Ottoman Ministry of Interior, Department of Settlement of Tribes and Immigrants, “Regulations Related to Settlement and Board and Lodging and Other Affairs of Armenians Relocated to Other Places Because of War Conditions and Emergency Political Requirements, May 30, 1915”[1]

Article 1: Arrangements for the transportation of those to be transferred is the responsibility of the local administration.

Article 2: Armenians to be transferred are free to take all their moveable properties and animals along.

Article 3: Protection of lives and properties of Armenians to be transferred en route to their new settlements, their board and lodging and their rest is the responsibility of local administrators en route. Civil servants in all echelons are responsible for any negligence in this regard.

Article 4. Reaching the destinations of their new settlement, Armenians will either be settled in individual towns and villages in houses to be built, or in the villages to be established in locations designated by the Government. Due attention will be paid to establishing the villages in places which suit public health conditions, agriculture and construction.

Article 5. If there is no unowned and derelict land in places of settlement for the establishment of villages, state owned farms and villages may be allocated for this purpose.

Article 6: Boundaries of villages and towns to be established anew for the settlement of Armenians will be at least 25 kilometres away from the Baghdad railroad and from other railroad links.

Article 7: A Registration log will be established conveying very accurately in an orderly way the name, family name, age, profession, place of origin, place of settlement for all Armenians to be settled in villages and towns or in newly established villages, this log being the basis of the population registers.

Article 8: Persons to be settled at the designated places are prohibited to go to other places without permission from the Commission to which they are attached and without necessary special document from the local security force.

Article 9: All boarding needs of the people arriving, and the construction of houses of those who are in need, is the responsibility of the Government, such expenses to be financed from the immigrants’ appropriation fund.

Article 10: Arrangements of boarding and housing, expediting the completion of these, preservation of the health and welfare of the people, is the responsibility of the immigrant commissions, led by the highest local civil servant. In places where there are no immigrant commissions, these will be established anew, in accordance with the Regulation of Immigrants.

Article 11: District and provincial governors are authorised to assign sufficient civil servants necessary to carry out efficiently the task related to transport, board, lodging and settlement, with the concurrence of the Ministry.

Article 12: Each family to be resettled will be allocated appropriate land, taking into account their previous economic condition and their present needs.

Article 13: Allocation and distribution of land will be handled by the commissions.

Article 14: Boundaries and areas of the allocated land will be indicated in a Temporary (Provisional) receipt which will be issued to the owner with identical information clearly registered in the special book.

Article 15: Those engaged in agriculture and craftsmen who are in need will be issued an appropriate amount of operating capital, or necessary tools and instruments.

Receb 33/17 May 331 [30 May 1915]
Certified True Copy
Department for Settlement of Tribes and Immigrants, Ministry of Interior [seal].
Archival Notations: Archive No. 1/2; Cabin. No. 109; Drawer No. 4; File No. 361; Section No. 1030 (1445); Index No. 1

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