367.1164 Brusa School Trial/17
The Associate Secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions ( Riggs ) to the Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs ( Shaw )
Dear Mr. Shaw: I thank you for your letter of February 10 which reached me yesterday.57 We are giving a short release to the press today with regard to the Brousa situation which I hope will set some of our friends at rest in regard to immediate dangers.
[Page 973]I think we do not minimize the seriousness of the trial which was supposed to begin yesterday. If the Turkish authorities are able to make such a case as to make it illegal for American missionaries to answer legitimate questions of inquiring pupils in regard to fundamental issues of life and character it will be a serious question in my own mind whether the American Board can afford to continue its help along educational lines. We hold it to be fundamental that we are to lead our pupils into the fullest and freest knowledge of the truths and while we are perfectly willing to limit our curriculum activities according to the requirements of the public law, I do not see how personal conversations leading to the formation of personal convictions can be prohibited in view of Article 75 of the Turkish constitution.
I did not return to report to you of my interviews with the Turkish Ambassador and the Greek and Bulgarian Ministers. The interviews were very pleasant, especially the one with the Bulgarian Minister, From the Turkish Ambassador I heard much the same report as comes from Ambassador Grew through you, namely that the Brousa incident is an isolated one and has no bearing upon the general standing of our schools in Turkey. Moukhtar Bey was affable and most polite. We conversed in Turkish as the easiest medium of conversation.
The following cable message was received from Constantinople on Saturday:58
“Brousa school closed January 31 [for] alleged religious propaganda[;] trial minor court [February] 13th [of Misses] Jillson[,] Sanderson[, and] Day[,] charged with violation school regulations[.] No cause for anxiety. Goodsell.”
Yours sincerely,