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ARMENIA IN MODERN TIMES 297
Christians ; for the loss of European Turkey made it necessary
to strain every nerve to consolidate the power of Asiatic
Turkey, and thousands of Turkish emigrants from Macedonia
and Thrace arrived in Anatolia full of hatred for all Christians,
in which they were encouraged by the Government.
The main difference between the persecution of the
Armenians by the Young Turks and by Abdul Hamid and the
old regime was that the former was more methodically planned,
and therefore all the more dangerous. Many of the new
tyrants had studied in the Prussian school. In the long list
of documents proofs have now been found that it had been
decided to " thin out " the Christian population of Armenia
even before the Great War.
The Armenian leaders felt what was coming, and appealed
to the Governments of the Powers. To present the case and
give all necessary information the Katholikos at Echmiadzin
sent a delegation to Europe headed by the distinguished
Armenian, Boghos Nubar Pasha. This " interference " infuri
ated the Young Turks ; they uttered violent threats against
the Armenians, summoned Nubar Pasha before a court-martial,
although he was not a Turkish but an Egyptian subject, and
in his absence condemned him, as a traitor, to lose his honour,
life, and property—a sentence which in reality applied to the
entire Armenian people.
The Powers, some of whom had begun to view the irre
sponsible policy of the Young Turks with impatience, took
up the matter and entered into negotiations upon it. Russia,
which had now become extremely pro-Armenian, proposed
European control of Turkish Armenia. Great Britain and
France concurred. Germany, seeing that the Young Turks
had reverted more and more to the policy of their old friend
Abdul Hamid, thought it a good opportunity to support
Turkey by suggesting a compromise—namely, that two
European officers from disinterested countries should be sent
as general inspectors to see that law and order were maintained
in the Armenian provinces. This was agreed to in February
1914, and the inspectors appointed were Colonel N. Hoff,
a Norwegian, who was to be stationed in Van, and Colonel
Westenenk, a Dutchman, who was to be stationed in Sivas.
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