Büyükelçi Morgenthau’nun Öyküsü

by Henry Morgenthau Sr., Attila Tuygan (Translator)

Henry Morgenthau 1913 ve 1916 arasında Birleşik Devletler’in Osmanlı Türkiye’sindeki büyükelçisiydi. Savaş dönemindeki anılarını topladığı Büyükelçi Morgenthau’nun Öyküsü, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nun I. Dünya Savaşına dahline ilişkin en önemli tanıklıklardan biridir. Morgenthau, en azından, savaş süreci boyunca dokuz ülkenin diplomatik işlerinin emanet edildiğ kişi olarak, dönemin en gerçekçi gözlemcisi olmuştur. Anıları şu anda tarihçiler açısından değeri biçilmez bir kaynaktır. Morgenthau 1915 Ermeni Soykırımına tanık olmuştur. Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nun içlerindeki konsoloslarından birinci elden bilgiler toplarken, Ermenilere yönelik muamele ile ilgili olarak, başta Talat ve Enver olmak üzere Osmanlı liderlerine karşı çıkmıştır. Büyükelçi Morgenthau’nun Öyküsü, Ermeni Soykırımı konusunda Osmanlı Türklerine karşı bir iddianame niteliği taşımaktadır.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir, War, World War I, Politics

269 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1918

About the author

Lawyer, businessman and United States ambassador, most famous as the American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. As ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Morgenthau has come to be identified as the most prominent American to speak out against the Armenian Genocide.
Morgenthau was the father of the politician Henry Morgenthau, Jr.. His grandchildren included Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney of Manhattan for 35 years, and the historian Barbara Tuchman.

Reviews

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fucking incredible. Want to see where Hitler got all of his ideas? The Armenian Genocide was one of the darkest chapters of human history, yet American Ambassador Henry Morgenthau's stunning work was all but ignored by the American government. Read this and prepare to be blown away.

[Mark Mortensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why?

A very big atrocity began in 1915 the second year of WWI and this 100th Anniversary is not a cause for celebration. Who, what, when and where have been relatively answered however 100 years later the question of “why” remains mysterious. Understanding a root cause is generally 90% of the solution and without comprehending “why” history often repeats itself. The book reveals a stark glimpse of present day conflicts.

This chilling memoir by Henry Morgenthau was printed in 1918 the final year of WWI. From 1913-1916, prior to America declaring war, Morgenthau served as President Wilson’s U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire headquartered in Constantinople. Detailing the plight of Armenians he documents his view of history by one who was privy to much information.

On a side note Morgenthau’s granddaughter Barbara Wertheim Tuchman authored “The Guns of August”. Knowing this one can make the connection through the book that his then two year old granddaughter Barbara Wertheim (Tuchman) arrived with her family via an Italian cruise ship on August 10, 1914 to visit Constantinople less than one week after Britain entered WWI. A brief family discussion revolved around the German battleships Goeben and Breslau (being delivered to Germany’s future ally Turkey) firing their guns against the British navy in the Dardanelles on the outskirts of the harbor. It’s easy to see where Barbara Tuchman got her passion for history.

[Maide Karzaoğlu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kitap, Amerika Büyükelçisinin o Amerikalılara has (kendilerinin de severek kabul ettiği) üstten-bakmacı ("biz tüm bu bataklığa uzağız ve çok iyiyiz") bakış açısıyla başlıyor. Ama çabucak adapte oluyorsunuz ve Morgenthau'nun 1. Dünya Savaşı başlangıcında İstanbul'daki büyükelçilik döneminde saray ve çevresinde olanları, insanları tanıyorsunuz.

Yazarın karakter analizlerinin bu kadar başarılı olması şok edici. Enver'i, Talat'ı, Cemal'i, Bedri'yi vs vs... O kadar iyi analiz ediyor ki hepsini rahatlıkla tanıdığınız bir Türk'le özdeşleştirebiliyorsunuz. Türklere dair toplumsal analizleri, yine inanılmaz etkileyici... Büyükelçilerin gözlem yeteneğinin zaten çok üstün olduğu biliniyor, bence Morgenthau'da bunun apayrı bir boyutu da var...

