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Quotes
stated by heads of states and witnesses of the first genocide
of the 20th century, the Armenian Genocide.
Adolf
Hitler
August 22, 1939 |
In preparation
for the impending invasion of Poland, to Reichmarshal
Hermann Goering and the commanding generals at Obersalzberg... |
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"Our strength consists
in our speed and in our brutality. Genghis Khan led
millions of women and children to slaughter - with premeditation
and a happy heart. History sees in him solely the founder
of a state. It's a matter of indifference to me what
a weak western European civilization will say about
me.
I have issued the command - and I'll have anybody
who utters but one word of criticism executed by a
firing squad - that our war aim does not consist in
reaching certain lines, but in the physical destruction
of the enemy. Accordingly, I have placed my death-head
formations in readiness - for the present only in
the East - with orders to them to send to death mercilessly
and without compassion, men, women, and children of
Polish derivation and language. Only thus shall we
gain the living space (Lebensraum) which we need.
Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of
the Armenians?" |
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| Henry Morgenthau,
Sr. |
U.S.
Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Ambassador Morgenthau's
Story, 1919 |
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"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." |
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| Count
Wolff-Metternich |
German
Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire July 10, 1916, cable
to the German Chancellor |
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"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." |
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| Theodore
Roosevelt |
May 11,
1918, letter to Cleveland Hoadley Dodge |
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"…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." |
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| Gerald
Ford |
Addressing
the US House of Representatives |
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"Mr. Speaker, with mixed
emotions we mark the 50th anniversary of the Turkish
genocide of the Armenian people. In taking notice of
the shocking events in 1915, we observe this anniversary
with sorrow in recalling the massacres of Armenians
and with pride in saluting those brave patriots who
survived to fight on the side of freedom during World
War I." - Congressional Record, Pg. 8890 |
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| Jimmy
Carter |
May 16,
1978, White House ceremony |
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"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." |
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| Ronald
Reagan |
April
22, 1981, proclamation |
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"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." |
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| George
W. Bush |
In a
letter dated February 19, 2000 to two of his leading
Armenian American supporters, then presidential candidate
George W. Bush stated... |
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“The twentieth century was
marred by wars of unimaginable brutality, mass murder
and genocide. History records that the Armenians
were the first people of the last century to have endured
these cruelties. The Armenians were subjected
to a genocidal campaign that defies comprehension and
commands all decent people to remember and acknowledge
the facts and lessons of an awful crime in a century
of bloody crimes against humanity. If elected
President, I would ensure that our nation properly recognizes
the tragic suffering of the Armenian people." |
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| Various quotes by Turkish leaders,
beginning with multiple quotes from the three rulers of wartime
(WWI) Turkey: |
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| Enver
Pasha |
One
of the triumpharate rulers publicly declared on 19 May 1916...
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"The Ottoman Empire
should be cleaned up of the Armenians and the Lebanese. We
have destroyed the former by the sword, we shall destroy the
latter through starvation." |
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In
reply to US Ambassador Morgenthau who was deploring the massacres
against Armenians and attributing them to irresponsible subalterns
and underlings in the distant provinces, Enver's reply was...
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"You are greatly
mistaken. We have this country absolutely under our control.
I have no desire to shift the blame onto our underlings and
I am entirely willing to accept the responsibility myself
for everything that has taken place." |
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| Talat
Pasha |
In
a conversation with Dr. Mordtmann of the German Embassy in
June 1915... |
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"Turkey is taking
advantage of the war in order to thoroughly liquidate (grundlich
aufzaumen) its internal foes, i.e., the indigenous Christians,
without being thereby disturbed by foreign intervention."
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After
the German Ambassador persistently brought up the Armenian
question in 1918, Talat said "with a smile"... |
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"What on earth do
you want? The question is settled. There are no more Armenians."
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| Cemal
Pasha |
To
a German officer upon seeing the deportations in Mamure said...
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"I am ashamed of
my nation (Ich schame mich fur meine Nation)." |
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Minister
of the Interior of Turkey publicly declared on March 15 that
on the basis of computations undertaken by Ministry Experts...
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“800,000 Armenian deportees
were actually killed... by holding the guilty accountable
the government is intent on cleansing the bloody past."
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| Prince
Abdul Mecid |
Heir-Apparent
to the Ottoman Throne, during an interview... |
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"I refer to those
awful massacres. They are the greatest stain that has ever
disgraced our nation and race. They were entirely the work
of Talat and Enver. I heard some days before they began that
they were intended. I went to Istanbul and insisted on seeing
Enver. I asked him if it was true that they intended to recommence
the massacres which had been our shame and disgrace under
Abdul Hamid. The only reply I could get from him was: 'It
is decided. It is the program.'” |
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| Mustafa "Ataturk"
Kemal |
Founder
of the modern Turkish Republic in 1923 and revered throughout
Turkey, in an interview published on August 1, 1926 in The
Los Angeles Examiner, talking about former Young Turks in
his country... |
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“These left-overs from
the former Young Turk Party, who should have been made to
account for the millions of our Christian subjects who were
ruthlessly driven en masse, from their homes and massacred,
have been restive under the Republican rule.” |
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