STATISTICAL AND POLITICAL
When after the close of the last war between Russia and Turkey the
leading statesmen of the European Powers assembled in congress at
Berlin in the year 1878, they were approached by delegates from the
Armenian people, one of whom was no less a personage than the present
Katholikos, or High Priest of the nation, His Holiness Mekertich
Khrimean. In answer to the enquiries of the Plenipotentiaries upon what
portions of the Ottoman Empire the Armenians--of whom they had heard
during their studies of the classics at school and college--still
bestowed the glamour of an historical name, the delegates addressed
themselves to the excellent map of the late Professor Kiepert and
endeavoured to trace upon it the approximate limits of their country,
embracing its area by a coloured line. Kiepert's map, displaying on its
face this interesting addition, is now slumbering in the archives of
the Berlin Foreign Office, and I have been permitted, by the courtesy
of the German Government, to hold it in my hands. So far as I remember,
the area comprised within the coloured line corresponds approximately
to that which is indicated in a document presented to Congress by the
delegates, under the title of a project for an Organic Regulation
to be applied to the new Armenian province which they desired to
see established. The delegates asked that this province should be
administered by Armenian officials; and when they were requested to
state what proportion its Armenian inhabitants would bear to the
Mussulmans, they furnished figures for the vilayets of Erzerum,
Van and Bitlis (excluding Sert) which placed the numbers of the
Mohammedans at 528,000 and the non-Mohammedans at 1,172,000. [296]
All the country between the Russian and Persian frontiers on the east,
and a line drawn between Tireboli on the coast of the Black Sea and the
confluence of the Kizil Chibuk Chai with the Euphrates on the west,
was to be included in the new Government. The northern boundary was
the coast line of the Black Sea; while that on the south extended
from the Euphrates to the river of Bitlis, and so through the wild
districts south of Lake Van back to the Persian frontier. At a congress
of Oriental diplomatists both their demands and their statements would
have been perfectly understood. One-half of the former might possibly
be conceded, and the smallest fraction of the latter accepted. The
collective wisdom of Europe assembled in the Prussian capital may
perhaps have received a hint in this sense. The delimitation on the
map of Kiepert was a far greater puzzle; how many members of Congress
had even heard of the publication of the learned and laborious German
Professor? But it was evident that there must be districts somewhere
containing an Armenian population; so a clause was inserted in the
Treaty to the effect that the Porte was pledged to carry out reforms
in the provinces inhabited by Armenians. [297]
The Plenipotentiaries returned to their respective countries immensely
pleased with themselves and with their work. Europe forgot all about
the Armenians, nor have the Powers collectively displayed up to the
present day the smallest interest in the Armenian Question. Only
England has taken the matter in the least seriously; and the
reaction which marred the results of the far-seeing policy of Lord
Beaconsfield--and which was perhaps induced by the theatrical character
of that eminent man--prevented us from striking while the iron was
still hot. The important position which we had attained in the councils
of the Ottoman Empire by the provisions of the Cyprus Convention was
early and perhaps irrevocably lost. When Mr. Gladstone's Government
came to deal with the complexities of the Armenian Question, they could
scarcely expect to enjoy the goodwill of the Turkish Government, which,
out of office, they had done their utmost to disparage and humiliate.
An attempt was made by Mr. Goschen, Ambassador at Constantinople
under the Gladstone régime, to grapple with the inherent difficulties
of the case. Immediately after the Berlin Treaty a number of able
consular officers had been despatched by England over the whole of
Asia Minor with instructions to report upon the general condition
of the country, and upon the measures of reform, extending over the
whole field of Turkish administration, which it would be necessary
to recommend. Their reports are an interesting contribution to the
literature of Blue-books; but in respect of the Armenian Question
our Ambassador cannot have been enabled to extract from them the
information which was necessary to provide him with that sure
ground upon which to build that he was seeking to acquire. The
Armenians themselves, for whom he was working, supplied him with
misleading statistics, and seem never to have inspired him with
any real confidence as to the soundness of their cause. [298] As a
consequence, no definite plan was placed before the Porte, and, what
is more important, no definite policy seems ever to have been brought
to the mind of our Ambassador or of his colleagues representing the
signatory Powers. The teasing activity of England in Asia Minor, and
the reports of misgovernment in every direction which she showered
upon the Porte, seem not only to have alarmed Turkey but the European
Powers as well; and it only required a word from Prince Bismarck to
dismiss the whole question of Armenian reforms. [299]
What was the problem? The Berlin Treaty spoke of the provinces
inhabited by the Armenians. But the Armenians have become scattered
in considerable numbers over the whole extent of Asia Minor. This
dispersal is the consequence of comparatively remote historical
events. To require the Porte to introduce reforms in the provinces
inhabited by the Armenians, and to supervise the carrying out of
the new measures, would amount to little less on the part of Europe
than to take the whole of Turkey under tutelage. But there might be
certain districts in which the Armenians were in a majority, and where
they might be able to provide the necessary machinery of government,
enjoying a certain measure of local autonomy while remaining subjects
of the Sultan. Neither the Armenians themselves nor the British
Consuls appear to have furnished satisfactory evidence towards such a
solution. What is needed by statesmen who have to deal with Asiatic
problems is an intimate knowledge of Asiatic geography. During all
the long series of our investigations into the Armenian Question
this side of the subject was almost ignored. The Armenian Project
of which I have spoken embraced within the area of the proposed
province outlying regions which present such dissimilar economical
and political problems, that it would have been an act of political
madness to endeavour to weld them together under the rule of a mere
Governor-General. Our own Consuls, partly, no doubt, owing to the
vague character of their instructions, fell into the same error. For
instance, in estimating the population of the Armenian provinces,
vast outlying districts were included, such as the sanjak of Hakkiari
belonging to the vilayet of Van, where the Armenian inhabitants
are few and far between, and where the character of the country and
people is so wild and intractable that they could with difficulty be
controlled from an Armenian centre. The problems that are presented
to a Governor on the tableland of Armenia are quite sufficient to
absorb his attention and exercise his resources without the addition
to his jurisdiction of the mountains of Kurdistan, which, if Russia
were mistress of the country, would be constituted into a military
Government and subjected to military law.
It must be my endeavour, in proceeding to the statistical aspect
of my subject, to avoid, as far as possible with the existing
Governmental areas, this lamentable mistake. As in the case of the
Russian provinces, I shall adhere as closely as may be feasible to
the natural boundaries of the tableland of Armenia, such as they have
been determined in the preceding chapter and delineated on the little
map which accompanies the political chapter of my first volume. Just
as it was necessary in some instances, when dealing with the Russian
territory, to overstep the limits of the natural frontier, so I am
now compelled by the statistical units at my disposal to diverge at
certain points from that established line. Reference to the map of
which I have spoken (Vol. I. p. 452) will enable my reader to compare
the geographical with the statistical area. The latter is made up of
the Governments or divisions of Governments indicated in the following
table. Since this statement was compiled the numbers of the Armenians
have been reduced by the massacres of 1895. In the vilayet of Erzerum
between 2500 and 3000 people were butchered; in the town of Bitlis
not less than 800, in that of Kharput 500, and as many as 2800 in
Arabkir. Reliable figures are wanting for the losses in human life
throughout the country districts of the vilayets of Van, Bitlis and
Kharput. But they must have been considerable, and whole villages
were wiped out. About 50,000 to 60,000 Armenians fled into Russia
from the eastern vilayets. But many of these have already returned,
and a few years of settled government would enable this prolific
people to make good the deficiencies in their ranks. Later estimates,
affected by such special circumstances, would be more misleading than
those which I now present.
TABLE III.--Population of the Armenian Tableland in Turkey (about
the year 1890)
=============================+==========+==========+=======+============+===========
| | Christians. | |
| Moslems. +----------+-------+ Others. | Total.
| |Armenians.|Greeks.| |
=============================+==========+==========+=======+============+===========
VILAYET VAN[300] | | | | |
Town of Van | 10,000 | 20,000 | | | 30,000
Merkez-Caza of Van | 7,000 | 27,000 | | | 34,000
Other Cazas of Van Sanjak | 35,229 | 28,644 | | | 63,873
+----------+----------+ | +-----------
Total | 52,229 | 75,644 | | | 127,873
| | | | |
VILAYET BITLIS[301] | | | | |
Town of Bitlis and Merkez- | 27,673 | 16,094 | | 342 | 44,109
Caza | | | | (Syrian |
| | | |Christians).|
Other Cazas Bitlis Sanjak | 18,593 | 14,306 | ... | ... | 32,899
Total Sanjak Bitlis | 46,266 | 30,400 | ... | 342 | 77,008
Sanjak Mush-- | | | | |
Town and Caza of Mush | 21,246 | 35,328 | | | 56,574
Other Cazas | 42,572 | 25,873 | | | 68,445
Total Sanjak Mush | 63,818 | 61,201 | | | 125,019
Sanjak Genj-- | | | | |
Town and Cazas | 35,370 | 5,583 | | ... | 40,953
+----------+----------+ +------------+-----------
Total of the three | 145,454 | 97,184 | | 342 | 242,980
Sanjaks | | | | |
| | | | |
VILAYET KHARPUT[302] | | | | |
Sanjak Kharput | 120,000 | 85,000 | 1334 | 422 | 206,756
Sanjak Dersim | 62,000 | 8,000 | ... | ... | 70,000
+----------+----------+-------+------------+-----------
Total | 182,000 | 93,000 | 1334 | 422 | 276,756
| | | | |
VILAYET DIARBEKR[303] | | | | |
Caza Palu | 45,580 | 15,150 | | | 60,730
| | | | |
VILAYET ERZERUM[304] | | | | |
Sanjak Erzerum-- | | | | |
Town of Erzerum | 26,554 | 10,434 | 484 | 1422 | 38,894
Other Cazas | 207,261 | 57,358 | 330 | 1797 | 266,746
Total Sanjak | 233,815 | 67,792 | 814 | 3219 | 305,640
Sanjak Erzinjan | 155,879 | 31,091 | 2456 | 2182 | 191,608
Sanjak Bayazid | 38,801 | 7,885 | ... | 568 | 47,254
+----------+----------+-------+------------+-----------
Total | 428,495 | 106,768 | 3270 | 5969 | 544,502
+----------+----------+-------+------------+-----------
Grand Total | 853,758 | 387,746 | 4604 | 6733 | 1,252,841
=============================+==========+==========+=======+============+===========
The Moslem population may be divided into Turks and Kurds as follows:--
Turks (Sunni Mohammedan) 442,946
Kurds (Sunni Mohammedan and Kizilbash) 410,812
-------
Total 853,758
It may be interesting to add these figures to those which I have given
for the Russian provinces. The population of the country as a whole
for the statistical area delimited on the map will be represented by
the following figures:--
Armenians 906,984
Turks 489,931
Kurds 479,676
Tartars 306,310
Greeks 52,367
Russians 28,844
Others 84,439
---------
Total 2,348,551
In the case of the Turkish provinces I have found it a task of
the greatest difficulty to arrive at a statistical estimate of the
population upon which it might be possible to rely. The results resumed
in Table III. are the outcome of a long and laborious investigation
pursued in the country itself, in which I was sometimes aided, but more
often bewildered, by the lists which I had in my possession, and which
have either already been published, or were furnished to me by private
friends. In the absence of a census conducted on scientific principles,
any figures can only be approximately correct. Two possible sources
of information exist which, in the first instance, it is natural
to consult. The first are the official lists which are published
in the almanacs of each Government, and which profess to give the
numbers both of Mohammedans and of Christians inhabiting each caza or
administrative sub-division. The second are the books of the diocesan
authorities who, under the 14th and 96th Articles of the so-called
Armenian constitution (of which I shall speak later on), are enjoined
to maintain complete records of all births and deaths among Armenians
in the diocese, and to provide copies to the Central Bureau of the
Patriarchate in Constantinople. But the diocesan authorities are chary
of recording information which conflicts with the number of Armenians
who are placed for purposes of taxation upon the Government lists,
and these lists themselves are founded upon a system of which it is
the tendency to underrate the number of the population, Mohammedan
and Christian alike. Owing to the seclusion of women in the East,
no serious attempt is made to count the female population; while in
the case of males the figures in the official statistics are derived
from the military census, which is at best a very imperfect record,
and which each man strives his utmost to evade. All Mohammedan males
are liable to be enrolled in the army, while the Christians are obliged
to pay an annual tax which exempts them from military service, and
which is incident at birth. In the case of the sedentary population it
is probable that the Christians evade this census to a greater extent
than their Mohammedan neighbours; for the budget of a Christian family
is immediately menaced by the birth of a male child. On the other hand,
there are extensive districts on the southern portion of the tableland
in which the Kurdish tribes inhabiting them are in a state approaching
independence, and have never been counted at all. The official lists
must for these reasons be used with much discrimination and care. In
one Government they will be compiled with some measure of completeness;
in another they will be defective as regards the Armenians; in yet
another as regards the Kurds. In addition to this source of information
there are the estimates which have been made in particular districts
by private people engaged in business, and who know their own district
well. The figures which emanate from the Armenian Patriarchate, and
which have found their way into the Blue-books, have evidently been
designed to subserve a political purpose, and may be dismissed under
a sense of disappointment and disgust.
