was diverted to Moush. Cruelties had already been committed, but so
far not too publicly; now, however, they started to shoot people
down without any cause, and beat them to death simply for the
pleasure of doing so. In Moush itself, which is a big town, there
are 25,000 Armenians; in the neighbourhood there are 300 villages,
each containing about 500 houses. In all these not a single male
Armenian is now to be seen, and hardly a woman either, except for a
few here and there.
In the first week of July 20,000 soldiers arrived from
Constantinople by way of Harpout with munitions and eleven guns, and
laid siege to Moush. As a matter of fact, the town had already been
beleaguered since the middle of June. At this stage the Mutessarif
gave orders that we should leave the town and go to Harpout. We
pleaded with him to let us stay, for we had in our charge all the
orphans and patients; but he was angry and threatened to remove us
by force if we did not do as instructed. As we both fell sick,
however, we were allowed to remain at Moush. I received permission,
in the event of our leaving Moush, to take the Armenians of our
orphanage with us; but when we asked for assurances of their safety,
his only reply was: “You can take them with you, but being Armenians
their heads may and will be cut off on the way.”
On the 10th July Moush was bombarded for several hours, on the
pretext that some Armenians had tried to escape. I went to see the
Mutessarif and asked him to protect our buildings; his reply was:
“It serves you right for staying instead of leaving as instructed.
The guns are here to make an end of Moush. Take refuge with the
Turks.” This, of course, was impossible, as we could not leave our
charges. Next day a new order was promulgated for the expulsion of
the Armenians, and three days’ grace was given them to make ready.
They were told to register themselves at the Government Building
before they left. Their families could remain, but their property
and their money were to be confiscated. The Armenians were unable to
go, for they had no money to defray the journey, and they preferred
to die in their houses rather than be separated from their families
and endure a lingering death on the road.
As stated above, three days’ grace was given to the Armenians, but
two hours had scarcely elapsed when the soldiers began breaking into
the houses, arresting the inmates and throwing them into prison. The
guns began to fire and thus the people were effectually prevented
from registering themselves at the Government Building. We all had
to take refuge in the cellar for fear of our orphanage catching
fire. It was heart-rending to hear the cries of the people and
children who were being burnt to death in their houses. The soldiers
took great delight in hearing them, and when people who were out in
the street during the bombardment fell dead, the soldiers merely
laughed at them.
The survivors were sent to Ourfa (there were none left but sick
women and children); I went to the Mutessarif and begged him to have
mercy on the children at least, but in vain. He replied that the
Armenian children must perish with their nation. All our people were
taken from our hospital and orphanage; they left us three female
servants. Under these atrocious circumstances, Moush was burnt to
the ground. Every officer boasted of the number he had personally
massacred as his share in ridding Turkey of the Armenian race.
We left for Harpout. Harpout has become the cemetery of the
Armenians; from all directions they have been brought to Harpout to
be buried. There they lie, and the dogs and the vultures devour
their bodies. Now and then some man throws some earth over the
bodies. In Harpout and Mezré the people have had to endure terrible
tortures. They have had their eye-brows plucked out, their breasts
cut off, their nails torn off; their torturers hew off their feet or
else hammer nails into them just as they do in shoeing horses. This
is all done at night time, and in order that the people may not hear
their screams and know of their agony, soldiers are stationed round
the prisons, beating drums and blowing whistles. It is needless to
relate that many died of these tortures. When they die, the soldiers
cry: “Now let your Christ help you.”
One old priest was tortured so cruelly to extract a confession that,
believing that the torture would cease and that he would be left
alone if he did it, he cried out in his desperation: “We are
revolutionists.” He expected his tortures to cease, but on the
contrary the soldiers cried: “What further do we seek? We have it
here from his own lips.” And instead of picking their victims as
they did before, the officials had all the Armenians tortured
without sparing a soul.
