ABSTRACT
Ambassador Henry Morgenthau was perhaps the first to record the determined efforts of the Turkish government to collect for itself the benefits of the policies on the lives of the Armenians who had perished during the deportations and massacres. The Turkish strategy for capital collections involved a two-step process. First, official ministerial memos were distributed to all European and American insurance companies requesting the names of all Armenians insured with them. Second, by order of the Interior Ministry, special "Liquidation Commissions" were to be set up in various provinces and cities of Turkey for the submission of the names of the insured Armenians. New York Life and the Equitable were also served with similar notes requesting the submission of the names of all Armenians insured with them. Equitable Life Assurance was yet another life insurance company served with an official Turkish request to submit the names of all its insured Armenians.
