[Illustration:
KURDISH SHEIKHS.
]
THE ARMENIAN
CRISIS IN TURKEY
THE MASSACRE OF 1894, ITS ANTECEDENTS AND SIGNIFICANCE
WITH A CONSIDERATION OF SOME OF THE FACTORS WHICH ENTER INTO THE
SOLUTION OF THIS PHASE OF THE EASTERN QUESTION
BY
FREDERICK DAVIS GREENE, M.A.
FOR SEVERAL YEARS A RESIDENT IN ARMENIA
_Յուսահատելու չէնք_։—ԽՐԻՄԵԱՆ ՀԱՅՐԻԿ
WITH INTRODUCTION BY REV. JOSIAH STRONG, D.D.
AUTHOR OF “OUR COUNTRY,” “THE NEW ERA,” ETC.
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
NEW YORK LONDON
27 WEST TWENTY-THIRD ST. 24 BEDFORD ST., STRAND
=The Knickerbocker Press=
1895
COPYRIGHT, 1895
BY
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
Entered at Stationers’ Hall, London
=The Knickerbocker Press, New York=
TO THE MEMORY
OF THE
VICTIMS OF THE SASSOUN MASSACRE
1894
I DEDICATE
THIS APPEAL TO THE CIVILIZED WORLD
IN BEHALF OF THEIR RACE AND OF ALL THE
RACES IN TURKEY
INTRODUCTION.
This is an important book. It deals with a burning question, and in a
way which will command public attention and public confidence.
The author is thoroughly equipped for his task. Birth, residence, and
travel in Turkey have made him personally acquainted with the situation
which he discusses, and the independence of his position enables him to
write without restraint and without prejudice. After nearly four years
of service as a missionary of the American Board in Van, the centre of
Armenia, during which no criticism of his course was ever made either by
the Board or by the Turkish Government, he was recently ordered by his
physician to return to America. Having resigned his connection with the
American Board, he writes as the representative of no society, religious
or political, and is connected with none. In issuing this book he is
simply discharging what to him is a personal and unavoidable obligation;
and as he frankly avows its authorship, it will be impossible for the
Turkish Government to hold any one else responsible for it.
The author shows that the case of the subject races in the Ottoman
Empire is desperate, that there is no hope of reform from within, and
that relief must therefore come through the interference of the powers
of Europe. Their action depends largely on the support of the public.
“_Public opinion_,” therefore, “_must be brought to bear upon this
case_,” as Mr. Gladstone said in the House of Commons six years ago.
Since then there has been added a new chapter of horrors, and the demand
for decisive action in the name of our common humanity has become more
urgent. The facts furnished by this book ought to arouse such public
opinion as will justify and compel prompt and efficient action on the
part of the Powers.
The United States need not depart from its long-established foreign
policy, but is bound to protect its own honor and the lives and property
of its citizens.
JOSIAH STRONG.
NEW YORK, March 1, 1895.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I.— A CHAPTER OF HORRORS 1
Certified Evidence of the Armenian Massacre, Preceded by
an Endorsement of the Evidence, with Signatures in
Fac-simile, and an Explanatory Note.
II.— GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT EASTERN TURKEY 43
The Physical Aspects, Inhabitants, and Administration of
the Country.
III.— THE CHRONIC CONDITION OF ARMENIA AND KURDISTAN 54
Specific and Detailed Instances of Kurdish Plunder and
Oppression.—The Turkish System of Taxation and its
Abuses.—Why these Facts are so little Known.—What can be
Done to Improve the Situation.
IV.— OTTOMAN PROMISES AND THEIR FULFILMENT 70
The Treaty of Adrianople, 1829.—The Hatti Sherif,
1839.—Pledge of 1844.—Protestant Charter, 1850.—Hatti
Humayoun, 1856.—Anglo-Turkish Convention, 1878.—Treaty of
Berlin, 1878.
V.— THE OUTCOME OF THE TREATY OF BERLIN 76
British Naval Demonstration, 1879.—The Identical Note of
the Powers, 1880, and the Turkish Reply.—The Collective
Note of the Powers, and the Aggressive Response of the
Sublime Porte.—The Circular of Great Britain, 1881, its
Cool Reception by the Powers, and the Indefinite
Postponement of Turkish Reforms.—The Effect of the Berlin
Treaty in Arousing Armenian Aspirations and Increasing
Turkish Oppression.—Armenian Revolution a Nightmare of
the Turks.—The Real Armenian Position.—The Only Treatment
for the “Sick Man” a Surgical One.
VI.— THE SULTAN AND THE SUBLIME PORTE 87
The Demands of his Office as Sultan-Calif.—Justice to
Christian and Moslem both Impossible.—Status of
non-Mohammedans.—The Palace and the Porte.—A House
Divided against Itself.
VII.— PREVIOUS ACTS OF THE TURKISH TRAGEDY 95
The Massacres of Greeks, 1822; Nestorians, 1850; Syrians,
1860; Cretans, 1867; Bulgarians, 1876; Yezidis, 1892;
Armenians, 1894.
VIII.— ISLAM AS A FACTOR OF THE PROBLEM 110
A Politico-Religious System.—Indissoluble and Incapable
of Modification.—The Military, Civil, and Legal Rights of
non-Mohammedans.—Freeman’s Conclusion.
IX.— GLADSTONE ON THE ARMENIAN MASSACRE AND ON TURKISH MISRULE 121
X.— WHO ARE THE ARMENIANS? 131
Their Origin, History, Church, Language, Literature, and
General Characteristics.
XI.— AMERICANS IN TURKEY, THEIR WORK AND INFLUENCE 147
Their Attitude and Recognized Position.—Statistics of the
Direct Results of their Efforts.—Their Indirect Influence
on All Classes.—The Present Threatening Attitude of the
Turkish Government.
Appendix A.—A BIT OF AMERICAN DIPLOMACY 157
B.—ESTABLISHMENT OF U. S. CONSULATES IN EASTERN TURKEY 163
C.—DR. CYRUS HAMLIN’S EXPLANATION 167
D.—THE CENSORSHIP OF THE PRESS 169
E.—BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE SUBJECT 171
GENERAL INDEX 175
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
KURDISH SHEIKHS _Frontispiece_
FAC-SIMILE OF SIGNATURES 2 and 4
VICTIMS OF TURKISH TAXATION 10
REVIEW OF KURDISH CAVALRY 19
NAREG: ANCIENT CHURCH AND MODERN HOVELS 29
ARMENIAN GIRLS OF VAN 39
A KURD OF THE OLD TYPE 47
RUINED KURDISH CASTLE AT KHOSHAB 50
MINAS TCHÉRAZ 80
ZEIBEK “IRREGULAR” 83
TURKISH SOLDIER, “REGULAR” 85
H. I. M. SULTAN ABD-UL-HAMID KHAN 91
HIGHWAY IN ARMENIA 105
ARMENIAN REBELS WHO WOULD NOT PAY TAXES 120
KURDISH HAMIDIÉH SOLDIERS, EXECUTING THE “SWORD DANCE” 127
ANCIENT ARMENIAN TOMBSTONE 135
THE CATHOLICOS OF ETCHMIADZIN 139
THE SUBORDINATE CATHOLICOS OF AGHTAMAR 141
THE ISLAND MONASTERY OF AGHTAMAR 145
ARMENIAN FAMILY OF BITLIS 152
PREFACE.
