İsmail Enver Quotes

Ismail Enver Pasha was an Ottoman military officer and a leader of the 1908 Young Turk Revolution. He became the main leader of the Ottoman Empire in both the Balkan Wars and in World War I . In the course of his career he was known by increasingly elevated titles as he rose through military ranks, including Enver Efendi , Enver Bey , and finally Enver Pasha, "pasha" being the honorary title Ottoman military officers gained on promotion to the rank of Mirliva .

After the Ottoman coup d’état of January 1913, Enver Pasha became the Minister of War of the Ottoman Empire, forming one-third of the triumvirate known as the "Three Pashas" who held de facto rule over the Empire from 1913 until the end of World War I in 1918. As war minister and de facto Commander-in-Chief , Enver Pasha was the most powerful figure of the government of the Ottoman Empire. . Along with Talaat and Djemal, he was one of the principal perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide of the Assyrian Genocide and of the Greek Genocide and thus is held responsible for the death of between 800,000 and 1,800,000 Armenians, 300,000 Assyrians and 350,000 Greeks.

Prior to World War I, he was hailed at home as "the hero of the revolution", and Europeans often spoke of Ottoman Turkey as "Enverland". Wikipedia  

✵ 22. November 1881 – 4. August 1922
İsmail Enver photo
İsmail Enver: 15   quotes 0   likes

Famous İsmail Enver Quotes

“The Armenians had a fair warning of what would happen to them in case they joined our enemies. Three months ago I sent for the Armenian Patriarch and I told him that if the Armenians attempted to start a revolution or to assist the Russians, I would be unable to prevent mischief from happening to them. My warning produced no effect and the Armenians started a revolution and helped the Russians. You know what happened at Van. They obtained control of the city, used bombs against government buildings, and killed a large number of Moslems. We knew that they were planning uprisings in other places. You must understand that we are now fighting for our lives at the Dardanelles and that we are sacrificing thousands of men. While we are engaged in such a struggle as this, we cannot permit people in our own country to attack us in the back. We have got to prevent this no matter what means we have to resort to. It is absolutely true that I am not opposed to the Armenians as a people. I have the greatest admiration for their intelligence and industry, and I should like nothing better than to see them become a real part of our nation. But if they ally themselves with our enemies, as they did in the Van district, they will have to be destroyed. I have taken pains to see that no injustice is done; only recently I gave orders to have three Armenians who had been deported returned to their homes, when I found that they were innocent. Russia, France, Great Britain, and America are doing the Armenians no kindness by sympathizing with and encouraging them. I know what such encouragement means to a people who are inclined to revolution. When our Union and Progress Party attacked Abdul Hamid, we received all our moral encouragement from the outside world. This encouragement was of great help to us and had much to do with our success. It might similarly now help the Armenians and their revolutionary programme. I am sure that if these outside countries did not encourage them, they would give up all their efforts to oppose the present government and become law-abiding citizens. We now have this country in our absolute control and we can easily revenge ourselves on any revolutionists.”

Quoted in "Immigration and Asylum: From 1900 to the Present" - Page 188 - by Matthew J. Gibney, Randall Hansen - Social Science - 2005.

“All who seek to enrich those who do not work should be destroyed.”

Quoted in "Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination" - Page 405 - by Ben Kiernan - Social Science - 2007.

“If the Russians retreat, they are done.”

Quoted in "The Armenian Review" - Page 89 - by Hairenik Association - Armenia – 1948.

İsmail Enver Quotes

“The threat could be eliminated by removing the Armenians from the places where they lived and sending them to other places.”

Quoted in "A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility" - by Taner Akcam - History - 2007 - Page 143.

“You are greatly mistaken. We have this country absolutely under our control. I have no desire to shift the blame onto our underlings and I am entirely willing to accept the responsibility myself for everything that has taken place.”

In reply to US Ambassador Morgenthau who was deploring the massacres against Armenians and attributing them to irresponsible subalterns and underlings in the distant provinces. Quoted in "The burning Tigris: the Armenian genocide and America's response" - Page 374 - by Peter Balakian - History - 2003.

“We are taking care of our troops today, hence their loyalty. Formerly a rifle was given to a man and he had to shift for himself.”

Quoted in "The Armenian Genocide: News Accounts from the American Press, 1915-1922" - Page 7 - by Richard Diran Kloian - History – 1985.

“The Ottoman Empire should be cleaned up of the Armenians and the Lebanese. We have destroyed the former by the sword, we shall destroy the latter through starvation.”

Quoted in "The Evil 100" – Page 35 – by Martin Gilman Wolcott – Social Science - 2004.

“The transformation of the Islamic world into one of revolution, as His Majesty has desired, had been in preparation for some time and had now been put into action.”

August 19, 1914. Quoted in "A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility" - by Taner Akcam - History - 2007 - Page 132.

“Human and plague bacteria can't be friends..”

Source: When people asked him about Turco-Armenian friendship

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