Two further points are suggested to me as calling for special
remark. In the first place, I am satisfied that the total population
of the Turkish provinces is in excess of the figure which I give. That
figure only shows a percentage of population to the square mile of
less than thirty [305]; in the Russian provinces, which can scarcely
be called populous by comparison, although they probably contain less
waste land, the percentage is over forty-nine. Secondly, while the
greatest care has been taken to get the totals of the different peoples
at least correct in the proportion which they bear to one another, it
is probable in the cases of the Armenians and of the Kurds that even
for this purpose the figures are a little too low. I have preferred
to content myself with reproducing the statistical materials which,
however imperfect, I consider the best, and only to mention in this
connection the general impression which I have received. [306]
Among the inhabitants of the Turkish provinces who are classed as
Mussulmans there exist considerable differences both of race and of
religion; but for our present purpose it is most useful to distinguish
them according as they are Turkish or Kurd. Under the former name
I have counted the Mussulman population of the northern portion of
the Government of Erzerum, or, to use more specific language, of
the entire Government of Erzerum, with the exception of the sanjak
of Bayazid and the cazas of Khinis, Kighi and Terjan. I have also
included as Turkish one-half of the Mussulman inhabitants of the caza
of Pasin. In the Governments of Van and of Bitlis the only portion
of the population which I have thought it safe to number as Turkish
are the Mussulmans in the towns of Van, Bitlis and Mush; as citizens
in Governmental centres they are attached, if not by a common origin,
at least by a common character and common sympathies to the interests
of the ruling race. In the cases of the Government of Kharput and
of the Governmental division of Palu, I have been unable to verify
by personal acquaintance the estimates which I have adopted as the
best; these estimates make the Turkish about as strong as the Kurdish
element in the sanjak of Kharput, and a little less numerous in the
caza of Palu. That part of the Mussulman population of the sanjak of
Dersim who are counted as adherents of Government may most usefully
be classed as Turkish and have been included in the roll of Turks. In
the several Governments the remainder of the Mussulman inhabitants
compose the total which has been given for the Kurds.
To express these results in general language, we may say that the
seat of the Turkish population is the country on the north of Erzerum,
while the Kurds inhabit the more southerly districts of the tableland,
extending to the southern peripheral mountains. But what is the meaning
of the name Turkish which has been used to distinguish the one from
the other element? We must certainly guard ourselves from the danger
of attributing to a convenient political designation an ethnological
sense. We are justified in declaring that the Mussulman inhabitants
of the northern districts of the Government of Erzerum are not of
Kurdish origin; on the other hand, the ground is less tenable if we
suppose that they belong to the Turkish race. How large an admixture
of Turkish blood may flow within their veins, is a question which it is
impossible to determine; it was rather the fertile country on the west
of the Euphrates that presented the most attractive settling ground to
the invading hordes of Turks. I am given to believe that a considerable
number derive from the widely spread Georgian family; but that family
has here mixed with other race elements, of which the Turkish is
one. In what pertains to national solidarity, in the possession of
common interests and common sentiments, these Mussulman inhabitants
of the northern districts may justly be classed as Turks. But even
this statement is subject to exception and cannot be universally
applied. Just as in the northern zone of peripheral mountains there
still exist whole districts of which the inhabitants have adopted
the Mohammedan religion, but retain their essential affinity to the
Greek race to which they belong, so within the statistical area of the
tableland among the ranks of the Mussulmans may be found considerable
aggregates of people who, although of Armenian origin, profess the
dominant creed. In the northern province an important instance of
this change in religion rather than in nationality is found in the
district of Tortum between Erzerum and the town of Olti; the Mussulman
inhabitants of that district are said to be the descendants of the
ancient Armenian families who are known to have lived there within
historical times.
While the Turkish inhabitants are engaged in agriculture and in those
pursuits of urban life which attach to the service of Government or
of individuals, or to the less ambitious among the requirements of
industry and commerce, the Kurdish population, on the other hand,
present a variety of social development which includes both the
sedentary and the nomadic state, the organisation of the commune and
that of the tribe. A people who were known to a remote antiquity
and whose character is already sufficiently familiar in Europe,
the Kurds who inhabit the tableland are not only distinguished from
one another according to the plane of social life to which they have
attained, but are divided by essential differences of language and
of creed. From the neighbourhood of the town of Sivas in Asia Minor
to beyond Malatia on the south, and between the two branches of the
Euphrates to the vicinity of Mush, the Kurds, although classed in the
official lists as Mussulmans, neither practise the orthodox religion
nor speak the same dialect as their neighbours of presumably kindred
race. Branded throughout the Nearer East under the opprobrious name
of Kizilbash, they harbour a sullen hatred of the Turkish Government,
whose attempts to convert them to orthodoxy they resent; while towards
the Christians they are drawn by the impulse of a common antagonism
to the existing order, and by the respect in which they hold the
Christian religion, in the person of whose Founder they recognise an
incarnation of God. Their religion, so far as we know it, bears the
impress of the Aryan mind, which seeks for a human embodiment of the
Deity; they invest with divine attributes Moses and Jesus, Mohammed
and Ali. Their language, although a branch of the Kurdish, contains an
admixture both of Persian and Armenian words, and is said to differ so
greatly from the prevailing dialect of the Kurdish tongue that those
who are familiar with the one are unable to understand the other. While
they practise the rite of circumcision and have adopted certain of the
observances of Islam, the contempt in which their religion is held by
their Mussulman neighbours of the Sunni sect disposes them against the
dominant creed, which they regard as a dangerous enemy of their own
peculiar faith. In brief, they constitute a separate element in the
Kurdish population of the tableland, and the numerical value of this
element may be placed at about a third of the total figure which I
have given for the Kurds in the Turkish provinces. Their geographical
position between and about the two branches of the Euphrates invests
them with some contemporary importance from a military point of view;
and they hold the wild and mountainous country on the south of the
headquarters of the Turkish Army Corps at the town of Erzinjan. In
this district, which is known under the name of the Dersim, they have
long resisted and continue to resist the imposition of the Turkish
yoke. They are here in the tribal and pastoral state; but they have
been obliged by the rigour of the climate to dwell in houses, and they
cultivate small strips of land. In the country on the west and east
of the Dersim the Kizilbashes are peaceful and industrious peasants,
of whom most travellers have spoken with respect.
If we draw on the map an imaginary line from Mush through Erzerum
towards the sea, the Mussulman population of the Turkish provinces are
distributed in the following manner over the area of the tableland. On
the north of Erzerum and on either side of this line the Turkish
population extend from the Russian border on the east along the banks
of the Western Euphrates to its junction with the eastern branch. The
country south of Erzerum and on the west of the line is the seat of
the Kizilbash Kurds; while on the east are situated the Kurds who
profess the orthodox religion and speak the prevailing dialect of
Kurdistan. The territorial extension of the Kurdish people varies
according as the forces of order are strengthened or decline, but
their original home and natural habitation are the mountains which
contain the sources of the Tigris. From the Euphrates on the west to
the Persian Gulf upon the south the zone of buttress ranges which
support the tablelands of Armenia and Persia, and which we know at
first under the name of Taurus and then under that of Zagros, is
inhabited by tribes of Aryan origin--the Kurds and further south the
Lurs--who are distinguished by considerable variations in dialect
and in religion, but who present the common characteristic of an
inveterate aversion to settled life and to the imposition of the
yoke of law. Their manner of living is directly determined by their
geographical position and pastoral pursuits. As spring develops into
summer and the yellow drought creeps higher and higher up the slopes
of the mountain-sides, they ascend from one to another step, from a
lower to a higher chain, and arrive, perhaps at the approach of autumn,
on the fringe of the tableland. When at length the season is verging
upon winter the migration southwards begins. A continuous throng of
sheep and goats and horses and weather-worn people of either sex and
every age flows slowly down the blighted country, filing by tortuous
tracks between the boulders or pausing about the noonday hour by the
bed of a shaded stream. At the foot of the range, on the verge of
the vast alluvial plains through which the Tigris winds, is placed
their winter encampment; their tents are sufficient shelter against
the climate of the low country, which even through the colder months
is temperate and mild. These yearly migrations of the Kurdish tribes
are not conducted without great suffering on the part of the settled
population; their granaries are plundered by the shepherd army, and
the land which they might have cultivated is occupied by the nomads
during winter as pasture for their flocks. But this is a problem
which belongs to the southern peripheral region and to the lowlands,
rather than to the tableland. The Kurds of the tableland--with the
possible exception of the Kizilbashes--are an alien element of the
population. The great distance of their pastures from the plains of the
Tigris makes it difficult for them, if not impossible, to pursue their
instinctive migration; the rigorous winter obliges them to discard
their tents and inhabit villages--in a word, to take the first step
towards a more settled order, of which the further development is
viewed by some of them with just alarm, as incompatible with their
tribal organisation and independent life.