The writer has, from his birth, been a student of the Eastern Question,
but makes no claim to having mastered it. What he has learned of the
phases of that question here treated has been by absorption,
observation, travel, residence, and investigation, in the land itself,
and by study and reading in regard to it. The very short time allowed in
the preparation of this humble contribution to the subject has
necessitated a hasty and partial treatment at the expense of literary
form. Some of the material of the second and third chapters and most of
the illustrations in this book are reproduced from an article by the
author in the American _Review of Reviews_ for January, 1895, by the
kind permission of the editor, Dr. Albert Shaw. No pains have been
spared to insure accuracy. References to authorities have been given as
far as possible, but in regard to much information from most reliable
sources names must be withheld. It is a very significant feature of the
situation in Turkey, that people who are thousands of miles away from
her, and who may never set foot there again, do not dare to publicly
state the facts, lest vengeance may be taken on their families and
friends, still within reach of Turkish violence and intrigue. If His
Imperial Majesty, the Sultan, but knew the real facts of the atrocious
massacre of last year, and realized the disgrace attaching to the
Turkish name on account of the unspeakably brutal deeds of his Turkish
and Kurdish soldiers, officers included, we cannot but hope that some
punishment would be visited upon them, experience to the contrary. He
certainly should welcome the revelations of this book, and do all in his
power to protect any who may aid him in bringing the facts to light and
securing a better state of affairs. God help him, and save all his
subjects, Turk, Arab, and Kurd, Christian, Jew, and Pagan, from the
curse of a system of government not only “sick,” but dead and rotting!
I preach no crusade; none is needed. But it is high time for the
conscience of Europe and America to assert itself—not simply the
“non-Conformist conscience,” but the Established, the Orthodox, the
Catholic, the Agnostic, and the Infidel conscience, in fact the human
conscience—against this crime upon humanity. If this conscience is once
aroused, I care not what parties are in power, or how the game stands on
the diplomatic chessboard, the Eastern Question will be settled, instead
of forever threatening the peace of Europe, and one more blot will be
wiped out from the annals of the world.
I use the title THE CRISIS IN TURKEY because there _is_ a crisis in the
history of one of her most important races; there _ought_ to be one
throughout Turkey; and there _may_ be one in Europe if selfishness,
jealousy, and duplicity are forever to stifle all considerations of
humanity, national honor, and—I blush to add it—of Christianity.
In order to protect “British interests,” for twoscore years, not to say
longer, has “Christian” England stood guard at the Sublime Porte,
warning all intruders away. With her hand on the door of the Turk’s
disorderly house, she has complacently informed the world that she in
particular—as well as the other Powers—has secured promises, and even
guaranties, that all would go well. But all the while, Her Majesty’s
Ministers, of whatever party, have heard the bitter and despairing cry
of the poor wretches within. These Ministers have, since 1881, with rare
exceptions, carefully suppressed in their archives the consular reports
which have officially kept them informed of the real state of
affairs.[1] And all the while, England’s share of the profits of this
partnership with the unspeakable Turk has been steadily dropping into
her overflowing coffers. Was Cyprus nothing? Is the interest on Turkish
bonds nothing? Of course the creditor must have his due, even though it
is extracted in blood-drops by a pressure that England and the other
Powers help to maintain.
A famous London divine recently preached a sermon in connection with the
Armenian Massacre, using as a text Ezra ix., 3: “And when I heard this
thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my
head and of my beard, and sat down astonied.” May I suggest that it is
high time to rouse oneself from mere astonishment, as did the Hebrew
prophet? If the eloquent preacher is at a loss for an appropriate text
for another sermon to an English audience, he can find it in the sixth
verse of the same chapter: “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up
my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head,
and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.”
The very well informed correspondent of _The Speaker_ wrote from
Constantinople two months ago: “I fear there can be no doubt about the
essential facts. We have already the official reports of the consuls at
Van, Erzroom, Sivas, and Diarbekir, which have not yet been published,
but which, we know, confirm the most horrible statements made in the
newspapers. We have the reports of the Armenian refugees who were
eye-witnesses. We have the reports sent to the Armenian Patriarchate
here, and the reports of Catholic and Protestant missionaries in the
vicinity of Sasun. Beyond this, and most horrible of all, we have the
testimony of the Turkish soldiers who took part in the massacres. These
soldiers ... have talked with the greatest freedom in public places, and
to all who would listen, boasting of their deeds. We have full reports
from all these places of the statements made by hundreds of these
soldiers, and they agree in all essential points.”[2]
The author does not ignore the repeated and earnest efforts that have
been made for years, by such individual Englishmen as the Hon. James
Bryce, to call attention to the condition of Armenia. Their protests
have kept alive Armenian hope that England at least would not entirely
repudiate her obligations. But the futility of these same protests has
also given assurance to the Sublime Porte in carrying out its policy of
repression and extermination in Armenia.
Of course neither the party in power, nor its successors, will proceed
energetically unless assured of the support of the people whom they
represent. As soon as there is sufficient pressure from behind something
more will be done than to dally with Turkish Commissions of Inquiry,
sent under circumstances which make a true and full report simply a
physical and moral impossibility.[3] The Turk is on trial and should be
allowed to plead “Not Guilty.” But it is not customary, in courts where
justice is the object, to allow the criminal at the bar the privilege of
acting also as the prosecuting attorney, and of summoning and examining
the witnesses. As is well known, the most stringent measures have been
taken by the Sublime Porte to prevent any representative of the press
from watching the proceedings of the Commission of Inquiry at Moosh, or
from making any independent investigation on the ground. Such
precautions are hardly necessary, for all evidence of the massacre was
concealed by torch and spade six months ago. If the executioners
themselves overlooked any of their victims, the jackals, dogs, and
vultures have surely found them by this time.
There are fifty native-born American citizens, not counting their
children, who are now buried in Eastern Turkey. The fanatical outbreak
which has slain thousands in their midst may yet involve them. The
President of the United States long ago ordered a U. S. Consul to make a
report as to the facts, simply for his own government, which has no
official knowledge of what has or is taking place in that isolated
region. The Sultan stamped his foot, and Consul Jewett was told to put
his instructions in his pocket, where they still remain.[4]
As for France, who tattoos her fair figure with “_Liberté, Égalité,
Fraternité_” wherever there is space to write the words, she evidently
confines her motto to herself. It is reported that at the close of the
Berlin Treaty of 1878, Prince Bismarck expressed his sentiments by
saying that he “would not give one Pomeranian grenadier for the Balkan
Peninsula.” If so, probably he would sacrifice even less now for
Armenia. Have the German people nothing to say?
Holy Russia feels so sure of the Armenian apple, which seems bound to
fall into her lap, that she doesn’t even care to shake the branch,
unmindful of the fact that the apple is tenacious of its hold, and is
being pecked to pieces and rotting on the stem. Austria would not refuse
the task of instituting reforms as far south as Salonica. Poor Italy is
willing to be useful, and Greece does not care to be left out. They all
want their share. Nobody expects or is trying to secure reforms from
within, though promises to that effect may still be demanded, and will
always be ready on demand.