Goeben ve Braslau'nun Alman Büyükelçisinin Tarabya'daki bir bankta otururken çektiği telgraf ile Karadeniz sularına getirildiği ve resmen Osmanlı'nın savaşa bu şekilde girdiği... Talat'ın telgrafı... Çanakkale ile ilgili detaylar... Türklerin ezelden gelen minnetsizliği ve Batılı kompleksleri... Çok çok ilginç.

Kitabın son bölümü tamamen Ermenilerin tehcir meselesine ayrılmış. Yazardan %100 objektif bir makale zaten beklemiyoruz ve zaten öyle yazma iddiasında da değil. Sadece şuna şaşırıyorum: Amerika Büyükelçisi İngilizlere "Yeni Zelanda askerlerinin Çanakkale'de ne işi var" diye sormuyor mesela. Veya Türklerin lehine olabilecek herhangi bir konuda hiçbir Batılı ülkeye "siz ne yapıyorsunuz" demiyor. Ama Türklerin yaptığı veya yapmak üzere olduğu herhangi bir harekette hemen bir çullanma... Galiba diye düşünüyorum, din birliği, dil birliği böyle bir şey... Yazar kendisi de bunu dile getiriyor zaten. Yine ilginç...

Kitap ufuk açıcılığının da ötesinde... Bir büyükelçinin bir ülkenin politikaları üzerinde bu kadar etkili olabileceğini hiç bilmezdim. Okurken her cümlede içten içe "inşallah bizim de liyakatli elçilerimiz vardır" diye düşünüyorum ama nafile...

[Paulo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not just a book about the armenian genocide , but specially about the first world war and its wrong partnerships. Germany seduced the leaders of Otoman empire ,and the result we know. What an inspired ambassador Morgenthau was ! With his ability could avoid other bloodsheds and acted as a solid and brave witness of the genocide .The most appalling and frightening description of the armenian genocide I ´ve read! The ambassador made a complete analisis of the turkishness , and define the massacres as terrified as the holocaust. Important lecture that allows us never loose our capacity of indignation towards the darkest side of humanhood. Nobody is perfect , we all make mistakes but talking about our unresolved things is an important step towards evolution.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This readable 1918 memoir is available in a bewildering variety of electronic file formats for free downloading at

http://www.manybooks.net/titles/morge...

The Kindle format (.azw) was easy to download and add to a Kindle ebook reader: download to your desktop, plug in your Kindle to a USB port, drag-and-drop the file into the Kindle. Even the technologically uninclined should be able to do it. Full disclosure: My Kindle crashed permanently a week after adding this book. I'm pretty sure that the two events were unrelated.

After a tearful farewell to my Kindle, I also downloaded the book a second time to read on my Ipod, using the Stanza e-reader app, this time in ePub (.epub) format. The procedure is a little complex: download to desktop, email file to yourself as an attachment using Gmail (other email platform need not apply), access Gmail (classic display only, NOT mobile) using the Stanza app, upload the attachment. Not the most elegant solution, but it worked.

These downloads are missing the photos and maps of the original, but NOT their captions. The captions for photos are tantalizing, and the photos themselves do not disappoint. In addition, maps provide clarifying information. If you wish to view a .pdf file of this book, with original photographs and maps, you can at

http://www.azad-hye.net/download/view...

The book is well worth the energy invested and would even be worth paying for. Morgenthau wrote without pretension in a difficult time and place. He did his best within his limited power to protect the defenseless and afflict the comfortable. At times, he effectively threatened Ottoman villains by promising to portray them accurately in his memoirs. Those were times when the written word was really respected.

He did the preceding without losing his sense of humor, and clearly relished the opportunity to relate the occasional absurdity of it all, like when a German military attache – nominally ranking below the German Ambassador but actually closer to the Kaiser – pitched a pouty fit when seated at the bottom of the table, next to Morgenthau's daughter, at an official dinner at the U.S. Embassy. Not content with that, he then followed up with official complaints to the host government about the seating arrangements.

