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The Turks claim that, at the Russian conquest of the city of Van, the Armenian population in thearea massacred over 100,000 Turks. Even if the accusation does not lack grounds, the number is,however, certainly highly exaggerated…It is noteworthy that the persecutions of Armenians havebeen done at the instigation of the Turkish Government and are primarily not a spontaneouseruption of Turkish fanaticism, even though this fanaticism is used and matters. The tendency tomake Turkey inhabited only by Turks could in due time come to appear in a horrifying manneralso towards the Greeks and other Christians. 184Anckarsvärd made it quite clear that the massacres were neither an act of vengeance, nor a matterof civil or domestic war, but a systematic killing, planned and implemented by the state, i.e. agenocide.The dispatch of September 4 presented the estimation of the Armenian losses given by theArmenian Patriarch. Anckarsvärd confirmed the Patriarch’s estimation about half the Armenianpopulation having been erased, but doubted that the Armenian population was as numerous astwo million, which the Patriarch asserted. Anckarsvärd also noted the negative economic impactthese persecutions had in Turkey, since almost 80 % of the trade was in Armenian hands. 185On September 28, the following was stated in SvM:[On] Monday, April 19, the slaughtering of the Armenians began around Van. At one place, 2,500men were killed. They were arranged in groups of 50 and shot. Even boys fell for men’s fate. Butthe girls and women are treated by soldiers as they please. Many were subjected to ignominiousviolence. Women tried to flee to the mountains, where they tried to appease their hunger withsnow. 186A telegram from London published in SvM describes the atrocities committed during thedeportations and the fact that many of those deported did not reach the designated destinations,dying in piles on the side of the roads. 187 Four days later SvM claimed that the US Ambassador inConstantinople, Morgenthau, had been ordered by his Government to deliver a warning to theTurkish Foreign Minister, stating that “if the Armenian massacres do not cease, the friendlyrelations with US will be jeopardised.” 188 On October 10, SvM published Lord Bryce’s appeal fora manifestation of opinion, especially from the neutral countries. Lord Bryce pointed outGermany’s complicity in the Armenian massacres with reference to Armenian testimonies about“German consular representatives in Asia Minor not only watched, but even encouraged thesehorrors.” 189 But, a similar directive as the American warning was never issued by Stockholm.Instead of the exhorted protests, the Swedish press now started to question the creditability ofthe news. On October 11, SvM noted that the Swedish newspaper Göteborgs Handels- ochSjöfarstidning (Gothenburg’s Trade and Shipping Newspaper) doubts the information and quotes184 RA, UD, nr. 182, September 2, 1915.185 RA, UD, nr. 183, September 4, 1915.186 SvM, September 9, 1915.187 SvM, October 2, 1915.188 SvM, October 4, 1915.189 SvM, October 8, 1915.43