68-The points dealt with in Djemal Pasha s letters

The points dealt with in Djemal Pasha s letters

I will now refer to the points dealt with in Djemal Pasha s letters.

While the Minister of War informed us, on the one hand, about the Note presented by the Allied High Commissioners, on the other he reminded us again of the points he had wished for a long time we would agree to and which he now continued to insist upon. I do not know whether we ought to believe that, in fully explaining his wishes to us once more and at the same time giving us this Note to read, Djemal Pasha wanted to influence our opinions.

After having spoken of the aims of the policy of the Allies, Djemal Pasha continued: “The Government intend shortly to publish a declaration promising that the reforms which can be accepted within the points proposed by Wilson will be carried out. We must not irri tate the Minister of the Interior, for if we do he will resign and this will lead to a crisis. It is certain that when Parliament opens there will be a change in the Ministries of the Interior and of Foreign Affairs. Our enemies do not want the Chamber to be opened. We have heard that the Union of the Friends of England, pretending that the recent elections were not conducted according to law, intends to appeal to His Majesty to dissolve the Chamber/ (Document 219.) He mentions once more the question of the deputies going to Angora.

Now let us keep in mind what has been said in these three doc uments and subject them to a short analysis.

From the Note presented by the High Commissioners, it can be seen that Sir George Milne, commanding the Black Sea Army, had personally given counsel and orders to Djemal Pasha, Ottoman Minister of War, just as though the latter was directly under him. Till now, Djemal Pasha had not mentioned this to us.

We see, also, that the Minister of War of the Ottoman Empire is criticised because he was unable to carry out the instructions and orders that had been given to him, and because he brought forward reasons and excuses that were inacceptable.

We can well understand what the orders were that the Minister received and why he could not execute them. The reason was, that the national forces resisted them . . , The national forces did not obey the orders given to them then or afterwards by the Minister of War and the Government in accordance with those issued by Sir George Milne . . . This is what the High Commissioners, on behalf of the Supreme Council in Paris, call in their Note “inacceptable reasons and excuses/ In other words, they mean to say: “If you are a Government, if you are Minister of War, you must govern the country, the people and the Army; if you do so, reasons and excuses are superfluous/