Slanders On Muslims In History

The Propaganda Bureau of The British Deep State: Wellington House

The British deep state used its propaganda tools most effectively and extensively during WWI. War was being fought not only in battlefields, but also in newspaper headlines. So much so that the black propaganda operations to malign the enemy and exonerate the allies contributed greatly to the British success in WWI. The sinister propaganda campaign probably dealt one of the deadliest blows to the Ottoman Empire. It is important to reveal the sinister policies the British deep state followed during WWI, because only then can we understand the current strategies used today. The British deep state continues to carry out intense propaganda using media and various organizations to bring the countries they target closer to downfall, to spread lies easily and to add new countries to its empire of colonies. Needless to say, the said propaganda network is more effective and widespread today than ever before.

Britain's propaganda bureau, under the guidance of the British deep state, carefully designed the anti-Turkish propaganda during WWI. American institutions and leaders also joined in the process, urged on by the same deep organization. Let us reiterate that the similar propaganda efforts of American institutions during those days were largely carried out at the instigation of the British deep state. During the two world wars, the USA got its information and intelligence solely through British sources. This enabled the British deep state to carry out its provocation using such propaganda and to determine the friends and foes of the USA for her.

During WWI, the British Foreign Office was responsible for the British deep state's propaganda operations. So much so, the Foreign Office set up a 'War Propaganda Bureau' in Wellington House building at Buckingham Gate, London in 1914, and appointed Charles Masterman from the House of Lords as its director. From that point on, although its institutional structure and leaders changed, British deep state propaganda continued through 'Wellington House'.

Since then, many people and agencies have worked according to the instructions and directives of Wellington House, including politicians, businessmen and even leaders of media outlets. The people who carried out the propaganda behind closed doors were called the 'invisible government'. The goal was to manipulate the masses in line with the desired direction by means of propaganda. To achieve this, words, phrases and rhetoric were carefully developed to appeal to the emotions, beliefs and expectations of people. Lies were repeated as if they were simple truths.

Wellington House didn't only manipulate British public opinion during WWI, but carried out projects for the people of other countries, as well. On September 19, 1916, the British PM Lloyd George confirmed this truth with the following words:

The public know only half the story. They read of the victories; the cost is concealed.²⁶⁴

During WWI, Wellington House propaganda bureau published 400 articles weekly, printed in 17 languages, and produced countless books, booklets, and brochures. By June 1915, the number of materials printed and distributed reached some seven million. When the war ended, the bureau had distributed 106 million pieces of material. Wellington House never had any budget problems as the British deep state sufficiently provided it with funds. While the initial budget was only £ 10,000 when the office was first established, it swiftly went up and reached £ 145,000 by 1917.²⁶⁵

Towards the end of the war, some British MPs began to criticize this exploitation of the media. For instance, British statesman Austen Chamberlain said that press lost its freedom and with its freedom, it also lost its power.²⁶⁶

During WWI, the main targets of this ugly propaganda were Germans and Turks. After the war ended, both British and Belgium authorities denied the reports that German soldiers had hung priests by church bells in Holland, or that they had stabbed babies with bayonets.²⁶⁷ The source of this wartime propaganda was once again Wellington House.

Wellington House wasn't only disseminating propaganda-laden publications. It was also acting as a censorship authority overseeing the information offered by the media. For instance, the news from the battlefield could reach the public only after it was filtered by Wellington House's censorship system. It assigned two official photographers and a few painters to depict the situation at the fronts. Their work had to strictly comply with the directives of Wellington House. No other photographer or painter was allowed to provide material; Wellington House had banned it.

Certain British journalists and newspapers were chosen and were given the duty to report the news in line with the instructions of the propaganda bureau. Naturally, these people wrote as requested, presenting only the approved photos. Anyone daring to stray out of these lines to interpret and photograph the war in any other way was sanctioned.²⁶⁸ In other words, the British media presented the world in the way the British deep state portrayed it. Today, the situation is not very different except that the media influenced by the British deep state has expanded and spread around the world, with more journalists doing its bidding.

Wellington House's anti-Turkish activities represent a broad network of black propaganda that continues even today. The so-called 'Armenian genocide' this institution fabricated during WWI, was particularly used to provoke the American public opinion against the Turks and to ensure US participation in the war as a British ally. These claims and Wellington House propaganda are still used as leverage against Turkey.

