2539) Oct 9, 1919 On Board U.S.S. Martha Washington

AMERICAN MILITARY MISSION, On Board U. S. S. “Martha Washington,” October 9, 1919.

MY DEAR GENERAL: I acknowledged receipt at Samsoun of your letter setting forth the aims of the party of which you are the chief. I thank you for it. In our journey after leaving Sivas we were recipients of many courtesies from your people. . .

I have been informed by members of my mission who have traveled through Malatia, Kaiseriya, and Marsovan that the Armenian people in those regions are still very apprehensive of danger from the Nationalist movement, and that some are leaving their homes again in consequence of threats from their Turkish neighbors. I found similar uneasiness in other places. I again invite your attention to the keen interest America has in the safety and welfare of these people, as shown by President Wilson’s cable to the Turkish Government, and suggest a wider circulation of the information that your organization is in no way inimical to the Christian population of the Ottoman Empire, as I understood from you is the case.

Please accept my thanks for your courtesy to my party, and believe me,

Very truly, yours,

JAS. G. HARBORD,
Major General, United States Army.

Gen. MUSTAPHA KEMAL,
Representative of the Committee for the Defense
of Turkey, Sivas, Turkey.