We may place at the kernel of the Armenian Question in Turkey the
difficulties which arise from the presence of this Kurdish population
upon the Armenian plateau. It is true that a considerable number among
them have become industrious cultivators and subsist on the fruits
of their own toil. According as the period which separates them from
their former life is long or short, or the name of their more lawless
kinsmen is despised or respected, these peasants will answer the
traveller who inquires to what people they belong either by replying
that they are Osmanli or by owning to their being Kurds. In the first
case they rank themselves with the settled Turkish population; in the
second they acknowledge the bond which attaches them to the free life
of the tribe. But the weight of this agricultural element lies in the
scale of peace; it is otherwise with those Kurds who retain to the full
their tribal organisation and who pasture their flocks on the lofty
highlands which extend to the plain of Erzerum. It is possible that
from a remote period the nomads of Kurdistan proper may have advanced
the limit of their summer journey beyond the plain of Mush, to return
at the approach of winter to the neighbourhood of Diarbekr. How far
their migration should be extended would be determined by the distance
which separated them from their winter quarters on the lowlands, and
by the degree of resistance which the settled peoples might be able to
offer to their unwelcome approach. The fall of the feudal system in
Turkey and the decline of the power of the Turkish beys may no doubt
have contributed in a sensible manner to open breaches to the Kurds;
but it appears that a powerful colony of this people were brought to
their present seats in Armenia through a definite act of public policy
on the part of the Turkish Power. After the defeat of the Persians
in the plain of Chaldiran in 1514 it became necessary to arrive at
a permanent settlement of the Kurdish provinces; and it formed part
of the plan pursued by Edrisi, the distinguished Minister of Selim
the First, and himself a Kurd of Bitlis, to remove a portion of this
turbulent people from the country of their home and to settle them
along the new frontier of Turkey in the districts bordering upon Persia
and Georgia which had been acquired from the Shah. It is said that
they were granted a perpetual immunity from taxation on the condition
that they would act as a permanent militia upon the border which had
been given them to guard. [307] Neither the evidence of subsequent
history nor the contemporary political situation upon the tableland
can be taken to have established the wisdom of a policy which appears
to have overrated the capacity of the Kurds whether for benefit or
for harm. On the one hand, by adding to the area inhabited by them,
the Turkish Government seems rather to have increased the difficulties
which have always beset their efforts to hold this people in check;
and, on the other, their experience of the value of this militia can
scarcely be so pleasant a memory as their persistent continuance in
a worn-out ideal might lead us to expect. During the two campaigns
against Russia of 1829 and 1854 the Kurdish chiefs played off one
Power against another, and are even said to have assisted the invading
armies by affording a passage through their adopted country and by
providing them with supplies. In the campaign of 1877 the Kurds were
the most dangerous element in the Turkish army, and are described by
an eye-witness of the several actions in Asia as a grotesque corps of
irregular cavalry breaking into groups when resisted and altogether
unfitted for the serious operations of war. Their atrocious cruelty
towards the wounded and their mutilation of the dead was visited upon
the heads of their afflicted protectors in a general execration of
the Turkish name. Yet even the bitterness of this disappointment and
the scarcely doubtful lesson of several minor wars, which within the
course of the past century they have been obliged to conduct against
the Kurds, seem not to have convinced the Turkish Government of the
folly of endeavouring to humour a people who will never be of any
assistance to Government until they shall have lost for ever the
power of resistance and ranged themselves on the side of law. The
reigning Sultan in his dealings with the Kurds has inclined to the
old policy; he has sought at once to civilise them and to render
them more efficient from a military point of view. In the wild and
seldom-visited country between the plain of Alashkert and the lake
of Van I was able to gain a practical acquaintance with the methods
that are being pursued. In the village of Patnotz, the principal
seat of the notorious tribe of Haideranli, a solid stone structure,
which has been built by order of Government to serve the several
purposes of a mosque, a school, and a residence for the chief,
stands out from the usual cluster of mud hovels--a palace among
ant-hills. In every larger Kurdish village I found a petty officer
of the Turkish army bewailing the sad fate which had brought him to
this exile, and his own impotence to control the slippery people and
constrain them to attend his drills. A new name, that of Hamidiyeh,
has been given to this irregular cavalry, and they have been liberally
supplied with uniforms from the Turkish magazines. The headquarters
of the corps are at Melazkert on the Eastern Euphrates or Murad Su,
and over thirty regiments have already been registered over the area
of the tableland. Each regiment has a nominal strength of about 600
men. But they have never yet manoeuvred together, and when in 1892 a
detachment from each regiment paraded at Erzerum, I am informed that
the whole number did not amount to 2000, and that the sorry spectacle
was presented to the Turkish general of a motley company of aged men
and half-grown youths, mounted on horses which wanted muscle and had
perhaps never tasted corn. It is pleasant to acknowledge the good
intentions of the Sultan in endeavouring to educate the Kurds and to
organise them in a more efficient manner for the purposes of serious
war; the ideal which has no doubt been present to the mind of his
military advisers is the example of the Russian corps of Cossacks. But
the mild measures at present in favour will never attain this result;
it is not under such a policy that the Kurds will be subjected to
the regular discipline of a camp. Either the young men must be taken
from their native or adopted provinces and trained in the armies of
the Empire at a distance from their homes, or the entire people must
be made to bend to the yoke of an equal civil law, of which they at
present evade the provisions and defy the ministers.
While the Turkish Government have little reason to be satisfied with
the results of their experiments with the Kurds, the effects which
derive from their presence on the tableland are disastrous in the
extreme. Yet it is not the Mussulmans so much as the Armenians who are
afflicted by this scourge. Let us pursue a little further our original
analysis. Transplanted from their natural camping-grounds, and obliged
through the long months of an arctic winter to provide themselves and
their animals with shelter and with food, this pastoral people were
quartered on the Armenian villages, but were required by Government to
pay an annual tax in return for the accommodation which during winter
they received. [308] But an arrangement which was based on the just
principle of ensuring to the Armenian a fair remuneration for the
lodging which he furnished and the fodder which he supplied, was put
into practice by the local authorities in a characteristic manner: the
proceeds of the tax were committed to their own coffers. In 1842, after
the promulgation of the celebrated charter of reforms which is known
under the name of the Hatti-Sherif of Gulkhaneh, a beginning was made
towards the abolition of the system; the Kurds in the neighbourhood
of Mush were allotted certain villages which had been vacated by the
Armenian emigrants, and the Armenians of the district were relieved of
the heavy burden which they had previously been obliged to bear. At
the present day the pastoral Kurds of the plateau have all their own
villages, and the old system, except in isolated instances, may be said
to have disappeared. Yet even now the Kurds justify their raids upon
the Armenians on the ingenious plea of the ancient right of quarter
which they consider they are entitled to enforce. Policy also dictates
a procedure which their tender conscience has approved. The Armenians
are at once the most immediate and the least redoubtable among their
neighbours. The courageous Kurd equips himself for the foray with a
rifle of modern Russian pattern and belts bristling with cartridges;
his victims, by a cruel and cynical provision, have been deprived
by Government of all arms. Should the Kurd be caught red-handed and
arraigned before the civil authority, he will scornfully defy the
civil jurisdiction and claim to be tried by his military superiors
as a trooper in the Hamidiyeh Corps. When the civil branch has been
successfully thwarted, the military authorities are cajoled, while
the injured party is rewarded by the visitation of a fresh injury,
which he endures without complaint. I can understand that in Kurdistan
proper with the lowlands about the course of the Tigris the shepherd
problem presents some difficulty; it must always be a task of some
magnitude to control a people whose migrations extend over so wide
an area and whose country conceals within its countless recesses such
inaccessible retreats. On the tableland the case is quite elementary:
the pastoral Kurd belongs to a village, and that village is situated
in the neighbourhood of the pastures from which he is driven by the
winter snows. It cannot be a matter of great difficulty to follow
up the robbers to their homes. It is well within the capacity of the
existing authorities to enforce against them the necessary measures of
police. But the tribal chiefs are well aware of the consequences which
would flow from such a change in Turkish policy towards them, and they
exert all the means at their disposal to avert it. Upon the tableland
they enjoy a parasitical prosperity. Once prevented from levying their
supplies of grain and fodder upon the Armenians, and restricted to the
legitimate operations of barter with the peasantry or reciprocal trade,
their tribes would gradually melt away, and, while a large number would
join the ranks of the agricultural population, a remnant only would
remain to continue in Armenia the shepherd calling and the tribal life.
The Armenians are distributed in the following manner over the
statistical area of the Turkish provinces. Compared with the number
of the Mussulman inhabitants, they are in greater strength in the
Government of Van than in any other Government. Taking that Government
as a whole, but of course excluding the Hakkiari, they exceed by about
one-third the total of the Mussulman population. In the town of Van
the proportion of Armenians to Mussulmans is about as two to one. In
the Government of Bitlis they are in a majority in the neighbourhood
of Mush, and in the fertile district of Bulanik, north-west of the
lake of Van. On the other hand, they are outnumbered by the Mussulmans
in the populous sanjak of Kharput, and in the caza or Governmental
sub-division of Palu. In the Government of Erzerum there is scarcely
a district in which they are not less numerous than their Mussulman
neighbours. Yet, when estimating the relative strength of the Armenian
element, we deceive ourselves if we dwell with complacent insistence
on the fact of its numerical inferiority. Several factors essential
to such an analysis deserve and require attention. In the first place,
the most fertile portion of the country is held by the Armenians. The
beautiful region about Lake Van, the vast plains of Bulanik, of Mush,
and of Kharput are the principal seats of the Armenian peasantry--a
peasantry as sturdy as the Mussulman settlers and far more industrious
and progressive than they. Another advantage possessed by the Armenians
is their favourable geographical situation in relation to the Turks
and the Kurds. The Armenian population compose a mass of varying
compactness which extends across the tableland from east to west,
and may be said in a general manner to divide as with a wedge the two
branches of the Mussulman inhabitants. Or the Armenian may be compared
to the middle bedfellow of three. Again, the solidarity of the Armenian
element, both from a political and a social point of view, is a fact
which must not be ignored. Nowhere in a more conspicuous manner than
upon the tableland has the Gregorian Church resisted the advances of
Rome. According to the statistics supplied by the Catholic patriarch
to Mr. Goschen, the number of the Catholics within the limits of
our statistical area cannot amount to 20,000 souls. Of these, the
great majority inhabit the northern districts of the Government of
Erzerum, while in the country of Van and Mush, which is essentially
Armenian, there are scarcely any adherents of Rome. It is true that
the Protestant community is growing; if we include the Mission of
Mardin lying outside our area, they are over 16,000 strong. But the
paramount object which is present to the Protestant missionaries
is not to subvert the national Church or to attach it to their own
denomination, but rather to raise the standard of the national religion
and to improve the social condition of the people among whom they
have come to live. Finally, we must not overlook the high place which
the Armenians already occupy in the economical order of the country,
and the fact that the Armenian population is capable of very rapid
expansion under kinder circumstances. I have already had occasion
to speak in praise of the Armenian peasantry; yet, while agriculture
suffers from the disappearance of the Armenian from the soil, the place
which he occupies in the less rudimentary grades of civilised life can
never be supplied. The worn and crippled machine of industry functions
through him alone. His advancement means the progress of the country;
his removal is the cause of its decay. Yet the stream of emigration
continues, and is gathering fresh volume every year. The general exodus
of the Armenian population which ensued upon the retirement into
Russian territory of General Paskevich in 1839 has been followed by
a gradual process of depletion, which varies in intensity according
as harvests are good or disastrous and the Kurds are encouraged or
restrained. During my stay in the country the Armenian peasantry of
considerable districts were exerting themselves to pay off their debts,
and to obtain permission to leave. Many were flying to the Russian
frontier to seek an asylum from the Kurds. A change in policy is alone
needed to transform a country which is rapidly becoming a desert into
a prosperous and progressive province. Behind the Armenian population
of the tableland stand their kinsmen who inhabit the less distracted
districts of Asia Minor. At the first approach of a better era many of
these would seek with eagerness the ancient home of their race. Many
of the emigrants into Russia would return to their old seats. The
tide now setting to America, whence the Armenians, like the Irish,
transmit large sums of money to their less prosperous relations at
home, would slacken if it did not cease. A country which even in its
wildest regions still retains the traditions of Armenian civilisation,
and is adorned with the remains of Armenian architecture, would resume
the old order in a spirit essentially new.
Have I wearied my reader with this long and almost exhaustive
analysis, at which I can scarcely myself suppress a yawn? At least
we may console ourselves with the virtuous reflection that we have
been disentangling a difficult subject of which we shall all hear
more as the years go by. Most of us--for we are all rulers, and our
voices reach far--will some day be expected to pronounce our opinion
upon it; I have therefore endeavoured to present the facts in an
uncoloured narrative. But it may be asked: why has so little been
heard of the Armenians still residing in their native seats? Are
they not a handful among the numbers of their countrymen dispersed
over the Ottoman Empire, and inhabiting the capital or the great
towns of Asia Minor? Sasun, where the massacres commenced in 1894,
is surely a district which lies outside the proper limits of Armenia;
while Sivas and Trebizond, Diarbekr, Marash and Aintab--cities of
which the names are engraved in red upon our memories--are situated
at great distances from the Armenian centres. Such reasoning is in
a great measure true; it is the Berlin difficulty.