Now, let's examine the reasons why a fiction like 'Armenian genocide' was made up in the first place:

The British alliance with Russia during WWI wasn't something the USA was willing to accept. Russia was notorious at the time, and the American public was mistrustful of it. However, Britain needed to keep Russia's support while getting the USA to join the war. For that, it had to find a commonality that could bring these two giants together. According to the plan, a new enemy was going to be forged and that enemy must have looked like it had committed even bigger crimes than Russia. This common enemy was chosen as the Ottoman Empire. Turkish politician Onur Öymen explains the situation:

This was one of the most important reasons why British propaganda bureau Wellington House used the so-called claim of Turkish genocide of Armenians as one of its main propaganda points. In fact, Turks were held with great esteem in the Islamic world at that time. The British decided to use this allegation of genocide to tarnish the image of the Ottoman Empire in the world and in the Islamic world. What country would follow a leader that supposedly massacred more than one million people? This is what the British had planned.²⁶⁹

This black propaganda that Wellington House initiated against Turkey did produce the results the British deep state longed for. As a result of a systematic campaign, the propaganda managed to build an anti-Turkish public opinion in the US. Strangely enough, just like today, some people from Turkey lent their support to this black propaganda, trading their country for petty gains offered by the British deep state, not caring at all if they became traitors or not in the process.

Black Propaganda Against Turks During WWI

Wellington House launched an intense propaganda war against Turkey, as it had done so many times before against others. Many famous writers and politicians were mobilized to this end and numerous books, articles and brochures were written, including the one by the famous British historian and expert on international relations, Arnold J. Toynbee. The goal was showing Turks as cruel, oppressive, evil people and accusing the Ottoman Empire with completely baseless allegations.

The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, 1915-1916, also known as The Blue Book co-written by Toynbee and James Bryce, another British historian and politician, was pure propaganda material laden with lies and defamation against Turkey. Designed to elicit feelings of hatred and anger in the reader, the book consisted of imaginary stories of how the Turks supposedly massacred Armenians.

However, no evidence was offered for the said allegations and stories and there was no solid proof for the claims. Onur Öymen writes the following about the people, alleged to be the sources of many claims in the book:

The people mentioned [in the book] are named X, Y, Z etc. Who are these X, Y, Z? The detailed investigations of American researcher Prof. Justin McCarthy finally gave a satisfactory answer to this question. Most of them were American missionaries that were active in Turkey during those years, who badmouthed Turkey in every opportunity they got. Some others were the members of violent Armenian rebel groups. 59 out of 150 accounts were penned by the missionaries, 52 of them were sent by Armenians. Armenian Dashnak party's reports, which considered Ottomans as their arch-enemies, were also used in the book. The rest were taken from Dashnak-sympathizing or Armenian cause sympathizing newspapers. In other words, Armenian newspapers of the time were also used as a propaganda weapon.²⁷⁰

Another book published by Wellington House during the same days was a book called Martyred Armenia claimed to be written by Faiz El-Ghusein. El-Ghusein was presented as a bureaucrat and district officer that worked in the Ottoman Empire. However, historians found no trace of a person with that name and title in any period of Ottoman history.²⁷¹ This book, written by an imaginary name, was just more propaganda material of the British deep state.

As explained in the previous chapter, it is true that some Armenians were provoked by the British deep state during WWI against the Ottoman Empire. Consequently, some assumed an anti-Turkish stance due to such incitement. However, it would clearly be a mistake to ascribe this approach to all our Armenian brothers. As a matter of fact, Hovhannes Katchaznouni, who was a member of the Dashnak Party and the first prime minister of the Republic of Armenia, said during a speech in Dashnak Party Congress in 1923 that Dashnak party was directly responsible for the disaster that befell the Armenians. He said that Armenians, primed by the Russians, massacred Muslim populations during those days and the Dashnaks built a dictatorship in Armenia while Armenian terrorism was set in motion to win over Western public opinion. He also mentioned that in the face of all these developments, Turkey acted with a justified sense of self-defense. According to him, there was no one to blame other than the Dashnak administration.²⁷²

The British deep state repeatedly used the fake accounts of alleged genocide that it fabricated against the Turks. This plot that was devised in the beginning of WWI is still being used as leverage against the Turks in the first quarter of the 21^st century. The most effective weapon to counter this plot is 'love'. If we love and stand by our Armenian brothers more than ever, if we make sure that they feel at home in Turkey and build close relations with the Armenian State, this sinister British deep state plot will be foiled once and for all.

