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FRENCH AND BRITISH POST-WAR IMPERIAL AGENDAS AND FORGING AN ARMENIAN HOMELAND AFTER THE GENOCIDE: THE FORMATION OF THE LÉGION D'ORIENT IN OCTOBER 1916*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 November 2014

ANDREKOS VARNAVA
ANDREKOS VARNAVA*
Affiliation:
Flinders University
*
School of International Studies, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001, South Australiaandrekos.varnava@flinders.edu.au
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Abstract

In October 1916, the French government agreed with Armenian political elites to establish a Légion of Armenian volunteers in British Cyprus to fight the common Ottoman enemy. Despite British, French, and even Armenian rejections of such a Légion during different times throughout 1915 and early 1916, all sides overcame earlier concerns. Understanding how they managed to overcome these concerns will allow for this little-known episode in the history of the Great War in the eastern Mediterranean to contribute to the knowledge on (1) the complex French and British wartime stances towards this region, driven by imperialism and humanitarianism; (2) the ability of local elites to draw concessions from the Allies; (3) the important role played by local British and French colonial and military officers; and (4) broader historiographical debates on the responses to the Armenian Genocide. This article explores the origins of how the Entente co-opted Armenians in their eastern Mediterranean campaigns, but also made them into pawns in the French and British reinvention of their imperial rivalry in this region in order to achieve their post-war imperialist agendas.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 57 , Issue 4 , December 2014 , pp. 997 - 1025
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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Footnotes

*

I would like to acknowledge the following people in the making of this article: Dr David Close, Dr Matthew Fitzpatrick, Dr Evan Smith, and Ms Justine Tilman from Flinders University, and the anonymous reviewers for The Historical Journal.

References

1 Boghos Nubar memorandum on creation of Légion d'Orient, 26 Dec. 1919, London, The National Archives (TNA), Foreign Office (British) (FO) 608/271/3; Boghos Nubar, ‘Note on the circumstances and conditions under which the Légion d'Orient was created in 1916’, 9 Dec. 1920, Paris, Nubarian Library (NL), ‘Légion d'Orient’, Armenian Volunteers, ‘Miscellany’, box 2.

2 Ibid.

3 Despatch from General Allenby, 31 Oct. 1918, London Gazette, 30 Dec. 1918, TNA, War Office (British) (WO) 32/5128; Boghos Nubar, ‘Note’, 9 Dec. 1920, NL, ‘Légion d'Orient’, Armenian Volunteers, ‘Miscellany’, box 2.

4 See Jackson, Simon, ‘Diaspora politics and developmental empire: the Syro-Lebanese at the League of Nations’, Arab Studies Journal, 21 (2013), pp. 166–90Google Scholar, at pp. 171–4.

5 See Bou-Nacklie, N. E., ‘Les troupes speciales: religious and ethnic recruitment, 1916–1946’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 15 (1993), pp. 645–60CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Tauber, Eliezer, ‘La Légion d'Orient et La Légion Arabe’ (The Légion d'Orient and the Arab Légion), Revue Française d'Historie d'Outre-Mer, 81 (1994), pp. 171–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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7 Ibid.; see also Oke, Mim Kemal, The Armenian question, 1914–1923 (Nicosia, 1983), pp. 114–19Google Scholar.

8 Krikorian, Robert O., ‘In defence of the homeland: New England Armenians and the Légion d'Orient’, in Mamigonian, Marc A., ed., Armenians of New England: celebrating a culture and preserving a heritage (Belmont, MA, 2004), pp. 24–31Google Scholar. Not much academic material exists, mostly memoirs. Of note is the exhibit honouring the Armenian Légion titled ‘Forgotten heroes: the Armenian Légion and the Great War’, which was held in the Armenian Library and Museum of America from Sept. 2001 to the end of Feb. 2002.

9 Guclu, Yucel, Armenians and the Allies in Cilicia, 1914–1923 (Salt Lake City, UT, 2009), pp. 51–77Google Scholar; see my review of Gucel's book in Reviews in History, 1419 (2013) (www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/1419); see also Palabiyik, M. Serdar, ‘Establishment and activities of French Légion d'Orient (Eastern Légion) in the light of French archival documents’, Review of Armenian Studies, 10 (2007), pp. 79–98Google Scholar.