Early in July, 2,000 Armenian soldiers were ordered to leave for
Aleppo to build roads. The people of Harpout were terrified on
hearing this, and a panic started in the town. The Vali sent for the
German missionary, Mr. Ehemann, and begged him to quiet the people,
repeating over and over again that no harm whatever would befall
these soldiers. Mr. Ehemann took the Vali’s word and quieted the
people. But they had scarcely left when we heard that they had all
been murdered and thrown into a cave. Just a few managed to escape,
and we got the reports from them. It was useless to protest to the
Vali. The American Consul at Harpout protested several times, but
the Vali makes no account of him, and treats him in a most shameful
manner. A few days later another 2,000 Armenian soldiers were
despatched via Diyarbekir, and, in order to hinder them the more
surely from escaping, they were left to starve on the way, so that
they had no strength left in them to flee. The Kurds were given
notice that the Armenians were on the way, and the Kurdish women
came with their butcher’s knives to help the men. In Mezré a public
brothel was erected for the Turks, and all the beautiful Armenian
girls and women were placed there. At night the Turks were allowed
free entrance. The permission for the Protestant and Catholic
Armenians to be exempted from deportation only arrived after their
deportation had taken place. The Government wanted to force the few
remaining Armenians to accept the Mohammedan faith. A few did so in
order to save their wives and children from the terrible sufferings
already witnessed in the case of others. The people begged us to
leave for Constantinople and obtain some security for them. On our
way to Constantinople we only encountered old women. No young women
or girls were to be seen.
Already by November[41] we had known that there would be a massacre.
The Mutessarif of Moush, who was a very intimate friend of Enver
Pasha, declared quite openly that they would massacre the Armenians
at the first opportune moment and exterminate the whole race. Before
the Russians arrived they intended first to butcher the Armenians,
and then fight the Russians afterwards. Towards the beginning of
April, in the presence of a Major Lange and several other high
officials, including the American and German Consuls, Ekran Bey
quite openly declared the Government’s intention of exterminating
the Armenian race. All these details plainly show that the massacre
was deliberately planned.
In a few villages destitute women come begging, naked and sick, for
alms and protection. We are not allowed to give them anything, we
are not allowed to take them in, in fact we are forbidden to do
anything for them, and they die outside. If only permission could be
obtained from the authorities to help them! If we cannot endure the
sight of these poor people’s sufferings, what must it be like for
the sufferers themselves?
It is a story written in blood. Two old missionaries and a younger
lady (an American) were sent away from Mardin. They were treated
just like prisoners, dogged continually by the gendarmes, and were
brought in this fashion to Sivas. For missionaries of that age a
journey of this kind in the present circumstances was obviously a
terrible hardship.
-----
Footnote 41:
1914.
24. MOUSH DISTRICT: NARRATIVE OF A DEPORTED WOMAN, RELATED BY HER TO
MR. VARTKES OF MOUSH[42], RECORDED BY HIM ON THE 25th JULY,
1915, AND PUBLISHED SUBSEQUENTLY IN THE ARMENIAN JOURNAL
“VAN-TOSP.”
To-day I heard a terrible story. All the Armenians who were deported
from Moush were either killed or drowned in the Mourad River[43].
Among these were my mother and three sisters with their children.
This news was brought to us by a woman who came here at midnight. We
thought she was a ghost, as she seemed like one coming from the
grave. She had saved her two-year-old boy.
She immediately asked for bread. We had not any, as we were living
on raw grain and meat, but we gave her what we had. After she had
had enough, we asked her all kinds of questions. She was from the
village of Kheiban, and was one of the deported. This is what she
told us:
“The Turks collected all the women and children of the villages of
Sordar, Pazou, Hassanova, Salekan and Gvars, and after keeping them
for five days they brought them to Ziaret. Here the inhabitants of
Meghd, Baghlou, Ourough, Ziaret and Kheiban joined them, and they
were all taken towards the bridge over the Mourad River. On the way
the families from the villages of Dom, Hergerd, Norag, Aladin,
Goms[44], Khashkhaldoukh, Souloukh, Khoronk, Kartzor, Kizil Agatch,
Komer, Shekhlan, Avazaghpur, Plel and Kurdmeidan joined the party,
making altogether a company of 8,000 to 10,000 people.
“All the old women and the weak who were unable to walk were killed.
There were about one hundred Kurdish guards over us, and our lives
depended on their pleasure. It was a very common thing for them to
rape our girls in our presence. Very often they violated eight or
ten-year-old girls, and as a consequence many would be unable to
walk, and were shot.
