Mehmed Talaat and the Limits of Diplomacy

American Ambassador Henry Morgenthau often met with leaders of the Committee of Union and Progress to protest the treatment of Christians in the empire. Later he recounted the first time he brought up the plight of the Armenians with the Ottoman Minister of the Interior Mehmed Talaat, the leader who oversaw the implementation of the genocide. Morgenthau recalled:

I began to talk about the Armenians at Konia. I had hardly started when Talaat's attitude became even more belligerent.

His eyes lighted up, he brought his jaws together, leaned over toward me, and snapped out:

"Are they Americans?"

The implications of this question were hardly diplomatic; it was merely a way of telling me that the matter was none of my business. In a moment Talaat said this in so many words.

"The Armenians are not to be trusted," he said, "besides, what we do with them does not concern the United States."

I replied that I regarded myself as the friend of the Armenians and was shocked at the way they were being treated. But he shook his head and refused to discuss the matter. ¹

Morgenthau dropped the subject but continued to raise the "Armenian Question" in subsequent meetings. At another meeting Talaat asked Morgenthau: "Why are you so interested in the Armenians anyway?" Talaat continued:

"You are a Jew; these people are Christians. The [Muslims] and the Jews always get on harmoniously. We are treating the Jews here all right. What have you to complain of? Why can't you let us do with these Christians as we please?". . .

"You don’t seem to realize," I replied, "that I am not here as a Jew but as American ambassador. My country contains something more than 97,000,000 Christians and something less than 3,000,000 Jews. So, at least in my ambassadorial capacity, I am 97 percent Christian. But after all, that is not the point. I do not appeal to you in the name of any race or any religion, but merely as a human being. You have told me many times that you want to make Turkey a part of the modern progressive world. The way you are treating the Armenians will not help you to realize that ambition; it puts you in the class of backward, reactionary peoples."

“We treat the Americans all right, too,” said Talaat. “I don’t see why you should complain.” ²

Discussion Questions

1. What questions does Talaat ask Morgenthau when the ambassador brings up the Armenians? How does Morgenthau respond to Talaat’s questions?
2. How does Morgenthau think about the multiple facets of his identity? How does Talaat’s thinking differ?
3. Compare the way that Morgenthau and Talaat construct their universes of obligation.

• 1Henry Morgenthau, Ambassador Morgenthau's Story, ed. Peter Balakian (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2003), 227.
• 2Ibid, 228–30.