10 Nassibian, Akaby, Britain and the Armenian question, 1915–1923 (London, 1984), pp. 91–110Google Scholar; Bloxham, Donald, The great game of genocide: imperialism, nationalism and the destruction of the Ottoman Armenians (Oxford, 2005), pp. 140–3CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 151–4.

11 Aytekin, Halil, Kıbrıs'ta Monarga (Boğaztepe) Ermeni Lejyonu Kampı (Monarga camp of Armenian Légion in Cyprus) (Ankara, 2000)Google Scholar; Keser, Ulvi, Kıbrıs, 1914–1923: Fransız Ermeni kampları İngiliz esir kampları ve Atatürkçü Kıbrıs Türkü (Cyprus, 1914–1923: French Armenian camps, British prisoner camps and Kemalist Cypriot Turks) (Istanbul, 2001)Google Scholar; Keser, Ulvi, Kıbrıs-Anadolu ekseninde Ermeni doğu Lejyonu (Armenian Eastern Légion in the Cyprus-Anatolia axis) (Ankara, 2007)Google Scholar.

12 See Murphy, David, The Arab revolt, 1916–1918: Lawrence sets Arabia ablaze (Oxford, 2008)Google Scholar; and Watts, Martin, The Jewish Legion and the First World War (New York, NY, 2004)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13 Rodogno, Davide, Against massacre: humanitarian interventions in the Ottoman Empire, 1815–1914 (Princeton, NJ, 2012)Google Scholar. Egypt is an exception to Rodogno's interpretation.

14 Ibid.

15 After the Crimean War, Russia focused on the Slavic Orthodox Christians in the Balkans. See Milojkovic-Djuric, Jelena, Panslavism and national identity in Russia and in the Balkans, 1830–1880: images of the self and others (Boulder, CO. and New York, NY, 1994)Google Scholar.

16 See, for example, ibid.; also Sumner, Benedict Humphrey, Russia and the Balkans, 1870–1880 (Oxford, 1937)Google Scholar; and Petrovich, Michael Boro, The emergence of Russian panslavism, 1856–1870 (New York, NY, 1956)Google Scholar.

17 For British liberal imperialism in the Ottoman Empire, see Varnava, Andrekos, British imperialism in Cyprus, 1878–1915: the inconsequential possession (Manchester, 2009)Google Scholar; and Varnava, Andrekos, ‘British and Greek liberalism and imperialism in the long nineteenth century’, in Fitzpatrick, Matthew P., ed., Liberal imperialism in Europe (London, 2012), pp. 219–40CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For information on French liberal imperialism, see Daughton, J. P., An empire divided. Religion, republicanism, and the making of French colonialism, 1880–1914 (Oxford, 2006)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; for French missionaries in the Ottoman Empire, see White, Owen and Daughton, J. P., eds., In God's empire: French missionaries and the modern world (Oxford and New York, NY, 2012)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, chs. 4–7.

18 Varnava, British imperialism in Cyprus, pp. 117–20 and 128.

19 See also Bloxham, The great game of genocide, pp. 33–8, 44–6, and 60–2.

20 See, for the British case, the work of the following people in Cyprus: Cons, Emma, ‘Armenian exiles in Cyprus’, Contemporary Review, 14 (1896), pp. 888–95Google Scholar; Geddes, Patrick, ‘Cyprus, actual and possible: a study in the Eastern Question’, Contemporary Review, 71 (1897), pp. 892–908Google Scholar.

21 Bloxham, The great game of genocide, pp. 49–51.

22 Ibid., pp. 62–5. For the reforms issue, see TNA, FO371/2136/34444; British Library (BL), India Office Records (IOR) Political and Secret Annual Files, IOR/L/PS/11/71 1914; Political and Secret Annual Files, IOR/L/PS/11/74 1914; and Political and Secret Annual Files, IOR/L/PS/11/76 1914.

23 Sarkis Torossian was one fascinating case. He was in charge of the first fort at the Dardanelles entrance and was awarded for his bravery in stopping the British attempt to force the Dardanelles. He later served in the Légion d'Orient after discovering that family had died during the Genocide. Torossian, Sarkis, From Dardanelles to Palestine: a true story of five battle fronts of Turkey and her Allies and a harem romance (Boston, MA, 1947)Google Scholar.

