Mavroyeni Bey to Mr. Olney.
Washington, November 22, 1895.
Mr. Secretary of State: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of yesterday’s date acquainting me with a telegram from Mr. Terrell, according to which the buildings belonging to the American missionaries at Harpoot have been pillaged. I note also that Mr. Terrell adds in his telegram that there has been an “appalling massacre of native Christians.”
I have absolutely no news from the Sublime Porte on these two points. I doubt, however, for my own part the correctness of the information transmitted by Mr. Terrell, especially in so far as regards the second point. I hope to be soon in a position to give your excellency precise information touching the reality of the facts.
Meanwhile I beg your excellency to note with me that, notwithstanding the revolutionary intrigues of the Armenian committees, who have succeeded in setting several of our provinces on fire, and notwithstanding the violent and most senseless provocations during a period of more than a year, not a single foreign subject, not a single American missionary or citizen, has been attacked in person or maltreated. The fact is, on the contrary, that the Imperial authorities have been obliged to defend them and protect them against the wrath of Armenian criminals.
Be pleased to accept, etc.