APPENDIX D TO NO. 665Letter from Mr. Forbes Adam (Paris) to Mr.

Phipps (Received January 20) Unnumbered [172029/151671/44] Letter from Mr. Forbes Adam (Paris) to Mr. Phipps (Received January 20) Unnumbered [172029/151671/44] HOTEL CAMPBELL, January 16th, 1920 Preamble Having broken the treaties which assured its territorial integrity and its sovereignty Turkey has freed the Allies from all obligations; having broken the peace, Turkey must face the consequences of her unprovoked participation in a war which was not her concern, and also of the massacres and other excesses which she took the opportunity of the war to commit. In closing the Straits Turkey cut the communications of Russia with the Allies, caused Russia's political and military dissolution and prolonged the war with all its disasters; such a catastrophe cannot be allowed to be renewed. The Allied Powers must therefore safeguard the world from a repetition of the dangers and difficulties to which it was subjected by the Turkish Government, must exact punishment for the excesses which have been committed and must secure the freedom of the subject races of the former Ottoman Empire from the intolerable Turkish yoke. These objects having been achieved the Allied Powers do not contemplate repression or revenge but on the contrary it is their hope that a reconstituted Turkey may at no distant date find a place as a member of the League of Nations.
[1048/16]

The following principles appear to be those which should govern the settlement of this question:1. The maintenance of an independent Turkish State. 2. No mandate and no spheres of political influence will be accorded to any specific power in the Ottoman Empire as constituted by the provisions of the Peace Treaty. 3. Turkish militarism will be suppressed like Prussian militarism. Details of the proposals regarding the Turkish Army and Navy will be found below. 4. The absolute freedom of the Straits will be ensured. Guardianship over them from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean will be entrusted to Allied, Naval and Military forces, who will safeguard the effective neutrality of the passage. Details of the disposition and control of the Allied forces will be found below in the paragraph regarding Constantinople and the Straits. 5. Armenia as defined below will be entirely freed from Turkish domination and constituted as an independent State. 6. The Mesopotamian and Syrian Arab populations will be freed from Turkish domination and will be supported in the realisation of their national development upon the agreed principle of self-determination. The independence of the Kingdom of the Hedjaz has already been recognised and will be re-affirmed in the Treaty. Special provisions will be necessary for the rest of the Arabian peninsula on the principles laid down in the London discussions between Lord Curzon and M. Berthelot.
[1048/17]

7. The declaration of the Allied Powers respecting the establishment of a national home for the Jews in Palestine will be effectively carried out.

8. The principles of Article 292 of the German Treaty (treaties made by Turkey during the war) will be equally applicable to Turkey as regards any agreements made with Russia or other Powers. 9. The Allied Powers demand the surrender of certain Turkish subjects for offences against the laws and customs of war and humanity. These persons to be named within one month of the entry into force of the Treaty.
[1049/18]

Constantinople and the Straits 1. This paper is drawn up on the assumption that the Turkish Government is to remain at Constantinople. In that case it is proposed that Turkish territory in Europe should be limited to the Chatalja lines. The territory up to this point will then be transferred to Greece, whose strategic position would thus be secured in a manner impossible if only the Enos-Midia line is assigned to her. This transfer is moreover justifiable on ethnological grounds.
[1049/19] [1049/20]

2. Within the reduced Turkey in Europe thus left the duty and responsibility of maintaining the neutrality and free passage of the Dardanelles, Sea of Marmora and Bosphorus will be undertaken by an international commission. It is for consideration whether this Commission should take the form originally contemplated when the new state of Constantinople and the Straits was discussed between Lord Curzon and M. Berthelot, or whether it should be confined to representatives of France, Great Britain and Italy. There would be grave objection to placing troops provided by these three Powers under the control of a body composed of a number of other Powers.
[1049/21] [1049/22]

3. In regard to these troops a force of 30,000 men, provided in equal thirds, has been suggested, and if this were put into practice the officers in command might also have seats on the Commission. It should, however, be pointed out that the maintenance, as opposed to the provision, of these troops may well prove illusory in view of the probable future trend of public opinion in the three countries. Considerations of expense, even if no other factors come into play, will tend to bring about the reduction and possibly even the eventual disappearance of this force. If on the other hand the garrison is not permanently maintained at a high figure, its control, which must inevitably extend to the Asiatic shore of both Straits and the Sea of Marmora, will be inefficacious.
[1049/23]