Another reader expressed disappointment that Ambassador Morgenthau didn't have first-hand data about the Armenian genocide. In reply, I'd like to say that (in my humble experience) Ambassadors often travel in a self-inflicted, nearly-perfectly-sealed bubble of chauffeurs, translators, government ministers, and alcoholic beverage, so it's close to a Vatican-certified miracle when any Ambassador knows more than bupkis about anything. Compared to average, Morgenthau is an outlier on the positive side of the clued-in continuum. Much of his information in this book on the Armenian genocide apparently came from American consular staff in the field or eyewitnesses who managed to talk to him.

The early part of this book has been criticized as presenting an erroneous picture of the circumstances for Germany's entry into World War I, with the aim of bolstering American support for the war effort. Some of Morgenthau's assertions on this matter may be demonstrably false. This has been used, by Armenian holocaust deniers, to discredit the entire book as a work written without regard to accuracy. This, apparently, is easier than attempting to refute the allegations presented about the Armenian genocide itself.

It was interesting to read this book at the same time as Armenian Golgotha, because several characters who pass by briefly as distantly evil authors of the Armenians' misery in that book appear as memorable flesh-and-blood figures in this one, and are often mercurial, susceptible to ambassadorial flattery, and capable of inexplicable but very infrequent acts of mercy, if pressed.

Morgenthau's grand-daughter, the future author of The Guns of August, gets a very quick cameo in this book when, as a toddler travelling with her family, she witnesses the first naval engagement of World War I from the deck of a passing passenger ship. At the risk of seeming callous to the cruelty mentioned above, I'd like to conclude by asking: Wouldn't that just be the most kick-butt awesome earliest memory to have?

[Atila Yumusakkaya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Morgenthau's Story is comprised of three sections:

1. What he saw and lived.
He depictted this period as if he himself governed Turkey. Allegedly he got whatever he wanted. He had close relations with the rulers of the Ottoman State as Talat and Enver. He had great influence on these people.

2. What he heard.
He gave a detailed account of tragic and unacceptable events Armenians experienced then. He didn't witness these unlucky events and he didn't mention his resources adequetly. He also implied Germans might mastemind the deportation plan.

3. His prejudice and hatred against Turks.
He made sweeping generalization about Turks alleging that they're totally primitive humans. He insulted Turks using unmentionable words. These kind of depictions full of hatred and prejudice cast a shadow over the objectivity of the book.

Nothing can justify what Armenians experienced and of course Armenians aren't the ones to be held responsible for it, but we need to keep in mind that, most of the nations were exposed to deportations and massacres. For instance between the years 1821 and 1922 around 5.5 million Turks were deported from Balkan States and millions of Turks died in this period of turmoil. Those who survived sheltered in Anatolia.

It seems that imperialist powers used Armenians in the process of decadence of the Ottoman Empire for having their share from Ottomans and they never came to their aid when needed. I do hope peace will prevail in the world one day even though it seems impossible.

[Jeni Enjaian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read an edition full of transcription errors which was a bit distracting but otherwise readable. This book was chock full of valuable resources for a historian like myself interested in the Armenian Genocide and the lead up to the war from the perspective of the "neutral" American ambassador. I highly recommend a book like this for anyone interested in finding out more about the first world war and the tragedy of the Armenian Genocide.

[Kev Abazajian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a highly impactful first-hand account of the progress of the Armenian Genocide from the United States ambassador to the Ottoman Turk empire, at that time.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edition: Apparently my edition is a reproduction of the 1918 Doubleday, Page publication, scanned from the University of Michigan library, but no preface of explanation appears. Amazon does not adequately identify editions.

Morgenthau, whose distinguished progency includes his son, a cabinet member under FDR, and the distinguished historian Barbara Tuchman,
tells of his years in the early part of World War I as Ambassador to Turkey. He has charm and sensitivity and decency,though his lapses into racial stereotypping are distressing, even allowing for changed times. (One chapter is entitled, "The Turk reverts to ancestral type," and he tells us that "The Turk" is depraved by nature.")

