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AN AMERICAN MILITARY OBSERVER OF TURKISHINDEPENDENCE WAR: CHARLES WELLINGTON

FURLONG*

[in (ed.) Sinan Kuneralp,A Bridge between Cultures: Studies on Ottoman andRepublican Turkey in Memory of Alihsan Ba, (stanbul: Isis Press,2006)]

MESUT UYAR, PH.D.**

Modern Turkish-American relations were founded during the Turkish

Independence War. Several American diplomats, businessmen, soldiers,

journalists and educators contributed greatly to establish sound relations

between the two nations. We know the activities of Admiral Mark L. Bristol,

Caleb F. Gates and Mary M. Patrick but the contributions of hundreds of minor

figures are already forgotten. Hundreds of American officials and civilians

visited every corner of Turkey during the war and wrote their findings in

official reports or unofficial letters and articles to the American administration

or to the American public. Some of them published their experiences

afterwards but unfortunately most of these invaluable observations which have

largely been provide insiders views about different aspects of Turkey were

forgotten and except occasional academic studies are hardly ever used

anymore.

This article is about one of those forgotten minor figures, namely, Major

Charles Wellington Furlong and his letters to US President Woodrow Wilson.Before describing the activities of Major Furlong we need to clarify the reasons

of the arrival of hundreds of Americans to Turkey.

Turkey was an enigma for the American public and it had a very bad

reputation in America before the World War I due to the propaganda of

American missionaries and various Christian groups which had migrated from

Turkey to the US, especially the Armenians. Any negative news about Turkey

and Turks was easily exaggerated by American and European newspapers.1

*I would like to express my appreciation to en Sahir Slan and Professor Emeritus Vakur

Versan for providing the basic documents from family archives. Hoover Institution on War,

Revolution and Peace Archives, University of Oregon Library and National Geographic

Society Archives provided valuable documents. Without their supports this research could not befinished.**

Instructor, Peace Support Operations Training Center BiH, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

mesutuyar@yahoo.com 1

Jeremy Salt, Imperialism, Evangelism and the Ottoman Armenians, 1878-1896, (London: Frank

Cass, 1993), p. 57; Joseph L. Grabill, Missionaries Amid Conflict: Their Influence upon American Relations with the Near East 1914-1927, (Indiana University, Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation,1964), pp. 1-15; Roderic H. Davison, The Armenian Crisis, 1912-1914, in Essays on Ottomanand Turkish History, 1774-1923, (London: Saqi Books, 1990), pp. 180-183

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Turkeys entrance to World War I as an ally of Germany made the

already tarnished image of Turkey much worse. Even the limited numbers of

Turkeys friends in Europe and America changed sides. Missionaries under theable organization of American Ambassador to stanbul Henry Morgenthau1were able to broadcast many damaging news about Turkey especially after the

Turkish governments decision to relocate Armenians.2 After the foundation of

American Relief Committee renamed after 1919 as the American

Committee for Relief in the Near East on September 1915 propaganda

against Turkey spread widely across America. Missionaries led organizations

were able to raise nearly 11 million dollars for missions in Turkey. In short

public opinion about Turkey and the Turks was very bad in America when

Turkey signed the Mudros Armistice Agreement on November 30, 1918.3

Interestingly war-time propaganda against Turkey and the news about

the fate of Armenians and other Christian minority groups forced the American

government to find out the real situation in the country and at the same time

triggered the curiosity of many private individuals. Skeptics were already

discussing the accuracy of the huge figures of the alleged victims of Turkish

barbarity. As a result individuals or teams were sent to Turkey to find out what

had happened in Turkey and to investigate the current situation.

Sending fact-finding missions was not new for the America and the

American government.4 Wilson and his advisors were hostile to classical

European diplomacy. They had already established think-tank groups to solve

international problems by means of innovative diplomatic approaches.5

The

1For the effects of Morgenthau on the Armenian question and his propaganda activities see Heath

W. Lowry, The Story Behind Ambassador Morgenthaus Story, (Istanbul: Isis Press, 1990), passim.2

Even the titles of newspaper articles are enough to show the damaging effects of this wide-spread

propaganda: Turks Renew Massacres, New York Times, March 22, 1915; Missionaries inDanger, The New York Times, May 10, 1915; The Assassination of a Race, The Independent,October 18, 1915; Only 200,000 Armenians Now Left in Turkey, The New York Times, October22, 1915; The Murder of Armenia, The Living Age, February 5, 1916; Tells of Great Plain Blackwith Refugees, The New York Times, February 7, 1916; American Burned Alive by Turks, The New York Times, February 8, 1916; Armenians Killed with Axes by Turks, Current HistoryMagazine, November 1917.3

