File No. 701.67m51/2
On account of your telegram No. 2294 of the 29th ultimo in reference to
the question of Armenian representation in Paris, I have, in
transmitting Dr. Gibbons’ letter, made reference as
above to my telegram No. 2144.
[Enclosure—Translation]
The President of the Armenian National
Delegation (
Boghos Nubar) to the Secretary of State
The Armenian Question at the Peace
Congress
1. After the recent massacres and deportations it is impossible to
leave the Armenians, with their consent, under Turkish domination.
Besides it would amount to keeping alive a source of disorders and
conflicts that could not fail again to disturb European peace.
2. Nor can there be any question at this time, as in 1913, of merely
granting reforms to the Armenians. For the Turks have again given
conclusive proof that they cannot be trusted to keep their promises,
by tearing up the Reform Act of February 8, 1914, which would have
then settled the Armenian question if carried out in good faith. So
there is no solution left but to free the Armenians from the Turkish
yoke.
3. At this date, after the Russian revolution whose Government has
declared it wishes neither conquests nor annexations, we are
confronted with the one solution that will realize the Armenians’
national aspirations, the constitution of an autonomous Armenia
exclusively composed of all the Armenian territory in Asiatic
Turkey. For it must be well understood that the Armenian provinces
that have suffered from Turkish oppression are alone concerned and
that none of the Armenian regions in Persia and Russia comes into
consideration.
This autonomous Armenia would consist of the six vilayets of Erzerum,
Bitlis, Van, Diarbekir, Mamuret-ül-Aziz and Sivas, together with
Cilicia and the ports of Mersina and Alexandretta on the
Mediterranean and of Trebizond on the Black Sea, which are the
natural outlets needed by the Armenians to develop the commercial
and economic conditions of their country and rebuild their national
life.
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4. The autonomous Armenia thus constituted would be placed under the
protectorate of the powers.
The question here arises: Shall one power be entrusted in the
protectorate and, if so, which? Or will the protectorate be jointly
exercised by all the powers?
Under the old régime, it was part of Russia’s plan to annex or at
least assume alone the protectorate of a part of Armenia; but with
the advent of the new régime, the only solution left for
consideration is that which provides for a joint protectorate of the
powers. Again, this joint protectorate, which would be tantamount to
a neutralization of Armenia, would be warranted by the international
interests involved in those regions of Asia Minor.
5. That solution alone would gratify the national aspirations. It
would at the same time fulfil the war aims of the Allies, which are
the principle of nationalities and the liberation of oppressed
peoples.
The powers themselves would also find manifold advantages therein,
for, an Armenia so constituted, with equal rights offered to all the
powers, would open to them a field for their commercial, economic
and educational activities. It would further be a factor in
pacification, forming a buffer between the Turkish state of
Anatolia, Russia, Persia, Mesopotamia and Syria.
As for the Bagdad Railway, concerning which the powers will no doubt
arrive at a special agreement, it would be given at the ports of
Mersina and Alexandretta two terminals in neutral territory which
would guarantee to all the powers free traffic with Persia and
India.
6. There will necessarily be a first period of organization for the
term of which the peace congress might delegate one of the
protecting powers to assume the duty of restoring the social life of
Armenia. That mandate would last 10 or 15 years and come to an end
when financial, economic, executive and political conditions are
fully organized, as was done by the United States in Cuba and will
be done in the near future in the Philippines.
The delegated protecting power would, for the purpose, have at its
disposal a loan guaranteed by the powers, independently of an
indemnity fund which will no doubt be allowed by the peace congress
to compensate the victims of massacre and deportation. It would be
empowered to send to Armenia, there to restore order and safety, a
sufficient armed force which it would undertake gradually to
withdraw before the expiration of its mandate and which would be
replaced by an Armenian gendarmerie, as fast
as that corps is organized.
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7. A national assembly elected by all the resident population would
be called in the course of the last year of the delegated power’s
mandate. And as Armenia should rule itself at the end of the
organization period, the government would then be transferred to the
national assembly upon which should rest the duty of enforcing and
maintaining, under the joint protection of the powers, the final
organic law of autonomous Armenia framed to that end.
8. It is well to refute in advance the argument used by the Turks in
their press to oppose any autonomy plan. They would lead one to
believe that there are not enough Armenians left in Turkey to form
an autonomous nation. This is but specious reasoning.
Before the war the Armenian population of the Turkish Empire amounted
to about 2,100,000. The population of Cilicia formed 407,000, that
of the six vilayets 1,163,000 of that total. In the six vilayets,
where are the bulk of the Kurd people and a good many various races,
the Armenians were nevertheless in the majority, numbering 40 per
cent of the total, and they outnumbered the Turks and Kurds together
anyway.
If on the other hand the situation is viewed from the standpoint of
economic and moral importance, it is found that the Armenians held
from 69 to 86 per cent of the trade, industries and various
occupations. Their schools, which are all supported by the
communities exclusively, represented more than 80 per cent of the
whole number.
Finally the Armenians, who only numbered 2,100,000 in the aggregate
population of 20,000,000 of the Empire, handled 60 per cent of the
import trade, 40 per cent of the export trade and 80 per cent of
domestic trade.
Notwithstanding the large number of victims of massacre and
deportation, the greater part of the Armenians were able to escape
or survive the attempt at extermination. According to the Blue Book,
published by Lord Bryce who drew his
information from the most trustworthy documents, an estimate of
1,500,000 for the number of survivors would not be far off the
truth.
9. We must not forget either that the number of Armenians in the
whole world exceeds 4,000,000 and that a large number of those who
to escape persecution emigrated in the last 30 years to Europe,
Egypt and America would hasten back to their native land when
autonomy would make them sure of a peaceful and industrious life
under laws of justice and liberty.
It is not amiss to mention in conclusion that there were barely
400,000 Greeks in Greece when the Kingdom was established, and from
600,000 to 700,000 Serbs or Bulgarians when Serbia and Bulgaria were
set up as principalities.