As for official Turkey, she has long seen the sword of Damocles over her
head, and will bow to the stroke of Fate whenever it falls. If it only
comes hard enough, and is aimed true to the mark, she will even get out
of the way. _Not a drop of blood need be shed._
What is the real difficulty in Turkey? Is it a conflict of race or
religion? _Primarily_ it is neither, though both these elements
complicate the case. _In one word it is misgovernment._ Do not be
deceived by this rather mild word, and dismiss the subject with the
reflection that “there is misgovernment everywhere.” Misgovernment as it
exists in Turkey is an organization that breeds death and corruption. It
is a disease, of which the germs penetrate the whole system of the body
politic. It is a disease, hereditary, chronic, and fastened upon the
very vitals of its victim. No creed is exempt, every race is attacked by
it. The more apparent result is outward impoverishment and material
prostration. The more dangerous and deplorable symptom is the moral
deterioration of all the races affected.
I am no eulogist of the mass of Armenians in their present condition.
But I know their grand possibilities as a race, physically,
intellectually, and morally. The depths to which an individual or a race
can fall indicate the height which might have been attained. The only
wonder is that a people of so great ability, energy, and spirit have so
long submitted. But when one sees, as I have been compelled to, during
years of residence both in Constantinople and the interior, how the
fetters have been forged on every limb, and how the movement of a finger
even brings down immediate and terrible vengeance, the wonder arises why
these wretches are so foolhardy as to undertake revolution. The fact is
they are not engaged in any such enterprise. Individual agitators there
are, but even their object is only to force the civilized world to give
attention to the despairing cry of their race, which even God does not
seem, to them, to hear.
The case of the Armenians demands immediate and thorough attention. But
the Armenian question should not be allowed to fill the whole horizon in
the Levant. Just now the blaze comes from their house, but no one can
tell when it may result in a general conflagration. All the other
Christian races and the Mohammedan races, too, are equally concerned.
Europe itself is endangered, as her statesmen well know, and safety
depends only on their prompt and united action.
I have seen the crushing and—what is worse—demoralizing conditions from
which the Armenian and all other races in Turkey suffer under Moslem
misrule. I know how rapidly these fine races would advance along every
line, were these conditions changed. It is my firm belief that such
changes may now be secured, if the interest already aroused throughout
the civilized world be expressed in intelligent and determined action.
In the hope of such action I send forth this little book. If action is
_not_ taken, the effect of this book, as of all agitation in behalf of
the victims of Turkey, will be to draw the fetters deeper. What result
may follow to my many friends and former associates on the ground, with
whom it is very difficult to communicate, I do not know. But I know
them, and do not believe that there is one among their number who, to
shield himself from danger, would stay my pen.
Reader, your voice and help are needed.
“He’s true to God who’s true to man; wherever wrong is done
To the humblest and the weakest, ’neath the all-beholding sun,
That wrong is also done to us; and they are slaves most base
Whose love of right is for themselves, and not for all their race.”
—LOWELL.
[Illustration:
MAP OF
TURKEY IN ASIA
The shaded section is commonly called
ARMENIA
]
CHAPTER I.
A CHAPTER OF HORRORS.
CERTIFIED EVIDENCE OF THE MASSACRE IN SASSOUN.
We, the undersigned, by examination and comparison, have satisfied
ourselves that the following statements are verbatim reports, written
under the dates which they bear, by American citizens who have spent
from six to thirty years in Eastern Turkey. We have examined also the
fact that they are written from six different cities from one hundred to
two hundred miles apart, but forming a circle about the centre in which
the massacres occurred. For the personal safety of the writers the names
of the places cannot now be made public. They are independent reports
from a country where refugees and returned soldiers of the Sultan speak
of what they know. We have the utmost confidence in these statements and
regard them worthy the belief of all men.
In the name of a suffering humanity we urge the careful perusal of these
statements, and recommend that all readers take measures to make the
indignation of an outraged Christian world effectually felt. We
deprecate revolution among these helpless Turkish subjects, but bespeak
cordial co-operation in bringing to bear upon Turkey the force of the
righteous condemnation of our seventy millions of people.
[Illustration]
FREDERIC T. GREENHALGE
Governor of Massachusetts.
FRANCES E. WILLARD
President National W. C. T. U.
WM. LLOYD GARRISON
SAMUEL J. BARROWS
Editor _Christian Register_.
GEO. C. LORIMER
Pastor Tremont Temple, Boston.
WILLIAM E. BARTON
Pastor Shawmut Church, Boston.
H. M. JEWETT
Ex-U. S. Consul, Sivas, Turkey.[5]
MARY A. LIVERMORE
Author and Lecturer.
ALPHEUS H. HARDY
FRANCIS E. CLARK
Pres. United Society Christian Endeavor.
[Illustration]
EDWARD EVERETT HALE
Pastor New South Congregational Church, Boston.
JULIA WARD HOWE
Author and Lecturer.
FRANCIS A. WALKER
Pres. Mass. School of Technology.
A. E. PILLSBURY
Ex-Attorney-General of Massachusetts.
ISABEL SOMERSET
Lady Henry Somerset.
CYRUS HAMLIN
Founder of Robert College.
I. J. LANSING
Pastor Park Street Church, Boston.
JOSEPH COOK
Author and Lecturer.
WM. E. RUSSELL
Ex-Governor of Massachusetts.
JONATHAN A. LANE
Pres. Boston Merchants’ Association.
EXPLANATORY NOTE BY THE AUTHOR.
These letters are written by men who can have no possible motive for
misrepresenting the facts in the case, while, on the other hand, each
writer subjected himself to personal danger by putting such statements
upon paper and sending them through the mails. Several of the documents
have gotten through Turkey by circuitous routes, in some instances
having been sent by special messenger to Persia, and so on to this
country. Others were never risked in the Turkish mails, but have come
through the British post-office at Constantinople.
It must be borne in mind that no writer was an eye-witness of the actual
massacre; nor could he have been, inasmuch as the whole region was
surrounded by a military cordon during the massacre and for months
after. The letters are largely based on the testimony of refugees from
that region, or of Kurds and soldiers who participated in the butchery,
and who had no hesitation in speaking about the affair in public or
private until long after, when the prospect of a European investigation
sealed their lips. Much of the evidence is, therefore, essentially first
hand, having been obtained from eye-witnesses, by parties in the
vicinity at the time, who are impartial, thoroughly experienced in
sifting Oriental testimony, familiar with the Turkish and Armenian
languages, and of the highest veracity. No one letter would have much
force if taken alone, for it might be a large report of a small matter;
but these sixteen letters are written independently of one another, at
different times, and from seven different cities widely apart, five of
them forming a circle around the scene of destruction. The evidence is
cumulative and overwhelming.
There is absolute unanimity to this extent: that a gigantic and
indescribably horrible massacre of Armenian men, women, and children did
actually take place in the Sassoun and neighboring regions about Sept.
1, 1894, and that, too, at the hands of Kurdish troops armed by the
Sultan of Turkey, as well as of regular soldiers sent under orders from
the same source. What those orders were will probably never transpire.
That they were executed under the personal direction of high Turkish
military officers is clear. There can also be no doubt—for the official
notice from the palace was printed in the Constantinople papers in
November last—that Zekki Pasha, Commander of the Fourth Army Corps, who
led the regular troops in the work of extermination, has since been
specially honored by a decoration from the Sultan, who was also pleased
to send silk banners to the four leading Kurdish chiefs, by a special
messenger.
