From historian Yves Ternon’s preface:
“This book reveals the swindling, which lead to the complete spoliation of Armenian property. Before the Genocide nearly 2 million Armenians, who were protected by the law, possessed lands, businesses, enterprises. They had liquid assets deposited in Banks and also stocks. The management of these properties contributed to the Ottoman Empire’s economic prosperity. This prosperity was ravished from them by, allegedly, legal means. The same processes utilized to disguise the collective murders were used to organize the embezzlement of funds. The government proceeded in two steps: an ‘angelical’ regulation organized the management of the deportees’ properties, or the sale at public auctions at absurdly low prices. The administration displayed a remarkable ingenuity for plundering its victims while protecting itself against all allegations of illegality through a profusion of judicial precautions: inventory of properties and of real estates, registration of debts and bank deposit in the owners’ name. Receipts were handed over to the deportees, later denounced as scrap paper, without being taken into account per contra the deposit accounts’ registers. In the towns as in the countryside, the civilians like the religious communities were summoned to move out and constrained to hand over all their possessions to officials who pushed the cynicism up to the point of assuring them that they will look after their wealth, will manage it scrupulously and will restitute it to them integrally, including the interests.”
