Land & Water July n, 191 8 
The Turkish Conspiracy — ix 
An Account of the German Dictatorship in Constantinople 
Narrated by Mr. Morgenthau, late U.S. Ambassador to Turkey 
M 
R. MORGENTHA U relates how his efforts toward getting the foreign residents out of Constantinople 
were thwarted, ostensibly by Turkish negligence and apathy, but really by German influence, which 
domituited Turkish policy from the day that Turkey entered the War. 
A few hours after the bombard- 
ment of Odessa 1 was closeted 
with Enver, discussing the sub- 
ject which was then uppermost 
in the minds of all the foreigners 
in Turkey. How would the 
Government treat its resident 
enemies? Would it intern them, 
establish concentration camps, 
pursue them with German malig- 
nity, and perhaps apply the 
favourite Turkish measure with 
Christians — torture and mas- 
sacre? Thousands of enemy 
subjects were then living in the 
Ottoman Empire ; many ot them 
had spent their whole lives there ; 
others had even been born on 
Ottoman soil. All these people, 
when wai' broke out, had every 
reason to expect the harshest 
kind of treatment. It is no 
exaggeration to say that most of 
them lived in constant fear of 
murder. The Dardanelles had 
been closed, so that there was 
little chance that outside help 
could reach these people ; the 
capitulatory rights, under which 
they had lived for centuries, had 
been abrogated. There was 
really nothing between the 
foreign residents and destruction 
except the American flag. The 
fortune of war had now made me, 
as American Ambassador, the 
protector of all British, French, 
Serbian, and Belgian subjects. I realised from the begin- 
ning that my task would be a difficult one. On 'one hand 
were the Germans, urging their well-known ideas of 
repression and brutality ; on the other were the Turks, with 
their traditional hatred of Christians and their natural instinct 
to maltreat those who are helplessly placed in their power. 
Yet I had certain strong arguments on my side and I 
now proceeded to urge them on Enver. I Turkey desired 
the good opinion of the United States, and hoped, after the 
war, to find support among American financiers. At that 
time all the Embassies in Constantinople took it for granted 
that the United States would be the peacemaker ; if Turkey 
exjjected us to be her friend, I now told Enver, she would 
have to treat enemy foreigners in a civilised way. " You 
hope to be reinstated as a world power," I said. " You 
must remember, that the civilised world will carefully watch 
you ; your future status will depend on how you conduct 
yourself in war." The more educated Turks, including 
Enver. realised that the outside world regarded them as 
a pjeople who had no respect for the sacredness of human 
life or the finer human emotions, and they keenly resented 
this attitude. I now reminded Enver that Turkey had a 
splendid opportunity to disprove all these criticisms. " The 
world may say you are barbarians," I argued, " show 
by the way you treat these alien enemies, that you are not. 
Only in this way can you be freed permanently from the 
ignominy of the capitulations. Prove that you are \forthy 
of being emancipated from foreign tutelage. Be civilised— 
be modern ! " 
In view of what was happening in Belgium and Northern 
France at that moment, my use of the word " modern " 
was a little unfortunate. Enver quickly saw the point. Up 
to this time he had maintained his usual attitude of erect 
and dignified composure, and his face, as always, had been 
attentive, imperturbable, almost expressionless. Now in a 
flash his whole bearing changed. His countenance broke 
Bedri Bey, Prefect of Police at 
Constantinople 
A leader of the Young T urks and an intimate friend of 
Talaat. Mr. Morgenthau's attempts to protect the English 
and French became a contest between himself and Bedri, who 
accepted the German view that foreigners should not be treated 
with " too great leniency." 
into a cynical smile, he leaned 
over, brought his fist down on 
the table, and said: 
" .Modern! No, however I'ur- 
key shall wage war, at least We 
shall not be ' modern.' That is 
the most barbaric system of all. 
We shall simply try to be 
decent ! ' 
Naturally I construed this as 
a promise. I understood the 
changeableness of the Turkish 
character well enough, however, 
to know that more than a promise 
was necessary. The Germans 
were constantly prodding the 
Turkish oHicials, persuading them 
to adopt the favourite German 
plan of operations against enemy 
aliens. Germany had revived 
many of the principles of ancient 
and mediaeval warfare, one of 
her most barbaric resurrections 
from the past being this practice 
of keeping certain representatives 
of the population, preferably 
people of distinction and in- 
fluence, as hostages for the 
"good behaviour" of others. 
At this moment the German 
military staff was urging the 
Turks to keep foreign residents 
for this purpose. Just as the 
Germans held non-combatants in 
Belgium as security for the 
" friendliness " of the Belgians, 
and placed Belgian women and 
children at the head of their advancing armies, so the 
Germans in Turkey were now planning to use French and 
British residents as part of their protective system against 
the Allied fleet. That this sinister influence was constantly 
at work I well knew ; it was, therefore, necessary that 
I should meet it immediately, and, if possible, gain the 
upper hand at the very start. I decided that the departure 
of the Entente diplomats and residents from Constantinople 
would really put to the test my ability to protect the foreign 
residents. If all the French and English who really wished 
to leave could safely get out of Turkey, I believed that this 
demonstration would have a restraining influence, not only 
upon the Germans, but upon the underlings of the Turkish 
official world. 
As soon as I arrived at the railroad station, the day 
following the break, I saw that my task was not to be a 
simple one. I had arranged with the Turkish authorities 
for two trains, one for the English and French residents, 
which was to leave at seven o'clock, and one for the 
diplomats and their staff, which was to go at nine. But 
the arrangement was not working according to schedule. 
The station was a surging mass of excited and frightened 
.people, the police were there in full force, pushing the 
crov\xis back; the scene was an indescribable mixture of 
soldiers, gendarmes, diplomats, baggage, and Turkish func- 
tionaries. One of the most conspicuous figures was Bedri 
Bey, prefect of police, a lawyer politician, who had recently 
been elevated to this position, and who keenly realised the 
importance of his new omce. Bedri was an intimate friend 
and political subordinate of Talaat and one of his most 
valuable tools. He ranked high in the Committee of Union 
and Progress, and aspired ultimately to obtain a cabinet 
position. Perhaps his most impelling motive was his hatred 
of foreigners and foreign influence. In his eyes Turkey 
was the land exclusively for the Turks ; he hated all the 
other elements in its population, and he particularly resented 
