Sultan Searching Out Authors Of Killings -nyt19181207
SULTAN SEARCHING OUT AUTHORS OF KILLINGS
Promises Severe Punishment and Says Mass of Turks Is Not Responsible
DECEMBER 7, 1918
LONDON, Dec. 6. -- The London Newspapers today print an interview with Mohammed VI., the Turkish Sultan, obtained by a British correspondent in Constantinople, who describes that ruler as a very different personality from his two brothers who preceded him on the throne.
Mohammed VI., says the correspondent, gives one the impression of possessing a strong character and considerable intellectual force. He is tall and slender, and his appearance suggests that of a university professor.
In talking with the correspondent the Sultan condemned the unwisdom and lack of foresight which brought Turkey into the war and led her to the calamity which had befallen her. He declared that if he had been Sultan this would never have happened.
The ruler expressed great sorrow at the treatment of the Armenians by "certain political committees of Turkey," and added:
"Such misdeeds and the mutual slaughter of sons of the same fatherland have broken my heart. I ordered an inquiry as soon as I came to the throne so that the fomenters might be severely punished, but various factors prevented my orders from being promptly carried out. The matter is now being thoroughly investigated. Justice will soon be done and we will never have a repetition of those ugly events."
The Sultan asked the interviewer to publish the following from him:
"The great majority of the nation is entirely innocent of the misdeeds attributed to it. Only a limited number of persons are responsible."
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