Another important point is the danger of confusing the missionaries mentioned here with the true clergy tasked with spreading Christianity. True Christians are kind-hearted and sincere people full of love. They will never allow themselves to be used as pawns in such filthy propaganda, which is meant to sow seeds of hatred. The said missionaries were in truth spies directly linked to Wellington House. They entered Ottoman lands in the guise of missionaries and carried out spying and provocation activities. The statements in the reports prepared by these so-called missionaries clearly prove this fact:

In all of the writings of the missionaries, ... The Turks hated education and always persecuted the educated. No Christians had ever been part of the Ottoman government. Turks needed Christians because the Turks were racially incapable of being "doctors, dentists, tailors, carpenters, every profession or trade requiring the least skill." And the missionaries wrote that, now that the Turks had killed the Armenians, Westerners who were going to have to govern the Ottoman Empire, because the Turks had rid themselves of the only people with brains, the Armenians, and the Turks could not run the country themselves.²⁷³

These missionaries sent a dozen reports with similar content to Toynbee, which were then sent to the US via Wellington House. It must be noted that the reports contained the instruction, "Under no circumstances reveal source."²⁷⁴

Turkish Proponents of Wellington House

Oddly enough, the hateful anti-Turkish rhetoric developed during WWI found support among some Ottoman journalists known for their anglophile nature. These people accepted serving the British deep state and betraying their country in exchange for petty gains, which sometimes were nothing other than being linked to the British deep state. Such people have always existed throughout the history of this structure and they still do today. For instance, a Turkish journalist Refi Cevat Ulunay from Alemdar wrote the following shocking lines in his piece dated April 21, 1919: "We are waiting for the British. Turks cannot straighten themselves up on their own." And on July 14, 1919 he made the following outrageous remark:

It is imperative that Turkey leans its back to a foreign country. And that cannot be any other than Britain. There is no danger for the Islamic world in delivering the keys of Islam to the reliable hands of the British.²⁷⁵

A couple of years after the publication of The Blue Book and other anti-Turkish books of Wellington House, certain media organizations that supported the Armistice of Mudros began shouting in unison that handing over the country to the British is the best thing to do. During the years of Istanbul's occupation, they continued to praise the British. Today, some media groups and journalists with a similar mindset and acting under the wings of the British deep state continue this mission.

Provocation of the so-called missionaries and some violent, rebellious Armenians was based on the unfounded allegations that Armenians and Christians were persecuted by the Ottoman Empire and that they were treated as second-class citizens. However, it is a well-known historical fact that the non-Muslim population of the Ottoman Empire enjoyed completely the same rights as Muslims, particularly after the Edict of Reforms. By the end of the 19^th century, non-Muslims were given voting rights, represented in the Parliament and came to hold important administrative positions. For instance, during the term of Ali Pasha as the Grand Vizier, the Minister of Public Works was an Armenian named Krikor Agaton, and Ohannes Gümüşyan was another Armenian who was assigned the same office. Many Armenians served as Ministers in charge of Trade, Forestry and Mining. After the constitution was declared in 1876, the Ottoman Parliament had 46 non-Muslim MPs and 9 of them were Armenians. In the parliament set up after the declaration of the second constitution, 11 Armenian MPs served while 12 served in the Parliament of 1914. Four of those Armenian MPs were members of the Hunchak and two members of the Dashnak parties. Similarly, Parliament of 1908 had 13 Greek and 5 Jewish members.²⁷⁶

Furthermore, more than 25% of the staff in the Foreign Ministry and more than 10% of the staff in the Ministry of Justice of the Ottoman Empire were non-Muslims. In addition, between 1880 and 1912, 7% of the students of the School of Political Sciences, known to be the school of future administrators, were again non-Muslims.

Historian Justin McCarthy exposes Wellington House

Famous American history professor Justin McCarthy, who is an expert on the Ottoman Empire, Turks and the Middle East, offers the following important details about Wellington House and its anti-Turkish propaganda activities:

Wellington House drew on some of the best minds in the British government. The historian Arnold Toynbee was an adviser to Wellington House from 1914 and sat until 1917 on the committee that met daily and set propaganda policies. … Other private and public figures and members of ostensibly non-governmental patriotic organizations cooperated with or acted under the direction of the official propagandists.¹ British Universities provided propaganda pamphlets and expertise.

