Armenians either by shooting, by the butchers, or at times by putting
numbers of them in wells and caves, which were blocked up so that they
perished. Also they threw them into the Tigris and the Euphrates, and
the bodies caused an epidemic of typhus fever. Two thousand Armenians
were slaughtered at a place outside the walls of Diarbekir, between the
Castle of Sultan Murad and the Tigris, and at not more than half an
hour's distance from the city.
BRUTALITY OF THE GENDARMES AND KURDISH TRIBES.--There is no doubt that
what is related as to the proceedings of the gendarmes and the Kurdish
tribes actually took place. On receiving a caravan of Armenians the
gendarmes searched them one by one, men and women, taking any money they
might find, and stripping them of the better portions of their clothing.
When they were satisfied that there remained no money, good clothes, or
other things of value, they sold the Armenians in thousands to the
Kurds, on the stipulation that none should be left alive. The price was
in accordance with the number of the party; I was told by a reliable
informant of cases where the price had varied between 2,000 and 200
liras.
After purchasing the caravans, the Kurds stripped all the Armenians, men
and women, of their clothes, so that they remained entirely naked. They
then shot them down, every one, after which they cut open their stomachs
to search for money amongst the entrails, also cutting up the clothing,
boots, etc., with the same object.
Such were the dealings of the official gendarmerie and the Kurds with
their fellow-creatures. The reason of the sale of the parties by the
gendarmes was to save themselves trouble, and to obtain delivery of
further parties to plunder of their money.
Woe to him who had teeth of gold, or gold-plated. The gendarmes and
Kurds used to violently draw out his teeth before arriving at the place
of execution, thus inflicting tortures before actual death.
A KURDISH AGHA SLAUGHTERS 50,000 ARMENIANS.--A Kurd told me that the
authorities of Kharpout handed over to one of the Kurdish Aghas in that
Vilayet, in three batches, more than 50,000 Armenians from Erzeroum,
Trebizond, Sivas, and Constantinople, with orders to kill them and to
divide with themselves the property which he might take from them. He
killed them all and took from them their money and other belongings. He
hired 600 mules for the women, to convey them to Urfa, at the rate of
three liras a head. After receiving the price, he collected mules
belonging to his tribe, mounted the women on them, and brought them to a
place between Malatîya and Urfa, where he killed them in the most
barbarous way, taking all their money, clothes, and valuables.
THE VIOLATION OF WOMEN BEFORE OR AFTER DEATH.--[E] ...
[Footnote E: I refrain from particulars. The gendarmes and Kurds are
stated to have been the perpetrators of these acts.--TRANSLATOR.]
INCIDENT OF THE SHEIKH AND THE GIRL.--I said above that the Armenian
women were sent off in batches under guard of gendarmes. Whenever they
passed by a village the inhabitants would come and choose any they
desired, taking them away and giving a small sum to the gendarmes. At
one place a Kurd of over 60 picked out a beautiful girl of 16. She
refused to have anything to do with him, but said she was ready to
embrace Islam and marry a youth of her own age. This the Kurds would not
allow, but gave her the choice between death and the Sheikh; she still
refused, and was killed.
BARSOUM AGHA.--Whilst I was Kaimakâm of the district of Kiakhta, in the
Vilayet of Kharpout, I was acquainted with an Armenian Notable of that
place, named Barsoum Agha. He was a worthy and courageous man, dealing
well with Kurds, Turks, and Armenians, without distinction; he also
showed much kindness to officials who were dismissed from their posts in
the district. All the Kurdish Aghas thereabouts kept close watch over
him, hating him because he was their rival in the supremacy of the
place. When, after my banishment, I arrived at Sivrek and heard what had
befallen the Armenians, I enquired about him and his family. I was told
that when the Government disposed of the Armenians of Kiakhta he was
summoned and ordered to produce the records of moneys owing to him
(Kurds and Armenians in that district owed him a sum of 10,000 liras);
he replied that he had torn up the records and released his debtors from
their obligations. He was taken away with the other Armenians, and on
arrival at the Euphrates he asked permission to drown himself. This was
granted, and he endeavoured to do so, but failed, as he could not master
himself. So he said to the gendarmes, "Life is dear and I cannot kill
myself, so do as you have been ordered," whereupon one of them shot him
and then killed the rest of the family.
