Statement made by a foreign resident at Constantinople to a Swiss gentleman at Geneva, communicated by the latter.
Van after the Turkish retreat: Letter from Herr Spörri, of the German Mission at Van, published in the German journal “Sonnenaufgang,” October, 1915.
Urmia during the Turco-Kurdish occupation: Diary of a Missionary, edited by Miss Mary Schauffier Platt, and published by the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.
Urmia: Narrative of Dr. Jacob Sargis, recorded in a despatch, dated Petrograd, 12th February, 1916, from the correspondent at Petrograd of the American “Associated Press”.
Refugees from Hakkiari: Letter dated 26th September/9th October, 1915, from a relative of Mar Shimun, the Patriarch; communicated by the Rev. F. N. Heazell.
Refugees from Hakkiari: Letter, dated Diliman, 1st/14th April, 1916, from Surma, the sister of Mar Shimun, to Mrs. D. S. Margoliouth, of Oxford.
The Nestorians of the Bohtan District: Letter, dated Salmas, 6th March, 1916, from the Rev. E. W. McDowell, of the Urmia Mission Station, reporting information brought by a young man (with whom Mr. McDowell was previously acquainted) who had escaped the massacre; communicated by the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.
Azerbaijan: Statement, dated Tiflis, 22nd February, 1916, by Mr. M. Philips Price, War Correspondent for various British and American newspapers on the Caucasian Front; communicated to Aneurin Williams, Esq., M.P., and published in the Armenian journal “Ararat,” of London, March, 1916.
The Flight to the Caucasus: Despatches to the Armenian journal “Horizon,” of Tiflis, from Mr. Sampson Aroutiounian, President of the Armenian National Committee of Tiflis, who went in person to meet the refugees.
Refugees in the Caucasus: Letter dated Erivan, 29th December, 1915, from the Rev. S. G. Wilson to Dr. Samuel T. Dutton, Secretary of the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief.
Erzeroum: Record of an Interview between the Rev. H. J. Buxton and the Rev. Robert Stapleton, a missionary of the American Board, resident at Erzeroum from before the outbreak of war until after the capture of the city by the Russians.
Baibourt: Narrative of an Armenian lady deported in the third convoy; communicated by the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief.
Erzindjan: Statement by two Red Cross Nurses of Danish Nationality, formerly in the service of the German Military Mission at Erzeroum; communicated by a Swiss gentleman of Geneva.
Mamouret-ul-Aziz: Narrative of an Armenian lady deported from C. (a place half-an-hour’s distance from H.), describing her journey from C. to Ras-ul-Ain; written after her escape from Turkey, and dated Alexandria, 2nd November, 1915; published in the Armenian journal “Gotchnag,” of New York, 8th January, 1916.
X.: Report from Mr. AL., a foreign resident at L., in Asiatic Turkey, dated 26th August, 1915; communicated by the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief.
Angora: Extract from a letter dated 16th September, 1915; appended to the Memorandum (Doc. 11), dated 15/28th October, 1915, from a well-informed source at Bukarest.
Adrianople: Despatch from the correspondent of the London “Times” at Bukarest, dated 18th December and published on the 21st December, 1915.
Cilicia: Letter, dated 20th June, 1915, from Dr. L., a foreign resident in Turkey; communicated by the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief.
Jibal Mousa: The defence of the mountain and the rescue of its defenders by the French Fleet; narrative of an eye-witness, the Rev. Dikran Andreasian, Pastor of the Armenian Protestant Church at Zeitoun.
Exiles on the Euphrates: Record, dated Erzeroum, June, 1915, by M. Henry Barby, of an interview with Dr. H. Toroyan, an Armenian physician formerly in the service of the Ottoman Army; published in “Le journal,” of Paris, 13th July, 1916.
To people now, used to a combination of live reporting and statistics, these sources seem like hearsay: the evidence seems quaintly anecdotal. Who are these gentlemen in Constantinople and Geneva? Is this kind of thing enough to support a case for a genocide? It sounds more like an Ashenden story.
