Armenia, Travels and Studies (Volume 2 of 2) / The Turkish Provinces

by H. F. B. Lynch

[15] I cannot speak with certainty as to the geological nature of the Pir Reshid Dagh. [↑]

[16] For Tendurek, which appears to be in a solfataric condition, see Abich’s article in the Bulletin of the French Geological Society, 2nd series, xxi. pp. 213 seq., and Letter from T. K. Lynch in P.R.G.S. xiii. pp. 243, 244. [↑]

[17] The Miocene deposits are found in the valleys, e.g. in those of the Frat (Western Euphrates) and Araxes.

An interesting fact has been brought to my notice by Mr. F. Oswald, my friend and companion during my last journey. There may be seen in the Tiflis Museum the remains of a mammoth which was discovered in the lacustrine deposits of the Alexandropol district. Similar remains had already been found in deposits of similar character and age in the neighbourhood of Khinis by Colonel J. Shiel. These are in the British Museum, where they have been christened Elephas armeniacus. [↑]

CHAPTER XXIV

STATISTICAL AND POLITICAL

When after the close of the last war between Russia and Turkey the leading statesmen of the European Powers assembled in congress at Berlin in the year 1878, they were approached by delegates from the Armenian people, one of whom was no less a personage than the present Katholikos, or High Priest of the nation, His Holiness Mekertich Khrimean. In answer to the enquiries of the Plenipotentiaries upon what portions of the Ottoman Empire the Armenians—of whom they had heard during their studies of the classics at school and college—still bestowed the glamour of an historical name, the delegates addressed themselves to the excellent map of the late Professor Kiepert and endeavoured to trace upon it the approximate limits of their country, embracing its area by a coloured line. Kiepert’s map, displaying on its face this interesting addition, is now slumbering in the archives of the Berlin Foreign Office, and I have been permitted, by the courtesy of the German Government, to hold it in my hands. So far as I remember, the area comprised within the coloured line corresponds approximately to that which is indicated in a document presented to Congress by the delegates, under the title of a project for an Organic Regulation to be applied to the new Armenian province which they desired to see established. The delegates asked that this province should be administered by Armenian officials; and when they were requested to state what proportion its Armenian inhabitants would bear to the Mussulmans, they furnished figures for the vilayets of Erzerum, Van and Bitlis (excluding Sert) which placed the numbers of the Mohammedans at 528,000 and the non-Mohammedans at 1,172,000.[1] All the country between the Russian and Persian frontiers on the east, and a line drawn between Tireboli on the coast of the Black Sea and the confluence of the Kizil Chibuk Chai with the Euphrates on the west, was to be included in the new Government. The northern boundary was the coast line of the Black Sea; while that on the south extended from the Euphrates to the river of Bitlis, and so through the wild districts south of Lake Van back to the Persian frontier. At a congress of Oriental diplomatists both their demands and their statements would have been perfectly understood. One-half of the former might possibly be conceded, and the smallest fraction of the latter accepted. The collective wisdom of Europe assembled in the Prussian capital may perhaps have received a hint in this sense. The delimitation on the map of Kiepert was a far greater puzzle; how many members of Congress had even heard of the publication of the learned and laborious German Professor? But it was evident that there must be districts somewhere containing an Armenian population; so a clause was inserted in the Treaty to the effect that the Porte was pledged to carry out reforms in the provinces inhabited by Armenians.[2]

The Plenipotentiaries returned to their respective countries immensely pleased with themselves and with their work. Europe forgot all about the Armenians, nor have the Powers collectively displayed up to the present day the smallest interest in the Armenian Question. Only England has taken the matter in the least seriously; and the reaction which marred the results of the far-seeing policy of Lord Beaconsfield—and which was perhaps induced by the theatrical character of that eminent man—prevented us from striking while the iron was still hot. The important position which we had attained in the councils of the Ottoman Empire by the provisions of the Cyprus Convention was early and perhaps irrevocably lost. When Mr. Gladstone’s Government came to deal with the complexities of the Armenian Question, they could scarcely expect to enjoy the goodwill of the Turkish Government, which, out of office, they had done their utmost to disparage and humiliate.

An attempt was made by Mr. Goschen, Ambassador at Constantinople under the Gladstone régime, to grapple with the inherent difficulties of the case. Immediately after the Berlin Treaty a number of able consular officers had been despatched by England over the whole of Asia Minor with instructions to report upon the general condition of the country, and upon the measures of reform, extending over the whole field of Turkish administration, which it would be necessary to recommend. Their reports are an interesting contribution to the literature of Blue-books; but in respect of the Armenian Question our Ambassador cannot have been enabled to extract from them the information which was necessary to provide him with that sure ground upon which to build that he was seeking to acquire. The Armenians themselves, for whom he was working, supplied him with misleading statistics, and seem never to have inspired him with any real confidence as to the soundness of their cause.[3] As a consequence, no definite plan was placed before the Porte, and, what is more important, no definite policy seems ever to have been brought to the mind of our Ambassador or of his colleagues representing the signatory Powers. The teasing activity of England in Asia Minor, and the reports of misgovernment in every direction which she showered upon the Porte, seem not only to have alarmed Turkey but the European Powers as well; and it only required a word from Prince Bismarck to dismiss the whole question of Armenian reforms.[4]