TREATY OF SEVRES

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 7, 8 July 1922, Page 12

TREATY OF SEVRES

should be Sacred

THE CASE OF ARMENIA

Eaig Yepvat, the author of the following article in a New "York paper, is an Armenian woman:—

Hundreds of thousands of Armenians have been massacred in the past by the fanatical agents of a Turkish autocrat. To-day a Christian democracy has forgotten its plighted; world and has sacrificed the Armenians of Cilicia upon the altar of a Franco-Kemalist accord. This pact.was conceived,in perfidy, it is being carried out with unblushing cynicism, and it is destined to add a sad climax to human suffering without a parallel in the history of the world. A means must be found to fvert this impending evil. It can be averted, and, what is more, it can be averted without the necessity of America sending abroad a single soldiw, expending a dollar or involving itself in entangling alliances. Armenia is a nation. It has its own language and a galaxy of poets and writers who have won for themselves a nichain the Hall of Fame. Above all, the Armenians ethnically constitute a homogeneous race, riveted together by a National Christian Church. Notwithstanding this essential unity, before the Great War Armenia was merely a geographical expression. The greater part qf Armenian territory was then under the Turkish flag-, but a large area owed allegiance to the, Tsar and a smaller region to the Shah of Persia.

When the tocsin of war -roueed Europ. in 1914, a congress of Ottoman Armenian, was in session at Erzroum. The wily .Turk knew of the. splendid fighting qualities of the Armenian soldier, end was _ aware of their unconquerable tenacity of purpose. He therefore im r mediately got into touch with this representative body and sought.to enlist it_ support. The Armenians fully R«_fpe_ the: significance of this move. They understood what the war meant and the issues which were involved. They knew also that they were helpless and surrounded by Turkish bayonets, and that the streams of their Fatherland would run red with the blood of their wives and , infanta if they refused. The dispassionate , language of; an official despatch dated the Foreign Office, London, 3rd October, 1918, and.bearing the signature of Lord Robert Cecil, British UnderSecretary of State for.Foreign Affairs, best sets forth, not only the nature of 'the reply, but the death toll which it carried in its wake.

It is thus officially placed on record that:' --..' •■ '„ '..--■

---"(1) In the autumn of 1914 the Turks sent emissaries to the National Congress of the Ottoman Armenians then sitting at Erzroum, and made them offers of autonomy if they would actively assat Turkey-in the war. The Armenians replied that they would do their duty individually as Ottoman subjects, but that as a nation they could hot work for th« cause of Turkey and her allies. (2) On account, in part, of this courageous refusal,, the Ottoman Armenians were systematically murdered by the Turkish Government, in 1915. Two-thirds of the population were exterminated by the most cold-blooded and fiendish methods, more than 700,000 people, men, women; and children alike. "(3) From the beginning of ti_e war that half of the Armenian nation which was under the sovereignty' of Russia organised volunteer forces . and under their heroic leader Andranik bore the -brunt of some of the heaviest fighting in the Caucasian campaigns." • Armenia, therefore, is not only a nation, in all that the term implies, but it has wonits right by a baptism of blood to take its place among the free and independent peoples Af the world. The Treaty of Sevres " officially welcomed Armenia to the full rank and dignity of -a -free; sovereign arid independent State/ '"' ARMENIA DiSMEMBEEED.ThJs Treaty', which w_b drafted at the end of a war fought not only to rid mailkind of th« tyranny of militarism, but to consecrate the equality of all nations, great and small,-in its very first line set forth that the British- Empire, France, Italy, and Japan constitute the principal allied powers, and that Armenia is an allied power of the same rank and dignity as Belgium. Starting, therefore, from this premise; that Armenia is not only a nation but an ally, Article 88 of the Treaty provides that: "Turkey declares that it hereby recognises, as the allied Powers have already recognised, Armenia as a free and independent "State. Then follows Article 89 : "Turkey and Armenia, as .well as the othei high contracting iparties, agree to submit to the-arbitral. ment of the President of the United States the delimitation of the boundaries •between Turkey and Armenia in the Vilayets of Erzroum, Trebizond, Vanand ißrt-is and to be bound by his decision as well a_ by any provision which, ha may set forth in respectto granting Armenia success to the sea or requiring the demilitirasition of all Ottoman territory adjacent to the said, iron tier." The President of the United States was thus given a mandate to define the Turkish-Armenian frontier, but his hands were tied by the fact that Article 89 did not include Cilicia within the purview of his mission. Cilicia was the scene of the massacre of the Armenians by the Young Turks and the final bulwark of Armenian independence. Jt is known to history as Little tArmenia, as opposed •to Great Armenia; the latter includes I the provinces which fell within the scope rof the mandate given to the President of the United States. Armenian, public opinion was incensed at this severance of Armenian unity, after centuries of persecutions, suffered for a common cause had made Armenia one and indissoluble. '•'-.'. . x , Europe, nevertheless,, was obdurate ■and the representatives of the Armenian nation were forced .to conten 1 themselves with an expression of formal and unequivocal protest at this dismemberment of Armenia. The Treaty of Sewes, however, did not consign Cilicia to the tender mercies of the Turkish despoiler, but allotted it to Syria. ' Article 94 of the Treaty is extremely illuminating. It reads as follows : '"The high contracting parties, are agreed that Syria and Mesopotamia be provisionally recognised as independent .'States, provided the advice and aid'^a : mandatory guide their administration until they be able to conduct, their own-affairs." France became the guide, philosopher, and friend" of-. Syrian,.,'and, therefore, when OiliciiA was torn away from the house of it.' -fathcre; and put under a foreign yoke; -Armenians, felt that, while their legitimate hopes' had not been attained, life,, liberty, and the pursuit of ha,ppin_ssv;'w'ere assured1 to their brethren of little .Armenia,' .because France was the eldest daughter of the Church, the protector 'of the Christians of the Orient, and' as.' brave as .it was true. Armenians breathed '-"a sigh of relief. They saw'the end,, of Turkish .misgoverrtment, and looked forward' to the benign blessings of'-Trench'rule; "'' MORE MASSACRES. The unsettled condition of the world at large,.and'the tidal wave of Bolshevism havemade it impassible for the now Armenian nation to organise its body politic, and throw jt_ 'whole acid into the development, of it. resources. It was. felt, oil the 'oilier h.'tiu!, by' Armenians that as Ci'Ai-j.. or I ilV.o .'Armenia, wn. | uiid-sr i'i.'C">cli''ralft,-'iiik'. thus assured--.. I the immediate ad-vantages, not only of |