Grabill, op. cit., pp. 33-34, 40; Roger R. Trusk, The United States Response to Turkish

Nationalism and Reform, 1914-1939, (Minneapolis: The University of Minnesota Press, 1971), p.21; Herbert Hoover, The Ordeal of Woodrow Wilson, (New York: Popular Library, 1961), p.1494 The first ever fact-finding mission to Turkey was the sent by an American institution, Carnegie

Endowment for International Peace just after the end of the Balkan Wars on August 2, 1913. Themission was consisted of seven members from five different countries (America, Britain, Germany,Austro-Hungary, Russia and France). Unfortunately its impartial report did not produce anyconcrete results. See The Other Balkan Wars: A 1913 Carnegie Endowment Inquiry in Retrospect,(Washington D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1993).5

The most important and effective think-tank of this period is of course The Inquiry. Inquiry was

the brain-child of Colonel Edward M. House who was a close friend and advisor of PresidentWilson. After getting authorization from Wilson, Inquiry was founded in September 1917 under theleadership of Sidney E. Mezes. Inquiry was very effective on many foreign policy issues includingthe formulation of Wilsons famous Fourteen Points and contributing greatly to the AmericanPeace Delegation to the Paris Conference. The Inquiry, Council on Foreign Relations June 21,2005,

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essential part of this innovative diplomacy was to find out the real situation and

gather data by sending specialist fact-finding missions. Several missions had

already been sent to trouble spots in Germany, Poland and Russia when thediscussions to send a mission to Turkey began on January 1919.1

Individual American citizens began to arrive to Turkey in official or

private capacity long before the government discussions about sending a

mission. An important witness of this period Caleb F. Gates described his

experiences with these curious visitors in his memoir vividly:

With the end of war, private individuals and committees began to come toTurkey to investigate the conditions and to see how the situation might beimproved. Most of these visitors had preconceived ideas about what ought to bedone, and they did not hesitate to proclaim them. After a visit in December byDr. H. P. Judson, chancellor of the University of Chicago, who had expres sed to

me prejudicial and bitter opinions about both the Armenians and the Turks.2

Several organizations like the Near East Relief sent small groups or individuals

to asses the situation.3 At the same time many military officers of the Entente

were investigating the situation in different parts of Turkey according to the

interests of their respective countries. For example British officers were

frequently visiting the east Black Sea coastal area, the Caucasus and

simultaneously south east Anatolia.4

American diplomatic and military representatives in Europe and Turkey

followed the steps of their allies by sending diplomats and military observers

into Turkey. Unfortunately we do not know the total numbers of these groups

and individuals nor their observations and findings. Currently only some bits

and pieces are available.

5

Therefore the findings of Major Furlong are veryimportant to understand and clarify the situation in Turkey just after the

Mudros armistice.

1James B. Gidney,A Mandate for Armenia , (Oberlin: The Kent State Uni. Press, 1967), p. 136.

2Caleb Frank Gates, Not to Me Only, (Princeton: Princeton Uni. Press, 1940), p. 252. Another

interesting example of an individual inquiry is the visit of Armenian lobbyist James L. Bartonduring January and April 1919. Gidney, op. cit., pp. 106-1073 Gates, op. cit., pp. 258-260.4

The British High Commissioner Admiral De Robeck visited Samsun and Trabzon to investigate

alleged problems of local Greeks in October 1919. See 3nc Kolordu Komutanlndan Harbiye Nezaretine, 14 Terinievvel 1335, Harp Tarihi Vesikalar Dergisi, no: 11, Document no: 283;15nci Kolordu Komutanlndan Harbiye Nezaretine, 21 Terinievvel 1335,Harp Tarihi VesikalarDergisi, no: 11, Document no: 285; British Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Rawlinson conductedextensive researches in and around Kars between June and July 1919. See A. Rawlinson,Adventures in the Near East 1918-1922, (London: Andrew Melrose, 1924), pp. 196, 215, 218, 220-221, 224, 227-228.5

As an example Justin McCarthy published the report of Captain Emory H. Niles and Arthur E.