24 Nassibian, Britain and the Armenian Question, pp. 88–9 and 95; Bloxham, The great game of genocide, pp. 75–8.

25 Andrekos Varnava, ‘Imperialism first, the war second: the British, an Armenian Legion, and deliberations on where to attack the Ottoman Empire, November 1914–April 1915’, Historical Research, Early View (2014) (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-2281.12054/abstract).

26 Cairo to Paris, 20 Apr. 1915, Paris, French Foreign Ministry Archives (FFMA), War 1914–1918, Turkey, vol. 887, Armenian, i, Aug. 1914 to Dec. 1915. Hereafter, volume in Arabic numerals and issue in Roman numerals will be provided.

27 See Varnava, ‘Imperialism first, the war second’.

28 Boghos Nubar to Kevork V, Paris, 28 July 1915, Ghazarian, Vatche, ed. and trans., Boghos Nubar's papers and the Armenian question, 1915–1918: documents (Waltham, MA, 1996)Google Scholar, doc. 122, 705–16 AA (hereafter, Boghos Nubar papers).

29 Churchill to Kitchener, 20 Jan. 1915, London, BL, Curzon papers, F112/159; Cassar, George H., The French and the Dardanelles: a study of failure in the conduct of war (London, 1971), pp. 70–5Google Scholar; and Cassar, George H., Kitchener's war (Dulles, VA, 2004), p. 120Google Scholar.

30 Cassar, The French and the Dardanelles, pp. 103–9; Carlyon, Les A., Gallipoli (New York, NY, 2002), pp. 65–72Google Scholar.

31 Secretary to Army Council to under-secretary at FO, 9 Mar. 1915, TNA, FO371/2484/28172.

32 See files TNA, Colonial Office (British) (CO) 67/179/14488, CO67/176/16873, CO67/176/17917, CO67/179/22062, CO67/176/20343, and CO67/179/2485.

33 Watts, The Jewish Légion and the First World War, pp. 20–46 and 48–90; see also Mintz, Matityahu, ‘Pinhas Rutenberg and the establishment of the Jewish Légion of 1914’, Studies in Zionism, 6 (1985), pp. 15–26CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Fachler, Yanky, ‘The Zion Mule Corps and its Irish commander’, History Ireland, 11 (2003), pp. 34–8Google Scholar.

34 Decipher of telegram from Sir C. Spring-Rice, Washington, to FO, 24 Apr. 1915, TNA, FO371/2485/49516, p. 445.

35 Under-secretary at WO to under-secretary at FO, 28 Apr. 1915, TNA, FO371/2485/51438; FO telegram to Sir C. Spring-Rice, 29 Apr. 1915, TNA, FO371/2485/51430/15.

36 Minute, Harold Eustace Satow, 28 Apr. 1915, TNA, FO383/107/50592.

37 FO to CO, 4 May 1915, TNA, CO67/178/20859, 50592/15.

38 McMahon to Grey, 19 July 1915, incl., enclosures signed by T. Moutafoff and A. Gamsaragan, TNA, FO371/2485/106762, p. 70.

39 McMahon to Grey, 27 July 1915, TNA, FO371/2485/106769, p. 77; notes on military operation at Cilicia by the Committee of Armenian National Defence, 24 July 1915, TNA, FO371/2485/106769.

40 Sykes to Maxwell, 3 Aug. 1915, TNA, FO371/2485/115866.

41 Torcom, 28 Aug. 1915, TNA, FO371/2485/122136; Buchanan to Grey, 26 Aug. 1915, incl. Torcom outline of Armenian Corps, 5 Aug. 1915, TNA, FO371/2484/126836, p. 120.

42 Langley to Army Council, 11 Aug. 1915, TNA, FO371/2485/106769; FO to Findlay, 27 July 1915, TNA, FO371/2485/101144; WO to FO, 15 Aug. 1915, TNA, FO371/2485/113148/0152/4717 (M.0.1.); FO to DMO, 24 Aug. 1915, TNA, FO371/2485/115866.

