179

AN AMERICAN MILITARY OBSERVER OF TURKISH

INDEPENDENCE WAR: CHARLES WELLINGTON
FURLONG *
[in (ed.) Sinan Kuneralp, A Bridge between Cultures: Studies on Ottoman and
Republican Turkey in Memory of Ali İhsan Bağış, (İstanbul: Isis Press,
2006)]

MESUT UYAR, PH.D. **

Modern Turkish-American relations were founded during the Turkish
Independence War. Several American diplomats, businessmen, soldiers,
journalists and educators contributed greatly to establish sound relations
between the two nations. We know the activities of Admiral Mark L. Bristol,
Caleb F. Gates and Mary M. Patrick but the contributions of hundreds of minor
figures are already forgotten. Hundreds of American officials and civilians
visited every corner of Turkey during the war and wrote their findings in
official reports or unofficial letters and articles to the American administration
or to the American public. Some of them published their experiences
afterwards but unfortunately most of these invaluable observations which have
largely been provide insiders’ views about different aspects of Turkey were
forgotten and except occasional academic studies are hardly ever used
anymore.
This article is about one of those forgotten minor figures, namely, Major
Charles Wellington Furlong and his letters to US President Woodrow Wilson.
Before describing the activities of Major Furlong we need to clarify the reasons
of the arrival of hundreds of Americans to Turkey.
Turkey was an enigma for the American public and it had a very bad
reputation in America before the World War I due to the propaganda of
American missionaries and various Christian groups which had migrated from
Turkey to the US, especially the Armenians. Any negative news about Turkey
and Turks was easily exaggerated by American and European newspapers. 1

*
I would like to express my appreciation to Şen Sahir Sılan and Professor Emeritus Vakur
Versan for providing the basic documents from family archives. Hoover Institution on War,
Revolution and Peace Archives, University of Oregon Library and National Geographic
Society Archives provided valuable documents. Without their supports this research could not be
finished.
**
Instructor, Peace Support Operations Training Center BiH, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
mesutuyar@yahoo.com
1
Jeremy Salt, Imperialism, Evangelism and the Ottoman Armenians, 1878-1896, (London: Frank
Cass, 1993), p. 57; Joseph L. Grabill, Missionaries Amid Conflict: Their Influence upon American
Relations with the Near East 1914-1927, (Indiana University, Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation,
1964), pp. 1-15; Roderic H. Davison, “The Armenian Crisis, 1912-1914”, in Essays on Ottoman
and Turkish History, 1774-1923, (London: Saqi Books, 1990), pp. 180-183
 Turkey’s entrance to World War I as an ally of Germany made the
already tarnished image of Turkey much worse. Even the limited numbers of
Turkeys’ friends in Europe and America changed sides. Missionaries under the
able organization of American Ambassador to İstanbul Henry Morgenthau 1
were able to broadcast many damaging news about Turkey especially after the
Turkish government’s decision to relocate Armenians. 2 After the foundation of
American Relief Committee — renamed after 1919 as the American
Committee for Relief in the Near East — on September 1915 propaganda
against Turkey spread widely across America. Missionaries led organizations
were able to raise nearly 11 million dollars for missions in Turkey. In short
public opinion about Turkey and the Turks was very bad in America when
Turkey signed the Mudros Armistice Agreement on November 30, 1918. 3
Interestingly war-time propaganda against Turkey and the news about
the fate of Armenians and other Christian minority groups forced the American
government to find out the real situation in the country and at the same time
triggered the curiosity of many private individuals. Skeptics were already
discussing the accuracy of the huge figures of the alleged victims of Turkish
barbarity. As a result individuals or teams were sent to Turkey to find out what
had happened in Turkey and to investigate the current situation.
Sending fact-finding missions was not new for the America and the
American government. 4 Wilson and his advisors were hostile to classical
European diplomacy. They had already established think-tank groups to solve
international problems by means of innovative diplomatic approaches. 5 The