Sutherlands inquiry to east Anatolia. See Justin McCarthy, The Report of Niles and Sutherland onAmerican Investigation of Eastern Anatolia after World War I, XI. Trk Tarih Kongresi, vol. 5,(Ankara: Trk Tarih Kurumu Basmevi, 1994).

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Furlong started his military career as a reserve officer in the cavalry

corps. He was assigned to military intelligence corps with the rank of captain at

the beginning of World War I. He served as a war correspondent untilAmericas entrance to the war. He then was assigned as the section chief of

military intelligence publication office and prepared tactical field handbooks

and maps on Siberia and eastern Russia which were used during the ill-fated

American intervention to Russia.

Furlong was promoted and selected to President Wilsons personal staff,

which was attached to the Paris Peace Conference Delegation as a military

intelligence specialist. He was the chief of the military intelligence reference

section during the first voyage ofUSSGeorge Washington and had opportunity

to talk with Wilson several times. After a brief service in the American

Delegation during the initial phase of the Paris Conference, he was assigned to

a newly established military observer group on January 1919. This group was

commissioned to investigate trouble spots in the Balkans and the Near East

following the request of the American Delegation. They were to a conduct

sweeping investigation and report their findings immediately to the Delegation

via the nearest American diplomatic mission.

Furlongs first duty was to investigate the current situation in the

Adriatic coastal area under the operational control of the American military

attach to Rome. He visited in government officials, military units, and leaders

of various groups, jails of Albania, Montenegro and Serbia. 1 He was the only

American and Entente officer except the Italians during April-May 1919

at the nadir of the Fiume (Rijeka) crisis. His reports were the only reliable

information coming from the region and he became the eyes and ears of the

American Delegation. According to the reports he wrote we can deduct that hehad no sympathy for the imperialistic Italian demands. He tried very hard to

show the real face of the Italian occupation and to transmit the wishes and

frustration of the people.2 His superiors did not appreciate some of his actions

and occasionally asked him not to deal with local politics.3

artifacts and botanical specimens which he collected during his expeditions are also located at theAmerican Museum of Natural History, The Peabody Museum of Harvard, the Peabody Museum ofSalem, The Museum of American Indian Heye Foundation, the Buffalo Museum of Science,Cornell University, Grey Herbarium of Harvard, New York Botanical Gardens and the SmithsonianInstitution.1

Entrance Permission to Podgoritza Jail, February 12, 1919, Charles W. Furlong Papers, Hoover

Institution Archives (here afterCWFP-HIA), Box no: 2, Folder ID: Biog-AwardsEntrance Permission to Niksic Jail, February 23, 1919, CWF-HIA, Box no: 2, Folder ID: Biog-Awards; Furlong received awards from several Balkan states for his services during this criticalperiod of time see CWF-HIA, Box no: 2, Folder ID: Biog-Awards.2

Furlong provided several petitions written by the local dignitaries including the Nikshsitch

(Niki) Monte-Negrin guerrilla leaders see To the Apostle of Humanity Mr. Wilson President ofthe United States of America, CWF-HIA, Box no: 8,From William Shepherd to President Wilson, May 12, 1919, (ed.) Arthur S. Link, The Papers ofWoodrow Wilson, vol. 59, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988), (here afterPWW), pp. 64-66From John Charles Frmont to Cary Travers Grayson, May 13, 1919,PWW, pp. 119-120From John Charles Frmont to Cary Travers Grayson, May 17, 1919,PWW, pp. 241-242.3

Message to Major Furlong, May 23, 1919, CWF-HIA, Box no: 2, Folder ID: Bristol.

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His next assignment was Turkey. We do not know the exact date of his

arrival to stanbul but it must be at the end of May 1919. He immediately

began working. He talked with representatives of various interest groups,opinion makers and knowledgeable individuals. He wrote down most of his

activities in his diary but unfortunately he did not write his dealings with

Admiral Bristol and other American diplomats and intelligence officers. His

dealings with fellow Entente officials were also not clear. He also refrained

from putting into writing some sensitive information he had gathered. From his

entries we understand that he put special emphasis on his conversations with

Turkish intellectuals who were eagerly seeking an American mandate. Halide

Edib, Cami, Reid Sadi and Hazm Atf explained their vision of an Americanmandate and their frustrations with the occupation of zmir and the ensuingGreek atrocities. Halide Edib additionally gave information about the National

