There were two things which induced the Young Turks to declare war on
the Allies in the latter part of October, 1914. They were positive of
a victory as the early events of the war and agents of the Teutonic
alliance easily could, and did, persuade them. The assurance of
conquests and would-be acquisition of territories, which would restore
to the Young Turkish government its lost prestige both at home and
abroad. But their dreams were not speedily realized, and probably never
will be.
The real reasons, however, for the beginning of the massacres at this
time were the opportune moment, the European war; the carrying out a
former well-laid policy of a unified and Turkified State; the diversion
of the attention of the Moslem populace from failures and mistakes
of the Young Turks, and the congeniality of the work of plunder and
murder which very few followers of Mohammed would refuse to enjoy. They
delight to see Christians and Christianity trampled under their feet.
Thus the Young Turks, the rulers of Turkey, gave the greatest pleasure
to a large number of Mohammedans by assigning to them the work of
annihilation of the oldest Christian nation in the empire.
The sufferings of the Armenians began right after the declaration of
war--or rather simultaneously with it. All the males between the ages
of twenty and forty-five, and soon those of eighteen to fifty, were
called to arms. Some paid commutation in place of enrolment, and others
who had passed the age of military training before the ratification of
the new military service law of 1908, as were entitled to exemption,
as long as they paid the annual commutation tax. Yet these also were
drafted in violation of their rights. However, they were not left in
the army very long, but were deprived of their arms by order of the
government, and put into groups of laborers to work on the roads. A
“gang of unscrupulous ruffians,” had control of the Turkish government,
but whether they had not quite matured their plans, or whether they
were in consultation with their foreign advisers, or whether they
hesitated to put their plans into action, they waited until the spring.
The massacres began in the spring of 1915, but even before massacres
immediately after the declaration of war, the Turkish government also
proclaimed “a holy war”--_jehad_. In the fewest words, a holy war is
this: Ever since the reign of Sultan Selim I,[159] the Sultans of
Turkey claimed a lawful successorship to the Caliphs of Baghdad and
the Sultans of Egypt. The Sultan of Turkey is the head of Islam and
the defender thereof. Whenever, therefore, the Mohammedan faith is in
danger, the Sultan, the pretended successor of Mohammed, theoretically
has the power to call upon the faithful throughout the world to rise in
arms against the enemies of their religion.
The Turkish government was induced by her allies not only to enter
this terrible conflict, but also to proclaim this holy war. The object
of the latter was to rouse the passions of the Mohammedans throughout
the world against those powers which were fighting the Turco-Teutonic
alliance, with the hope of creating disastrous revolts in British,
French, and Russian possessions, where about 150,000,000 Mohammedan
subjects were peacefully living. The following exultant announcement
was made from Berlin by the German government, on November 20th, 1914:
“From all sections of Egypt come reports of enthusiastic
manifestations in favor of a holy war. The Sheikh-ul-Islam has
communicated with a majority of the Mohammedan princes of Asia
and Africa, who declare they will assist Turkey in a war against
England.”[160]
We are glad to say that, as is now well known, this project completely
failed in those countries where it would have done the most harm,
but it had its dire consequences in Persia. Immediately after their
declaration of war on the Allies the Turks took the offensive on a
large scale. One army invaded the Russian territory, and another
crossed the Persian frontier and entered the province of Azerbaijan.
In this province were many Syrians (Nestorians) and Armenians, who
were living in villages and towns. These Syrian Christians--like the
Armenians--have suffered many vicissitudes, including massacres by
the hands of the Turks and Kurds. But the Turkish invasion and short
occupation of this province in winter and early spring brought new
horrors upon the Christian inhabitants both Armenians and Syrians.
The moment hostilities broke out, the Turco-Kurdish soldiery began
to indulge itself in atrocities. The Persian province of Azerbaijan
contains a large population of Syriac Christians, and the suffering of
these people at the hands of the invading hordes are described with
terrible detail in letters from German missionaries[161] resident among
them, letters which were published on October 18 (1915), in the Dutch
newspaper _de Neimve Rotterdamshe Courant_. From the contents of these
letters we select the following:
“The latest news is that 4000 Syrians and one hundred Armenians
have died of disease alone, at the missions, within the last few
months. All villages in the surrounding districts, with two or three
exceptions, have been plundered and burnt, 20,000 Christians have
been slaughtered in Ourmia and its environs. Many churches have been
destroyed and burnt, and also many houses in the town....”