4. If the control were not extended to the Asiatic shore, and to a depth of at least 30 kilometres inland-the exact extent would be a matter for military and naval experts-there would be nothing more than a paper guarantee for the freedom of the Straits. 5. This is one difficulty that must be foreseen. Another is that, for the troops to exercise complete freedom of movement on both shores, there must either be a servitude over an extensive Straits zone, including both Turkish and Greek territories, or be something like an alienation of Turkish sovereignty on a coastal belt on both sides of the water in question. In the second case we arrive at the anomalous position that, while Turkish sovereignty would be nominally respected in Constantinople itself, between the seat of Turkish Government in Europe and its Asiatic territory would be interposed a strip under the effective rule of an Allied military force, whether or no this force be under the direct orders of the International Commission.
[1050/24] [1050/25]

6. Further, should the Allied Powers assume the sovereignty of the coastal strips, whether in Europe or in Asia, to which reference has been made, it may be pointed out that the Allied Commission by which they would be represented would find itself charged with administrative functions, e.g. at Gallipoli, Chanak and Scutari, which it is desirable to avoid.

7. It therefore becomes necessary to examine the precise manner in which, consistently with the retention of Greek sovereignty on the northern shores of the Dardanelles and Sea of Marmora, and of Turkish sovereignty on the southern shores of the Dardanelles and Marmora and on both shores of the Bosphorus, the demilitarisation of those regions, their occupation by the international forces, and their insurance against any possible naval or military risk may be effectively secured. 8. Within the waters under Allied control the Commission should have power to take all the necessary measures for ensuring the navigation and policing of the waters, and control over the services incidental thereto including quarantine. 9. For the execution of their duties the Commission should have the right of levying dues on shipping and imposing fines. On the assumption that a third of the 1913 Suez Canal dues are levied, a sum of over a million pounds sterling should be raised. After defraying the cost of the Allied Commission and the services performed by it, the surplus should be devoted to part payment of the cost of maintenance of the Allied troops of occupation.
[1051/26]

Military and Naval It is presumed that a small body-guard, the strength of which will be fixed by Treaty, will be left for the Sultan in Constantinople; but that no Turkish troops will be allowed within 30 kilom. of the Straits or Sea of Marmora, i.e. in the coastal strips to be placed under the military control of the Allied Force. As regards the force to be provided for the protection of the frontiers and the maintenance of internal order in the remainder of the new Turkish state, it is for consideration how far a regular army, strictly limited in numbers and armament, will be required for the purpose, or how far a gendarmerie, supervised by Allied officers, will suffice. It will be remembered that small armies have been left under the Peace Treaties to the enemy States of Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria; and the military advisers of His Majesty's Government are disposed to contend that for reasons which they are prepared to state, a similar provision should be made in the case of Turkey. This is a point to be discussed between the French and British Governments.
[1051/27]

The Turkish Navy will be abolished except for such small armed vessels, of a type and tonnage to be fixed by an inter-allied naval commission, as may be necessary for the prevention of smuggling and other purposes of revenue. Finance
[1052/28]

In order to secure the repayment by Turkey of her just obligations, whether incurred before or during the war, and the re-establishment of the financial stability of the Turkish State, Turkey must accept a measure of financial control, the exact degree of which remains to be determined, until such time as the more urgent of the above obligations have been discharged. It is accordingly proposed that the control of Turkish finance should be vested in a Financial Commission composed of representatives of France, Great Britain and Italy, to whom a Turkish representative might possibly be added. It is suggested that the order of priority in which the financial obligations of Turkey will require to be met, should be as follows:

(1) Payment of the expenses of the future inter-allied force and of the inter-allied Commissions for the control of (a) The Straits, (b) Finance (except in so far as these expenses may be covered by the shipping dues of the Straits). (2) The services of the pre-war debt-including sums due to allied nationals-and other pre-war obligations. (3) Compensation for damage done to the property of allied nationals in Turkey during the war. (4) The cost of re-establishment with full compensation in their homes and businesses in Turkey, as defined by the Treaty, of Turkish subjects of non-Turkish race who have been forcibly evicted during the war. With a view to the financial re-establishment of the Turkish State as soon as possible, the Allies might waive the further claims for reparation, which they would be entitled to press against a more solvent State, on condition of acceptance by Turkey of the financial and administrative reforms proposed. States to which Turkish territory is transferred, except the Hedjaz, will bear an equitable portion of the charge for the service of the pre-war debt. For the purpose of supervising the discharge of the obligations above enumerated, the following alternative functions might be assigned to the Financial Commission. (1) The Commission would take over from the existing Council of the Debt the collection and disposal of the revenues assigned to the service of the pre-war debt. In addition there would be assigned to the Commission the collection and control of such other sources of revenue as may be necessary to cover Turkey's obligations other than the prewar debt. The number and extent of such other sources should form the subject of examination by an expert body. The advantage of this suggestion is that it simplifies administration by reducing the number of Commissions operative in the Turkish State; while the security of the bondholders will be enhanced by becoming a charge on the new, as well as on the old, assigned revenues, so that their consent to the supersession of the old Council should not be difficult to obtain if necessary. It may conceivably be unavoidable, at the outset in any case, that the control of the whole Turkish revenue may be necessary for the purposes specified above. (2) In the second alternative the Council of the Debt would continue its existing functions under, however, the supervision of the new Commission, the latter being merely charged with the collection and control of the further revenues to be selected for the fulfilment of the additional obligations specified above. The financial departments in which a measure of foreign supervision may be necessary, cannot be specified until the number and extent of the new assigned revenues has been determined. The grant of concessions would, in the interest of Turkey herself, be subject to the approval of the Finance Commission. The Financial Commission will come to an end when the pre-war debt has been liquidated; the method of dealing with the unfulfilled obligations of Turkey, and the extent to which she may continue to require foreign assistance, will then be considered by Turkey and the Allied Powers in consultation with the League of Nations.

