Translation
coded telegram
Sublime Porte Ministry of Interior
Directorate for General Security
To the provinces of Haleb, Diyarbekir, Musul, Mamuret-ul Aziz, Bitlis, to the district of Urfa.
The immediate arrangement and dispatch of a report on the condition of the number of Syriacs in the province/district and how many of them have been deported together with the Armenians. 4 May 1918.
in name of the Minister, assistant clerk
Ali Münif
Explanation
This telegram is one of the few instances in which the Ottoman government at the most central level was specifically interested in the Syriacs. Talât seems to have delegated the task of surveilling the Syriacs to his direct subordinate Ali Münif. From 1917 on they were even allowed to travel freely through the empire for commercial ends. It seems that the CUP leadership did not perceive the Syriacs as a threat, probably because the latter consisted mostly of politically unorganized peasants and artisans. Their religious leadership obeyed the government and avoided any conflict of interest at all costs. Since there were no Syriac-nationalist equivalents of the Dashnak and Henchak parties, the Syriac population was perceived as sufficiently emasculated by the CUP.
