1917-01-14-DK-001

1917-01-14-DK-001

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Source: DK/RA-UM/Gruppeordnede sager 1909-1945. 139. N. 2., "Tyrkiet: Behandling af Grækere paa tyrkisk Omraade "
Edition: Danish diplomatic sources
Departure of telegram: 01/14/1917
Arrival of telegram: 01/29/1917
Embassy/consular serial number: Nr. 10
Translated by: Matthias Bjørnlund
Last updated: 03/28/2012

The minister in Constantinople (Carl Ellis Wandel) to the Foreign Minister (Erik Scavenius)

Report

Nr. 10
Légation de Danemark. Constantinople 14 January 1917. No. X [10]. Confidential. [To] Mr. Foreign Minister Erik Scavenius, etc., etc., etc.

Mr. Foreign Minister,

The American ambassador here, Mr. [Abram I.] Elkus, tries to convince the Porte to rescind or postpone the implementation of a decision it has made to deport c. 100,000 Ottoman Greeks living in and around the city of Samsun by the Black Sea. He maintains that if the Greeks in Turkey are subjected to a persecution similar to that which the Armenians have already suffered, the public opinion in the whole of the civilized world will condemn Turkey.

My Greek colleague [Dimitrios Panas] has, however, recieved a report that this mass deportation has already begun. He says that c. 10,000 Greeks have been deported from an area some 30 kilometers from the coast between the cities of Kerassounde [Kerasun; Giresun] and Tireboli [Tripoli; Tirebolu] to the interior of Asia Minor under the pretext that they are receiving weapons from the Russians and form bands that join the enemy.

But my informant claims that the majority of these bands consists not of Greeks but of Turkish deserters.

It is indeed striking that it is not only the men but also the women and children who are deported, perhaps because this way it becomes that much easier to confiscate the properties of the deportees.

With the highest esteem I remain, Mr. Minister, yours faithfully

C. E. Wandel