321) The Role Of Armenian Diaspora In Turkish-American Relationships

Kemal ÇİÇEK

In this essay we will try to evaluate the effects of Armenian diaspora* on Turkish – American relationships and its contribution to the Armenian problem by focusing on certain examples. Armenian problem has been an exterior threat for Turkey and has affected our international relationships negatively since the end of the 19th century. Armenians who immigrated from Turkey to the USA certainly played a great role in the beginning of this period though it has been undermined till now. Because in 1880s, thoug they were about 2000 in number , diaspora Armenians started to get organised , establish associations and make an intense propaganda against Turkey(1). Branches of illegal organizations such as Hınçak and Taşnak were established inAmerica. The first rebellious Armenians in the Ottoman Empire grew out of these organizations . So in this symposium in which we argue about the activities concerning Turkey’s exterior security, it will be suitable to deal with this issue.

Within the narrow limits of a written notice, we will naturally not deal with the activities of Armenian diaspora towards destroying the relationships between Turkey and the exterior world. Because of this we will especially deal with activities against Turkey in the USA where Armenian diaspora is very effective , and the effects of these activities upon our relationships with the USA. We also have to limit our subject within a certain period, so we will just deal with the developments between the years 1880 and 1930. Actually the problems starting with the Ottoman Empire and going on with the Turkish Republic enlighten the times in which we live , because the problems create by the diaspora Armenians for the Ottoman government are related to the usage of sovereignity. In this period when wetry to be a memmber of the European Union, the pressure concerning the superiority of the human rights and the universal law over the interior law is closely integrated with the past experiences. So the standpoints of diaspora Armenians in the Ottoman government and their actions evaluated within the framework of capitulations should be examined closely to be able to understand our day.

As it is already known , since the second half of the 19th century , but especially in 1900s the Armenian emigration into the USA increased and according to official records only the number of those who entered the country between the years 1899 and 1914 reached 51.950(3). With these emigrations , the relationships between Turkey and the USA intensified. Those who emigrated from Turkey and these people most of whom were Armenians did not completely give up their relations with Turkey , they deemed it a responsibility to give their personal accumulations which they left apart to their relatives in the mother-land.

They functioned as a bridge between the Armenians who increased in number day by day and organised , and the USA. Diaspora Armenians who did not lose their interest towards Turkey and problems in Turkey no matter where they lived , especially in 1880s and90s remained in contact with their relatives who rebelled against the Ottoman Empire for independence. They even supported the organization and the resistance in Turkey in every aspect when the rebellions started. After a short period of time, Ottoman government and Armenians , and of course the USA, found themselves in a mutual conflict due to the actions leaded and directed by the Armenians.(4). Because the Armenians who emigrated and took part in nationalist organizations in the USA, came(or were sent) and organized actions in Turkey, even they became the Ottoman ringleaders(5).

This situation attracted the attention of Ottoman rulers . They tried to take some precautions in order to find a solution to the problem and prevent diaspora Armenians from taking actions. Firstly they tried to prevent diaspora Armenians from entering into and going out of the country and from re-entering the country if they went out. This policy or the precaution for interior security made Turkey and the USA face the problem of interdependency(6). Because Armenians who immigrated from Turkey to the USA , got here the right of citizenship easily and came back to Turkey . In Turkey they concealed this in order not to lose their rights as an Ottoman citizen and they did not make it known till they commited a crime. And this was not a random case.According to the estimations , about 70.000 Ottoman Armenians , who got the right of American citizenship , entered Turkey between the years 1900 and 1914.

According to the 4th issue of the agreement between the Ottoman government and the USA dated 1830-this was an agreement which made the USA benefit from the capitulations –an Armenian who got the right of American citizenship maintained under the protection of the USA when he/she came back to Turkey. So he was exempt from Ottoman laws. At least it was thecomment of the USA concerning the related issue of the agreement. Because there was a serious difference between the original text in Turkish and its translation in English. Because of this the Ottoman comment of the issue was quite different . Accordig to this , an immigrating Armenian still held the statue of Ottoman citizenship when he came back to the country and he was subject to certain economic,administrative and legal applications.The 4th issue of the agreement designated the procedure of the commercial cases.This comment of Ottoman goverment was based upon various laws and legal decrees but none of these decrees were respected by the USA since they were not handled together with USA in a mutual agreement..This legal disagreement was exploited by the Armenians.They lived as an American in the USA and as an Ottoman citizen in Turkey but when they had a problem with the laws the claimed that they had the statue of a protege.Even Armenians who were not officially American citizens could get a “protege”certificate Ottoman government could even not judge the Amenians who were engaded with rebellians,comitted murders and assassinations.To end this,the Ottoman government declared that all “protege×”should leave the country in 3 months otherwise they would be deemend as an Ottoman citizen.According to this new law,those who got the right of citizenship in another countrywere not exempt from the Ottoman law.In this way Ottoman government aimed to give an end to the problems created by the “protege”.However the Ottoman non.Muslims chose the way of having citizenship in another country to get red of this situation which is againts their interests and they went on living on the Ottoman land by benefitling from the capitulations.This methed became so commen that “citizen of other countries within the mother land”left those,who were actually stranpers,behind in number(9)To prevent this,Ottoman government in 1869 prohibited getting citizenship in another country without the permission of the authoriy.They declaved that those who gave up Ottoman citizenship without permission would be treated as an Ottoman citizen when they re-ented the country.