43 Minute, Harold Nicolson, 5 Aug. 1915, TNA, FO371/2485/106769.

44 WO to FO, 21 Sept. 1915, TNA, FO371/2485/136059/0152/4717 (M.0.1.).

45 See various cases in Rodogno, Against massacre.

46 Lieutenant-General Sir Gerald Ellison, deputy quartermaster general during the Gallipoli campaign, and Paul von Hindenburg, chief of the German General Staff.

47 See Varnava, ‘Imperialism first, the war second’; and Varnava, Andrekos, ‘British military intelligence in Cyprus during the Great War’, War in History, 19 (2012), pp. 353–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

48 For the dramatization, see the famous novel by Werfel, Franz, The forty days of Musa Dagh, intro. Peter Sourian (New York, NY, 2012, first published in German, 1933)Google Scholar.

49 See Sourian intro. to novel in ibid.

50 Telegram, Clauson to Bonar Law, 10 Sept. 1915, TNA, CO67/177/41913; telegram by McMahon to FO, 10 Sept. 1915, TNA, FO 371/2490/129419; various, pp. 1–8, FFMA, 890, i; see also Le captitaine de vaisseau Chamonard, Chef d’état-major de la 3 Escadre de la Mediterranee to Lieutenant-Colonel Elgood, Port Said, 12 Sept. 1915, Cambon to Delcassé, 14 Sept. 1915, Bertie to Foreign Ministry (French) (FM), immediate, 14 Sept. 1915, Le contre-admiral Darrieus, Commandant la 2 Division et p. i. 3 Escarde de la Mediterranee to Elgood, 14 Sept. 1915, Bertie to FM, immediate, 15 Sept. 1915, and various other documents, in Beylerian, Arthur, ed., Les grandes puissances, l'Empire Ottoman et les Arméniens dans les archives françaises (1914–1918) (Paris, 1983), pp. 65–80Google Scholar.

51 See Varnava, British imperialism in Cyprus, pp. 152–201; for an exploration of the Cypriot political-religious elite and their gradual move away from co-operation with the Ottomans and British to hostility, see Michael, Michalis N., ‘Panaretos, 1827–1840: his struggle for absolute power during the era of Ottoman administrative reforms’, in Varnava, Andrekos and Michael, Michalis N., eds., The archbishops of Cyprus in the modern age: the changing role of the Archbishop-Ethnarch, their identities and politics (Newcastle upon Tyne, 2013), pp. 69–87Google Scholar; Kyprianos D. Louis, ‘Makarios I, 1854–1865: the Tanzimat and the role of the Archbishop-Ethnarch’, in ibid., pp. 88–105; Andrekos Varnava, ‘Sophronios III, 1865–1900: the last of the “old” and the first of the “new” Archbishop-Ethnarchs?’, in ibid., pp. 106–47; Andrekos Varnava and Irene Pophaides, ‘Kyrillos II, 1909–1916: the first Greek nationalist and Enosist Archbishop-Ethnarch’, in ibid., pp. 148–76; for an understanding of how Europeans and educated Cypriots established a provincial ‘high society’ and exploited the peasantry and working classes, see Katsiaounis, Rolandos, Labour, society and politics in Cyprus (Nicosia, 1996)Google Scholar; and Aymes, Marc, ‘The port-city in the fields: investigating an improper urbanity in mid-nineteenth-century Cyprus’, Mediterranean Historical Review, 24 (2009), pp. 133–49CrossRefGoogle Scholar; for an introduction into Cypriot society at the time of the Great War, the importance of the Cypriot Mule Corps and the impact of the Armenian Légion, see Varnava, Andrekos, ‘Famagusta during the Great War: from backwater to bustling’, Walsh, Michael and Kiss, Tamas, eds., Famagusta: city of empires (1571–1960) (Newcastle upon Tyne, forthcoming 2014)Google Scholar.

52 Bloxham, The great game of genocide, p. 90.

53 Secret, Maxwell to Kitchener, 10 Sept. 1915, TNA, FO371/2490/130257; Secret, Maxwell to Kitchener, 10 Sept. 1915, TNA, CO67/179/42164.