And here is a description from another letter:
“In Hoftewan and Solast 850 corpses, without heads, have been
recovered from the wells and cisterns alone. Why? _Because the
commanding officer had put a price on every Christian head._ In
Hoftewan alone more than 500 women and girls were delivered to the
Kurds at Sandjbulak. One can imagine the fate of these unfortunate
creatures. In Diliman crowds of Christians were thrown into prison and
compelled to accept Islam. The men were circumcised. Gulpardjin, the
richest village in the Ourmia province, has been razed to the ground.
The men were slain, the good-looking women and girls carried away.
The same in Babaru. Hundreds of women jumped into the deep river,
when they saw how many of their sisters were violated by the bands of
brigands, in broad daylight, in the middle of the road. So also at
Miandoab in the Suldus district.”[162]
Dr. Sargis, an Armenian by nationality, a Persian by birth, and an
American citizen by choice, was doing medical missionary work in
Persia. He has recently returned by way of Russia. He stated, that in
the city of Urumia alone, ten thousand copies of the proclamation of
the “holy war” were received and distributed among the Mohammedans. Dr.
Sargis further stated in an interview[163] as follows:
“Followers of Mohammed have been expecting a ‘holy war’ for ages. They
have been taught to expect the coming of Mehdi, their Messiah, and
the spread of Mohammed rule over the earth. Now they are preaching
in their mosques that Emperor William of Germany is Mehdi.” He
further stated that German soldiers foster this fanaticism, until the
Mohammedan has the idea that the kaiser and all Germany have been
converted to Islam. Officers of German army wear bands on their arms
with the creed of Islam--‘There is only one God and Mohammed is His
prophet.’ At Ispahan the German officers enter the mosque and say
Mohammedan prayers. The massacres in Urumia began a year ago, after
the withdrawal of the Russian troops. The Russians had been gone only
five hours when the murder and plunder began. Of the 113 Christian
villages in Persia, not one escaped.
“In Ada was an Armenian merchant, Havil by name.... Havil was shot
down in the street, both legs broken and he lay helpless until he
died. Death didn’t come soon enough, however, to prevent him seeing
his eight-year-old daughter captured by the fanatic Kurds and outraged
before his eyes. That happened on January 3, 1915.
“In the town of Kousi was a very old Christian church. The fanatics
entered it, took the Bible from the pulpit, tore out its pages and
carpeted the floor with them. Here they led hundreds of girls and
women--many of whom never left the building.
“At Gulpashan, seventy-nine men were tied hand to hand and killed. Not
one girl in the village escaped. The Turkish officers entered one home
and carried off several girls, who were weeping around the body of
their brother, a victim of the massacre.
“At a house in Urumia, where I was called to treat an army officer,
I found a girl. She told me she had been brought there from a nearby
Armenian village, which had been raided. Then days before the massacre
she had been married, and she saw her husband killed before her eyes.
She was taken to the city and held there by three officers. I got them
to release her, but she died--she had suffered too much.
“A Turkish soldier killed a young Armenian at Garojaln and carried
off his wife and two small children, a boy and a girl. In leaving the
city, the soldiers had to cross a bridge spanning the river. The
soldiers dropped the two children into the river, one on either side
of the bridge, and led the mother away captive.
“There was a Catholic priest, Yahmaruvi, who had endeared himself to
the people of the village. He acted as peacemaker in the quarrels
between the Armenians and the Mohammedans. All Christians in the
village were slaughtered but this priest. The soldiers came and told
him if he became a priest of Islam they would let him live, because
even the Mohammedans in the village loved him. They tried to get the
old priest to repeat their creed. He started with them: ‘There is only
one God--and Jesus Christ, His son, is my Saviour,’ the priest uttered
at the end. They cut off his head....”
A doctor by name Shimmon was educated in this country and naturally
became a citizen. Of him Dr. Sargis said: “They tried to get him to
renounce Christianity. When he refused, they poured oil on his body
and set fire to him.”
Dr. W. S. Vanneman, the head of the mission hospital at Tabris, Persia,
wrote to the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church, N.
Y. City, under date of March 14, 1915:
“About ten days ago the Kurds in Salmas, with the permission of the
Turkish troops, gathered all the Nestorian and Armenian men remaining
there, it is reported, about eight hundred. Four hundred were sent to
Khosrova and four hundred to Haft Dewan under the pretense of giving
them bread. They were held a few days and then tortured and massacred.
Many women and children were taken away and ill-treated. This happened
a day or two before the advancing Russian army took Salmas.
“We are very anxious about Urumia. A letter dated March 1st from Dr.
Shedd came through two days ago. He said things were getting worse.
Gulpashan, which hitherto had not been disturbed, had been plundered
and ruined. I think this was the only village which remained.
Fifty-one of the most prominent men of this village were taken out and
shot. The women and girls were violated. This was done by the Turkish
soldiers.
