Repatriation of Medical Personnel.

VII.-(a.) With the exceptions mentioned below, all members of the British medical personnel captured by the Turkish forces and all members of the Turkish medical personnel captured by the British forces shall be repatriated with the least possible delay.

(b.) The British Government shall have the right to retain one medical officer and ten medical non-commissioned officers and soldiers for every 2,500 Turkish prisoners of war, to be employed exclusively in the care of those prisoners. The Ottoman Government shall have the right to retain one medical officer and five medical non-commissioned officers and soldiers for every 1,000 British prisoners of war, to be employed exclusively in the care of those prisoners.

(c.) Pharmaceutical chemists are reckoned among the personnel eligible for repatriation; veterinaries are not so reckoned.

(d.) The medical personnel (officers, non-commissioned officers and men) who are eligible for repatriation in virtue of Article III shall be repatriated as such. They shall not be retained in virtue of paragraph (b) of the present Article.

(e.) The medical personnel shall be repatriated as far as possible at the same time as the invalid prisoners of war.

(f.) The British and Ottoman Governments shall respectively communicate to each other by the diplomatic channel lists of the persons whom they consider to be entitled to repatriation in virtue of paragraph (a) of the present Article. In each case, however, the final decision shall be taken by the captor State, after verifying the medical status of the individual in question.

(g.) The two Governments undertake not to employ the medical personnel repatriated in virtue of this agreement otherwise than in medical service during the present war.

Repatriation of Civilians.

VIII.-(a.) Each of the two contracting parties agrees to grant the right of returning to their country, should they so desire, to all civilian subjects of the other party who are either interned in camps, "confined," or at liberty in its territory.

(b.) Exceptions shall be made in the case of civilians who are under sentence or accusation.

(c.) Male civilians between 17 and 50 years of age may be exchanged in equal numbers only, according to agreements to be reached by previous reciprocal exchange of lists.

(d.) In each country the civilian subjects of the other

mission granted to them to return to their country, and shall be bound to declare within twenty days from the date of that notification their intention of remaining or of leaving.

(e.) Members of the mercantile marine (captains and crews), administrative officials, police (including the civil Ottoman gendarmerie, "Saabit jandarma ") and retired officers shall also enjoy the status of civilians for the purpose of repatriation or exchange in accordance with the present agreement.

(f.) Eyoub Sabri Bey, Zinnoun Bey and Reschid Saadi Bey shall benefit by this agreement without delay.

Manner and Expenses of Transport.

IX. (a.) The repatriation of prisoners of war shall take place, if possible, by sea, between ports to be fixed subsequently by the two Governments.

The British and Ottoman Governments shall endeavour to obtain from those of their allies who have naval forces in the Mediterranean the assurance that the vessels used for repatriation shall not be the object of any attack.

(b.) The two Governments shall settle by the diplomatic channel the details of these transports relative to their dates of departure, the marking of the vessels, &c.

(c.) The expenses of transport shall be chargeable to the State of which the prisoners of war are subjects, from the last port situate in the territory or under the administration of the captor State which is touched by the vessels before their arrival at their destination.

(d.) Should it not be possible to effect the transport in the above manner, the British prisoners of war shall be repatriated by land (by way of Bulgaria, AustriaHungary, Switzerland and France), and the Turkish prisoners of war shall be repatriated by sea as far as Italy, France or Holland, and thence by land (by way of Switzerland or Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria).

(e.) In this latter case the expenses shall be borne by each captor State as far as the frontier of the neutral country; for the rest of the way they shall be chargeable to the State of which the prisoners of war are subjects.

(f.) Turkish civilians in Egypt, India, Malta and Cyprus. and the British civilians in Turkey who are to be repatriated in virtue of Article VIII shall be transported on board the vessels used for the repatriation of prisoners of war.

(g.) Ottoman civilians for repatriation in regions other than those above mentioned shall be transported at the expense of the British Government as far as a British frontier, and from there shall be authorised to return to Turkey.

Composition of the First Transports.

X. The transports destined to carry out the preliminary repatriation contemplated by Article V shall be composed as follows:

(a.) In the case of British subjects:

In the first place:

Of the 1,000 invalid prisoners of war to be repatriated in virtue of Article V, in the proportion of white men and of natives of India laid down in that Article, and of the medical officers to be repatriated in virtue of Article VII, without waiting for the formalities of the exchange of lists contemplated by paragraph (f) of the said Article.

Next:

Of the members of the mercantile marine to be repatriated in virtue of Article VIII.

Next:

Of other civilians to be repatriated in virtue of Article VIII in so far as room remains available on board the vessels.

