After exterminating the Armenians the Turks were going to do the same with the Kurds and Arabs

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Young Turks weren't able to conceal the terror of the tragedy. It is hard to say what they were hoping for. Perhaps they hoped that the great powers would shut their eyes to it. Nazim Bey; the ideologist of the Young Turks had announced before the deportation, "We must be fast and decisive in our actions. The Armenians are as dangerous as an ulcer, which at first may seem curable, but which will bring to death if the doctor doesn't take the necessary measures on time. If we are contented with local plans only, like in 1909 in Adana, we will only spoil everything, because we will arose suspicion among Arabs and Kurds, who we are going to deal with later. Hence, the danger will treble and the realization of the plans will become even more difficult. "It is necessary to exterminate the whole Armenian Nation, not leaving a single Armenian alive. Even the word "Armenian" must be erased from our memory." The war gives us a unique opportunity and we do not have to fear the interference of the Great Powers, neither do we have to fear of the international press protests. They will not manage to make a move before everything is already finished. It will be a mass slaughter and not a single Armenian will survive."

Nevertheless, evidences of the extermination of the Armenian Nation were brought by the immediate witnesses, mainly by the Red Cross officials, and reached Europe rather quickly. The image of the tragedy was horrifying; the Armenians were being killed by special gangs, mainly consisting of the Kurds and troops of "Teshkilyat Makhsuseh" ("Special Troops") organization. Then they were put in concentration camps with nothing to eat or drink, so it was practically impossible to stay alive in these terrible conditions.

The roads of Eastern Anatolia were covered with dead bodies having no one to bury them. Properties left by the Armenians were immediately sold by the auction. On September 13, 1915 the Majlis passed "the provisional law on property, debts and real estate of those having resettled in other regions" with one main purpose of selling all the belongings and properties left by the Armenians, after which the few survivors would have no place to return. As a result, from more than 2 million Armenian population of the Empire 1.5 million people were exterminated, the rest ran away to Russia and other countries, a large number of women and children were kidnapped by the Kurds. National, cultural and economic life of the Armenians from Turkey was put an end to once and for all.
Hundreds of invaluable cultural monuments were destroyed.

In his book "The Turkish National "I" and the Armenian Question" historian Taner Akcham writes, "It will be no exaggeration to come to the conclusion that in the organization and success of the "liberation war" the Armenian Genocide had its decisive role… the extermination of a whole nation is the basis of the establishment of the Turkish Republic. In the light of these facts it becomes clear why the subject having its irreplaceable role in the foundation and establishment of our national conscious and education has become a taboo. The fact that the events of 1915 were mass slaughter was beyond any discussions. The only issue that was worth being discussed was - how to punish "the Turks" for exterminating the Armenians. One of the forms of the punishment was the trial; the allotment of Anatolia was another form of punishment. In other words, the western powers were trying to conceal their imperial ambitions under the reality of mass destruction of the Armenians. Mustafa Qemal and his people accepted this reality - those who are guilty of the committed had to be punished, - but they objected to the allotment of Anatolia."