Letters by Mkrtich Khrimian, Dated 30 May 1904, to the Presidents of France and the USA in the Context of the Reform Programs for Western Armenia

Summary

Keywords: letters by Mkrtich Khrimian, Western Armenia, Ottoman Empire, reforms, massacres, self-defense of Sasun in 1904, Theodore Roosevelt, Emile Loubet, Edward VII, Hovsep Sarajian, Sahak Ayvatian, Andranik Ozanian, Gevorg Chaush, Gegham Ter-Karapetian.

An irreconcilable struggle was waged in 1878-1904, and particularly since 1895, between the block of Great Powers seeking to implement reforms in Western Armenia, that suffered under the yoke of the Ottoman Empire, and the longing of the Sublime Porte to abort these processes. England, France and Russia, notwithstanding all controversies and rivalries between them, elaborated joint programs to establish capitalist fundamentals in the Ottoman Empire. The ambassadors of these countries Ph.H.Currie, P.Cambon and A.Nelidov signed the famous memorandum in Constantinople on May 11, 1895, in which Western Armenia was regarded as a single territory of governance undergoing to national, economic and administrative oppression by the state. Unwilling to limit its unbridled autocracy and infinite exploitation of the Armenians even by most basic laws, the Sublime Porte replaced mandatory innovations by the policy of expelling the Armenians and depriving the autochtonous inhabitants of their lands. Western Armenia became a target of the most savage violence implemented by the Kurdish tribes, police, and the regular army. There were no //-55 conditions here to ensure even minimal security for life, property and movement of people.

Catholicos Mkrtich Khrimian, who tried to help his nation, had been involved in the elaboration of the state programs of reforms since 1876. From June 13 to July 13 of 1878, he, as a head of the delegation, submitted documents to the partakers of the Berlin Congress. After the mass abdulhamidian massacres of 1894-1896 and from 23 January to 18 July of 1904, Sasun became a victim of this policy again. In this region, small self-defense detachments strived to defend 30 thousand Armenians from the state terror. During the Ottoman army's assault on Sasun, the Catholicos compiled letters and on  May 30 of 1904 sent a delegation to the President of France Emile Loubet, the British King Edward VII and the US President Тheodore Roosevelt. On June 1, Khrimian addressed a letter to the Russian Emperor Nicholas II. Based on the memorandum of May 1895, Mkrtich Khrimian laid out to the Presidents his minimal demands for reforms and asked for the Great Powers control over the implementation of innovations. On July 18, 1904, Andranik Ozanian, Gevorg Chaush and Gegham Ter-Karapetian, the commanders of the self-defence forces, presented similar demands to the three European Consuls, who observed the Sasun events on the spot.

European On July 16, August 10 and  September 28 of 1904, the members of the delegation, formed by the Catholicos Mkrtich Khrimian, Archbishops Hovsep Sarajian and Sahak Ayvatian delivered his written request to the leaders of these countries in Paris, London and Washington. The letters testified both to the need to change situation, and to the fact that the Armenian people was utterly defenseless and in exceedingly dangerous position. Nevertheless, the appeals of the Catholicos did not bring the desired results. The heads of the Powers and the US President T. Roosevelt in particular, realized that the Ottoman Empire would not implement reforms without external, forceful supervision. //-56