(b.) In the case of Ottoman subjects:

In the first place:

1. Of all the medical officers and prisoners of war interned in Egypt, Cyprus and Malta (in particular Dr. Emin), with the exception of those whose retention is contemplated by Article VII, without awaiting the formalities of the exchange of lists contemplated by paragraph (f) of the said Article, in accordance with the proportion existing at the date of the signature of this agreement between the number of Turkish prisoners of war and the number of medical officers interned in those regions.

2. Of two civilians (Eyoub Sabri Bey and Zinnoun Bey). 3. Of invalid prisoners of war to be repatriated in virtue of Article V.

Next:

1. Of all the medical officers prisoners of war interned elsewhere than in Egypt, Cyprus and Malta to be repatriated in virtue of Article VII, without awaiting the formalities of the exchange of lists contemplated by paragraph (f) of the said Article.

2. Of the invalid prisoners of war still required to complete the number of 1,500 contemplated by Article V.

3. Of civilians for repatriation in so far as room remains available on board the vessels.

A single transport may be effected by means of one or of several vessels.

Both on the outward and on the return voyage the vessels shall be filled to their full capacity with persons for repatriation.

Part II.—TReatment.

Visit to Camps.

XI. The representatives of the protecting Powers or their delegates, accompanied, if necessary, by neutral persons capable of assisting them as interpreters, shall be permitted, when they so desire, to visit the prisoners' camps with the exception of those situated in territories which have been occupied during the present war. The Ottoman Government reserves the right to exclude from these visits the regions of military movement in the Taurus, and to the east and to the south of the Taurus. The representatives and their delegates shall have the right to converse with the prisoners without the presence of witnesses.

The two Governments shall endeavour to intern the prisoners as far as possible in places which can be visited by the representatives and their delegates for the purposes of inspection and of supply.

Camp Help Committees.

XII. In each camp there shall be a Help Committee formed from among the prisoners for the purpose of assisting the military administration in matters concerning the improvement of the general conditions of the camp.

This committee shall be composed of five prisoners, and shall include the British or Ottoman doctor and ecclesiastic, where such there are, charged with the care of the British or Turkish prisoners. The other members of the committee shall be elected by the prisoners at the camp. In camps for prisoners of war at least one member of the committee shall be above the rank of private, and the member of highest rank shall be the president of the committee.

The functions of the committee shall be the following:(a.) The receipt, the recording and the distribution of gifts and relief.

(b.) The distribution of the contents of parcels addressed to prisoners who may have died, have escaped, have been repatriated, or be unknown.

(c.) The correspondence of illiterate prisoners.

(d.) The preparation of the supplementary lists of prisoners in Turkish or English (see Article XXII, paragraph (b)).

(e.) The organisation of amusements and of facilities for reading.

(f.) The maintenance of good relations between the prisoners.

(g.) The transmission of all claims, requests for help, and complaints on the part of prisoners,

(h.) The preparation of the lists of the prisoners of war who desire to be examined by the Medical Commission with a view to repatriation, and the transmission of these lists to the commandant of the camp.

Lodging and Sanitation.

XIII. (a.) All prisoners shall be lodged without charge in suitable and sanitary buildings.

(b.) The advice and the services of the doctors, prisoners of war, shall be extensively utilised for the sanitation of the

camps.

(c.) All prisoners shall receive, without charge, the medical attention and the medicines which they require.

(d.) Ottoman "officiers remplaçants," prisoners of war, shall receive the treatment of officers, and Ottoman aspirants ("Zabit namzedi "), prisoners of war, as well as British warrant officers, prisoners of war, shall receive the special treatment of non-commissioned officers of high rank, especially as regards lodging.

Supplies.

XIV. (a.) British and Turkish prisoners of war shall be allowed all facilities for the purchase, either in the camps or outside of them, of the clothing, food, or other articles which they require.

(b.) The representatives of the protecting Powers shall be permitted to cause the purchase, in the country itself, of the goods which they wish to have sent to the prisoners, and they shall be afforded, as far as possible, the necessary facilities for the despatch of these goods to the prisoners.

(c.) The vessels used for repatriation may carry food and relief supplies for the prisoners, which shall be distributed by the neutral delegates of the Red Cross or of the protecting Legations.

Parcels and Correspondence.

XV. (a.) The two Governments shall endeavour to expedite the censorship and the transmission of correspondence and parcels for prisoners.

(b.) Parcels sent to prisoners by the British Red Cross, by the Ottoman Red Crescent, or by neutral Red Cross Societies, shall be despatched as speedily as possible to the camps where their addressees are located, without being censored on the way. Their censorship at the camp shall be reduced to a minimum.