Armenian Atrocities Scouted By Bernstorff -nyt19150928
ARMENIAN ATROCITIES SCOUTED BY BERNSTORFF
Calls Reports "Pure Inventions" --Says the Catholicos Wrote under Pressure
SEPTEMBER 28, 1915
BOSTON, Sept. 27.-- The German Ambassador, Count von Bernstoff, in a letter made public here today, declared that the reports concerning alleged atrocities in the Ottoman Empire were "pure inventions." The Ambassador's letter, written under date of Sept. 23 and addressed to Miran Sevasly of this city, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the National defense Union of America, who asked for a definite statement, was as follows:
In reply to your letter I beg to inform you that, according to recent official and authentic reports received by the German Government and transmitted by this embassy to the Government of the United States, the Ottoman Empire appear to be pure inventions. Without doubting the good faith of the Catholicos, I beg, however, to call your attention to the fact that his Holiness is writing under pressure of the Russian censure. Yours very truly.
J. BERNSTORFF.
The reference to the Catholicos or Primate of the Armenian Church, was based on a report recently published, in which he declared that the extermination of the Armenian race throughout Turkey was being carried on under official direction by an organized system of pillage, deportations, wholesale executions, and massacre.
A hard copy of this article or hundreds of others from the time of the Armenian Genocide can be found in The Armenian Genocide: News Accounts From The American Press: 1915-1922