NEW DANISH DOCUMENTS ON THE
ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Nouvelles d'Armenie, France
http://www.armenews.com/article.php3?id_article=23446
June 25 2006
Documents From The Danish National Archives
Distributed with permission of the principal researcher, Matthias Bjørnlund
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DOCUMENT 1
1915-07-03-DK-001
The minister in Constantinople (Carl Ellis Wandel) to the foreign minister (Erik Scavenius)
Source : Danish National Archives, Foreign Office, Group Cases1909-1945. Dept. 139, Gr. D, No. 1, "Turkey - Inner Relations".
Package 1, to Dec. 31, 1916
No. LXX [70]
Constantinople, July 3, 1915.
Confidential.
Mr. Foreign Minister,
In my earlier reports I have already several times had the opportunity to mention the hatred that the Young Turk government has been showing
with less and less ambiguity against the aliens in Turkey since the beginning of the war and the abrogation of the capitulations, and particularly
against the Christians.
In spite of the repeated promises that the Grand Vizier has given to the Apostolic delegate [Monseigneur Angelo Marie Dolci] and to the mission
chiefs, many of the monasteries and other religious institutions that have been seized have not yet been reopened, and they are still being
treated with the utmost arbitrariness, often under the pretext of military necessity.
The Catholic church in Bebek by the Bosporus has even been placed at the disposal of the local Muslims, who have converted it into a mosque;
and property belonging to the Holy See in Kadikeui, near Constantinople, has been taken over in order to establish a Muslim school.
All of these violations, though, amount to nothing compared to a very vital step, that I have learned today has been taken by the government to
remove the protected status which the Catholics have enjoyed in Turkey from old times.
The government has established a non-clerical council, made up of 12 Catholic Ottoman subjects - naturally chosen among followers of the
government - who must choose a chairman among themselves.
This council is supposed to administer the Catholic church in Turkey (i.e., the Latin, not the Greek, Armenian, etc.), and will thus become
some sort of a new Patriarchate.
This way, the representative of the Papal delegate and of the countries that have Catholic interests in Turkey will be robbed of any opportunity
of attending to such interests and that all monasteries and churches, and everything that the Catholic church owns in this country, will be
administrated by this new council and seized by the Caliphate.
Not surprisingly, the Papal delegate has refused to receive the 12 newly appointed gentlemen in corpore.
In Catholic circles, there had been hope that under these circumstances the German ambassador, who represents so many millions of
Catholics, and the representative of the "Apostolic king" [i.e., the Austrian ambassador Johann Pallavicini] would have a moderating influence
on the Young Turk government, but this seems not to be the case.
The German ambassador says that it must be due to a misunderstanding if one thinks that Germany or any other power has any influence
here, because the Turkish government disregards the daily efforts he makes to direct its attention to the many unwise acts by which it makes
itself still more hated, and the Austrian-Hungarian ambassador expresses himself in a similar way, in that he, among other things, complains
about the arrogant way the Turks try to give the impression that the advancement of the Austrian armed forces first and foremost is caused by
the Turkish victories against the allied forces at the Dardanelles and elsewhere.
With the highest esteem I remain, Mr. Minister, yours faithfully
[Wandel]
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DOCUMENT 2
1915-09-04-DK-001
The minister in Constantinople (Carl Ellis Wandel) to the foreign minister (Erik Scavenius)
Source : Danish National Archives, Foreign Office, Group Cases 1909-1945. Dept. 139, Gr. D, No. 1, "Turkey - Inner Relations".
Package 1, to Dec. 31, 1916
No. CXIII [113]
Constantinople, September 4, 1915.
Confidential.
Mr. Foreign Minister,
In continuation of my most respectful reports No. LXXVIII [78] of July 22, No. LXXXVII [87] of July 31, and No. IC [99] of August 18, I have the
honour of reporting that the persecutions of the Armenians are continuing with great intensity, in spite of the promises made by the government
here, and of which I have already reported.
