day the Persian Moslems plundered the village of Tcharbash, and
Dilgusha, the two districts which contained the houses of the
well-to-do Christian population. It was a painful sight to see the
notable Moslems of the city taking part in this plunder. The whole
city was out, “blessing each other’s feast,” as they termed it, and
carrying off everything that came to hand. Houses were stripped of
furniture, and even doors and windows carried away. There was also
an attempt to plunder some of the houses within the city, but this
was frustrated by the efforts of the French and American
missionaries.
There is no doubt that the presence of the American missionaries,
and of Mr. Nisan, who remained in the English Mission-house,
prevented matters from taking a worse turn. The American flag, which
was flying over the American and English houses, had some influence
in restraining the brutal savagery of the mob.
In the villages, however, the reign of terror had begun. The Kurds
had been informed of the Russian retirement, and were soon at work
plundering and massacring the Christians in the Baranduz district
(S. Urmi). Dizateka, Sâtloui, Aliabad, Shimshadjean, Babaroud,
Darbaroud, Sardaroud, Teka, and Ardishai were already in their
hands. Looting, plundering, massacre and rape were the order of the
day. In one village, half Moslem and half Christian, the Syrians
took shelter in the houses of their Moslem neighbours, and hid
themselves under the heaps of snow in the yards. In Ardishai, Kasha
Ablakhat, the Syrian priest, was escaping on horseback with his
daughter; he was killed and the girl carried off to Kurdistan, where
she was married by force to a Kurd. Four months later came the sad
news that she had died. During her illness she had as companion
another Syrian girl, also a captive. This other girl relates that
the Moslem women came and turned the sick woman’s bed towards the
south, the direction to which all Moslems look on their deathbed.
The invalid begged her companion to turn her face to the east, that
she might die a Christian.
In another village all the male population but three were killed, or
died of typhoid fever.
One young man had just arrived from the United States after an
absence of nine years; he had come home to be married. The next
morning, he, his mother, sister, and an uncle were all killed. Their
property was carried off and 500 tomans in cash. Most of the people
were killed in their flight; their bodies were not buried, for no
one dared to go and perform this office. Many of the bodies were
eaten by dogs.
There is one large village—Geogtapa—some five miles from the city of
Urmi. To this place many people from the south of Urmi plain fled
for safety, as they thought the inhabitants were well able to defend
themselves. But on Monday night, the 4th January, a messenger from
the Kurds came, saying that if the people surrendered and paid a
large sum of money, their village would be spared. The villagers
sent to Urmi to consult the village master, but long before the
messengers returned the Kurds had commenced their attack on the
place. The Christians put up a magnificent fight, but could not hold
out long before overwhelming numbers. The Kurds were also assisted
by the Persian Moslems, who were eager to pay off old scores against
their Christian neighbours. As the day wore on the situation grew
desperate. The cries of women and children, who had gathered in the
churches, were heart-rending. The smoke of the burning buildings
from four sides overcame the defenders. Finally all took refuge in
the two churches on the brow of the hill, which dominates the
village. Late in the afternoon, by God’s providence, a rescue was
made. Dr. Packard, the American missionary, with three Syrian
attendants, came with the American flag and made terms of
capitulation. The men, women, and children were to be allowed to go
out alive, and the village and all the firearms were surrendered.
Late that night, Dr. Packard, with some two thousand people, reached
Urmi, where with difficulty shelter was found for them in quarters
already crowded, in which they passed four months of untold horrors
and suffering.
In Geogtapa, one elderly woman was left behind because she could not
move on account of infirmity; her husband and daughter decided to
stay with her. The Kurds killed the two old people, and on the
daughter refusing to become Moslem, she also was killed.
Another pathetic case was that of an old priest and his wife, who
thought if they gave up everything to the Kurds their lives would be
spared. These people were visited by five different parties of Kurds
in succession. They helped themselves to the property of the house,
and took all the money they could find. Then came another party and
asked for money; they were told there was nothing left. Then the old
man, with the Bible in his hands, was murdered in the presence of
his wife. They decided to kill the woman also, but in some
mysterious way she avoided them and hid herself. After six days of
hiding she crawled out and got to a neighbouring village, where she
found shelter with some Moslems, who sent her to the city.
_Nazlu District._
The Baranduz river villages and Geogtapa are south of the city of
Urmi, and so were the first to fall a prey to the Kurds as they
advanced from the south. The villages of the Nazlu district, such as
Âda, Superghan, Mushawa, Sherabad, and Karadjalu, some of the
wealthiest, not being in the line of advance, should have escaped
the horrors of the other villages; but their turn came later, and
their story of their woes is equally heartrending.
