AJ Aftermath Page

An estimated 75% of the Armenians on the death marches died, especially children and the elderly. Those who survived were taken into the desert with no water. Being thrown off cliffs, burned alive or drowned in rivers is what killed the others. The Turkish countryside became covered with the bodies of the Armenians. Mehmed Talaat responded to this problem by sending another coded message to all state leaders saying: “I have been advised that in certain areas unburied corpses are still to be seen. I ask you to issue the strictest instructions so that the corpses are buried.” His instructions were usually ignored because those involved in the mass murders showed little interest in digging graves for the ones they just killed.

Eyewitnesses

It was a shocking site for many foreigners working in Turkey during that time to see the bodies on the streets. Eyewitnesses included German government liaisons, American missionaries and U.S. diplomats stationed in the country. U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, Henry Morgenthau, reported to U.S. State Department, “Deportation of and excesses against peaceful Armenians is increasing and from harrowing reports of eyewitnesses it appears that a campaign of race extermination is in progress under a pretext of reprisal against rebellion.”

In 1916, Morgenthau’s successor, Abram Elkus, stated to the U.S. State Department that the Young Turks were continuing an “ unchecked policy of extermination through starvation, exhaustion and brutality of treatment hardly surpasses even in Turkish history.”

The Allied Powers

Allied powers, Great Britain, France and Russia, responded to the news of the massacres by issuing a warning to Turkey: “… the allied governments announce publicly that they will hold all the members of the Ottoman Government, as well as such of their agents as are implicated, personally responsible for such matters.” But this warning had no effect.

Newspapers in the West, including the New York Times published reports of the continuing deportations with headlines: Armenians Are Sent to Perish in the Desert-Turks Accused of a Plan to Exterminate Whole Population-August 18, 1915, Million Armenians Killed or in Exile-American Committee on Relief Says Victims of Turks Are Steadily Increasing-Policy of Extermination-December 15, 1915.

Russia Attacks Turkey

Some relief came to the Armenians when the Russian troops attacked Turkey along the Easter Front. They withdrew in 1917 because of the Russian Revolt and many Armenian survivors withdrew along with them and settled in among the Armenians already living in the provinces of the former Russian Empire. There were in total about 500,000 Armenians gathered in this region. In May of 1918, Turkish armies attacked this region to further resume the annihilation of the Armenians, but this time it was different. Armenians managed to acquire weapons and they fought back, finally repelling Turkish invasion at the battle of Sardarabad. They saved the population from total extermination. Armenian leaders declared the establishment of the independent Republic of Armenia.

Armenian Activists Emerge

Shortly before WWI ended, Talaat, Enver and Jemel resigned their government posts and fled to Germany. In the months that followed, requests were made by the Armenians to the Turkish government and its allies asking Germany to send the Young Turks to stand trial. Their requests were turned down, so Armenian activists located the Young Turks in Germany. One of the activists, an Armenian student, Soghomon Tehlirian, found Taalat and assassinated him. Tehlirian was tried in Germany and was acquitted of the charges because of what Talaat did to the Armenians.