At the reception Monday the 16th of August, the German ambassador once again brought up these persecutions with the Grand Vizier, and
sked him to induce his government to cease, - especially when it comes to the Armenian Catholics who have never participated in revolutions
or interfered with politics and still are subjected to the most persistent persecutions.
Even the Gregorian Armenians, who have distanced themselves from all nationalist ideas to the extent that they have abandoned their mother
tongue and have embraced the Turkish language as their own, are being persecuted.
The promises which the Grand Vizier gave to the German ambassador were not kept, and when the persecutions and killings continued, His
Holiness Monseigneur Paul Pierre XIII, the Armenian-Catholic Patriarch, turned to the resident Spanish minister and asked him, in the name of
Catholic Spain, to try to turn once more to the Grand Vizier to obtain that at least the safety of the Catholic Armenians were respected.
The Spanish minister, who consented and, using the words of the Patriarch, objected to the Grand Vizier at the reception last Monday, tells me
that His Highness, after having listened to him, showed his surprise about what had happened, and that he, when the minister firmly claimed
that he had proof that the cruelties mentioned had actually taken place, noted it and promised to immediately order that the Armenian Catholics
were spared.
However, both the minister and the Patriarch are convinced that these terrible persecutions will not cease, among other things because the
central government has no power over the provincial authorities, who, when it suits them, do not obey the orders they receive from
Constantinople, and - last not least - because the Germans in their opinion only pretend to protest against the persecutions and killings.
It is obvious, they say, that the Germans are interested in the extermination of the Armenians and in the Greeks fleeing, who fear that the same
thing should happen to them, so that they (the Germans) without effort can take over Turkey's trade and become the only Europeans with a
foothold here.
The authorities in the provinces and the Young Turks, they say, do not consider the German ambassadors' application to the government as
serious.
I shall briefly allow myself to give an account of the important and sad communications of the latest developments, that has been given to me
by completely reliable and truthful source, and which is of such a nature that it will cause general regret everywhere in the Christian world.
The Turks are vigorously carrying through their cruel intention, to exterminate the Armenian people.
In Brussa they have forced the well-to-do Armenians to pay the police 300 Turkish pounds (approximately 5000 Danish kroner) a person to be
allowed to stay in the city, and yet the next day they have banished them from the city with their wives and children.
Where these unfortunate people are now, and what fate they have met after they have had to leave their homes, it is not possible to learn even
for the closest family.
In Adana the governor has ordered the posting of a proclamation which, in a French translation I have received from the Patriarchate, goes
as follows :
"1) Jusqu`a la fin du mois courant les armeniens se trouvant dans la ville meme d`Adana doivent avoir ete expedies au fur et a mesure et par
groupes.
2) Les proprietaires des fabriques sises a Mersina et a Adana, ainsi que les employes de celles-ci qui travaillent pour le compte du Departement
Militaire, son exemptes pour le moment : ils ne seront pas expedies et seront employes comme auparavant dans leur travaux.
3) Les familles dont les soutiens ou les maris sont en service militaire ne seront pas expedies.
4) Tout le monde doit, a partir d`aujourd`hui, regler et mettre en ordre ses affaires et se tenir pret a l`ordre de monter en chemin de fer.
5) Il ne sera fait aucun cas de recours, qui seront faits faits pour une demande de prolongation de delai ou d`autres empechements.
6) L`expedition se fera quartier par quartier.
7) Il ne sera permis pour chaque famille que le transport d`une quantite de meubles de 150 kilos seulement.
8) Pour les familles composees de plus 6 personnes, grandes ou petites, il sera permis le transport de 200 kilos de meubles.
9) La population musulmans de la ville et de la banlieue est obligee de fournir, pour cette expedition, les moyens de transport.
10) La commission nommee pour s`occuper des moyens de transport, a commence deja ses travaux.
11) Les familles qui se seraient procure elles-meme leur moyens de transport, sont autorisees, en vertu des pièces qui leur seront delivrees par
les Commissaires de Police, a se rendre directement a Badjou et de la a Alep.