Âda, one of the largest villages, had been a place of refuge for
many Syrians and Armenians late in the year 1914. Then when the
Russian army passed that way many of the people followed them, to
the number of sixty. The rest, however, all remained. Sunday, the
3rd January, passed off quietly, but the next day their troubles
commenced. The Persian Moslems began to plunder the Syrian
Christians. They broke open the houses, carried off the doors and
windows, and emptied the buildings. No one was killed, however,
although some shots were fired to intimidate the people. The Syrians
exercised great restraint, as they feared a general massacre if they
opposed the Moslems who came against them. The elders of the
village, while this was going on, sent to the city to ask for
protection. The messengers returned with a Turkish and Persian flag
and a few soldiers, thinking this would be security for them; but
they were deceived, for almost at once the Kurds attacked the
village from all points. They stripped every man they found, took
his money, and then killed him. As the others fled to the vineyards,
they were followed by the Moslems, who killed them there. It is said
that one Persian Moslem had killed twenty-five persons, and said: “I
am not satisfied yet.” Some eighty bodies lay about unburied; many
who had been wounded were left to die of their wounds, as there was
no one to tend them after they fell. The women and children, who had
climbed to the roofs to avoid the fury of the Kurds, were afterwards
brutally treated by their attackers, who behaved with the greatest
barbarity. The churches were polluted, and the holy books destroyed.
Many women were carried off and forced to become Moslems, and
afterwards sold or married to their enemies.
A pathetic case is reported from Karadjalu. A woman, fleeing with
her two children—her husband was abroad—met a Moslem mullah in her
flight. He took the children, stripped them of their clothing, and
threw them all into a stream, which was on the point of freezing. He
then offered to marry the woman. On her refusal he left the woman on
the road to her fate. She returned to the stream, and, taking her
children from the water, carried them to a vineyard near by, where
she placed them in a hollow place with some straw over them to try
and warm them; both children died in the morning. Later the
sorrowing woman found her way to Urmi, and five months afterwards
the Russians caught this inhuman brute and made him suffer for his
crime.
_The flight to Urmi._
The city of Urmi became a veritable city of refuge for the Syrians
and Armenians from the villages of the whole plain. By far the
larger number found shelter in the American Mission premises, and
some more in the compound of the English Mission, where Mr. Nisan
was living. We have read of the flight from Antwerp in the _Times_,
but it is a fairy tale compared with what happened in Urmi. Women
arrived at the city in a bleeding condition. Some had been stripped
of part of their clothes on the way, and arrived in one tunic
shivering in the bitter cold of January; some told us how they had
been stopped by four different bands of robbers; many were carried
off, made captives, and forced to become Moslems.
The French Mission also afforded another place of refuge, where the
French Lazarists, with Monseigneur Sontag and the Sisters of
Charity, live. The crowded state of all the houses in the city
quickly bred disease, which, combined with semi-starvation, made
life unbearable. The Americans threw open their College and Hospital
outside the city, and these were soon overcrowded. The Archbishop of
Canterbury’s Mission premises and the American yard close by formed
one great quadrangle, and over this block the American flag was
flying. In normal times these buildings could accommodate five
hundred people; now there were some ten thousand crowded into this
same area. After the first rush was over, the missionaries went to
the villages, to search for this or that person who was missing. In
this way many young women were restored to their families and
delivered from Moslem captivity. But many of the less fortunate had
to remain in the Moslem houses to which they had been carried. Many
were ill and could not move; others were _enceintes_, and were
ashamed to return to their homes. A young Moslem was carrying his
Syrian “wife” to another village when he met Dr. Packard on the
road. The girl threw herself at his feet and asked to be freed from
her captor. She was taken to Urmi, only to die after a few weeks of
typhoid fever.
The problem of feeding so large a number of people was a great one,
and only half a pound of bread a day could be provided. But the
worst suffering was caused by the overcrowding. Every available
space was filled—rooms, churches, corridors, cellars, and stables,
all alike were crowded with human beings.
Under these conditions, combined with the bad water supply and the
lack of sanitary arrangements in an oriental city, it is not
surprising that typhoid fever soon broke out and carried off
thousands of people. More than four thousand lost their lives from
this disease, while a thousand were killed by the Kurds in the
villages. An accurate statement, prepared by the European
missionaries, shows that 20 per cent. of the Urmi Christians
perished in four months.