Or does a mosaic of evidence, cross-checked and examined, get closer to truth than a camera and a live reporter?
The Blue Book is, cumulatively, as Toynbee says, “an extraordinarily vivid impression of Armenian life – the life of plain and mountain, town and village, intelligenzia (sic) and bourgeoisie and peasantry – at the moment when it was overwhelmed by the European catastrophe”.
On the other hand, it is not really news, but intelligence. It is intelligence gathered at second hand, ie not for the most part by British observers. But mainstream British intelligence was also gathered by this kind of patient accumulation of detailed anecdotal reporting. A critical and detailed awareness of what was happening on the ground was what British intelligence was based on. It is what the Americans are allegedly so bad at.
This knowledge was not in the first instance used to falsify things: it was accurate and most of it was secret. It was used to help to further British policy and war aims. Let’s look at some roughly contemporary passages from British intelligence material gathered in another part of the Ottoman empire, in the Arab world.
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Arabian Personalities of the Twentieth Century, with a new Introduction by Robin Bidwell, The Oleander Press, 1986, 362 pp, is a collection of British intelligence material. It is based on a handbook published in 1917 in a limited and confidential edition.
On the cover of the 1986 edition: Biographical Profiles of the Leading Figures in Hejaz, Asir, Yemen, Aden and Hadhramaut, Oman, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm-al-Qaiwain, Ras al-Khaimah, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Najd, Jabal Shammar, Syrian Desert, Sinai, and the Bedouin and Sedentary Families of the Arabian Peninsula. Entries are not attributed, but some of the material is by figures such as TE Lawrence and Gertrude Bell.
Here, randomly, are some of the more superficial entries. I’ll choose some on individuals, not tribes. The tribal entries show an astounding grasp of topography. We can only adapt Toynbee’s phrase and call the compilation, of which this is a tiny sampling, “an extraordinarily vivid impression of Arab life”.
The order of entries here is different from in the book and the number per geographical area is not in the same proportion as in the book.
Syrian Desert and Sinai
“TELAL IBN FĀʿIZ ABU MESHKŪR.
Paramount Chief of the Beni Sakhr. Claims to be able to call out 10,000 men (?). The pan-Arab party in Damascus claims him as an adherent. The Beni Sakhr are responsible for the Hajj line from Jīzah to Kerak. Their southern pastures run down as far as the Jebel Tubeiq. They summer round Mādeba and in the Ghōr. The Chief’s father, Fāʿiz, is still alive, but plays less part than the son in desert politics. The Fāʿiz group owns about 500 tents, the whole of the B. Sakhr tribe having about 1,500. Telāl refused to provide camels for the Turkish attack on the Canal in January 1915.”
“SELĪM ABU IRBEʿA.
Chief of the Thulam tribe of Sinai, ranging from Gaza to the Dead Sea. An intelligent, well-mannered Arab of real influence with his tribe, and paramount over its sub-tribes, which total some 2,000 souls, with, perhaps, 2,000 camels.”
“NAWWĀF IBN NŪRI ESH-SHAʿLĀN.
Son of the paramount chief of the Ruweilah, and governor of Jauf since it was taken from Ibn Rashīd. A man of considerable intelligence and some education; regarded by the pan-Arab party in Damascus as a staunch adherent and a valuable ally, but subsidized by the Turks (£ T. 4,000?). Sheltered refugees from Syria in the winter of 1915-16. His reputation bids fair to eclipse that of his father. In his absence, his little son, SULTĀN, received Shakespear at Jauf in 1914. (See also p. 106.)”
“MOHAMMED PASHA JERŪDI.
Hereditary Chief of the oasis of Jerūd; he has a house in Damascus where he spends the winter, and is very well known. He is of Anazah stock, a man verging on 70, fat and infirm. He breeds horses, and maintains good relations with the tribes. Has been a source of considerable trouble to the Ottoman Government, but is nevertheless useful as an intermediary with the tribes. It is owing to his position in the desert that he has enjoyed more clemency than he deserves. Wealthy and avaricious.”