12) Par le train qui sera prepare le samedi 15 du mois courant, seront expedies les quartiers de Akdje, Nesjid, Saradjen, Kharab, Bagtche,
Tchoukour, Kassab Bekir, Yarbachi, Tcinanli et Karan.
13) A partir de demain la population de ces quartiers devra absolument s`adresser a la Commission d`inscription placee sous la presidence
de Adil Bey dans le Commissariat de Police et après s`etre fait inscrire, devra prendre une pièce scellee et legalisee.
14) Ceux qui d`après l`inscription de leur etat civil, sinon du nombre des habitants de ces quartiers et qui actuellement resident ailleurs,
leurs domiciles actuels ne seront pas pris en consideration, mais ils seront obligee d`aller se faire inscrire avec les habitants des quartiers
auxquels ils appartiennent, et de partir, dans la meme journee, avec les habitants de leur quartier d`origine.
15) Pour l`expedition soit des familles de militaires, soit des personnes qui se trouveraient habitant dans d`autres quartiers, il sera tenu compte,
pour principe d`operation, de l`enregistrement de leur etat civil.
16) Toutes les operations qui ne seront pas faites par inscription, ne seront pas prises en consideration.
17) La population de ses quartiers devra, au matin du jour designe ci-haut a 12 heures a la turque, avec ses bagages, tel qu`il est dit a l`Art. 7 et
avec les membres de la famille, se trouver a la Nouvelle Station.
18) On doit se rendre a Alep par la voie de Osmanieh-Radjou.
19) Une Commission speciale etant envoyee a Osmanieh, sur la presentation des pièces, conformement a l`Art. 13, distribuera a chaque famille,
dans la mesure possible, des moyens de transport et organisera les expeditions par groupes.
20) A l`arrivee a Osmanieh la susdite Commission fera diligence pour l`installation et le bien-etre des groupes : par consequent chaque quartier
devra faire par l`intermediarie de leur Mouhtar respectif, recours a la susdite Commission.
21) La quantite des personnes employees dont le sejour a ete decide, avant etre notifie aux bureaux de la Police et de la Gendarmerie, il sera
procede, par les dits bureaux, a la separation et au maintien de ceux-ci.
22) La sera delivre par la direction de la police, aux personnes ainsi exemptees, des documents reguliers et legalises, concernant leur maintien.
23) Si parmi la population des quartiers qui ont ete avisees, il se trouvait des personnes, qui, a partir de demain, ne se presenteraient pas et ne
se feraient inscrire, ou qui ne se trouveraient pas presentes a la Nouvelle Station au jour indique pour le depart soit le samedi 15 du mois courant
a l`heure indique ou qui chercheraient a trouver des ruses ou des pretextes, les Mouhtars et les Conseils des vieillards sont obliges de prevenir
les Autorites et si les habitants et le Mouhtar auraient contrevenu a tout cela, ils seront consideres comme ayant agi contre l`Autorite Militaire et
les ordres de l`etat de mobilisation et seront immediatement deferes a la Cour Martiale et dans les 24 heures une sentence sera donnee et
executee.
24) Les ordres formelles, comme il convent, ayant ete donnes a tous les bureaux. Il est preferable de travailler a completer ces preparatifs plutôt
que de perdre du temps a chercher des pretextes et a faire des demarches inutiles. Août 1915.
In a letter received here from the bishop of Erzerum, Monseigneur Melchisedechian, it is stated that the parish of Khodirtchour, which was made
up of 12 villages, has been completely evacuated, and that no one knows what has happened to the vanished population.
That same prelate, on July 17 this year, reported that he himself had been forced to set out for an unknown destination, and nothing has been
heard of him since.
The former bishop of that same district, Monseigneur Ketchourian, at the same time travelled to Constantinople, but disappeared along the way.
The bishop of Karput, Monseigneur Israëlian, on June 23 reported to the Patriarchate that he had been ordered to leave the town for Aleppo with
all of his parishioners within 48 hours, and it has later been learned that this bishop and all the clergy that accompanied him have been attacked
and killed between Diarbekir and Urfa at a place where approximately 1700 Armenian families have suffered the same fate.
