Your Excellency
In my telegrams of 26 and 29 April and 8 May and following, I had taken the liberty of reporting on the unrest enveloping the Armenians of Van and on the attendant agitation in this part of the country.
I deem it necessary to add the following to these telegraphic reports:
As I already reported, the apparent cause of the troubles in Van is the arrest and murder of some Armenian public personalities, especially that of Mr. Ishkhan and the Armenian deputy of Van, Vramiam, who both enjoyed great respect within the Armenian community.
It remains to be seen whether these incidents have occurred with the knowledge of the authorities there. But the government should have known that through these actions they had finally caused the infuriation which had been brewing for a long time, but particularly since the beginning of the war, and which could only be suppressed by the leaders, to break out.
A strong sense of discontent was evident not only in Van and the surrounding area, the border zones adjacent to Russia, and in the local Armenian regions severely affected by requisitions and troop concentrations, but also in those Armenian towns that were mostly situated deep in the interior of the country. In many spots weapons had been assembled for some time now – in the earlier stages for the purpose of self-defence only against an eventual massacre, but later also for the purpose of an armed uprising.
That ongoing mistakes have been committed by the Turks in the handling of the Armenian question is known only too well by Your Excellency, and likewise that these mistakes were exploited by the Russians long before the outbreak of the war to achieve systematic incitement.
In particular, Van and the Russian Consulate there has always been the centre of Russian subversive activities, which could be carried out with even less interruption as there was no German representation to counterbalance them. The new Consulate in Erzurum – due also to the distance involved – was not able to extend its influence to a sufficient degree; an intervention during the present time that requires here absolutely full attention seems to be out of the question. Moreover, communication with Van is currently interrupted.
Whereas the Armenian circles here, due to better postal connections and the facilities of the local Consulate (newsroom, reading room, newspaper articles, posters about the war situation) are well informed about the general situation in the world and the setbacks of the Russians in the European theatres of war, their compatriots in Van on the other hand will probably have not been put in the picture. The Armenians there, being naturally suspicious about all Turkish publications, gathered the rest of their news only from Russian sources, which were by no means impeccable. Like many other peoples of the world, they therefore have a totally false picture of the situation in Europe. One more reason to express the already existing sympathy with Russia through an uprising.
Your Excellency is aware that Armenians living in Turkey always considered Russia to be their natural protector, and Russia always claimed for herself this right to protection and took advantage of it. The fact that Russian Armenians, besides their enjoying greater security of life, also enjoy better living standards, is also a strong attraction for the great masses. However, on the other hand, it should be taken into consideration that stronger Russian influence would have resulted in a danger of denationalisation, limited only to the spiritual leaders of the Armenians. There are two different currents among those leaders: one of them places a high premium upon the need to safeguard the national identity that is deemed possible only in Turkey; and the other emphasises economical interests and the maintenance of religious ties with the Russians.
German influence on the Armenians was negligible until now. Only a small fraction of educated Armenians were aware of Germany and the Germans. The majority of educated Armenian youth have been educated in French schools and later on in France and Russia. When the war began, the Armenian population even had doubts whether the Germans were “Christians,” since they had allied themselves with the Turks. The fact that Germany was already a friend of the absolutist regime in Turkey, under which the Armenians had suffered considerably, still fills them with distrust. The responsibility for the war is attributed also to the influence of Germany, and the economic losses resulting from Germany’s influence are particularly annoying to a people which is very keen on preserving and augmenting its possessions. More remarkable is the fact – as also noted in other countries – that we have few Armenian friends among those who were educated in Germany or received their education through German missionaries. To my knowledge, the only exceptions are the former students of the Sanassarian School, which was transferred to Sivas a couple of years ago, as the fear grew that Erzurum might be occupied by Russia! This friendship existed, however, only to the extent that they carried out their higher education in Germany.
The general feeling of the Armenians toward the Germans was less friendly at the outbreak of the war, but it has perceptibly changed in the course of the last few months. Cause for this change of mood could have been partly the German military successes on all battlefields as well as the presence of German military officers in Erzurum. This shift of mood was especially noticeable when the local Armenians believed to be sure – and this was in the middle of March – that the outbreak of a massacre was prevented only by the presence and activity of the Consulate here. The Armenian Bishop thanked both General Posseldt and myself a number of times for protecting the Armenians.
With regard to the present situation here I would like to observe that a rebellion on the part of the Armenians in Erzurum and its surroundings is not expected, despite the negligible numbers of Turkish military forces in existence here. The Armenians living in areas near to the Russian border have long ago left their homelands; some of them fled to Russia where they are said to have joined the Russian troops – as was the case in Van – to fight against the Turks. Some of them came to Erzurum. Isolated incidents, such as armed resistance in the case of requisitions in far away villages, the killing of Turks who wanted Armenian girls and women handed over to them, or the cutting and sabotaging of telegraph and telephone lines, and espionage are not unusual phenomena during a war in border areas containing mixed populations.
In my opinion, the calm attitude of the Armenians here is due to
the reasonable attitude of the local government, which so far has avoided drastic cases of oppression.
As for the attitude of the German Consulate here concerning the Armenian question, in compliance with the instructions of Your Excellency, I have avoided a direct intervention on behalf of the Armenians. I have also turned down all their respective supplications. On the other hand, I have not failed to confront energetically all thoughts relative to the wish “to settle scores” and to point out the evil consequences inner unrest could have on Turkey at the present time.
The presence and activities of the Consulate, combined with a good functioning of its news service, should in no small way have contributed to the hitherto calm attitude of the local Turks and Armenians.