In the absence of reliable statistics I shall refrain from any
attempt to trace the distribution of the Armenians over the whole
extent of the Ottoman Empire. The total number of Armenians in Turkey
was given by the delegates to the Berlin Congress as amounting to
3,000,000 souls. This figure is certainly too high. An Armenian
clerical writer, who appears not to err on the side of exaggeration,
has placed the entire Gregorian population, that is the great bulk of
his countrymen in Turkey, at 1,263,900 souls. [309] It is reasonable
to suppose that the Armenian subjects of the Sultan number upwards of
one and a half millions, of whom some half million may be taken to
inhabit the statistical area with which we have been dealing, after
considerable additions have been made to supply the deficiencies in
the lists. The remainder are spread over the Empire, forming fairly
compact communities in the more populous towns. Previous to the
massacres of 1895, the Armenians of Constantinople were estimated at
180,000 souls, of whom some 80,000 might be reckoned as immigrants
for a certain period from such Armenian centres as Van and Arabkir,
and the remainder were permanently established. Other considerable
aggregates are forthcoming in Northern Syria and Cilicia, where,
besides the towns, the mountainous district of Zeitun is inhabited by
a vigorous and brave Armenian peasantry. The towns on the highlands
of Asia Minor from the Euphrates to Brusa and Smyrna number large
bodies of Armenians among their citizens. The same may be said of
those on the lowlands from the Persian Gulf to Diarbekr. Trebizond
contains a populous and flourishing settlement, as do most of the
rising towns along the coast of the Black Sea. Indeed the Armenian is
ubiquitous in the Nearer Asia, from the northern province of Persia
to the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. Yet this people as a whole
can scarcely amount to more than 3,000,000 souls, a round figure of
which the principal components are as follows:--
The Armenian tableland (Russian and Turkish provinces) 906,984
Caucasus and remainder of Russian Transcaucasia 450,000
Astrakan and Bessarabia 75,600
Remainder of Asiatic Turkey 751,500
Turkey in Europe 186,000
Azerbaijan province of Persia [310] 28,890
Colony of Julfa (Ispahan) and remainder of Persia [311] 14,110
Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia 5,010
Rumania 8,070
Austria 1,230
---------
2,427,394
Two sets of causes are responsible for the recent outbreaks of Armenian
sentiment in regions where this people are an insignificant minority,
separated from the natural and historical seats of their race. There
is in the first place the political and social inequality between the
Christians and the Mohammedans. Just as beside some stagnant pool among
the recesses of the rocks the returning tide awakens the folded life
of plant and shell, so our Western civilisation, recoiling upon Asia,
arouses the hopes which have slept for centuries in the breasts of
the Christians of the East. It is not that they are denied religious
freedom, as some of their partisans are bold enough to assert. The
tolerance of the reigning Sultan is active throughout his empire. The
traveller marvels at the liberty, almost amounting to license, which
is allowed to the votaries of the several creeds. Take the capital:
there are the Greeks with their noisy carnivals, so repugnant to
Mussulman austerity. Or the Moslem wayfarer is hustled from the street
by some funeral procession with its bevy of priests, conducting an
open coffin where the lineaments of the deceased are exposed to a
curious and respectful crowd. What invisible force controls all this
fermenting human material?... Nor will the favourable impression
be diminished by the wider experience of a provincial tour. In the
country the sound of Christian bells falls upon the landscape from
some cloister nestling in the lap of the hills. In the towns the
observance of Sunday effects a change in urban life which is almost
as marked as in a Christian state. Trades are suspended, shops are
closed, chimes ring from the churches.
What is denied to the Christians is political equality. They are
tolerated and they are taxed; but they remain the unbelievers, the
victims of a prejudice stronger than any law. In the case of the
Armenians they are rigorously prohibited from possessing firearms,
and they do not serve in the army. They are excluded from the highest
administrative posts. Their share in the provincial government is
almost as nothing. The edicts which have pronounced in favour of
equality have been inoperative and are in abeyance. At the same time
the voice of the West is heard louder and nearer; and the rebellious
spirits appeal to the example of Eastern Europe, freed for ever from
a Mussulman yoke.
But why did the movement fasten upon these scattered
communities--hostages, as it would seem, to the Mussulman power? I
think the reason is not very far to seek. Because of the severity
with which the outbreaks in Armenia were quelled during 1890 and the
preceding years. It was evident to the revolutionary party that the
spirit of their countrymen had become cowed in the land where they
are native. However real their wrongs--and I think I have testified
to their reality--they had learnt by recent experience to endure
them in silence without attempting to obtain redress. The movement,
suppressed in its place of origin, broke out on new ground.
Sasun, a mountainous region belonging to the southern peripheral
zone on the outer margin of the Armenian tableland, was the scene
of the first events in the latest recrudescence of the old malady,
smothered but not cured. The district extends from the southern slopes
of the mountains overlooking the plain and town of Mush, situated upon
their northern verge, to the neighbourhood of the town of Hazo. It
formed a canton of the old Armenian province of Aghdznik, which is
sometimes joined by Armenian writers with that of Korduk, the modern
Kurdistan. The name of the canton, Sasun, is said to be derived from
Sanasar, one of the two sons of the Assyrian monarch Sennacherib, who,
after slaying their father, fled into Armenia. [312] His descendants
appear to have been known as the Sanasuns or Sasuns [313]; they were
princes of Aghdznik, and occupied the very highest rank at the court
of the Armenian Arsakid king. [314] Their territories were no doubt
occupied by an Armenian population; and the memories of that distant
period still linger among the peasantry who are scattered over the wild
but in places fertile land. [315] But the vicinity of the region to
the towns of the lowlands must have rendered wellnigh impossible the
maintenance by its inhabitants of their Christian religion during the
period of Mussulman expansion. We know from history that its Armenian
ruler at the close of the ninth century had adopted a Mussulman name
and outwardly professed the Mohammedan religion. [316] At the present
day some handfuls of Armenian Christians preserve with obstinacy
the habits of their race and the practice of their religion among
remote fastnesses. The bulk of the population have adopted Islam,
are classed as Kurds, and can with difficulty be distinguished from
the Kurdish people.
Strange indeed are the anomalies which are presented in these
little-known districts of Turkish Kurdistan. On the southern fringe
of Sasun live a tribe called the Baliki or Beleke, speaking a mixed
language of Arabic, Kurdish and Armenian. Their religion cannot be
classed either as Christian or Mohammedan, nor even as that professed
by the Kizilbashes. When they make oath it is in the name of a church
or monastery. But they possess neither churches nor mosques. Marriage
is a rite which they ignore. Their women go about in perfect freedom
and unveiled, wearing white trousers like the Yezidis or so-called
devil-worshippers. Wives are bought or exchanged--a woman of forty
for one of twenty, the owner of the latter being compensated by a
few silver pieces. A girl may be purchased from them by a stranger,
provided always that you take her away. These Baliki are probably a
particular remnant of the old inhabitants, with whom the Armenians,
dispersed among them as traders, would scarcely recognise any racial
link.
Serfdom is an institution which is not unknown in the country,
though its existence is softened over by the Turkish authorities,
who shrink from dispensing a purely nominal sovereignty. The serfs,
who are Armenians, are known as zer kurri, signifying bought with
gold. In fact they are bought and sold in much the same manner as
sheep and cattle by the Kurdish beys and aghas. The only difference
is that they cannot be disposed of individually; they are transferred
with the lands which they cultivate. The chief appropriates as much as
he wishes from their yearly earnings, capital or goods; and in return
he provides them with protection against other Kurdish tribes. Many
stories are told to illustrate the nature of the relation. A serf
was shot by the servant of a Kurdish agha who possessed lands in
the neighbourhood. The owner of the serf did not trouble to avenge
his death on the person of the murderer, still less upon that of the
agha, his neighbour. He rode over to the agha's lands, and put bullets
through two of his serfs, the first that he happened to meet.... The
serf of a chieftain residing a few hours' distance from the town of
Hazo had settled in Hazo, where he had become treasurer to the Turkish
Government. One night his house was attacked by another Kurdish chief,
his money carried off and he and his cousin murdered. In this case the
owner was not so easily propitiated. He gathered his people together,
bearded his fellow-brigand in his lair, killed him, burnt down his
house, and put to death every living thing. Both these incidents
occurred during the lifetime of people who are still living; the one
is related by no less an authority than a British Consul, and the
other by an individual in a responsible position, whose sympathies
are on the side of the Turkish Government.
On the tableland of Armenia such relations between the Kurds and
the Armenians are altogether unknown. Their existence in one form or
another among the inaccessible retreats of Kurdistan provided material
for the revolutionary propaganda of the agitator, Damadean, whose early
doings in the Sasun region I have chronicled in my chapter on Bitlis,
and who presents a striking and almost legendary figure even in the
sober narrative of the Blue-books. [317] This man and his successor
Boyajean knew full well that there in Sasun they were breaking virgin
ground. They were further encouraged by the fact that the Armenian
peasantry of that region were in possession of arms and knew how to
use them. The result of their efforts and of the ill-advised action of
the local authorities was the Sasun massacre of 1894. It was followed
by the massacres of 1895, which devastated the country districts and
most of the great towns of the Armenian tableland, but of which the
principal and new feature was the occurrence of such tragedies among
the Armenian communities spread over the face of the Ottoman Empire.
I have not been able to learn that the condition of these scattered
communities presents any special cause for disaffection; and I do not
believe that the revolutionary movement, in which they all participated
in some degree, was either spontaneous in its nature or indigenous
in its growth. Few if any of them are engaged in a struggle for life
and death with hordes of Kurds, let loose on territory which is not
Kurdish and which is far from being suited to that race of lawless
shepherds. Most of them are fairly prosperous citizens in the towns;
and whatever grievances they may possess are shared in a greater or a
lesser degree by all the Christian subjects of the Sultan. The Armenian
cause, as a cause with a justifiable and reasonable aim, is not founded
upon any such grievances. For all practical and constructive purposes
it is simply a question of the proper government of the provinces of
Armenia which are inhabited by Mussulmans as well as by Armenians,
but which are raided and drained of their resources by tribal Kurds.
One other aspect of this part of the subject remains to be
considered. The massacres of 1895 were certainly not the outcome of a
spontaneous rising of the Mussulmans against the Christians. All or
nearly all were organised from without. I well remember how, while
taking coffee with an official high in the Turkish service in the
neighbourhood of a great provincial centre, my host, pointing to the
road which we overlooked from the open windows, said: "I can never
look upon that road without remembering the occasion when I sat in
this very room and saw strange people passing along it--immigrants,
so they seemed, from the mountains in the north. Our massacre followed
at no long interval." The Mussulmans of the Armenian provinces are
perfectly well aware that their own turn will closely follow upon the
disappearance of the Armenians. They will not, indeed, be butchered
by imported bands of ruffians; but they will be swallowed by the
Kurds. Some of their villages have already been raided by this people,
who are less to blame for such natural exercise of their appetites
than those who have transplanted or enticed them from their native
seats.... I must now pass without any preamble to the larger bearings
of the Armenian Question: does it offer any scope for a practical and
special solution which need not embrace the reform and rejuvenescence
of the Ottoman Empire as a whole? And what are the interests of the
progressive states of Europe, and of Great Britain in particular,
in the settlement and disposal of the Question?