The whole of the population in the abovementioned parish are considered lost.
The population in the parishes of Diarbekir and Malatia has also been driven out of their villages, and it is not known what has happened to the
bishops Tchelebian and Khatchadourian and their parishioners.
The sad message has also been confirmed that the archbishop of Mardin, Monseigneur Maloyan, and approx. 700 of his Catholic parishioners
have been killed, and that the population in the town of Tallermen, which was purely Catholic, has been completely exterminated.
Reports are completely lacking on what has happened to the bishop of Mouch, Monseigneur Topuzian, and his parishioners, but there is
reason to believe that they too have been killed.
It is feared that a similar fate has befallen the clergy and parishioners of Karin.
In the parish of Sivas, the only village to have been spared is Pirkinik, where the archbishop, Monseigneur Ketchedjian, has escaped to. He, and
one cleric that accompanied him, are the only survivors.
Trebizond, Samson, [illegible], Marsivan, and Amassia have been completely evacuated, and there is no knowledge of what has happened to the
47 clerics of these towns.
Tarsus, Hedzin, and Mersina have suffered the same fate.
In Angora, all of the men have been abducted from the town, and the women have been forced to marry Muslims ; approximately 6000 men,
approximately 70 clerics, and the bishop, Monseigneur Gregoire Bahaban, have been shot on the road to the place of banishment.
In the city of Ismid, the government has ordered that the Armenian Catholics who had been banished to Eskicheir should be allowed to return to
their homes, but the governor would not let them enter the city, and sent them back. The same thing has happened in many other places.
Even here in Constantinople Armenians are being abducted and sent to Asia, and it is not possible to get information of their whereabouts.
The Patriarchate has calculated that half of the Armenian-Catholic hierarchy has been lost ; 7 bishops, approximately 100 priests, 70
other clerics, and thousands upon thousands of their parishioners have disappeared.
The Church formerly consisted of 16 districts (Constantinople, Mardin, Diarbekir, Karput, Malatia, Sivas-Tokat, Mouch, Erzerum, Trebisond,
Angora, Cesaree, Brussa, Adana, Marache, Aleppo, and Alexandrie [= Alexandrette]), and according to the latest information only Marash,
Aleppo, and Cesaree have been spared outside of Constantinople.
The fate that thus has befallen the Catholic Armenians, have with even greater cruelty befallen all the other Armenians, in that the aim of the
government, as I have already had the honor to report, is to completely exterminate the Armenian people.
With the highest esteem I remain, Mr. Minister, yours faithfully
[Wandel]
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DOCUMENT 3 1915-09-22-DK-001
The minister in Constantinople (Carl Ellis Wandel) to the foreign minister (Erik Scavenius)
Source : Danish National Archives, Foreign Office,Group Cases 1909-1945. Dept. 139, Gr. D, No. 1, "Turkey - Inner Relations".
Package 1, to Dec. 31, 1916
No. CXXV [125]
Constantinople, September 22, 1915.
Mr. Foreign Minister,
In my earlier reports I have already tried to demonstrate how H. M. the Sultan rules, and how the Committee is managing.
I have tried to demonstrate that Turkey has been incautious in giving up its neutrality, given that the country`s position will be very difficult if the
war ends with a victory of one of the groups of Great Powers.
Regarding the fate of the country if the Entente powers win, Mr. Foreign Minister is far better informed than I ; the matters that I have the
opportunity to observe will only have a minor influence in the event of such an outcome, and I therefore prefer to deal with the question of what
will happen in the event of a victory for the Central Powers.
If the Central Powers are victorious, and the Balkan coalition is not being reformed against the "German danger," Turkey will in all probability
be faced with the choice of either giving up the major parts of its political and economic independence to the benefit of Germany, who will then
gain firm ground here, or to enter into a probably rather hopeless struggle for independence against its mighty ally, and when this choice is to
be made, the matters that I observe daily could be decisive.
