(_a_) _Novo-Bayazid_ (_Erivan_).—A hospital for 50 beds.
(_b_) _Annenfeld._—A hospital for 80 beds.
(_c_) _Kedabek._—A hospital for 50 beds.
The total number of beds provided—including the 70 belonging to the
cholera ward at Etchmiadzin—is 1,450.
NOTE: Funds furnished by the Urban Union are at present being
employed for adapting a building—ceded to the Military by the
Katholikos—to the needs of the refugees.
II.
KITCHEN STATIONS.
1. _On the railway lines used by refugees._
At the quarantine station near Etchmiadzin and at the stations of
Aghtalia and Annenfeld.
2. _On the metalled roads (chaussées) used by refugees._
At Parakar, Erivan, Novo-Nikolaievka, Ailar, Suhoi Fontan,
Nijni-Akhti, Elenovka, Tchibouhli, Delijan, Tarsa-Tchai,
Karavan-sarai and Uzuntal.
Bread and hot food are served out to the refugees at these stations.
The refugees are quartered during their stay at these points in
sheds rented for the purpose which are properly roofed.
A separate kitchen station has been opened at Djoulfa out of
funds—Rs. 10,000 (£1,000)—placed by the Urban Union at the disposal
of Bishop Nerses, for the use of Nestorian refugees.
III.
With a view to improving the insanitary conditions obtaining in the
refugee settlements, and also the hygiene of the refugees:
1. _Three disinfecting stations have been opened._
The first of these is now operating at Etchmiadzin. The station
undertakes to disinfect cemeteries, refuse-dumping grounds,
hospitals (in the event of infectious disease), and premises of
every other type, and to operate the disinfecting camera.
The officials of the station perform their duties under the guidance
of a sanitary medical officer.
The second station is at Igdir, and the third at Erivan.
The duties of the latter two stations are identical with those of
the first-named station, and each is worked by a similar personnel.
2. _Detachment for erecting buildings._
This detachment has to attend to the building of bath and wash
(laundry) houses of a provisional type in the refugee settlements.
It consists of a chief, two assistants, an instructor, two
stove-building masons (petchniks), two fitters, a tin smith, and two
rough carpenters.
The detachment has erected a bath-house (Turkish) and laundry at
Annenfeld, a similar bath-house at Tchibouhli, and a Turkish bath
and laundry at Kedabek.
New work of the same description is in immediate prospect for the
detachment at Delijan, Elenovka, Nijni-Akhti, Igdir, Etchmiadzin and
its neighbourhood, and at Alexandropol. The detachment has also been
ordered to take in hand work connected with the erection of a series
of steam-formaline disinfecting cameras. A camera of this type is in
course of construction at Erivan.
3. Under-garments and warm clothing have been served out in various
places to the refugees. Wearing apparel, as stated above, was
purchased at a cost of Rs. 66,000 (£6,600), out of moneys
contributed by a number of organisations and individuals; and warm
clothing costing Rs. 11,996 (£1,200), assigned by the Principal
Committee of the Urban Union, has also recently been distributed to
the refugees.
Apart from the more or less completed organisation of relief work
described above, necessity has compelled the Urban Union to take
over relief work in Persian territory, and a hospital for 110 beds
is under equipment at Salmas.
Further duties connected with the relief of the refugees will
shortly be taken over by the Urban Union, when it is proposed to
open small hospitals and dispensaries in all refugee settlements.
It is estimated that between 11,000 and 12,000 refugees have
returned to the valley of Alashkerd and to the Vilayet of Van, and
that from 2,000 to 3,000 refugees belonging to the middle classes
have settled in the Governments of Tiflis and Bakou.
The cost to the Union of feeding the refugees is estimated at
between 18 and 19 copecks (4d.) per head per day.
The following are the rations issued to the refugees:—
Bread, 108 lbs. Rs. 7·20 }
Meat, 20 lbs. ” 3·00 }
Rice, 10 lbs. ” 1·20 }
Potatoes, onions, salt, pepper ” 0·60 } Rs. 18·08 per 100
Fuel (wood, peat or coal) ” 1·70 } refugees per diem,
Tea, ⅛ lb. ” 0·25 } or 18·08 copecks
Sugar, 4½ lbs. ” 1·13 } per head.
