The following appeared in ATA-USA, Spring 1987

Long before the 1915-23 time period often cited by the Armenians as the onset of an unprovoked genocide, the seeds for quite a different scenario were being sown. Cyrus Hamlin, who, along with Christopher Robert, founded Robert College, reported in “The Congregationalist” a very disturbing conversation he had with an Armenian who staunchly defended the revolutionary movement among his people to prepare the way for Russia to enter and eventually gain independence for Armenians. According to the plan, revolutionary Huntchagist bands were to kill Kurds and Turks and burn their villages. This would enrage the Muslims who would then set upon the Armenians in retaliation. Russia would come in and take control. The local Armenian population who preferred the Turks to the Russians would have to suffer for their stupidity.

Robert College in Istanbul, 1919

    
Cyrus Hamlin felt compelled to write this article to warn missionary groups as well as Armenians about the nature of this movement. In a sense the article was prophetic in that the scenario outlined was played out tragically in the 1915-23 time frame. This letter points to an early involvement by the Huntchagist Revolutionary Party in an insidious plot of villainy and treason which certainly goes against claims by modern Armenian historians that the attacks upon their people were unprovoked and government-sponsored.

Make 'em say ANCA!

   The revolutionary movement in the 1890s continues to haunt and intimidate the Turkish-American community today. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (A.R.F.), or Dashnaks as they are known, were the forerunners of the Armenian National Committee of America (A.N.C.A.). This committee now has a political-lobbying wing, the Armenian National Committee (A.N.C.), which lobbies in Congress, publishes documents and contributes to political campaigns. Another wing of the A.N.C.A. is its action-terrorist arm. Under this banner we find the Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide (J.C.A.G.) and the Armenian Revolutionary Army (A.R.A.) which are two of the most violent, insidious terrorist organizations in the world today. Many in Congress have received money from the A.N.C. and proclaim themselves to be against terrorism. However, they do not connect their campaign money to this mother organization with its terrorist wing.

A recently published book by Michael Gunter of Tennessee Technological University, "Pursuing the Just Cause of their People, a Study of Contemporary Armenian Terrorism," illustrates this linkage very clearly. This book is available from the Greenwood Press, Contributions in Political Science, Number 152, New York, 1966.

In this historical record the roots of Armenian terrorism can be seen very clearly and the Armenian master plan becomes evident. An original of this document can be seen in the Library of Congress located in Washington, D.C. at 10 First St., S.E., in the Jefferson Bldg., 2nd Floor, Periodicals and Newspapers Section. (202) 287-5522.

 

A very intelligent Armenian gentleman, who speaks fluently and correctly English as well as Armenian, and is an eloquent defender of the revolution, assured me that they have the strongest hopes of preparing the way for Russia’s entrance to Asia Minor to take possession. In answer to the question how, he replied: “These Huntchagist bands, organized all over the empire, will watch their opportunities to kill Turks and Kurds, set fire to their villages and then make their escape into the mountains. The enraged Moslems will then rise and fall upon the defenseless Armenians and slaughter them with such barbarities that Russia will enter in the name of humanity and Christian civilization and take possession.” When I denounced the scheme as atrocious and infernal beyond anything ever known, he calmly replied: “It appears so to you, no doubt, but we Armenians are determined to be free. Europe listened to the Bulgarian horrors and made Bulgaria free. She will listen to our cry when it goes up in the shrieks and blood of millions of women and children.” I urged in vain that this scheme will make the very name of Armenian hateful among all civilized people. He replied, “We are desperate; we shall do it.” “But your people do not want Russian protection. They prefer Turkey, bad as she is. There are hundreds of miles of conterminous territory into which emigration is easy at all times. It has been so for all the centuries of the Moslem rule. If your people preferred the Russian Government there would not be now an Armenian family in Turkey.” “Yes,” he replied, “and for such stupidity they will have to suffer.” I have had conversations with others who avow the same things, but no one acknowledges that he is a member of the party. Falsehood is, of course, justifiable where murder and arson are.

