Photograph of a village on Lake Van, an area of Turkey populated largely by ethnic Armenians. The area was one of the first targeted on a large scale when Turkey turned on its Armenian citizens. Photo from Ambassador Morgenthau's Story by Henry Morgenthau, American Ambassador to Turkey from 1913 to 1916.
Fishing village on Lake VanIn this district about 55,000 Armenians were massacred
"'He gave me the impression,' such is the entry I find in my diary on August 3d [1915], 'that Talaat is the one who desires to crush the poor Armenians.' He told me that the Union and Progress Committee had carefully considered the matter in all its details and that the policy which was being pursued was that which they had officially adopted. He said that I must not get the idea that the deportations had been decided upon hastily; in reality, they were the result of prolonged and careful deliberation."
Henry Morgenthau, American Ambassador to Turkey from 1913 to 1916, met repeatedly with Turkish officials to stop the government's campaign against its Armenian citizens. The Ambassador made repeated attempts during 1915 to convince the rulers of Turkey, particularly Interior Minister Talaat and War Minister Enver, to spare the Armenian population. He found Talaat 'the most implacable' against the Armenians who told Morgenthau in early August that Turkey had 'already disposed of three quarters of the Armenians'. The Union and Progress Committee was the party of the Young Turks who had seized complete control of the government in 1913.
Ambassador Morgenthau's Story by Henry Morgenthau, page 333, copyright © 1918, by Doubleday, Page & Company, publisher: Doubleday, Page & Company, publication date: 1918
1915-08-03, 1915, August, Talaat, Armenia, Armenians
