The defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkan war (1912-1913) created
favorable conditions for the revival of the stipulations of the Treaty
of Berlin of 1878. Its article 61, never put into practice, had
established that the European powers would guarantee the implementation
of administrative reforms within the provinces of the Empire inhabited
by Armenians.
Guevorg V (1911-1930), Catholicos of All Armenians, was the driving
force behind the creation of the Armenian National Delegation, presided
by Boghos Nubar Pasha (1852-1930), which lobbied the European powers
to facilitate the enactment of reforms in the Ottoman Empire. The
failure of the government to fulfill Armenian hopes after the
revolution of 1908 and the restoration of the Constitution, coupled with
the coup d’état of the Young Turks in early 1913, were enough to look
forward to European intervention, as many other times in the past.
The complicated politics of the period also favored such an
intervention. France, Great Britain and Italy were anxiously trying to
limit German overgrown influence in the Ottoman Empire, while Russia
encouraged the Catholicos to appeal to the imperial government through
the viceroy of the Caucasus for intervention. The project of reforms
was prepared by André Mandelstam, the dragoman (translator) at
the Russian Embassy in Constantinople, and representatives from the
Armenian National Assembly, the main legislative body of the Ottoman
Empire. The project was introduced and discussed at the meeting of the
French, British and Italian ambassadors. It suggested the formation of a
single province through the union of the six Armenian vilayets
(Bitlis, Diarbekir, Erzerum, Mamuret-el-Aziz, Sivas, and Van) under
either an Ottoman Christian or a European governor general. This
official would be appointed by the European powers for the next five
years to oversee matters related to Armenian issues. German strong
opposition succeeded in obtaining several important modifications, such
as the division of the region into two provinces headed by
inspector-generals. They would be posted in Van and Erzerum.
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| L.C. Westenenk |
Finally,
the project was signed into law on February 8, 1914, by the Ottoman
Empire (represented by Grand Vizir Said Halim Pasha) and Russia. Two
European officials were selected as inspector-generals: Louis Constant
Westenenk, an administrator for the Dutch East Indies, and Major
Nicolai Hoff, of the Norwegian Army. Hoff was already in Van when World
War I started on July 28, 1914, while Westenenk was preparing to
depart for his post in Erzerum. The Ottoman Empire took advantage of the
situation to expel the inspector-generals and, on December 16, 1914, a
month and half after entering the war, abolish it. Anti-Armenian
organized violence that would lead to the genocide was already on its
way.
