(a)
The Russians had hardly gone when the Mohammedans began to rob and
to pillage. Window-frames, doors, staircases, woodwork, everything
was taken away. Many Syrians had abandoned the whole of their
household goods and the stores accumulated for the winter, and had
fled. Everything fell into the enemy's hands. Flight was the best
expedient; for those who were left behind had a sad fate. Fifteen
thousand Syrians found protection within the walls of the Mission
Station, and were provided with bread by the missionaries. One lavasch
(a thin water biscuit) was each person's daily ration. Sickness
broke out; the death rate mounted up to fifty a day. In the villages
the Kurds killed nearly every man who came into their power. During
six weeks a Turkish soldier guarded us. The fact that I was born in
Germany was very helpful; nobody even touched us. [4]
Am I to report how the Turks had erected gallows on the main road
outside the town gates and had hanged many innocent Syrians and shot
others, who previously had been detained a long time in prison? I will
be silent as to all these horrible things. Like many other Armenian
soldiers, one was beaten to death here outside the gate and buried
close to Miss Friedemann's wall, but so carelessly that the dogs
were able to disinter part of the corpse. One of the hands was quite
uncovered. I took a few spades and we heaped a mound over him. Miss
Friedemann's garden, the property of the German Orient Mission,
was destroyed by the Mohammedans and some of the houses were set on
fire. We gladly welcomed the first Cossacks, who appeared again after
five months. Now we feel once more that our life is safe and that it
is unnecessary to keep the gates locked during the day-time.
(b)
The latest reports tell us that 4,000 Syrians and 100 Armenians who
were here with the [American] missionaries [in Urmia] died of sickness
alone. All the surrounding villages have been plundered and burnt down,
more particularly Göktepe, Gülpashan, and Icharguscha. Two thousand
Christians have been massacred in Urmia and the surrounding country;
many churches have been destroyed and burnt; also many houses in
the town.
(c)
Sautchbulak was razed to the ground by the Turks. Gallows were erected
for the missionaries, but help came and prevented the worst. A lady
missionary and a doctor have died.
(d)
In Haftevan and Salmas 850 corpses were found in the wells and
cisterns alone, all headless. Why? The Commander-in-Chief of the
Turkish troops had promised a sum of money for every Christian
head. The wells are drenched with the blood of Christians. From
Haftevan alone 500 women and girls were handed over to the Kurds
in Sautchbulak. In Diliman crowds of Christians were locked up and
forced to become Mohammedans. The males were circumcised. Gülpashan,
the richest village in the district of Urmia, has been razed to
the ground. The men were killed, the pretty girls and women carried
off. The same fate befell Babaru. Hundreds of women threw themselves
into the depths of the river when they saw so many of their sisters
being violated in the streets in broad daylight; the same happened in
Miandoab in the district of Sulduz. The soldiers who passed through
from Sautchbulak carried the Russian Consul's head on a bayonet-point
into Maragha. Forty Syrians were hanged on the gallows erected in the
Catholic Mission Station at Fath-Ali-Han-Göl. The nuns had run into
the street and prayed for pity, but in vain. In Salmas in Khosrova
their whole station has been destroyed; the nuns have fled. Maragha
is destroyed. In Tabriz things are not quite so bad; 1,175 Christians
were massacred in Salmas, 2,000 in the district of Urmia. Of those
who had taken refuge with the missionaries 4,100 died of typhus. The
whole number of the refugees, including those from Tergavar, Van,
and Azerbaijan, is estimated at 300,000. In Etchmiadzin a committee
was formed for the purpose of taking care of the poor people. Over
500 children were found on the roads over which the refugees had come,
some only nine days old. Altogether over 3,000 orphans were collected
at Etchmiadzin.