Statement by a German Eye-Witness.
In Malatia there were 10,000--12,000 Armenians. A German, who left
Malatia immediately before the deportation, reports as follows on
the events which preceded the execution of that measure:--
"The Mutessarif, Nabi Bey, an extremely friendly and well-disposed
elderly gentleman, was deposed sometime about May--as we suppose,
on the ground that he would not have carried out the measures against
the Armenians with the desired harshness.
"His deputy, the Kaimakam of Arrha, had all the qualities required
for that purpose. There could hardly be any doubt as to his
anti-Armenian feelings or as to the lawlessness of his mode of
action. He is probably responsible, together with a clique of rich
'Beys,' for the arbitrary imprisonment of many Armenians, for the
inhuman application of the bastinado, and also for the clandestine
murder of Armenian men. The Mutessarif's official successor, Reshid
Pasha, who arrived from Constantinople towards the end of June, a
conscientious Kurd, endowed with an altogether surprising kindness
of heart, did everything in his power, from the first day of his
assumption of the duties of his office, to mitigate the fate of
the numerous Armenian prisoners, to prevent outrages against the
population on the part of the irregular soldiers and Zaptiehs, and
to make possible a lawful and humane settlement of the extremely
difficult situation; in doing this he knew that he incurred danger
and put himself into a very undesirable position. Notwithstanding
his severity, the greater part of the Armenian population held him in
esteem as a just, incorruptible and warm-hearted man. Unfortunately
his powers did not go very far. The movement against the Armenians had
already, on his arrival, gained too much strength, his own executive
staff was neither sufficiently numerous nor sufficiently trustworthy
to enable him to make any energetic stand for the maintenance of law
and order. He succumbed to the power of his adversaries and collapsed
physically and morally within a very few days. Even during his serious
illness he used every particle of strength that was in him to insure
that the banished Armenians should be able to undertake their journey
with safety and be properly cared for on the way.
"He had delayed the departure of the Armenians from week to week,
partly with the silent hope that his great endeavours to procure a
countermanding order might be successful, and partly in order to be
able to make all preparations for a humane execution of the deportation
order. Finally he had to give way to the stringent directions of the
central government and to the pressure of the party opposed to him
in the town.
"Before the deportation, which was effected towards the middle of
August, wholesale murders among the male population occurred in the
beginning of July."