spent for the people by J. Effendi and the Armenian Beledié
physician there (a first-rate and very capable fellow), paying
especial attention to the waifs above mentioned. At Bozanti I bought
a donkey-load of bread and distributed it to the refugees, gave out
a considerable amount of cash in small sums, hired several camels
and horses that were then available to take some of the people on to
Tarsus as soon as possible, and left 20 liras with my host to hire
wagons next day and send on more of the people (wagons there can now
be hired quite cheaply). If we get word that they reached Tarsus
safely, I think we can arrange to send on the rest. Tarsus is at
least warmer and better in every way than the bleak mountains among
which they are staying now, and we can only hope that things may
take a turn for the better before they are driven into the desert.
The Vali here is now very friendly, and assures us that at least all
Protestants will be allowed to remain here and will not be molested,
but that others will be sent off soon to the towns (kazas), though
not to the villages. We all breathe easier with the chief of police
and his cronies now no longer in Q.
113. KONIA: RESUMÉ OF A LETTER[153] DATED KONIA, 2nd/15th OCTOBER,
1915; APPENDED TO THE MEMORANDUM (DOC. 11), DATED 15th/28th
OCTOBER, 1915, FROM A WELL-INFORMED SOURCE AT BUKAREST.
Immediately after the recall of the Vali, Djelal Bey, who had left
the exiles’ tents with tears in his eyes, more than 80,000
Armenians—men, women and children—were driven away from their tents
and directed towards the south, beaten along with whips and clubs.
It was a heart-rending sight. The poor people, who were already in
rags, had to abandon what blankets or clothes they possessed and
start on foot. Parents had lost their children, women were looking
for their husbands, but the wild gendarmerie flogged without mercy
all those who cried or entreated. The tents were full of corpses,
which dogs were devouring. More than thirty people died daily from
hunger and cold. All along the railway line from Konia to Karaman,
Eregli and Bozanti (the rail-head), hundreds of thousands of
Armenians were herded along by the gendarmes. Tired and hungry, they
begged bread from the passengers and the railway officials. The few
families that had managed to remain in Konia at the cost of great
sacrifices, have also received the order to leave the town. The
Government has published a report on alleged crimes committed by the
Christians, and especially by the Armenians, against the Moslems. By
such means it deliberately exasperates the Turks more and more. On
the journey the number of deaths goes on increasing.
-----
Footnote 153:
Name of writer withheld.
114. BAGHDAD RAILWAY: DIARY OF A FOREIGN RESIDENT[154] IN THE TOWN
OF B., ON A SECTION OF THE LINE; EDITED BY WILLIAM WALTER
ROCKWELL, ESQ., PH.D., AND PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN COMMITTEE
FOR ARMENIAN AND SYRIAN RELIEF (1916).
_30th June, 1915._
The skies are dark here, and people have been in and out all
day—these of all classes, and every one with the same question:
“What of the night?” The news from BV. was not encouraging. A few
influential Turks here want to help, but _dare not_. Some women went
by carriage to see an influential man and his family in a vineyard;
were well received. Each had her part; —— was assigned that of
shedding tears, but I do not think she did so alone. It has been
like a funeral here. Several families have been notified to be at
the station with all their members and their beds on Monday next,
when they would be told their destination. P.’s brother and Q. head
the list; the others are poorer people. They are working for a week
of grace in which to settle business affairs. _Isn’t it awful_—and
all are asking: “Who next?” Such drawn and tired faces as we have
seen all day.
Half the town want to “store” things here, to be ours if they never
return; rugs, coppers, etc.—but we may be blown up, who knows?
_1st July._
Times here are lively. In B. people get two orders at once, and then
ask which one they must obey? Conditions in BV. are hard. The Vali’s
brother is against the Armenians. People of all sorts and conditions
come from morning until night to ask questions and to weep. The
conditions here are far from cheerful.
_4th July._
Several families go to-morrow (only one of them a Protestant). The
Government says they will go a few at a time. I doubt their sending
widows, and, for all their positive assertions, I still feel it in
my bones that there will be modifications of the order. People come
from morning till night to talk.
I am giving up the room downstairs for a store-room. —— says he has
5,000 liras’ worth of mortgages and farms, etc., which he can’t
store. The R.’s have eight times as much out among the ruling race.
I suspect that leading families are to go first. Every one trembles.