Defence (Mdafaa-i Milliye/ Kuvva-i Milliye) movement. According to her a

national army was being formed in the Anatolian interior ready to deal with

occupation.1

Furlong visited Bursa in order to talk with Sheikh Seyid Ahmed Senusi

on July 7 and 8. Sheikh Senusi expressed his regret to fight against Britain

because of the Italian occupation of Libya. He presented a letter to Furlong for

him to deliver to Wilson. According to Senusi, Wilson raised the hopes of the

small nations: I have seen the 14 points that you favorably pointed out for the

benefit of nations which have raised a hope for the weak nations and have

caused them to look to you with patience for assistance. Senusi voiced the

sufferings of Libyans under Italian occupation. He was asking American help

to build an independent Libya. If Wilson found independence not suitable he

was proposing three possible solutions: an American mandate, League ofNations supervision or governance under Egypt, in short anything except

1Turkish intellectuals mandate project can be summarized in the words of Haz m Atf as; We

want a certain power to take the mandate for a certain fixed periodEighty percent of Turks favorAmerica. A mandate over all Turkey not over a few vilayets. Charles W. Furlong Papers,University of Oregon Library Special Collections Ax. 698 (here after CWF-UOL), Box no: 6,Notebooks 1898-1958, 1919 no: 9.

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185

Italian domination. Furlongs sympathy to Senusi and to Libyas fate was

obvious from his diary and the letter he wrote to Wilson.1

Furlong continued to work in stanbul after his brief stay in Bursa. Hevisited all the main military installations in and around stanbul. He thendeparted to Anatolia via train on July 15, 1919. He reached Konya the next day

and remained there for ten days. According to his diary entries, his days in

Konya were more fruitful than those in stanbul. He talked nearly all thedignitaries of the city and of the surrounding areas. Nearly all of them were

sympathetic to an American mandate but their information about America was

very limited in comparison to that of the Turkish intellectuals of stanbul.Interestingly they were showing clear hostility to Mustafa Kemal Paa andKuvva-i Milliye movement. According to them the nationalists were disguised

CUP members. At the same time they were afraid of Armenian designs, Greek

and Italian invasions and naively hope to forestall these designs with the help

of America and Britain. All of them denied any kind of massacres in Konya

during the war. The Chief of the Mevlevi order the Great elebi summarized

what the dignitaries of Konya were asking for; we ask America to help us as

she is the most civilized, we cannot walk alone.2

Furlong also talked with Armenian dignitaries. They explained to him

Armenian mandate project which focused only on the Armenians and the

creation a great Armenia from sea to sea. They bitterly voiced their

frustration with the long Turkish rule and their opposition to a mandate on the

whole Turkey. They also told him that Turks and Bolsheviks were getting

ready to fight. They warned him about a possible massacre if no action was

taken.3

One of the most interesting persons that Furlong talked to was theAmerican missionary Mary Louise Graffam. Graffam had been working in

Sivas for more than fifteen years and she was the key person who wrote

important and damaging messages about the alleged massacres of the

Armenians during the war. These messages were used by the British to produce

propaganda books against Turkey.4

Interestingly nearly every American who

happened to visit Anatolia met and talked with Graffam5 and

1Ibid.

CWF-UOL, Box no: 9, Correspondence, no: 31 Wilson, Woodrow2

The names of the Turkish dignitaries that Furlong talked to are ulema representatives: Ahmed

Fevzi, Ahmed Ziya, Great elebi, ayan representatives: Mehmed Refi, Lefkelizade Kadri, MayorHakk and Dervi Bekirolu Mehmed Zeki. CWF-UOL, Box no: 6, Notebooks 1898-1958, 1919no: 10.3

Ibid.4

The books are Lord Bryces The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire (1916), Arnold

ToynbeesArmenian Atrocities: The Murder of a Nation (1915).5

Chief of American Military Mission to Armenia General James G. Harbord and Admiral Bristols

intelligence officer Lieutenant Robert S. Dunn were among the persons to whom Graffam talked.See Lt. R. S. Dunn, Intelligence Report, Record Group 256, General Records of the AmericanCommission to Negotiate Peace 19181931 (Micro Film Pub. No. 820) Field Missions of AmericanDelegation,Harbord Military Mission to Armenia, (here afterHMMA), 184.021/46; List of Turk,Armenian, American, Georgian and Tartar Officials between Adana and Tiflis. HMMA,184.021/96.

