The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1917. THE EXTERMINATION OF A RACE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3015, 28 February 1917, Page 4

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1917. THE EXTERMINATION OF A RACE

_ There/is probably ample justification .for the statement lately made bv. Mr. Balfour in a letter to tho ./American Committee on Armenian relief that it is doubtful if the truo horror of the sufferings of the Armenians is realised. If public opinion in Allied countries were really alive to the nature and scope of tho tragedy that has overtaken the Armenians no man would dare to assert, as a member o£ the House of Commons di'j a day or two ago, that Jinleufe designs upon Con- [ stantinQnlc aavnur of a war of con- | lyacst. In their reply to Presi- | Wilson's Peace Note the Allies i-isCated that their objects in the war f iiieluded the enfranchisement of populations subject to the bloody tyranny of the Turks and the expulsion from Europe of the Ottoman Empire. Carried to its logical conclusion this policy will involvo not only the oxpulsion of the Turks from their last foothold in Europe, but the dismemberment of their Empire. At its face value the Entente announcement means that Arabs, Gyeeks, and other races, as well tho Armenian remnant, are to \& liberated from • the Turkish Joke, and that Turkey will be reduci 'cd from the statuß of an Empire to I that of a petty State. Drastic as it is, however, this policy is as "far as possible from being the outcome of any conquering design. It is rather an. example of late repentance. Do,/i'iig their duty, the Allies and other European Powers would long ago have meted out justice to the Ottoman Empire and made an end of its crimes. The extermination of a great part of the Armenian race, which would in itself justify severer measures of repression than the Allies propose to take with Turkey, is the culmination of a series of crimes of which the European Powers were for the most part passive spectators, and the pleas that are now being advanced in some quarters on. behalf of Turkey might as reasonably be inade on behalf of the wild beasts j of thc_ jungle or on behalf of babitttal criminals in the midst of a civilised community. The magnitudo of the crime in which the Armenians have played the role of victims was indicated by the British Foreign Minister in. the letter above mentioned. Before the war, ,Mr. Balfour stated, there were 1,800,000 Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Of this number, 1,200,000 were massacred or deported. As it stands this is an inadequate statement of tho facts. Tens of thousands of Armenians were torn from their homes nominally to be sent into exile, but few were permitted to reach their destination. The so-called deportations amounted in general to wholesale murder and outrage. With the exception of tho refugees who found shelter within the .Russian -lines the. Armenian population of Turkoy was wiped out in an orgy of unbridled sav-; ageiV which recalls the worst deeds of the ancient barbarians. In the sense that they tolerated the conditions which culminated in this colossal and inhuman crime all the European Powers carry some responsibility. After Bismarck intimated to the British Government in 1883 that Germany cared nothing about Armenian reforms, Turkey was permitted to embark without check- or effective protest upon the Career of massacre which culminated in the fearful crimes of 1915. In the years that followed that of Bismarck's characteristic pro : nouncement the futile diplomacy of the Powers opposed no real ' obstacle to the policy in which Turkey aimed at colonising the frontier districts of Asia Minor with Moslems from Macedonia and eliminating tho Christian population of these districts by massacre or otherwise.

While it must in fairness bo admitted that no one European Power took a firm stand prior to 19i4 on behalf of the Armenians ah.f other subject races in Turkey-, the war has in this as in other matters drawn a sharp distinction between the parties opposed in the wr-r. The worst charge to be k:.J at n1,..e door of_ Russia, Britain. &nd France, in this connection, is that bv their indifference and neglect m'thc days before the war chey ieit Tvirkey in a position to all but exterminate the Armenian population. Germany, on the other hand, is in the fuiiosc sense a partner in this terrible crime. Not only did she leave her vassal entirely free to pursus a campaign of unrestricted murder and outrage against the Armenians but it is quite certain that but, for her countenance and moral support the campaign on the scale in which it took shape would have been impossible. Native opinion in Turkey has always been divided on the subject of Armenian policy, and until the so-called Committee of Union and Progress became supreme hopes wore entertained by a liberal clement in Constantinople of agraduai and natural reconciliation between the Christians and Moslems in tho eastern vilayets. It was German

backing that made Envkr Pasha and his chosen associates all-power-ful in the Ottoman Umpire, and no other reading of. Ll.o /acta seems possible than thai, Germany deliberately countenanced the fall Ration or the Armenian papulation lor the sake of cements*' h er relations with that socfoS o " t b tbe Y Turk Par y b.y wh ose aid she hat been.enable te llae the ottoman empire. as a convenient tool and At a direct view the Armenian massacres may be classed as a complete reversion to the conditions of barbarism from which tho Turks have never in any real Hcnse # emerged. But Germany's part in the matter is a cold-blooded betrayal of the principles of civilisation and humanity which is without precedent in history. It a dda even to Germany's infamy that in her association with Turkey she has deepened and intensified the savagery of a race which is still in the darkness of medieval barbarism