OUR RESPONSIBILITIES FOR TURKEY: Facts and Memories of Forty Years

By Duke of Argyll

This booklet was written in the period leading up to the Armenian Genocide of 1915. The widespread massacre of Ottoman Armenians during 1895-96, in the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (the Red Sultan), led to much soul searching in Great Britain. These massacres represented the failure for British statemen, who had sought to reform the Sick Man of Europe (Ottoman Turkey) as a bulwark against Imperial Russia - while trying to protect Christian communities within the Ottoman Empire. The Duke of Argyll, a former cabinet member and statesman in his own right, had little liking for the Ottoman Turks. This booklet was originally written in 1896 and argued that Great Britain had a moral responsibility toward Christian Armenians in the ottoman Empire. He represented the liberal wing of British politics, which was at much variance with the colder tradition identified with Benjamin Disraeli.

Sterndale Classics (2003