Reply to Telegram No. 33.
I would like to ask Your Excellency to point out to the Vali in a friendly but insistent manner that such ignominious occurrences damage the image of the government in neutral foreign countries and among Turkey's friends and undermine the authority of the officials in the country’s interior. Reprisals and acts of vengeance on the part of the Russians and the Armenians in the areas occupied by them are inevitable. Also, this provides fresh grounds for foreign intervention in Armenian matters and will make Turkey's position unnecessarily difficult in future peace negotiations. Even if we cannot raise any objections to the deportation of the Armenians, as far as this is justified by the state of war, we must be all the more forcible in insisting, also in our own interest, that a stop be put to the massacring of the defenceless people. It is the duty of the local authorities to prevent such occurrences with all available means if they are not willing to burden themselves with such a serious responsibility.
For your personal information: I will be making intercessions of a similar kind to the Porte.