§ 9. Mr. NOEL BUXTONasked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign 470 Affairs if he is aware that Ottoman subjects of Armenian race who for reasons of health or business, or through fear of massacre, left Constantinople with passports issued by the Allied authorities are now deprived of the right to return to Constantinople; that the property of such Armenians is being confiscated and sold by the Turkish authorities as abandoned property; will he state what steps His Majesty's Government is taking to obtain redress in such cases; and whether, in the proposed Treaty of Peace with Turkey, he will support the inclusion of a definite stipulation assuring Turkish Armenians abroad of the free enjoyment of their property in Turkey, and of the right to obtain passports and other necessary official documents from Turkish consulates?
§ Mr. McNEILLWith regard to the first three parts of the question, reports to this effect have just reached His Majesty's Government, and His Majesty's High Commissioner at Constantinople is being consulted on the subject. In reply to the last part of the question, I would refer the hon. Member to the minorities section of the Lausanne Draft Treaty and to the draft declaration regarding an amnesty, in the Blue Book on the Lausanne Conference. From these documents he will see the very considerable guarantees which His Majesty's Government secured at Lausanne for the Armenians. No material modification of the agreement reached on these points has been proposed.