Anyone interested in World War I or in the interactions of high level diplomats, not to mention those interested in the contemporary dispute over the Armenian Genocide, should enjoy this book. He gives summaries of many conversations with the German Ambassador (America was still neutral then) and with both Enver and Talaat, who were largely the de facto rulers of Turkey.

I read this book because I wanted to see what Morgenthau actually said about the massacres of Armenians in Turkey, principally in 1915, now called the Aremenian Genocide. It is often cited by those who discuss that subject. I've been hoping to find hard data--documents or percipient witnesses who would bring these massacres, which really did happen, to the door of the Turkish government (or refute the government's responsibility, as the case may be).

Morgenthau did not provide me much help on that. Like other books I've looked at so far, he gives general summaries of events he did not himself see. His conversations with Talaat and Enver, the principal actors in Turkish governance at the time, are usually not reported with sufficient detail to make clear that they sanctioned the killings and torture, although there are a few ambiguous statements that could be so read. One statement, attributed to Enver, however, makes him in effect admit that the government would provide no food to Armenians on their deportation marches, in which Armenians died of starvaton when they were not murdered or totured to death outright. Enver argued that he could not provide food for them because there was not enough for Turks in those wartime years with a failed Turkish economy.

As to whether the government (largely the Committee on Union and Progress) actually ordered or tacitly approved the killings and tortures, Morgenthau gives little assistance. Possibly he believed that relocation itself was what we would today call Genocide, although he never uses that term. And possibly it is under the expansive UN definition of that term; the American government finally admitted to racism and war hysteria as the bases for its forcible relocation of American citizens of Japanese ancestry in 1942. But you won't get much by way of an original source here for pure facts. This is not to say I doubt the massacres or that they were Genocidal. I am frustrated trying to find a locus of responsibility, however, and helped in that only a little by this book.

[Arno Mosikyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.", wisely said by George Santayana, a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist, and proved by many many times being true and applicable in the history of our civilization.

A very hard read for a person who shares the emotional legacy of Armenian Genocide (the Mets Yeghern). I hope one day we will see an enlightened, democratic and developed Republic of Turkey with educated society released of a centennial delusional canvas dogma of the Armenian Genocide denial. That day will come, and the new bold and brave citizens of Republic of Turkey will be able fully appreciate what a horrendous crime their founding fathers have done to Armenians and will be able to come terms with the historic reality.

We, Armenians, have always contributed to building a prosperous planet Earth and its tiny part our dear Armenia. We carry the pain of the Armenian Genocide, but stay positive, visionary, bold towards the challenges of the future, millennials have been eroded, nations, empires vanished, but this ravaged part of land remains our dear homeland full of people with encompassing love for life, creativity, human progress and peace.

It is Turkey's sole call to seek reconciliation terms with the living generation of Armenians, we have nothing to be ashamed of, deniers should be ashamed of their exarcebating and incomprehensible mode of denial and delusion.

Let the future be more humanistic that it was before.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love a good diplomatic memoir. This one is really two memoirs in one: first, the US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Henry Morgenthau--grandfather of the great historian Barabara Tuchman, by the way--recalls his experience managing the US-Ottoman relationship during World War I, prior to the US entry into the war. The latter half is Morgenthau's attempt to moderate Turkish treatment of its Armenian population during the event that coined the term "genocide."

Maybe the most striking passage in the book that has continuing relevance today and in subsequent diplomatic memoirs is in the 13th chapter when Morgenthau confronts his hosts in Istanbul about their treatment of a Christian population, and asking them to ease up. He says something to the effect that: You know when I am done with this tour I will return home and write a book. How you behave now will determine whether the Ottoman Government are the heroes or the villains of that book! I imagine such lines must have been used since in the art of US diplomacy in places where improving human rights was a primary interest. Recommend this book to those interested in US diplomatic or Ottoman history.