54 Secret, WO to GOC Egypt, 11 Sept. 1915, TNA, FO371/2490/130257 (also in CO67/179/42164).

55 French admiral, 12 Sept. 1915, TNA, FO371/2490/130450; GOC Egypt to WO, 12 Sept. 1915, TNA, FO371/2490/130985 (also in CO67/179/42285).

56 Nicolson minute, 13 Sept. 1915, and Grey minute, 13 Sept. 1915, TNA, FO371/2490/131046.

57 FO to Bertie, 14 Sept. 1915, TNA, CO67/179/42411, 2019.

58 McMahon to FO, 14 Sept. 1915, TNA, FO371/2490/131502; Darrieu report, 17 Sept. 1915, pp. 31–7, FFMA, 890, i.

59 Algeria, 16 Sept. 1915, p. 11, Russians, 17 Sept. 1915, p. 12, Russians, 18 Sept. 1915, p. 14, Tunis, 18 Sept. 1915, p. 15, Morocco, 20 Sept. 1915, Russians, 22 Sept. 1915, p. 24, Algeria, 9 Oct. 1915, p. 37, FFMA, 890, i.

60 For an example of how this happened in Cyprus, between John Clauson, the high commissioner, and the authorities in London, see Varnava, British imperialism in Cyprus, pp. 264–5, and Varnava, ‘British military intelligence in Cyprus during the Great War’.

61 FFMA, 890, i, Defrance to Paris, 19 Sept. 1915, p. 16.

62 Perhaps this is where Werfel got the idea of the forty days, since it was actually fifty-three.

63 Three letters, Defrance to FM, 22 Sept. 1915, pp. 21–3, FFMA, 890, i.

64 Ibid., Defrance to FM, 23 Sept. 1915, p. 25.

65 Ibid., Defrance to FM, 24 Sept. 1915, p. 26.

66 Ibid., Defrance to FM, 29 Sept. 1915, p. 27.

67 Ibid., French military, Defrance, to FM, 11 Oct. 1915, p. 38.

68 Ibid., Bertie, undated, pp. 39–40.

69 Ibid., Paris to FM, 12 Oct. 1915.

70 Lord Bertie to FO, 11 Oct. 1915, TNA, FO371/2490/148384, pp. 742.

71 Tsobanian to Paris, 29 Sept. 1915, p. 29, FFMA, 890, i.

72 Ibid., Defrance to Paris, 13 Oct. 1915.

73 Ibid., Darrieus to Paris, 2 Nov. 1915, pp. 48–51.

74 Note to FO, 19 Oct. 1915, p. 219, FFMA, 887, i.

75 Jonquires to Paris, 3 Nov. 1915, pp. 52–3, FFMA, 890, i.

76 Ibid., FM to Defrance, 9 Nov. 1915, p. 54.

77 Ibid., War Ministry (French) (WM) to FM, 13 Nov. 1915, p. 56.

78 Ibid., 19 Nov. 1915, p. 58.

79 Defrance to FM, 1 Dec. 1915, p. 238, FFMA, 887, i.

80 WM to French military, Cairo, 16 Jan. 1916, FFMA, 890, i.

81 Ibid., British MIO, Cairo, to Armenian committee members, 2 Feb. 1916, pp. 63–4.

82 Ibid.

83 Ibid.

84 Ibid., Defrance to Paris, 10 Feb. 1916, pp. 60–2.

85 Boghos Nubar to Admiral Moreau, Port Said, 22 Mar. 1916, p. 25, FFMA, 888, ii, Turkey, Jan. 1916 to Mar. 1917.

86 Ibid., Defrance to Briand, 9 Apr. 1916, p. 66, including Nubar letter, 22 Mar. 1916, p. 67.

87 Ibid., Defrance to Briand, 26 Mar. 1916, p. 24.

88 WM to Cairo, 1 May 1916, p. 68, and WM to Cairo, 21 May 1916, p. 72, FFMA, 890, i.

89 Ibid., FO to FM, 28 June 1916, p. 73; also commander-in-chief French armies to FM, 2 July 1916, p. 74.

90 Ibid., Cambon to FM, 4 July 1916, p. 75.

91 Ibid., Cambon to FM, 19 July 1916, pp. 76–7.

92 Varnava, British imperialism in Cyprus, pp. 264–5.

93 Andrew, Christopher M. and Kanya-Forstner, A. S., France overseas: the Great War and the climax of French Imperial expansion (London, 1981), p. 100Google Scholar.

