In advancing the fourth alternative, Sir Mark noted that it would encumber Russia with a minimum number of Armenians since Kurds and Lazes constituted the overwhelming majority on the Plateau. Armenia, as Sykes understood the term, would, under French administration, become the centre of Armenian national sentiment. This would be especially advantageous for Russia, for, while the Armenians of the Caucasus and eastern vilayets were "anarcho-socialists", those of Lesser Armenia were imbued with religious, conservative tendencies which would foster moderate administrative ideologies. Sykes emphasized that historic Zeytoun, Hajin, Diyarbakir, and Sivas had entered the domains of the Kingdom of Cilician Armenia, and that the inhabitants of those areas had little in common with the Armenians of the Plateau. If all Armenia were annexed by the Romanovs, however, the natural administrative centre would be Erzurum, enabling the anarcho-socialists to seize the political mechanism of the state and extend their tyranny as far as Cilicia. Sykes concluded that Russia could spare herself much anguish by also waiving her right to the Plain of Moush, for as a part of French Armenia this den of sedition would be neutralized and the Caucasus and Azerbaijan would be denied this wellspring of revolutionaries. 108 Unfortunately, the British Near East "expert" did not reveal the source that inspired his most interesting observations.
Several days later, on March 17, the Russian Foreign Minister, having won the approval of Tsar Nicholas , informed ambassadors Buchanan and Paléologue that the Sykes proposal was acceptable in principle on condition that the Straits Agreement were enforced. 109 Sazonov then defended the compromise before a special committee composed of the President of the Council of Ministers, the ministers of Foreign Affairs, War, and navy, and a representative of the Viceroy for the Caucasus. When N. V. Nikolsky, director of the chancellery of the Viceroy, advised that the Armenians would violently oppose the partition of their lands, Sazonov reiterated Sykes's contention that the division corresponded to topographical peculiarities and religious denominational groupings. Since it was not possible to create a united Armenia, those Christians left outside o Russia would find much more security under the wing of cultured France then under Turkey, which had caused them so much suffering and sorrow. 110 The modified Sykes-Picot agreement was then confirmed through a series of diplomatic exchanges between March 31 and September 1, 1916. 111 The flags of the Entente nations had been pinned on the map of Asiatic Turkey.
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