“Forty men had been taken from the Roman Catholic mission in Urumia
city, kept prisoners a few days, then shot.”
Under date of March 21, Doctor Vanneman wrote:
“We are more anxious than ever about Urumia. On March 17th, Turkish
troops attacked our mission and the Roman Catholic mission and took
five native Russian priests from our compound and treated them badly.
We do not know yet if they were killed. Mr. Allen was also treated
badly because he had sent out three messengers away from Urumia.
“Some native Christian preachers have been crucified and some
burned....”
The testimonies of the German and American missionaries confirm and
supplement one another, and show the fearful results of the holy war.
For the Persian Armenians and Nestorians--Persia itself--had nothing to
do with Turkey. But the object of the Young Turks and their allies was
to arouse the Mohammedans of Persia--the only Mohammedan power besides
Turkey--against Russia, and Turks and Tatars in Transcaucasia, and that
thus they might spread the fire of the holy war. But they have signally
failed in the main.
When the Turkish army had to retreat from Persia before the advancing
Russians and fell back into Armenia proper in Turkish territory, they
let loose the demons--the Turkish regular and Kurdish irregular troops
upon the Armenian population. Their barbarities, outrages, mutilations,
murders, the devastations of numerous Armenian villages, by the sword
and fire, are beyond the possibility of description. The few that could
escape came to Van and told the people of the horrors they witnessed
and passed through.
The Armenians of Van knew that the same fate would soon come to them.
What should they do? Be loyal, submissive, passive, be butchered by
the Turkish soldiers and by their inveterate enemies, the Kurds? Or
should they make an attempt of self-defense, and let it cost the Turks
and Kurds something more than the mere time, labor and ammunition to
massacre the Armenians of Van? And that even if they should be declared
rebels against the lawful authorities by the Prussian and Turkish
officials? They decided upon the latter. And they did not decide too
soon either. For on the 20th of April, Jevdet Bey, the governor of Van,
and the Turkish soldiers commenced an attack on the city. The Armenians
armed themselves as best they could, and making such barricades and
defenses as time and materials could permit, they stood a siege of
twenty-seven days--only about 1500 defenders against 5000 assailants
well equipped with artillery. The Turks and Kurds on hearing of a
Russian force approaching left them and fled southward. On the 17th of
May, the Russians occupied Van.
This is one of only two instances where the Armenians disappointed the
Turkish government and her Teutonic and Kurdish allies, and deprived
them of the pleasure of massacring the Christians. No wonder that
in the face of such instances Count Ernst von Reventlow resented
the American protest against Turkish massacres of the Armenians. We
reproduce only one paragraph from Reventlow’s article:[164]
“Indeed, the Turkish empire has been long enough compelled to allow
all powers who would destroy and rob her have their say in her
affairs. To-day the time for this is past. It will be past for ever,
so soon as the German empire takes up determinedly the standpoint
that the question as to what it intends to do with the bloodthirsty
Armenians is one that concerns her Turkish ally alone.”
Resuming our doleful narrative in this Section, we regret to say that
the first occupation of Van by the Russians was not the last. For
towards the end of July, the Turks, being strongly reinforced, took
the offensive and succeeded in occupying Van. Although the Turkish
offensive and occupation of Van lasted only a short time--about three
weeks--yet within that time they exterminated all the Armenians
behind their lines, and in the country through which they marched.
The retiring Russians, however, contested stubbornly every mile of
ground, and gained time for the Armenians to escape the country, while
the Russians fought rear-guard actions and held back the Turks and
Kurds from cutting the line of retreat of the Armenian refugees. The
sufferings of those panic-stricken people were terrible. One of the
German missionaries, in Persia, wrote:
“On the road, I found four little children. The mother sat on the
ground, her back resting against a wall. The hollow-eyed children ran
up to me, stretching out their hands and crying ‘Bread! Bread!’ When I
came closer to the mother, I saw that she was dying.”
Here is a brief description of the whole scene:
“I wonder if it is possible to witness a more agonizing sight than the
present one. Human beings are dying in hundreds from hunger, thirst,
and exhaustion, and the means for relieving the distress are very
scanty. There is absolutely no possibility of even buying bread. The
first contingent of refugees has already reached this place (Igdir).
Owing to congestion on the roads, the human tide had to be broken up
into two channels; about 100,000 walked through the plain of Abagha,
their rear being guarded by the Russian army under General N. and the
Armenian regiments under Andrianig and Dero; another 50,000 from the
city of Van were diverted into Persia, their rear being defended by
the mounted regiments of Keri and Hamazasp. Bloody rear-guard actions
are being fought to stem the Turks and Kurds, who are pressing forward
in order to cut the line of retreat of the Armenians.”