NARRATIVE OF A YOUNG TURK.--This youth, who had come to Diarbekir as a
schoolmaster, told me that the Government had informed the Armenians of
Broussa that their deportation had been decided, and that they were to
leave for Mosul, Syria, or El-Deir three days after receiving the order.
After selling what they could, they hired carts and carriages for the
transport of their goods and themselves and started--as they
thought--for their destination. On their arrival at a very rugged and
barren place, far distant from any villages, the drivers, in conformity
with their instructions, broke up the conveyances and left the people in
the waste, returning in the night to plunder them. Many died there of
hunger and terror; a great part were killed on the road; and only a few
reached Syria or El-Deir.
CHILDREN PERISHING OF HUNGER AND THIRST.--An Arab of El-Jezîra, who
accompanied me on my flight from Diarbekir, told me that he had gone
with a Sheikh of his tribe, men and camels, to buy grain from the sons
of Ibrahim Pasha El-Mellili. On their way they saw 17 children, the
eldest not more than 13 years old, dying of hunger and thirst. The Arab
said: "We had with us a small water-skin and a little food. When the
Sheikh saw them he wept with pity, and gave them food and water with his
own hands; but what good could this small supply do to them? We
reflected that if we took them with us to the Pasha, they would be
killed, as the Kurds were killing all Armenians by order of the
authorities; and our Arabs were at five days' distance from the place.
So we had no choice but to leave them to the mercy of God, and on our
return, a week later, we found them all dead."
NARRATIVE OF A PROVINCIAL GOVERNOR.--We were talking of the courage and
good qualities of the Armenians, and the Governor of the place, who was
with us, told us a singular story. He said: "According to orders, I
collected all the remaining Armenians, consisting of 17 women and some
children, amongst whom was a child of 3 years old, diseased, who had
never been able to walk. When the butchers began slaughtering the women
and the turn of the child's mother came, he rose up on his feet and ran
for a space, then falling down. We were astonished at this, and at his
understanding that his mother was to be killed. A gendarme went and took
hold of him, and laid him dead on his dead mother." He also said that
he had seen one of these women eating a piece of bread as she went up to
the butcher, another smoking a cigarette, and that it was as though they
cared nothing for death.
NARRATIVE OF SHEVKET BEY.--Shevket Bey, one of the officials charged
with the extermination of the Armenians, told me, in company with
others, the following story: "I was proceeding with a party, and when we
had arrived outside the walls of Diarbekir and were beginning to shoot
down the Armenians, a Kurd came up to me, kissed my hand, and begged me
to give him a girl of about ten years old. I stopped the firing and sent
a gendarme to bring the girl to me. When she came I pointed out a spot
to her and said, 'Sit there. I have given you to this man, and you will
be saved from death.' After a while, I saw that she had thrown herself
amongst the dead Armenians, so I ordered the gendarmes to cease firing
and bring her up. I said to her, 'I have had pity on you and brought you
out from among the others to spare your life. Why do you throw yourself
with them? Go with this man and he will bring you up like a daughter.'
She said: 'I am the daughter of an Armenian; my parents and kinsfolk are
killed among these; I will have no others in their place, and I do not
wish to live any longer without them.' Then she cried and lamented; I
tried hard to persuade her, but she would not listen, so I let her go
her way. She left me joyfully, put herself between her father and
mother, who were at the last gasp, and she was killed there." And he
added: "If such was the behaviour of the children, what was that of
their elders?"
PRICE OF ARMENIAN WOMEN.--A reliable informant from Deir-el-Zûr told me
that one of the officials of that place had bought from the gendarmes
three girls for a quarter of a medjidie dollar each. Another man told me
that he had bought a very beautiful girl for one lira, and I heard that
among the tribes Armenian women were sold like pieces of old furniture,
at low prices, varying from one to ten liras, or from one to five
sheep.[F] ...
[Footnote F: An unimportant anecdote omitted.--TRANSLATOR.]