The latest, most accurate, and comprehensive document in this
correspondence is No. 6, which is based on evidence obtained with
special care at the nearest attainable point to the scene, and was
prepared by parties in intimate relations with the European official who
made the first investigation on the ground last October, but whose
report has not yet been made public.
The letters are arranged in chronological order. In view of the fact
that the names of the cities from which the various documents are dated
must be withheld at present, these places are designated by letters of
the alphabet. The separate extracts are also numbered to facilitate
reference. In order that there may be no confusion, all explanatory
comments of the author are enclosed in brackets.
THE EVIDENCE.
No. 1.
[The reader should take notice that this first letter was written over
four months before the massacre actually occurred.]
D..., April 3, 1894.
It does seem in this region as if the government were bent on reducing
all those who survive the process to a grovelling poverty, when they can
think of nothing more than getting their daily bread. There is good
reason for thinking that unless so-called Christian nations extend a
helping hand, they [the Armenians] will become wellnigh extinct. Of
course I do not sympathize in any way with the extremists in other lands
who are stirring things up here. Nor do I agree with those papers that
decry this movement as very foolish because there is no hope for
success. If I rightly interpret the movement in this region, the thought
is not revolution at all, but a desperate effort to call the attention
of Europe to the wrongs they are suffering and will ever continue to
suffer under this government. They feel that they will never succeed in
attracting that attention unless they show that they are desperate
enough to sacrifice their lives. _And there is no computing the lives
that are going, not in open massacre as in Bulgaria—the government knows
better than that,—but in secret, silent, secluded ways._ The sooner it
is known, the better. There never will be peaceful, prosperous
conditions here until others take hold with a strong hand.
[Illustration:
VICTIMS OF TURKISH TAXATION ABANDONING THEIR VILLAGE HOMES.
]
No. 2.
[This is the first report of the massacre.]
D..., Sept. 26, 1894.
Troops have been massed in the region of the large plain near us.
Sickness broke out among them, which took off two or three victims every
few days. It was a good excuse for establishing the quarantine around,
with its income from bribes, charges, and the inevitable rise in the
price of the already dear grain. I suspect that one reason for placing
quarantine was to hinder the information as to what all those troops
were about in that region. There seems little doubt that there has been
repeated in the region back of Moosh what took place in 1876 in
Bulgaria. The sickening details are beginning to come in. As in that
case, it has been the innocent who have been the greatest sufferers.
Forty-eight villages are said to have been wholly blotted out.
No. 3.
[Efforts to conceal the truth as soon as Vice-Consul Hallward arrived on
the scene, and to ward off investigation.]
D..., Oct. 3, 1894.
As the time goes on the extent of the slaughter seems to be confirmed as
greater than was first supposed. Six thousand is a low figure—it is
probably nearer ten. Mr. Hallward, the new [English] Consul at Van, has
gone directly there, and it is said that the other consuls from Erzroom
have also been sent to investigate. The government tried to get the
people here to sign an address to the Sovereign, expressing satisfaction
with his rule, disclaiming sympathy with the Armenians who have “stirred
matters up,” stating that the thousands slain in Talvoreeg met their
just deserts, and that the four outsiders captured should be summarily
punished, expressing regret that it has been thought best to send
consuls to investigate, and stating that there was no need for their
coming. From this document we at least get some facts that before were
suppositions. It consisted of about two thousand words, and it was
expected that it would be sent by telegraph with at least a thousand
signatures. The Armenians here have not yet signed it, though in four
districts similar papers have been secured properly sealed. _The effect
of such papers on foreigners will be much modified when they know the
means used to procure them._ Sword, famine, pestilence, all at once—pity
this poor country!
No. 4.
[The following is from a different source.]
A..., Oct. 31, 1894.
We have word from Bitlis that the destruction of life in Sassoun, south
of Moosh, was even greater than was supposed. The brief note which has
reached us says: “Twenty-seven villages annihilated in Sassoun. Six
thousand men, women, and children massacred by troops and Kourds. This
awful story is just beginning to be known here, though the massacre took
place early in September. The Turks have used infinite pains to prevent
news leaking out, even going to the length of sending back from
Trebizond many hundreds from the Moosh region who had come this way on
business.” This massacre was ordered from Constantinople in the sense
that some Kourds having robbed Armenian villages of flocks, the
Armenians pursued and tried to recover their property, and a fight
ensued in which a dozen Kourds were killed. The slain were
“semi-official robbers,” _i.e._, enrolled as troops and armed as such,
but not under control. The authorities then telegraphed to
Constantinople that Armenians had “killed some of the Sultan’s troops.”
The Sultan at once ordered infantry and cavalry to put down the Armenian
rebellion, and they did it; only, not finding any rebellion, they
cleared the country so that none should occur in the future.
No. 5.
[This from a third place.]
B..., Nov. 16, 1894.
Last year the Talvoreeg Armenians successfully resisted the attacks of
the neighboring Kourds. The country became very unsettled. This year the
government interfered and sent detachments of regular soldiers to put
down the Armenians. These were assisted by the Kourdish _Hamediéhs_
[organized troops]. The Armenians were attacked in their mountain
fastnesses and were finally reduced by the failure of supplies, both of
food and ammunition. About a score of villages were wiped out of
existence—people slaughtered and houses burned.
A number of able-bodied young Armenians were captured, bound, covered
with brushwood and burned alive. A number of Armenians, variously
estimated, but less than a hundred, surrendered themselves and pled for
mercy. Many of them were shot down on the spot and the remainder were
dispatched with sword and bayonet.
A lot of women, variously estimated from 60 to 160 in number, were shut
up in a church, and the soldiers were “let loose” among them. Many of
them were outraged to death and the remainder dispatched with sword and
bayonet. A lot of young women were collected as spoils of war. Two
stories are told. 1. That they were carried off to the harems of their
Moslem captors. 2. That they were offered Islam and the harems of their
Moslem captors,—refusing, they were slaughtered. Children were placed in
a row, one behind another, and a bullet fired down the line, apparently
to see how many could be dispatched with one bullet. Infants and small
children were piled one on the other and their heads struck off. Houses
were surrounded by soldiers, set on fire, and the inmates forced back
into the flames at the point of the bayonet as they tried to escape.
But this is enough of the carnage of death. Estimates vary from 3000 to
8000 for the number of persons massacred. These are sober estimates.
Wild estimates place the number as high as 20,000 to 25,000.
This all took place during the latter part of August and [early part of]
September. The arrival of the commander-in-chief of the Fourth Army
Corps put a stop to the carnage. It is to be noted that the massacres
were perpetrated by regular soldiers, for the most part under command of
officers of high rank. This gives this affair a most serious aspect.
A Christian does not enjoy the respect accorded to street dogs. If this
massacre passes without notice it will simply become the declaration of
the doom of the Christians. There will be no security for the life,
property, or honor of a Christian. A week ago last Tuesday evening at
sundown a Turk kidnapped the wife of a wealthy Armenian merchant of the
town of Khanoos Pert. Next morning her cries were overheard by searchers
and she was rescued from a Turkish house. No redress is possible.
Wild rumors have been abroad for a long time, but trustworthy
information came to hand slowly. Everything has been done to hush it all
up. Some of the minor details of the stories I have told above may not
be exact, but I feel quite certain they are in the main. However, that a
cruelly barbarous and extensive massacre of Christians by regular
soldiers assisted by Kourdish _Hamediéhs_, under command of officers of
rank and responsibility, has occurred cannot be denied.