This situation caused problems orginating from the legal understanding between Turkey and the USA,where Armenians mostly got the right of citizenship.Because the American lawmade a comment depending an the principle of Jus soli possible wheras the Ottoman law made a comment possible depending on the principle ofjuis sarguinin.Also most of the Ottoman Armenias became American citizens just for the sake of escaping from official expenses,crimes and military obligations.Actually the Ottoman government who provided those desing to immigrate with facilitres in every aspect till the end of 1890s,changed this policy prohibiting leaving the citizenship without permission due to the problems created by the diaspora Armeniaans.Especially he tried to prevent those who had committed a crime beforehand from going out of the country.This led Armenians to immigrate to the USA illegally and they did not demand for the permission of the authority.So they were accepted as Ottoman citizens according to the Ottoman law even of they immigrated.In this case they still had all of their obligations and responsibilities.However Ottoman Armenians immigrated just for the sake of getting rid of these obligations and they even got the right of American citizenship without having an official permission.Because this application was invalid according to the American laws as it was not starded as a result of a mutual agreement withthe USA.So the USA continuedto deliver passports.The idea of an easy citizenship and having a powerful country on their own side attracted the Armenians.This Armenians put these two countries into a mutual conflict when they came back to the country.Some Armenians a part of whom were Taşnak,Hınçak and blameworty criminals showed their American passports whch they had hidden and demanded for the protection of the consuls..These people were Ottoman citizens for the Ottoman government and American citizens for the USA.The USA government wanted to protect them whereas the Ottoman one wanted to remind them of thyeir responsibilities when they came back. Also Armenians wanted to make their relatives benefit from the rights of citizenship according to the American laws.

Some Armenians , especially the members of an organization , went to the USA just for the sake of being a citizen. Because the missioners not only had the mission of giving education or persuading Armenians tobe a member of their sect, but they also brought up heroes who would rescue Christians from the Turkish administration. It was known that they declared this aim many times in their writings , either in an indirect or direct way. However the USA government did not support this policyof missioners openly, eventhey expressed their disturbance due to the increasing number of Armenians getting the right of American citizenship(12). Because, as it can easily be understood from the investigations done by the inspectors, those Armenians who got caught did not have the intention of going back to the USA . Actually those were using the American citizenship just as a vehicle. Most of them got an American passport in order to have possessions in Turkey without expense or tax. Some of them chose to become American citizens just for commercial aims, but the most dangerous case was that some of them became Ameriacan citizens to escape from the crimes they commited as an anarchist. The situation got worse and more difficult. Even the president Clevalend , in an annual speech dated 1893, stated that the Ottoman government was right in his complaints concerning the Armenian citizens. Because in some Armenian newspapers published in New York in those days, some declarations which openly summoned Ottoman Armenians for military action were published. Interestingly enough, some declarations were published concerning the situation originating from the different comments of the USA and the Ottoman government on the related issue of the 1830 Agreement. Even the USA expressed that they respected the right of the Ottoman government to judge those who committe a crime.This declaration disturbed Armenians and led them to start an intense propaganda. In 1892 the Ottoman government offered the Aamerican ambassador to accept the Ottoman Citizenship Law which had been passed on 18 January 1869(13). The 5th issue of this law certainly stated , as we expressed before, that no Ottoman citizen had the right of getting citizenship in another country without official permission. But the mid-ambassador Hirsch declared that he would continue protecting those who already had the citizenship.Sides came face to face once more in 1898. The USA claimed that there was no objection on their part that the Armenians got the right of American citizenship without an official permission. It is necessary to remind you of the fact that the powerful European statesof the time, especially England, France, Italy, Austria, Germany and Russia respected the Ottoman Law dated 1869 and behaved accordingly. They announced that Armenians would not be under protection if they commited a crime in Turkey. France, Holland and Belgium refused the demands of those who applied for the citizenship without having an official permission. Consequently legal dilemma kept on being a problem between the USA and Turkey. The Ottoman government made a new decision in 1892 and declared that those who wished could leave the country on condition that that they would not be back and become a citizen of another country. But this was a wrong decision, because as we had previously stated the conflict with the USA had not been solved. Thus many Ottoman Armenians left the country upon this condition but they came back with passport either secretly or openly.