THE MUTESARRIF AND THE ARMENIAN GIRL.--On the arrival of a batch of
Armenians at Deir-el-Zûr from Ras-el-Ain, the Mutesarrif desired to
choose a servant-girl from amongst the women. His eye fell on a handsome
girl, and he went up to her, but on his approach she turned white and
was about to fall. He told her not to be afraid, and ordered his servant
to take her to his house. On returning thither he asked the reason for
her terror of him, and she told him that she and her mother had been
sent from Ras-el-Ain in charge of a Circassian gendarme, many other
Armenian women being with them. On the way, the gendarme called her
mother, and told her to give him her money, or he would kill her; she
said she had none, so he tortured her till she gave him six liras.[G]
... He said to her: "You liar! You [Armenians] never cease lying. You
have seen what has befallen, and will befall, all Armenians, but you
will not take warning, so I shall make you an example to all who see
you." Then he cut off her hands with his dagger, one after the other,
then both her feet, all in sight of her daughter, whom he then took
aside and violated, whilst her mother, in a dying state, witnessed the
act. "And when I saw you approach me, I remembered my mother's fate and
dreaded you, thinking that you would treat me as the gendarme treated my
mother and myself, before each other's eyes."[H] ...
[Footnote G: Unfit for reproduction.--TRANSLATOR.]
[Footnote H: Unimportant anecdote omitted.--TRANSLATOR.]
"THE REWARD OF HARD LABOUR."--The Turks had collected all those of
military age and dispersed amongst the battalions to perform their army
service. When the Government determined on the deportation and
destruction of the Armenians--as stated in their official
declaration--orders were given for the formation of separate battalions
of Armenians, to be employed on roads and municipal works. The
battalions were formed and sent to the roads and other kinds of hard
labour. They were employed in this manner for eight months, when the
severity of winter set in. The Government, being then unable to make
further use of them, despatched them to Diarbekir. Before their arrival,
the officers telegraphed that the Armenian troops were on their way, and
the authorities sent gendarmes, well furnished with cartridges, to meet
the poor wretches. The gendarmes received them with rifle-fire, and 840
men perished in this manner, shot close to the city of Diarbekir.
A CARAVAN OF WOMEN.--[I] ...
[Footnote I: Unimportant. The writer describes the inhabitants of
Diarbekir, on the arrival of a party, as hastening to select women. Two
doctors pick out twenty of them to serve as hospital
attendants.--TRANSLATOR.]
A NIGHT'S SHELTER FOR FIFTY POUNDS.--The man who showed the greatest
capacity for exterminating Armenians was Reshîd Bey, the Vali of
Diarbekir. I have already stated how many were killed in his Vilayet.
When news of his removal arrived, the remaining Armenians, and the
Christians generally rejoiced, and shortly after the report was current
some Armenians, who had hidden themselves, came out from their
concealment and walked about the city. The Vali, who was anxious to keep
his removal secret and to inspire terror, began deporting Armenians with
still greater energy, and those who had come out returned to their
hiding-places. One of the principal men of Diarbekir stated that one
Armenian had paid fifty Turkish pounds to an inhabitant for shelter in
his house during the night before the Vali's departure, and another told
me that a man had received an offer of three pounds for each night until
the same event, but had refused from fear of the authorities.
CHASTITY OF THE ARMENIAN WOMEN.--[J] ... An Arab of the Akidât told me
that he was going along the bank of the Euphrates when he saw some of
the town rabble stripping two women of their clothes. He expostulated
and told them to restore the clothes, but they paid no attention. The
women begged for mercy, and finding it unavailing they threw themselves
into the river, preferring death to dishonour. He told me also of
another woman who had a suckling child, and begged food from the
passers-by, who were in too great fear of the authorities to help her.
On the third day of starvation, finding no relief, she left the baby in
the market of El-Deir and drowned herself in the Euphrates. In this way
do they show high qualities, honour, and courage such as many men do not
possess.
[Footnote J: An official relates how he wanted to choose a servant from
a boatload of victims, who said they were willing to come as servants,
but as nothing else. He took one, and on coming home one night drunk he
tried to offer her violence; she reproved him in suitable terms and he
conducted himself well thenceforward.--TRANSLATOR.]
WOMEN-SERVANTS IN DIARBEKIR.--You cannot enter a house in Diarbekir
without finding from one to five Armenian maid-servants, even the
humblest shopkeepers having one, who probably in the lifetime of her
parents would not have condescended to speak a word to the master whom
she now has to serve in order to save her life. It is stated that the
number of such women and girls in the city is over 5,000, mostly from
Erzeroum, Kharpout and other Vilayets.
