أوراق بقلم كرزون بشأن الشرق الأدنى والأوسط [و‎‎٤‎٩] (٣٤٨/٩٧)

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work on which the necessary measures of self-defence could be developed, and they
express confidence in being able to raise 40,000 men if arms and equipment are pro
vided. The Allied Powers are assisting in this task, and it is hoped that the first
instalments will shortly be delivered.
The League of Nations, if it assumes the general protection of Armenia, will
be able as time passes to assist materially in the prosecution of this undertaking.
The Armenian representatives here, who are imploring the protection of the League,
earnestly plead for the help of foreign officers and volunteers, if regular forces are
not available, and in any case for the supply of military and civil advisers.
There remains the other categories of material aid that may necessitate either
now or at a later date a public appeal, which no authority could issue with an
authority comparable with that of the League of Nations.
“ It is not thought desirable at present to make any statement with regard to the
boundaries of the new State; but full information can be supplied on this subject
to the Council of the League if it is so desired.
“ Before proceeding further with the matter, the Conference would like to know
if they may hope to receive the co-operation of the League of Nations in the pro
jected undertaking. They need not emphasise its vast importance for the settlement
of the peace of the East.”
II.
League of Nations : Future Status of Armenia.
(A. J. 156. Confidential.)
Memorandum aqreed to by the Council of the Leaque of Nations, meeting in Paris,
on April 11, 19*20.
The Supreme Council of the principal Allied Powers, being desirous of securing
the existence, order and security of the Armenian nation, has decided to form an
independent Armenian Republic, whose boundaries and status will be fixed by the
Peace Treaty, now in preparation, with the Turkish Empire and other international
Conventions.
Lord Curzon, in his telegram of the 12th March last, enquired whether the
League of Nations would agree to take the new Republic of Armenia under its
protection.
The Armenian Delegation in London have defined more or less exactly the con
ditions under which the League of Nations might protect the Republic of Armenia.
From Lord Curzon’s communication, as well as that of the Armenian Delegation,
it appears that the League of Nations is asked to accept a mandate for Armenia in
accordance with the conditions laid down in Article 22 of the Covenant. In examin
ing the proposals of the Supreme Council the principal concern of the Council of the
League of Nations has been to determine how the independence of Armenia could
most eftectively be secured and order and security maintained in Armenian territory.
Indeed, the Council has been guided entirely by its desire to help a nation whose
misfortunes alone have given it a title to the sympathy and consideration of the
civilised world. The Council of the League is, in a word, in full accord with the
Supreme Council as to the claims of the Armenian nation. It regards the establish
ment of an Armenian State upon a safe and independent basis as an obligation of
humanity and as an end worthy of effort and sacrifice upon the part of the civilised
Powers of the world. Within the limits of its own authority it is anxious to
co-operate to this end. On the other hand, the Council of the League realises its
own limitations. It realises that it is not a State; that it has as yet no army and no
finances, and that its action upon public opinion would be fainter in Asia Minor than
in the more civilised regions of Europe. Nor can the Council forget the bitter disil
lusionment of the Armenian Nation over the failure of the Armenian Clauses inserted
in the Treaties of the last century. It cannot overlook the fact that the stipulations
of Article 22 do not contemplate the League of Nations itself accepting and exercising
a mandate. On the contrary, these stipulations require the League to supervise
the execution of mandates entrusted to a specified Power for communities which
formerly belonged to the Ottoman Empire. The supervision of the League of
Nations of the various mandates entrusted to certain Powers for different regions