Copy [Copy presented to the Reichskanzler from Metternich.].
Regarding the question of the deportation of the Armenians out of Allepo, I learned the following from a police commissioner with respect to an individual case:
Orders have been given to deport every Armenian who is not in the possession of Identity Papers (”Teskere Nufus”) issued in Aleppo, without taking into consideration the time already spent in Aleppo. Only those issued there are valid proof that the holder is not among the deportees.
Therefore, if an Armenian came, for example, to Aleppo ten years ago from another Turkish town to settle there and holds a Teskere Nufus from the other town, without having had reason to exchange it for a local one, then he is doomed to deportation.
With this order the Government possesses an effective weapon with which to deport the majority of the local Armenians. Only those born here are safe, as long as they are registered with the authorities, something, which is commonly known, is not the case throughout among Ottoman subjects.
Of the immigrants, including those who had immigrated before the deportations began, a considerably high number will not be in possession of the local residence permit. The police are busy with checking these permits and some local Armenians have already been deported in this way.