- Project Runeberg -  Armenia and the Near East /
294

(1928) [MARC] Author: Fridtjof Nansen - Tema: Russia
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ARMENIA AND THE NEAR EAST
294
uneasy, and at various conferences—such as the Peace Confer
ence in Paris in 1900, the International Socialist Conference
there in 1902, and several others—resolutions were adopted
deploring the way in which Europe had neglected its obliga
tions to the unfortunate people of Armenia, and recording the
indignation of the civilized world. But that was all ; and
the Russian Government went on Russifying and tyrannizing
the people in Russian Armenia more brutally than ever.
The Armenians in the Twentieth Century.
In Turkey, meanwhile, the " liberal " Young Turk party
of " unity and progress " had been growing vigorously, and
had formed an alliance with the Armenians. The latter, who
brought to the movement strength, capacity, and vision,
contributed largely to its ultimate triumph. But whereas
the Armenian leaders were working for liberal ideals and the
rights of man, the Young Turks in reality only wished to seize
the reins of power ; from first to last the rights and liberties
they said they were fighting for were notions essentially alien
to the truly Oriental mind of the warlike Turk.
The storm broke in July 1 898. The Young Turkish leaders
were in Macedonia, with troops, officers, and a friendly
population to back them up. A telegram was dispatched to
the Sultan. The Sultan ordered the immediate arrest of the
impudent rebels and summoned military assistance from
Anatolia, but no one obeyed. Foaming with rage, the cowardly
tyrant gave in. The whole affair lasted only twenty-four hours.
He was permitted to remain on the throne as a hostage for
the good behaviour of his adherents throughout the realm,
but a liberal constitution was enacted, which gave equal
rights to all races and creeds. Great was the joy throughout
the empire ; Constantinople was illuminated, the prisons were
opened, crowds marched in procession to the big grave of
the Armenians massacred in 1896. The Muhammedan leaders
praised the dead as martyrs for freedom. The whole nation
felt that it had thrown off a crushing yoke.
But the delight of the Armenians did not last long.
Though the new Young Turk rulers were free from religious

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