by Paul C. Helmreich
Following the end of the First World War, elated and distinguished statesmen representing the victorious powers gathered in Paris, London, and San Remo to draft terms that were to be imposed on their defeated enemies as safeguards of a hard-won peace. Of the five pacts that were ultimately concluded, the treaty with the Ottoman Empire took by far the longest to negotiate; for it involved not only the drafting of the peace terms themselves, but also the division that was to be made among the victors of vast territorial spoils. Professor Helmreich traces the troubled history of the negotiations among those nations — which included, for a time, the United States — that ultimately produced the remarkable document known, by virtue of the place in which it was signed, as the Treaty of Sevres.
When the Paris Peace Conference convened there appeared to be a clear consensus among the Allied and Associated Powers on fundamental issues — exclusion of the Turk from Europe, establishment of international control over Constantinople and the Straits, liberation . . .
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As there is a restriction, this contribution is broken up into two parts. Here is Part 1.
This is an important work. The Treaty of Sèvres represents the embodiment of fanatical anti-Turkish hatred against Turkey, continuing to this day.
The Treaty of Sèvres serves as a reminder that if there was no Ataturk, today there would be no Turkey. Anyone reading these words who is Turkish probably would have never been born.
Page 20: "American aid to Syrians and Armenians, which amounted to close to a million dollars a month... was channeled through missionary sources in Turkey." Here is an excellent FACT which demonstrates that a "genocide," or an attempt and desire to exterminate Armenians (and Assyrians) would have been impossible. (If such were the aim, so such aid could have been allowable; especially to such a high extent. In 2021, one million dollars from 1915 would amount to over 25 million.)
Of particular interest are the sections dealing with delegations sent to the Peace Conference by Greece (p. 39), where Venizelos was shown to be irresistible, and Lloyd George came around to grant the Greek leader's every wish. The next section describing the Armenian delegation is also revealing.
Of interest: "The Armenian delegates followed Wilson, Lloyd George, and Clemenceau, reminding them every minute of the debt they owed Armenia. Their importunity annoyed everyone, and they began to lose friends." Also of interest: According to "The Armenian Question before the Peace Conference, a memorandum presented officially by the representatives of Armenia to the Peace Conference at Versailles on February 26, 1919," the Armenians claimed a worldwide population of 4.5 million, overstating the reality by "only" 1.5 million. (An additional claim pointed to 2 million prewar Armenians, overstating by half-a-million.)
Footnote 34 explains that Boghos Nubar actually had the indecency to claim the existence of an Armenian majority, when there was no such majority anywhere. (This is followed by yet another bold claim, the way the Armenian delegates "maintained that they were religiously and culturally Westerners" when Armenians were thoroughly Oriental.") "Honesty" appears to be not a priority, among many Armenians.
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This is Part 2 of my comment. If this part appears on top of the other part, please read Part 1 first, which should be below:
While the author of this work was fair, the following: "individual Turks have openly acknowledged that their intention is to deal a final blow at the Armenians and to consummate the Turkish policy of exterminating that unfortunate race" (quoting a Jan. 1919 Times of London article) was misleading. (No doubt there were "individual Turks" who were resentful of traitorous Armenians, but for the author to imply a continuation of "genocide," especially when there was no "genocide" to begin with, indicates bias.
This was followed by, "Armenians returning to their former homes met with Turkish opposition, both military
and local. Their rights to the lands they had formerly owned were denied." While certainly hurdles must have been presented by some Turks who were on the spot, making it sound as though Armenians were forbidden from returning was not a reflection of the reality. Many returned, and some of those who returned next left for French-occupied Cilicia, to heed the "Greater Armenia" call.
Interesting (p. 59): Arabs lost 20,000 "troops" during their rebellion. Also, from p. 57: Zionist delegation leader "Weizmann guaranteed the political, civil, and religious rights and freedom of the Moslem population of Palestine." Looks like it's true what they say about there being only two guarantees, death and taxes.
This is the treaty, by the way, that laid the groundwork (pp. 84-5) for all of the Aegean islands to be given to Greece. After centuries of control over the islands, Turkey was forced to accept this absurd unfairness in 1923's Lausanne Treaty.
Fascinating was the revelation (p. 109) that "a Turkish delegation was granted permission to come before the Council of Ten on June 17, 1919," led by Damad Ferid. Also surprising was that the Turks (who have the reputation of being spineless at the time) demanded there should be no dismemberment. The leaders of the council were outraged; Woodrow Wilson thought the Turks were "stupid," and Lloyd George thought the attitude equated "good jokes." That was it for Turkish delegates. The council's justification: the "Turk (has never) done other than destroy wherever he has conquered."
Also revealing, from p. 105, was how U.S. President Woodrow "Wilson evidenced a high degree of deviousness and indecision." Usually Britain's Lloyd George is credited for allowing the Greeks to invade, but "Wilson, far from being reluctant, was the one who suggested that they land immediately... All in all, Wilson must bear the responsibility on an equal basis with Lloyd George for the Greek landing in Asia Minor."
Of interest, on p. 280, was that according to Lloyd George, there were 160,000 Allied troops (90,000 Greek) in Turkey, vs. Kemal's forces of at 80,000. In addition, while the author was refreshingly fair, time and again he keeps referring to massacres of Christians, while keeping quiet about or whitewashing massacres committed by Christians. For example, he refers to the massacred Armenians of Cilicia on two occasions, without mentioning how the Armenians wearing French uniforms committed atrocities on the local Muslims. The inequity is naturally to be expected, but in this case it's a pity, since the author generally comes across as open-minded; the bigotry is everywhere.
For easier reading, here is a downloadable version: https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle/1811/24641/FROM_PARIS_TO_SEVRES.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
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