We had a comfortably full chapel both morning and evening, and two
beautiful sermons suitable for the time. Many Greeks and Gregorians
present. The Greeks are being sent from Constantinople. —— urged
upon the people their going away in a right spirit, remembering the
blessings of the past, opportunities as a nation for education,
business and church life, to pay their debts to Moslems, to help the
poor among them, to go as evangelists in faith and courage. It was
comforting and inspiring.
_18th July._
Eighty-three men from Kaisaria (without their families), the most
influential man in the Protestant community among them, came to-day
en route for Aleppo. They say that spies are everywhere now-a-days.
What days these are, and when will they end?
_20th July._
Last night the city districts across the river were notified to be
ready. The Commissaire (chief of police) is registering families all
over the city, and says they are to go at least fifty at a time and
that vigorous measures will now be taken, etc. These are miserable,
anxious days for everybody.
_23rd July._
One does not know what to say of the situation here. There seemed to
be a holding up yesterday. Some who went to be registered were sent
home to wait till called for. In the meantime, Arab women were going
through —— Agha’s district (where word had been given the previous
evening to pack up and leave), and were buying all sorts of things,
rugs, coppers, etc., at one-third or one-fifth their value. Things
worth a lira[155] sometimes went for a mejidia[156], etc. There is
trouble in every family.
I’ve been out in the market getting cloth so as to give sewing to
some poor women, and also to get the news. I met the Armenian priest
at S.’s store. He is pretty certain there is no help for the people.
However, he is going through his congregation and making out a list
of all the lame and halt and deaf and blind and old and soldiers’
families, to lay before the Government as exceptions. He had a
_hope_ of gaining their case.
A few wretched people from Zeitoun are in the churchyard. They were
left behind somewhere, but are now here, and I hear that one woman
was likely to be confined last night.
Streets are full of Moslem women of the common sort, buying freely,
talking loudly, and, I fear, getting goods “charged.” Merchants do
not seem glad to see them.
Some say that Armenians in BV. have paid £10,000 (Turkish) to buy
exemption; others say forty families are to leave soon.
I made several calls and saw many in the streets. It was pitiful to
find the gateways blocked by crowds of Moslem women demanding what
there was for sale; even pushing into houses after hearing there was
nothing for sale. In one house of our congregation is a woman with
three little children. The mother had sold her few decent clothes,
bought coarse flour and made a pile of the hardest and poorest thin
bread I’ve seen for many a day. She needed her clothes badly enough,
but, with hungry children, she needed money more. I gave her a
medjidia.
T.’s wife was at home selling and packing, quite cheerful, but says
T.’s old mother mourns the years of labour given to the vineyard,
etc. (naturally). Her neighbours had torn some sheets of corrugated
zinc from their roofs to sell. The Government forbade it.
_28th July._
Many people actually left on Monday, so that in all over forty
families have gone, and many more are to go next Thursday. Our baker
went on two hours’ or less notice. He left bread in the oven, and
gathered up wheat that was drying. He has a lame wife and three
children, and his half-blind mother went also. There seems to be no
help. (N.B.—The poor baker died soon on the way.)
A few families have left BV. and several men have left AE., with
families to follow. The poverty and distress of the people is
heartbreaking. The poor family from BM., which you gave help to and
who have seven daughters, are to go next Monday. This intense heat
has pulled the eldest daughter down so that she is confined to her
bed. I fear it is tuberculosis. Doctor says so. The family will ask
delay. There isn’t much chance of their getting it.
—— (the Moslem doctor) examines people and says to the sick, “You
can go,” and gives a stimulant. The mother of the R. brothers is to
go on Monday. I hope we can keep the boys here.
I’ve bought a cow for which I paid three liras (fifty-four
shillings). Others would not have paid so much, but it means food
and money for the journey.
Wages in the factory have been cut down, as people are willing to
work at any price if they can escape exile.
_2nd August._
Over forty more families left this morning. Most of them were very
poor, and it was a sad sight to see them going to the station on
foot, loaded down with small children, jugs, baskets and bundles.
They were not laughing or talking at all; some of the children were
crying; better off people went to the train by carriage, but looked
no happier. Thus far soldiers’ families seem to be exempt.
Sixty men from AE. were on the train as exiles this morning; more
are to follow. The train runs now for military and exile service
from AE. I can’t even write letters, my mind is so upset.
