As an answer to the demands of the major powers for the punishment of the guilty parts, Sultan Abdul Hamid II rewarded the mufti in the city of Moush and the leader of the Turkish forces, who had conducted the mass murders, with medals. 168
These sad events urged Lord Rosebery to suggest a reform plan for the implementation of the items in paragraph 61 of the Berlin Treaty.
The initiative of Britain was connected to the responsibility which that government had taken upon itself in 1878. As Victor Berard points out "it was obvious that when Great Britain received the advantages of the Cyprus Treaty, it must also take the responsibility which the treaty implied, namely to guarantee the safety of the Christian population in the Asian part of the Ottoman Empire." 170
The Armenian representatives, from 1878 and forward, constantly demanded the implementation of paragraph 61 in the Berlin Treaty regarding reforms in the Armenian provinces. The demands of the Armenians included the following items: the re-creation of the six Armenian provinces with their original natural boundaries; the appointment of a local leader approved by the European major powers for each and every of these provinces; the improvement of the tax collection system, which was nothing less than legal and organized robbery; the improvement of the judicial system and the creation of a mixed police force (containing Armenians); and finally the right to stand as candidate to the local councils. 171
These demands constituted the major issues in a detailed reform plan which Sir Philip Currie, the ambassador of Great Britain in Constantinople, with the support of his French and Russian colleagues (Paul Cambon and Nelidof) presented to the Sultan on May 11, 1895, after the events in Sasoun. 174
Sultan Abdul Hamid II rejected the demands of the ambassador, leaning on the support of the foreign minister of Russia, Prince Lobanov-Rostovsky, who openly showed his hostility towards the Armenians 175 and encouraged the sultan to resist intervention. 176
Despite the prevailing atmosphere, the Sultan paved the way for more massacres so that, by decreasing the number of Armenian people, it would be impossible to implement such reforms. 177
Building on their experiences from the 1876 massacres in Bulgaria, where witness to the countless terrifying scenes awoke the hatred and wrath of the European people for the Ottoman Empire, this time, the Ottoman government planned to first cut any contact with the Armenian provinces by forbidding any travel to those regions and introducing censorship of mail, and then to begin the planned massacres. 178
The massacres themselves were also planned with great cautiousness. 179 They sent representatives to the Armenian provinces to give speeches to the people in the mosques where they told the people that the sultan had received reliable proof that the Armenians were involved in a huge conspiracy and that their goals were to attack the Muslims and Islam. Hence, they encouraged the people to counteract this threat by killing the Armenians and confiscating their properties. Then they started to hand out weapons to the general public. 180 These preparations for the massacres, which were conducted by the government and its local officials, are clearly recorded in the diplomatic and consular reports from the foreign representatives residing in Turkey. 181
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