“HAMŪD IBN SUWEIT.
Paramount Chief of the Dhafīr tribe. About 40 years of age, intelligent and reputed a good tribal administrator and politician. An old foe of Ibn Rashīd, who refused the latter’s invitation to join in a campaign during the winter 1915-16 against the rulers of Koweit and Riyādh. Recently (early 1916) he has mobilized his tribesmen together with the Bedūr (a half-settled tribe of some 30,000 souls who live between Khidhr and Sūq esh-Shuyūkh) in the desert, west of Sūq esh-Shuyūkh, to counteract any movement of Ibn Rashīd or ʿAjeimi of the Muntefiq against us in Mesopotamia. He has been attacked by the Shammar and the ‘Ajmān; but, though worsted, has been able to defeat ʿAjeimi. Ibn Sa’ūd himself recommended our enlisting him on our side. He controls about 2,500 tents. (See also p. 137.)”
“HAMĀD ES-SŪFI.
Of the Terābīn tribe of N. Sinai and lives at Beersheba. Chief of the Najamāt sub-tribe of the Terābīn and also of the small Haiwāt tribe. Active in helping Turkish propaganda in autumn 1914, and claims to have been made a Pasha. He has a stone house, and is local Mayor (Raʿis el-Beledīyah), but possesses only about 20 camels; age about 70. His son, Jadira, age about 30, has no great influence outside his own tribe. Hamād’s father was killed by the Abu Sittah, another Terābīn sub-tribe, and Hamād has a blood-feud with them. His authority is not widely recognized outside his own sub-tribe, and the Haiwāt. Afraid of the Turks, and in December 1915 was said to have become disaffected towards them, and to have refused to put his men into Turkish uniform.”
“FAHD BEY IBN ʿABD EL-MUHSIN EL-HADHDHĀL.
Paramount Chief of the ‘Amarat. A man over 60, not very intelligent; a pan-Arabist, who hates the Turks for personal reasons, having been imprisoned by them at Mosul more than once. He owns profitable palm-gardens at Ghazāzah near Kerbela, and has planted lands on the Euphrates at Bagdad. He is much respected in the desert, but is now old and timid, pre-occupied by anxieties about his settled property, the value of which, he fears, may be diminished by the opening of the Hindīyah Escape. It is essential for him to remain on good terms with whoever controls the water of the Euphrates. Rules about 3,000 tents. (See also p. 107.)”
“ABU JĀBIR.
A family of Christians of Nazarene origin, now settled at Salt, and owning lands on the Hajj Railway north of Jīzah, at Yadūdah. There the two brothers, ABU SĀLIH FREH and ABU SAʿĪD FERHĀN, have built a substantial stone house. They are men of intelligence and great physical vigour, well known and much respected in the desert on account of the unlimited hospitality which they extend to the tribes. They are anxious to improve the cultivation of their lands, and complain bitterly of the hindrances which the Ottoman Government puts in their way, and the complete lack of protection which it affords. At Juweidah, three or four miles from Yadūdah, another of the family, SELĪM ABU JĀBIR, has a farm, while farther south, at Urum Kundum, the BISHARRA family, related by marriage to the Abu Jābir, have a large farm. A notable group of sturdy cultivators, holding their own against the tribes. One of the Bisharra sons, Hanna, was educated in Switzerland, and has taken an agricultural degree. Another Christian, Nimrūd Hasan, has a small farm at Tneib, SE. of Urum Kundum. Tneib is about the limit of possible cultivation, owing to the lack of rain farther east.”
Central Arabia
“‘ABDULLAH EL-KHALĪFAH.
Of Boreidah. A fat and greasy Arab who once kept a shop in Cairo. Becoming bankrupt, he worked his way as a fireman to New York, and there drove a hackney. Saved about £1,000, and returned to Boreidah. Has since made more money, e.g. at Bombay in 1913, and is now rich and of much consideration.”
