Talaat, speaking at a Congress of the Committee of Union and Progress,
upheld as right and proper the treatment of the Armenian race.]

The race thus marked out for extermination was one of the oldest
settlements in Asiatic Turkey. Originally it was confined to Armenia
proper, a highland district comprising part of what is now the Russian
province of Trans-Caucasia, part of Persia, notably the province of
Adarbaijan, and, within the Turkish frontier, the province of Armenia,
itself. According to legend, which may well be correct, the Armenians
were the oldest national Christian Church in the world, with a liturgy
that dates from the first century of the Christian Era, while their
translation of the Bible dates from the early years of the fifth century
A.D. Here in these uplands they formed a compact and homogeneous
population, spread over towns and country alike, and were occupied in
the main with agrarian and pastoral pursuits. But they had in addition
much of the versatility and business capacity of the Jews, as well as a
strong liberal-mindedness towards progress and education, and thus,
while they still continued up to the present day their pastoral life in
the countryside, others gravitated towards towns, and by degrees they
spread over a large part of the Turkish Empire, until most of the towns
in Turkey had a progressive and peaceful quota of Armenian citizens,
tolerated by their Moslem neighbours, and, though possessed of no great
share of political influence, powerful, in that the trade and commerce
of inland Turkey was largely in their hands. Wherever they went they
established their schools; many were lawyers, doctors, and professors of
education. Certain repressive measures were brought to bear on them;
they were not, for instance, allowed to carry arms, except when, in
accordance with Turkish conscriptive laws, they served in the Ottoman
army. But many of them, by paying their exemption money, got off
military service, and they confined themselves to the arts of peace,