There is already full awareness in the German embassy here, that a serious conflict between Germany and Turkey, who in a future union
undoubtedly will demand an equal status, hardly will be avoidable, even at best, if the chauvinists remain in power. Some remarks made
to me recently by the embassy's advisory specialist in Balkan policy is certainly indicative thereof.
When I, after having expressed my admiration for the great and outstanding achievements of the German diplomatic and military missions
to the benefit of Germany's interests, added that I still found it hard to forgive German Balkan policy that it, by strengthening and
flattering the Committee, has helped bring about its arrogance and xenophobia to such an extent that the government here has become
thoroughly intractable, he answered that, from the German position, this was readily regretted.
"But you must not forget," he said, "that we had no other option ; we needed Turkey's help - it was for us a matter of life and death, and we
had to let things slide."
By and large, there can therefore hardly be much doubt about where it goes from here ; since the foreign warships (station ships) left the
roadstead of Constantinople, the presumptuousness of the Young Turks has been ever increasing, and there can probably be no talk of
moderation in thought and principles before the ships return.
A thorough study of the prospects in the event of a victory for the Central Powers, though, faces many difficulties, since it is almost
impossible to obtain reliable information about the composition and practical circumstances of the true, but irresponsible, government
of the country - the Committee. The history of the Committee has not yet been written, and the persons who know it dare not speak out.
Considering the topicality of the subject, I will still try to give, based on what I learn here, a short description of the Committee and its men
- who make up a kind of directorate, consisting of 15-20 members, that decides the actions of the government - and of the change in its
policy since July 1908, when it intervened for the first time in the fate of the country with a firm grip and, measured with the standards of this
country, [became] a uniquely thorough organization.
The distinctive feature of the Young Turk Committee has always been, and still is, its organizational strength. Without this firmness, the
Committee would not have been able to withstand being persecuted by despotism, and to even grow in strength to such an extent that it
could topple the old regime. This organizational firmness, which the Committee created in its earliest days when it toiled with its great work
of liberation, it has kept since that time, for better or for worse, and when in power it has, aided by that firmness, been able to get away with
unpunished abuses similar to that of the toppled despotism, [and,] aided by it, it could regain power by determined action when it had been
dethroned. And the Committee is not only equipped with this organizational strength, it also is and has always been the only Turkish political
organization in possession of this quality ; all the other parties, that have been formed since the introduction of the constitution, have lacked it
- and they have quickly succumbed.
An effect of this state of things is that the top positions of the Committee are no longer held by the theorists who originally drew up the program
of the Committee, but by its political-organizational leaders, those men who have worked in the service of the organization from the beginning,
not as great idealists or founding statesmen, but as organizers who use all means to further the well-being of their organization. This fact also
explains that the Committee now, albeit under much the same leaders as in its earliest years of struggle, actually fights for a completely different
program than then it had - it is not the ideals, but power that has been and is being fought for.
Among the men in the leadership of the Committee, one first of all has to mention the present leader of the government, interior minister Talaat
Bey, without doubt a significant politician.
Talaat Bey, former telegraphist in the provinces, was working for the Committee from its earliest days, and he came to the forefront immediately
after the revolution as one of the leaders of Turkish politics, but only after 1909 did he and other Young Turk leaders become direct members of
the government - Talaat Bey as interior minister - to replace the old Pashas, who still for some time had been allowed to remain in office as puppets.