What now will the Christian world do?
No. 6.
[This is the most complete account, compiled on the ground. The
following document was carefully prepared in common by parties, the
signature of any one of whom would be of sufficient guaranty to give
great weight. One of the party, who is largely responsible for the data
given, is a man of high position and wide influence. The material was
collected with the greatest difficulty and under the constant espionage
of Turkish officials. Armenian Christians who were known to appear at
the place where the writer was staying, were arrested and some are yet
in prison if they have not met a worse fate already. The documents were
sent by secret, special carriers into Persia and came by Persian post to
the United States. They left Turkey about the last of November, 1894.
This document alone is sufficient to stir the indignation of a Christian
world.]
C..., Nov., 1894.
There is uneasiness in Bitlis as to the safety of that city. Scrutiny of
the mails by the Turkish authorities continues, and some letters
addressed to residents and officials in the United States are failing to
arrive.
The _Hamediéh_ soldiers, who are Kourds, and who have been enrolled
during the past three years, are uniformed to some extent, but left in
their homes. They are committing all kinds of depredations. The
government continues to exact taxes in the plundered districts, sends
_zaptiehs_, or Turkish soldiers, to abide in the villages, and eat the
people out of provisions until in some way they manage to secure the
money. In the Bashkalla region many of the men find, on returning, that
the government has taken possession of their property and refuses to
restore it or allow them to remain in their old homes.
The authorities have taken and are taking every precaution to prevent
accounts of the famous massacre of Moosh from reaching the outside
world. The English consul, Mr. Hallward, went on a tour in the region
affected. He was subjected to constant annoying espionage, and was
absolutely unable to penetrate into the devastated region.
To what extent Armenian agitation has provoked the terrible massacre it
is difficult to determine. For a year or more there seems to have been
an Armenian from Constantinople staying in the region as an agitator.
For a long time he skilfully evaded his pursuers, but was at last caught
and taken to Bitlis. He demanded to be taken to Constantinople and to
the Sultan, and, it is said, he is now living at the capital, receiving
a large salary from the government. Evidently he has turned state’s
evidence.
FACTS REGARDING A MASSACRE AT SASSOUN, NEAR MOOSH, TURKEY.
Late in May, 1893, an outside agitator named Damatian was captured near
Moosh. The government had suspected that the Talvoreeg villages were
harboring such agitators, and had sent orders to certain Kourdish chiefs
to attack the district, assuming the responsibility for all they should
kill, and promising the Kourds all the spoil.
Not long after Damatian had been brought to Bitlis, the first week in
June, the Bakranlee Kourds began to gather below Talvoreeg. As the
villagers saw the Kourds gathering day by day, to the number of several
thousands, they suspected their designs, and began to make preparations.
On the eighth day the battle was joined. The stronger position of the
villagers enabled them to do considerable execution with little loss to
themselves. The issue of the contest at sunset was some one hundred
Kourds slain, and but six of the villagers, one of whom was a woman who
was trying to rescue a mule from the Kourds. The villagers had succeeded
in breaking down a bridge across the deep gorge of a river before a
detachment of Kourds from another direction could join in the attack
against them. The Kourds thus felt themselves worsted, and could not be
induced to make another attack that summer.
At this juncture the Governor-general set out with troops and two
field-pieces for Moosh, and infested the region near Talvoreeg, but
either he considered his forces insufficient, or he had orders to keep
quiet, for he made no attack, but merely had the troops keep siege.
Before leaving, he succeeded, by giving hostages, in having an interview
with some of the chief men in Talvoreeg, and asked them why they did not
submit to the government, and pay taxes. They replied that they were not
disloyal to the government, but that they could not pay taxes twice, to
the Kourds and to the government. If the government would protect them,
they would pay to it. Nothing came of the parley, and the siege was
continued till snow fell. During the winter, while blackmail was rife in
the vilayet, several rich men of Talvoreeg were invited to visit the
Governor-General, but did not see best to accept.
In the early spring the Kourds of several tribes were ordered to attack
the villages of Sassoun, while troops were sent on from Moosh and
Bitlis, the latter taking along ammunition and stores, and ten muleloads
of kerosene (eighty cans). The whole district was pretty well besieged
by Kourds and troops. The villages thus besieged would occasionally make
sorties to secure food.
[Illustration:
REVIEW OF KURDISH CAVALRY BY THE GOVERNOR OF VAN, BAHRI PASHA—AT THE
LEFT.
]
The Kourds on one occasion stole several oxen, and their owners tracked
their property to the Kourdish tents, and found that one ox had been
butchered. They asked for the others, and were refused, whereupon the
villagers left, and later returned with some companions. A scrimmage
ensued, in which two or three were killed on either side. The Kourds at
once took their dead to the government at Moosh, and reported that the
region was filled with Armenian and foreign soldiers. The government at
once sent in all directions for soldiers, gathering in all from eight to
ten _taboors_ (regiments). Kourds congregated to the number of about
twenty thousand, while some five hundred _Hamediéh_ horsemen were
brought to Moosh.
METHODS OF PROCEDURE AND INCIDENTS OF THE MASSACRE.
At first the Kourds were set on, and the troops kept out of sight. The
villagers, put to the fight, and thinking they had only the Kourds to do
with, repulsed them on several occasions. The Kourds were unwilling to
do more unless the troops assisted. Some of the troops assumed Kourdish
dress, and helped them in the fight with more success. Small companies
of troops entered several villages, saying they had come to protect them
as loyal subjects, and were quartered among the houses. In the night
they arose and slew the sleeping villagers, man, woman, and child.
By this time those in other villages were beginning to feel that
extermination was the object of the government, and desperately
determined to sell their lives as dearly as possible. And then began a
campaign of butchery that lasted some twenty-three days, or, roughly,
from the middle of August to the middle of September. The _Ferik_ Pasha
[Marshal Zekki Pasha], who came post-haste from Erzingan, read the
Sultan’s firman for extermination, and then, hanging the document on his
breast, exhorted the soldiers not to be found wanting in their duty. _On
the last day of August, the anniversary of the Sultan’s accession, the
soldiers were especially urged to distinguish themselves, and they made
it the day of the greatest slaughter._ Another marked day occurred a few
days earlier, being marked by the occurrence of a wonderful meteor.
No distinctions were made between persons or villages, as to whether
they were loyal and had paid their taxes or not. The orders were to make
a clean sweep. A priest and some leading men from one village went out
to meet an officer, taking in their hands their tax receipts, declaring
their loyalty, and begging for mercy; but the village was surrounded,
and all human beings put to the bayonet. A large and strong man, the
chief of one village, was captured by the Kourds, who tied him, threw
him on the ground, and, squatting around him, stabbed him to pieces.
At Galogozan many young men were tied hand and foot, laid in a row,
covered with brushwood and burned alive. Others were seized and hacked
to death piecemeal. At another village a priest and several leading men
were captured, and promised release if they would tell where others had
fled, but, after telling, all but the priest were killed. A chain was
put around the priest’s neck, and pulled from opposite sides till he was
several times choked and revived, after which several bayonets were
planted upright, and he raised in the air and let fall upon them.
The men of one village, when fleeing, took the women and children, some
five hundred in number, and placed them in a sort of grotto in a ravine.
After several days the soldiers found them, and butchered those who had
not died of hunger.