I. I must repeat with tedious persistency that what is most required is
a knowledge and appreciation of the geographical conditions. These I
have endeavoured in a lengthy analysis to elucidate. Collective Notes
and schemes of reform are of very little value, if it be attempted to
apply their provisions indifferently to regions presenting features so
distinct and dissimilar as the tableland of Armenia and the mountains
of Kurdistan. No solution of the Armenian Question in Turkey would
be calculated to contain the elements of permanence which should
not be concerned in the first instance with delimitation, and with
redistribution of the existing Governmental areas.
The principles upon which such redistribution should proceed are
the common-sense principles of grouping together districts which
naturally belong together, and of rendering the Governments as far as
possible homogeneous. I think it would be found that obedience to these
principles would at the same time assist a practical solution of the
Kurdish Question. They would point to the formation of three great
Governments. One would be constituted by the mountainous districts
between the tableland of Armenia and the Black Sea, and might be
called the Black Sea Government. It would coincide to some extent
with the existing area of the vilayet of Trebizond; but it might seem
advisable to include within it regions at present belonging to the
vilayet of Erzerum, such as Tortum and the districts on the side of
Olti. The second Government would embrace the tableland itself, and
its demarcation should be conducted as far as possible in consonance
with the natural frontiers, such as they have been determined in
the present work. The third Government would be the Government of
Kurdistan. It would comprehend a considerable area, from Kirkuk and
Sulimanieh on the south-east to Diarbekr and the confines of Kharput
on the north-west. Mosul, Jezireh and Diarbekr would be the bases of
the administration, these cities on the lowlands being situated in
convenient positions to serve as centres from which to control the
necessary winter migrations of the Kurdish tribes from their mountains
to the agricultural regions bordering on the left or eastern bank
of the Tigris. Strong military posts might be established within the
mountainous area in the principal towns of Kurdistan.
Of these three Governments that of the tableland should be administered
from a suitable centre, which centre would be neither Erzerum nor
Van. Akhlat, Melazkert or Khinis would seem to be naturally designated
to fulfil the requirements of the case. None of these towns are
very far removed from the frontier line of the Kurdish mountains,
on which side alone would the new Government be exposed to incursions
of the lawless Kurdish element. All of them are favourably placed for
intercommunication with the principal Armenian districts. Passage of
the tribes from Kurdistan proper into the Governmental area should be
rigorously interdicted. It could be prevented by no more formidable
measures than the enrolment of a corps of gendarmerie. Such a corps
would also suffice to police the districts on the tableland at present
inhabited by tribal Kurds.
Reforms or changes of this nature are well within the capacity of the
Government at Constantinople. They would not, I think, prejudice
their general military administration; it might even be found
that they would be in harmony with purely military interests. But
the Turks should never forget that they are much more likely to
succumb as an empire owing to defects in the civil rather than in
the military arm. Europe, with all her want of squeamishness, cannot
permanently tolerate civil misgovernment on so great a scale. One
after another the friends or allies of the Ottoman Empire in Europe
will be compelled to stand aside. Sooner or later the young German
Empire will be forced by circumstances to adopt the same attitude
as her elder sister of Great Britain. Meanwhile there is growing
up with alarming rapidity a situation in the provinces immediately
adjoining Russian territory which already invites and may soon
require Russian intervention. Russian statesmen are only awaiting
the favourable moment in the world movements of the time. Russian
troops are already placed within striking distance of the fortress
of Erzerum, immediately commanding the roads to the interior of
Asia Minor and to the capital. It does not require a long memory to
recall the pretexts--nay, the causes--upon which Russia justified her
previous aggressions upon Turkish territory. Who shall assert that
the present situation on the tableland of Armenia is less aggravated
than that which prevailed in the European provinces when the Russian
armies crossed the Pruth in 1877?
Administrative changes of the nature I have indicated are, of course,
only feasible as a whole through spontaneous action on the part of the
Government at Constantinople. Their professed friends but real enemies
may try to play upon their suspicions; and will, no doubt, urge that
they are being offered in a thinly veiled form the substance of an
independent Armenia. But such a consummation, were it even possible in
a remote future, need not alarm the well-known solicitude of Oriental
rulers for the interests of posterity. If the millions of Mussulmans
attached by religion and common interests to the rule of the Sultans
were ever insufficient to keep within bounds Armenian ambitions, the
presence of such a strong nation upon the high road of the Russian
advance would surely be a blessing in disguise. It can scarcely be
doubted that in that case the weight of Armenian sympathies would be
on the side of the weak Ottoman Empire. But this talk about a revival
of the Armenian kingdom is windy and frivolous in the extreme. The
Armenians have neither leaders nor a class of leaders; and how long
would it take to develop such a class? In the ninth century, when
they broke loose from the expiring body of the caliphate, they had
their princes and nobles of greater and lesser degree. These families
have disappeared without leaving a trace. And is it certain or even
probable that, if the old ideal could be again realised, the Armenians
in the twentieth century would be prepared to revive a polity which
would narrow their activities from the whole wide area of an empire
to the confined stage of a petty state?
The example of Bulgaria, sometimes quoted with a shiver of fear in
this connection, is not an example in point. There the Christians
composed the bulk of the population; and they had no links, such
as are present in the case of the Armenians, with the rest of the
Ottoman Empire. But, even if the apprehensions of the most nervous
could be justified by solid arguments, what is the alternative which
they are able to suggest? If they settle the Kurdish Question they
are in so far assisting the Armenians; while, if they allow it to
settle itself, they are face to face with the ruin of these provinces,
which Russia, in the interests of the security of her own frontier,
will be constrained and will be invited by Europe to occupy.
But the regulation of Turkish Armenia is not a matter which alone
concerns the rulers on the Bosphorus. Europe has always recognised
her intimate interest in the affairs of Turkey, and she is specially
pledged to secure good government for the Armenians. But her
intervention, should it be necessary, would, I hope, be based on the
broadest grounds, not in favour of the Armenians alone, but also of the
Mussulmans. The constitution of a single new province on the tableland
would not be tantamount to controlling the administration of Asiatic
Turkey; it is a measure which can be reasonably demanded and readily
executed. Moreover, if Europe were again to take up the question, she
would be well advised not to recognise any limitations in respect of
the qualifications of the new Governor-General. He would, of course,
not be an Armenian, and he might very well be a Mussulman and a subject
of the Sultan. Or a European might be appointed to the post. In a
financial and administrative sense the province would be dissevered
from the Central Government; and, in the present state of the country,
a loan to the provincial treasury would be necessary to supply the
funds for the organisation of the gendarmerie. The new Governor would
rule over a somewhat heterogeneous Mussulman majority and a compact
Armenian minority, very much their inferior in numbers. But his efforts
would be assisted by the homogeneous nature of the provincial area;
and his jurisdiction would embrace, not a tract of difficult mountain
country, but some of the finest agricultural districts in the world.
The needs of the Armenians living in the capital and in the towns
of Asiatic Turkey could be met by the revival of the so-called
constitution granted to their nation by Sultan Abd-al-Aziz in
1863. I have thought it worth while to include a translation of this
lengthy document, and it will be found in my first appendix. It has
the nature of a regulating statute, like the Polojenye in Russia,
rather than of what we should understand by a constitution. But,
unlike the Polojenye, it is mainly addressed to the development
among the Armenians of systematic management of the affairs of their
communities. Those communities have always enjoyed the privilege of
administering their own institutions, such as monasteries, churches,
hospitals and schools. The statute of 1863 provides a complete and
democratic machinery for the better organisation and control of
such institutions. It wisely avoids, except in the last resort, any
interference by Government in these purely internal affairs. I cannot
conceive any better training for the Armenian people than that which
they would receive by the application of their great intelligence to
such practical and concrete ideals. The pitfall which they should
avoid, were the statute ever revived, is the attempt to convert it
into a political weapon.
II. Europe as a whole is concerned with the future of these Asiatic
provinces on the score of her great and growing trade. The particular
Powers are also interested on political grounds--to preserve the
balance of power. The territory of Turkish Armenia is of first-rate
importance whether from the one or the other point of view. As regards
trade, it is not only the trade with Armenia that is at stake, but
that with the whole of Northern Persia. The great highway of commerce
between the ports on the Black Sea and the interior of Persia passes
along the avenue of the Armenian plains. The possession of Erzerum
by a protectionist Power would effectually stifle this important
trade-route, and would cut off Persia from the Black Sea.
Not less far-reaching would be the results in a political sense of
such an occupation. The strategical value of the country is difficult
to overrate. Turkish Armenia is the sign-post of the Nearer Asia,
commanding the roads west, south and east. These issue upon the one
side at the Mediterranean seaboards, and, on the other, at the Persian
Gulf. The contemporary littleness of the land has served in no small
measure to blind our eyes to these facts.
Europe may elect to keep herself blind to such considerations, whether
of a commercial or political nature. The question then arises, what
are the interests of Great Britain, and upon what lines should her
policy be shaped?
In the discussion of all such questions it is a principle of no small
value to ascertain not the opinions of statesmen and diplomatists, but
those of the proverbial man in the street. Of the former, few, indeed,
are at the present day possessed even of an elementary knowledge of
such-like Asiatic problems. Layard and Rawlinson have both been long
removed from the stage of politics; and these eminent men and stately
figures with their Western culture and Eastern sympathies have both
already passed from our midst. We can none of us be specialists on
each and every question; and it is with a feeling of deep respect that
those among us who have, perhaps, acquired some small knowledge of
a particular problem, should endeavour to select among their friends
those possessed of the divine average, and use them as foolometers--the
gauge of common sentiment.
Several different kinds of opinion will be registered. "It is
very sad, those poor Armenians; but we are not knight-errants, and
there are hard blows going about."... "Why can't we leave the Turks
alone--they are in possession. Turkey belongs to the Turks and China
to the Chinese."... "So we are to hark back to the miserable policy of
bolstering up the Turks! Let them go bag and baggage to the quickest
possible perdition; and, if Russia will do the work and remove the
nuisance, so much the better for us and the whole world."... "We
can't expect to have a finger in everybody's pie. We have already
more than we can manage on our hands." The one conclusion which you
may draw from these conflicting utterances is that the balance of
common sentiment is, perhaps, in favour of standing aside.
In England the actions of Governments are based on common
sentiment. There is no Government in the sense of an enlightened
administration, with a reasoned foreign policy and what the French
would call a politique de longue vue et de longue haleine. Even our
great Indian Empire is ruled on principles which, so far as they relate
to external affairs, are little better than the proverbial methods
of the ostrich. What Indian Foreign Secretary is even conversant with
the affairs of Persia, his next-door neighbour, as one might say? The
Indian Government are at the present day sensible of great constriction
in their finances, and what are the methods which they pursue? In
every direction they draw in their horns, saving a few pounds here
and a few there, and pointing with pride to the forcible retirement
of a pair or two of distinguished teachers in a great educational
establishment. What vigilance and strict economy! But business, at
least in the City, is not as a rule conducted by the clerks. There
our suspicions are excited by such pettifogging manoeuvres, and we
keep our eyes open in expectation of the inevitable failure, not less
certain than in the case of inflation and extravagance.
At home widespread prosperity, a long start in the industrial race
and the complexity of our world-wide transactions have grown like
weeds and flowers around the margin of a salubrious well, screening
the view and almost the sound of the life-giving waters. We forget
the commercial basis of all our wealth and power; and few among
us are sensible of a thrill if some vast province of the Chinese
Empire be walled round against our trade. Yet foreign commerce is the
most delicate of national activities, slow, shy, easily disturbed
and swiftly killed. The essential peacefulness of its methods, and
the fact that few of the homes it helps to support are even aware
of the destination of the goods they contribute to produce--such
characteristics are little calculated to compete with the clamour
of other interests, such as gold-mines, colonies, pan-Germandom or
pan-Saxondom, or any other of the popular cries of the day.