It was Talaat Bey who, when the Committee had been toppled by "the liberating officers" (in the Spring of 1912), led the secret effort of the
Committee to regain power, and he who, together with his friends, in effect, by nationalistic demonstrations, forced Kiamil [Kamil] Pasha, the
then Grand Vizier, to engage in the unfortunate war against the Balkan states (the end of 1912), instead of accepting to effectively implement the
reforms demanded by the Powers. And once again, it was Talaat Bey who, together with Enver Pasha, was the leader behind the new coup d`etat,
that once again brought the Young Turks to power - in accordance with Talaat`s plan at the exact moment when the Kiamil cabinet sent the note to
the Great Powers, where it gave up Adrianople as a result of the urgent requests of those Powers. Kiamil Pasha's abandonment of the holy Adrianople
would have put the men of the coup d`etat in a more flattering light as national liberators who toppled the cabinet that had unnecessarily surrendered
parts of the country, but, as chance would have it, the toppled cabinet had not delivered the note of reply to the Powers (it had been sent, but because
of an editorial error it was called back before the delivery to the Austrian ambassador), and it was the new Young Turk ministry that was left with
responsibility for the decision. It was luck - the internal struggle of the Balkan states - and not foresight that saved Talaat and the Committee's power
and regained Adrianople for Turkey.
Since then, Talaat has more and more become the centre of the Young Turk Committee. The military members - and especially Enver Pasha - have
had to focus on the defence of the country, and the entire government has slipped into the hands of Talaat Bey, who actually is both minister of the
interior, of finance, and of foreign affairs.
Close to Talaat is his friend Halil Bey, chairman of the deputy chamber and of the Committee, Bedri Bey, prefect of the security police in Turkey (in
the Spring of 191[ ?] he had been condemned to death for having shot a military police officer, had later escaped from prison, been pardoned, and
made chief of public security), Nazim Bey, the Committee's chauvinist secretary general and leader of the daily administration of the Committee,
Midhat Chukri Bey and Behaeddine Chakir Bey, also pronounced chauvinists, Hussein Djahid Bey, former editor of the Committee`s organ "Tanin,"
and Djavid Bey, the former finance minister, who took care of the great loan in France in 1914, from a Jewish family that converted to Islam, originally
school inspector in the provinces, etc., etc.
A person completely preoccupied at the moment by the military events is Enver Pasha, the officer who, together with Niazi Bey who was killed shortly
after, in June 1908 raised the rebel banner with his troops in Albania, and thereby originated the revolution itself, after which he became military attache
in Berlin, a nomination that surely has had a great impact on the relationship between Germany and Turkey. After having returned to Turkey he became
chief of staff for the 10th Army Corps, was an active participant in the coup d`etat in 1913, and led the triumphant expedition to Adrianople. As a
reward he was, albeit relatively late, made minister of war in January 1914, and thereby gained all of Turkey`s military power in his hand, after
the Committee had fired all the old generals and high ranking officers, who enjoyed popularity with the troops, and replaced them with Enver Pasha`s
new proteges.
Another influential military member of the Committee was until lately Enver Pasha's co-suitor to the military leadership, Djemal Pasha, the former
military commander of Constantinople, named Pasha the same day as Enver, decorated with the Osmanieh Order at the same time as Enver, and
finally, on Enver Pasha's advice, made traffic minister to limit his influence, but later, after urgent request, made marine minister, a capacity in which
he worked with great force on the renewal of the fleet right until the beginning of the war, when he left Constantinople as chief of the army that was
sent to Egypt. From this time on, Djemal Pasha has naturally been unable to participate in the governing of Turkey, and the Marine Ministry too has
been in the hands of Enver.
Among other people who have left their mark on the work of the Committee during the past time, besides from the "liberator" Mahmoud Chevket
Pasha who was murdered in June 1913, must be mentioned Azmi Bey, who, together with the then military commander of the city, Djemal Pasha,
and in connection with Talaat Bey, led the terror regime as Chief of Police in the capital after the killing of Mahmoud Chevket Pasha, but who on the
Russian embassy`s firm demand was sent to Konia shortly thereafter as governor, furthermore Hadji Adil Bey, the present governor in Adrianople,
mentioned in my report No. CXXIII [123] of yesterday, and finally 2 men, who have eventually distanced themselves from the Committee because they
could not follow it in its lust for power and its abuse : Rahmy Bey, the governor of the vilayet Aidin (Smyrna), who, as also mentioned in my earlier
reports, several times has opposed the Committee's orders when he found them unjust, and Ahmed Riza Bey, who became the only important
opponent of the Committee's autocracy in the last parliamentary session. Riza Tevfik Bey, an influential member in the early days of the Committee
as the original intellectual protagonist of the Committee, and very esteemed by all sides, also by the opponents of the Committee, was already at an
early stage repulsed by the way the rulers realized his ideals, and was already in 1910 among the opponents of the Committee.