_4th August._
School is still an open question. The Turks are taking note of stock
in shop to-day.
One of the —— boys, about twelve years old, was returning home to
the vineyard and was robbed and wounded a little. After the murder
of young —— last week, we are thankful this boy was not seriously
hurt. The incident shows the spirit of the times.
_7th August._
Miss —— has just come from AE. She saw the AE. people being loaded
into carts sent by the Government, and carriages hired by
themselves, to be deported. Seventy families came as far as B. in
the night. ——’s family got a day longer. George was summoned in the
night to help them. He went on horseback, and hasn’t returned. Many
are to leave here on Monday.
_8th August._
Such a full day; people coming, coming, a constant stream, to
deposit things, to get eye-medicine, salve for sores, to ask for
help, to beg all manner of things, shoes, money, tents and so on. I
did something for each asker, but not much. There was a mad rush to
the station—one stream of vehicles of all descriptions, carrying
goods to the station, families on top in most cases. The regular
passenger train pulled out sometime before — o’clock. The live
freight was so overfull that many were left until to-morrow—among
them ——, who has been ill for weeks. Their goods are at the station,
and their house locked and sealed; —— is lying under an empty
goods-truck, very weak and miserable.
The people in BW. are now threatened with deportation. There are
scarcely half-a-dozen mature men left in the village since the last
massacre, but plenty of women and children.
A group of people from Talas have come. The women have been robbed,
and some of the girls in their party had suffered terrible things.
The party had sons in military service, and others in business in
America.
_9th August._
Miss —— went to BV. to-day. We saw the people (put by themselves)
off for AG. Besides many B. people we know, there were fifty
carriages full of AE. people, including Protestants and many big
Armenian families. Seventy families came up a few days ago. ——’s
shop was shut up and sealed so quickly that they got only three
packages out before the Government was on hand to close up. Little
—— even left his coat in his haste. Between 800 and 900 liras’ worth
of goods were in the store. Their house is new, and newly furnished.
They were to have come on last night, but six days more were
granted, because of new-born baby and wife’s being too weak.
There has been an uprising of Armenian runaways and Kurds, and a
meeting _in conflict_ near Marash. A few soldiers killed. This event
has disturbed still more the minds of the Turks. The sea-coast towns
are to be emptied in two weeks, they say. Turks will go to the
mountains.
_11th August._
There seems to be a holding up of deportation to last until after
Bairam at least, and we hope longer. There is no hold up for AE.
_14th August._
Dr. L. arrived here from AC. He said there was no place as quiet and
safe as this region! In AC. a thousand families have been told to
leave, and among them are the families of all their teachers. So
there was no hope of opening the College unless something very
unexpected occurred soon. There have been _extensive massacres_ all
through that region, at Malatia, Besné, Adiaman, etc. The Marash
region is all afire—runaways stirring up to wrath and revenge being
taken by massacre, the Turks _wanting an excuse_ to do their worst.
Nothing has been heard from Marash for some time. He knows of
special trouble and killing at Fundadjak (five hours from Marash).
Ourfa region is all excitement, people being exiled and made away
with en route. He mentioned many killed that we knew.
One thousand Zeitoun people have died in exile, they say. The city
is full now with exiles from Adapazar and that region. The son of
——- of Talas died in Osmania. The family were exiled, and the
hardships of the journey were too much for the professor.
Many Zeitoun people are wandering about the streets of B. They say
they were driven from the Konia Vilayet. They reported to the
Kaimakam here, who said he had no orders about them and would not
meddle, they might do just as they pleased. (Later they were driven
on). Dr. L. appealed personally to U. Pasha for permission to do
general relief work. He was flatly refused. U. said the Government
would attend to its own business. Dr. L. says they will do so, and
_are_ doing so in regions to the east, and people are dying in many
ways; it’s a part of the policy.
Dr. L. says the Arabs at Der-el-Zor (where Armenians are exiled) are
kindly, and treat women well. The climate is hot and dry, and warm
river-water is all there is to drink, and he fears cholera and
typhoid, as bodies are continually seen floating down the rivers
(massacre victims).
_16th August._
Crowds of Zeitoun people, _sent away_ from Sultania, went on to-day
towards BM. I fear they go to death. Between 600 and 700 have died
already of hardship and illness.
