Agreement on Armenian reforms

Constantinople, 26 January/8 February 1914.

It has been agreed between His Excellency Mr Konstantin Gulkevich, Imperial Russian Chargé d'Affaires, and His Highness Prince Said Halim Pasha, Grand Vizier and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Ottoman Empire, that, simultaneously with the appointment of the two Inspectors-General who are to be placed at the head of the two sectors of Eastern Anatolia, the Sublime Porte shall address the following note to the Great Powers:

Two foreign Inspectors-General shall be placed at the head of the two sectors of Eastern Anatolia: Mr A....... at the head of the sector consisting of the vilayets of Erzurum, Trebizond and Sivas, and Mr B..... at the head of the sector consisting of the vilayets of Van, Bitlis, Kharput and Diyarbekir.

The Inspectors-General shall be responsible for supervising the administration, the judiciary, the police and the gendarmerie in their sectors.

If the forces of the public-security authorities are insufficient, military forces shall, at the request of the Inspector-General, be placed at his disposal for carrying out measures taken by him within his competence.

The Inspectors-General shall, as circumstances require, dismiss all officials whose unfitness or misconduct they have established, and shall bring to trial those officials who have committed a punishable act. The Inspectors-General shall replace dismissed junior officials with new officials who satisfy the conditions for admission to service prescribed by the regulations and laws.

They shall have the right to make representations to the Government of His Majesty the Sultan concerning the appointment of senior officials.

They shall immediately notify the appropriate ministries of every dismissal by telegrams briefly stating the reasons, and shall, within one week, forward to the ministry the file on each of these officials, with a detailed statement of the reasons.

In important cases requiring urgent measures, the Inspectors-General shall have the right immediately to suspend irremovable officials of the judicial department from office, on condition that the matter is immediately reported to the Department of Justice.

Where a vali commits acts requiring urgent disciplinary measures, the Inspectors-General shall report the matter by telegram to the Minister of the Interior, who shall immediately submit it to the Council of Ministers. The latter shall take a decision no later than four days after receipt of the Inspector-General's telegram.

Land disputes shall be settled under the direct supervision of the Inspectors-General.

More detailed instructions concerning the rights and duties of the Inspectors-General shall be drawn up after their appointment and with their assistance. If, during a period of 10 years, the posts of Inspector-General should fall vacant, the Sublime Porte counts on the favourable assistance of the Great Powers in selecting Inspectors-General.

Laws, decrees and government communications shall be published in each sector in the local languages. Each party shall have the right to use its own language before the administration and the courts if the Inspector-General considers this possible. Court decisions shall be drawn up in Turkish and, if possible, accompanied by translations into the languages of the parties.

The share of each ethnic element (unsur) in the public-education budget of each vilayet shall be determined in proportion to the public-education tax paid by it. The Imperial Government shall place no obstacles in the way of persons of the same faith contributing to the maintenance of communal schools.

In peacetime, every Ottoman shall perform military service in the military district in which he lives. However, when sending land forces to the remote regions of Yemen, Asir and Nejd, the Imperial Government shall, until further orders, recruit these forces from all parts of the Empire in proportion to the nationalities inhabiting it. It shall also include in the naval forces recruits drawn from all parts of the Empire.

The Hamidiye regiments shall be reorganised as reserve cavalry. Their arms shall be kept in military depots and issued to them only in the event of mobilisation or manoeuvres. They shall be subordinate to the commanders of the army corps in whose districts they are located. In peacetime, the commanders of regiments, squadrons and platoons shall be selected from among officers of the active Ottoman army. The soldiers of these regiments shall perform military service for one year. To be admitted to these regiments, soldiers must provide horses and their full equipment at their own expense. Any person, without distinction of race or religion, who resides in the district concerned and satisfies these requirements may be enrolled in these regiments. When assembled for mobilisation or manoeuvres, these regiments shall be subject to the same disciplinary measures as regular troops.

The competence of the general councils of the vilayets shall be determined on the basis of the principles of the law of 13 March 1329 (1913).

The actual proportions of the different religions, nationalities and languages in the two sectors shall be determined by a definitive census to be carried out under the supervision of the Inspectors-General as soon as possible, if possible within a period not exceeding one year.

Until then, the members elected to the general councils (mejlis-i umumi) and to the committees of the vilayets of Van and Bitlis shall be chosen half from among Muslims and half from among non-Muslims.

If the definitive census in the vilayet of Erzurum is not completed within one year, the members of the general council shall be elected on the same basis of equality as in the two above-mentioned vilayets.

In the vilayets of Sivas, Kharput and Diyarbekir, the members of the general councils shall henceforth be elected on the basis of proportionality. For this purpose, until the census is completed, the number of Muslim electors shall be determined by the electoral lists used as the basis for the most recent elections; the number of non-Muslims shall be established according to lists to be submitted by their communities. If, however, practical difficulties of various kinds should make this temporary electoral system difficult to implement, the Inspectors-General shall have the right to propose, for the distribution of seats in the general assemblies of the three vilayets of Sivas, Kharput and Diyarbekir, another proportion more suited to the current needs and requirements of the aforesaid vilayets.

In all vilayets where the general councils are elected on the basis of proportionality, the minority shall be assured representation on the committees (encümen).

The members elected to the administrative councils shall, as before, be chosen half from among Muslims and half from among non-Muslims.

Unless the Inspectors-General consider it unsuitable, the principle of equality between Muslims and non-Muslims shall also be applied to recruitment into the police and gendarmerie in the two sectors as vacancies arise.

The same principle of equality shall, so far as possible, also be applied to the distribution of all other posts in the two sectors.

In witness whereof, the above-named have signed the present instrument and affixed their seals to it.

SIGNED BY:

Gulkevich Said Halim