Rental for accommodation ” 1·00 }
Administrative expenses ” 2·00 }
The Government ration is 1½ lbs. per person per day, or an allowance
in cash, in lieu of rations, at the rate of 15 copecks a day or Rs.
4·50 per month. The Government method of sending provisions to
points of distribution is, however, very erratic. Owing to the lack
of railway facilities and to delays in remitting moneys by the
Principal Committee, the refugees dependent on relief from this
source have frequently to go without their bread for days and at
times for weeks.
The following is a list of other organisations engaged in relief
work in this country:—
The Etchmiadzin Brotherhood;
The Tiflis Armenian Central Committee;
The Moscow Armenian Red Cross Committee;
The Russian Red Cross Society; and
The Communes of the various villages in which the refugees
have settled.
_The Etchmiadzin Brotherhood_, under the chairmanship of the
Katholikos, maintains branches of its organisation at Igdir, Erivan,
Alexandropol, Kars, Nahichevan, Novo-Bayazid, and Karakeliss. Relief
work was undertaken by the Brotherhood in March, 1915. Since that
date, apart from the large quantities of clothing, medicines and
other comforts served out to the refugees, a medical detachment has
been organised at Igdir, and, in all, the Brotherhood has spent Rs.
900,000 (£90,000) in relief work. This, in the main, has been
obtained by voluntary contribution from persons of Armenian
nationality all over the world, but especially in the Russian Empire
(at Petrograd, Moscow, Kharkov, &c.). The Brotherhood serves out
with punctual regularity flour rations, money allowances, and
clothing to the refugees. It has all along maintained kitchens at
Igdir, Etchmiadzin, and Alexandropol, as well as hospitals in
various places; has organised a proper system of medical aid; and
has opened refugee orphanages, schools and workshops for the
children. In short, the organisation is thorough, and this is one of
the most important relief societies engaged in work in the Armenian
refugee pale.
_The Tiflis Armenian Central Committee_ has also been carrying out
relief work for nearly ten months. This body maintains its own
hospitals and kitchens, and hitherto has expended Rs. 200,000
(£20,000) in connection with the relief of Armenian refugees settled
in the Government of Erivan. The necessary funds are raised by
voluntary contributions collected from members belonging to Armenian
society in the Caucasus.
_The Moscow Armenian Committee of the Red Cross._—The relief work of
this organisation is confined to the Government of Erivan. The
Committee commenced operations in April last, when four medical and
kitchen stations (viz. at Etchmiadzin and at the villages of Markar,
Ashtarak, and Arzap) were opened. A staff consisting of a medical
officer, two assistants, and several competent attendants and
nurses, besides several sanitary officers and other employees, is
appointed to each of these stations. The organisation affords relief
when and as urgent occasion requires. This Committee has spent Rs.
300,000 (£30,000), all of which has been contributed by the Armenian
colony at Moscow. An orphanage is maintained by the Committee at
Ashtar, together with a school and workshop. The organisation
likewise keeps a flour store and stocks of other provisions at the
last-mentioned place. Refugees are fed by the Society at Markar and
at eight other villages situate in the valley of Alashkerd. The
above remarks apply only to the more important duties that devolve
on the Committee, but it also attends to the needs of the refugees
in many other ways. A hospital at Arzap is also maintained by the
Committee.
In August, 1915, _The All Russia Red Cross Society_ entered the
field of refugee work by opening a medical observation point at
Igdir. The staff here consists of a superintendent, a medical
officer, two assistants, and 19 sanitary officers. In September
last, alone, this body served out 18,598 dinners and 16,775 portions
of tea, and rendered medical aid to 4,652 refugees. In October,
1915, the Red Cross Society daily fed from 850 to 900 refugees in
the district of Igdir. The stations of this Society are well
organised, the staffs strictly disciplined, and their work is
effected with neatness and punctuality. The Society maintains a
dispensary and victualling store at Igdir. The estimated cost of the
dinners and tea served out to the refugees by the Society is between
17 and 18 copecks (3d.) a day per head.