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she tried to influence them for the benefit of the Armenian cause.1

Graffam explained her experiences during the war and the alleged

Armenian massacres to Furlong. According to her the danger was not over.Turks were conducting brigandage and continue to kill Armenians if not in

thousands. She also talked about Mustafa Kemal Paas activities aroundSamsun and the Sivas region and gave the news that the nationalists were

planning to open an assembly in Ankara.2

The Governor of Konya Cemal Bey was also very skeptical about

Mustafa Kemal Paa and the Kuvva-i Milliye movement. According to him thereal leaders of this movement are doubtlessly Enver Paa and Talat Paa. Hetalked with Furlong four times and gave important information about the future

project of the nationalists namely the foundation of a national assembly:

There is a great menace from the military as it has developed in the last few

days forming a circle of mischief this formation is from the commander of the1st, 2nd and 3rd Army corps in all Anatolia. The only trouble is they can notcomplete this as the valis of Konia and Sivas are opposed to them. They arecreating a military senate and have asked officially throughout Anatolia to make

a military control.3

According to the governor, military units are making preparation in

order to launch a military campaign. So the Entente must act immediately and

arrest all the four high ranking military officials in Konya.4

Combining all these information Furlong warned American authorities

about nationalists plans to assemble representatives from all around Turkey in

order to open a national assembly. Unfortunately we do not know the contents

of this report.

5

Furlong departed from Konya to the direction of Aleppo on July 26,

1919. He arrived at Adana the same day and tried to confirm the information

1

Lieutenant Dunn describes his views about Graffam in very striking words: A strong supporterof an independent Armenia on the grounds that this is the Armenians' country; that they can neverlive under Turkish domination; that the Turks are whipped and must be cleared out.... As a veteranworker for the race, she sees her life-efforts vindicated by a free Armenia, and failing without it...She stated that she would support any scheme, honest or no, cruel or no, for an independentArmenia. When told of successful Greek intrigues on the coast deceiving Allied officers, sheprofessed to admire it, saying that she would work any one she could for her own Armenian ends, had she the chance. Lt. R. S. Dunn, Intelligence Report,HMMA, 184.021/46.2CWF-UOL, Box no: 6, Notebooks 1898-1958, 1919 no: 11.

3CWF-UOL, Box no: 6, Notebooks 1898-1958, 1919 no: 10.

4Ibid.

5From Charles W. Furlong to Admiral Bristol, July 21, 1919, CWF-HIA, Box no: 2, Folder ID:

Bristol. Also see Furlongs later annotation on the back side of the document.

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about the French and Armenian assaults in Cilicia that he gathered from

Turkish sources and some foreigners including an ex-prisoner of war, the

Russian Captain Nikholas Yliek (?). He departed from Adana next day andreached Aleppo on the same day. From his arrival to Aleppo until his departure

from Syria Furlong tried to investigate the Arabs reaction to a French

mandate. As usual he talked to all the important dignitaries including Emir

Faisal, Emir Zeid and General Ali Rida Rikabi. All of them were bitterly

criticizing the Sykes-Picot agreement and were against the French mandate and

the separation of Palestine1 but views of the Arabs were already known to the

American administration via the King-Crane Commission which had spent

forty-two days in the region and departed on July 23, 1919 just a few days

before Furlong arrival.2

Furlong as a reserve officer was demobilized at the end of 1919 and

returned back to America. Even though he had no official responsibility he

continued to follow developments in the Balkans and Turkey. When he had

learned from the press that President Wilson was authorized to find a solution

to the Fiume question he immediately wrote at letter to Wilson. In this letter

Furlong supported the Serbian claims and denied the Italian ones.3

Wilson was seriously ill and had suffered a stroke during his campaign

to enlist American public support for the ratification of the Versailles Peace

Treaty on September 29, 1919. He could not fulfill his presidential duties at

that time4

and probably did not read the Furlongs letter. At the same time

American public opinion was already showing its unwillingness towards active

foreign policy and any kind of intervention outside the American traditional

areas of interest.

While America was showing signs of isolation, the situation in Turkeywas changing drastically. Furlong was aware of the importance of these recent

developments. Even though he had not got any reply to his letter from Wilson,

he decided to write another, this time about his findings and views about

Turkey. According to him the situation was very urgent and if no action would

be taken war was inescapable. He clearly states this at the first sentences of his

letter:

1CWF-UOL, Box no: 6, Notebooks 1898-1958, 1919 no: 11.

