they were eating up and promoting this idea of Pan-Turkism and all the Golkap and Alp BS. The CUP was very concerned that the curtain could fall down on them at any time. They were very aware that they likely would not win the war - and in fact - during this period they were readying to burn Constantinple and flee into Anatolia as the Brits etc were on the verge of overwhelmming the Dardenelles and Galipoli...additionaly Ottomans were suffering defeats in Mesopatania and elsewhere in the Middle East and the Russians were also on the move (and had captured a great deal of Van province and such) -so please your claims of the CUP thinking they were about to win the war at this time are quite laughable. The CUP took great pains to cover their tracks and (dishonestly) justify what they were doing however it has been clearly established (and you cannot refute) that secret orders were issued to exterminate the Armenians and that these were carried out by party operatives and the special organization which took orders directly from the CUP central commitee. Any who opposed these policies were removed. There is a great deal of documentary evidence and even testimony and writings by those involved after the war (who were more honest then Talat) that prove all these things and you cannot claim otherwise.

[winoman]

Originally Posted by glennmiller

If you have anything to say seriously, just answer the cable of Talat above.
Is it a fake cable? No, the original is at Turkish archives, you can check whether it is fake or not. If it is not fake, so you are a liar nation.
Very simple isn't it? Why are you afraid to talk about this very simple and specific issue? Do you afraid that your myth will collapse?
Just answer this specific queastion if you can, OK?

see above (my post #4 as well as post #8) you extremely ignorant person

[winoman]

THE SECRET MEETING OF THE ITTIHAD

An extract from "Turka Inklabinin Ich Yuzu" by Mevian Zadeh Rifat. (The
Inner Facet of the Turkish Revolution). Translated from the Turkish by
Haigaz K. Kazarian in Minutes of Secret Meetings Organizing the Turkish
Genocide of the Armenians". Boston, Mass. 1965.


"DR. NAZIM - If we are going to do something like the Adana massacre
of 1909, here and there, the result will do us more harm than good. Since
we have decided to purge the other elements, the Arabs and the Kurds
will be alerted, and the danger will be multiplied and the execution of the
operations will be rendered more difficult. I have spoken many times in
these meetings. I repeat, if this purge is not made general and final, harm
will come instead of good. The Armenian element must be severed from
the roots. We must not leave a single Armenian alive in our country, we
must kill the Armenian name. We are at war. No better opportunity could
we hope for.

"There will be no intervention of the great powers and the hue and cry of
the world press will not be heard. Even if so, it will be too late to do
anything about it. This time I move the decisive execution of operation
extermination. We must exterminate them so that not one Armenian is left
alive.

"Some of you perhaps will say, is it necessary to resort to such atrocities?
What harm can come from the children, the oldsters and the sick? Who is
the guilty one? The guilty one is the criminal who must be punished. The
helpless people seated in their homes, in their huts, to attack them, to
attack the suckling babes is barbarism, contrary to civilization and
humanity. Dr. Nazim, too, is an extremist, he does not think logically, you
will say. I beg you, Effendis, do not surrender yourselves to such a degree
of tender heartedness. That is a bad disease. Take a look at war itself...
What is war? Is it not savagery? To uproot the farmer from his land and to
take him to the battle front, is it not killing him? What is it to take the
artisan out of his shop and expose him to the shrapnel? What has he
done? What crime has he committed that he should be doomed to such a
tragic death? Barbarism is in the law of nature.

"To determine whether or not such views are acceptable is a matter of
conviction. All the animals, even the plants eat one another. They prolong
their lives by destroying one another. I& it not so? Can you tell them not
to eat flesh of one another? Avoid destroying one another, that is
barbarism? Can you say it?

"HASAN FEHMI - Yes, my Effendi. Your humble servant knows this
much. It is a matter of eating or being eaten. I have read it in books on
natural science.

"DR. NAZIM - (continuing) - Let us think well. Why did we bring about
this revolution? What was our aim? Was it to dethrone Sultan Hamid and
his men and take their places? I don't think it was for this.

"It was to revive Turkism that I became your comrade, brother and fellow
traveler. I only want that the Turk shall live. And I want him to live only on
these lands, and be independent. With the exception of the Turks, let all
the other elements be exterminated, no matter to what religion or faith they
belong. This country must be purged of alien elements. The Turks must do
the purging. Religion is of no worth to me. My religion is the Turan.

"DR. BEHAEDDIN SHAKIR - (speaking deliberately and pausing
between the sentences) :- When an orator like Moses, a wanderer like
Jesus, and an orphan like Muhammed establish great religions in this
world, why shouldn't resolute thinkers like us introduce and generalize the
religion and the idealism of Turan?

