The Balkan wars had created an opportunity for the revival of new plans to improve the conditions of the Ottoman Armenians. The French, British and Italians were anxious to limit German influence in the Ottoman Empire, while the Russian government encouraged the Catholicos of Armenia to appeal through the viceroy of the Caucasus to the Ottoman government for intervention in favor of reforms in Armenian-inhabited vilayets. This project was prepared by André Mandelstam, the dragoman at the Russian Embassy in Istanbul, and representatives from the Armenian national assembly.