§ MR. STEVENSONI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether Her Majesty's Government have preferred upon the Turkish Government a specific claim, in the name and on behalf of the Armenian Relief Committee, for the sum of £500 which was stolen from Yussuf Yunan at Sairt, and has formed the subject of consular inquiry?
MR. CURZONWithout some direct evidence or tangible proof of connivance in the crime on the part of any Turkish official, Her Majesty's Government would not be justified in preferring a specific claim against the Porte. No such proof has been forthcoming, and Her Majesty's Vice-Consul at Bitlis reported on 25th November that, with regard to the occurrence itself and the behaviour of the local officials, no negligence could, in his opinion, be justly imputed either to the police or the judicial authorities.