"HASAN FEHMI - With the help of God (El avyazi billah). Those are not
idle words.
More than religious zeal, they are Kefer (atheism).. (He looks around).
Aiajoon and Majoun
(incomprehensible words) have your kiafirin (death to the unbelievers).

"KARA KEMAL - (Seeing the haste of the Hodja Effendi, and in a
mocking tone) - What are you saying? Are you reading a prayer? I beg of
you, come and read a prayer over my head. Groan over me. Perhaps it
will cure my headache and my fears.

"DR. NAZIM - (continuing) - Woe is us, if there will be no radical purge,
a final extermination. We shall not be able to sit in our places today,
tomorrow they will take us by the hand and throw us out. They will not be
satisfied by merely throwing us out, they will kill us.
Revolution knows no pity. It only thinks of prolonging the life of the ideal,
it removes, destroys the obstacles.

"DR. BEHAEDDIN SHAKIR - We revolutionary Turks, having taken
our positions in the name of the nation, and based upon the principles of
the Ottoman Empire, founded the rule of Ittihad and Terakki. Our sole aim
is to prolong the life of the generation with the sperm of the Turk.

"The alien nations left from ancient times are like malignant weeds, we
must pluck them from the roots, cast it aside and purge our homes. This is
the aim and the principle of our revolution. This is the reason why we
called It the government of Ittihad and Terakki - the Government of the
New Turkey, - and reduced the value of the name Ottoman to zero.
Really, what is the name Ottoman (Osman) worth? What aim can the
government achieve by clinging to the name Osman? The riffraff of the
nationalities like the Dervish's Keoshkur, the beggars (Derbeder), hiding
behind the name Ottoman have formed a strange conglomerate. This is not
a government in the scientific sense of the word. At best, the Osmanjik
(the Ottoman citizen), transfers his vineyard and his property to his
children. The Ottoman composite consisting of various elements, cannot
be accepted as a national entity. That is like tame animals in a vineyard.
Greek, Armenian, Bulgarian, Bosnians, Serbs, Polaks (Islamized
Bulgarians), Albanians, Kurds, Circassians, Arabs, Georgians, the Lazis
and manifold elements, as if they have constituted a totality under the
"Ottoman" name. This concept must be revised.

"The geese, the duck, the hen, the sheep, the goat, the cow, the oxen, the
buffalo, the horse, on a farm, no matter what their status cannot change
their species. The above mentioned alien elements present the same image
in our yard. They survived, preserving their language and nationalities. If
they have a chance, they will smash the Turk, will seize our lands and will
secede. Witness the Greeks, the Serbs and the Bulgarians, and last of all
the Albanians.

"KARA KEMAL - Perish them all ...

"HASAN FEHMI - By your high permission, your servant thinks like his
physician brother, with this exception that I do not base my convictions on
western science but on the Eastern, religious, Shenyat laws. Being
transported unto Almighty God, I would like to introduce a few beautiful
principles of my own. The law of the Shenyat permits the extermination of
the malignant. Basing my words on a poem of Sheikh Saadi of blessed
memory, the author of Gulistan, I say that, since we have seen nothing but
harm from the Armenians, since they have opposed our holy party of
Ittihad and Terakki, have revolted and have put to shameful flight the son
in law of our freedom's hero Enver Pasha, without further piddling, the
killing of all the Armenians, provided not one of them shall be left alive, is a
religious duty.

"Your servant is prepared to present a holy edict in this respect. Don't
look upon me as a turbaned Softa (religious fanatic). I was a man of poor
means, scarcely able to eke out a living. I was given the right of freedom
and I became a Deputy to the Parliament. I am the teacher and the
representative of 50,000 students of the schools. Let me explain. Since the
collective society is endangered, the individual becomes sacrificed. This is
Kaidahi Fiykiyeh (the principle of Islam philosophy). Therefore they must
all be killed, men, women and children, without discrimination. To put this
idea into effect, I have another suggestion. With your permission, let me
explain. By reason of general mobilization, we took into the army all those
who carry arms. We send them (the Armenians) to the front line of the
battle. Then we will take them in a cross-fire between the Russians in
front, and our special forces from behind. Having thus removed the
menfolk, we give the order to our Salih (believers) to exterminate the
remainder of women and children, the oldsters and the sick and the
maimed in one full sweep. Our believers exterminate them and seize their
properties
and take their daughters to their beds (Doukhterleri istifrash ederler).
Don't you find my suggestion the best and the most acceptable way of
dealing with them?

"KARA KEMAL - Long live, long live, Khodja Effendi. Do you see,
brethren, our most worthy Sheikh-ul-Islam?

"ENVER - (seriously) - The manner of extermination and punishment are
the duty of the Council of Ministers at the head of the Government.

"HASAN FEHMI - The order and the Firman belong to your Highness.