Sixty young women and girls were selected from one village and placed in
a church, when the soldiers were ordered to do with them as they liked,
after which they were butchered.
In another village fifty choice women were set aside and urged to change
their faith and become _hanums_ in Turkish harems, but they indignantly
refused to deny Christ, preferring the fate of their fathers and
husbands. People were crowded into houses which were then set on fire.
In one instance a little boy ran out of the flames, but was caught on a
bayonet and thrown back.
Children were frequently held up by the hair and cut in two, or had
their jaws torn apart. Women with child were ripped open; older children
were pulled apart by their legs. A handsome, newly wedded couple fled to
a hilltop; soldiers followed, and told them they were pretty and would
be spared if they would accept Islam, but the thought of the horrible
death they knew would follow did not prevent them from confessing
Christ.
The last stand took place on Mount Andoke [south of Moosh], where some
thousand persons had sought refuge. The Kourds were sent in relays to
attack them, but for ten or fifteen days were unable to get at them. The
soldiers also directed the fire of their mountain guns on them, doing
some execution. Finally, after the besieged had been without food for
several days, and their ammunition was exhausted, the troops succeeded
in reaching the summit without any loss, and let scarcely a man escape.
Now all turned their attention to those who had been driven into the
Talvoreeg district. Three or four thousand of the besieged were left in
this small plain. When they saw themselves thickly surrounded on all
sides by Turks and Kourds, they raised their hands to heaven with an
agonizing moan for deliverance. They were thinned out by rifle shots,
and the remainder were slaughtered with bayonets and swords, till a
veritable river of blood flowed from the heaps of the slain.
And so ended the massacre, for the timely arrival of the Mushire
[Commander-in-chief of the Fourth Army Corps at Erzingan] saved a few
prisoners alive, and prevented the extermination of four more villages
that were on the list to be destroyed, among which was the Protestant
village of Havodorick. This was the formidable army the government had
massed so many troops and Kourds to vanquish.
So far as is known, not more than ten or fifteen outsiders were among
them, and all told it is not likely they had more than one hundred
breechloading rifles.
THE NUMBER OF ARMENIANS SLAIN.
Even if one were able to visit the district, it would be impossible to
get more than an approximate estimate of the number of victims, for many
were thrown into trenches, which the rain had washed out, and were
covered with earth. Where no such trenches existed the bodies were piled
up with alternate layers of wood, saturated with kerosene, and set on
fire. But it seems certain that the villages of the whole district were
wiped out. A Kourdish chief coming late with his men, and finding that
there was nothing left for him to do, went off on his own hook and got
all the plunder he could from the village of Maineeg, near Havodorick.
A soldier while in quarantine said he had killed five persons, and he
had killed less than anybody else. Another confided to one that he had
killed a hundred. A soldier got angry while trading with an Armenian the
other day in the Bitlis market, and shouted out that they had slain a
thousand thousand, and would turn to those in the city next.
It seems safe to say that forty villages were totally destroyed, and it
is probable that sixteen thousand at least were killed. _The lowest
estimate is ten thousand_, and many put it much higher. This is allowing
for more fugitives than it seems possible can have escaped.
To cap the climax, the Governor-General, through imprisonment and
intimidation of various kinds, has forced the chief men in all the
province (the city of Bitlis alone excepted), to seal an address of
gratitude to the Sultan, that the Governor has restored order in the
_vilayet_!!
No. 7.
[The following extract is from a personal letter written by one whose
name would be immediately recognized by every reader were we at liberty
to make public use of it. The writer is a person of broad influence; but
for the present, owing to facts which we are not at liberty to relate,
he cannot take a public stand. He will probably be heard from yet.]
F..., Nov. 10, 1894.
The massacre which took place a few weeks ago—I do not know the exact
date—occurred in the district of Talvoreeg which lies between Moosh and
Diarbekir. It is an Armenian district, comprising thirty or forty
villages, surrounded by Kourds.
Last year some of the Armenians there armed themselves and resisted the
Kourds, who are constantly making raids on their villages and carrying
off their property. The Governor sent some soldiers, who killed a few
Armenians and received a medal from the government for having wiped out
a great rebellion. This year there are said to have been ten or fifteen
revolutionists among these Armenians. A Kourdish chief in order to get
out of some difficulties that he had gotten into with the government set
the ball rolling by carrying off some cattle belonging to certain of the
Armenians. The Armenians endeavored to recover the cattle, and a fight
followed, in which two Kourds were killed and three were wounded. The
Kourds immediately carried their dead to Moosh, laid them down at the
government house, reporting that Armenian soldiers were overrunning the
land, killing and plundering them.
This furnished the government with the desired excuse for collecting
soldiers from far and near. The general is said to have worn on his
breast an order from Constantinople, which he read to the soldiers,
commanding them to cut down the Armenians root and branch, and adjuring
them if they loved their Sultan and their government they would do so. A
terrible massacre followed. Between five and ten thousand Christians are
said to have been butchered in a most terrible manner. Some soldiers say
a hundred fell to each one of them to dispose of; others wept because
the Kourds did more execution than they.
No respect was shown to age or sex. Men, women, and infants were treated
alike, except that the women were subjected to greater outrage before
they were slaughtered. The women were not even granted the privilege of
a life of slavery. For example, in one place three or four hundred
women, after being forced to serve the vile purposes of a merciless
soldiery, were taken to a valley near by and hacked to pieces with sword
and bayonet. In another place about two hundred women, weeping and
wailing, knelt before the commander and begged for mercy, but the
blood-thirsty wretch, after ordering their violation directed the
soldiers to dispatch them in a similar manner. In another place a large
company, headed by the priest, fell down before the officers saying they
had nothing to do with the culprits, and pleading for compassion, but
all to no purpose—all were killed. Some sixty young brides and more
attractive girls were crowded into a little church in another village,
where, after being violated, they were slaughtered, and a stream of
human blood flowed from the church door. To some of the more attractive
women in one place the proposition was made that they might be spared if
they denied their faith. “Why should we deny Christ,” they said, and
pointing to the dead bodies of their husbands and brothers before them,
they nobly answered, “We are no better than they; kill us too,”—and they
died.
After the above-mentioned events the Governor attempted to persuade and
compel the Armenians to sign a paper thanking the Sultan and himself
that justice had been done to the rebels!
No. 8.
[From another city to which soldiers returning brought details of what
they had done.]
E..., Dec. 6, 1894.
The Armenians, oppressed by Kourds and Turks, said, “We can’t pay taxes
to both Kourds and the government.” Plundered and oppressed by the
Kourds, they resisted them; there were some killed. Then false reports
were sent to Constantinople that the Armenians were in arms, in
rebellion. Orders were sent to the Mushire [Commander-in-chief] at
Erzingan to exterminate them root and branch. The orders read before the
army collected in haste from all the chief cities of Eastern Turkey was:
“Whoever spares man, woman, or child is disloyal.”
The region was surrounded by soldiers of the army and twenty thousand
Kourds also are said to have been massed there. Then they advanced upon
the centre, driving in the people like a flock of sheep, and continued
thus to advance for days. No quarter was given, no mercy shown. Men,
women, and children shot down or butchered like sheep. Probably when
they were set upon in this way some tried to save their lives and
resisted in self-defense. Many who could fled in all directions, but the
majority were slain. The most probable estimate is fifteen thousand
killed, thirty-five villages plundered, razed, burnt.
