File No. 18150/2.
The Turkish Ambassador to the Secretary of State.
Washington, February 24, 1909.
Mr. Secretary of State: I have had the honor to receive, together with its inclosure, the note which your excellency was pleased to address to me on the 20th instant, under No. 3, respecting the refusal of the consul general of Turkey at New York to visé the passport of Mr. Joseph Boyajian, a naturalized American citizen of Ottoman birth.
As your excellency is aware, every Ottoman subject who wishes to change his nationality must first comply with certain provisions in force in the Empire; the established rule also requires that an Ottoman [Page 559] subject who, after fulfilling all the formalities prescribed to that effect, shall have obtained permission to change his nationality shall formally engage never to return to Turkey and, in the event of his returning, not to avail himself of his foreign nationality and to agree to receiving the same treatment as an Ottoman subject.
Under the circumstances, your excellency will admit that in not acting on Mr. Boyajian’s request our consul general at New York but strictly carried out the consular regulations.
Be pleased, etc.,