ANKARA. - Head of Armenian Studies Desk at Turkish Historical Society Professor Kemal Cicek published a letter in Haberturk drawn from U.S. archives and dated on October 4, 1920. The document contains description of violence exerted on Armenians by French military troops after the Treaty of Sevres.

According to the publication, the President of American Committee for Armenian Independence Arshag Mahdesian wrote to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, attaching a letter of an Armenian priest from Izmir. American Armenians complained that after the Treaty of Sevres the French have deported 100 thousand Armenians from Cilicia and resettling Turks on their lands.

“The French forced 14 thousand Armenians out of the refugee camps. When the Armenian refugees refused to comply with the demand, French officers threatened to turn machine guns on them. The Armenian National Union intervened and the French postponed the execution of their orders,” reads the letter.

The Turkish professor says Armenians and Frenchmen conquered Cilicia together with the aim of creating an Armenian kingdom, however the French turned their weapons against Armenians, forcing them disarm and leave.

“In the course of history France used Armenians for its own ends. This is true even for today,” said Cicek.