At the beginning of this reign of terror which we have described,
the Kurds of Mamash, Mangur, Zarza, in the south, poured into the
city. The Herki and the Begzadi from the west poured in at the same
time. The son of one prominent sheikh from Shamsdinan came from
Nochea and established himself in Dilgusha, just outside the city
gates. On the arrival of the Turkish army, a few days later, order
was for a time restored, and the Kurds and Moslems restrained from
the bigger acts of violence. But as soon as the Turkish officers got
hold of the reins of government the lives of the Christians became
unbearable. For a time a Djihad—a Holy War—was spoken of on all
sides, and the Christians gave up all hopes of being allowed to
live. The Turks made it quite clear that they had come to serve
Turkey, and did not conceal their desire to get rid of all
Christians. They also set to work to fill their own pockets; 6,600
tomans were taken from the shop and store owners and other
well-to-do people. They prepared a list of “suspected persons,” who
were to be put to death if not ransomed by the payment of a sum of
money. In many cases the money was not forthcoming, and the
prisoners were put to death.
It was in this way that Mar Dinkha, Bishop of Tergawar, met his
death. Mar Elia, the Russian Bishop, was ransomed after a payment of
5,500 tomans had been made to the Turks.
_The Tragedy of Gulpashan._
The case of the treatment of the village of Gulpashan is without
parallel in the history of the Urmi massacres. It is the most
wealthy and prosperous of all the villages of the plain, and its
inhabitants are quiet and law-abiding people. When the sister
village of Geogtapa was plundered and burnt, by an ominous fate
Gulpashan was spared. Karani Agha, a Kurdish Chief, well spoken of
as a man of high principle, had announced that the village was his
property and that it was to be spared. For two months the people
were left in peace. It was said to be due to a friendship which
existed between the Christian village masters, one of whom was
related to the German Consular Agent at Urmi, and the Moslems. A
servant of the German Agent was there, and Turkish soldiers were
placed to guard the village. On the 24th February, a band of Persian
fedais, who had been unsuccessful in an attempt on Salmas, returned
to Urmi and attacked the village. They feigned friendliness at
first, until they had got the men of the place in their power. Then
they tied them together with ropes and drove them to the cemetery,
where they butchered them in a barbarous and cruel way. Then the
men, still wild with blood, turned on the women, and, after treating
them in an unseemly manner, put some of them to death. The American
missionaries went afterwards and buried the dead, which they did in
many other places also. This was the last of the massacres in the
Urmi plain. The awful deeds that were perpetrated here were
telegraphed to America, whereupon such strong representations were
made by the United States Government that an order was given for
their cessation.
_The Massacre in Salmas._
In the plain of Salmas, to the west of Lake Urmi, there are many
large and beautiful villages inhabited by Syrians and Armenians. For
the most part these people had fled to Russia before the flight from
Urmi took place; but their homes and fields shared the same fate as
those in Urmi. The Turks found on their arrival there that a good
number of Christians had hidden themselves in the houses of friendly
Moslems. The Moslem Hadjis were ordered to prepare a letter, which
every Christian must sign, stating that they had received kind
consideration at the hands of their protectors. This was only a
trick on the part of the Turks, for in this way they got to know the
names and dwelling-places of about 725 Armenians and Syrians in
Salmas. A few days later all these men, roped together in gangs,
were marched to the fields at night between Haftevan and Khusrawa,
and some were shot, while others were hacked to pieces, in one way
and another, in the most horrible fashion. This happened in March,
only three days before the return of the Russian troops. This timely
arrival of help prevented the women of the place from sharing a like
fate.
_The Attack on the Syrians in the Turkish Mountains._
The rest of the awful story comes from the Turkish side, where the
Patriarch and the larger number of the Syrians live in the mountains
of Kurdistan. It was many months before news reached their brethren
in Urmi as to what had been happening some hundred miles away. The
Patriarch, Mar Shimun, was driven from his home in Quodshanis. He
fled to Tiari with all the members of his household. The Patriarch’s
house was burnt, together with many other houses, including the
house of the English Mission. Mar Shimun, writing to England a few
days ago, tells us that for four months he has been a wanderer with
his people, carrying on a war with the Turks and Kurds. They only
gave up fighting when Turkish artillery was brought against them,
which made it impossible for them to offer an effective resistance.
Tiari and Tkhuma, both of which districts embrace many Christian
villages, have been entirely destroyed. In August last 35,000
mountaineers fled to Salmas, Persia, but the larger part of the
Syrians are still in the mountains wandering about from place to
place, without food, and with no hope of anyone coming to their
relief. The most pathetic part of the story is this. Surma, the
Patriarch’s sister, with Esther, her sister-in-law, and three small
children, went down to Tchumbar in Tiari in June last for safety.
