IOR/L/PS/11/129 P 4640/1917

Report dated 4 Aug 1917 written in Geneva by Lieutenant Commander Hugh C. Whittall R.N.V.R., headed “Enemy plans – The coming Turkish campaigns in Mesopotamia, Palestine and Hejaz”. The report details information obtained from interviewing people in Turkish diplomatic, consular, military, naval and government circles as well as American and Greek subjects recently arrived in Geneva.

The named interviewees are: Wingate, Missionary, Caesarea (Henry Knowles Wingate); Dr. Glazebrook, U.S. Consul, Jerusalem (Otis Glazebrook); Dr. Davies, Physician? Kharput (probably Leslie A. Davis, U.S. Consul in Harput); Dr. Ward, Physician? Beirut (probably Edwin St. John Ward, American Red Cross); Dick, U.S. Vice Consul, Jerusalem (Hasell Hutchinson Dick); Nathan, U.S. Consul, Messina (Edward Issac Nathan, U.S. Consul, Mersina); Medakofsky, U.S. Consular Agent, Jaffa; Struve, U.S. Consular Agent, Haifa (Theodore Jonathan Struve); Danon, Father-in-law of Grand Rabbi in Constantinople (probably Abraham Danon); Chesebrough, U.S. Consul, Beirut (Ralph Fordyce Chesebrough); Peek, Bible House, Constantinople; Vlastari, Banker, Angora; Wordsworth, U.S. Vice Consul, Beirut; Brown, Agent, McAndrew & Forbes, Smyrna; Pezas, Greek Consul General in Constantinople (Stephanos Kiouzes Pezas); Politis, Greek Vice Consul in Constantinople (possibly Nikolaos Sokrates Politis?); Jackson, U.S. Consul, Aleppo (Jesse Benjamin Jackson); Joannides, Sub-Officer in Turkish Army, Kara Hissar; Nicopoulos, Banker, Constantinople; Edelmann, U.S. Consul, Damascus (Samuel Edelman); Engert, U.S. Consul, Jaffa (Cornelius Van Hemert Engert); Eliasco, Banker, Constantinople (possibly Nicolas C. Eliasco).

Other sources of information are named throughout the report.

The report is in four sections:

Section I.

A. Extracts from above interviews indicating coming events in Mesopotamia, Palestine and Hejaz.

B. Military movements in Europe towards Turkey.

C. Military movements in Turkey towards Syria.

D. Other proofs of Turkish military intentions on these fronts.

E. Roads and transport in and towards Syria.

F. The Bagdad Railway. The Taurus and Amanus tunnels.

G. Falkenhayn’s movements and some military and general notes of interest.

Section II.

A. The food problem of the Turkish armies in Syria and Mesopotamia.

B. The result of Turkish crops in 1917 compared with former years.

Section III.

A. Jemal Pasha, Syria and the reasons for the Jaffa evacuation. The responsibility for it.

B. The reported extermination of non-Turkish races in Syria and Asia Minor by organised deportation and starvation.

C. Jemal Pasha said to be the cause of trouble within the Committee of Union and Progress.

D. The supposed split between Jemal and Constantinople. Can it be utilised to set up a new Turkish government in Syria?

E. The reported revolts of Arab tribes in Syria and despatch by the Turkish Government of large sums of gold.

Section IV. A summary and a conclusion.

A. General conclusion.

B. Mesopotamia.

C. Palestine.

D. Hejaz.