“MUDHI BINT SUBHĀN.
Daughter of Subhān, vizier to the Emir Mohammed, and of Fātimah. She was married first to the Emir Mohammed. On his death in 1897, she married the Emir ʿAbd el-ʿAzīz, to whom she bore a son, Saʿūd, the present Emir. She became the wife of Sultān er-Rashīd, who was murdered by his brother Saʿūd, and subsequently, of Zāmil es-Subhān, murdered in 1914. By the latter she had a child. She is still a beautiful and gracious woman, but she has no political influence, being completely dominated by her mother Fātimah (q.v.).”
Aden and Hadhramaut
“MUHSIN IBN SĀLIH.
Sultan of Izzān, part of the ʿAbd el-Wahīd Sultanate. A man of wild, ungovernable character, who is unpopular with the tribes; a robber and bad governor. Blackmailed the Austrian Expedition in 1898 and is said to have tried to raise money in the early nineties by pledging his Sultanate in Yemen to the Turks and in Jibuti to the French. Visited Aden, 1909, and is subsidized. Allied with the Kaʿaiti. Now about 46 years of age. (See also p. 247.)”
“‘ABDULLAH IBN ʿĪSA.
Of the Ahl Afrir. Sultan of Qishn, Socotra, and the Mahrah tribes. Unenlightened, inexperienced, and suspicious, but inclined to keep in with us. Subsidized by Aden.”
“‘ABD EL-QĀDIR EL-MEKKAWI, KHĀN BAHĀDUR.
Influential merchant, and Arabic scholar of Meccan origin, resident in Aden. Author of a good book, The Overflowing River of the Science of Inheritance and the Rights of Women, very favourably received by German Oriental jurists. Shrewd, intelligent, and well versed in both native and European politics. Has been in the habit of reporting on local affairs to the Governor-General of the Sudan, and is in close touch with the native staff of the Aden Government. Speaks and writes English well.”
“MAHMŪD IBN MOHAMMED.
Cousin of the Sultan; age about 55. Hypochondriacal and partly insane. Appears to have been deprived of his estates.”
Yemen
“COCCALI, DEMETRIUS.
Chief Agent and Inspector of the Red Sea Lighthouse Administration; resident, with his wife, at Mocha. Of Greek race, but Ottoman nationality. Said to be willing to help us.”
“CAPROTTI, GIUSEPPE.
Italian merchant, survivor of two brothers in business in Yemen; long the only genuine European resident in Sanʿā, and entertainer and protector of several foreign visitors (e.g. Wavell 1910, and Bury 1912). He left Sanʿā in November 1913, and has not returned. Was created cavaliere for his geographical and archaeological services, but deprived for writing a socialist article in a German paper, and speaking against the Tripoli expedition. Refused to help the Governor of Eritrea to open relations with the Imam, but mediated for ʿIzzet Pasha, and accepted the order of the Mejidieh (third class). About 55 years of age.”
“HĀDI IBN AHMED EL-HEIJ.
Chief of the Waʿzāt (3,000 fighting men). Lives at Muʿluq, at the foot of the hills, five hours inland from Loheia. Pro-Turk and Shafei. Raided Idrīsi country, summer 1915, and was shot in the shoulder; applied to the Imam Yahya for help. Now quiescent. Made a Pasha. Took Italian subsidies during Tripolitan War. Controls the country from the Beni ʿAbs border to Wādi Maur and is the most influential man in the district after Sherif Hamūd. He wrote a letter of congratulation and submission to the Emir of Mecca in late summer, 1916. (See also p. 243.)”
Asir
“MOHAMMED IBN ʿAZĪZ.
Of Ibha; of the Umm Manādhir clan of Beni Mugheid. Brother-in-law of Husein Effendi Walad Muzeiqah Julas (q. v.) and assistant Sandūq Amīni. Assesses crops for ‘ushr. About 25; small, dark; well reputed and intelligent. His brother, Mansūr ibn ‘Azīz, represented Asiri grievances at Constantinople some years ago and obtained redress.”
