None of the secret meetings of our century has changed the flow of
events as the one that took place on 22-24 September 1919 in Sivas between the American Major General James C. Harbord and Mustafa Kemal with Rauf Orbey. This event will hold its place as one of the events that gave a break to the young Republic of Turkey.

Gen. James Harbord

  We were all anxiously waiting and yet apprehensive that General Harbord may change his mind and not stop by in Sivas and his path would take him to a country named Armenia that England, America, and France wanted to establish on our land.

America had joined the allies (England, France, Russia, and Italy that we had fought from 1914-1918. Our opponents had won the war against our allies Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Bulgaria with backing from America's unbeatably strong war machine. The American Senate had approved the foundation of a new country named Armenia occupying seven Turkish provinces.

The American General had arrived in Istanbul on September 1, 1919 with 17 war ships, 9,000 marines, and a check book that allowed him to fill in 9 zeroes at a time. He also had all the privileges that General Pershing enjoyed during the war of operations in Europe. General Harbord was assigned the duty to investigate and observe the area assigned to the new Armenian State and report his findings to the Senate.

It was a real dangerous time, because the armed forces of Armenia, founded within Russia, had concentrated on Turkey's Eastern Borders.

The Turkish Nationalists living in Istanbul contacted the General
through the friendly director and teachers of Robert College and tried to strike a lightning in his mind which might have been filled with false Armenian Myth. They also alerted Mustafa Kemal who was in Sivas through Halide Edip Adivar and Huseyin Ragip Baydur's letters.

I must admit that we were surprised at the level of importance that
Mustafa Kemal gave to the American General's visit. He paid attention to how he will win over the General and convince him that we were sincerely telling him the truth. We prepared the teacher's lounge for the meetings and the Kitapcizadeler's house for sleep over.

 

Kazim Karabekir Pasha

Mustafa Kemal ordered Husrev Bey and me to show the General everything as had happened on site. We were pleased that the large American group was moving slowly, because even the surrounding villages were devastated by the Armenians. The Armenians had killed some of their own kind when they came in disagreement. Armenians were testifying to the massacres they
faced in the hands of terrorist Armenians. There were Armenians among the American group. We were selecting the Armenians to speak to them.

Kazim Karabekir Pasa greeted the American General with a ceremony similar to the one in Sivas. His translator Ali Sukru Bey's English was impeccable too. General Harbord was so impressed that he said "I did not meet soldiers who can speak English as fluently as yours do, not even in Italy."

Karekin Pastirmaciyan who was representing Erzurum at the Ottoman Meclis-I Mebusan headed the Armenians who marauded Erzurum with the advent of the Russian army. He took refuge in Russia when the Russian Army retreated. Later he took the name Armen Garo, meaning Armenian Hero. He resorted to all kinds of atrocities among the Muslims of Erzurum with the Hinchak and Dashnak soldiers of Russian origin troops that he led.

Karekin Pastirmaciyan, during his days as a younger terrorist; he helped lead the Ottoman Bank takeover in 1896.

Antranik arrived in Erzurum after Karekin Pastirmaciyan left. His
atrocities were so fierce that the Russian Occupying General Ruchevsky had to send him out of the City of Erzurum. The local Armenians who did not join Antranik were also tortured. They had escaped to the mountains and came out only after the Turkish Army arrived. Kazim Karabekir Pasa faced the American General with these sad realities. We were staying at the Dumluzade's estate on the second day of our trip when a woman dressed in Turkish attire entered the garden. We wondered who this woman was that she could travel alone.

Later we found out that she was an Armenian nurse who worked at the Merzifon American College. She had joined the Armenian forces as they were invading the city in front of the Russian Army. When she saw the atrocities they performed on the innocent civilians, she argued with them. They threatened her, so she escaped to the Russian Commander's post with two Turkish children. She served the Russians as a nurse. After our soldiers took back the city, she was protected by the families of the Turkish boys whose lives she had saved. When she found out that an American General arrived to investigate the situation on site, she paid this visit to tell him about her experiences.

There were two people of Armenian origin in the American group and the Patriarchate had assigned the General three translators of Armenian origin. Rauf and Rustem Bey in Sivas, Ali Sukru and Irfan Bey in Erzurum checked the documents that they had translated. However, one of the American Armenians in the group said in Armenian to the translators to do the translation as they please in front of this woman who was dressed up in Muslim attire. She quickly informed General Harbord of the conversation and the General kept her in his entourage until he left Erzurum.

Our mosques, schools, and even our graveyards had been ransacked. The Armenian churches, schools and graveyards remained in good shape.

James Harbord in 1930 while retiring as president of RCA

 In some Muslim villages no stone was left unturned. The Armenian districts remained untouched in return. The General could see these for himself. General Harbord traveled onward from Erzurum to Kars and all the way up to Erivan. Probably he witnessed similar signs of rebellion on his trip onward. It was the path that the Russian troops had followed.

Harbord was bid farewell in the same sincere and proud manner that he was greeted by the people who had nothing to hide. While shaking General Karabekir's hand he loudly said; "I saw the truth on location." Husrev Bey and I returned back to Sivas at the same time that General Harbord left Erzurum.

The following is from a book by Prof. Justin McCarthy, the title of which has been misplaced for the moment; the chapter is entitled, "AMERICAN INVESTIGATION OF EASTERN ANATOLIA." After criticism of other Harbord statements as "falsifications," the professor continues:


Harbord even falsified the reporting of Armenians. The Harbord mission did not go to the worst areas of wartime loss in Eastern Anatolia, and Harbord obviously realized that this was a disadvantage to his report. His statement on the Mission's travels obfuscates that fact:

All of the vilayets (provinces) of Turkish Armenia were visited except Van and Bitlis, which were inaccessible in the time available, but which have been covered by Captain Niles, an army officer who inspected them on horseback in August, and whose report corroborates our observations in the neighboring regions.35 (Footnote: Harbord in 184,02102/5, p. 2.)

In reality, saying "all the vilayets of Turkish Armenia were visited except Van and Bitlis" is deceptive, because even areas of northeastern Anatolia had been visited only by sub-groups of the Commission. The sub-groups were usually led by Sherkerjian or Khachadoorian (who drew up reports of the sub-groups). More deceptive, Harbord's statement on Captain Niles' investigation of Van and Bitlis, the provinces where Muslims had suffered the most at the hands of Armenians, was completely false. Captain Niles had assuredly visited those provinces and had written a report, but his report did not agree with that of Harbord. Most of its conclusions were opposed to Harbord's , but Harbord did not include a copy of Niles' report with his, nor was it to be found anywhere in the printed Mission reports.

The report of Captain Niles was in reality the only one of the American reports that can be considered neutral.