the expulsion of the Turks, but of the upbuilding influence of French institutions, the day of Armenian salvation was at hand. . • - Hardly, however, had the ink dried upon the Treaty of Sevres when Franklin Bouillon was secretly hurried off to Syria to attempt to undo the work which the bravery of French, soldiers had made possible. Armenia was forgotten, Christianity was overlooked, the rights of small nations were brushed aside, the solemn trust of a mandatory. Power was treated as a pawn; Alsace and Lorraine were forgotten, and Cilicia was thrown to the Turkish wolves, in order to satisfy the hunger of ambition. .The dawn of Armenian massacres has again broken, and the red of the Tricolour of France will take on a new meaning if the white of the spirit of Joan of Arc and the blueof the sublime courage of Foch do not restore the old meaning to a flag which has neve, yet known dishonour. ' France to-day vibrates with the patriotic fervour of the unquenchable eloquence of Raymond Poincare. With matchless logic he points out that the Treaty of Versailles is a solemn pact, and represents the irreducible minimum of French rights. He demonstrates, that Lloyd | George and President Wilson not only agreed to come to the help of France, if attacked, by Germany, but spontaneously offered this help, as a substitute foi the Rhine frontier advocated by Foch. He shows that France, which wae bled white by four years of heroic fighting, is paying out of iv own pocket for the rehabilitation of.i_- devastated! territory. He boldly proclaims that if France, the victim, can raise the money to do this work Germany, the aggressor, must _be made to find it. He asks for nothing not nominated- in the bond, but he insists that Germany honour its signature. He is : right, and France has made him Prime Minister because' he is right. The Treaty of Versailles, however, is not a bit more 6acred than the Pact of Sevres. - Because France appended- its signature to the Sevres convention as a principal Allied Power, and Armeniai, like unto Belgium, as a secondary Allied! Power, does not mean that French honour is not bound, but rather that it is doubly bound. The Treaty of Versailles and the Treaty of Sevres form part said parcel of the Treaties of Paris, and must be placed upon a plane of absolute equality. FRANCE BROKE TREATIES., France should be made to understand that it alone of all the nations of the .world has unequivocally and deliberately broken the Treaties of Paris; France should be ma.de to know that as long as it persists in this attitude it cannot have the support of America in any collective attempt to force Germany to respect the Treaties of Pans. French diplomatists may object that as the Senate of the United States did not lafcify the Treaties of Paris, as drafted, America is unable to insist upon an observance by France of the Treaty of Sevres. -, Such an argument would be ethically indefensible and logically unsound. It would be ethically indefensible because, when in the crucial days of 1918 the French Parliament made 4th July, 1918, a national holiday, every public building throughout France was placarded with a poster, calling Apon Frenchmen to celebrate the 4th of July because "with America and through America. France will be saved from the invader." ..-A At Ohateau-Thierry,. two weeks later, the promise thus made was redeemed. It would ill become a son of France to deny America the right to be heard as to the enforcement of the terms of peace which followed such a heroic featAdiAmerican arms. • ,-. . Such an argument would be logically unsound because, as the Treaties of Paris are one and hwepaiable, France cannot ask for American support in its' coercive campaign to enforce the Versailles convention, unless, by the .same token, it admits that Washington has a right to demand that the Sevres agreement be respected. - The Franco-KemaJist agreement was the work of the Briand Ministry It ■was carried through when Bert__>lpt reigned supreme at the Quay d'Orsay, Briand is now out of powei and Berthelot is out of office. The men who to-day conduct the destinies of France, like' unto those who made France worthy of her destiny, _Te not responsible for the rape of Cilicia. The moment is, therefore, opportune. America has but to. speak. Let France know that it is not entitled to. a.pfennig from Germany because France has torn' the peace Treaty to shreds and the wise statesmanship of Millerand and of Poincare will cause-France once again to see its duty and to do it. AMERICAN RELIEF WASTED. American gold has been poured out for Armenian relief. Armenia is: grateful for this help, but the firesides which were made .nappy by American m_nificence are to-day desolate, because the Armenians hay. 'been caused to .fly from the homes by the advance of Turkish hordes. All of the splendid work of the American Near East Relief has. been lost because Kemaliet guerrillas -have^accepted the invitation of French diplomacy, and, witljt arms once carried by the heroes .of Verdun, have swarmed into the valleys as th«. inspiring chords of the "Marseillaise" have died cut beyond the hills. .;.-.-

