Mr. Terrell to Turkhan Pasha.
Constantinople, September 28, 1895.
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that since my note of the 23d instant to his highness the grand vizier, information has been received at this legation, deemed reliable, that Melcoun Guedjian, who was confined in prison at Aleppo, has not been accused of engaging in armed resistance to the Government of Turkey, but rather of acting as the political agent of an obnoxious society. I am informed that he is charged with violating the law contained in the first clause of the fifty-fourth article of the criminal law.
A dispatch from the American consular agent at Aleppo informs me that his repeated efforts to obtain the passport of Mr. Guedjian have been without effect, and that the application of the agent to converse with him has been again refused.
Your excellency need not be informed that such conduct on the part of local officials at Aleppo is in plain violation of treaty rights, against which it is my duty to protest.
If judgment of conviction has been rendered in a Turkish court against Mr. Guedjian, I request that your highness will be pleased to order that it be annulled, since it was rendered without jurisdiction.
I also demand that Guedjian be brought to this city with his passport and other property, and that he be here delivered to the United States consul-general, who will examine the facts regarding the accusation against him.
It is impossible for my Government to admit that the rights of Guedjian as a naturalized American citizen are in the slightest degree affected by the fact that he was once a subject of His Imperial Majesty.
Whether he has violated the laws of Turkey or forfeited American protection must, under Article IY of the treaty of 1830, and the laws of the United States passed in pursuance thereof, be first determined by myself or the consul-general according to the grade of his offense; if found guilty he will be dealt with as justice may require.
Permit me, excellency, to express the hope that my efforts to promote and continue cordial relations between the Government of the United [Page 1309] States and that of His Imperial Majesty, which have been always exerted, will cause you to order the inferior officers of the Ottoman Empire to observe greater respect for the rights of American citizens.
Receive, etc.,