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The Negotiations
Meanwhile, Ottoman Armenian leaders, enthused by revived Russian interest, composed petitions and memorandums. A commission of the Armenian National Assembly, the governing body of the Apostolic Christians of the Empire, examined the Patriarchate's archives, tax ledgers, and parish reports to prepare statistics on the Armenian population and its geographic distribution. Another committee selected by the National Assembly drafted what it considered a suitable and applicable reform measure. The resulting project was then submitted to André Mandelstam, chief dragoman of the Russian Embassy at Constantinople. 43 The main provisions of the plan were later incorporated into a Russian scheme, which was relayed in mid 1913 to the embassies of Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. Russia's action drew sharp German protests, and soon the six major powers of Europe were again entangled. Though German Ambassador Hans von Wangenheim, bolstered by his colleagues of the Triple Alliance, vehemently objected to Russian intervention, he was compelled to accept the proposal that the six ambassadors at Constantinople discuss the question. The summer residence of the Austrian ambassador became the usual site for the meetings. 44 There, in June and July, the ambassadors and their appointed commission haggled over the Russian suggestions, which provided for the
- unification of the six Armenian vilayets, with the exclusion of certain peripheral districts, into a single province;
- selection of an Ottoman Christian or European governor for the province;
- establishment of an administrative council and a provincial assembly consisting of both Moslem and Christian elements;
- formation of a mixed Moslem-Christian gendarmerie commanded by European officers in Turkish service;
- dissolution of the former Hamidiye Kurdish cavalry units;
- publication of official decrees in Turkish, Kurdish, and Armenian, with permission to use those languages in legal proceedings;
- extension of the franchise only to sedentary elements;
- right of each nationality to establish and administer private schools for which special taxes might be levied on members of that community;
- selection of a special commission to investigate the extent of Armenian losses caused by usurpation and to supervise restitution in the form of currency or land;
- exclusion from the province of Moslem refugee-immigrants;
- institution of similar improvements outside the province for areas inhabited by Armenians, particularly Cilicia;
- obligation of the European Powers to ensure the enactment of the program. 45
The Ottoman government, excluded from the preliminary negotiations, attempted to counter the Russian project by declaring general reform measures for the entire Empire. The Turkish manoeuvre was rejected by the representatives of the Franco-Russo-British Entente, who were, however, unable to convince the ambassadors of the Triple Alliance to accede to the Russian proposals. 46 Because of the stalemate, Giers for the Entente and von Wangenheim for the Triple Alliance agreed to continue talks, which lasted throughout the remainder of 1913. At last, after numerous impasses and the exchange of voluminous correspondence between the Constantinople ambassadors and their respective foreign ministries, a Russo-German compromise was attained, which, with several modifications, was accepted under duress by the Ittihadist government as the Reform Act of February 8, 1914. 47
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43) Vahan Papazian, "Im houshere" [My Memoirs], II (Beirut, 1952), pp 543-583; Gabriel Lazian, "Hayastan yev Hai Date: Hai-yev-rous haraberoutyounneru louysin tak" [Armenia and the Armenian Question: Under the light of Armeno-Russian Relations] (Cairo, 1957), pp. 160-162.
44) Roderick H. Davison, "The Armenian Crisis (1912-1914)," The American Historical Review, LIII (April, 1948), pp. 491-492, 495-496; André Mandelstam, "Le sort de l'empire Ottoman" (Paris, 1917), pp. 214-216, 225-234; Vahan Papazian, "Im houshere" [My Memoirs], II (Beirut, 1952), pp. 241-253; Great Britain, Foreign Office, "British Documents on the Origins of the War 1894-1914", ed. By G. P. Gooch and Harold Temperley, V (London, 1928), X, pt. 1 (1936), nos. 486, 493, 498, 505, 507, 521, 558, 560; France, "1871-1914, 3e série (1911-1914), VIII (1934), nos. 30, 45, 76, 86, 102; Germany, "Politik", XXXVIII, nos. 15283, 15299, 15312, 15317, 15321-15322, 15326, 15331, 15345; Russia, Ministerstvo Inostrannynkh Del, "Sbornik diplomaticheshkikh dokumentvo: Reformy v Armenii, 26 noiabraia 1912 goda - maia 1914 goda" (Petrograd, 1915), nos. 42-43.
45) André Mandelstam, "Le sort de l'empire Ottoman" (Paris, 1917), pp. 218-222; Russia, Ministerstvo Inostrannynkh Del, "Sbornik diplomaticheshkikh dokumentvo: Reformy v Armenii, 26 noiabraia 1912 goda - maia 1914 goda" (Petrograd, 1915), nos. 48, 50, 52, 57; France, "1871-1914, 3e série, VII, nos. 176, 185, 331; Germany, Politik", XXXVIII, nos. 15337, 15344, 15347.
46) Russia, Ministerstvo Inostrannynkh Del, "Sbornik diplomaticheshkikh dokumentvo: Reformy v Armenii, 26 noiabraia 1912 goda - maia 1914 goda" (Petrograd, 1915), nos. 15, 46, 53, 54; France, Ministére des Affaires Étrangères, Commission de Publication des Documents Relatifs aux Origines de la Guerre de 1914, "Documents diplomatiques françis (1871-1914)", 1re série (1871-1900), XIII (Paris, 1943) 3e série, VIII, nos. 229, 232, 270, 289, 298; Great Britain, Foreign Office, "British Documents on the Origins of the War 1894-1914", ed. By G. P. Gooch and Harold Temperley, V (London, 1928), X. pt., 1, nos. 533-535, 538-540, 543, 573-574, 579-587, 589; Germany, "Politik", XXXVIII, nos. 15318, 15338, 15341, 15346, 15354, 15357, 15363, 15401; Vahan Papazian, "Im houshere" [My Memoirs], II (Beirut, 1952), pp. 254-258.
47) Details of these negotiations are found in the following sources: André Mandelstam, "Le sort de l'empire Ottoman" (Paris, 1917), pp. 234-245; Roderick H. Davison, "The Armenian Crisis (1912-1914)," The American Historical Review, LIII (April, 1948), pp. 498-504; France, Ministére des Affaires Étrangères, Commission de Publication des Documents Relatifs aux Origines de la Guerre de 1914, "Documents diplomatiques françis (1871-1914)", 1re série (1871-1900), XIII (Paris, 1943), 3e série, VII, nos. 105, 112, 131, 140, 171, 187, 191, 227; VIII, nos. 31, 99, 118, 124, 135, 144, 171, 176, 191, 208, 213, 240, 296, 385, 393, 473, 514, 674, 688; IX (1936), nos. 25, 56, 78, 91, 96, 107, 108, 156, 202, 225, 333; Great Britain, Foreign Office, "British Documents on the Origins of the War 1894-1914", ed. By G. P. Gooch and Harold Temperley, V (London, 1928), X, pt. 1, nos. 487-488, 499, 510-511, 515-516, 518, 532, 537, 546, 548, 550, 553, 555, 560, 561-563, 571, 579-583; Germany, "Politik", XXXVIII, nearly all documents from no. 15333 to no. 15423; Russia, Ministerstvo Inostrannynkh Del, "Sbornik diplomaticheshkikh dokumentvo: Reformy v Armenii, 26 noiabraia 1912 goda - maia 1914 goda" (Petrograd, 1915), nearly all documents from no. 55 to no. 145.
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