English Summaries of the Turkish Articles: Witness for Talat Pa?a - Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung

At the Tehlirian trial witnesses, who do not directly have to do with this issue, have been heard. Witnesses, who reported hearsay have been heard. Persons who witnessed the reality have not been invited to the trial. Why did they not invite German officers, who served at the places of discussion? Some of the German officers have been informed by the court that they might be invited as eyewitnesses but at the very end none of them was actually heard. What I try to do now is to fulfil my duty as a witness by writing this article, because out of these unlucky circumstances I missed this opportunity.
 
One has to go back in history to understand why the Minister of Interior of the Ottoman Empire, Talat Pasha, who has been assassinated, is being accused by committing genocide towards the Armenian population.

The brutality of Armenians has its roots back in history. Since Armenians have been living together with Turks and Kurds in the geographic triangle of Russia, Iran and Turkey these brutalities took place repeatedly.

Whereas the Kurds were nomads and owning animals, the Armenians were mostly farmers, craftsmen and merchants. Kurds did not receive any education and were not familiar with money and its functions. Armenians, who are much more capable of money issues, took financial advantage of the inexperienced Kurds. The deceived Kurds took revenge – there we have the Armenian brutality. It is important to stress that the diversity of religion has nothing to do with these fights.

When the Armenians during the Great War started rebellions at the eastern borders, these ancient misunderstandings came up again. There was no specific reason for these rebellions. The reforms that were forced by the other powers had positive effects. Armenians received the right to vote and the right of having seats in the parliament. Even the Minister of Foreign Affairs was an Armenian for a time. Like the other people of the Empire, the Armenians gained equal social and political rights.

All the material that has been captured in the regions where Armenians lived (weapons, provocative pamphlets, ammunition, explosives) showed that a third power organized and financed these rebellions. It is obvious that Russia supported these rebellions.

The male population of the Empire was serving in the army, therefore the Armenians caused massacres among the defenceless population. I witnessed that the massacres the Armenians caused were much more brutal than the cruelty that the Turks were accused having committed towards the Armenians.

It was decided that the gendarmerie, which was connected to the Ministry of Interior, should suppress the rebellions. The Minister of Interior of that time, who was Talat Pasha, was giving the orders. The Turkish population was completely frightened and started to flee in masses. A quick decision was needed. At this very critical point the Council of Ministers declared that the Armenians constituted a danger to the state and decided that the Armenians should be removed from the war zones in the East and resettled in northern Mesopotamia. The gendarmerie that organized the relocation was directly linked to the French General Baumann.

Talat Pa?a was not an unstable and revengeful murderer, he was a long-term thinking statesman. He could foresee that the West would turn this to a ‘Christian hunting’ - that is why he stayed away from any kind of violence. He was right! Propaganda entered the scenery and people believed in this nonsense. This happened in a state that has Christian allies and in which numerous Christian officers are in its own army.

Now I want to pay attention on the relocation. The lack of infrastructure, which existed, because of the size of the Empire, lead to the fact that the provinces were quite independent from the central government. The governors of the provinces had more authorities than their colleagues in the West. It is argued that the governors of the provinces are more familiar with the problems of the region and can evaluate the developments better than Istanbul. This lead to the fact, that some orders of Istanbul were not fulfilled properly.

 Besides thousands of Muslim refugees, who had to flee from the war zones, thousands of Armenians had to be directed to the right paths, had to be fed and to be sheltered. This was an obligation not easy to fulfil for the uneducated civil servants of the region. At this point Talat Pa?a put hand on the situation. He took the direct command over the gendarmerie and the governors. The orders he gave at that time must still exist. I witnessed myself several correspondences that took place between him and the Ministry of War. In these correspondences the army was asked for help. In times were the military situation was suitable this help was given. The army itself was lacking food, transport vehicles and medical equipment, but still these things were given as aid. Against all efforts thousands of Muslim refugees and relocated Armenians died. Still I supported the decision that was given.