[Gayla Marks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a first hand account of the Armenian Genocide in what was then the Ottoman Empire. I was interested in this book because the Armenian Genocide was never a topic that was covered in my prior schooling. I did not hear of it until I was an adult. Ambassador Morgenthau was the US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire and served in Constantinople from 1916-1918 and was a first-hand witness to the systematic genocide of Armenians and Greeks in that country. The story is taken from the personal memoirs of Ambassador Morgenthau and is an extremely interesting one.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Searing proof of the Armenian genocide particularly when compared with accounts of victims. Incredible descriptions with WWI in the background. His criticism of the Turkish character is regrettable, reflecting the times and his frustration with his failure to stop the killings.

[Arlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

a true american

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some time ago I watched a documentary series on Dutch public television, created to memorize the Armenian genocide of 1915. It was made by a Turkish-Dutch (or the other way around) investigative journalist and an Armenian-Dutch musical star, so they were both personally involved. The journalist kept saying that the Turkish aren't bad people (neither are the Germans, or the Americans), so it could not have been genocide. But in the end there was no denying.

As Morgenthau's story was available on iBooks for free, or almost free, I started reading it in a dull moment and I found out it was quite well written (turns out by a ghost writer), though sometimes terribly racist, so I kept on reading it. Not what I expected from a 100 year old book expressing the views of a bureaucrat.

Interesting are the descriptions of the main players in this extremely sad episode in Turkish (or even European imperial) history. Morgenthau had frequent access to all of them, the Sultan, all ambassadors, and the actual powerbrokers, Enver and Talaat pasha, of the Committee of Union and Progress. This was a small group of democrats who staged a coup against the Sultan, took over power and quickly turned into a dictatorial oligarchy.

The first part of the book is not about the Armenian genocide, but about how imperial Germany persuaded the dictatorship to join it in the WW I, and explains, or argues, that WW I was not an accident, but something imperial Germany wanted in order to consolidate and expand its colonial power by creating direct access to the Persian Gulf (through Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey and Iraq), think of the Berlin-Baghdad railway, and to its colonies in East-Africa. I don't know how attacking Belgium and France fitted into this, but Morgenthau's part of the story makes sense.

The second part then describes how the Turkish dictatorship, after the English gave up the Dardanelles Gallipoli campaign, felt victorious and safe enough to deport and kill all its non Muslim inhabitants. And so they did. According to Morgenthau the details are too ugly to publish.

Morgenthau has documented this as best he could, tried to convince the pashas to stop - also appealing to the Germans who were more or less in charge in Turkey during WW I - and left when he realised there was nothing he could do. In this part the book gets racist, describing the cruelty of the Turk and rubbish like that (Christians are good, Muslims are bad).

It is interesting to read, though, that the Turkish dicatorship has no interest or understanding for the humanitarian efforts by the US and its inhabitants. Specifically not for the fact that they were humanitarian, and not self interested.

I know that the US have caused a lot of violence, injustice and whatever in the world (Vietnam, Afghanistan, the Cold War), in the meantime exploiting the powerless all over the place. At the same time, not everything is driven by self interest. US policy is also based on notions of humanity, cooperation, the right to pursue happiness and all the good stuff that came with the declaration of independence. That seems to be missing in Chinese, Russian, Saudi Arabian or Iranian foreign policy. Let's not forget that.

[Leon McNair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ambassador Morgenthau's Story

A good book to pair with this reading might be - The Treatment Of Armenians In The Ottoman Empire 1915-1916, Viscount Bryce


American Ambassador Morgenthau's book provides his unique perspective on the outlook of the Christian Holocaust during the time of the Great War inside the frame of diplomatic relations.

Morgenthau narrates with remarkable clarity and understanding the events that precipitated the first World War, and of the political relationship between Germany and Turkey at the time, that it makes his perspective unique alongside the numerous debates, discussions, and frustrations he has with the Turkish leaders Enver, Talaat, and Djemal.