Administrative Reform In addition to the financial control, a certain amount of foreign administrative assistance will be needed, not only in the interests of the populations of Turkey, especially the minorities whose position must be safeguarded, but in order to qualify Turkey for the position which she may hope to occupy as a member of the League of Nations. The Turkish Government have recently expressed a desire to accept some such measure of assistance, and this request might well be acceded to, provided that the conditions upon which such assistance is given are of a nature to make it really effective. It may be pointed out to the Porte that experience has shown this to be necessary.
[1054/29] [1054/30]

Control over finance alone will in all probability not suffice. The Departments in which assistance so far as can be foreseen will be required are the following:[1054/31]

Interior. This Department will presumably be primarily responsible for the administration of the provisions for the protection of minorities.
[1054/32]

Justice. This will obviously be particularly important if the Capitulations are replaced by [a] unified system. It has already been agreed at the meeting between M. Berthelot and Lord Curzon that such a system should be worked out on the spot by an expert Allied Commission.
[1054/33]

In both the above Departments the best plan might be that the Allied Advisers should combine the functions of Joint Under Secretary of State with those of InspectorGeneral.
[1054/34]

Gendarmerie and Police Here there must be effective supervision, and the Allied officials and officers employed should in practice have the power to enforce commands. This is no more than was already agreed to by the Porte in 1914 for the Armenian vilayets.
[1055/35]

For the working of this scheme of administrative assistance, two alternatives are suggested. (a) Each department should have a staff provided irrespective of nationality by the three Allies in common; (b) Each department should be assisted for purposes of staff, by one Allied Power, the necessary co-ordination being maintained by periodical meetings of the Allied representatives. This seems the more practical course.
[1055/36]

It will probably be undesirable to define in the Treaty the extent of the assistance indicated above; on the other hand past experience has shown that it is indispensable in the case of Turkey that the powers and duties of the Allied officials should be so laid down in advance, as to afford no opportunity for evasion. A possible solution of the problem would be to provide in the Treaty that the Sultan should express his desire for the assistance of Allied officials in certain departments of his administration, and that the position and duties of such officials should be defined by decrees of the Sultan issued in agreement with the Allies, and requiring their assent before they could be withdrawn or modified; and that these decrees, in which the rights and duties of such officials should be carefully defined, should be negotiated at the same time as the Treaty and be issued on its coming into force.
[1055/37] [1055/38]

It might be desirable to appeal to the Council of the League of Nations to place this measure of assistance, instituted at the request of the Porte, under the ultimate supervision of the League.
[1055/39]

The above suggestions are submitted on the hypothesis that the rehabilitation of the Turkish State, the recovery of its finances and the restoration of its trade, cannot be

achieved without a considerable measure of administrative as well as financial control. Should it be found that the same results can be obtained by any relaxation of the proposed methods of control any proposals to that effect will be willingly considered by His Majesty's Government.
[1056/40]

Protection of Minorities The Turkey left independent by the Treaty will contain more than two million nonTurks, mostly Christians. The effective administrative assistance to be given to Turkey, particularly as regards supervision over the gendarmerie, should afford a considerable measure of protection for these minorities and it is suggested that no difficulty should be found in securing Turkey's assent to a minority treaty on the lines of those concluded both with old and new states, e.g. Poland, Roumania, CzechoSlovakia, the Serbo-Croat-Slovene State and Greece. It would fall to the supervised gendarmerie to carry out many of the clauses of this Treaty, the ultimate surveillance over which would be undertaken by the League of Nations as in the case of the other minority treaties.
[1056/41] [1056/42] [1056/43] [1056/44]