We will at present leave these suffering thousands in the hands of
their sympathizing friends, the Russians, and the Russian Armenians,
and return to Armenia to see the condition of those who could not flee
the country.
The news of what was taking place behind the Turkish army lines reached
the _Novaye Vryemya_ of Petrograd on July 22d.
“The Turkish atrocities in the district of Bitlis are indescribable.
After having massacred the whole male population of this district, the
Turks collected 9000 women and children from the surrounding villages,
and drove them in upon Bitlis. Two days later they marched them out to
the bank of the Tigris, shot them all, and threw the 9000 corpses into
the river.
“On the Euphrates, the Turks have cut down more than 1000 Armenians,
throwing their bodies into the river. At the same time, four
battalions were ordered to march upon the valley of Moosh to finish
with the 12,000 Armenians inhabiting this valley. According to the
latest information, the massacre has already begun.... All the
Armenians in the Diarbekir region will likewise be massacred.”
Here is another instance of suppressing the Armenian rebellion. The
detailed news was published on September 4th, by the Armenian journal,
_Gotchnag_ of New York:
“Incredible news comes in about the massacres at Bitlis. In one
village 1000 Armenians--men, women, and children--have been crowded
into a wooden house, and the house set on fire. In another large
village of the district, only thirty-six people have escaped the
massacre. In another, they roped together men and women by dozens,
and threw them into the Lake of Van. A young Armenian of Bitlis,
who was in the army, and who, after being disarmed and employed on
road-making, succeeded in escaping and reaching Van, related that
the ex-vali of Van, Djevdet Bey, has had males between the ages of
fifteen and forty massacred at Bitlis. He has had their families
deported in the direction of Sert, but has kept with him all the
prettiest girls. Bitlis is now occupied _by tens of thousands of
Turkish and Kurdish mouhadjirs_ (refugees).”
The condition of affairs in northwestern and western Armenia and in
the provinces of Asia Minor was not any better. It was, in fact, a
great deal worse. Because there was no Russian army to protect them,
or in case of danger, to take them into a friendly country, no matter
with what terrible hardships they may get there. They were absolutely
helpless and completely at the mercy of the ruthless cruelty of the
Turkish officials and mobs.
In April, the central government, from Constantinople, sent orders to
the local authorities in Armenia and Asia Minor to the effect that the
Armenians having been found to be a great danger to the security of the
state, they should be severely suppressed in advance in order that they
might be made harmless, and the empire might be safe. Most of the local
authorities at once understood what the orders meant, and were not slow
to undertake the work. The orders were carried out in the following
manner:
On an appointed day, the governor of a town or city, whichever it might
happen to be, summoned all able bodied men of Armenian race to present
themselves either in a government building or some such designated
place. A sufficient number of police and gendarmes are on hand to see
that this demand is obeyed by all. If any Armenian has the audacity to
disobey, he is dragged there by force. Then these men were led into a
lonely spot and were disposed of. The gendarmes or the police who did
the work of execution returned into the town. If the number was too
large to take them all at once, the process was repeated until all the
work was done in the same manner.
Following is the description of one of scores of its kind:
“In the town of Agantz a list of those to be executed was sent to
the local governor, and 2500 (men) were summoned to appear at the
governor’s house and listen to the reading of a proclamation. The
natives knew the meaning of the order, and many of them ignored it.
They were later dragged to prison by gendarmes and held for execution.
“It is conservatively estimated that 2500 listed men were held in
prison here. They were taken out in groups of fifty, led to a trench
and there shot down. The fifty dead were tossed to one side, a fresh
group of fifty led to the trench. This tremendous execution was
continued until the entire 2500 men were massacred.”
One more instance:
“... One night towards the end of June (1915), suddenly, without any
warning, the houses of most of all of the Armenians who still remained
in the city were forcibly entered by the police and gendarmes. The
men were arrested and held as prisoners in the soldiers’ barracks
at one side of the city. Their whole number amounted to 1213.[165]
Two more of our leading Armenian professors were arrested on this
occasion....” These men “were told that they were to be sent away into
exile at Mosul, in the deserts of Mesopotamia, six or seven hundred
miles away.... These 1213 men, after being held for a few days, were
bound together in small groups of five or six men each, and sent off
at night in companies of from fifty to one hundred fifty under the
escort of gendarmes. Some fifteen miles from the city they were set
upon by the gendarmes and by bondsmen called _chettes_ and cruelly
murdered with axes.... One of the gendarmes who helped drive away
these 1213 men boasted to our French teacher that he had killed fifty
Armenians with his own hands, and had obtained from them 150 Turkish
Pounds. The chief of police at ---- stated that none of these 1213
men remained alive. Our Consular Agent visited the place of this
slaughter early in August, and brought back with him Turkish ‘_Nufus
tezkereses_,’ identification papers, taken from the bodies of the
victims. I personally saw these papers. They were all besmeared with
blood.”