1
For the effects of Morgenthau on the Armenian question and his propaganda activities see Heath
W. Lowry, The Story Behind Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story, (Istanbul: Isis Press, 1990), passim.
2
Even the titles of newspaper articles are enough to show the damaging effects of this wide-spread
propaganda: “Turks Renew Massacres”, New York Times, March 22, 1915; “Missionaries in
Danger”, The New York Times, May 10, 1915; “The Assassination of a Race”, The Independent,
October 18, 1915; “Only 200,000 Armenians Now Left in Turkey”, The New York Times, October
22, 1915; “The Murder of Armenia”, The Living Age, February 5, 1916; “Tells of Great Plain Black
with Refugees”, The New York Times, February 7, 1916; “American Burned Alive by Turks”, The
New York Times, February 8, 1916; “Armenians Killed with Axes by Turks”, Current History
Magazine, November 1917.
3
Grabill, op. cit., pp. 33-34, 40; Roger R. Trusk, The United States Response to Turkish
Nationalism and Reform, 1914-1939, (Minneapolis: The University of Minnesota Press, 1971), p.
21; Herbert Hoover, The Ordeal of Woodrow Wilson, (New York: Popular Library, 1961), p.149
4
The first ever fact-finding mission to Turkey was the sent by an American institution, Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace just after the end of the Balkan Wars on August 2, 1913. The
mission was consisted of seven members from five different countries (America, Britain, Germany,
Austro-Hungary, Russia and France). Unfortunately its impartial report did not produce any
concrete results. See The Other Balkan Wars: A 1913 Carnegie Endowment Inquiry in Retrospect,
(Washington D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1993).
5
The most important and effective think-tank of this period is of course “The Inquiry”. Inquiry was
the brain-child of Colonel Edward M. House who was a close friend and advisor of President
Wilson. After getting authorization from Wilson, Inquiry was founded in September 1917 under the
leadership of Sidney E. Mezes. Inquiry was very effective on many foreign policy issues including
the formulation of Wilson’s famous “Fourteen Points” and contributing greatly to the American
Peace Delegation to the Paris Conference. “The Inquiry”, Council on Foreign Relations June 21,
2005, <http://www.cfr.org/public/pubs/grose/ grose01.htm>
181

essential part of this innovative diplomacy was to find out the real situation and
gather data by sending specialist fact-finding missions. Several missions had
already been sent to trouble spots in Germany, Poland and Russia when the
discussions to send a mission to Turkey began on January 1919. 1
Individual American citizens began to arrive to Turkey in official or
private capacity long before the government discussions about sending a
mission. An important witness of this period Caleb F. Gates described his
experiences with these curious visitors in his memoir vividly:

With the end of war, private individuals and committees began to come to
Turkey to investigate the conditions and to see how the situation might be
improved. Most of these visitors had preconceived ideas about what ought to be
done, and they did not hesitate to proclaim them. After a visit in December by
Dr. H. P. Judson, chancellor of the University of Chicago, who had expressed to
me prejudicial and bitter opinions about both the Armenians and the Turks. 2

Several organizations like the Near East Relief sent small groups or individuals
to asses the situation. 3 At the same time many military officers of the Entente
were investigating the situation in different parts of Turkey according to the
interests of their respective countries. For example British officers were
frequently visiting the east Black Sea coastal area, the Caucasus and
simultaneously south east Anatolia. 4
American diplomatic and military representatives in Europe and Turkey
followed the steps of their allies by sending diplomats and military observers
into Turkey. Unfortunately we do not know the total numbers of these groups
and individuals nor their observations and findings. Currently only some bits
and pieces are available. 5 Therefore the findings of Major Furlong are very
important to understand and clarify the situation in Turkey just after the
Mudros armistice.

