Confidential Report
Unfortunately, as I had the honour of conveying to you in my report number 20 from 9th of this month, the influence of a subordinate government has most recently been having a noticeable effect here.
Apart from this, the Commander-in-Chief of the 3rd Army, Mahmud Kiamel Pasha, who has relocated his headquarters here, is also interfering harshly in the government of the Vilayet.
In contrast to other cities, the proceedings taken against the deported in Erzurum have been to some extent mild up until now. For example, the government provided destitute families with oxcarts as far as Erzindjan and Sivas. Moreover, the Vali allowed the sick, families without male members and single women to remain in Erzurum.
This humane practice, which I, too, espoused, was suddenly put to an end through some sort of influence by the committee. Now, Mahmud Kiamel Pasha has ordered the immediate and most ruthless deportation of all Armenians.
The previously issued residents’ permits of those women and infirm still in the city have been taken away and they have been forced out on to the roads, amounting to certain death.
This happened while the Vali and I were in Erzindjan. It appears to me that the Vali, Tahsim Bey, who has a more humane attitude regarding the handling of the Armenian question than the others appear to have, is powerless against this sharp course.
The supporters of the latter will, by the way, openly admit that the final goal of their actions against the Armenians is their total annihilation in Turkey.
After the war we will not have “any more Armenians in Turkey,” are the exact words of an eminent person.
So long as this goal is not attainable through the various massacres, one hopes that the deprivation on the long journey to Mesopotamia and the unaccustomed climate there will finish the task.
This solution to the Armenian question appears to be ideal for the hard-liners, to which almost all military and government civil servants belong.
The Turkish people themselves are by no means in agreement with this solution to the Armenian question and across the country they are now already experiencing the severe economic consequences of the deportation of the Armenians.