There is no need to tell the same monotonous tale of most fiendish
murders which took place all over Armenia and Asia Minor wherever
the Armenians were found; and the local authorities with scrupulous
exactness obeyed the behests of their superiors, the arch fiends at
Constantinople. Some of our Prussian friends, in spite of all, still
say: “If the Porte deems it necessary that the Armenian rebellions
and other riotous proceedings be repressed with all available means,
so that a repetition becomes impossible, such actions are not to
be designated either as murders or as atrocities. They are simply
justifiable and necessary measures....”
Woe to the men, women and children of the Armenian race, that have been
judged and dealt with by the Prussian sense of justice! The Belgians in
the West, the Armenians in the East were treated by the same Prussian
sense of justice.
Here is another instance of the “bloodthirsty Armenian rebellions”
whose suppression is “simply justifiable and necessary,” as Count Ernst
von Reventlow says:
“To give one instance of the thorough and remorseless way in which
the massacres were carried out, it may suffice to refer to the case
of Trebizond, a case vouched for by the Italian Consul, who was
present when the slaughter was carried out, his country not having
then declared war against Turkey. Orders came from Constantinople that
all the Armenian Christians in Trebizond were to be killed. Many of
the Moslems tried to save their Christian neighbors, and offered them
shelter in their houses, but the Turkish authorities were implacable.
Obeying the orders which they had received, they hunted out all the
Christians, gathered them together, and drove a great crowd of them
down the streets of Trebizond, past the fortress, to the edge of the
sea. There they were all put on board sailing boats, carried out some
distance on the Black Sea, and there thrown overboard and drowned.
Nearly the whole Armenian population of from 8000 to 10,000 were
destroyed--some in this way, some by slaughter, some being sent to
death elsewhere.”[166]
Allowing that, at the least there were 1,500,000 Armenians in the
Turkish empire in the autumn of 1914, the government could draw out at
least 100,000 soldiers--most probably she did draw twice as many. These
soldiers could and gladly would render excellent service to the empire.
Their loyalty has not been suspected, neither has their fidelity been
in question. What a criminal folly to disarm them, what an unpardonable
sin, and a suicidal act to massacre them. But that is what the Young
Turks did. They are trying to get rid of the Christian population of
Turkey by the sword and fire on the one hand, on the other hand, they
were letting the Germans take charge and have control of the army and
navy and make the Turkish government a German vassalage; and yet they
say they are going to “have Turkey for the Turks.”
The following is from the pen of Dr. Herbert Adams Gibbons, who tells
us what the Armenian ex-soldiers were doing and how they were treated
by the government which they were serving:
“In the autumn of 1914, the Turks began to mobilize Christians as
well as Moslems for the army. For six months, in every part of Turkey
they called upon the Armenians for military service. Exemption money
was accepted for those who could pay. A few weeks later the exemption
certificates were disregarded, and their holders enrolled. The younger
classes of Armenians, who did not live too far from Constantinople,
were placed, as in the Balkan wars, in the active army. The older
ones, and all the Armenians enrolled in the more distant region, were
utilized for road, railway, and fortification building. Wherever
they were called, and to whatever task they were put, the Armenians
did their duty and worked for the defense of Turkey. _They proved
themselves brave soldiers and intelligent and industrious laborers._...
“... In order to prevent the possibility of trouble from Armenians
mobilized for railway and road construction, they were divided into
companies of from three to five hundred, and put to work at intervals
of several miles. Regiments of the Turkish regular army were sent ‘to
put down the Armenian revolution,’ and came suddenly upon the little
groups of workers plying pickaxe, crowbar, and shovel. The ‘rebels’
were riddled with bullets before they knew what was happening. The few
who managed to flee were followed by mounted men, and shot or sabred.
“Telegrams began to pour in upon Talaat Bey at Constantinople,
announcing that here, there, and everywhere Armenian uprisings had
been put down, and telegrams were returned, congratulating the local
officials upon the success of their prompt measures. To neutral
newspaper men at Constantinople, to neutral diplomats, who had heard
vaguely of a recurrence of Armenian massacres, this telegraphic
correspondence was shown as proof that an imminent danger had been
averted. ‘We have not been cruel, but we admit having been severe,’
declared Talaat Bey. ‘This is war time.’”[167]