“Our company moved on slowly, leaving heaps of corpses behind. Most
of us were almost naked. When we passed by a village, all the
Kurdish men and women would come and rob us as they pleased. When a
Kurd fancied a girl, nothing would prevent him from taking her. The
babies of those who were carried away were killed in our presence.
“They gave us bread once every other day, though many did not get
even that. When all our provisions were gone, we gathered wheat from
the fields and ate it. Many a mother lost her mind and dropped her
baby by the wayside.
“Some succeeded in running away, and hid themselves in the fields
among the wheat until it was dark. Those who were acquainted with
the mountains of that region would thus escape and go back to seek
their dear ones. Some went to Sassoun, hearing that it had not yet
fallen, others were drowned in the Mourad River. I did not attempt
to run away, as I had witnessed with my own eyes the assassination
of my dear ones. I had a few piastres left, and hoped to live a few
days longer.
“We heard on our way from the Kurds that Kurdish Chettis (bands of
robbers) had collected all the inhabitants of Kurdmeidan and
Shekhlan, about 500 women and children, and burnt them by the order
of Rashid Effendi, the head of the Chettis.
“When we reached the Khozmo Pass, our guards changed their southerly
direction and turned west, in the direction of the Euphrates. When
we reached the boundary of the Ginj district our guards were
changed, the new ones being more brutal. By this time our number was
diminished by half. When we reached the boundary of Djabaghchour we
passed through a narrow valley; here our guards ordered us to sit
down by the river and take a rest. We were very thankful for this
respite and ran towards the river to get a drink of water.
“After half-an-hour we saw a crowd of Kurds coming towards us from
Djabaghchour. They surrounded us and ordered us to cross the river,
and many obeyed. The report of the guns drowned the sounds of
wailing and crying. In that panic I took my little boy on my back
and jumped into the river. I was a good swimmer and succeeded in
reaching the opposite shore of the Euphrates with my precious bundle
unnoticed, and hid myself behind some undergrowth.
“By nightfall no one remained alive from our party. The Kurds left
in the direction of Djabaghchour. At dusk I came out from my hiding
place to a field in the vicinity and found some wheat, which I ate;
then I followed the Euphrates in a northerly direction, and after
great difficulty I reached the plain of Moush. I decided to go to
the mountains of Sourp Garabed, as I had heard that there were many
Armenians there. During the nights my boy was a great comfort to me.
I felt that a living being was with me and fear lost its horror. I
thank God I have seen the faces of Armenians again.”
The poor woman ended her story, and our hearts were stricken with
sorrow, for we had loved ones among the unfortunate people of her
convoy. Two days later her boy died from lack of nourishment, and
after five days she was found by a party of patrolling Kurds and
killed.
25. MOUSH: RESUMÉ OF INFORMATION FURNISHED BY REFUGEES IN THE
CAUCASUS AND PUBLISHED IN THE CAUCASIAN PRESS, ESPECIALLY IN THE
ARMENIAN JOURNAL “MSCHAK”; COMPILED BY MR. G.H. PAELIAN, AND
COMMUNICATED BY HIM TO THE ARMENIAN JOURNAL “ARARAT,” OF LONDON,
MARCH, 1916.
The following reports concerning the massacres and deportations in
the region of Moush and Sassoun have come to hand from completely
independent sources, yet it is remarkable to note how they confirm
one another.
The massacres of Moush began on the 28th June (11th July), Sunday
morning, and lasted until Monday night. They were organised by the
Governors of Van and Bitlis and carried out in the presence of their
representatives, among whom were Abdoullah Bey of Sipuk, Topal
Ibrahim of Moush (tax collector), Hassan (tax collector), and the
police hakim. Before the massacres, all the prominent Armenians
underwent indescribable sufferings. They were flogged and their
limbs twisted until their thumbs began to bleed. The day the
peasants were arrested they wished to take Holy Communion first, but
were refused. The monks of Saint Garabed and the prominent Armenians
of the villages of Gvars, Sortra and Pazou were assassinated in the
monastery. The perpetrators opened the tomb of Bishop Nerses
Kharakhanian, with the hope of finding money. They took his shroud
and put the body back in the tomb. Mehmed Effendi, the Ottoman
deputy for Gendjé[45], collected about 40 women and children and
killed them. Two hundred of the inhabitants of Moush were brought to
the village of Shekhlan and thrown into the Mourad River. One
hundred men from Sassoun, who surrendered, were imprisoned without
food or drink. When they begged for bread, the Turkish inhabitants
could not stand their wailing, and asked the Government either to
give them bread or kill them. They were all killed about the middle
of November.