While the plebeian faced a physical war, the aristocrat faced a politics war. The German military leaders played the role of puppet-masters whilst the Turkish leaders played as the puppets; and the invasion of Turkey began, not with an army, but with Germans rising up to important ranks within Turkish government and military positions. From there on, it was military leaders such as Von Sanders; Uldemon, and Souchon that took control of, and trained, their army and navy. Morgenthau relays that the closing of the Dardenelles, a violation of the London Straits Convention that was set in 1840, was the key strategy of forcing Turkey into the war by joining the German side. Other reasons such as the Balkan Wars; Serbian, Romanian, Greek, and Bulgarian independence; Abrogation of the ex-territorial bi-lateral capitulations, and more, contributed to the outbreak of the Great War.

An important part of Morgenthau's book is his detail of the Christian Holocaust. He mentions how the attitude of the Turk begins with Sultan Abdulhamid II, whom massacred Christians wholesale, to the Government-policy of deportation and massacre in their paranoia, from 1894-1920. His discussions with Enver and Talaat made clear that they were of no civilised mind when it came to humanitarian effort or emotion towards the massacres and deportations of millions of Armenians. It became so intense and fruitless that it had led to Mrs Morgenthau's departure, Ambassador Morgenthau's resignation, and their absolute disdain of Turkey for its nightmarish horrors.

[Gohar Babayan · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are books that you simply cannot put down. Books that you read in one breath. This book was just like that for me.

The first part of diplomatic memoire provides a detailed analysis of all the circumstances of Turkey’s entry into WW1 on the side of Germany. The intrigues around the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben and the light cruiser SMS Breslau.

The Armenian Genocide and mass deportation of Christian population are discussed in the last part of the book. The persecution of Armenian community in Ottoman Empire started way before the arrival of Young Turks. Ottoman Sultan Abdul-Hamid II (btw Erdogan’s favorite role model) orchestrated Armenian massacres from 1894-1896 in his efforts to maintain the imperial domain of the collapsing Ottoman Empire, reasserting Pan-Islamism as a state ideology. With the arrival of Young Turks, the Christian minorities of Ottoman Empire gained a glimpse of hope for equal rights and end of persecutions. But, unfortunately, in a very short time the Young Turks decided to abandon the idea of "Unity of the Ethnic Elements" - that had been a fundamental principle of the reform generation, and take up instead “Turkey for Turks” ideology.

The atrocities committed against Armenians that are describes in this book are heartbreaking. It is always chilling to read about the capacities of humans to commit enormous evil with a light heart.

[John C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning at so many levels

I have heard the cold and calculating reasons given for the denial of the 1915 Genocide. This first hand account of a significant witness to the unfolding events is shocking. The stark and sickening aspects of “realpolitik” are hard to fathom. Even today the fruits of those horrors are being reaped by the unfortunates who are seeking refuge as they traverse the same terrain as those who suffered in 1895, 1915 and 1922.

[Seha Ozgur · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a lot from this book about this critical juncture in history. However it turns out the author wrote the book for propaganda purposes, to get the US to take sides with Britain and against Germany in WW1. As a result the constant one-sided, exaggerated bashing of Germans and Turks has a cheesy feel, making it hard to trust this book as a historical source.

[Georgi Banishki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating read which gives a great overview of the causes for the Armenian genocide and the men who conducted it. Most interesting was the role of Germany as passive observer in these events, role which foreshadowed their readiness to conduct a genocide of their own in WWII. One could argue that it could explain their passive stance in today's war in Ukraine as well.

[Brooke Tallent · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive yet readable account of Turkey, beginning as a nation simply seeking a way to survive financially to a nation that massacred and tortured over a million people. Much of what happened during the Ambassador's tenure has laid roots to what the world is still experiencing today.

[Ertuğrul Işler · Rating 3 out of 5]

1. İyi bir dille yazılmış 2. döneme farklı ve "amerikanca" bir bakış 3. bazı subjektif değerlendirmeler içeriyor 4. Tarih kitabı olsaydı kaynak eksik derdim, demiyorum 5. Diğer kaynakları okuma ihtiyacı doğuruyor

[Jacqueline Pack · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never thought that I would so whole heartedly get sucked into an US ambassador’s memoir but his account of his time as the US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire is a must read for anyone interested in the World Wars. It is important to remember the Armenian Genocide.

