Predicts War Till Turk Is Banished.

New York Times 100 years ago today, December 2, 1912:
Young Armenian Lecturer Declares the Struggle of Allies Must Be Long and Bloody.
HOLDS POWERS RESPONSIBLE
Tells His Audience That Next Few Weeks Will Bring Startling Developments, with the Worst to Come.
    Six years ago a young Armenian, A. Aram, who had grown up in the shadow of Robert College, Constantinople, renounced the Sultan of Turkey and came to America. He had no money, and he worked at odd jobs, sending most of his savings to his dependent parents and younger brother in Constantinople. A little he saved for himself, in the hope of ultimately completing a course in an American university.
    Last Fall Mr. Aram, then about 27 years old, registered in the New York University, intending to take a literary and law course, and ultimately to practice law in New York. His younger brother, old enough to lend his support in the maintenance of the household in Constantinople, had made this possible. About the same time that he entered the university the ambitious young Armenian took out his first citizenship papers in this country.
    Then the Balkan war broke out and the Turkish War Department mustered into service the young brother of Mr. Aram, robbing the dependent parents of the support of their son. There was nothing for Mr. Aram to do, therefore, but to buy his brother's release from army service. This cost him $250, all that he had saved for his education. He willingly left college, however, prepared to start all over again, and since the outbreak of the Balkan war he has been instructing night classes at the West Side Young Men's Christian Association, and has spent the days in inspecting automobiles. He also found time to prepare an illustrated lecture on the Balkan situation.
    Yesterday afternoon Mr. Aram appeared at the Labor Temple on East Fourteenth Street for his first lecture. He was well received, his experience and his unusual point of view adding to the value of the lecture.
    Mr. Aram believes that the war in the Balkans is far from ended. He said that he had little faith in the settlement of the war as long as "certain European nations" concerned themselves with the settlement.
    "The bloodshed in the Balkans," he said, "is not entirely the fault of the Turks, as most persons seem to think. As a former subject of the Turkish Sultan I am least inclined to favor the Turk, but I do believe in giving him a square deal.
    "We all know, of course, that the atrocities of the Turks have done much to aggravate the situation, but this great bloodshed also lies, in part, on the shoulders of several European nations. It fa largely due to the greedy, un-Christian policy of these nations."
    Mr. Aram reviewed the history of the Balkans, dwelling particularly on the intervention of England and Germany in the Russian attack of 1877.
    "When the Russian soldiers marched to the very gates of Constantinople," he said, "the reforms which the Christian allies demanded were practically forthcoming. The Russian soldiers would have entered Constantinople to procure those demands, but just then Prince Bismarck interfered. Think of such a warrior as Prince Bismarck calling a peace conference!
    "Nothing but the greedy policy for industrial supremacy in European Turkey is responsible for the Treaty of Berlin. England told Russia to halt, and she halted, and England, Germany, and Austria share the responsibility of having kept the Turk in Europe since that day.
    "And now the very same situation has arisen. Turkey is about to be wiped off the map, when, behold, the powers step in again. Each fears that the other will get the industrial benefit of the Turkish Empire's undeveloped resources. If this policy is carried out the Turk will remain in Europe.
    "For this reason, I say, the war is far from ended. Any settlement on a basis which will allow the Turk to remain in Europe will mean that the war will continue in spite of the settlement. Watch the developments of the next few weeks. If I am not greatly mistaken there will be some surprises in store. There will be greater bloodshed than ever before if the powers do not take their hands off. Any little nation that can fight the Turks for 400 years and keep its nationality intact deserves recognition as a nation of the world, and if this right is not recognized it stands to reason that the worst is yet to come."
    When asked whether he meant that Austria and Servia would come to blows Mr. Aram dismissed the question with a laugh. He said that such a conflict was just a "newspaper scarecrow." The real conflict, he said, would come when the enlightened allies would defy all restraint and take the annihilation of the Turk in their own hands.