1
James B. Gidney, A Mandate for Armenia, (Oberlin: The Kent State Uni. Press, 1967), p. 136.
2
Caleb Frank Gates, Not to Me Only, (Princeton: Princeton Uni. Press, 1940), p. 252. Another
interesting example of an individual inquiry is the visit of Armenian lobbyist James L. Barton
during January and April 1919. Gidney, op. cit., pp. 106-107
3
Gates, op. cit., pp. 258-260.
4
The British High Commissioner Admiral De Robeck visited Samsun and Trabzon to investigate
alleged problems of local Greeks in October 1919. See 3ncü Kolordu Komutanlığından Harbiye
Nezaretine, 14 Teşrinievvel 1335, Harp Tarihi Vesikaları Dergisi, no: 11, Document no: 283;
15nci Kolordu Komutanlığından Harbiye Nezaretine, 21 Teşrinievvel 1335, Harp Tarihi Vesikaları
Dergisi, no: 11, Document no: 285; British Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Rawlinson conducted
extensive researches in and around Kars between June and July 1919. See A. Rawlinson,
Adventures in the Near East 1918-1922, (London: Andrew Melrose, 1924), pp. 196, 215, 218, 220-
221, 224, 227-228.
5
As an example Justin McCarthy published the report of Captain Emory H. Niles and Arthur E.
Sutherland’s inquiry to east Anatolia. See Justin McCarthy, “The Report of Niles and Sutherland on
American Investigation of Eastern Anatolia after World War I”, XI. Türk Tarih Kongresi, vol. 5,
(Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, 1994).
 Charles W. Furlong was an unusual personality in every aspect. Without
knowing his background it is difficult to assess the importance of his letters
and findings. 1 Furlong was born on December 13, 1874. His father Atherton
Bernard (1849-1919) was a respected artist, musician and writer. 2 His brother
Leonard Furlong was a captain in the US Army and a hero of the military
campaigns in the Philippines. 3 Furlong graduated from Massachusetts Normal
Art School in 1895 and Cornell University in 1902. He continued his education
in Harvard University and in Paris at two different art schools: Académie
Julian and Ecole des Beaux Arts. After finishing his education he worked as a
lecturer of art and anthropology at Cornell, Clark and Boston Universities. He
was an established artist and cartographer and his paintings and maps are
currently in the inventory of respected museums and university collections.
Furlong was also a respected explorer and adventurer. He conducted
and participated in several important explorations in the least known corners of
the world. He found the remains of the USS Philadelphia in Tripoli harbor. He
was the first American to cross Ottoman Tripolitania. He conducted scientific
research in Tierra-del-Fuego and Patagonia 4 in Latin America. He was the first
westerner to explore all parts of Fuego and to conduct anthropologic research
there.
He published the fruits of his wide ranging explorations in two books
one of which was turned in into a film by Universal Pictures in 1925 5 and in
many articles. 6 He gave lectures in respected institutions. 7 His anthropological
anthropological and ethnological collections and his paintings are now in the
custody of several museums, institutions and universities. 8

1
Biographical data about Charles W. Furlong is complied from the following sources: “Col.
Wellington Furlong: Explorer, Writer, Artist and Lecturer”, Town and Country Review, London,
National Geographic Society Archives; “Excerpt from Who’s Who in America”, From Charles W.
Furlong to Melville B. Grosvernor, April 30, 1935, National Geographic Society Archives;
“Citation to Colonel Charles Wellington Furlong”, Rice Foundation Society, April 20, 1944, Sılan
Family Archive. Another copy of this document is available in the Dartmouth Archives see
“Citation from the Rice Foundation Society”, The Papers of Charles Wellington Furlong in the
Dartmouth College Library, Stef. Mss. 197, Box no:2, Folder no:12; “The Charles W. Furlong
Collection, 1895-1965”, University of Oregon Libraries, June 5, 2005, <http://libweb.uoregon.edu
/speccol/photo/Pendleton/ffurlong.html>
2
“Atherton Bernard Furlong: Artist, Singer, Poet”, Bethel Historical Society, June 5, 2005,
<http://www. bethelhistorical.org/Atherton_Bernard_Furlong.html>
3
“Captain Leonard Furlong”, March 5, 2005, <http://www.bukbakan.com/furlong.html>
4
For a modern evaluation of his linguistic studies see “Lenore A. Grenoble, Lindsay J. Whaley,
“What does Digital Technology have to do with Yaghan”, Linguistic Discovery, vol. 1, no. 1, 2002
5
The Gateway to the Sahara: Observations and Tripoli, (New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1909)
Let’er Buck: A Story of the Passing of the Old West, (New York: Putnam, 1921). Universal Pictures
filmed the book under the same title.
6
His articles were published by popular magazines like “Harper’s Monthly Magazine”, ”World’s
Work”, “Christian Science Monitor”, “Travel” and “Bluebook”.
7
He gave lecturers on various subjects –mainly his personal experiences — at the “National
Geographic Society”, “Royal Geographic Society” and various institutions and universities. See
“Charles W. Furlong Papers 1898-1967 Folder Inventory”, March 1982, University of Oregon
Library Special Collections; “The Furlong Lectures for Schools”, National Geographic Society
Archives; “Spencer Trask Lectures”, Princeton University, January 5, 2005,
<http://www.princeton.edu/~publect/ archive/trask.html>
8
Charles Wellington Furlong Collection, The American Folk Life Center’s Archive of Folk
Culture; Charles Wellington Furlong Fuegian Folklore, Darmouth College Archives; Some
183