_The Village Communes._—The peasants of each of the villages in
which refugees have been settled have undertaken to accommodate
them, gratuitously, in their houses. In these the refugees find warm
shelter, and are not infrequently fed as well out of the slender
resources at the disposal of their hosts. Whilst seemingly
unimportant, the relief extended to the refugees by the peasantry is
of the greatest value. An accurate idea of this benevolence can only
be formed when all the good deeds of the peasantry are taken into
consideration. Undoubtedly, this aid relieves the contributory
public from responsibilities amounting to several hundreds of
thousands of roubles. In other words, the charitable disposition of
the by no means affluent peasant effects an enormous saving of
money, which under other conditions would have to be provided by the
various organisations.
On the recommendation of Prince A.M. Argoudinsky-Dolgoroukov, who
has recently been on a tour of inspection through the refugee
districts, it has been decided to improve the work of relief by
adopting the following measures:—
1. That the present accommodation at the hospital at Annenfeld be
increased by an additional 30 beds. That the bath-houses in course
of construction at Barsoun and Kedabek be forthwith completed, and a
bath-house built at Tchardahli.
2. That a medical officer, two assistant doctors and two nurses, as
well as another assistant medical officer and three nurses for the
30 additional beds, be immediately appointed to the hospital at
Annenfeld. That all equipment required for the additional 30 beds at
this hospital, and the necessary undergarments and clothing for
outgoing patients, be at once supplied.
3. That should a further evacuation of refugees from Erivan to the
Government of Elizavetpol be ordered by the authorities, additional
warm and roofed-in buildings should be rented at Annenfeld and
Evlakh, and be furnished with some comfort for the refugees, even if
only of a very primitive nature.
4. That kitchens for refugees on the move be opened at Annenfeld,
Evlakh, and Elizavetpol.
5. That small hospitals be opened at the village of Tchaikent in the
district of Elizavetpol, and one each in the districts of Djevanshir
and Shousha.
6. That movable sanitary detachments and kitchens be organised in
the refugees’ districts of settlement.
7. That permanent dispensing stations be established in the colony
of Annenfeld and at the railway station of Evlakh.
8. That the question of the restrictions in force at Elizavetpol and
on the road leading through Annenfeld regarding the passage of
refugees, be at once brought before the notice of the competent
authorities.
9. That the cash allowance to refugees in the Government of
Elizavetpol be brought up to 15 copecks per day per head.
10. That the authorities whom it may concern be requested, when
settling refugees on new lands, to take into consideration the
previous conditions of life of such refugees, and allot to those
coming from highland districts identical localities in this country,
and _vice versa_ in regard to refugees who have been inhabitants of
lowland districts. Further, that in defining the number of refugees
to be temporarily domiciled in villages, the degree of prosperity or
poverty of the villages be taken into consideration.
11. That warm clothing, blankets, bast-shoe leather, iron stoves,
kerosene and (if possible) tea, sugar and soap, if only in small
quantities, be immediately served out to the refugees.
12. That the question of the supply of fuel to the refugees be
brought to the notice of the forestry authorities of the Caucasus.
13. That the question of the supply of flour to the refugees through
the Central Organ, and of the accumulation of stocks of the same
commodity in villages or groups of villages for the winter, be
forthwith decided.
14. That local administrative offices be requested to give the
Committee timely notice of the dates and hours of dispatch of trains
conveying refugees.
15. That the Caucasian Principal Committee be requested to entrust
the Urban Union with the task of feeding refugees on the spot.
Should this prove impossible, to ask that steps be taken to
introduce modifications in the present system of distributing food.
16. That a representative of the Committee be appointed to each of
the localities where refugees have been settled, in order that these
representatives may communicate to the Committee when there is
urgent need of relief in any given locality.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
51. REFUGEES IN THE CAUCASUS: LETTER DATED ERIVAN, 29th DECEMBER,
1915, FROM REV. S.G. WILSON TO DR. SAMUEL T. DUTTON, SECRETARY
OF THE AMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR ARMENIAN AND SYRIAN RELIEF.
