Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XI. Armenia in modern times
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
ARMENIA IN MODERN TIMES 293
nothing for Armenia. In fact, the statesmen of Europe were
tired of the endless and vexatious Armenian question. Great
Britain had had nothing but disappointments and reverses
in trying to aid the Armenians, Russia disapproved of the
Armenian national movement in Transcaucasia, and France,
following Russia’s lead, refused to intervene in Armenian
affairs.
The fearful massacres had nevertheless caused a certain
coldness in the relations between the Turkish Government
and the above-mentioned Powers. Germany thought it a
good idea to offer her friendship in place of theirs. To be
Turkey’s powerful adviser instead of Great Britain, with the
Turkish empire as a future German protectorate, and to secure
a railway forming a continuous steel chain to link up Berlin
and Bagdad, were attractive projects. Doubtless Abdul
Hamid’s hands were unpleasantly stained with blood ; but
no one could deny that he was a subtle and elever diplomatist
who had bluffed and tricked all the diplomatists of Europe ;
or that he was a strong ruler who had crushed all opposition
in Macedonia and Armenia, and had repulsed the Greeks (in
1897) with the aid of a German head of the general staff.
Moreover, he could pull wires everywhere in the Moslem
world and start a pan-Islamite agitation which would cause
very serious disturbances in British, Russian, and French
territories. Yes, the massacres were certainly unpleasant, but
Germany was willing and ready to relieve the distress by
giving her powerful and unselfish help.
On the whole Abdul Hamid would be quite a useful ally ;
so Kaiser Wilhelm II paid a friendly visit to him in Constanti
nople in 1898, pressed his blood-stained hand, kissed his
cheek, and declared himself a true friend of Islam. As a
German in the Kaiser’s retinue wrote, the Armenian massacres
were still fresh in men’s minds, but " what has the opposite
policy effected save to excite Muhammedan fanaticism ?
What good has Gladstone done by insulting the Sultan ?
Our Kaiser . . . has chosen the more Christian way of
repaying evil with good." But the visit lost a little of its
éclat by being combined with a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
Meanwhile the conscience of the peoples of Europe remained
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
