ABSTRACT
Toward the end of the nineteenth century Germany had taken a pro-Turkish policy in Russo-Turkish territorial conflicts, and was sending military advisors to train Turkish soldiers. They bombed the Russian Black Sea port of Odessa, and when Turkey did not protest against the act committed by the Germans under cover of the Turkish flag. Actually, the war was welcomed by Turkey as a means of ignoring an agreement it had been forced to make with the European powers following the International Conference of 1913. In fact, Germany who might have helped actually promoted the plan; it preferred Armenia without Armenians to eliminate any economic roadblocks as it sought to gain control of Asia Minor. For those of people in the interior who had witnessed activities in Turkey for months earlier, and particularly the preparations during the seferberlik—it was quite obvious that the decision for war had already been made long ago.