By the standards of the time, the British propaganda effort was a major undertaking. By 1917, Wellington House had a staff of 54 and could call on help from other departments and ministries. …

The first report (June, 1915) of Wellington House listed distribution of approximately 2.5 million copies of books, pamphlets, and other written propaganda in 17 languages. The second report (February, 1916) listed 7 million copies circulated. In 1914, British Propaganda distributed 45 different publications; in 1915, 132; in 1916, 202; in 1917, 469.² Unfortunately no record of distribution beyond 1917 exists. It can be assumed that the numbers continued to grow. All was done in secret and was done creatively.

The Wellington House brief was simple, the same brief as that of all propagandists. They were to make the enemies look as bad as possible and make their friends, and especially British themselves, look as good as could be. Their main focus was, naturally, Germany, but much effort was expended against the Turks…

… they destroyed all the records of the Propaganda Office immediately after the war. This has made it difficult to reconstruct the activities of the wartime propaganda office. [However], some Wellington House records were sent to other offices in the British Government. Although the originals were destroyed, copies were sometimes kept in relevant Foreign Office departments, especially in the Foreign Office records for the United States. The number of documents is modest, but they indicate some small part of Wellington House operations against the Turks.

Despite the effort to blot out the historical record, a good source on the actual publications of Wellington House exists: The record of the propaganda books distributed by Wellington House was kept in a hand-written ledger book, carefully bound. … These books were sent off to the Foreign Office Library, which was eventually opened to researchers. … the ledger affords a picture of British propaganda office activities. …

The publications listed in the ledger are only books or large pamphlets. They do not include press releases, articles, and other materials. The general themes of the propaganda are consistent from work to work: [Noble Turkish nation is above such remarks]

- Turks are illegitimate rulers who have destroyed all lands in which they have ruled. European rule over the Middle East would be far preferable.

- Turks are Muslims who hate all other religions, particularly Christianity. They have always treated Christians badly.

- Turks are guilty of inhuman atrocities against Christians, including mass murder and awful sexual crimes.

- The Germans stand behind Turkish evil deeds, either because they ordered the deeds or because they had the power to stop them and refused to do so.

- The mass of the people of the Ottoman Empire look to the British for salvation. This includes Muslims, who appreciate the good government the British have given Muslims in Egypt and India.

British propaganda made special efforts to tie the Germans to the Turks. This was an intelligent ploy, especially in the United States, where there was much pro-German sentiment but Muslims were held in disdain. British propaganda "proved" that the Germans could not be true Europeans, because they consorted with evil Muslim [Muslims are above such remarks] and Asiatic Turks. …

The list of publications in the ledger is long, but for the Middle East there are a more limited number of books. The table gives only those volumes, but it provides an idea of the breadth and the scope of the Wellington House interests. They include Palestine, Jews and Zionism, and especially the Turks.³

1. George G. Bruntz, Allied Propaganda and the Collapse of the German Empire, New York: Arno Press, 1972, p. 42

2. M. L. Sanders and Philip M. Taylor, British Propaganda During The First World War, 1914-18, London: Palgrave, 1982, p. 108

3. Justin McCarthy, "Wellington House and the Turks", Louisville University, Department of History/USA

Anti-Turkish Black Propaganda Intended for Other Muslims

Efforts to show Toynbee's The Blue Book as a realistic source continued for a long time. Bryce claimed that the people presented as sources in this book were unaware of each other, and tried to prove that independent sources provided reliable information. However, the researches of American historian Justin McCarthy showed that the so-called missionaries compared notes before they sent them to Wellington House, or to put it more accurately, they made them up together. In other words, The Blue Book was nothing other than a script prepared by special agents.

Another anti-Turkish book published by Wellington House told the lie that Turks had massacred 2 million Armenians. However, during that time, the total number of the Armenian population living in the Ottoman Empire was only around 1 million.²⁷⁷

Anti-Turkish propaganda spread not only in Britain and the US, but in other countries as well. The propaganda intended for Indian Muslims was particularly noteworthy. Up to that point, Indian Muslims regarded Turkey as a friend and a leader country. However, the British deep state viewed this sympathy as a serious threat to its interests. It knew that in case of a war with the Turks, these people would without a doubt choose to side with the Turks. Also, Indian Muslims would never accept British pressure on the Turks and the British deep state would lose its influence in this important region. This was a grave risk that the British deep state could not take, especially in India, which had been a long-time colony. Therefore, Indian Muslims and Arabs needed to be convinced that Turks were 'bad Muslims'. The subsequent propaganda efforts were designed accordingly.

