Book Review: The Political History of the Armenian Question 1877-1914

The author of the present work, Münir Süreyya Bey (1871-1932), was a member of the foreign service of the Ottoman Empire and Republic of Turkey. The work was completed in 1916 and given to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a report on the Armenian Question. It is very fortunate that the report was made available to the public 85 years after its completion by the Directorate General of the State Archives. The work is published with a preface by M. Selçuk Polat, Deputy Under-Secretary for Prime Ministry, and an introduction by Dr. Yusuf Sar?nay, Director General of State Archives.

Without adequately examining the roots and nature of the Armenian question, dealing only with the 1915 events from only one point of view would lead illusions. Therefore, being a part of the continuous process of the Armenian question the 1915 events would only the examined adequately by going to the roots of the Armenian question. The book makes a contribution to a fuller understanding of the Armenian Question. As pointed out by Polat the book deals specifically with the role and political manoeuvres of the Great Powers in the Armenian Question. The Great Powers perceived themselves as the protectors of the non-Muslims living in the Ottoman territory. Therefore, the Great Powers had a free hand to intervene the domestic matters of the Empire. Russia became the protectorate of the Armenians by an international treaty, the Treaty of St. Stefanos of 1878. Other Great Powers also gained the same status with respect to the Armenians by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878. The Ottoman government had to recognize the international dimension of the Armenian question and promised for reforms in the Eastern Anatolia which constitutes the one third, or a bit more, of the total territory of Turkey. It must be emphasized that ‘six provinces’ where the reforms were to be made was not populated by the Armenians only. They even did not form the majority of the population. However, by using the Armenian population of the region the individual members of the Great Powers found an opportunity to influence the Ottoman Empire in their race with other European powers for their own interests. Therefore, it could conveniently pointed out that the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire was not only used as a weapon against the Ottomans but also as a tool against other members of the European powers. This is well documented by Münir Süreyya Bey in his report.

The book is divided into three parts, each covering the following historical periods: 1. 1880-1883, 2. 1894-1897 and 3. 1912-1914. The first phrase starts with a diplomatic note given to the Ottoman Empire by Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Austro-Hungary and Italy on 11 June 1880. Second part starts with Sasun uprising, while the third one starts in 1912. As pointed out by Münir Süreyya Bey the hardest one was the second period, because six European powers were in complete accord.

An appendix containing the original copies of 183 official documents has been annexed to the book. Most of them have been previously published by Bilal ?im?ir. This is book provides a cogent selection of documents, background information and expert analysis. Münir Süreyya Bey will appeal not only to the students and teachers of the Armenian question, but also of history, diplomacy, international relations, strategy and other disciplines of social sciences. It is extremely important that the English version of the book, at least the original report excluding the appendix, should be published, although the foreign scholars on the Armenian question are supposed to be fluent in Turkish, but they are simply not.