Then the Government looked for the Armenians who had found refuge
with some Kurds, and finding about 2,000 of them massacred them all.
The fact is confirmed that Kegham Der Garabedian, the Ottoman deputy
for Moush, was hanged. The property of the Armenians of Moush and
Bitlis was sold by the Government, and all their sheep and cattle
which were left with the Kurds were requisitioned by the army of
Halil Bey.
According to reports from the Caucasus, the Turks gathered together
about 5,000 Armenians by treachery and deception from 20 Armenian
villages round the monastery of Saint Garabed at Moush and massacred
them. This took place near the wall of the monastery. Before the
massacre began, a German officer stood on the wall and harangued the
Armenians to the effect that the Turkish Government had shown great
kindness to, and had honoured, the Armenians, but that they were not
satisfied and wanted autonomy; he then, by the report of a revolver,
gave the signal for the general massacre. Among the massacred were
two monks, one of them being the father superior of Sourp Garabed,
Yeghishé Vartabed, who had a chance of escaping but did not wish to
be separated from his flock and was killed with them. From the
Sahajian district about 4,000 Armenians found refuge in the forests
of the monastery, and fought against the attacking Turks and Kurds.
They kept themselves alive on wheat, raw meat without salt, turtle,
frogs, etc. Some of them finally surrendered, but no one knows the
fate of the remainder. The monastery of St. Garabed was sacked and
robbed. The Turks opened the tomb of St. Garabed and destroyed
everything. They also discovered some secret chambers. Turkish
chiefs took up their quarters in the monastery with imprisoned
Armenian girls.
According to another report no one was spared in Moush, not even the
orphans in the German Orphanage. Some of these were killed and
others deported. The Rev. Krikor and Mr. Marcar Ghougasian, teachers
in the German Orphanage, were killed, and only two escaped death,
Miss Margarid Nalbandian and Miss Maritza Arisdakesian. These were
graduates of the German Seminary at Mezré, and owe their lives to a
kind German lady.
According to the reports of some Armenians who had found refuge in
the forests of Sourp Garabed and finally made their way to the
Caucasus, Hilmi Bey was appointed for the purpose of clearing the
Armenian provinces of Armenians. This man reached Erzeroum on the
18th May, and then went to Khnyss, Boulanik, Khlat, etc., massacring
every Armenian in these places. According to a letter, dated the
19th June (3rd July), written to one of these refugees, Hilmi Bey
had three army corps (?) with him, a body of gendarmes, and the
volunteers of Hadji Moussa Bey and Sheikh Hazret, who had come to
Moush to massacre the Armenians. To these forces were added the
Turkish mob of Moush, the Turkish refugees from Alashkerd and
Badnotz, Keur Husein Pasha and Abd-ul-Medjid Bey. The massacres were
directed by Governor Djevdet of Van, Commander Halil of Diliman,
Governor Abd-ul-Khalak of Bitlis, and Governor Servet Bey of Moush.
The order for massacre was given on the 28th June (11th July).
According to Turkish Government statistics 120,000 Armenians were
killed in this district.
-----
Footnote 42:
At that time in hiding in the forests of Sourp Garabed.
Footnote 43:
Eastern Euphrates.
Footnote 44:
Koms.
Footnote 45:
Ginj (?)
26. BITLIS: LETTER DATED 14th OCTOBER, 1915, FROM A FOREIGN RESIDENT
AT BITLIS TO A GERMAN OFFICIAL; COMMUNICATED BY THE AMERICAN
COMMITTEE FOR ARMENIAN AND SYRIAN RELIEF.
From having seen you yesterday, I am assured that you will receive
with kindly consideration what I feel obliged to write to you. It is
about the women and children who still remain with us.
It might be well to relate first a few of the recent events bearing
on the matter.