In this connection the British High Commissioner at Constantinople has urged that Turkey should be forced to repeal a law passed during the war (the law of abandoned properties) whereby the Turk who had ejected the owner and seized Armenian and Greek properties was confirmed in the possession of them. This will presumably be covered by the measure of reparation to Turkish subjects of non-Turkish race provided for under the category of Finance.
[1056/45] [1056/46]

Smyrna

[1057/47]

If Greece receives the very large accretion of territory in Europe suggested above, i.e., up to the Chatalja lines, it is submitted that the sovereignty of the Smyrna area should remain with the Turks, subject to the institution of a predominantly Greek rgime in the town of Smyrna. A similar Turkish rgime, mutatis mutandis, should be provided in the town of Adrianople assuming that vilayet to be transferred to the Greeks. Smyrna would of course be a free port.
[1057/48]

The Dodekanese It is understood that an arrangement has been made between the Italian and Greek Governments whereby the Dodekanese will be transferred to Greece.
[1057/49]

Italy and Southern Anatolia It is proposed that, as a condition of the withdrawal of Italian troops from Southern Anatolia, Italy might receive economic advantages, consisting in a right of priority, over all commercial enterprises in a zone in this region to be defined later, as well as the coal mines of Heraclea by arrangement with the French.
[1057/50]

Cilicia and the proposed French Zone between Cilicia and Armenia

[1058/51]

His Majesty's Government observe that it is proposed by the French Government to assume charge of the greater part of the Vilayet of Adana, nearly the whole of the Vilayet of Diarbekir and the Sandjaks of Malatia, Marash and Urfa. In Adana there appears to be an overwhelming majority of Turks. In the Sandjaks of Marash and Malatia the Turks also constitute the largest single element in the population. It is presumed that the French Government will assume the control of the whole of these areas only under the same conditions on which it has already been agreed to dispose of the remaining territories,

e.g. of Syria and Mesopotamia which belonged to the Ottoman Empire before the war, viz. as a Mandatory of the League of Nations. Such a Mandatory basis would naturally include the provision of facilities for Armenian settlement and complete protection of their rights especially in the Ajana Vilayet in accordance with the Allied policy of supporting Armenian national aspirations. The assent of His Majesty's Government to the French proposals regarding the above territories would be based on these assumptions. In regard to the frontiers proposed in M. Berthelot's note of January 11th, His Majesty's Government assume that the details of these, like the other boundaries of Turkey, will form the subject of examination by an expert commission to be appointed by the Conference. Armenia His Majesty's Government propose that Armenia should be constituted a completely independent republic under the protection of the League of Nations. The territory of the republic of Armenia should comprise:[1059/52] [1059/53]

(i) The existing territory of the Armenian Republic of Erivan (the exact frontiers to be considered hereafter). (ii) The eastern portion of the Vilayet of Erzerum (excluding the town of Erzerum), the plain of Mush, the district of Bitlis and the region of Lake Van, up to the Persian frontier. His Majesty's Government had originally proposed to give the town of Erzerum to Armenia. Their military experts however believe that its possession might be a source of weakness rather than of strength to the new Armenian State. The inclusion of Erzerum in Turkey must however be subject to the condition that the fortifications of Erzerum are demolished.
[1059/54]

The frontiers of Armenia with the Republics of Georgia and Azerbaijan, with Turkey, with the French zone, and with Kurdistan, would be traced on the spot by an Inter-Allied Commission. (iii) The Allies should immediately place in hand the necessary measures for arming, equipping, and, if necessary, financing Armenia, to enable her independence to be established. The Army should be assisted by Allied officers.
[1059/53] [1059/53]

Armenia should be given access to the free port of Batum by means of transit conventions with the interested States, and ultimately to Trebizond by a similar convention with Turkey if and when the railway inland from Trebizond is built.
[1059/53]

(iv) The form of Government to be established in Armenia should be such as to guarantee to non-Armenian[s] representation and the protection of their rights. This could be arranged by a special treaty between Armenia and the Allies.
[1059/55]

Georgia The province of Lazistan will be assigned to Georgia. Batum

A zone round Batum, of which the exact boundaries will be fixed hereafter, will be established as a free city under the guarantee of the League of Nations. The port shall be free. Miscellaneous Various other matters, as to which draft provisions have already been prepared in the British Delegation, will eventually have to be dealt with in the Treaty of Peace. The following may be mentioned as examples:1. Special provision for the vesting of certain areas in Gallipoli containing the graves of Allied soldiers in the hands of the Imperial Graves Commission. 2. Special provision for Allied graves elsewhere in Turkey to be left independent. 3. Sanitary administration. 4. German State property and interests in Turkey. 5. Return of antiquities. 6. Archaeological law. 7.
[1060/56]

Tariff and the economic aspect of the capitulations.

8. Various other economic questions.

Footnote -