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File 3579/1916 'Turkey: the future of Constantinople' [‎43r] (94/530)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (259 folios). It was created in 5 Sep 1916-27 Mar 1919. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

Transcription

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even in Constantinople itself, contrary to the beliof, I
believo, entertained by most people in this country, perhaps
by some of us at this table, the furies arc not a majority of the
population.
Those arc the factors are regards population v/ith vh ich we
have to deal.
To what extent are we committed with regard to Constanti
nople b$ anything that has been said by us or by our Allies during
tho war ?
In the earlier days of tho war, in iiarch 1915, ;ir„,.squith *s
Government entered into an engagement with the Kussian Government^
if tho war was successful, to hand over to hussia not only
Constantinople but a substantial strip of territory on both
sides of tho btraits. This strip of territory subtended not only
the Bosphorus but the boa of Marmora and the Dardanelles, and it
would have been placing Russia not only in possession of tho City
itself but of the whole of the approaches to and the exits thorefror
It is unnecessary for us to discuss here the i.isdom or the policy
of that act. I profoundly deplored it at the time, because I
regarded it jbas fraught with great danger to the common cause, and
even to Russia herself, who, I think, would have suffered irramed-
iably had she boon persuaded to ooiao down from tho 1'orth and embark
on the wholly different sphere of politics which the possession
of Byzantium would have opened out before her. Thr.it is, however,
only a dictum of my own. Russia has disappeared .from the
scene, the treaty has lapsed, and we need not spend much of our ^
time in considering it.
The second stage was when, in January 1917, wo drew up, in
conference with our Allies in Downing Street, the famous declarat
ion of our aims in reply to the American iioto. X forgot the exact
terms employed; but we did distinctly include in that statement *
the expulsion of the Turk from Suropo. blight apparent modification
of that attitude have been visible since. Our Brim© Minister, in
a speech which ho made in January of tho present year, used this
language« He said that Great Britain did not challenge the main
tenance of Turkey or of tho Turks in the; homeland of the Turkish
race with its capital at Constantinople. Asia Minor is not the

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Content

The volume contains papers regarding the future of Constantinople [Instanbul]. It includes: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. minute papers; copies of correspondence between the Foreign Office and Sir George Buchanan, HM Ambassador at Petrograd [St Petersburg], and other British diplomats; draft telegrams from the Secretary of State for India addressed to the Viceroy of India; correspondence between the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. and the Foreign Office; and other papers. Some of the correspondence is in French.

Issues discussed in the papers include: whether the Constantinople Agreement, concluded between the British, French and Russian governments in March 1915 (under the terms of which Constantinople and the Straits of the Dardanelles would be annexed to the Russian Empire), should be made public; the possible effect upon Muslims in India of the announcement of the agreement; and the question of the re-conversion of the St Sophia [Hagia Sophia] mosque in Constantinople into a Christian church.

The volume includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 volume (259 folios)
Arrangement

The subject 3579 (Turkey: the future of Constantinople) consists of one volume, IOR/L/PS/10/623.

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 259; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. The front and back covers, along with the two leading and two ending flyleaves have not been foliated.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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File 3579/1916 'Turkey: the future of Constantinople' [‎43r] (94/530), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/623, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100045683260.0x00005f> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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