The Committee for Union and Progress took control under the motto : Equal rights for all Ottomans. But to achieve the unity, that was at the
beginning of the Committe's title, in the vast and ethnographically tangled empire, there had to be created both an Ottoman sense of unity shared by
all peoples of the empire, and be raised guarantees that this new "Ottomanism" would also be led by the Young Turk members of the Committee in
the future, both be created equal rights for all Ottoman citizens, without consideration for nationality and religion (the idealistic demands of the
revolution), and made sure that the new Ottomanism would still become a purely Turkish movement. The struggle between these demands lasted for
some time, until the Committee immediately after the end of the Balkan war threw one of the demands (equal rights for all Ottomans) overboard and
decided to go forward along the road of Turkification, the road that is characterized by the anti-Greek boycott in the Spring of 1914 that affected those
Greeks who were Ottoman subjects just as well as the Greek subjects, the simultaneous persecutions of the Greeks in Asia Minor and Thrace, and,
later that same year - with German assistance - the declaration of Jihad, which was favoured by the World War and the subsequent abrogation of the
capitulations, and which finally has led to the xenophobic and nationalistic policy, whose effects I have lately looked closely upon several times in my
reports, and whose main purpose at the moment is the extermination of the Armenian population of the empire.
Mr. Foreign Minister will maybe realize from this account, in spite of its faultiness, that it does not seem to be men with great political refinement and
experience, or with good knowledge, who now rule Turkey, but people whose foolhardiness and irrepressable force of will and action has replaced the
former inertia, which was the strength of the old Pashas before 1908, and Germany, should the occasion arise, will have to realize that they are not
manageable.
They are chauvinists and xenophobes, more or less true fanatics and enthusiastic desperados ; for some of them there can be no doubt about their
integrity, but the common perception is that it will continue down that same road that has already led to so many serious conflicts.
After the Greeks and the Armenians, the Jews and the Germans will most likely be next, and it is very probable that the present government will, at a
given moment, prefer to play va banque and put everything on the line, rather than understand that wise compliance and a compromise for practical
reasons can be preferable to a policy that almost can be characterized as national suicide.
With the highest esteem I remain, Mr. Minister, yours faithfully
[Wandel]
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DOCUMENT 4
1916-04-27-DK-001
The minister in Constantinople (Carl Ellis Wandel) to the foreign minister (Erik Scavenius)
Source : Danish National Archives, Foreign Office, Group Cases 1909-1945. Dept. 139, Gr. N, No. 1, "Armenia"
No. LXXXXVIII [98]
Constantinople, April 27, 1916.
Confidential.
Mr. Foreign Minister,
The Papal minister [Angelo Marie Dolci] yesterday turned up in the local Spanish legation [in Constantinople] accompanied by a German
Catholic priest who had arrived here from the Turkish Vilayet of Angora in Asia Minor, where he has witnessed the treatment that has befallen
the local Armenian Catholic congregation, and which he introduced to the [Spanish] minister, whom they asked to intervene and protest to
the Porte in the name of Catholic Spain.
The reason for their turning to the Spanish legation, they said, was because the German and Austrian embassies had such a relationship
with the Turkish government that they, in order not to [offend] it, had to show so much consideration that they really could not
energetically plead the cause of the Armenians.
When one bears in mind that the two embassies mentioned represent 24 and 34 million Catholics respectively, and that the leader of the
Catholic Centrum of the German Reichstag [Matthias Erzberger] in these very days is here in Constantinople on an official visit as a guest
of the Turkish government, and that the local German ambassador, Count Metternich, himself is a Catholic, one can conclude by this
request how careful the German diplomacy in Turkey is now acting, and the extent to which it weighs Germany`s political considerations
over all other considerations.