I made some Bairam calls on Turks and was well received, but one
cannot be at all sure of the heart of any one these days.
Have just returned from the priest’s house. I went to get a girl’s
story. The girl was a day-pupil of Miss V.’s[157] at X., about
fifteen years old. Officers came to many houses and said they were
to be exiled, but school-girls were to be excepted, and they took
the girls “back to school;” not to their own school, though, but
to a Turkish barracks, where they were on exhibition and chosen as
the property of certain officers. This girl was claimed by one;
the others, over a hundred, were carried in automobiles to
Constantinople. Fifteen of them were this girl’s friends. This
girl was brought here with exiles from _somewhere_. She refused
the attentions of the officer claiming her. The priest heard of
her and went to investigate. The officer complained that not one
smile had she ever given him. The priest said she would never
smile on him, and left him to think over-night on the matter. In
the morning he said he didn’t want her against her will. The
priest secured the girl, and the officer has gone his way on to
Aleppo. The priest can’t afford to keep her, and I have written to
the BV. school about her. Perhaps we here can raise 10 liras for
her and send her to school. She left her mother two months ago.
Her family were exiled at once.
W., X.’s sister and her child were here an hour ago, en route from
the north (where the Zeitoun people were first sent). She tells
dreadful tales. What will be the end of it all? The streets are full
of exiles begging for bread. —— and relatives are all here, and
Partani’s sister. I am buying ——’s bed to lighten her luggage and
fill her purse. She tells of babies left to die on the roadside, as
the mothers could carry them no longer. Many tell me this.
A young man from —— was just in. Two hundred and fifty families are
en route from there. The city swarms with exiles, and many are at
——.
_19th August._
Our —— boys and families are also in the procession. The Nigdé
people have begun to move on from here. The Adapazar people are _à
la franca_ and some of them very rich. Thirty more carriages from
AE. last night.
Robberies are common, and girls carried off, and three Armenians
killed at BY.
_20th August._
The stream of arrivals continues to flow into B. The poor people on
foot simply drop down utterly exhausted, and many are dying of
hunger and fatigue. Three quite large children died in the Gregorian
churchyard yesterday; another is badly off with smallpox; a
middle-aged man there is dying. —— Hodja has been over there this
morning to minister to him. A crowd of those ill were carried off to
the Turkish hospital yesterday. —— and his family are still here
from BV., waiting for the rest of his family—mother and brothers and
their families. The advance line has arrived and tell him that his
relatives lost almost everything from their homes. Plunderers threw
their goods from the windows, and partners carried off rugs,
bedding, &c. and some money they had. His brothers had been in
prison.
I helped yesterday a blind man (led by his wife) who had been driven
from Bor; also an old woman with snowy white hair who was hungry and
penniless. I got Y. to make up a dress for a young woman, and Z.
made a skirt for another young married woman whose clothes were in
tatters. A crowd are in our churchyard. I sent them soap for a wash
and bath, and shavings, &c., for fuel.
There has been a pause in the B. deportation, waiting for the
present crowd to pass on. AE. people are again on the move. I hear
that only five Armenian families will be left in AE. One is the
dealer in iron for the Railway, and the others are employed for
business dealings with the Government.
People here are dealt with _very_ gently as compared with treatment
received in northern districts and to the east.
_22nd August._
B. presents a strange sight these days with literally _thousands_ of
strangers in our streets. These are from places all the way up to
Adapazar, and they are of all types and degrees of civilisation,
“some in rags, and some in tags, and some in velvet gowns.” The
church was full this morning.
I went by the Gregorian church yesterday and looked into the yard.
Such a sight! Such a pandemonium of noises! In that crowd there are
deaths _every day_, from disease, hunger and exhaustion. I sent
money to help a few, but any help any of us can give is but a drop
in an ocean of misery.
According to a wire from our Ambassador, Catholics and Protestants
are excused from exile. It seems to be true. I suppose our people in
AG. will be called back now. Now for the red tape to get a full and
correct list of the Protestant villages and strangers!
I have written for some relief money. One poor Zeitoun woman is too
ill to travel, but her husband has been driven on—forced to leave
her here. She is at the church. Some people are in our churchyard,
some in hans, and some have rented houses in which to rest for a few
days. The Zeitoun people are “free,” but are driven from place to
place. They are, as a whole, ragged, dirty and covered with vermin,
and hungry, and afraid of the purpose of the Government.
