Henry Morgenthau on the Essence of the Turks

“In essence, the Turk is conceited and cowardly”, wrote Henry Morgenthau, “He becomes brave when the circumstances develop in his favor. In failure, he is vile, obsequious, and powerless. A hesitant and fearful Ottoman carefully looks for benefit in the maze of the diplomatic discord between European states.

The rude and uncouth Turk of the 20th century gave way to the Turk of the 14 – 15th centuries who had been destroying everything in his way. This wild horde of nomads came from the steppes of Central Asia. The Turk can demonstrate slavish politeness, but one needs to know that their hidden spirit, consciousness, and psychology are based on the hate towards other nations.”

“In political history, the Turks represent the most complete picture of bandit ideas.”

“Presented with the opportunities for contact with the European civilization, the Turk remained the same as he was in the Middle Ages when he began the invasion from the Central Asian steppes. They didn’t have an alphabet, literature, poets, architecture, or any art whatsoever. They haven’t been building cities… They are simply wild and bandit horsemen, whose tribal perception only allowed for the invasion of the territory of civilized nations and their robbery.”