The USA government continued his policy of protection as he had never respected the decree of the Ottoman government. For example J.J.Arakelyan , went to the USA by benefiting from the decision made in 1892 and he came back to Turkey with the right of citizenship he got. According to Ottoman laws , he still was an Ottoman citizen as he came back. Because of this , he was made to pay the taxes he did not pay when he was in the USA. Though the USA kept him under the protection and declared insistently to the authorities that the tax was unjust, his paying the tax could not be prevented.

More prominent was the fact that the terrorists were Armenians. For instance Guedjian was caught with top secret files and documents of the organization, as a member of Hınçak in Halep in January 1895. The court sentenced him with a hundred and one years of punishment. Guedjian who asked for the help of the USA consul, demanded protection by claiming that he was an American citizen.When the governor of Halep did not allow protection, the subject was brought to the capital and at last his being judged before the consul in İstanbul was accepted(17). This kind of cases affected the relationships between the two countries badly so in 1874 the sides again started the negotiations upon the issue which had been accepted in the previous mutual negotiations but not been accepted by the senate.

When Abdulhamit II declared with determination to the ambassador Straus that he would never sign a contract which would provide Armenians with protection , no solution could be found.(18). In 1900 the USA declared to the Armenians that they would probably face some problems in being protected in Turkey as an American citizen and he had to publicize this with an announcement added to the passports. The Usa government announced in 1907 that Armenians would not have the governmental protection as a citizen if they went back to Turkey and stayed there more than 2 years. If the rlated people had previously been a Turkish citizen , they declared that this period would be 5 years. This application led diaspora Armenians to react and take protesting actions. However the USA gave an end to an application which was a serious threat for his relationships with Turkey. In 1923 the issue was handled by the Turkish – Ameriacn committees during Lausanne Peace Negotiations but no solution could be found. Turkey’s insistence on giving an end to the capitulations made it impossible to achieve an agreement as desired by the USA. But this issue did not prevent the sides from signing the Agreement of Friendship and Trade in Lausanne. Nevertheless the actions of diaspora Armenians managed to prevent the signed agreement from being accepted by the Congress. Armenian organizations in Lausanne performed a propaganda to prevent a possible agreement between Turkey and Europe and especially the USA from being signed. The American delegation who had the responsibility of observation in Lausanne signed a friendship agreement with Turkey on 6 August 1923.

Its being beneficial for Turkey led American Armenian organizations to get organized against this application.The signed agreement was not submitted to the Senate until the 3rd of May in 1924.The American lobbies divided into two groups namely those who rejected the agreement and those who supparted its being accepted.The missioner organizations associations of public aid and Armenia America Society generally took their stand on part of accepting the agreement .However Commitec for the Independence of Armenia led by Gerard&Cardasian carried out an aggressive propaganda to prevent the agreement from being accepted.This group whose only tanget was the establishment of an indepentArmenia organized under the name `American Committee opposed to the Lausanne Treaty.Their opposittionwas strong as they did not hope for abenefit from the acceptance of the agreement. Unfortunately those who supported the refusal of the agreement won at last to affect the senate.During this struggle,money essays,books and news were published,in the USA which offended the Turkish nation and the young Turkish Republic.The image of the “The Dreadful Turk”which was common in the USA provided those opposing organizations with facilities .(24) The affect of the opposing group was so great upon the politics and the public opinion that the agreement signed with Turkey influenced the 1924 elections for presidency in the USA.The opinion that signing the agreement was an act of betrayal performed againts Armenias became common.Churches,especially the Protestant Episcopal Church condemned Turkey and ib supporters in the USA with a declaration signed by 110 bishops.These acts put the senators into a dilemma.In 18 January 1927,the acceptance of the Laussane Agreement,which could be put to a bote just 4 years after Laussane,could not get the necessary majority.In the voting there were 34 votes of refusal and 50 votes of acceptance but this meant refusal as the majority was not adequate.The Turkish-American relationships were wowded once more due to the acts of diaspora Armenians.But the president himself said he wished that the agreement would be accepted in order not to offent Turkey and offered that the relationship should be carried on as if it was accepted.Thanks to the attempt of the Ministry of International Relationships,a regular diplomatic relationships was established with Turkey an 17-February.1927 Laussane Agreement which had not been accepted.On the other hand the group supporting the agreement,especially Near East Relief made very interesting top secret infformation public concening the Armenian propaganda directed towards Turkey during the war.For instance NER,announced that it published wrong and prejudiced reparb and news about the departation and massacre of Armenians just for the sake of making money and added that it was unjust for this reason to oppose against Turks.