_Same Evening._
There is danger of cholera breaking out. Two died in the churchyard
who had symptoms of it. The Government is trying to drive away the
poorest of the people, chiefly Zeitoun people. They say there is
cholera in Aleppo. Was there ever a year like this?
A lot of people from Nigdé were called from our service by the
police to start on, this afternoon. The Government is not quite
pleased over the new order for exemption of Protestants and
Catholics. The Zeitoun people are watched closely, and one must not
help them.
_26th August[158]._
——’s letters do not—cannot—exaggerate it. The state to which things
have come is indicated by ——’s very casual remark last night: “Well,
to-morrow we’ll first go out and see who has died.”—“I hope that
woman in the church has.”—“I wish that child would, but I’m afraid
she won’t.”
Yesterday and the day before, most of those in the open—those
absolutely too sick to move along being excepted—were driven out
with whips. We fear they have but gone to BZ. (outside the town), to
suffer still worse. Many have been even deprived of their bedding,
or at least separated from it and forbidden to hunt it up. There is
never a day but some die.
Those able to hire houses have escaped from being driven on, by
keeping out of sight, as the driving is done with much cruelty but
no system.
In our church a very _à la franca_ family from —— had an addition
the day they arrived. They have been given a few days’ grace.
I’ve been out to BZ., where conditions are still worse than in the
city. Saw one old woman by the road, dying. People walked by her,
lying out in the blazing sun, with scarcely a look. The sight is too
common. Thousands are out there, and no shade or shelter of any
kind, except such as the people themselves can manage to put up.
I go out with —— every day, and come back sure I’ve merely had a
nightmare.
_2nd September._
Streams of Yozgad people have come, and the word is that 10,000 are
_en route_ from Constantinople. Some Broussa people are here
_now_—new-comers. Yesterday was a hard day, heart-breaking. I went
to the train, a long one, to see over forty B. families off, and
others besides. Among the B. people were ——, ——, AB., and his _sick
wife_, taken from bed to go and almost carried aboard the train.
——’s sister and husband, her daughter Akabé and Akabé’s family go on
Saturday, and our dear, kind, and just neighbour —— and his family.
He looked white with pain at going, and his wife, well, she could
talk, though far from happy. Notwithstanding ——’s assurances that ——
and —— could remain as boarders, their boys were taken. The Kaimakam
evidently had not been notified by the Vali. The Kaimakam seems to
have a heart, but is hard pressed, I am told, by the rich and
influential Turks in B., who are making life a burden for him.
Another of those _wretched_ old women without money, food, friends,
or bed, and ill, has finished her pilgrimage. Three remain in the
Gregorian yard, and three men in the same hopeless condition. I do
not see how they live. The old women raise a cry for water when I
go. I sent —— with iced “iran” yesterday and to-day. The woman with
a fever is better. Two girls, without beds, are now ill. I am
getting excelsior beds filled for them to-day. The woman with a
burnt arm has moved on. The train was to go to CD. From where will
they be fed there?
_3rd September._
Things get worse and worse. Mr. —— called last night and told me he
saw a telegram from U. Pasha, saying: “Let not the Americans and
consuls be seen helping the exiles or appearing with them at
stations and public places.”
——’s name is down to go to-morrow. We are doing our best to save
him. I’ve sent to Mr. AG. for help, and may have to go myself to the
Kaimakam.
_4th September._
—— went to AE. yesterday with a letter to Mr. AG. about our boys and
teachers. I’ve little hope from that quarter, but give him his
opportunity. Mr. AH. put ——’s case before the Kaimakam strongly
yesterday, as _our_ man. The Kaimakam is well disposed, but is under
heavy pressure to send _every_ Armenian without exception. Anyway, I
may be able to save his family.
_6th September._
Crowds of people went to-day. There was only one passenger carriage,
for which people paid. All others were crowded _en masse_ into
goods-trucks, and driven with whips like so many cattle. One old
man, who had spoken and prayed beautifully in our morning prayer
meeting yesterday (a Protestant from Yozgad), turned, when the
police called him, to call his townsman. He was struck with a stone
and asked if it was _his_ business to call people. He quietly
accepted the rebuke.
At BV. the proclamation was given out on Saturday from the housetops
all over the city that _every_ Armenian of whatever church would
leave BV. without delay.