94 See file, TNA, FO371/2767/23579.

95 Joffre, commander-in-chief army, to Roques, 1 Aug. 1916, sent to FM on same day, pp. 85–7, FFMA, 890, i.

96 Ibid.

97 Ibid., FM to WM, 7 Aug. 1916, pp. 91–2.

98 Ibid., Roques to Briand, 10 Aug. 1916, pp. 93–4.

99 Ibid., Roques to Briand, 10 Aug. 1916, p. 93.

100 Ibid., FM to Cambon, 14 Aug. 1916, p. 94.

101 French ambassador, London, to FO, 16 Aug. 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/1619680; FO to CO, 19 Aug. 1916, TNA, CO67/183/39494, w/61968/16; Cambon to FO, 15 Aug. 1916, TNA, CO67/183/39494.

102 Sykes minute, 22 Aug. 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/1619680.

103 WO to under-secretary at FO, 24 Aug. 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/167600/0103/8102 (M. I.2.); Secret, FO to Cambon, 31 Aug. 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/167600, W.167000/16; Secret, India Office to FO, 30 Aug. 1916, FO371/2769/172707, M. 35214; telegram from India Office secretary to viceroy, 8 June 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/172702, M. 23846; viceroy to Lord Bryce, India secretary, 17 June 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/172702, H. 5170; B. B. Cubitt, WO, to under-secretary for India, military secretary India Office (British) (IO), 30 June 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/172702/0103/8102 (M. I.2.).

104 R. Graham, Ministry of the Interior to McMahon, 19 Sept. 1916, TNA, CO67/183/49486, p. 2.

105 FO to Cambon, 31 Aug. 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/167600.

106 Minute, 22 Aug. 1916, TNA, CO67/183/39494.

107 Secret, CO, Bonar Law to Clauson, 24 Aug. 1916, TNA, CO67/183/39494; CO, Grindle, to FO, 25 Aug. 1916, TNA, CO67/183/39494; FO to CO, 12 Sept. 1916, TNA, CO67/183/43870, w/179199/1916; Cambon to Grey, 7 Sept. 1916, TNA, CO67/183/39494, 179199; FO to CO, 13 Sept., TNA, CO67/183/43883, w/180004/16; Grey to Cambon, 13 Sept. 1916, TNA, CO67/183/43883, w.161968/16; CO, to FO, 25 Aug. 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/168467/39494/1916.

108 Varnava, British imperialism in Cyprus, pp. 264–5.

109 Varnava, ‘British military intelligence in Cyprus during the Great War’.

110 Paraphrase telegram, Clauson to Bonar Law, 6 Sept. 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/1800004; Grey to Cambon, 13 Sept. 1916, TNA, CO67/183/43883, w.161968/16.

111 CO to under-secretary at FO, 9 Sept. 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/1800004; FO to Cambon, 13 Sept. 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/1800004.

112 FO to CO, 16 Oct. 1916, TNA, CO67/183/49486, w/201096/16; McMahon to Grey, 29 Sept. 1916, TNA, CO67/183/49486, 240, 201096/16; see also FO371/2769/201096.

113 Murray, commander-in-chief Egyptian Expeditionary Force, to McMahon, 21 Sept. 1916, TNA, CO67/183/49486.

114 Minute, 12 Sept. 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/1800004.

115 Defrance to FM, 9 Sept. 1916, p. 105, FFMA, 890, i.

116 Ibid., Hamelin to FM, 10 Sept. 1916, p. 106.

117 Ibid., Defrance to Briand, 10 Sept. 1916, p. 107.

118 Ibid., Bremond to Defrance, 7 Sept. 1916, p. 108.

119 Ibid., Defrance to Bremond, 9 Sept. 1916, pp. 109–110.

120 Ibid., Cambon to FM, 13 Sept. 1916, p. 114.

121 Ibid., Admiral Pothuau to Navy Ministry (French) (NM), 21 Sept. 1916, p. 150.

122 Cochin, state minister to Briand, 11 Oct. 1916, enclosing letter signed by Kardiros Boyadjian, Djabra Kazandjian, Serop Kabaghian, and Sarkis Andonian, Port Said, on 11 Sept. 1916, pp. 91–6, FFMA, 888, ii.