“FARAJ BEY IBN SAʿĪD.
Elder son of Saʿīd ibn Fāʿiz. Paramount chief of the Beni Shihir esh-Shām. Lives at ʿAsābili. About 38. Tall, fair (Circassian mother); M.P. Has a Circassian wife at Constantinople. Rich and to be reckoned with, but a drunkard and a libertine. Formerly Kaimmakam of Qunfndah, Muhāʿil and Hali districts and was a terror in his cups. Owns property in Constantinople and Mecca as well as in Ibha, and is much abroad. Distantly related to the Emir of Mecca – Sherif ʿAun having married a girl of his house; visits the Emir and would join him against the Turks and take his tribe, one of the strongest in Asir, with him. Speaks Turkish and French and wears Stambuli dress. Said to have entertained two German officers at ʿAsābili four years ago for many months.”
“ALI IBN MOHAMMED.
Paramount Sheikh of the Balasmar. A tall and powerfully built man of about So years of age, with a scar over the right eyebrow. Favours Idrīsi and collects taxes for him. His fortress is at Madfaʿah.”
“AHMED SHERIF.
Of Sabia; joined Mohammed ʿAli Pasha against Idrīsi in 1910. Idrīsi, accusing him of peculation, cut off both his hands. He went to Constantinople, where he had artificial hands fitted. Now lives at Hodeidah on a pension from the Turks of £ T. 50 per mensem.”
Hejaz
“SULEIMĀN QĀBlL.
Of Jiddah. Tall and thin, with dark, pleasant face and intelligent eyes. Grain merchant. Raʿis el-Beledīyah under the Turks. Main agent in inducing the surrender of the Turks in June 1916. The Emir has reappointed him Raʿis, and in this capacity he received the Egyptian ‘Mahmal’, making a good impression on the Admiral. Honest and intelligent. Age about 40.”
“HUSEIN IBN MUBĀRAK (pronounced locally MUREIRIK).
Chief of the Zobeid section of the Masrūh Harb. One of the most powerful Harbi sheikhs; resides at Rābugh. Formerly anti-Turk, but not necessarily pro-British. ‘A man of much power, who likes to be addressed by high-sounding titles.’ Owns dhows, and has had correspondence and other communications with the Red Sea Patrol about seizures; but has not yet been visited by a political officer. To be treated with distinction and caution. In 1916, raised about 4,000 men and captured a very large sum of money on its way from Medina to Mecca for Ottoman official use. Joined the Emir’s revolt in June 1916, but half-heartedly, and opposed the landing of the Egyptian battery at Rābugh. Corresponded with the Turks and accepted their bribes. Detained and diverted the Emir’s supplies. In August he withdrew inland when the Emir occupied Rābugh in force. Later, made his way to Medina and definitely joined the Turks. Not to be trusted to serve any ambition but his own.”
“AHMED EL-MULLAH.
Of Jiddah. Before the War, Agent of the Ottoman Steamship Company. A Bokhariote dealer in carpets. Pro-Turk, but of very little influence.”
And one of the sons of the Emir of Mecca
“ZEID.
Aged about 20. Is quite overshadowed by the reputation of his half-brothers. His mother was Turkish and he takes after her. Is fond of riding about, and playing tricks. Has not, so far, been entrusted with any important commission, but is active. In manner a little loutish, but not a bad fellow. Humorous in outlook, and perhaps a little better balanced, because less intense, than his brothers. Shy. The least important of the four sons. Sent on a peace mission to Asir in March 1915. Met a British delegation on the Hejaz coast on June 6, 1916, immediately before the revolt broke out. Afterwards represented his father at Jiddah, and commanded reserve troops.”
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Editor, The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, 1915-16: Documents Presented to Viscount Grey of Fallodon, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, by Viscount Bryce, with a Preface by Viscount Bryce, Hodder & Stoughton and His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1916, online here