In Turkey the party aims to excite the Turks against Protestant missionaries and against Protestant Armenians. All the troubles at Marsovan originated in their movements. They are cunning, unprincipled and cruel. They terrorize their own people by demanding contributions of money under threats of assassination—a threat which has often been put in execution.

I have made the mildest possible disclosure of only a few of the abominations of this Huntchagist revolutionary party. It is of Russian origin, Russian gold and craft govern it. Let all missionaries, home and foreign, denounce it. Let all Protestant Armenians everywhere boldly denounce it. It is trying to enter every Sunday school and deceive and pervert the innocent and ignorant into supporters of this craft. We must therefore be careful that in befriending Armenians we do nothing that can be construed into an approval of this movement, which all should abhor. While yet we recognize the probability that some Armenians in this country, ignorant of the real object and cruel designs of the Huntchagists, are led by their patriotism to join with them, and while we sympathize with the sufferings of the Armenians at home, we must stand aloof from any such desperate attempts, which contemplate the destruction of Protestant missions, churches, schools and Bible work, involving all in a common ruin that is diligently and craftily sought. Let all home and foreign missionaries beware of any alliance with, or countenance of, the Huntchagists.

 

(From The Newark Daily Advocate, Dec. 31, 1895)



Dr. Cyrus Hamlin Established Robert College at Constantinople In the Face of Great Opposition—How Admiral Farragut's Warships Impressed the Sultan.

The fact does not seem to be generally recognized that the deplorable condition of affairs in the land of the sultan is of more than casual interest to Americans. That we have missionaries in that blood soaked land and that these missionaries have been in mortal danger is generally recognized, but that these men and women who are threatened with death at the hands of the cruel Kurds and Turks who have already made the blood of the nations run cold with horror have done more to spread enlightened ideas through that dark empire than the representatives of any other Christian nation does not seem to have been fully realized. It is a fact, however.

Dr. Cyrus Hamlin

It was the American board of foreign missions that established the first mission in western Asia and from the same source have sprung the most important of the evangelical enterprises that are slowly but surely lifting the gloom from the country of the star and crescent. The obstacles which the pioneers of this movement met seemed almost insurmountable. The great majority of the millions of people under the rule of the sultan they found were Mohammedans, who looked upon all others as infidels and best converted to the true faith by the sword. They found that while legally any person was entitled to change his religious belief, practically he could do no such thing; that the Turk who renounced the faith of the prophet at once became a social outcast and a subject for the most fanatical and cruel persecution. This was bad enough.

Under these conditions it is not to be wondered that so few Turks have been converted, but that any should have been. Besides the Mohammedan there are seven other creeds recognized— Greek, Armenian, Syrian, Maronite, Protestant, Jewish and Roman Catholic. The harmony between these is not great.

Thus it was not a very promising field that the Rev. Dr. Cyrus Hamlin looked upon when he went there early in the fifties. To attempt to teach those people a new religion was purely out of the question. The way for that must first be prepared by educating them. Like barbarians, they must first be civilized and Christianized afterward. With money furnished by Christopher Robert, a wealthy New York merchant, and with $30,000 of his own, Dr. Hamlin endeavored to establish a college, but such was the strength of the prejudice of the Turkish government that for eight years he labored in vain.

(From The Middletown Daily Argus, December 8, 1894)


 RUSSIA AND ARMENIA

The Czar's Government Wants to Take Possession.

CYRUS HAMILTON [sic] INTERVIEWED.

The Former Missionary to Armenia Ridicules the Idea of a Revolution on the part of Armenians—The Turkish Hatred of Christians.

LEXINGTON, Mass., Dec. 8.—Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, of this town, whose article in The Congregationalist on the Armenian troubles a year ago has been translated by the Turkish government and sent out to the European powers as a defense for the recent atrocities committed upon the Armenians by the Moslems, was seen last night by an Associated Press reporter. The article in question was regarding the existence of a revolutionary society of Armenians, which the writer denounced as senseless.

