HC Deb 19 July 1901 vol 97 cc995-6
MR. FLYNN (Cork, N.)

I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the Foreign Office is in possession of any information as to recent disturbances in the Tchem district of Thassanjak, as to the destruction of the village of Uhlbush by armed Kurds, as to the killing and wounding of Armenians, and as to the demolition of buildings, including the church and the school; and what representations, if any, have been made by the Government to the Government of the Sublime Porte, in respect to its treaty obligations in regard to protection of its Christian subjects.

VISCOUNT CRANBORNE

I have no information as to the particular incident referred to, but His Majesty's Government have recently received reports from His Majesty's consular officers of disturbances created by the Kurds in the districts of Bitlis and Moush, and in the Tiari mountains. His Majesty's ambassador at Constantinople has called the serious attention of the Turkish Government to the state of affairs prevailing in these districts.

MR. FLYNN

In view of the fact that the last massacres were initiated by disturbances of this kind, will the Government keep constantly before the Porte its treaty obligations!

VISCOUNT CRANBORNE

I have said so in the last paragraph of my answer.