 1900-1999
A.D. Assyrian History
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1923: Agha Petros and the Lausanne Telegraphs
by Dr. Racho Donef — Sydney, Australia. 2003.
Posted: Monday, September 29, 2003 at 12:44 AM CT
  Background
After the Assyrian genocide and
the expulsion of the remaining Assyrians in the Ottoman Empire, the Assyrian
delegation in Lausanne made some effort to convince the Turkish delegation to
let the Assyrian resettle in their homeland in Hakkari. The Turkish delegation
stubbornly rejected these approaches. Having rid itself of an ethnic element was
not interested in repopulating parts of Anatolia with Christian population,
whether indigenous or not.
The Lausanne telegraphs published by the Turkish Historical Society contain all
the telegraphs sent between the Turkish delegation in Lausanne and the Turkish
Government in Ankara.[1] The telegraphs reveal the resolve of
the Turkish delegation not to entertain any thoughts of an Assyrian homeland.
The following two telegraphs best document this attitude.
Translated by Dr. Racho Donef from transliterated Ottoman Turkish
| Document 1 — Cable sent from Ismet Inönü,
head of the Turkish delegation in Lausanne, to the Turkish
government. |
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No.353 January 15, 1923
No.230, 231
The head of the Assyrian-Chaldean delegation in Lausanne, Agha Petros visited me
and made the following proposal:
- To grant the sanjak [2] of Hakkari for the settlement of
the Assyrian and Chaldean population. If this were not possible then to
grant the entire Gavur or Cölemerik districts, as well as some parts of
Baskale and Semdinan.
- He asked for the return [of the Assyrian Nestorians] who lived in
Cölemerik and Gavur before the war and who migrated because of the
situation; and in addition those Nestorians who are in Iran, Baghdad and
other countries, in short all of the Assyrians and Nestorians, to return and
live all together and under the facilitation of Turkey.
- In the event that this condition were accepted, then the
Assyrian-Nestorian delegation will declare that they have no claims against
[issues with] Turkey. Furthermore, the Chaldeans who live in Mosul would ask
for Mosul to be annexed to Turkey and that they would help us to achieve
this end.
- The head of the Assyrian Chaldean delegation also added that once we
reach agreement in Lausanne they are prepared for him or someone else to
travel to Ankara.
- Accordingly, we cannot make any commitments about the return of the
helpless refugees and other Chaldeans living abroad. The Assyrian-Chaldeans
can live in Turkey freely like other Turkish citizens. We can send the head
of the delegation to Ankara to declare this. To this end, I wish that we
send an Assyrian delegation from here to ensure that the Chaldean troops in
Mosul work for our interests. It is said that during the General War Agha
Petros, as a commander of the army of revenge, caused much damage to us.
Does he still have authority? Is it possible for him to come? I request in
writing that the order is carried out.
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| Document 2 — Cable sent by the Turkish
Prime Minister Hüseyýn Rauf to Ismet Inönü. |
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No.368 Response to his Excellency Ismet Pasa
No.278C, Response to 16/1/39 (see No.3530) January 18, 1923
It is obvious that we would not approve the settlement of Assyrians and
Chaldeans in our country. However, as long as we do not make any commitments and
if it is beneficial to send Agha Petros away from Lausanne he could be sent to
Ankara and we inform you that said person was an interpreter in our Urmia
Consulate and has Turkish citizenship.
HÜSEYIN RAUF
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NOTES
[1] B Simsir, Lozan telegraflari, Vol. 1, Türk Tarih Kurumu,
Ankara, 1990;
B Simsir, Lozan telegraflari, Vol. 2, Türk Tarih
Kurumu, Ankara, 1994.
[2] Administrative Unit.
Related Information
 History
Conference
 1900-1999
A.D. Assyrian History Archives
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