1918-07-24-DK-001
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Source: DK/RA-UM/Gruppeordnede sager 1909-1945. 139. D. 1, ”Tyrkiet - Indre Forhold”. Pakke 2, fra Jan. 1917 – 1. Jan. 1919
Edition: Danish diplomatic sources
Departure of telegram: 07/24/1918
Arrival of telegram: 08/09/1918
Embassy/consular serial number: Nr. 67
Translated by: Matthias Bjørnlund
Last updated: 03/30/2012


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

Report



Nr. 67
Constantinople, 24 July 1918.

Mr. Foreign Minister,

In a "Hatti Humayoun" [Imperial Proclamation or Edict] of 8 July, H. M. Sultan Mehmed VI expressed the wish that quick and energetic measures will be taken in order to bring a stop to the state of emergency that has arisen in Turkey as a result of the state of war and the time of scarcity, as well as to satisfy the populations' every need, and he has announced a number of conditional pardons and a revocation of the state of emergency outside of the military domain.

The Ottoman government, which was not complete in number, has then been completed with 3 new ministers, and it has been decided to establish a new Ministry for Public Nutrition which is to be led by Kémal Bey, the Committee's Delegate for Constantinople and former director general of the privileged Turkish Chamber of Commerce, "Djammiett," which played a great role here in Constantinople in 1916.

Ismail Djanbolat [Djambolat], H H. Talaat Pasha's friend and representative who was briefly Turkish envoy at Stockholm until recently, has taken over the running of the Interior Ministry which was attended to by the Grand Vizier, and which, judging from the present declarations, is to be managed in a more energetic fashion.

The numerous military runaways will be given access to pardon, not only concerning their due punishment as a consequence of their desertion, but also for other crimes they may have committed; thus it is hoped to improve public safety and to put an end to brigandage in Asia Minor which, as reported earlier, has taken on such proportions as to deeply worry the government.

A new decree to the result of which great expectations have been tied is furthermore Dr. Nazim Bey's nomination as Minister of Education.

Dr. Nazim Bey belongs, like the aforementioned Chukri Bey, to the most radical Turkish nationalists in the Committee, among whom it now seems to be a rule to pick the Minister of Education, and he is known to be a particularly energetic and efficient man.

Thus it was Nazim Bey who during the Balkan War came up with the plan to effect a migration to Turkey of the Muslim population in Macedonia and their settlement at places whose non-Muslim inhabitants were to be transported elsewhere.

At a special meeting in the Committee H. H. Talaat Pasha has furthermore declared that the government's conduct will in the future be in close conformity with the Constitution and the other fundamental laws of the Empire - a declaration which, however, it will probably be too early to attach another or greater importance to at this point than to the many other unfulfilled promises he has made publicly during the war, but which apparently has become necessary as a consequence of the accession of the new Sultan and the wishes of that new sovereign.

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

[Wandel]



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