I have, etc.
[Inclosure in No.
897.—Translation.]
Tevfik Pasha to
Mr. Riddle.
Sublime Porte,
Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, June 6, 1896.
Mr. Chargé d’Affaires: I transmit to you
herewith, a memorandum containing the information furnished by the
governor of Bitlis concerning the conduct of the American
missionary, George Knapp.
I feel sure that a perusal of this document will lead you to the
conclusion that this missionary indulged in intrigues of a nature
calculated to disturb public order and security in several provinces
of Asiatic Turkey, and that he himself brought about the Bitlis
incident.
The concurring depositions of many persons abundantly prove this.
As the position assumed by Mr. Knapp is not in harmony with the large
hospitality enjoyed by American missionaries in the Empire, nor with
the friendly relations so happily existing between the two
countries, I do not doubt that the United States Government will
completely disapprove it and will apply to his case the provisions
of the law.
Receive, etc.,
[Subinclosure in No.
897.]
Memorandum.
This missionary, who was one of the principal mainstays of the
Hintchagist committee at Bitlis, indulged in all sorts of subversive
intrigues. It was at his instigation that Armenian agitators
provoked disturbances in the province. In fact, this missionary was
always in correspondence with Armenian leaders, among whom were Hany
Sarsoun (alias Mourat), chief of the Sassoun and Tabari insurgents,
in order to stir up trouble with a view to creating an Armenian
principality in Asia Minor, and used to send to Sassoun and
elsewhere, under the pretext of distributing aid, emissaries who
were charged with the mission of giving most pernicious counsels to
the inhabitants. Incited by him, the agitator Ossep, son of Garabet,
and several of his Armenian companions, had attempted in the open
street at Bitlis to forcibly abduct a Kurdish girl from her parents,
at the same time calling the latter by the most abusive names, and
blaspheming the Imperial Government and the Musselman religion.
This missionary, in company with certain agitators, used to hold
meetings at his house or in the churches or at the bishop’s
residence in order to prepare the Bitlis incident. It is he who had
vagrants in his hire and armed them that troubles might be provoked.
He encouraged the credulous Armenians to attack the mosques during
the Friday prayer and to kill the faithful, to assassinate
MusselMANS. officials and notables whom they met in lonely places,
and to urge such of their own nationality as were faithful to the
Imperial Government to refuse to pay their taxes and to address such
language to the Musselmans as would tend to excite them; in one
word, he did his utmost to disturb order and peace. He acted as
intermediary in the exchange of guilty correspondence, propagated
the most revolutionary ideas, and spread abroad sensational rumors.
Refusing to conform to the regulations governing public instruction,
he tried to inoculate subversive principles into the minds of his
pupils, and sought to induce the Armenians to embrace Protestantism.
He persuaded those of them who occupied public places not to go to
their posts. It was at the alarm signal given by means of a bell
which he had installed near his house that the Armenians shut their
shops and attacked the mosques at the time of the Bitlis
disturbances.
The Armenians, Hamazasp, Serape, and Mampre (the letter Mr. Knapp’s
servant), who wounded a certain Kevark Agha Bakkalian, have
testified before the examining magistrate that they committed this
crime under orders from Missionary Knapp, who promised to give £100
to whomsoever succeeded in killing one or more members of the
Bakkalian family, and to provide for the future of his wife and
children in addition. They have further testified that it was George
Knapp himself who furnished the revolver used in the perpetration of
the crime. It is also stated in their depositions that this
missionary was aware of all the revolutionary plans of the
[Page 914]
Armenians and that he had
advised them to assassinate some of their fellow Christians in order
that the crime might he attributed to Musselmans. Quite recently Mr.
Knapp has used abusive language toward the Musselmans passing in
front of his house and has sought to provoke the Musselman
population to fresh troubles. All these facts are established by
judicial examination.
Besides Hamazasp, Serape, and Mr. Knapp’s servant, the persons whose
names follow have also made deposition against this missionary.
(Here follow nineteen Armenian names.)
