Dear Mr. Ambassador,
In the 66 years of my life this is the first time that I am writing to an ambassador; not to a stranger, but to the honoured representative of the German Reich, which is the friend and ally of the Turkish empire.
My letter is neither a complaint nor a plea, for I regard it as my duty to write complaints and pleas only to our gracious government; for as Turkish subjects we can only turn to the Ottoman government to handle our difficulties.
I do not suffer from personal difficulties. On the contrary, I hold the government's trust, and my loyalty has been confirmed by the two highest decorations: Medjidié and Osmania, and by my high religious position as the Catholicos of Cilicia.
The reason for my sadness and astonishment is the false opinion that is held here and there, as if the Armenians would not wish for Germany's success.
What sort of influence should this wish of the Armenians, if it actually existed, have on the strong and unconquerable power of the Germans, which is admired so much by the entire world and even by their enemies!
What value would the Armenians' praise have on the widely advanced education and science of the Germans!
The Armenian, who has lived for centuries under the high protection of the Ottomans, owes the previous existence of his religion and his language to him alone. He was given no hope whatsoever from strangers that he should ally with them or, in the opposite case, that he should oppose them. This is the honest opinion of every civilised Armenian.
If religion ties a bond between nations and peoples, then the Germans are just as much Christians as the Armenians. And the Germans mainly have a great advantage over other peoples in that they do not work in the dark, but rather let the light of their religion shine freely.
Because the love of mankind joins weak peoples with strong ones, I can say that both in Anatolia and in Cilicia it is the Armenians who most enjoy the charitable and educational institutions of the Germans. German universities also gladly accept young Armenians who arrive thirsting for knowledge. And the Armenians are not excluded from the advantage of the Baghdad Railway.
I was the bishop there when His Majesty Emperor William II, King of Prussia, visited Palestine and I had the honour of being presented to His Majesty at the German consulate by our Patriarch. And again, during a visit to our monastery, St. Jacob, I had the honour of showing Their Majesties and their entourage the ancient Christian books and antiquities located there; and the entire Armenian people were filled with gratitude towards Their Majesties for this visit. Just as this visit is sealed in my heart, so is it also sealed in the heart of every Armenian. Berlin, the capital of Germany, is dearer to the Armenians than their place of birth. The Armenians who are bound to the Germans through the German people's humanity, civilisation, education, religion and charity, are not so mean as to be ungrateful.
As already mentioned above, the good or bad opinion of the Armenians has no influence on the power and glory of the victorious German people. But the widely spread suspicion which rests on the Armenians causes our unhappy, dying people one of its greatest griefs.
In the hope that Your Excellency will believe the truth of my letter, I request that Your Excellency uses his great influence to direct this suspicion away from us, which is one of the greatest of our many griefs.
We ask Your Excellency to continue intervening on our behalf as you have done in the past. We pray for Your Excellency's and your wife's precious life, for the Ottoman government and for the powerful empire allied with it.
[Note by the Embassy, 14 July]
[Note by Roessler, 10 August]