123 Defrance to FM, 22 Sept. 1916, p. 151, FFMA, 890, i.

124 Ibid., Duport to Briand, 23 Sept. 1916, p. 152, and military attaché, London, to NM, 15 Sept. 1916, p. 153.

125 Ibid., Duport to FM, 23 Sept. 1916, p. 154.

126 Ibid., Saint-Quentin to FM, 24 Sept. 1916, p. 156.

127 Ibid., Defrance to FM, 26 Sept. 1916, p. 157, and military attaché, Cairo, to FM, 26 Sept. 1916, p. 162.

128 Ibid., Briand to Roques, 28 Sept. 1916, p. 158.

129 Ibid., Duport to Briand, 2 Oct. 1916, pp. 160–1.

130 FO to Cambon, 14 Oct. 1916, TNA, CO67/183/49486, w/201096/16.

131 Telegram, McMahon, to FO, 15 Oct. 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/205909.

132 FO to Cambon, 17 Oct. 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/205909, W. 205909/16.

133 Defrance to FM, 15 Oct. 1916, p. 167, FFMA, 890, i.

134 Ibid., Romieu telegram, 15 Oct. 1916, p. 172, and Defrance to FM, 19 Sept. 1916, p. 173.

135 Ibid., Cambon to FM, 19 Oct. 1916, p. 174, and FM to Cairo, 19 Oct. 1916, p. 175.

136 FO to McMahon, 19 Oct. 1916, TNA, CO67/183/50361; Cambon to Grey, 19 Oct. 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/209464; FO cypher to McMahon, 19 Oct. 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/209464.

137 WO to FO, 19 Oct. 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/209679/0103/8102 (M. I.2.); commander-in-chief Egypt to chief of the General Staff, 18 Oct. 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/209679.

138 FO to DMI, 21 Oct. 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/209679.

139 Confidential, IO to FO, 24 Oct. 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/214212, M. 43500; FO to IO, 30 Oct. 1916, TNA, CO67/183/52158; FO to IO, 30 Oct. 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/214212/214212/16.

140 Minute, 2 Nov. 1916, TNA, CO67/183/52158.

141 FO to McMahon, 9 Dec. 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/249258, 1066.

142 FO to IO, 30 Oct. 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/214212/214212/16.

143 Defrance to FM, 21 Oct. 1916, p. 179, FFMA, 890, i.

144 Letter, 24 Oct. 1916, Nicosia, Cypriot State Archives (CSA), Secretariat Archive (SA1), SA1/1068/1916.

145 CO to Grey, 17 Nov. 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/231890/54751/16; paraphrase telegram, Clauson to Bonar Law, 14 Nov. 1916, TNA, FO371/2769/231890/54751/16.

146 Defrance to FM, 28 Oct. 1916, p. 180, FFMA, 890, i. Ultimately, it was decided to leave them in Port Said.

147 Confidential, John Fenn to officer commanding troops, Cyprus, 18 Dec. 1916, CSA, SA1/1068/1916, leaf 27.

148 An, Ahmet, ‘The Cypriot Armenian minority and their cultural relationship with the Turkish Cypriots’, in Varnava, Andrekos, Coureas, Nicholas, and Elia, Marina, eds., The minorities of Cyprus: development patterns and the identity of the internal-exclusion (Newcastle upon Tyne, 2009), pp. 282–98Google Scholar.

149 Ellis minute, 26 Oct. 1916, TNA, CO67/183/50361.

150 Boghos Nubar meeting with Gout, Paris, 2 Oct. 1916, Boghos Nubar papers, doc. 207, 1719–26 FA.

151 FM memorandum (unsigned), Oct. 1916 (no exact date), p. 159, FFMA, 890, i.

152 Ibid., War Ministry, Cairo, to FM, 6 Oct. 1916, p. 163.

153 Nubar memorandum on creation of Légion d'Orient, 26 Dec. 1919, FO608/271/3.

154 Ibid.