2The official name of this commission was American Section of Inter-Allied Commission on

Mandates in Turkey. See Harry N. Howard, An American Inquiry in the Middle East: The King-Crane Commission, (Beirut : Khayats, 1963), passim.3

From Charles W. Furlong to President Wilson, January 20, 1920, CWFP-HIA, Box no: 1,

Folder ID: Wilson.4

Hoover, op. cit., pp. 270-297

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From my recent investigation in Asia Minor cannot help feeling our position on

Turkey as reported colossal blunder. For Armenias sake as well as justice to Turkey

cannot note be rescinded and Turkeys faith in justice of America be retained beforelost. If this not done no alternative but war left Turkey with possible terrible

consequences to not only Armenians and Greeks possibly to American missionaries and

relief workers but starting perhaps the spark which will again set the world aflame.1

Furlong was very sure that Turkey and Turks are being treated unfairly

due to the vicious black propaganda by minority groups and missionaries:

I feel that through the avalanche of unfair propaganda so persistentlylaunched by Greek, Armenian, Jew, material interests, as well as by well-meaning but misinformed or prejudiced ministers and priests of gospel andover-zealous Christians against the helpless Turkish people, that I would becruelly lending my own hand to unjust persecution were I to withhold my voice

and information at this time.2

During his visit to Turkey he witnessed this propaganda and

powerlessness of Turks to voice the atrocities committed against them:

Telegrams speaking of impending Turkish massacres which never occurredwere constantly sent in by Greeks, in particular, from the coast towns of AsiaMinor and relaid [relayed] by Greek propagandists out of the country, while theTurks side or protests were so censor-controlled that he could not make hisvoice heard to the peoples of Europe and America, although our press has lentitself against the Turks in this country. Likewise, the officer acting as militaryattach in Constantinople, although a graduate of West Point, was an Armenian.It is hardly tobe supposed that, honest as I believe him to be, his reports could

be impartial.

3

Furlong later began to report the crimes and atrocities that unfairly were

inflicted on to Turks and of which the American administration and public did

not know. He initially wrote about crimes and assaults against Turks in

stanbul such as commandeering houses and looting, defiling Turkish womenby trying to show them as prostitutes, making fun of sacred Islamic symbols

and beliefs to anger Turks and more importantly the expulsion

1From Charles W. Furlong to President Wilson, April 4, 1920, Slan Family Archive. For the

other copy of the same letter see CWF-UOL, Box no: 9, Correspondence, no: 31 Wilson, Woodrow.Furlong sent this letter to Wilson with the help of Admiral William Cary Grayson. See CWF-UOL,Box no: 9, Correspondence, no: 31 Wilson, Woodrow.2

Ibid.3

Ibid. Furlong was referring to Major Haig Shekerjian (1886-1966) who played an important role

during his duty in Turkey and the Caucasus. He was one of the most important officers in theHarbord Military Mission. See Whos Who: Members of the Mission, HMMA, 184.021/101. FromMc Coy to Maj. Shekerjian, 8 September 1919, HMMA, 184.021/248; From Lt. Col. Jackson toGeneral Harbord, 7 October 1919, HMMA, 184.021/317.

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of Turks secretly by means of suspicious conflagrations wiping out Turkish

districts.

According to him atrocities and crimes in Anatolia were far moreserious and wide-spread. The Greek army and its local accomplices were

massacring Turkish civilians in front of Entente officers in zmir andsurrounding areas:

We hear much, both truth and gross exaggerations of Turkish massacre ofArmenians, but little or nothing of the Armenian massacres of Turks and of thatgreatest atrocity of the armistice, committed under the very eyes of GreatBritain and the United States, the Smyrna massacre of helpless and peaceableTurks by Greek troops and civilian population, evidently armed before hand forthe occasion. In Smyrna there is American eye-witness testimony that aboutfour hundred helpless Turks were massacred in a day and that the Americanflag, at the request of the Turks, supplanted their own on the hospital, theyknowing the Greeks would allow them no asylum for their wounded and dying.

