Niles and Sutherland Report

The Niles and Sutherland Report was a report commissioned by the United States Congress in 1919 to investigate conditions in the Ottoman Empire's eastern provinces in the aftermath of World War I, and to assess what sort of aid was needed and whether that aid could be provided by the American Committee for Relief in the Near East (Near East Relief). It was prepared by Captain Emory H. Niles of the United States Army and Arthur E. Sutherland, Jr., and was based on their investigations at the city of Van and its vicinity.

Niles and Sutherland's inspection of Eastern Turkey was loosely coordinated with that of General James Harbord's larger and more expansive American Military Mission to Armenia which had been instructed to "investigate and report on the political, military, geographic, administrative, economic, and such other considerations involved in possible American interests and responsibilities in the region". Harbord's group did not travel to Bitlis and Van, and their resulting report relied on information provided in Niles and Sutherland's report.

From Aleppo, Niles and Sutherland traveled by rail to Mardin, arriving there on 3 July 1919, where they engaged Osman Ruhi, a Turkish medical student, as their interpreter. The journey to Bitlis and Van was done on horseback, accompanied by a guard of Turkish soldiers. Their itinerary included Van, the Lake Region, Erzurum, Erzincan, Karakilise, and Şebinkarahisar. Because of difficulties in transportation, war damage, lack of roads, automobiles, gasoline, and sickness, they had to make changes in the planned trip. In some areas where they saw no real war damage, such as between Erzincan and Şebinkarahisar, or where ACRNE was already active, such as Trabizond, they did not spend much time.

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