Sixty thousand Armenians have _e_ from Cilicia, leaving behind them all their earthly possessions, and these disconsolate men, women, and children are followed day by day by endless streams of their fellow-countrymen. These heart-broken fugitives, have been assured by the French authorities that their fears are groundless, that Cilicip is a land flowinjr with milk and honey, and that the Kemalist leaders have given France a binding undertaking to respect the lives, property, and religion of the Armenians. They have been counselled with insistent courtesy and ringing eloquence to return to their homes, and there peacefully pursue their usual avocations.' When tho. Germans, thundered at the gates of Paris, the then President of France, Raymond - JPoincare, called his inveterate personal antagonist, Clemenccnu, to tho head of the Ministry, because Poincare ie a patriot, and saw that the Tiger'alone of all Frenchmen could save France from the perils sowed by the. "Bonnet Rouge." Clemenoeau knew his country, and he knew the true greatness of the nation's, soul. He knew the Turk and his ntter unfitness to govern other races. . ..When, therefore, th« Turks protested against the Treaty of Sevres, and begged that the Ottoman Empire be saved, it was Clomenceau who, on 25th June, 1919, in his own name, and in that of the Peace Conference, told the Ottoman delegates that Turkey had,been weiehed in the balance and found wanting. With a style equally as courteous as that of the French authorities in Cilicia, the Tiger gave the Turks to \md.ei_t,a.nd that they could not be trusted, and that the days of their, rule were numbered.. France, therefore, cannot blame the Armenian* when they reiecfc a Turkish guarantee oomitersijned by a. French vuwnise which fives the, li« to every tradition'to which France stands committal.

.This distrust of tho Turk, is" shared by thp French Parliament, for, no 1-nter than fiUi February. 1922.''.180'" members, of the French Olmmbe- of Pr-nutiV prepontod "a- petition to the!"' Council. of Mii]>te"s,' rr-ini.^KT ontAthi't: '".Ti'stiro and liMman'ty rlemanrl that wo should, not force!, the Armenian- massacres, the

deportations which Armenians have suffered, and tile services which they rendered to the Allies and to civilisation ' during the war. ... Had the Treaty of Sevres been emorced, it would have ,- secured tt the Armenians the just ful- ' filment of their national aspirations just a. it realised all of the wishes of other i ' peoples whom the victory of the Allies '. liberated."

American gold was about to Tejuven- ' ate Cilicia, and _ Armenian in_n»try.^ - patience, and toil were about to reap"* the harvest made possible by American generosity, when France forgot her > ' ' plighted word, forgot her devastated homes, forgot her Alsace and Lorraine, forgot her heroes who lie in a hundred. ' fields, and converted at the end of the '" wai a Treaty into a scrap of paper when ; she had called Americans from b_y»_d, '• the sea to punish the Germans for hay- l ing declarer 5 that the Belgian neutrality Treaty was a scrap of paper. ; ; The true France knows that a Treaty j is a solemn covenant which must be 'i respected. If, for the moment, France '" has wandered off after -talee gods, it is aslced that that misguided nation, be made_ to know without delay that ' America does not and will not oounten--anee any form of French casuistry • which, in the same breath," proclaim* the i dogma of the infallibility of the Treaty of Versailles and the anathema of the Treaty of Sevres.. The influence thus brought to bear upon France will not entirely eolv. the Armeniar question, because it will not settle the fate oi that portion of the territory inhabited by the Armeniani which has been moulded into free and independent Armenia. Tie new State is surrounded by Turkey and Russia, and its rejuvenation is impossible as long as Cilicia is a prey to Turkish marauded. The salvation yl Cilicia is the immediate, passing, cry, mg need, and its salvation ia possible 'if America., which poTed forth its blood tosave the world, will open its lips to' save Armenia'