Armenian position changed as an intellectual class began to emerge among Armenian society. At the same time, the Armenian patriarchate of Constantinople, Nerses II of Constantinople (1874–1884), forwarded Armenian complaints of widespread "forced land seizure ... forced conversion of women and children, arson, protection extortion, rape, and murder" to the Powers. March 1878, after the conclusion of the 1877–78 Russo-Turkish War, the Armenians began to look more toward the Russian Empire as the ultimate guarantors of their security. Patriarch Nerses Varjabedyan approached the Russian leadership during the negotiations with the Ottomans in San Stefano and convinced them to insert a clause, Article 16 to Treaty of San Stefano, stipulating that the Russian forces occupying the Armenian-populated provinces in the eastern Ottoman Empire would withdraw only with the full implementation of reforms.