NARRATIVE OF SHAHÎN BEY.--Shahîn Bey, a man of Diarbekir, who was in
prison with me, told me that a number of Armenian men and women were
delivered to him for slaughter, he being a soldier. He said: "Whilst we
were on the way, I saw an Armenian girl whom I knew, and who was very
beautiful. I called her by name, and said 'Come, I will save you, and
you shall marry a young man of your country, a Turk or a Kurd.' She
refused, and said: 'If you wish to do me a kindness I will ask one thing
which you may do for me.' I told her I would do whatever she wished, and
she said: 'I have a brother, younger than myself, here amongst these
people. I pray you to kill him before you kill me, so that in dying I
may not be anxious in mind about him.' She pointed him out and I called
him. When he came, she said to him, 'My brother, farewell. I kiss you
for the last time, but we shall meet, if it be God's will, in the next
world, and He will soon avenge us for what we have suffered.' They
kissed each other, and the boy delivered himself to me. I must needs
obey my orders, so I struck him one blow with an axe, split his skull,
and he fell dead. Then she said: 'I thank you with all my heart, and
shall ask you one more favour'; she put her hands over her eyes and
said: 'Strike as you struck my brother, one blow, and do not torture
me.' So I struck one blow and killed her, and to this day I grieve over
her beauty and youth, and her wonderful courage."
PHOTOGRAPHS OF ARMENIANS lying in the road, dressed in turbans, for
despatch to Constantinople. The Turkish Government thought that European
nations might get to hear of the destruction of the Armenians and
publish the news abroad so as to excite prejudice against the Turks. So
after the gendarmes had killed a number of Armenian men, they put on
them turbans and brought Kurdish women to weep and lament over them,
saying that the Armenians had killed their men. They also brought a
photographer to photograph the bodies and the weeping women, so that at
a future time they might be able to convince Europe that it was the
Armenians who had attacked the Kurds and killed them, that the Kurdish
tribes had risen against them in revenge, and that the Turkish
Government had had no part in the matter. But the secret of these
proceedings was not hidden from men of intelligence, and after all this
had been done, the truth became known and was spread abroad in
Diarbekir.
CONVERSION OF ARMENIAN WOMEN TO ISLAM.--When the Government undertook
the extermination of the Armenians some of the women went to the Mufti
and the Kadi, and declared their desire to embrace the Mohammedan faith.
These authorities accepted their conversion, and they were married to
men of Diarbekir, either Turks or Kurds.
After a while, the Government began to collect these women, so the Mufti
and the Kadi went to the Vali and said that the women in question were
no longer Armenians, having become Mussulmans, and that by the Sacred
Law the killing of Mussulman women was not permissible. The Vali
replied: "These women are vipers, who will bite us in time to come; do
not oppose the Government in this matter, for politics have no religion,
and the Government know what they are about." The Mufti and the Kadi
went back as they had come, and the women were sent to death. After the
removal of the Vali--in consequence, as it was said, of abuses in
connection with the sale of effects left in Armenian houses and
shops--orders arrived that the conversion of any who desired to enter
Islam should be accepted, be they men or women. Many of the Armenians
who remained, of both sexes, hastened to embrace the Faith in the hope
of saving their lives, but after a time they were despatched likewise
and their Islamism did not save them.
THE GERMANS AND THE ARMENIANS.--Whenever the talk fell on the Armenians
I used to blame the Turks for their proceedings, but one day when we
were discussing the question, an official of Diarbekir, who was one of
the fanatical Young Turk Nationalists, said: "The Turks are not to blame
in this matter, for the Germans were the first to apply this treatment
to the Poles, who were under their rule. And the Germans have compelled
the Turks to take this course, saying that if they did not kill the
Armenians there would be no alliance with them, and thus Turkey had no
choice."
This is what the Turk said, word for word. And it was confirmed by what
I heard from a Turk who was imprisoned with me at Aalîya, on the charge
of corresponding with Abdul-Kerîm el-Khalîl. He said that when passing
through Damascus he had visited the German Vice-Consul there, who had
told him confidentially that Oppenheim had come on a special mission,
which was to incite Jemâl Pasha to persecute the Arabs, with a view to
causing hatred between the two races, by which the Germans might profit
in future if differences arose between them and the Turks. This was a
short time previous to the execution of Abdul-Kerîm.
THE KILLING OF THE TWO KAIMAKÂMS.--When the Government at Diarbekir gave
orders to the officials to kill the Armenians, a native of Baghdad was
Kaimakâm of El-Beshîri, in that Vilayet, and an Albanian was Kaimakâm of
Lîjeh. These two telegraphed to the Vilayet that their consciences would
not permit them to do such work, and that they resigned their posts.