We have just returned from a tour of some of the Armenian villages
where refugees are living, and are ready to report on their
condition from personal observation. In this district or
Governorship of Erivan there are 105,000 Armenian refugees, besides
Nestorians and Yezidis. Of these, 18,000 are in the town of Erivan;
of these, again, many are scattered in the homes of the people and
others gathered in large buildings, orphanages, etc. We visited the
barracks where 420 were living. Room after room was full—in some
rooms 40, in some half the number. The lucky ones were those that
had a plank platform or board floor on which to sleep and sit. Many
of them were in the kitchens and store-rooms on the bare ground.
Most of them had insufficient bedding, and many of them scarcely
any. Some were lying four under one coverlet, head to feet. One man
told us how he sat and shivered in the night till his teeth
chattered. Another man stayed in bed during the daytime because he
had no clothes. One room contained, among others, two Protestant
families from Van; the fathers had both died lately of disease, the
mother of one group was lying sick. Seven or eight was the number of
each household, lying in rags on hay and with scarcely enough cover
for two people. The atmosphere of the rooms was foul in the extreme.
These people were from the city of Van and had lived comfortably.
The condition in the villages is even worse. At Somaghar, 15 miles
from here, we were taken about by the elder of the Protestant
Church. Sad indeed were the sights that we saw. Some, too, were
comforting in a measure. This good man had taken into his household,
already of sufficient size, two women refugees, who were clothed
cleanly and neatly and fed as his own. Many of the Armenian
villagers have taken in and cared for the destitute refugees. Others
have given them the use of their spare rooms, bake-houses, stables
and barns. Fortunate are those who are in the bake-houses, for the
heat in bread baking is a free gift to them, albeit mixed with
smoke. Fortunate, too, those who have stables, for they have
steam-heat from the oxen and buffaloes; for those in the other
store-rooms and out-houses have no stoves or fires. These uplands of
Armenia have a severe winter. The ground is now covered with snow.
Ararat, with its two grand peaks, is always in sight, and but a few
miles away. Cold winds from the Caucasus range blow over the plain.
The sight of these multitudes with neither clothing for day nor
bedding for night is a great draft on our sympathies, and this is
intensified by their pitiful stories. We entered one bake-house. One
young man appeared among 15 women and children. They had been a
prosperous patriarchal family of 36 persons—father, three sons and
their wives and children. Of these, 21 were killed, including all
the men except this young fellow, who threw himself into the arms of
a Kurd and was saved in some freak of mercy. This was a Protestant
family from a village called Perkhous. We saw families of 13 and
16—mothers, daughters, brides and children—with no man among them.
We asked: “Where are your men?”—“They were all killed;” or, “Out of
70 men but one escaped;” or, “We were 100 men in the village, but
only 20 escaped;” or, “There were 450 households in our village, but
20 or 30 men alone escaped.”—“Were the women taken away?”—“Yes, our
pretty girls were carried off.”—“How many?”—“Four out of nine; we
too were stripped naked.” As to the rest of their sufferings and
outrage, they were silent.
We addressed the one surviving man and asked: “How are you here?” He
replied: “I was off as a soldier in the Turkish army. I heard of the
massacres, and by bye-ways through the mountains I returned to find
our village destroyed. I escaped to Russia and found them here.”
Another woman, from Ardjish, near Van, said: “All our men were
collected from the bazaars and taken before the Government. After
dark, we heard the shots which killed them. We fled in the night.”
In the village of _Kourpalou_, with 300 houses, there are 900
refugees. Of these, 300 are from the first exodus of January to
April, 1915, and 600 from the second in July and August. The first
were able to bring with them some of their property; many of the men
came safely. The second was the terrible flight after the massacres;
of these, 40,000 are said to have died of disease after reaching
Russian territory. The condition of the later refugees is most
heart-rending. Let me give a few glances at conditions in Kourpalou.