This atrocity did not stop here. The Greek troops continued into the Sanjaknorth, burning, looting, raping villages and ceased only when there is everyreason to believe that one hundred thousand more or less Turkish peasants withtheir women and little children, were driven in the mountains south of Brusa

where those who are left have been during the past severe winter.1

According to Furlong situation in Cilicia is also potentially explosive as

Armenians wearing French uniforms were creating big problems. And with

reference to the news about Mara_ massacres he states that probably just the

opposite is true:

I have seen Armenian troops in Silicia [Cilicia], organized under the French,occupying Turkish territory where there was no need of such occupation. The

Turkish population were helpless under their annoyance and the Turk could notplace his hand on one of these Armenians without jeopardizing his safety or life,on account of thereby touching the French uniform. The recent so-called Marashmassacres have not been substantiated, in fact, in the minds of many who arefamiliar with the situation, there is grave question whether it was not the Turkwho suffered at the hands of the Armenian and French armed contingents which

were known to be occupying that city and vicinity.2

Even under this unfair and injustice condition Turks and Arabs were

still hoping that President Wilson and America will establish just peace

under the terms of Fourteen points which everybody in region knew by

1From Charles W. Furlong to President Wilson, April 4, 1920, Slan Family Archive. Harbord

Military Missions findings in and around zmir are confirming Furlong's statements. See Notes onthe Trip to Smyrna, 13-16 October 1919,HMMA, 184.021/341.2

From Charles W. Furlong to President Wilson, April 4, 1920, Slan Family Archive.

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heart. So there was still hope to stop the incoming war if America was willing

to take over the mandate ofstanbul and Anatolia but not of Armenia:

violation after violation of the armistice was indulged in by the armedtroops, particularly of France, Italy and some Armenian contingents, under theguise of policing the country, but in reality to divide up the spoils, for the harmhas been done and their officers frankly state they are in to stay. It is to bewondered at if disorders under these unbearable conditions should not arise onthe part of the Turks in actual self-defense. The Smyrna atrocity and otherviolations of the armistice have gone far to enable the young Turk militarists toinduce many Turks, believing in the justice of the allies, to believe there wasnone for themselves. Certainly no Mediterranean nation should hold a mandateor domination over Turkey or occupy as a conqueror any partitioned part of itsterritory. It is my firm conviction that should America take a mandate it must beover Constantinople and Asia Minor and not over Armenia. My impressions ofan Armenian conception of a mandate, drawn through conferences withArmenians in Asia Minor, are for America to tie the hands of the Turk that

Armenia may do its will.1

Furlong finished his letter with very passionate words. He was very sure

of the incoming war and trying as much as he could to stop it by means of

fairness and justice. Interestingly he was not only thinking about Turkey but of

an ever-lasting peace between east and west:

A right decision will bind closer than ever in the history of mankind ties andconsciousness of brotherhood between the eastern and western world andmutually turn their hearts toward each other for right. A wrong decision,injustice, will be a calamity and may set aflame an infinitely greater fire thanthat which seems to be smothered. In the name of justice, not only to the Turks,but to the Moslem world, as well as to ourselves and all desirers of justice, I

make this appeal.2

Furlongs efforts did not produce any results. Probably Wilson never

read his letter and the Turks did fight for their rights as Furlong anticipated.

Furlong did not loose his interests about Turks and Turkey. He visited Turkey

in 1929 and in 1954. He tried to introduce the new and modern Turkey to the

public of America and Europe.3

1Ibid.

2Ibid.

3Charles W. Furlong, Turkey, Europes Last Frontier,National Geographic Society Archives

Furlong continued his colorful career both in civilian and military life. He was promoted to colonelin 1929 and worked as a military intelligence specialist during the World War II. He spent his lastyears packing and cataloging his archive which he gave different parts of it to four differentinstitutions. He died on October 3, 1967.

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Furlongs letters to President Wilson and his documents about Turkey

are giving an insider's views about Turkeys fight for survival. At the same his

vivid accounts are clearly showing the reality behind the propaganda againstTurks and Turkey. Furlong was not a major figure and nor did he play a key

roles but the information he provided is still useful in order to understand what

really happened during this critical time period.

My research about Furlong clearly shows that many important

documents are available in archives abroad waiting to be researched.

Unfortunately Turkish and western scholars of modern Turkish history are too

focused on Turkish archives and pay too little attention to western official or

private archives. A systematic search of the western archives would yield

masses of key information helping to understand the course of the events,

reason and their outcome.