Tonybee summarized the British deep state's view of the Islamic world saying that South Islam (from Morocco to Arabia), or the Ashari school, was no longer a threat as one could just buy a sheikh and control them all. But he considered North Islam (the Turkish region from Istanbul to Bukhara), or the Maturidi school, a threat because they were at peace with science and therefore, a revolutionary like Atatürk might come up any time, for which reason, he said, precautions should be taken in advance.²⁷⁸

Clearly, Atatürk completely dashed the sinister plans of the British deep state for Turkey.

After the end of WWI, all the evidence exposing the facts about the Wellington House propaganda efforts was destroyed. This is very suspicious, especially considering that Britain keeps a very systematic archive on history, which is commonly used for research purposes. However, the Wellington House publications had to be destroyed in a mysterious fashion. Nevertheless, Wellington House had sent certain documents to various ministries and institutions during the war for propaganda purposes. Currently, the only information about the Wellington House activities consists of these very limited documents. However, even this limited information reveals that around forty books were published, which included false claims that Turks exterminated Jews, Slavs, Albanians, Arabs and particularly Armenians.²⁷⁹

After the war, Arnold Toynbee travelled to Turkey as a journalist, studied the region and witnessed Turkey's losses due to war. What he saw made him change his mind completely and he admitted that The Blue Book was a book of deception written for propaganda purposes. This time, he wrote books with favorable views of Turkish people. However, The Blue Book that is full of lies is still popular today.

In 2005, the Turkish government, with support from the main opposition party, demanded that Great Britain apologize to Turkey for The Blue Book. The Turkish government emphasized the following points in making this request:

* this book included baseless allegations and was used for black propaganda during WWI,

* it was produced by the Bryce commission,

* many people including Toynbee himself later admitted that it was deliberately produced as an anti-Turkish propaganda.

Interestingly, the British government did apologize for its black propaganda against Germany, but never extended the same courtesy to the Turkish government. The apology to Germany amounted to an admission that Wellington House had been a propaganda institute, but such an apology wasn't made to the Turkish government, which should have been the first one to receive it.²⁸⁰ Despite all the efforts, this apology never came and The Blue Book kept its popularity amongst certain circles.

As previously explained, the Armenian issue was an extensive plot of the British deep state prepared as leverage against the Turks. It is important to remember that the plans of the British deep state to divide the Ottomans haven't fully succeeded yet, and the Turkish lands are still being targeted with similar policies. For this reason, the British deep state, in its bid to weaken, divide and control Turkey, will never retract its respective scenarios nor will it end its respective black propaganda. The best way to thwart such plans will be reinforcing and strengthening our bonds of brotherhood and friendship with the Armenians.

Many brave people who witnessed the events that took place during this era of intense black propaganda fearlessly spoke the truth. For instance, a French officer who was present in the region during the incidents involving Armenians, gave the following account:

They fooled us with stories of gangs. In truth, there had never been an Armenian genocide… Turks, in self-defense position, had to take some precautions… For a warring nation, the noblest cause is the effort to save the country and that cause required Turks to take action. We were fooled. Turks are good people. Talks of genocide are just myths invented to lure us and to provoke us against the Ottomans.²⁸¹

Another French author, Claude Farrére, criticized the French press that quickly passed judgments under the influence of the British deep state and sent the following message to Turkish youngsters:

Turks don't fear bullets… But I'm calling on to the Turkish youth. They should know that they are not fighting the enemy only on the battlefield. Sometimes there is a far more important war than that is fought by the armies. It is the political war. The enemies of Turks are trying to deceive, trying to fool the European public... Open your eyes and beware of this propaganda.²⁸²

It is a pleasant surprise that there were sensitive foreigners that told the truth for what it was when there were people even in the Ottoman Empire that chose to back anti-Turkish British deep state propaganda. This shows that the criticism here is not directed at the mentioned countries or their peoples, but only the mafia-like deep states present in those countries. Nations are innocent, guiltless and have always and will always be our friends. The criticism of the British deep state is only intended to unmask the said plots, to show the irrationality of what was done and to urge those people and institutions to do the right thing.