On the 23rd June the Armenian men of the city, including those on
our premises, were led to prison. A few days later, when they began
to take the women from the city, I called on the Vali and told him
that I could not give up the girls of our school and the women who
had come to me for protection. He said that Halil Bey had decided
the matter in regard to the women, and that he himself had no power
to alter that decision, but that he would leave those on our
premises till the last. I wrote a letter to Halil Bey with the
consent of the Vali, to whom I sent a copy. I received no answer.
The women and girls are now employed in the hospitals, and by this
means we have been able to keep them until now. We have spoken with
Djevdet Bey recently, but he gives us no assurance of their ultimate
safety, and says that the children must go. Of our Protestant
community, we have twenty-five teachers and pupils, twenty-five
women and twelve children. Apart from these there are other women
who are employed in the hospital, and about thirty orphans. The
first orphans whom we received were brought to the school by Turkish
officials, and since it appeared that the Government did not
disapprove, we have received others and provide them with food and
shelter. Much as we should like to save them all, we feel that we
can only insist on keeping those of our community.
My heart is full of this subject. It is not my desire in any way to
oppose the Government. Our superiors give us very definite
instructions on this point before we come out. We all agreed here
that since the Government thought it a necessary war measure that
the men should be taken into exile, we could not refuse to give them
up. But since that time I have witnessed so many things that seemed
unnecessary, that the giving up of those entrusted to my care now
seems a different matter. I am not saying that we can prevent their
being taken—some of our women have already been taken from us—no one
realises more than we do our own helplessness. But we are trying by
every means in our power to save them. I plead with you for your
help in this. I have wanted very much to see the Vali, but owing to
Miss A.’s being ill I have had no interpreter.
We received word recently from Constantinople that the Government
had informed our Ambassador that Protestant communities would not be
molested, and that he had notified the consuls to that effect. But
such orders have not been carried out here.
These women and children who are with us cannot possibly do harm to
the Government—why must they be sent away to such a fate? If the
hospital were removed, we could then be responsible for their
support, until such time as it would be fitting to take them with us
to Harpout. My first plan, in the event of their trying to take our
girls, was to barricade the school building, and compel them to
force their way in or set fire to the building. Death in that form
would have been welcome to the girls under those circumstances. The
plan was not practicable, and I am telling you only that you may
understand how much we dread the fate that awaits them. When I
suggested the plan to my associates, I met with some opposition, but
Sister B. said: “If I were in your place I would do the same thing,”
and suggested that she should take some of the women whom I could
not accommodate in the school, to another building, and remain with
them there. Her sympathetic understanding at that time was a great
help to me. I have always had a great faith in Germany. Through Miss
C. I learned to love her country. Somehow, I trust you as I trusted
her, and I feel that you will do for us what she would have done had
she been able. Both Miss A. and myself entreat you most earnestly
that you will use what influence you can exert here, that we may
keep these women and children with us.
Your companions are here and inform us that you will leave
to-morrow. We regret that we shall not see you again, but enjoyed
the opportunity of meeting you the one time.
IV.
AZERBAIJAN AND HAKKIARI.
_The province of Azerbaijan lies immediately east of Van, across the
Persian border, and consists principally of another and still larger
inland basin, shut in by mountains which drain towards the central
Lake of Urmia._
_Though Azerbaijan is nominally a part of Persia, there are
practically no Persians among its inhabitants. The majority of them
are Shiah Mohammedans, speaking a Turkish dialect; but the parts
west of the Lake, and especially the districts of Urmia and Salmas,
are occupied by a Semitic Christian population, variously known as
“Nestorians” (from their religion), “Syrians” (from their language)
or “Chaldoeans” (from their race). They are descended from the
former inhabitants of Mesopotamia, who were pushed into and over the
mountains by Arab encroachment. A larger number of them is still
left on the Ottoman side of the watershed, in the Hakkiari district
round the headwaters of the Greater Zab, and further west, again,
near the confluence of the Tigris and the Bohtan. In the two latter
districts they are now in a minority as compared with their Kurdish
neighbours, and Kurds are also interspersed among the Nestorians in
the Urmia basin, especially towards the southern end of the Lake,
but also on the west (Tergawar)._