Furlong started his military career as a reserve officer in the cavalry

corps. He was assigned to military intelligence corps with the rank of captain at
the beginning of World War I. He served as a war correspondent until
America’s entrance to the war. He then was assigned as the section chief of
military intelligence publication office and prepared tactical field handbooks
and maps on Siberia and eastern Russia which were used during the ill-fated
American intervention to Russia.
Furlong was promoted and selected to President Wilson’s personal staff,
which was attached to the Paris Peace Conference Delegation as a military
intelligence specialist. He was the chief of the military intelligence reference
section during the first voyage of USS George Washington and had opportunity
to talk with Wilson several times. After a brief service in the American
Delegation during the initial phase of the Paris Conference, he was assigned to
a newly established military observer group on January 1919. This group was
commissioned to investigate trouble spots in the Balkans and the Near East
following the request of the American Delegation. They were to a conduct
sweeping investigation and report their findings immediately to the Delegation
via the nearest American diplomatic mission.
Furlong’s first duty was to investigate the current situation in the
Adriatic coastal area under the operational control of the American military
attaché to Rome. He visited in government officials, military units, and leaders
of various groups, jails of Albania, Montenegro and Serbia. 1 He was the only
American and Entente officer — except the Italians— during April-May 1919
at the nadir of the Fiume (Rijeka) crisis. His reports were the only reliable
information coming from the region and he became the eyes and ears of the
American Delegation. According to the reports he wrote we can deduct that he
had no sympathy for the imperialistic Italian demands. He tried very hard to
show the real face of the Italian occupation and to transmit the wishes and
frustration of the people. 2 His superiors did not appreciate some of his actions
and occasionally asked him not to deal with local politics. 3

artifacts and botanical specimens which he collected during his expeditions are also located at the
American Museum of Natural History, The Peabody Museum of Harvard, the Peabody Museum of
Salem, The Museum of American Indian Heye Foundation, the Buffalo Museum of Science,
Cornell University, Grey Herbarium of Harvard, New York Botanical Gardens and the Smithsonian
Institution.
1
“Entrance Permission to Podgoritza Jail”, February 12, 1919, Charles W. Furlong Papers, Hoover
Institution Archives (here after CWFP-HIA), Box no: 2, Folder ID: Biog-Awards
“Entrance Permission to Niksic Jail”, February 23, 1919, CWF-HIA, Box no: 2, Folder ID: Biog-
Awards; Furlong received awards from several Balkan states for his services during this critical
period of time see CWF-HIA, Box no: 2, Folder ID: Biog-Awards.
2
Furlong provided several petitions written by the local dignitaries including the Nikshsitch
(Nikšić) Monte-Negrin guerrilla leaders see “To the Apostle of Humanity Mr. Wilson President of
the United States of America”, CWF-HIA, Box no: 8,
“From William Shepherd to President Wilson”, May 12, 1919, (ed.) Arthur S. Link, The Papers of
Woodrow Wilson, vol. 59, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988), (here after PWW), pp. 64-
66
“From John Charles Frémont to Cary Travers Grayson”, May 13, 1919, PWW, pp. 119-120
“From John Charles Frémont to Cary Travers Grayson”, May 17, 1919, PWW, pp. 241-242.
3
“Message to Major Furlong”, May 23, 1919, CWF-HIA, Box no: 2, Folder ID: Bristol.
 His next assignment was Turkey. We do not know the exact date of his
arrival to İstanbul but it must be at the end of May 1919. He immediately
began working. He talked with representatives of various interest groups,
opinion makers and knowledgeable individuals. He wrote down most of his
activities in his diary but unfortunately he did not write his dealings with
Admiral Bristol and other American diplomats and intelligence officers. His
dealings with fellow Entente officials were also not clear. He also refrained
from putting into writing some sensitive information he had gathered. From his
entries we understand that he put special emphasis on his conversations with
Turkish intellectuals who were eagerly seeking an American mandate. Halide
Edib, Cami, Reşid Sadi and Hazım Atıf explained their vision of an American
mandate and their frustrations with the occupation of İzmir and the ensuing
Greek atrocities. Halide Edib additionally gave information about the National
Defence (Müdafaa-i Milliye/ Kuvva-i Milliye) movement. According to her a
national army was being formed in the Anatolian interior ready to deal with
occupation. 1
Furlong visited Bursa in order to talk with Sheikh Seyid Ahmed Senusi
on July 7 and 8. Sheikh Senusi expressed his regret to fight against Britain
because of the Italian occupation of Libya. He presented a letter to Furlong for
him to deliver to Wilson. According to Senusi, Wilson raised the hopes of the
small nations: “I have seen the 14 points that you favorably pointed out for the
benefit of nations which have raised a hope for the weak nations and have
caused them to look to you with patience for assistance”. Senusi voiced the
sufferings of Libyans under Italian occupation. He was asking American help
to build an independent Libya. If Wilson found independence not suitable he
was proposing three possible solutions: an American mandate, League of
Nations supervision or governance under Egypt, in short anything except