Women were outraged and then butchered; a priest taken to the roof of
his church and hacked to pieces; young men piled in with wood saturated
with kerosene and set on fire; a large number of women and girls
collected in church, kept for days, violated by the brutal soldiers, and
then murdered. It is said the number was so large that the blood flowed
out of the church door. Three soldiers contended over a beautiful girl.
They wanted to preserve her, but she too was killed.
Every effort is being made and will be made to falsify (excuse the
blots—emblematic of the horrible story) the facts and pull the wool over
the eyes of European governments. But the bloody tale will finally be
known, the most horrible, it seems to me, that the nineteenth century
has known. As a confirmation of the report, the other day several
hundred soldiers were returning from the seat of war, and at a village
near us one was heard to say that he alone with his own hand had killed
thirty pregnant women. Some who seem to have some shame for their
atrocious deeds say: “What could we do, we were under orders?”
[Illustration:
NAREG: ANCIENT CHURCH AND MODERN HOVELS.
]
No. 9.
[Later from the same place as the preceding extract. Evidence of a
regular soldier who helped dispose of the dead.]
E..., Dec. 17, 1894.
The soldiers who went from here talk quite freely about matters at
Sassoun. A. heard one talk the other day. He said the work was mostly
finished before the E... soldiers got there. There was great
spoil—flocks, herds, household goods, etc.—but their chief work was to
dispose of the heaps and heaps of the dead. The stench was awful. They
were gathered into the still standing houses and burned with the houses.
They say that the work of destruction was wrought by the _Hamediéh_,
_i.e._, the newly organized Kourdish regiments. Those regiments are one
of the chief elements of danger to the country now.
No. 10.
[From a city some distance from the scene.]
B..., Dec. 22, 1894.
You may believe most all that the papers say about the mountains west of
Moosh. I wrote you giving you a few more authenticated details. I hope
that letter reached you. I give the outline here again. In August the
Armenians were declared in rebellion. The regular soldiers and
_Hamediéhs_ were ordered to the spot. Orders were issued from
Constantinople to put down the rebellion. Both regulars and _Hamediéhs_
were used. The massacre began after the middle of August—about the
18th—and continued to about the 10th of September. The safe estimates
put the number of victims at about four thousand, not less than three
thousand five hundred, and, in all probability, more than four thousand.
Men, women, and children were most barbarously slaughtered—unnamable
outrages were perpetrated on all. The less horrible outrages were some
of the following: bayoneting the men, and in this wounded condition
either burying or burning them; outraging women and then dispatching
them with bayonets or swords; ripping up pregnant women; impaling
infants and children on the bayonet, or dispatching them with the sword;
houses fired, and the inmates driven back into the flames.
The unspeakable horror of those three weeks must have sent many a one
crazy. The story is told that one soldier found a comely infant and took
compassion on it and wished to save it. The mother was found in a crowd
of poor, wretched women, but she was raving, calling for her children.
She did not recognize the child, and nothing was left to the soldier but
to dispatch it.
No. 11.
[Efforts to block the Commission and put the country in shape for
inspection by emptying prisons of innocent people.]
B..., Dec. 29, 1894.
The Bitlis Governor asks for a cordon on Moosh, as there is cholera
reported there. So the Consular Commission is delayed. The Turkish
Commission is at Moosh now. Only, the president of it was recalled. In
the meantime Sassoun refugees are scattered over the country, begging.
Their stories, together with the stories of the soldiers, confirm the
most horrible of the reports of cruelty.
In all this, remember that the same thing has been going on on a lesser
scale all over the country.
Two weeks ago thirty-six men were dismissed from B... prison after three
years three months’ detention. A little over three years ago three
Armenians were most barbarously murdered in the Narman district, north
of this city and near the Russian boundary. Some Turks were called up
for examination, and all were dismissed. Later, three Turks were
murdered and mutilated, apparently in retaliation. The able-bodied
men—sixty-two in number—of two villages were thrown into prison. Some of
them were condemned to death, some to life imprisonment, and others to
various terms of imprisonment. A number of them died—fifteen, I think—in
prison. Thirty-six were released the other day, and eleven are still in
prison. They have suffered horribly during these three years. In what
condition will they find their homes when those who are released return?
It is almost certain that none of them knew anything about the murder or
had any hand in it. It is said that the murderer is well known, and is
in Russia. This case is a Sassoun atrocity on a smaller scale.
For God’s sake do not let the public conscience go to sleep again over
this reign of terror. The land is almost paralyzed with horror and
terror!
No. 12.
[The crisis and the need of keeping the issue clear. The real
explanation of the massacre.]
A..., Jan. 7, 1895.
The importance of the present crisis grows upon me. In the first place
Turkey is preparing for a terrible catastrophe by squeezing Armenians,
and arming Moslem civilians in Sivas, Aleppo, Castamouni, and other
provinces; and in the second place it is putting on the screws tighter
everywhere excepting in the three eastern provinces where the Commission
is now commencing investigation. In Van and Bitlis the process of
arresting and intimidating witnesses went on until the very hour of the
departure of the Commission of Investigation. Then the order went out to
stop, and those provinces are enjoying the first semblance of quiet that
they have known for five years.
This policy of continued massacre and outrage is favored by the profound
ignorance which prevails everywhere as to the actual state of things in
Turkey. People think that the Sassoun massacre is something exceptional,
and that until that is proved there is no evidence of a need of European
interference in behalf of Christians in Turkey. What ought to be done is
to fix on the mind of the public the fact that Turkey has taken up the
policy of crushing the Christians all over the Empire, and has been at
it for several years, so that even if the massacre had not taken place,
the duty of Europe to prohibit Turkey from acting the part of
Anti-Christ was still self-evident.
No. 13.
[Turks getting nervous, but not enough to forget taxes.]
B..., Jan. 5, 1895.
The horrible stories are only being confirmed. It is said that unborn
babes were cut from their quivering mothers and carried about on spear
tops. The Turks themselves now see that they went a step too far, and
they are feeling the awful tension of suspense as much as the
Christians. However, the pitiless collection of taxes is causing fearful
suffering.
No. 14.
[Prospects of the Commission of Inquiry, and its inadequacy in any case
to do justice to the chronic state of the country.]
B..., Jan. 12, 1895.
The people are in a state of horror because of the massacre. The
Commission has been expected for some time, and without doubt the local
authorities have used every means to cover up their tracks and terrorize
still further those who may be probable witnesses. Those who are
encouraged to testify will be again at the mercy of the Turks after the
Commission rises. I have not the slightest doubt that some will be
courageous enough to testify, but it will be at great odds. Almost
everything is against the perfect success of the Commission’s work, or
rather the favorable outcome of the work of the European delegates. It
will not be right to stake the fate of Armenia on the outcome of the
work of this Commission.
Rather it should be remembered that Sassoun is the outcome of a
governmental system. There have been hundreds of Sassouns all over the
country all through the last ten years, as you know. The laxity of
Europe has afforded opportunity for the merciless working of this system
in all its vigor. It is born of religious and race hatred, and has in
mind the crushing of Christianity and Christians.
It is not the Kourdish robbers, or famine, or cholera that have to
answer for the present state of the country. It is rather the robbery,
and famine, and worse than cholera entailed on the country by the
workings of this system. It is not alone the blood of five thousand men,
women, children, and babies, that rises in a fearful wail to heaven,
calling for just vengeance, but also the fearful suffering, the desolate
homes, the wanton cruelty of tax collectors and petty officials, and the
violated honor of scores and scores.
