Report by NER worker William E. Hawkes on conditions in Sivas, 5 June 1922 — the conscription and exile of orphanage boys, the removal of NER’s interpreters, and the position of the remaining Christian population.
Context
William E. Hawkes directed Near East Relief operations at Sivas (Sebastia), in central Anatolia, during the final period of NER’s presence in the interior, before the Nationalist government forced the American units out in 1922.
His report, dated 5 June 1922 and submitted among the Yowell enclosures, describes how the Angora government called up the older boys of NER’s orphanages — fixing their ages above military age regardless of birth records — and sent them toward Erzerum, ostensibly for railroad labor; few returned. Hawkes also records the removal of NER’s one Muslim interpreter and the narrowing space in which the relief workers could still operate. NARA Decimal File 867.4016, M353 roll 47.
Turkey/Social Matters/Race Problems/867.4016; National Archives Microfilm Publication M353, Records of the Department of State Relating to Internal Affairs of Turkey, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
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