The spirit of adventure lying at the foundation of the British
character has been enlisted into African enterprise. One cannot
help admiring the undoubted ability with which the organisers of
the movement towards South Africa have at once appealed to the
imagination of the British people, and won over to their side by
careful preparation both the elements in the body politic capable of
exercising quiet pressure and the recognised mouthpieces of public
opinion. The prettiest women, the most ancient titles have all their
share in the movement; and a Press, which cannot be bought, has been
successfully persuaded of the excellence of the cause which in full
chorus they uphold and applaud. On the Continent similar methods have
been pursued by our Boer adversaries; and the result has been a war
in print and a war in feeling with our neighbours in Europe of far
greater moment than the African battles we have won or lost. For such
outbursts, produced by a clever imitation of South African methods,
or, perhaps, by spontaneous appreciation on the part of the Boers of
the new-born forces of advertisement on a huge scale, the organisers
in England can scarcely be held responsible. They have done their work
well, however we may judge its effect on character; and we cannot blame
them if, absorbed in their own particular problem, they have at the
same time thrown cold water on all questions concerning Asia. The
prudence of our people, once committed to an important struggle,
has also been a factor on their side.
But Africa, this Syracuse of modern Europe, will not always, let us
hope, be at our doors. The moment our hands are free I trust they
may be directed to the disentangling of some Asiatic knots. Now the
interests of Great Britain, under which we may include those of British
India, are, I think there can be no doubt, most intimately bound
up with the Asiatic provinces of the Ottoman Empire. Starting from
the base of the Persian Gulf we have built up by laborious methods,
extending over a period of getting on for a century, a commercial
system which reaches far into the interior of Mesopotamia and embraces
the whole of Southern Persia. At the same time we have erected that
northern trade-route of which I have spoken, giving access to our goods
from the coast of the Black Sea to the markets of Northern Persia.
What a long and patient struggle in face of almost overwhelming
difficulties has been successfully conducted and inch by inch pursued
by these various enterprises! With them are associated the names
of Brant in the north and of Chesney and Lynch in the south. The
correspondence of Consul Brant with his distinguished chief, Stratford
Canning, will, I trust, be some day given to the world. [318] It
displays on its face a union of ideas with the much rarer capacity
of translating them into practice by unwearying attention to the
minutest details, which, whether the quality may have been inspired
by the ambassador or his able subordinate, reflects lustre upon both
names. It serves to remind us that the Russian policy of building walls
round their possessions is not a policy of recent date. We may regard
with legitimate pride the readiness of our ancestors to take advantage
of the throwing open of the Black Sea and of the facilities offered
by the introduction of steam power; the old land-routes through Asia
Minor were rapidly superseded, and a new commercial avenue between
Trebizond and the interior of Persia was gradually opened up by a
series of patient efforts which would have done credit to the Genoese.
In the south the expeditions of Chesney (1835-37) [319] and of Lynch
(1837 and following years) were directed to the survey of the rivers
Euphrates and Tigris and of the countries through which they flow. The
former took his vessels in pieces from the coast of Syria to the
Euphrates, while those of the latter--the Nitocris, Assyria and
Nimrod--were conveyed by sea to the estuary of the Shat-el-Arab. The
labours of these pioneers were thrown away by the British Government,
and the project of an overland route from the Mediterranean to India
somewhat suffered from the undertaking of the Suez Canal (1860
and following years). It is certain to be revived. On the purely
commercial side something was saved by individuals; and, starting from
the knowledge acquired by the two eminent explorers, a trade with an
annual value at the present day of about a million sterling has little
by little been built up. It is carried by river steamers, which also
convey the British mails, from the Persian Gulf to Baghdad. These
steamers have to contend with a variety of disabilities imposed by
the Turkish Government. Their voyages are confined to the Tigris;
the Euphrates is kept closed, and they are not suffered to proceed a
mile above Baghdad. But the magnificent country through which they
pass is growing in wealth through the facilities they provide; and
the force of circumstances will sooner or later open wide the doors.
Of even earlier date are our trade-routes from the Gulf seaboard to the
tableland of Persia. Indeed it may be said without exaggeration that
from Kirmanshah on the north to Beluchistan upon the south the zone
of mountains which support that tableland are threaded by a number
of arteries, diffusing over the vast body of the Iranian highlands
the life-blood of reciprocal commerce. Such facts have not escaped
the notice and solicitude of competent observers; but it seems to
me that their logical bearing upon the problems of the Nearer Asia
has not been examined with sufficient thoroughness. There can be
little doubt that the acquisition by Russia of a port on the Persian
Gulf would not be tolerated by any British Government. [320] Apart
from all considerations of a commercial nature, it would imply the
necessity of maintaining a powerful fleet in the Gulf, with additional
strain on the finances of India. But what if the northern Power were
to occupy Turkish Armenia? Would it merely entail the loss of our
northern trade-route? I should like to examine in a temperate spirit
the possibilities of such a hypothesis, not fearing to look them in
the face, but endeavouring to divest my remarks of any alarmist or
sensational character.
My reader who may have mastered the facts of the geography will call
to mind the intimate connection of the system of tablelands with one
another from the borders of India to the Mediterranean. The capital of
Persia and her greatest cities are situated upon the tableland; and I
cannot conceive that the empire of the Shahs could long maintain its
independence after Russia had become possessed of Turkish Armenia. Not
less certain would be the fate of Asia Minor, west of the Euphrates;
and, indeed, in the contingency which we are discussing, the German
Empire might be well advised to bargain away the important railways
which she has recently constructed in that country in return for
substantial advantages elsewhere. As regards England, I cannot admit,
after careful consideration, that the loss to her trade of Turkish
Armenia and the presence of Russia on the tableland of Persia would
necessarily endanger India. Such a consummation--regrettable as it
must be, and avoidable as I believe it is--would deal a hard blow at
her trade in the south. But one has to face that common sentiment of
which I have spoken, and the corresponding lukewarmness of our rulers
in the domain of Asiatic affairs.
It would be a very different thing if we were to suffer any
encroachment on the part of Russia upon the zone of mountains
supporting on the south the tablelands of Armenia and Persia, and
drawn like a long succession of chevaux de frise around the lowlands of
Mesopotamia. Her occupation of any part of that zone of mountains would
necessarily entail sooner or later the occupation of the whole. The
lowlands themselves, the field of our trade, and appointed by Nature as
a granary for India with her teeming millions and uncertain harvests,
would be at her mercy without striking a blow. Distance is a factor
of little importance on the lowlands; they are flat as the sea, and
traversed from one end to the other by two magnificent navigable
rivers. A Power stationed at Diarbekr is already stationed on the
Persian Gulf, with a country of immense potential wealth at her
back. For these reasons it would be well that we should recognise
as soon as possible that the bedrock of British policy in the Nearer
Asia should be the preservation of the integrity of the lowlands with
their frame of mountains from Syria to the borders of India.
The conclusion at which I arrive is that the possession by Russia
of Turkish Armenia would be attended by consequences which have
scarcely been appreciated at all by the majority of my countrymen. I
would fain hope that, if this event be indeed inevitable, it may not
take us by surprise. Our own path is clearly indicated by the finger
of Nature; and the Russian Empire, established in Armenia, would be
quite as accessible to attack from the lowlands as our Indian Empire
to hostile approach on the side of Asiatic Russia. But in order to
safeguard our interests and provide for future contingencies we must
accustom ourselves to think a little ahead. It will not be sufficient
to beat time, and endeavour to entice Germany into our own particular
domain. As a natural commercial ally in her own field of Asia Minor,
that Power may render assistance to the common cause. As a competitor
in our sphere she would be very much more likely to make her own
terms with the northern Empire. Finally--for after all it is as much
a question of men as of measures--I should like to contribute my vote
as a traveller--whatever it may be worth--in favour of a proposal
recently made by a well-informed writer. And the only amendment
which one might desire to the proposition he has well expressed is
that it should be accompanied by a recognition of what our Foreign
Office has already accomplished with the imperfect system which it
at present dispenses:--"The machinery of the Foreign Office is not
adjusted to perform the new and strange duties which belong to Oriental
diplomacy. The ministers and secretaries who are competent officials
in Vienna or Rome are lost among the tortuous political pathways of
Bangkok, Teheran and Pekin. Never shall we hold our own in Asia until
an Asiatic Department is formed, under the charge of an experienced
minister of Cabinet rank, with an independent diplomatic staff, trained
in the methods, and speaking fluently the languages of the East." [321]
APPENDIX I
NATIONAL CONSTITUTION OF THE ARMENIANS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE
PRELIMINARIES
The Sublime Porte,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
No. 191.
To the Prudent Representative of the Patriarch
(Locum tenens)
Prudent and dear Sir--The Imperial Firman concerning reforms requires
that each community shall take into consideration within a given
time the privileges and prerogatives which it enjoys, and, after due
counsel, shall decide upon the reforms which are in accordance with
the circumstances, the civilisation and the learning of the present
time. It shall present a list of such reforms to the Sublime Porte in
order that the authority and rights granted to the spiritual heads
of each community may be placed in harmony with the position and
new conditions secured to each community. In accordance with these
behests, the outlines of a Constitution for the Armenian nation
have been prepared by a Committee composed of certain honourable
persons. But at the same time it has been considered appropriate
that the ecclesiastical members of the General Assembly and the
delegates of the different Quarters should select by a majority of
votes a Committee of seven, to whose consideration the above-mentioned
project should be submitted. We therefore beg you to despatch within
a few days the summons to hold the election of that Committee, and
to direct that the Committee shall meet at the Sublime Porte the
Committee and functionary appointed specially for this purpose. We
beg you also to send us the names of the seven persons thus elected.
(Signature)
Ali.
1862, Feb. 14 (Old style).
DOCUMENT PRESENTED TO THE SUBLIME PORTE BY THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE
AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE GOVERNMENT
To the Sublime Porte,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Imperial Government has from ancient times granted to the different
nations under its righteous protection privileges and prerogatives
for their religious liberty and the special administration of their
internal affairs.
These prerogatives are in their principles uniform for all nations,
but they are at the same time adapted to the particular religious
regulations and customs of each nationality. And each nationality has
used and enjoyed them according to its peculiar manners and customs.
The Armenian nation, like other nations, has had to this day
a Patriarch, who has been acknowledged by the Government as the
President of the Patriarchal Administration, the representative
of the nation, and the medium of the execution of Imperial Orders,
and who from ancient times has been elected from the ecclesiastical
body by a General Assembly, composed of individuals representing the
different classes of the nation.
The Patriarch in his office, which is to preside over the nation and
to watch over its interests, has never been exempt from the influence
and supervision of the nation, exerted over him through the General
Assembly. The proof of this is that the Patriarch has always invited
and convoked the General Assembly, and has applied to that Assembly
for a decision when a question has been raised by orders of the
Sublime Porte.
The Armenian nation about two years ago begged of the Imperial
Government to have two Assemblies established in the Patriarchate under
the presidency of the Patriarch, one religious, the other political,
that they might be participators in and auxiliaries of the office of
the Patriarch, and that any deviation on the part of the nation from
its ancient regulations and customs, both religious and political,
might be prevented.
When these assemblies were established it became necessary to organise
other Councils for the administration of the minor affairs of the
nation.
But as the authority and duties of each national officer were
not definitely defined, it was evident that these efforts to
improve the state of affairs in the nation would be the occasion
of continual misunderstanding in the different branches of the
National Administration, as well as between that administration and
the nation. This naturally would be the cause of many irregularities
in the execution of justice for all concerned, and of confusion and
disputes in the National Administration.
