The American missions to Eastern Anatolia and Transcaucasia in 1919 and their reports on the Armenian question

The Armenian Question, whose historical roots date back to the 19th century and which imperialist Western states put forward pursuant to the “Eastern Question” in order to undermine the Ottoman Empire, was handled at the Paris Peace Conference held in 18 January 1919 to settle world peace and share Ottoman lands after the First World War. The Armenian claimed majority in Eastern Anatolia, which they named “Western Armenia,” in the memorandum they submitted on 12 February 1919, and intended to unite this region with Caucasian Armenia to establish “United Armenia” at this Conference. This new state to be established was preferred to remain under American mandate until she attains the capacity of self-governance in all fields. As a result, in order to take strong and reasonable steps, to check its convenience with the state interests, and to detect the needs of the local folks before mandating Armenia and Turkey, the USA decided to send research and investigation missions to Transcaucasia and Eastern Anatolia. The first American Mission to visit Eastern Anatolia and carry out activities for this purpose between 13 July-13 August 1919 was the Mission of Captain Emory H. Niles and his lieutenant Arthur E. Sutherland, working for the American Committee for Relief in the Near East. Secondly, General Harbord Mission visited the region and made observations between September-October 1919. According to the reports both missions submitted, the Armenian did not have the majority anywhere in Eastern Anatolia, and they are the ones who tyrannized Eastern Anatolia and Transcaucasia.