Meanwhile the law of citizenship passed by Turkey on 28.May.1928 made the problem of interdependence between the two countries an unsolved conflict.The new law not only prevented people from getting out of citizenship without having official permission,but it aboaccepted those who were born in Turkey as a citizen unconditionally.Due to the intense reaction and opposition against this application ,an alteration in law was made on 9.April.1929 and thecitizenship of those who were born in Turkey was made dependent upon the wish of individuals and the acceptance of the National Assemply.But Turkey and USA could not find solution for the problem which lasted 62 years in their relationship.

THE CONCLUSION

Also today Armenian associations, institutes and organizations which take action against Turkey play an important role in determining the policies of those countries where they live towards Turkey. In the countries where they have a serious potential of voting they support the candidates by adopting policies directed against Turkey. Thanks to this they try to make Turkey’s Middle Eastern and European policies noninfluential and dependent with their attempts every year to make the so-called genocide be respected both in the USA and Europe.

Today more than 24 provinces in the USA respected the so-called genocide in their parliaments and included it in their own curriculum. So the activities of diaspora Armenians should be analyzed for the Armenian problem to be solved and be prevented from being an exterior threat for Turkey. But it is not easy trying to find a solution with the help of mutual dialogue with diaspora Armenians, as offered by some people. In this declaration the minimum conditions of the dialogue between the sides will be tried to be determined. On the other hand the threats of those who were under the protection of the USA towards the Ottoman government in the past will continue today to exist towards the Turkish Republic under the protection of other international powers.

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Prof. Dr.Karadeniz Technical University Faculty of Sciences-Letters The Department of History
1)About the Armenians’ first activities and attempts of getting organized in the USA, look at Çağrı Erhan Türk Amerikan İlişkilerinin Tarihsel Kökenleri, İmge Kitabevi, Ankara,2001, pg..306-18
2)About the establishment of these organizations look at Kamuran gürün, Armenian File, London ,1983, pg.120-26
3)Robert Mirak, Armenian Emigration to the United Statesin 1915, Journal of Armenian Studies, 1/1(1975), pg.5-39, here especially pg.21
4) Erhan, a.g.e., pg 313. NARA T-815, Jan.16, 1984 and NARA M-99/96, Apr.11, we also examined 1894 numbered microfilms.
5) For the last evaluations of the literature of that period and the Armenian actions look at Jeremy Salt, The Narrative Gap in Ottoman Armenian History, Middle Eastern Studies 39/1 (January 2003), pg.19-36
6) About the problem of interdependency and its development look at Leland J.Gordon, The Turkish American Controversy over Nationality, American Journal of International Law, 25/4(October 1931), pg.658-668. Also Erhan a.g.e., pg.226-34
7)According to the studies done by Robert Mirak in the archives of the Office of Immigrants and Statistics the number of Ottoman Armenians who immigrated in these years was 44.165. Those who were deported by the government are not included in this sum.
8) To compare the agreement texts look at Erhan a.g.e., pg.205-207.
9)Erhan,a.g.e., As it is stated in the page 228 in the years 1857-58 only seven previous Ottoman citizens and 49 Ottoman citizens or the citizens of another country were given the protege statue.
10)Gordon, a.g.m.660-61
11) Gordon, a.g.m., 662-64. (Correspondence from Consuls General, Letter from Consul General Heap to Minister Cox, dated aug.24,1886). Erhan, a.g.e.pg. 211-18, deals with the problems originating from the application with concrete examples.
12) Erhan a.g.e. pg.228
13) Papers Relating to Foreign Relations of the United States, 1893, pg.X ve the same work, 1894, pg. 728 Krs: Gordon,a.g.m., 662
14)For the details of the on-going agreements between the two countries after this date look at Erhan a.g.e., pg.229-33,
15)Gordon, a.g.m., pg.663,
16)The governor was removed from officedue to taking part in this case. For its document look at Foreign Relations, 1895, Vol 3,2.1259-62.
17)Gordon, a.g.m.,pg.663,
18)Foreign Relations, 1899, pg.770,
19)Gordon, a.g.m. pg.666
20)For a detailed evaluationabout this subject look at Kemal Çiçek, “Amerikan ErmeniDerneklerinin Lozan Görüşmeleri Esnasındaki Faaliyetleri, Lausanne Symposium-the Presented Declaration(will be published).
21) National Archives and Research Foundation of America (NARA) 867.4016/921 8 February 1923,
22)NARA 867.4016/817
23)For a copy of declarations look at NARA m365 R 7
24)For the evaluation of this period and the Armenian policies look at Robert L.Daniel, The Armenian Question and American –Turkish Relations, 1914-1927, Mississppi Valley Historical Review, 46/2 (September 1959), pg.252-275,
25)Gordon, a.g.m., 668 vd.


PC: This article was taken from a book named Turkey’s Security Symposium-the Declarations which was performed in Fırat University in Elazığ on 16-17 October 2003.

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