With the object of doing away with the causes of such confusion and
dissension, and with the nuisance of the undue claims of different
parties, the Imperial Government, with its paternal solicitude for
all its subjects, deems it necessary to organise a National Mixed
Committee in order to prepare a Constitution in accordance with the
peculiar religious and political customs and long-established manners.
Now that Mixed Committee considers it proper according to the outline
of the Constitution presented for confirmation to the Sublime Porte,
I. That the office of the Patriarch as the medium between the nation
and the Sublime Porte should remain as it was in the old system,
II. That the organisation of the General Assembly should be
reformed. The national delegates, instead of being elected by the
Esnafs (Artisans)--since the condition of the Esnafs is no longer
what it used to be--should be elected by the Committees of churches,
that is, by different quarters, in a way that perhaps will be more
regular and lawful than the one adopted by the Greeks.
And as Armenians living in the interior of the country rightly complain
that they are altogether deprived of participation in the deliberations
and decisions of the Patriarchate, a number of the delegates should be
elected by the provinces to be added to the number of the delegates of
the quarters or sections of Constantinople. The ecclesiastical members,
twenty of them, should be elected by the clergy in Constantinople, so
that the total number of the members of the General Assembly be 140;
their term of office should last ten years, and once in every two
years the tenth part should be changed, and new elections take place.
The General Assembly should nominate both the Patriarch and the members
of the two Assemblies working under his presidency and should have
the supervision of their acts,
III. The administration of religious affairs should belong to the
Religious Assembly, the administration of Political affairs to the
Political Assembly, and that of mixed affairs to the Mixed Assembly,
which shall consist of the other two Assemblies together,
IV. The Religious and Political Assemblies should manage through
the Sectional and other Councils all national affairs of the church
communities (that is to say, the people of different sections or
quarters) under their jurisdiction, and the affairs of the churches,
schools, hospitals, monasteries, and other similar national
institutions,
V. The centre of the administration should be the National
Patriarchate. The Patriarch, as the Official Head of the Patriarchate,
should preside both over the General Assembly and over the two National
Assemblies, and he should under the inspection of the General Assembly
manage all the affairs concerning the nation directly or indirectly,
VI. The administration of provincial communities should be connected
with the Central Administration. The Metropolitans should preside
over local assemblies which should be organised in the same way as
those in Constantinople, and they should be the managers of those
local assemblies,
VII. The Provincial Assemblies should be responsible to the Central
Administration. Each one of the Councils of this Central Administration
should be responsible to the Assembly to which it belongs. The
National Assemblies should be responsible to the General Assemblies,
the Patriarch responsible on the one hand to the Imperial Government
and on the other to the nation (through the General Assembly),
VIII. And, inasmuch as the Imperial Government considers the Patriarch
as the natural medium of the execution of the orders given by it
to the nation, and at the same time considers him as the head of
the National Administration, and it is to him that it addresses its
question, if the Government should command the Patriarch to give his
opinion on the question asked, the Patriarch should act according to
the decision of the Assemblies under his presidency; but, if he be
ordered to communicate to the Government the opinion of the nation,
then he should convoke the General Assembly and communicate to the
Government the final decision of that Assembly,
IX. The National Administration has three kinds of obligations. First
towards the Imperial Government, that is to preserve the nation in
perfectly loyal subjection and to secure to the nation in general
and to individuals in particular the preservation of their rights
and privileges on the part of the Government. The second obligation
is to the nation, to treat it in true compassion and in a paternal
way. The third is to the see of Edgmiatsin, to act in accordance with
the religious regulations and laws of the Armenian Church.
These are the features in the Constitution which the Mixed Committee
considers desirable. These features are approved by the other Committee
which was organised according to the orders of your Excellency, in
order to present to the Sublime Porte on behalf of the nation their
observations on the Constitution.
Constantinople, 1862.
Signatures of the members of the Committee of the Sublime
Porte--Stephanos, Archbishop of Nicomedia, Representative of the
Patriarch Elect of Constantinople, three Armenian ecclesiastics,
and eight notables.
Signatures of the members of the National Committee, seven notables.
ORDINANCE OF THE SUBLIME PORTE
To the Prudent Representative of the
Patriarch Elect of Constantinople.
The Constitution drawn up by the Committee formed at the Sublime Porte
for the reforms of the condition and administration of the Armenian
Patriarchate, after having undergone certain modifications concerning
secular affairs only, was presented to His Imperial Majesty, and,
having been approved by His Imperial Majesty, the Imperial Decree,
making a law of the features contained in it, was issued to be handed
to your Beatitude.
In enclosing to you the above-mentioned Constitution, we commission
you to superintend the perfect execution of those features according
to the high will of the August Emperor.
1863, March 17.
INTRODUCTION
The privileges granted by the Ottoman Empire to its non-Mohammedan
subjects are in their principles equal for all, but the mode of their
execution varies according to the requirements of the particular
customs of each nationality.
The Armenian Patriarch is the head of his nation, and in particular
circumstances the medium of the execution of the orders of the
Government. There is, however, in the Patriarchate a Religious
Assembly for religious affairs and a Political Assembly for political
affairs. In case of necessity these two Assemblies unite and form
the Mixed Assembly. Both the Patriarch and the members of these
Assemblies are elected in a General Assembly composed of honourable
men of the nation.
As the office and duties of the above Assemblies and the mode of their
formation are not defined by sufficient rules, and for this reason
different inconveniences and special difficulties in the formation
of the General Assembly have been noticed,
As each community is bound according to the new Imperial Edict (Hatti
Humayun, 6/18 Feb. 1856) to examine within a given time its rights
and privileges, and after due deliberation to present to the Sublime
Porte the reforms required by the present state of things and the
progress of civilisation of our times,
As it is necessary to harmonise the authority and power granted to
the religious chief of each nationality with the new condition and
system secured to each community,
A Committee of some honourable persons of the nation was organised,
which Committee prepared for the nation the following Constitution.
ARMENIAN NATIONAL CONSTITUTION
Fundamental Principles
1. Each individual has obligations towards the nation. The nation,
in its turn, has obligations towards each individual. Again, each
individual and the nation have their respective rights over one
another.
Hence the nation and its constituents are bound together by mutual
duties, so that the duty of the one is the right of the other.
2. It is the duty of each member of the nation to share according
to his means in the expenses of the nation, willingly to accept any
services asked of him by the nation, and to submit to its decision.
These duties of the individual are the rights of the nation.
3. The duties of the nation are to care for the moral, intellectual,
and material wants of its members, to preserve intact the creed and
traditions of the Armenian Church, to diffuse equally the knowledge
necessary to all men among the children of both sexes and of all
classes, to watch over the prosperity of national institutions, to
increase the national income in any possible lawful way and wisely to
administer the national expenses, to improve the condition of those
who have devoted themselves for life to the service of the nation and
to secure their future, to provide for the needy, peaceably to adjust
the disputes that may arise among the members of the nation--in a word,
to labour with self-denial for the progress of the nation.
These obligations on the part of the nation are the rights of its
members.
4. The authority which is appointed to represent the nation and to
supervise and administer the regular performance of these mutual
obligations is called the National Administration. To this body is
committed, by especial permission of the Ottoman Government and by
virtue of the Constitution, the care of the internal affairs of the
Armenians of Turkey.
5. In order that the Administration may be national it should be
representative.
6. The foundation of this Representative Administration is the
principle of rights and duties, which is the principle of justice. Its
strength is to be found in the plurality of voices, which is the
principle of legality.
CHAPTER I
THE CENTRAL NATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
I. The Patriarch of Constantinople
His Election and Resignation
Article 1.--The Patriarch of Constantinople is the President of all
the National Assemblies and the representative of their executive
authority, and in particular circumstances he is the medium of the
execution of the orders of the Ottoman Government.
Hence the person to be elected as Patriarch should be a man worthy of
the confidence and respect of the whole nation, and he should possess
all the qualifications and dignity required by his position. He should
belong to that class of bishops who have always been considered as
candidates for the office. At the same time he should be worthy of
the perfect confidence of the Government, an Ottoman subject beginning
at least with his father and above thirty-five years of age.
Article 2.--In case of vacancy of the Patriarchal Throne, in
consequence of the death or resignation of the Patriarch, or from any
other cause, the Political and Religious Assemblies meet and elect
a Representative (locum tenens), and request the Sublime Porte to
confirm their choice.
The General Assembly elects the Patriarch, but the Religious and
Political Assemblies have the right by a list of candidates to express
their opinion in regard to the merits of the candidates.
The election of the Patriarch will take place in the following
manner:--
In the first place the Representative (locum tenens) prepares a list
of all the bishops within Ottoman territory, indicating opposite
each name their qualifications in the sense of the first article,
and presents it to the Religious Assembly.
The Religious Assembly convokes a general meeting of ecclesiastics and
prepares a list of candidates by secret ballot--that is, each member
present writes on a slip of paper the names of all the bishops that he
does not consider unfit from a religious point of view. A list of these
names is prepared in the order of the number of votes received by each.
The Representative presents this list to the Political Assembly. This
Assembly, after an investigation into the political merits of the
persons indicated, elects by a majority of votes five candidates and
presents this list to the General Assembly.
At the same time the first list prepared by the General Religious
Assembly should be hung in the hall of the General Assembly. The
General Assembly, after learning from these two lists the opinions
of the competent Assemblies concerning the religious and political
qualifications of the candidates, elects the Patriarch by secret
ballot and by a majority of the votes.
The General Assembly may give its votes to a person outside the list
presented by the Political Assembly, but the name of that person must
have been indicated in the list prepared by the General Assembly of the
ecclesiastics. No one can be elected whose name is not on that list.
If no majority of votes be obtained on the first ballot, the names of
those two who have received the largest number of votes are announced
by the Representative to the General Assembly, and the second ballot
should be on those two names. For this second ballot those of the
national deputies who cannot be present may forward their votes
in a sealed and signed letter addressed to the Assembly, or to the
Representative, or to the Chairman of the General Assembly.
The counting of votes is done by the officers of the General Assembly
in the presence of four ecclesiastical and four lay members of the
Assembly who act as inspectors.
In case after a second ballot the two candidates receive the same
number of votes, then one of them is elected by lot.
Article 3.--After the election a report is prepared, signed by
all those present, and it is presented to the Sublime Porte by
the Representative, and the election of the Patriarch is confirmed
according to the ancient custom by an Imperial edict.
Article 4.--The General Assembly sends a written invitation to the
person elected as Patriarch if he be present in the capital, or a
special delegate if he be out of Constantinople. On receiving this
invitation the newly-elected Patriarch comes to the Patriarchate,
and in the Cathedral, in the presence of the General Assembly,
takes a solemn oath in the following words: "Before God and in the
presence of this National Assembly I publicly vow to remain faithful
to the Government and to my nation, and faithfully to see to the
maintenance of the National Constitution." Herewith the office of the
Representative comes to an end. Upon the invitation of the Sublime
Porte the new Patriarch is admitted to the presence of His Majesty the
Sultan, his office is formally confirmed, and he visits the Sublime
Porte to announce it.
Article 5.--Should the Patriarch act contrary to the rules of the
Constitution he is liable to impeachment.
Article 6.--Only the General Assembly and the Political and Religious
Assemblies have the right to bring a charge against the Patriarch.
The accusing or protesting Assembly, with the permission of the
Sublime Porte, asks the Patriarch to convoke the General Assembly.
Should the Patriarch refuse to do so, this fact again is reported
to the Sublime Porte, which then issues a permit for the General
Assembly to hold a sitting under the Presidency of the oldest bishop
in Constantinople.