"DJAVID - Now let us come to a decision. The expositions of my
brothers Dr. Nazim, Behaeddin Shakir and even Hasan Fehmi have
clarified sufficiently the matter. The Armenians on every occasion aligned
themselves with the enemies of the Turks against the fatherland in which
they have lived for centuries. Against the same Turks, Effendis, who
insured for the Armenians comfort and happiness. The Turk is the ruler of
this country. The Turk toils on his farm under the burning sun, brings his
produce to the city and sells it to the Armenian. Enriches him and insures
his happiness. The economic rule is in the hands of the Armenian. At the
cost of leaving not one Armenian alive, the extermination of all of them is
both a national and political duty. It is equally important that the Turk shall
establish his economic rule. I will now take the vote.

"At the order of Talaat, the votes are collected and counted. The result
was that, the resolution to exterminate the Armenians, provided not a
single Armenian should be left alive was passed unanimously."

[glennmiller]

Originally Posted by winoman

The CUP was never confident of anything - they were highly paranoid, fearful and had extemely low self esteem - even while they were eating up and promoting this idea of Pan-Turkism and all the Golkap and Alp BS. The CUP was very concerned that the curtain could fall down on them at any time. They were very aware that they likely would not win the war - and in fact - during this period they were readying to burn Constantinple and flee into Anatolia as the Brits etc were on the verge of overwhelmming the Dardenelles and Galipoli...additionaly Ottomans were suffering defeats in Mesopatania and elsewhere in the Middle East and the Russians were also on the move (and had captured a great deal of Van province and such) -so please your claims of the CUP thinking they were about to win the war at this time are quite laughable. The CUP took great pains to cover their tracks and (dishonestly) justify what they were doing however it has been clearly established (and you cannot refute) that secret orders were issued to exterminate the Armenians and that these were carried out by party operatives and the special organization which took orders directly from the CUP central commitee. Any who opposed these policies were removed. There is a great deal of documentary evidence and even testimony and writings by those involved after the war (who were more honest then Talat) that prove all these things and you cannot claim otherwise.

1. My point is easier than your explanation of justification against this cable. You are paranoid.
2. Besides this "secret orders, etc." you don't have any single document that proove your paranoid thesis. All those "Naim Bey's memoirs, cable of Aleppo governor are PROVEN as fake. You are just lying by fabricating fake documents to proove your genocide myth.
3. You even can not write the name of CUP members correctly and repeat same paranoid story like parrot.

[glennmiller]

Originally Posted by winoman

see above (my post #4 as well as post #8) you extremely ignorant person

You can't answer this very easy and specific question isn't it? This shows how weak you are. No need to talk anymore unless you feel yourself ready to answer my easy question instead of changing the subject and tell paranoid stories and secret cables, secret orders, secret organisations, secret...

[winoman]

Originally Posted by glennmiller

1. My point is easier than your explanation of justification against this cable. You are paranoid.
2. Besides this "secret orders, etc." you don't have any single document that proove your paranoid thesis. All those "Naim Bey's memoirs, cable of Aleppo governor are PROVEN as fake. You are just lying by fabricating fake documents to proove your genocide myth.
3. You even can not write the name of CUP members correctly and repeat same paranoid story like parrot.

Wrong - I can't be held accountable for the fact that you are ignorant of this material. None of what I said is connected to the cables that you refer to BTW - but I want to make a point that these cale have NOT been prven as fake - they have been alleged as fake by Turkish so-called scholars who I should add have a very poor track record in regards to objectivity and accuracy and for the most part their "scholarship" is rather laughable. Additionally their so-called "findings" have been throughly refuted. No matter - as I said - nothing I have stated is in any way connected with these documents but relies on evidence gathered by the Ottoman parliment, the Post war military tribunals and from memoirs admitting such by former CUP and Ottoman government officials.

[winoman]

Originally Posted by glennmiller

You can't answer this very easy and specific question isn't it? This shows how weak you are. No need to talk anymore unless you feel yourself ready to answer my easy question instead of changing the subject and tell paranoid stories and secret cables, secret orders, secret organisations, secret...

my posts directly answer your stupid question...

[winoman]

Exerpts from the testimony of Dr. Johannes Lepsius - Tehlirian trial - Berlin 1921

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The plan for the deportation of the Armenians was decided upon by the Young Turk Committee. On this Committee were Talaat Pasha as the Minister of the Interior and Enver Pasha as the Minister of War. Talaat gave the orders and, with the help of the Young Turk Committee, implemented the plan.

In a document signed by Talaat Pasha we find the following statement: "The destination of the deportation is annihilation." These orders were carried out to the letter.