[Anne Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating

I’m kind of a history addict especially about WW. This explains so much about the eastern issues and the Genocide. The fact that Turkey still denies it is disgusting. Ataturk, for all the good he did for that country, never repudiated the Genocide.

[Levon Tumanyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tough read, I couldn't finish the last 100 pages, at the rate that I read the first 300.

[macbeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read this book in order to establish a wider viewpoint on the Armenian deportation outside of the Turkish theses. I can easily say that the book is full of hate, it is far from intellectual point of view, full of propaganda. Each page of book presents hostility towards Turkish and German people, and there are several pages insulting Turks. The only reason I gave the book 2 points is that I find it good in terms of propaganda, the book has no intellectual value.

It is a great tragedy that the Armenians lived at that time and it is an intellectual responsibility to understand this tragedy and accept the mistakes done by all stakeholders involved in the context of history. Of course, the details about the massacre that ambassador presents in the book are heartbreaking, creates a big wound in one’s conscience, we are aware of this tragedy today and we are in deep sorrow for both communities involved. However, referring this book to support the Armenian ‘genocide’ thesis seems far from objectivity and historical responsibility. In the Armenian 'genocide' discussion, for me considering this book as a historical document, if this is a historical issue, is unacceptable, because there is no historical document in the book, there is a text entirely based on the speeches that the author conveyed in his quotation according to his own mentality.

The writer is a very open Turkophobe and has no information about the history and culture of the country where he was sent as an ambassador, or he was blinded by hatred. After living two years in Istanbul, he claims that Turks do not have any architecture, artifacts, music, literature and culture! It was a great success for me to continue reading the book after this ignorant and venomous argument. He does his best to belittle the success of the Turks and the Germans at the Dardanelles, and does not need to hide his sorrow, even diplomatically, for the defeat of the British navy.

It is understood from the book that the Turks were planned to be annihilated in Anatolia during that period in the agenda of Allies and US. The writer narrates that Enver Pasha stated Armenian deportation was a self-defense since Armenian peopled cooperated with Russian army and acted as separatist and this war could be ended by the destruction of the Turks in Anatolia if this deportation was not done. After understanding the mindset of Allies with the help of Ambassador, Enver Pasha's argument of planned annihilation of Turks in Anatolia does not look like a conspiracy. The passion and fanaticism of the ambassador about the extinction of the Turks made me realize once again that decisions towards Armenian socitey are made under very very unhealthy circumstances and Allies also have roles in this ugly scene.

The most light-minded parts of the book were the ones ambassador presenting himself as a moralist and humanist hero, he canonized himself and the US attitude in that period. Presenting all his political work performed for manipulating the parties to be involved in peace negotiations according to US interests in future, as a part of high moral values and claiming that US foreign policy also based on moral principles was absurd in the context of moralism presented in the book. Normally I cannot make any critics against that policies since it is his duty to perform these politics but, in the context ambassador established, it is ridiculous.

Ambassador states that the weapons sold by US to British and French armies are used against the Turks in war was a completely neutral policy, this can be understood in political and diplomatic terms. But in the humanist perspective he presented, one can question that several massacres are done against Turks with these weapons, what is the humanist aspect here? It seems ambassador is not a humanist but a fanatic, and his arguments becomes ridiculous and inconsistent in the context of his moralism. And these arguments are only elements of hypocrisy.

The Ambassador openly advocates independent Armenian state thesis and creates a political propaganda and public opinion supporting this will with the help of this book in US at that time. You observe in the book this great humanist can empathize with all nations at a certain level but not Turks. He expects Ottoman Empire to grant her lands to Armenian people without any hesitation and resistance. Which state, which nation in the history of humankind donated her lands in humanitarian favor of the minorities without any interest of the nation establishing the majority of the existing state? His anti-Turk thesis are unqualified, lacking a rational or intellectual perspective.