The General Assembly chooses five of its ecclesiastical and five lay
members to constitute a Committee of ten, among whom, however, there
shall be none of those who have accused or protested. This Committee,
after investigating the charges, gives a report to the General Assembly
which decides the question by a secret vote. The documents containing
this decision should be signed by all who have voted in favour of this
decision. If the resignation of the Patriarch be thus decided upon,
the two Chairmen of the two Assemblies, accompanied by the presiding
bishop, wait upon the Patriarch and present to him this document. The
Patriarch on learning the will of the nation is bound to resign. If,
however, he does not agree to resign, the matter is reported to the
Sublime Porte, which deposes the Patriarch.
Article 7.--The ex-Patriarch after his abdication becomes like one
of the diocesan bishops, and the necessary steps will be taken for
him by the Mixed Assembly.
Office and Obligations
Article 8.--The duties of the Patriarch are to act according to the
principles of the Constitution and to watch diligently over the exact
execution of all its points.
The Patriarch refers all business that comes before him to the
Assembly to which it belongs for investigation and decision. The
takrirs and other official papers of the Patriarch cannot be valid
and admissible if they be not also sealed and signed by the Assembly
that has given the decision. If there be any urgent business for the
consideration of which it might be impossible to await the day of the
meeting of the Assembly, or even to convoke an extraordinary meeting,
the Patriarch may do what is necessary, taking the responsibility
upon himself. But he is bound to make a due record of what he may
have done, and to present it for confirmation in its next meeting to
the Assembly under the jurisdiction of which the case may come.
Article 9.--The Patriarch before signing any papers containing the
decisions of the General Assembly taken in his absence may make
his observations concerning them and submit the case to a second
consideration, but after this revision he is bound to sign those papers
if he does not find there anything contrary to the requirements of
the Constitution.
Article 10.--The Patriarch may propose to the competent Assembly or
Council the dismissal of any ecclesiastic, teacher, agent of a church,
monastery, school, or hospital who has not acted in accordance with
the principles of the Constitution.
Article 11.--The Patriarch himself has no right to dissolve and change
the Religious and Political Assemblies and the Councils belonging
to them, but, if he notice in any of them conduct contrary to the
Constitution, first he demands an explanation of the Chairman of the
Assembly or the Council. The second time he warns him, but the third
time he applies to the General Assembly if the accused be one of the
National Assemblies, or to the Political Assembly if he be one of
the Councils, and, giving his reasons, he proposes the dissolution
of the accused Council or Assembly.
Article 12.--The Patriarch having a salary appointed to him from
the National Treasury provides himself for the internal expenses of
the Patriarchate.
II. The Bureau of the Patriarchate
Article 13.--There will be a Bureau at the Patriarchate for all
necessary national documents. This bureau will be divided into three
departments:--
I. The department of correspondence, for the documents sent by the
Patriarchate and for those received there.
II. The department of registration, to arrange the papers belonging
to the National Assemblies and Councils.
III. The department of census, to record births, marriages, and
deaths. From the last department are issued the papers needed for
travelling or other personal transactions; also certificates for
births, marriages, and deaths.
Article 14.--The Patriarchal Bureau will have a chief who is
responsible for all its transactions. The Political Assembly elects
him and the Patriarch nominates him. This chief is also the Secretary
of the General Assembly.
It is his duty to see that every year he be supplied with copies
of the records of births and deaths both in Constantinople and in
the provinces, which records he shall have inscribed in the books
of the general census of the Patriarchal Bureau. He should be well
versed in the Armenian language, and practised in the French and
Turkish languages.
Article 15.--This Bureau will have a sufficient number of
Secretaries. These Secretaries also must be well acquainted with
the Armenian language, and every one must possess all the necessary
qualifications for his position. Each Secretary is responsible in
his department to the Assembly or Council to which he belongs. All
of them are responsible to the Chief of the Bureau.
Article 16.--All papers issued at the office of the census must be
confirmed by the Patriarchal seal and by the signature of the Chief
of the Bureau.
III. The Patriarch of Jerusalem
Article 17.--The Patriarch of Jerusalem occupies for life the Chair of
St. James. He is at the same time the manager of all the holy places
belonging to the Armenians in Jerusalem, and the President of the
brotherhood of the Monastery of St. James.
It is his duty to act in accordance with the regulations of the
Monastery of Jerusalem, and to watch over the faithful execution of
those regulations.
Article 18.--In case the Patriarch of Jerusalem act contrary to
the regulations of his Monastery he will be liable to have a charge
brought against him.
Article 19.--A charge can be brought against the Patriarch either by
the brotherhood of the Monastery, or by the Religious and Political
Assemblies of Constantinople.
In such a case the General Assembly is convoked, and, if after an
investigation the charge should appear well founded, the General
Assembly, in accordance with the sixth article concerning the Patriarch
of Constantinople, will act as the case requires either by sending
an admonition to the Patriarch, or by compelling him to abandon his
office, when his office will be given over to a Representative whom
the General Assembly shall elect from amongst the brotherhood by a
secret vote.
Article 20.--In case of the death of the Patriarch of Jerusalem,
the brotherhood elects one of its members as Representative, and he
is confirmed by the National Assemblies.
Article 21.--The Patriarch of Jerusalem is elected by the National
Assemblies of Constantinople, but the brotherhood has the right to
express its opinion in regard to the merits of candidates. Immediately
after the death of the Patriarch, the Representative convokes a
general meeting of the brotherhood. This meeting prepares a list
of names, just as this is done by the General Religious Assembly of
Constantinople for the election of the Patriarch of Constantinople,
but the list prepared by the brotherhood should contain at least
seven names. This list is signed by the brotherhood and sent to the
Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Article 22.--The person to be elected as Patriarch of Jerusalem should
be at least thirty-five years of age, born an Ottoman subject, and
a bishop or doctor (vardapet) belonging to the brotherhood, and not
separated from it. Persons who, by the consent of the Patriarch of
Jerusalem, have been employed by the Assemblies of Constantinople in
some national office are not to be considered as having been separated
from the brotherhood.
Article 23.--The Mixed Assembly, composed of the Religious and
Political Assemblies, examines the merits of the persons indicated
in the above-mentioned list, and, choosing three candidates, presents
their names to the General Assembly. The list sent by the brotherhood
should be kept hung in the hall of the General Assembly.
Taking into consideration the opinions expressed both by the
brotherhood and by the two National Assemblies, the General Assembly
elects by secret vote, and by the majority of votes, the one whom
it regards as the worthiest in respect of learning as well as of
good character.
In the General Assembly no votes should be given for any person whose
name is not indicated in the list presented by the brotherhood.
IV. National Religious Assembly
Article 24.--The Religious Assembly consists of fourteen worthy
ecclesiastics, who should be at least thirty years old and ordained
at least five years ago.
Article 25.--The General Religious Assembly by a secret vote elects
three times the number of the members of the National Assembly,
and signs this list and presents it to the National General Assembly.
The General Assembly by a secret vote elects out of this list the
members of the Religious Assembly. The report is presented by the
Patriarch to the Sublime Porte, and the members of the Religious
Assembly thus elected are confirmed by Imperial edict.
Article 26.--The Religious Assembly is dissolved in a body once in
two years, at the end of April, and is re-elected in the beginning of
May. The members of this Assembly cannot be re-elected immediately,
but only after the lapse of two years.
Article 27.--When there are as many as three members of this Assembly
wanting, either in consequence of resignation or from some other cause,
others are elected by the General Assembly to take their places,
but until this election shall have taken place, the majority of the
whole number is to rule.
Article 28.--The Religious Assembly undertakes the general inspection
of all the religious affairs of the nation. Its duties are to
develop in the nation the religious sentiment, to preserve intact
the profession and traditions of the Armenian Church, to promote
the good order of churches and ecclesiastics, and to try to improve
the present condition of ecclesiastics, and to secure the welfare of
their future. It should visit from time to time the national schools
and supervise the teaching of the Christian doctrines, in order to
educate worthy and active doctors (vardapets) and priests, and when
investigating any religious disputes that may arise in the nation,
it should decide them according to the laws of the Church.
Article 29.--When the Religious Assembly cannot itself decide a purely
religious question, it convokes all the bishops in Constantinople, the
preachers of all the churches, the head priests, and if necessary the
Metropolitans of the dioceses in the vicinity, to a General Religious
Assembly. Should this General Assembly consider the question beyond
its jurisdiction, then the question is referred to the OEcumenical
Katholikos (at Edgmiatsin).
Article 30.--All kinds of reports of the Religious Assembly should
always be signed by the majority of its members.
Article 31.--The authorisation for ordaining vardapets, whether in
Constantinople or in the provinces, is given by the National Religious
Assembly. The authorisation for ordaining priests in Constantinople
is also given by the same Religious Assembly, and in the provinces
by the local Religious Assemblies.
Article 32.--No authorisation for ordaining a new priest is granted
until the priests of the church and the Council of the quarter send
a written application urging the necessity of such authorisation.
Article 33.--The Religious Assembly elects the preachers (vardapets)
for the churches in Constantinople as well as their head priests,
and the Patriarch nominates them.
Article 34.--All elections in the Religious Assembly are by secret
ballot.
Article 35.--The Religious Assembly should prepare a set of rules with
the object of improving the present condition of ecclesiastics, and of
securing their future welfare, so that they may perform gratuitously
their spiritual affairs.
V. The Political Assembly
Article 36.--The Political Assembly consists of twenty laymen
well acquainted with the national affairs and with the laws of the
Government.
Article 37.--The members of the Political Assembly are elected by
the General Assembly by secret ballot and by a majority of votes,
and, the report having been presented to the Sublime Porte by the
Patriarch, they are confirmed in their office by an Imperial edict.
Article 38.--The Political Assembly is dissolved once in two years,
at the end of April, and the re-election takes place in the beginning
of May. The members of this Assembly may be re-elected after the
lapse of two years, and, though for the first two years they cannot
be candidates for the Political Assembly, still they may be employed
in any other national office.
Article 39.--If any member of the Political Assembly shall have been
absent from the sittings three times successively without sending
a written explanation, a letter is sent to him by the Chairman of
the Assembly asking for an explanation of his absence. If no answer
be received he is notified by a second letter that in case of his
absence at the next sitting he will be considered as having resigned.
Article 40.--When there are as many as three members wanting in the
Political Assembly either in consequence of resignation or from some
other cause, others are elected by the General Assembly to take their
places, but until this election shall have taken place the majority
of the whole number is to rule.
Article 41.--The Political Assembly undertakes the general
superintendence of the political affairs of the nation. Its duties
are to promote the good order and progress of the nation, to examine
carefully any useful projects presented to its consideration by the
Councils under its inspection and to facilitate their execution.
Article 42.--The Political Assembly refers the questions presented
for its consideration to the Councils to which they belong, and it
is only after having heard the opinion of those Councils that it can
take action. And though it has the right to refuse for good reasons
the decision taken by any of these Councils, yet it cannot by itself
make a different arrangement in regard to the case in question, but
it should once more refer it to the same Council. Neither can the
Political Assembly change or dissolve any of the National Councils
so long as they do not act contrary to the fundamental principles of
the Constitution. But in case of a default of this kind the Assembly
demands in the first instance an explanation from the Chairman of
the Council in question. The second time it sends a written warning,
and on the third occasion it may change the members of the Council,
provided always that it shall explain in its biennial report to the
General Assembly its reasons for so doing.
Article 43.--Should the Political Assembly consider the solution of
any question presented to its consideration beyond its jurisdiction,
it refers such question to the General Assembly.
VI. Councils and Committees organised by the Political Assembly
Article 44.--The Political Assembly should organise four Councils for
educational, economical, and judicial affairs, and for the inspection
of monasteries, and three Committees for financial administration. The
term of office of the members of these Councils and Committees is
two years, but half of their numbers must be changed at the end of
each year.