Their resignations were accepted, but they were both secretly
assassinated. I investigated this matter carefully, and ascertained that
the name of the Baghdad Arab was Sabat Bey El-Sueidi, but I could not
learn that of the Albanian, which I much regret, as they performed a
noble act for which they should be commemorated in history....[K]
[Footnote K: The writer here describes how a Turkish judge (kâdi), to
whom the office of Kaimakâm was entrusted after the murder of Sabat Bey,
boasted in conversation that he had killed four Armenians with his own
hand. "They were brave men," he said, "having no fear of
death."--TRANSLATOR.]
AN ARMENIAN BETRAYS HIS NATION.--[L] ...
[Footnote L: The author tells the story of an Armenian of Diarbekir who
gave information to the police against his own people, disclosing their
hiding places. He saw him walking about the streets with an insolent
demeanor, giving himself the airs of a person of great importance. He
considers that such a traitor to his nation deserves the worst form of
death.--TRANSLATOR.]
THE SULTAN'S ORDER.--Whilst I was in prison, a Turkish Commissioner of
Police used to come to see a friend of his, who was also imprisoned. One
day when I and this friend were together, the Commissioner came, and, in
the course of conversation about the Armenians and their fate, he
described to us how he had slaughtered them, and how a number had taken
refuge in a cave outside the city, and he had brought them out and
killed two of them himself. His friend said to him: "Have you no fear of
God? Whence have you the right to take life in defiance of God's law?"
He replied: "It was the Sultan's order; the Sultan's order is the order
of God, and its fulfilment is a duty."
ARMENIAN DEATH STATISTICS.--At the end of August, 1915, I was visited in
prison by one of my Diarbekir colleagues, who was an intimate friend of
one of those charged with the conduct of the Armenian massacres. We
spoke of the Armenian question, and he told me that, in Diarbekir alone,
570,000 had been destroyed, these being people from other Vilayets as
well as those belonging to Diarbekir itself.
If to this we add those killed in the following months, amounting to
about 50,000; and those in the Vilayets of Bitlis and Van and the
province of Moush, approximately 230,000; and those who perished in
Erzeroum, Kharpout, Sivas, Stamboul, Trebizond, Adana, Broussa, Urfa,
Zeitoun, and Aintab--estimated at upwards of 350,000--we arrive at a
total of Armenians killed, or dead from disease, hunger, or thirst, of
1,200,000.
There remain 300,000 Armenians in the Vilayet of Aleppo, in Syria, and
Deir-el-Zûr (those deported thither), and in America and Egypt and
elsewhere; and 400,000 in Roumelian territory, held by the Balkan
States, thus making a grand total of 1,900,000.
The above is what I was able to learn as to the statistics of the
slaughtered Armenians, and I would quote an extract from _El-Mokattam_,
dealing with this subject:
"The Basle correspondent of the _Temps_ states that, according to
official reports received from Aleppo in the beginning of 1916, there
were 492,000 deported Armenians in the districts of Mosul, Diarbekir,
Aleppo, Damascus, and Deir-el-Zûr. The Turkish Minister of the Interior,
Talaat Bey, estimates the number of deportees at 800,000, and states
that 300,000 of these have been removed or have died in the last few
months.
"Another calculation gives the number of deported Armenians as 1,200,000
souls, and states that at least 500,000 have been killed or have died in
banishment" (_El-Mokattam_, May 30th, 1916).
THE ARMENIANS AND THE ARAB TRIBES.--As I approached Diarbekir, I passed
through many Arab tribes, with whom I saw a number of Armenians, men and
women, who were being well treated, although the Government had let the
tribes know that the killing of Armenians was a bounden duty. I did not
hear of a single instance of an Armenian being murdered or outraged by
a tribesman, but I heard that some Arabs, passing by a well into which
men and women had been thrown, drew them out when at the last extremity,
took them with them, and tended them till they were recovered.
THE ARAB AND THE ARMENIAN BEGGAR WOMAN.--[M] ...
[Footnote M: The narrative concludes with the relation of an instance of
courageous charity on the part of a Baghdad soldier to an Armenian woman
begging in the streets of Diarbekir.--TRANSLATOR.]
CONCLUSION