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File 3579/1916 'Turkey: the future of Constantinople' [‎54r] (116/530)

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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. .

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■"‘WS.SKffiJ’
J1
I do not bollora .ill
oum^tuEioes ^..-.tsoover» I think that onco you leave the Turk in
Itfurooc ^3 a fovorning force ha will go on doing exactly the same as
before. There will be u revival f the old intrigues, and ho will
presently begin his old game again of trying to sot the lowers at
loggerheads with each other and profiting by their squabbles.
Therefore, so far as I am com otent to givo an opinion, I am
in favour of the olo,..n cut; but in what I huve said X have been
more oonoernod with trying to do justice to the various views put
forward than I have boon to urgo any individual opinions of my own.
MlicMONTaGU; I fool very strong dissent from your conclusion, and^
therefore perhaps you v/ould not mind me, in a few words, stating
the reasons of that dissent, because it seems to me that before wo
discuss who shall be the mandatory sower there, the first thing to
decide is whether the Committee agrees with your very povwerful argu
ment for turning the Turk out bar and baggage or could be induced
to agree with the argument I am going to put forward. The view of
th.e military authorities and of the War Office is th,..t the Turk should
be loft where ho is# I would point out that you did not scorn enamour
ed of any of the resultant clans with which you dealt on the ex
elusion of the Turk. You hypothetically eliminated him, and the
greater lowers and the smaller Powers, and you were then left either
with a condominium, which you disliked, or with the United States
which the Admiralty dislikes, and which In our discussions at the
Cabinet it was very clear that some of our colleagues very much
disliked. I would suggest tfu.t if there was no better reason the
fact that you cannot find a power that you really like to replace the
Turk would lead one to hesitate to remove the Turk in order to em
bark u'’on a scheme which may not be any more satisfactory than the
Turk himself. I assume that we c.re all agreed on the intemotional~
ization end the neutralization of the Straits and Mariner a.
What are the reasons that you allege most strongly for removing the
Turk? First of all you said th,.t it w^s not the homeland of the
Turk and that tho Yrime Minister had been historic.lly inaccurate
in using that phrase. I think that it is tho homeland Of the Turk
The fact that ho has only gone there to live of comOc.ratively
recent years does not revent its boira Ills home# You would bo

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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' [‎54r] (116/530), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/623, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100045683260.0x000075> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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