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Hellenic Resources Network
Saturday, 3 April 2004
Various Western Quotes [on the Armenian Genocide]
Henry Morgenthau, Sr.
U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Ambassador Morgenthau's Story, 1919
When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these deportations, they
were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race; they understood this
well, and, in their conversations with me, they made no particular attempt
to conceal the fact. . . . I am confident that the whole history of the
human race contains no such horrible episode as this. The great massacres
and persecutions of the past seem almost insignificant when compared to the
sufferings of the Armenian race in 1915.
British Viscount James Bryce
October 6, 1915, speech
The massacres are the result of a policy which, as far as can be
ascertained, has been entertained for some considerable time by the gang of
unscrupulous adventurers who are now in possession of the Government of the
Turkish Empire. They hesitated to put it in practice until they thought the
favorable moment had come, and that moment seems to have arrived about the
month of April.
Count Wolff-Metternich
German Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire July 10, 1916, cable to the German
Chancellor
In its attempt to carry out its purpose to resolve the Armenian question by
the destruction of the Armenian race, the Turkish government has refused to
be deterred neither by our representations, nor by those of the American
Embassy, nor by the delegate of the Pope, nor by the threats of the Allied
Powers, nor in deference to the public opinion of the West representing
one-half of the world.
Theodore Roosevelt
May 11, 1918, letter to Cleveland Hoadley Dodge
. . . the Armenian massacre was the greatest crime of the war, and the
failure to act against Turkey is to condone it . . . the failure to deal
radically with the Turkish horror means that all talk of guaranteeing the
future peace of the world is mischievous nonsense.
Herbert Hoover
The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover, 1952
The association of Mount Ararat and Noah, the staunch Christians who were
massacred periodically by the Mohammedan Turks, and the Sunday School
collections over fifty years for alleviating their miseries - all cumulate to
impress the name Armenia on the front of the American mind.
Jimmy Carter
May 16, 1978, White House ceremony
It is generally not known in the world that, in the years preceding 1916,
there was a concerted effort made to eliminate all the Armenian people,
probably one of the greatest tragedies that ever befell any group. And there
weren't any Nuremberg trials.
Ronald Reagan
April 22, 1981, proclamation
Like the genocide of the Armenians before it, and the genocide of the
Cambodians which followed it, . . . the lessons of the Holocaust must never
be forgotten.
George Bush
April 20, 1990, speech in Orlando, Florida
[We join] Armenians around the world [as we remember] the terrible massacres
suffered in 1915-1923 at the hands of the rulers of the Ottoman Empire. The
United States responded to this crime against humanity by leading diplomatic
and private relief efforts.
Saturday, 3 April 2004
Various Western Quotes [on the Armenian Genocide]
Henry Morgenthau, Sr.
U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Ambassador Morgenthau's Story, 1919
When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these deportations, they
were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race; they understood this
well, and, in their conversations with me, they made no particular attempt
to conceal the fact. . . . I am confident that the whole history of the
human race contains no such horrible episode as this. The great massacres
and persecutions of the past seem almost insignificant when compared to the
sufferings of the Armenian race in 1915.
British Viscount James Bryce
October 6, 1915, speech
The massacres are the result of a policy which, as far as can be
ascertained, has been entertained for some considerable time by the gang of
unscrupulous adventurers who are now in possession of the Government of the
Turkish Empire. They hesitated to put it in practice until they thought the
favorable moment had come, and that moment seems to have arrived about the
month of April.
Count Wolff-Metternich
German Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire July 10, 1916, cable to the German
Chancellor
In its attempt to carry out its purpose to resolve the Armenian question by
the destruction of the Armenian race, the Turkish government has refused to
be deterred neither by our representations, nor by those of the American
Embassy, nor by the delegate of the Pope, nor by the threats of the Allied
Powers, nor in deference to the public opinion of the West representing
one-half of the world.
Theodore Roosevelt
May 11, 1918, letter to Cleveland Hoadley Dodge
. . . the Armenian massacre was the greatest crime of the war, and the
failure to act against Turkey is to condone it . . . the failure to deal
radically with the Turkish horror means that all talk of guaranteeing the
future peace of the world is mischievous nonsense.
Herbert Hoover
The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover, 1952
The association of Mount Ararat and Noah, the staunch Christians who were
massacred periodically by the Mohammedan Turks, and the Sunday School
collections over fifty years for alleviating their miseries - all cumulate to
impress the name Armenia on the front of the American mind.
Jimmy Carter
May 16, 1978, White House ceremony
It is generally not known in the world that, in the years preceding 1916,
there was a concerted effort made to eliminate all the Armenian people,
probably one of the greatest tragedies that ever befell any group. And there
weren't any Nuremberg trials.
Ronald Reagan
April 22, 1981, proclamation
Like the genocide of the Armenians before it, and the genocide of the
Cambodians which followed it, . . . the lessons of the Holocaust must never
be forgotten.
George Bush
April 20, 1990, speech in Orlando, Florida
[We join] Armenians around the world [as we remember] the terrible massacres
suffered in 1915-1923 at the hands of the rulers of the Ottoman Empire. The
United States responded to this crime against humanity by leading diplomatic
and private relief efforts.