HC Deb 17 May 1895 vol 33 cc1445-6
MR. SCHWANN

I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether any steps have been taken by the Powers to induce the Porte to release the Christian Arch- bishops, Bishops, and other Armenian ecclesiastics at present imprisoned in Turkey; and, has the Armenian doctor, known as Mourad Effendi, yet given evidence before the Turkish Commission of Inquiry in Armenia, and is he now alive?

SIR E. GREY

Her Majesty's Government understand that 19 Armenian ecclesiastics, including the Archbishops of Zeitoun and Furnouz, and the Bishops of Adana and Arabgir, are now at Constantinople, under the care of the Armenian Patriarch. The examination of Mourad was to take place after the return of the Commission from visiting the Sassoun villages. No report of it has yet reached Her Majesty's Government, nor have they heard any report of his not being alive.

SIR E. ASHMEAD-BARTLETT

Was this Mourad the leader of the insurgents in the rising last August?

SIR E. GREY

My information as regards Mourad is confined to the fact that it is thought to be of considerable importance that he should be examined before the Commission.