Even though, as it appears from my report No. CXIII [113] of September 4 last year, 13 of the 16 Catholic congregations that existed among
the Armenians in Turkey outside of Constantinople have disappeared completely, without anyone having knowledge of what has happened to
all of the clergy, the Catholic Centrum of the German Reichstag does not seem to dare to attempt any forceful intervention on behalf of
its unfortunate, persecuted co-religionists.
While describing the state of things, I shall not refrain from adding that it is very possible that even a vigorous German diplomatic
intervention on behalf of the Armenians would not move the Turkish government to refrain from its project, because the great effort that
the local American embassy, which does not have to show the same kind of consideration as the German and Austrian embassy, has done
to save the Armenians, has, the American Charge d`Affaires [Phillips] tells me, been fruitless, and this has in all probability, after what
I only later have learned, also been one of the contributing factors to the departure of the American ambassador [Henry Morgenthau].
With the highest esteem I remain, Mr. Minister, yours faithfully
[Wandel]
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DOCUMENT 5
1916-03-14-DK-001
The minister in Constantinople (Carl Ellis Wandel) to the foreign minister (Erik Scavenius)
Source : Danish National Archives, Foreign Office, Group Cases 1909-1945. Dept. 139, Gr. N, No. 1, "Armenia"
1 enclosure.
No. LVIII [58]
Constantinople, March 14, 1916.
Mr Foreign Minister,
In continuation of my report No. LIV [54] dated the 10th of this month concerning the persecutions of the Armenians, I have the honour
to report that the latest pieces of information received here state that the general removal of the Armenian population, which has already
taken place in all the other Vilayets of Asia Minor except for the Vilayet Aidin (Smyrna), has now also begun in the Vilayet of Castamuni,
in which the Armenians hitherto have not been disturbed.
The governor of the Vilayet of Castamuni, who has not used the authority given to him to have the Armenian population removed,
has been dismissed, and in his place the governor up till now of the Vilayet of Angora, who has been more zealous, has been appointed.
I use the opportunity to send an enclosed official announcement from today concerning the execution of 4 Armenians, who were hanged in
Stambul yesterday morning.
With the highest esteem I remain, Mr. Minister, yours faithfully
[Wandel]
Enclosure : "Lloyd Ottoman", March 14, 1916 :
Pendaisons
Du commandement de la place :
Par decision de la cour martiale sont condamnes a la peine capitale : Les nommes Horen veledi Hatchadour Beremian, forgeron habitant
la quartier Kouyoumdji a Adapazar, Kirkor veledi Ohannès, Kabian, locataire de l`hôtel Ararat et du casino habitant dans le quartier
Abdal de la meme ville, le bijoutier Karabet veledi Ohannès Patokian, du village Bagdjedjik (Ismidt), convaincus d`avoir fait partie du
comite revolutionnaire armenien et d`avoir neglige de remettre, durant le delai prescrit, aux autorites les bombes cachees dans leur
maison ; ainsi que le converti Mehmed Chakir bin Minas alias Abdullah, de Brousse coinvancu d`avoir complote contre le gouvernement ottoman
et d`avoir fait l`espionnage contre le gouvernement pou le compte du gouvernement Anglais et le nomme Adem effendi de Monastir, agent de
police, convaincu d`avoir assassine par premeditation Ali Riza bey, merkez m'mour du poste Tcinili a Scutari.
Cette decision de la court martiale ayant ete sanctionnee par irade imperial, l`execution a eu lieu hier matin. Les quatre premiers
condamnes ont ete pendus sur la place de Bayazid et l`agent de police Adem effendi pres du debarcadère de Scutari.
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Translations of reports from the archives of the Danish foreign
ministry documenting the Armenian genocide were by Matthias Bjørnlund.
Copyright Matthias Bjørnlund and Wolfgang Gust,
website : www.armenocide.de http://www.armenocide.de/
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