A woman surrounded by seven or eight persons, with scarcely beds for
all, and rags as their clothes, said: “I escaped by throwing myself
in the mud, a dead child lying over my head. There were 50 in our
household. Nine women and boys were taken captive by the Kurds.” In
a stable the oxen and buffaloes were crowding up close; at their
side a flock of sheep was huddled; the air was stifling. Three
families of 18 persons were crowded at one end, in a space so small
that it seemed impossible for them to lie down. Some had improvised
a couch in the manger. A hammock for a baby was stretched above on
two posts. Of these 18, a blind youth was the only man. In the
bake-house were 27 persons, one youth, one very old man. Six men of
their household had been taken as soldiers, the rest were massacred.
Of the 600 refugees of the second exodus who are in this village,
about 30 are men. Some are escaped soldiers who were in the army
when the atrocities occurred. One had dragged himself out from under
a mass of dead bodies.
Nor did all the women escape death. Women were wantonly slain; those
with child ripped up with swords; the breasts of others cut off.
Some threw themselves and their children into the streams and over
the precipices to escape outrage. One woman lately arrived who was
captured some years ago by a Kurd. She had escaped now. after
killing the Kurd, and brought her two children with her.
_Mouandjik._—Also many refugees. As in all other places, great lack
of clothing and especially of bedding. Twenty-two persons in one
room, two of them men. Mostly sleeping on the ground, with bedding
enough for one-fifth of their number. In another room 10 persons, no
men, 15 of this connection killed, girls carried away, one boy saved
by hiding under skirt of mother; clothes in tatters, bedding
lacking.
_Veri Ailaulou._—This village of 70 houses is sheltering 370
refugees, in wretched condition. Three families of 22 persons are in
one bake-house, one side of which is filled with dried manure. Their
village in Turkey had 70 men, one escaped alive; 4 girls and 3
brides carried off. Another hut contains 4 women and some children,
the remnant of a family of 24. All the men of their village were
killed. They are living in a wretched condition. Bread and water
have been the chief food of these refugees for months past.
We are doing what we can to relieve this distress, supplementing the
work of local and Government committees. Ready-made clothing in any
large quantity is not to be found, nor blankets. Comforters we have
purchased in small quantities. We are organising some sewing circles
and will contract for clothing in Tiflis, where we succeeded in
buying about 7,000 garments. They are hard to find, and transport is
difficult when they are ready, as the army has the first right to
the trucks.
I have not time to tell you of our reception by the Grand Duke
Nicolas and his good wishes for the success and progress of our
relief work, nor of our visit to the Katholikos at Etchmiadzin and
his warm thanks for the sympathy and help of the American people for
his people in their distress. We were entertained by him over-night.
Governors, Bishops and Press have all bidden us God-speed.
Warm clothing and bedding will save many from sickness and death.
The pitiable condition of these wretched people should appeal
strongly to our American people in their comfortable homes and in
the enjoyment of ten thousand blessings.
After organising relief committees here in several places, one or
both of us will return to Tiflis for supplies of clothing and
bedding.
52. REPATRIATION OF REFUGEES: LETTER, DATED ERIVAN (?), MARCH, 1916,
FROM THE REV. S.G. WILSON; COMMUNICATED BY THE AMERICAN
COMMITTEE FOR ARMENIAN AND SYRIAN RELIEF.
Events have moved rapidly since I sent my appeal of the 18th
February. In the intervening month the Russian army has made
splendid progress and driven the Turks back many miles beyond
Erzeroum and Van. The capture of Bitlis, Moush and Mamahatoun
(Derdjan) has given assurance to the Government, to the Armenians
and to us all. The return of the refugees to the Van province has
been officially authorized. Men are hastening back even while the
snow is on the ground. The 12,000 already there will soon be 20,000
and 30,000. Reports say: “Men are going in large numbers.”—“Every
day caravans of those returning to the fatherland enter,” via Igdir.
Most of these have returned from the Erivan province to Van. Others,
of whom 500 are women, have settled in Alashkerd. Fifty-three
hundred have gone back from Russian Passin to the Turkish province
of the same name. The Governor of Kars reports that from Olti and
that region refugees are returning to the districts of Erzeroum, and
that many of them are women and children. In Bashkala there are
nearly 3,000 refugees, said to be in great wretchedness and in need
of daily sustenance.