Dr. Hamlin was for many years a missionary in Turkey, and knows something of the temper of the Turks regarding Christians. He had, moreover, a seven years' contest with the Turkish authorities over the building of the famous Roberts college in Constantinople, but finally carried the day. He said:

"The Turks are capable of being incited to atrocious acts through their intense Mahomrneden feeling. They are capable of religious excitement that would lead them to the most horrible extremes. The great danger is that the populace will become excited, and instead of trusting to the soldiery will become an infuriated mob to destroy the Armenians themselves. That has been my fear. At the same time, I have always said that the revolutionary movement is of Russian origin. Russian gold and craft govern it. That is my opinion still.

"The Armenians are so scattered in Turkey that the very idea of a revolution on their part is absurd. I think that the Turkish population has been growing unfriendly to the Armenians for the past three or four years on account of their comparative prosperity. The Armenians are everywhere buying up Turkish lands. The Armenian population is increasing and the Turkish population is decreasing. Twenty years ago a Turk would not sell a piece of land to an Armenian at any price. Now the Turks are eager to sell, because the Armenians are the only ones who will buy. The Turkish government is wholly inexcusable for the recent atrocities.

It has been published in the newspaper reports that word was sent from Constantinople to subdue the revolution. It would be just as reasonable to guard the wolves of Kurdistan from the attacks of the [?] from the plains. The Turkish government shows that it knows the weakness of its position by its frantic efforts to hide the truth from Europe. It will not even allow persons to travel from the region of the existing troubles to the capital, and many Armenians who have attempted to reach Constantinople have been captured by the authorities and sent back. If these people should reach that city the true state of affairs would not be long in getting to the ears of the embassies and through them to their own governments.

I have a strong suspicion the Turkish minister in Washington is in league with Russia. He is a Greek. He belongs to the Greek church and he is in natural league with Russia. I cannot see why the Turks have sent a Greek to represent them in America. I know the Turkish character very well, and I know there is a great deal of good[?] in it. Yeni[?] has reported to the Turkish government that the Armenians in America are sending all arms through Russia into Turkey for revolutionary purposes. That is childish. It is nonsense to anybody who knows anything about the matter, but these reports sent out from such an authority throughout the world will be believed. I venture to say that there has never been a rifle or a pound of ammunition sent into Turkey by the revolutionists of America.

The whole idea emanates from Russia and is merely a subterfuge to give good occasion for Russia to march into Armenia and take control, and, if the Turks are to be so easily be fooled, let Russia go in and teach them a lesson, although I am strongly opposed to having Russia do so because her government will be much worse than the government of Turkey, if you set assassinationtions [sic] aside.

"I am profoundly disappointed on the folly and wickedness of the Turkish government and its action in using what I have written for purposes exactly opposed to my views. You may depend that the Turkish government has not produced it in full. I am still opposed to the revolutionary movement because it is silly and foolish and the Turkish government can never exculpate itself from the atrocities by reference to any proposed revolution by the Armenians. Such a revolution is an absurdity on the face of it."

While ultimately Hamlin's heart was with fellow Christians, he obviously exhibited a sense of fairness as his Congregationalist article above lent evidence. Perhaps he was less set in his ways during younger days.

"Among the Turks" was a book written by Cyrus Hamlin (American Tract Society, 1877) where he stated that the reporters and travelers coming to the Ottoman Empire would hire dragomans (translators), generally from the better educated class of Armenians. These dragomans, Hamlin wrote, would weave ‘’unspeakable Turk’’ horror tales, palming them off upon all unsuspecting travelers who were just passing through. Hamlin stated of such travelers: ‘[H]e must be a man of rare sagacity who can sift the truth from the falsehood, while he is in Levantine hands.’’ And Hamlin emphasized the often neglected fact that ‘’this whole class of Levantines are the enemies of Turkey.’’ (p357)

Thanks to Yuksel Oktay











See also:

Missionary Cyrus Hamlin Lashes Out