867.4016/724

The Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs, Department of State (Dulles) to the Representative of the Greek Government (Vouros)

My Dear Mr. Vouros: I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 10th instant, advising that you have been instructed to protest against the order of the Kemalists for the deportation of the male Christian population into the interior of Asia Minor, and stating, further, the belief of the Greek authorities that it is advisable that committees be constituted by the International Red Cross and eventually also by the League of Nations and other organizations, especially American, which should be entrusted with the duty of following the fate of these unfortunate people.

In this connection, I desire to advise you of certain relief measures already taken to meet the emergency in the Near East.

On October 8th the President issued a statement, a copy of which is enclosed herewith,21 regarding the distressing situation in the Near East. As you will note, a special fund has been created, to be known as the “Near East Emergency Fund” which is to be raised by a nation-wide appeal to be engaged in by the American Red Cross, the Near East Relief, the Young Men’s Christian Association, the Young Women’s Christian Association, the Federal Council of Churches, the Knights of Columbus, the American Relief Administration, the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and other organizations having interests in the Near East. To assist in the joint appeal to the public, a special committee has been named, under the chairmanship of Mr. Will H. Hays.

It has been arranged, further, that the American Red Cross and the Near East Relief shall be the instrumentalities through which relief will be extended. Dr. A. Ross Hill, of the American Red Cross, [Page 943] has already left for Athens, where he will have charge of the relief activities of that organization in Europe.

As to the work already done in Turkey to meet the emergency, Admiral Bristol recently reported to the Department that for a month past American relief organizations in Constantinople have been working in the closest cooperation in emergency relief work under the direction of a central American committee. This committee has representatives on the committee headed by Mr. Nansen, in order to bring about the closest cooperation with the latter. Admiral Bristol has further reported, the evacuation, through Smyrna and neighboring ports, of two hundred and twenty-two thousand persons since the Smyrna fire. Of these refugees, one hundred and eighty thousand were evacuated by American Naval forces and the American Relief Committee, with the assistance of forces of the British Navy.

I am [etc.]

A. W. Dulles
  1. See telegram no. 183, Oct. 9, 1922, to the High Commissioner at Constantinople, p. 438.