The Turk is on trial. Let not Sassoun alone go in evidence, but remember
that the same wail rises from all over the country.
[Evidence of an eye-witness, whose occupation saved him. Very few
succeeded in escaping to tell the tale.]
I saw an eye-witness to some of the Sassoun destruction. He passed
through three villages. They were all in ruins, and mutilated bodies
told the horrible tale. For four or five days he was in one village.
During the day parties of the scattered inhabitants would come in and
throw themselves upon the mercy of the officer in command. About two
hours after sundown each evening these prisoners of that day were
marched out of camp to a neighboring valley, and the air was rent with
their pitiful cries. He saw nothing more of them. He estimates that five
hundred men disappeared in that way while he was there.
Between two hundred and three hundred women and children were brought
into camp. They also disappeared, how he did not know. He was an
Armenian muleteer pressed for the transport of the military. He was sent
out of the district to Moosh. He and his companion are the only
eye-witnesses we have seen.
Another refugee from a village on the border tells the story of how his
mother, after terrible hardships, escaped to a monastery where this
young man was a servant. She told of the merciless slaughter of all the
rest of the household, and destruction of the village. She with her
young child succeeded in reaching the monastery, where after a few days
she died of her wounds.
The country waits breathlessly the result of the investigation. May the
Lord of nations stretch forth His almighty arm to save!
No. 15.
B..., Jan. 25, 1895.
Eight to ten thousand breaths gone out is about enough, but the form
beggars description. Some impaled, some buried alive, some burned in
houses with the help of kerosene, pregnant women ripped up, children
seized by the hair to have the head lopped off as if it were a worthless
bud, hundreds of women turned over to the vile soldiery with sequence of
terrible slaughter.
No. 16.
[The last letter was written in this country by one who has spent years
in the very heart of the afflicted region.]
NEW YORK, Jan. 25, 1895.
Up to May, 1894, when I left Van, the whole Christian population of that
region was simply paralyzed by fear, and there was no manifestation of
any revolutionary thought or intention by the Armenians. Certainly, if
such a revolution were contemplated, you would expect to find it in the
Van and Bitlis _vilayets_ [provinces], where the provocation is the
greatest.
[Many other letters have been received which contain no new evidence,
but which in every particular confirm what is here reported. It would
add nothing to the evidence to give further extracts here.
Many who have given no reports, but knowing that some others have done
so, say: “You can safely believe all, and more, for the sickening
details that come in are becoming worse and worse.” “No report can be
exaggerated as to the horrible event,” etc., etc.
All the sixteen preceding extracts, and the original letters from which
they are taken, are endorsed by the twenty names which are reproduced in
facsimile on pages 2 and 4. The following additional letters, which have
arrived too late to be submitted with the above, have come through the
same channels and are of equal weight.]
No. 17.
[This is an extract from a letter written from a town in the province of
Erzroom, and has no connection with the Sassoun affair. It is the
written testimony of a pure, sensitive Christian woman, who is only one
of hundreds that have been and are being trodden in the mire of Moslem
lust. It was intended for the eye of a beloved teacher of the poor
victim who wrote it. If it is wrong for me to publish it to the world,
let God and the reader judge. Remember that the silence of death reigns
in Sassoun, and that throughout other regions terror paralyzes the
tongue. It bears date, November 4, 1894, Old Style (i. e., November
16th). It is eloquent in its agonizing pathos, and shows the condition
of the country in which such events are common occurrences, and against
which there is no redress.]
[Illustration:
ARMENIAN GIRLS OF VAN.
]
[Translated.]
G..., Nov. 4, 1894.
“_I implore and earnestly entreat that you will remember one of your
former pupils, and hear my cry for sympathy and protection. I have been
outraged. Oh, woe is me, eternal pain and sorrow to my young heart! Evil
disposed and lawless men have robbed me of the bloom and beauty of my
wifely purity. It was H—— Bey, the son of Kaimakam (the local Turkish
Governor residing in the village). It was in the evening between six and
seven o’clock. I was engaged in my household work. I stepped outside the
door, when I suddenly found myself in the grasp of four men. They
smothered my cries and threatened my life, and by force carried me off
to a strange house. Oh, what black hours were those till the sweet light
of the sun once more arose! Though this is written with ink, believe me,
it is written in blood and tears._”
No. 18.
[The following letter was written from an entirely different part of
Turkey from the preceding letters. It is a region far remote from the
massacres, and yet indicates a state of affairs that is deplorable. The
writer is not an American nor is he a native of Turkey; he has spent
several years in that country and is a man in whom all would have the
highest confidence were we at liberty to give the name.]
H..., Jan. 11, 1895.
Those cordons and quarantine, together with the extraordinary
precautions, taken by the hitherto immovable Turk, with regard to
cholera that was still far away and in an entirely different direction,
were a mystery to all, although every person knew that the ostensible
purpose was not the real one. Now that the tidings from Moosh have come
in, the mystery of the series of cordons between here and Harpoot is
explained. There is very strong evidence that a general massacre or a
series of massacres of Christians has been understood by the local
governments to be the order of the day. It is not likely that a definite
order to that effect has been given out from the Capitol, but multitudes
of recent events go to show that the everlasting persecutions and
annoyances, and the methods used in past times to grind down the
Christians, have come to be regarded as insufficient. Everywhere there
is an activity, a watchfulness, and an energy displayed by the
government in the recent efforts to encompass the Christians and to cut
off their name and existence, that point to a newly formed plan to be
put into execution with as little waste of time as possible. Woe to the
poor remnant in this land if the European and American governments
disregard recent events in Turkey! Christian nations in that case, even
if they do not directly participate in what will certainly follow sooner
or later, cannot be held guiltless of the blood of their fellow-men....
Another case in which I was concerned has gone the same way. Last spring
a Protestant woman in Y. was assaulted and violated by three Turks. They
were tried in F. and found guilty; but that infamous court in S., under
the influence of the still more infamous _Mutesarif_ (Governor), having
recently reviewed the case, reversed the original judgment and released
the guilty. There is no remedy. No appeal can be made. The only thing
that can be done is to prosecute the court in S., but that, in the
present state of things, would be utterly useless. The result will be
that such crimes will become more frequent than ever—the perpetrators
feeling confident that there is very little likelihood of punishment
being meted out to them.
The government pretends to look with special suspicion on H. just now.
The _Vali_ (Governor-General) claims there are secret societies here. I
told him there is nothing of the kind in H. now. The poor people are
afraid to open their mouths or to go out of their houses. You can
scarcely conceive the change that has come over the people within the
past few months. Terror and amazement have taken hold of them to such an
extent as to become manifest in their countenances even. All arms and
weapons are being taken from the people here these days.
The _Kaimakam_ (local Governor) and other officers walk the streets and
the K. road every night. Attempts have been made by officers and
soldiers to draw Christians into a quarrel, but they have hitherto
failed. One night this week, the _Commissaire_ (Chief of Police) without
any provocation fired three times at a Christian, but the other offered
no resistance. Moslem officers are taking possession of the property of
Christians and doing just as they please without regard to law or
justice....
The church and school in O. have been closed and for two months now the
people have not been allowed to come together for worship. They are
forbidden even to have prayers offered in their houses.