1
Turkish intellectuals’ mandate project can be summarized in the words of Hazım Atıf as; “We
want a certain power to take the mandate for a certain fixed period…Eighty percent of Turks favor
America. A mandate over all Turkey not over a few vilayets.” Charles W. Furlong Papers,
University of Oregon Library Special Collections Ax. 698 (here after CWF-UOL), Box no: 6,
Notebooks 1898-1958, 1919 no: 9.
185

Italian domination. Furlong’s sympathy to Senusi and to Libya’s fate was

obvious from his diary and the letter he wrote to Wilson. 1
Furlong continued to work in İstanbul after his brief stay in Bursa. He
visited all the main military installations in and around İstanbul. He then
departed to Anatolia via train on July 15, 1919. He reached Konya the next day
and remained there for ten days. According to his diary entries, his days in
Konya were more fruitful than those in İstanbul. He talked nearly all the
dignitaries of the city and of the surrounding areas. Nearly all of them were
sympathetic to an American mandate but their information about America was
very limited in comparison to that of the Turkish intellectuals of İstanbul.
Interestingly they were showing clear hostility to Mustafa Kemal Paşa and
Kuvva-i Milliye movement. According to them the nationalists were disguised
CUP members. At the same time they were afraid of Armenian designs, Greek
and Italian invasions and naively hope to forestall these designs with the help
of America and Britain. All of them denied any kind of massacres in Konya
during the war. The Chief of the Mevlevi order the Great Çelebi summarized
what the dignitaries of Konya were asking for; “we ask America to help us as
she is the most civilized, we cannot walk alone.” 2
Furlong also talked with Armenian dignitaries. They explained to him
Armenian mandate project which focused only on the Armenians and the
creation a great Armenia “from sea to sea”. They bitterly voiced their
frustration with the long Turkish rule and their opposition to a mandate on the
whole Turkey. They also told him that Turks and Bolsheviks were getting
ready to fight. They warned him about a possible massacre if no action was
taken. 3
One of the most interesting persons that Furlong talked to was the
American missionary Mary Louise Graffam. Graffam had been working in
Sivas for more than fifteen years and she was the key person who wrote
important and damaging messages about the alleged massacres of the
Armenians during the war. These messages were used by the British to produce
propaganda books against Turkey. 4 Interestingly nearly every American who
happened to visit Anatolia met and talked with Graffam 5 and

1
Ibid.
CWF-UOL, Box no: 9, Correspondence, no: 31 Wilson, Woodrow
2
The names of the Turkish dignitaries that Furlong talked to are ulema representatives: Ahmed
Fevzi, Ahmed Ziya, Great Çelebi, ayan representatives: Mehmed Refi, Lefkelizade Kadri, Mayor
Hakkı and Derviş Bekiroğlu Mehmed Zeki. CWF-UOL, Box no: 6, Notebooks 1898-1958, 1919
no: 10.
3
Ibid.
4
The books are Lord Bryce’s The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire (1916), Arnold
Toynbee’s Armenian Atrocities: The Murder of a Nation (1915).
5
Chief of American Military Mission to Armenia General James G. Harbord and Admiral Bristol’s
intelligence officer Lieutenant Robert S. Dunn were among the persons to whom Graffam talked.
See Lt. R. S. Dunn, “Intelligence Report”, Record Group 256, General Records of the American
Commission to Negotiate Peace 1918–1931 (Micro Film Pub. No. 820) Field Missions of American
Delegation, Harbord Military Mission to Armenia, (here after HMMA), 184.021/46; “List of Turk,
Armenian, American, Georgian and Tartar Officials between Adana and Tiflis.” HMMA,
184.021/96.
she tried to influence them for the benefit of the Armenian cause. 1
Graffam explained her experiences during the war and the alleged
Armenian massacres to Furlong. According to her the danger was not over.
Turks were conducting “brigandage” and continue to kill Armenians if not in
thousands. She also talked about Mustafa Kemal Paşa’s activities around
Samsun and the Sivas region and gave the news that the nationalists were
planning to open an assembly in Ankara. 2
The Governor of Konya Cemal Bey was also very skeptical about
Mustafa Kemal Paşa and the Kuvva-i Milliye movement. According to him the
real leaders of this movement are doubtlessly Enver Paşa and Talat Paşa. He
talked with Furlong four times and gave important information about the future
project of the nationalists namely the foundation of a national assembly:

There is a great menace from the military as it has developed in the last few
days … forming a circle of mischief this formation is from the commander of the
1st, 2nd and 3rd Army corps in all Anatolia. The only trouble is they can not
complete this as the valis of Konia and Sivas are opposed to them. They are
creating a military senate and have asked officially throughout Anatolia to make
a military control. 3

According to the governor, military units are making preparation in

order to launch a military campaign. So the Entente must act immediately and
arrest all the four high ranking military officials in Konya. 4
Combining all these information Furlong warned American authorities
about nationalists’ plans to assemble representatives from all around Turkey in
order to open a national assembly. Unfortunately we do not know the contents
of this report. 5
Furlong departed from Konya to the direction of Aleppo on July 26,
1919. He arrived at Adana the same day and tried to confirm the information

1
Lieutenant Dunn describes his views about Graffam in very striking words: “A strong supporter
of an independent Armenia on the grounds that this is the Armenians' country; that they can never
live under Turkish domination; that the Turks are whipped and must be cleared out.... As a veteran
worker for the race, she sees her life-efforts vindicated by a free Armenia, and failing without it...
She stated that she would support any scheme, honest or no, cruel or no, for an independent
Armenia. When told of successful Greek intrigues on the coast deceiving Allied officers, she
professed to admire it, saying that she would “work” any one she could for her own — Armenian
— ends, had she the chance.” Lt. R. S. Dunn, “Intelligence Report”, HMMA, 184.021/46.
2
CWF-UOL, Box no: 6, Notebooks 1898-1958, 1919 no: 11.
3
CWF-UOL, Box no: 6, Notebooks 1898-1958, 1919 no: 10.
4
Ibid.
5
From Charles W. Furlong to Admiral Bristol, July 21, 1919, CWF-HIA, Box no: 2, Folder ID:
Bristol. Also see Furlong’s later annotation on the back side of the document.
187

about the French and Armenian assaults in Cilicia that he gathered from
Turkish sources and some foreigners including an ex-prisoner of war, the
Russian Captain Nikholas Yliek (?). He departed from Adana next day and
reached Aleppo on the same day. From his arrival to Aleppo until his departure
from Syria Furlong tried to investigate the Arabs’ reaction to a French
mandate. As usual he talked to all the important dignitaries including Emir
Faisal, Emir Zeid and General Ali Rida Rikabi. All of them were bitterly
criticizing the Sykes-Picot agreement and were against the French mandate and
the separation of Palestine 1 but views of the Arabs were already known to the
American administration via the King-Crane Commission which had spent
forty-two days in the region and departed on July 23, 1919 just a few days
before Furlong arrival. 2
Furlong as a reserve officer was demobilized at the end of 1919 and
returned back to America. Even though he had no official responsibility he
continued to follow developments in the Balkans and Turkey. When he had
learned from the press that President Wilson was authorized to find a solution
to the Fiume question he immediately wrote at letter to Wilson. In this letter
Furlong supported the Serbian claims and denied the Italian ones. 3
Wilson was seriously ill and had suffered a stroke during his campaign
to enlist American public support for the ratification of the Versailles Peace
Treaty on September 29, 1919. He could not fulfill his presidential duties at
that time 4 and probably did not read the Furlong’s letter. At the same time
American public opinion was already showing its unwillingness towards active
foreign policy and any kind of intervention outside the American traditional
areas of interest.
While America was showing signs of isolation, the situation in Turkey
was changing drastically. Furlong was aware of the importance of these recent
developments. Even though he had not got any reply to his letter from Wilson,
he decided to write another, this time about his findings and views about
Turkey. According to him the situation was very urgent and if no action would
be taken war was inescapable. He clearly states this at the first sentences of his
letter:

1
CWF-UOL, Box no: 6, Notebooks 1898-1958, 1919 no: 11.
2
The official name of this commission was American Section of Inter-Allied Commission on
Mandates in Turkey. See Harry N. Howard, An American Inquiry in the Middle East: The King-
Crane Commission, (Beirut : Khayats, 1963), passim.
3
“From Charles W. Furlong to President Wilson”, January 20, 1920, CWFP-HIA, Box no: 1,
Folder ID: Wilson.
4
Hoover, op. cit., pp. 270-297
 From my recent investigation in Asia Minor cannot help feeling our position on
Turkey as reported colossal blunder. For Armenia’s sake as well as justice to Turkey
cannot note be rescinded and Turkey’s faith in justice of America be retained before
lost. If this not done no alternative but war left Turkey with possible terrible
consequences to not only Armenians and Greeks possibly to American missionaries and
1
relief workers but starting perhaps the spark which will again set the world aflame.

Furlong was very sure that Turkey and Turks are being treated unfairly
due to the vicious black propaganda by minority groups and missionaries:

I feel that through the avalanche of unfair propaganda so persistently

launched by Greek, Armenian, Jew, material interests, as well as by well-
meaning but misinformed or prejudiced ministers and priests of gospel and
over-zealous “Christians” against the helpless Turkish people, that I would be
cruelly lending my own hand to unjust persecution were I to withhold my voice
and information at this time. 2

During his visit to Turkey he witnessed this propaganda and

powerlessness of Turks to voice the atrocities committed against them:

Telegrams speaking of impending Turkish massacres which never occurred

were constantly sent in by Greeks, in particular, from the coast towns of Asia
Minor and relaid [relayed] by Greek propagandists out of the country, while the
Turk’s side or protests were so censor-controlled that he could not make his
voice heard to the peoples of Europe and America, although our press has lent
itself against the Turks in this country. Likewise, the officer acting as military
attaché in Constantinople, although a graduate of West Point, was an Armenian.
It is hardly to be supposed that, honest as I believe him to be, his reports could
be impartial. 3

Furlong later began to report the crimes and atrocities that unfairly were
inflicted on to Turks and of which the American administration and public did
not know. He initially wrote about crimes and assaults against Turks in
İstanbul such as commandeering houses and looting, defiling Turkish women
by trying to show them as prostitutes, making fun of sacred Islamic symbols
and beliefs to anger Turks and more importantly the expulsion

1
“From Charles W. Furlong to President Wilson”, April 4, 1920, Sılan Family Archive. For the
other copy of the same letter see CWF-UOL, Box no: 9, Correspondence, no: 31 Wilson, Woodrow.
Furlong sent this letter to Wilson with the help of Admiral William Cary Grayson. See CWF-UOL,
Box no: 9, Correspondence, no: 31 Wilson, Woodrow.
2
Ibid.
3
Ibid. Furlong was referring to Major Haig Shekerjian (1886-1966) who played an important role
during his duty in Turkey and the Caucasus. He was one of the most important officers in the
Harbord Military Mission. See Who’s Who: Members of the Mission, HMMA, 184.021/101. From
Mc Coy to Maj. Shekerjian, 8 September 1919, HMMA, 184.021/248; From Lt. Col. Jackson to
General Harbord, 7 October 1919, HMMA, 184.021/317.
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of Turks secretly by means of suspicious conflagrations wiping out Turkish

districts.
According to him atrocities and crimes in Anatolia were far more
serious and wide-spread. The Greek army and its local accomplices were
massacring Turkish civilians in front of Entente officers in İzmir and
surrounding areas:

We hear much, both truth and gross exaggerations of Turkish massacre of

Armenians, but little or nothing of the Armenian massacres of Turks and of that
greatest atrocity of the armistice, committed under the very eyes of Great
Britain and the United States, the Smyrna massacre of helpless and peaceable
Turks by Greek troops and civilian population, evidently armed before hand for
the occasion. In Smyrna there is American eye-witness testimony that about
four hundred helpless Turks were massacred in a day and that the American
flag, at the request of the Turks, supplanted their own on the hospital, they
knowing the Greeks would allow them no asylum for their wounded and dying.
This atrocity did not stop here. The Greek troops continued into the Sanjak
north, burning, looting, raping villages and ceased only when there is every
reason to believe that one hundred thousand more or less Turkish peasants with
their women and little children, were driven in the mountains south of Brusa
where those who are left have been during the past severe winter. 1