Pursuant to this order, of all the Armenians who were deported from Eastern Anatolia southward, only ten percent reached their destination; the remaining ninety percent were killed, except for women and girls who were sold by the gendarmes or were abducted by the Kurds or died of exhaustion and hunger.
Of those Armenians who were driven to the edge of the desert from Western Anatolia, Cilicia, and northern Assyria, a sizable number, reaching into the hundreds of thousands, was assembled into camps. These groups were systematically starved and periodically massacred.

When more groups of Armenians were brought to the stations and there was no room to keep them, they were taken in groups into the desert and slaughtered.

The official government explanation for the deportation was that these were precautionary measures. However, authoritative individuals blatantly declared that their purpose was to annihilate the whole Armenian population.What I have just said is supported by the official documents of the German Foreign Office, as well as the documents of the German Embassy in Constantinople and documents of German Consuls. There is no question as to their authenticity.

One would have to ask the following question: How is it possible to kill millions of people in such a short time?

This was possible in the most savage of conditions, as was brought out during the proceedings of the Military Tribunal set up in Constantinople to try Talaat and his comrades and associates. The Court consisted of a Division Commander, as its president, three generals, prominent during the war, and a captain. Of the five charges brought against the Young Turks, the first dealt with the Armenian massacres. On July 6, 1919, the Military Tribunal pronounced a guilty verdict, sentencing to death the leading perpetrators of the genocide — Talaat, Enver, Jemal and Dr. Nazim.

The responsibility of carrying out the orders for the massacres was left to the Valis [governors-general of the provinces], Mutasarrifs (governor of the provinces], and Kaymakams [governors of the districts]. Those officials who refused to carry out the orders were immediately relieved of their duties. For example, Jelal Pasha, who was the Governor of vilayet of Aleppo, refused to carry out the orders for deportation. He was relieved by direct orders of Talaat and sent westward to Konya. He behaved in the same manner there. He refused to obey the orders and in fact helped the Armenians, protecting those who remained and the deportees as well. He was again relieved of his duties, but this time he was not given another government position. He was one of the most widely known and fair Valis Turkey had. Another governor, Rashid Bey of the vilayet of Diyarbekir, executed two subprefects who refused to carry out the orders. These orders not only affected government officials, but Turkish citizens as well. The Commander of the Third Division issued an order that any Turk found assisting an Armenian would be shot in front of his house, and the house burned to the ground. Any government officials found helping Armenians would be relieved of their posts and tried before a military tribunal for their crimes.

In Constantinople, our diplomats prevented the deportation of Armenian people of that city.

...there is sufficient proof to indicate that neither the 1895-1896 massacres nor the recent ones stemmed from spontaneous popular agitations. In both instances, it was the orders of the Turkish government that were being carried out.

Furthermore, whether in 1895-1896 or in 1915, it was this very same class of Armenian merchants living in Constantinople, Smyrna, and Aleppo that escaped the massacres, partly because they were able to pay ransom. On the other hand, the entire rural Armenian population of Eastern Anatolia, which comprised 80 percent of the total Armenian population as well as the tradesmen, who were mostly Armenians, were sent to the desert and annihilated.

I was in Constantinople in 1913 and I could see that the Young Turks were enraged that the European Powers again kept talking about reforms for the Armenians. They were all the more disturbed when, thanks to the agreement between Germany and Russia, this issue was settled to the satisfaction of the Armenians. The Young Turks said: If you Armenians do not denounce these reforms, something will happen that will make Abdul Hamid's actions look like child's play. The leaders of both groups had become friends and helped each other out during the elections. During the first few months of the war, relations between them seemed amicable until the evening of April 24, 1915 when, to the complete surprise of everyone in Constantinople, 235 Armenian intellectuals were arrested, jailed, and then sent to Asia Minor. During the next few days, a couple hundred more were added. Altogether 600 people were involved. Of this group only 15 survived. Practically all of the Armenian intellectual leaders in Constantinople were wiped out in this manner. A member of Parliament, Vartkes, a close personal friend of Talaat, had still remained exempt. He went to Talaat and asked him what was happening. Talaat's answer was: "While we were weak, your people pushed for reforms and were a thorn in our side; now we are going to take advantage of our favorable situation and disperse your people so that it will take you 50 years before you talk again about reforms." Vartkes answered, appropriately enough, "Then it follows that the work of Abdul Hamid is to be continued?" Talaat answered, "Yes."

Their deeds surpassed their boasts. The evidence brought out during the trials held by the Turkish Court-martial in Constantinople, and corresponding to the report published in the official Turkish journal Takvim-i-vekayi, shows that the deportation was decided upon by the Young Turk Committee and that Talaat was the most influential member of the Committee. In fact, he was its very soul. He ordered the annihilation and did nothing to prevent it.
It is also possible to submit official written proof based on German and Turkish documents.

This uprooting and annihilation of the Armenians took a thousand and one forms. You have already heard a few examples from eyewitnesses.