Recently, the Turkish government put our official material on the Armenian question by publishing an extensive collection of documents under the title, "The Revolutionary Targets and Machinations of the Armenian Committees Before and After the Constitution". In the first part (pp. 1 – 41), the documentation briefly describes the foundation and work of the various committees up to the re-establishment of the constitution; in the second part (pp. 42 – 323), it first deals with the nationalistic propaganda of the Committees in the press and literature, in schools and among the clergy since 1908, as well as preparations for armed revolts. This is followed by detailed reports on the events in the Armenian parts of the country during the World War. The final part is composed of facsimiles of 122 pieces of evidence on 73 pages.
Despite its one-sided views and its tendentious character, the documentation demands notice; how far the documents and the evidence can be considered as authentic pieces of evidence must be examined in individual cases. At any rate, however, when looking through this material one cannot avoid coming to the conclusion that the machinations of the Armenian Committees have been gravely irritating the Turkish government for a long time, and that they justified the repressive measures taken during the war. How far the government overstepped the boundary to self-defence and/or how far it was also swayed by other motives, is another matter.
Until now, the documentation in question has only been published in Turkish. A French version is being prepared; in addition, the editor of the magazine "Dadshar" (see report no. 453 dated 4 September of this year) published an excerpt in the Armenian language.
A copy of the Turkish edition is presented as an enclosure.1