According to Furlong situation in Cilicia is also potentially explosive as

Armenians wearing French uniforms were creating big problems. And with
reference to the news about Mara_ massacres he states that probably just the
opposite is true:

I have seen Armenian troops in Silicia [Cilicia], organized under the French,
occupying Turkish territory where there was no need of such occupation. The
Turkish population were helpless under their annoyance and the Turk could not
place his hand on one of these Armenians without jeopardizing his safety or life,
on account of thereby touching the French uniform. The recent so-called Marash
massacres have not been substantiated, in fact, in the minds of many who are
familiar with the situation, there is grave question whether it was not the Turk
who suffered at the hands of the Armenian and French armed contingents which
were known to be occupying that city and vicinity. 2

Even under this unfair and injustice condition Turks and Arabs were
still hoping that President Wilson and America will establish “just peace”
under the terms of Fourteen points which everybody in region knew by

1
“From Charles W. Furlong to President Wilson”, April 4, 1920, Sılan Family Archive. Harbord
Military Mission’s findings in and around İzmir are confirming Furlong's statements. See Notes on
the Trip to Smyrna, 13-16 October 1919, HMMA, 184.021/341.
2
“From Charles W. Furlong to President Wilson”, April 4, 1920, Sılan Family Archive.
heart. So there was still hope to stop the incoming war if America was willing
to take over the mandate of İstanbul and Anatolia but not of Armenia:

…violation after violation of the armistice was indulged in by the armed

troops, particularly of France, Italy and some Armenian contingents, under the
guise of policing the country, but in reality to divide up the spoils, for the harm
has been done and their officers frankly state they are in to stay…. It is to be
wondered at if disorders under these unbearable conditions should not arise on
the part of the Turks in actual self-defense. The Smyrna atrocity and other
violations of the armistice have gone far to enable the young Turk militarists to
induce many Turks, believing in the justice of the allies, to believe there was
none for themselves. Certainly no Mediterranean nation should hold a mandate
or domination over Turkey or occupy as a conqueror any partitioned part of its
territory. It is my firm conviction that should America take a mandate it must be
over Constantinople and Asia Minor and not over Armenia. My impressions of
an Armenian conception of a mandate, drawn through conferences with
Armenians in Asia Minor, are for America to tie the hands of the Turk that
Armenia may do its will. 1

Furlong finished his letter with very passionate words. He was very sure
of the incoming war and trying as much as he could to stop it by means of
fairness and justice. Interestingly he was not only thinking about Turkey but of
an ever-lasting peace between east and west:

A right decision will bind closer than ever in the history of mankind ties and
consciousness of brotherhood between the eastern and western world and
mutually turn their hearts toward each other for right. A wrong decision,
injustice, will be a calamity and may set aflame an infinitely greater fire than
that which seems to be smothered. In the name of justice, not only to the Turks,
but to the Moslem world, as well as to ourselves and all desirers of justice, I
make this appeal. 2

Furlong’s efforts did not produce any results. Probably Wilson never
read his letter and the Turks did fight for their rights as Furlong anticipated.
Furlong did not loose his interests about Turks and Turkey. He visited Turkey
in 1929 and in 1954. He tried to introduce the new and modern Turkey to the
public of America and Europe. 3

1
Ibid.
2
Ibid.
3
Charles W. Furlong, “Turkey, Europe’s Last Frontier”, National Geographic Society Archives
Furlong continued his colorful career both in civilian and military life. He was promoted to colonel
in 1929 and worked as a military intelligence specialist during the World War II. He spent his last
years packing and cataloging his archive which he gave different parts of it to four different
institutions. He died on October 3, 1967.
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Furlong’s letters to President Wilson and his documents about Turkey

are giving an insider's views about Turkey’s fight for survival. At the same his
vivid accounts are clearly showing the reality behind the propaganda against
Turks and Turkey. Furlong was not a major figure and nor did he play a key
roles but the information he provided is still useful in order to understand what
really happened during this critical time period.
My research about Furlong clearly shows that many important
documents are available in archives abroad waiting to be researched.
Unfortunately Turkish and western scholars of modern Turkish history are too
focused on Turkish archives and pay too little attention to western official or
private archives. A systematic search of the western archives would yield
masses of key information helping to understand the course of the events,
reason and their outcome.