Honourable Representtive Patricia Harless, Comment on H.R.1541 is submitted below. I hope you could spare time to read it in order to see the historical realities.
Respectfully yours,
Orhan Tan
Ankara
P.S. ; Comment was prepared using the articles in http://armenians-1915.blogspot.com/ mainly from Historian – Searcher Mr. S. Server Aya.
1. H.R. 1541 states that “….after the telegram by Henry Morgenthau a group was incorporated by Congress, known as Near East Relief, or NER…”
Comment;
“The date of the cable sounds to be July 15, 1915. The events described in Henry Morgenthau’s book are mostly contradicted in his hand written Diary! Near East Relief Organization was approved by the President on August 6, 1919 (not 1915). Morgenthau was in the Executive Board; the report for activities ending Dec. 31, 1921 unanimously approved Senate Document 192, April 22, 1922 makes no reference to any atrocities. On page 8, the number of orphans in 124 orphanages (operated by Turks until NER took charge) (on Dec. 31, 1921) is 64.107, plus some 50.000 fed through orphanages. President Wilson had a disabling stroke on October 3, 1919; he was paralyzed and made no appearance for the rest of his presidency covered by his wife and secretaries.
The following excerpt from Morgenthau’s Diary : < [Diary, September 26, 1915: Zenop Bezjian, Vekil of Armenian Protestants, called. Schmavonian introduced him. He was his schoolmate. He told me a great deal about conditions. I was surprised to hear him report that Armenians at Zor were fairly well satisfied, that they have already settled down to business and are earning their living. Those were the first ones that were sent away and seem to have gotten there without being massacred. He gave me a list where the various camps are and he thinks that over half a million have been displaced. He was most solicitous that they should be helped before winter set it.] >
2. H.R. 1541 states that “The organization mobilized people across the country and around the world, and between 1915 and 1930, it saved the lives of more than 132,000 Armenian orphans and one million refugees…”Comment;
According to referred report on subject date, there were 500.000 Armenians in Russia, 500.00 in the Ottoman Empire and other countries, 300.000 in Syria. When adding 114.000 orphans, we have a total of 1.414.000 living Armenians, which contradicts annihilations, because on March 1, 1914 the Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire was counted to be 1.280.000 by a joint French-Armenian Commission. All RELIEF SUPPLIES and distributions of Relief Workers were guarded by famished Turkish soldiers. Relief was distributed to Christians only. There is not even one report of any theft, when Muslims too were dying of famine!
3. H.R. 1541 states that “ A humanitarian endeavor on an unprecedented scale….,”
Comment;
In 1915 – 1922 these operations were directed to Christians only!
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