With the approach of the Turkish army they soon had to flee to
Dadoush, and from there to the great Church of Mar Audishu, in the
Tâl country. They always had to travel on foot with just the clothes
they could carry. “Often-times,” Surma writes, “we were hungry, and
the little children, who were with us, would fall asleep on the
road, as we always had to travel at night.” Surma spent three months
in Mar Audishu, expecting to leave at any moment, when the enemy
drew near. During that time there was food but almost no water, and
none at all could be spared for washing or bathing. Occasionally
they walked to a stream to bathe and wash their clothes.
The last day of their stay there was the saddest of all. On that day
their brother Ishaya died of fever. Mar Shimun, hearing of his
illness, had come over the day before. The enemy was then very near,
and they could hear the sound of the guns in Tkhuma. Just when the
funeral of their brother was to take place, Surma, Romi, and Esther
with her children were compelled to leave the place, lest they
should be caught by the enemy. Mar Shimun, two priests, and a few
laymen remained behind at this time of danger to bury their brother.
The burial service was quickly said and the body hastily interred,
and Mar Shimun hastened after the fugitive women and children. They
were only just in time, for, a few hours after their departure, the
Turks arrived and made straight for the church, having heard that
the Patriarch’s household was there.
When writing to us on the 6th October, Mar Shimun says that he is in
a village in Salmas, Persia, with his sisters and one or two members
of his family. At the present moment there are with him 35,000
Syrians camped out in the plain of Salmas (4,000 feet above
sea-level), sleeping in the fields with no clothes to cover them at
night, clad in the rags which they have worn for many months,
without food or shelter. The British Consul has telegraphed to
England to say that unless these people are helped by charitable
folk at home, two-thirds of them will die. No Christian nation has
ever suffered for their religion as these people, and none has so
great a claim on us as this unhappy Syrian remnant.
_A List of the Ruined Nestorian Villages._
A. BARANDUZ DISTRICT:—
1. Darbaroud.
2. Sardaroud (Armenian).
3. Babaroud.
4. Ardishai.
5. Teka.
6. Alkian.
7. Kurtapa.
8. Shenabad.
9. Kosabad.
10. Mouradaloui.
11. Dizateka.
12. Shimshadjean.
13. Satloui.
14. Aliabad.
15. The Tazakands.
16. Diza of Baranduz.
17. Saralan.
18. Gulpashan.
B. URMI RIVER DISTRICT:—
1. Geogtapa[188] (partly destroyed).
2. Wazerabad.
3. Tcharbash.
4. Sangar—Burzukhan.
5. Sangar—Beglerbegi.
6. Alwaj.
7. Seir.
8. Haidarloui.
9. Mar Sargis.
10. Hasar and Kom.
11. Anhar.
12. Diza Agha Ali.[189]
13. Balaw.
14. Kizilashuk (chiefly Armenian).
15. Gerdabad (chiefly Armenian).
16. Mata d’Zaya and Karagöz.
C. NAZLU RIVER DISTRICT:—
1. Ismael Agha’s Kala.
2. Armudagatch.
3. Kosi.[190]
4. Nazi.
5. Karalari.
6. Shumbulabad.
7. Superghan.
8. Ada.
9. Mushabad.
10. Yengidja.
11. Khaneshan.
12. Sherabad.
13. Gavilan.
14. Djemalabad.
D. TERGAWAR DISTRICT:—
All villages, including—
1. Queana.
2. Mawana.
3. Palulan.
E. HAKKIARI DISTRICT (Ottoman territory):—
All Tiari.
All Tkhoma, except Mazra’a.
All Barwar.
-----
Footnote 188:
400 families, the largest village in the district.
Footnote 189:
Nearest village to the city of Urmi.
Footnote 190:
Only one barn said to be left standing.
148. FIRST EXODUS FROM URMIA: NARRATIVE OF MR. J.D. BARNARD, OF THE
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY’S ASSYRIAN MISSION; PUBLISHED IN THE
“ASSYRIAN MISSION QUARTERLY PAPER,” APRIL, 1915.
I have been asked to give a brief account of our journey home from
Urmi. I will merely confine myself to the happenings on the road.
On the 3rd January we got upon our way, but we were in some doubt as
to what course to pursue. The army, we were told, was taking the
route northwards to Khoi, on the direct road to Russia. However, we
did not like to quit the country altogether unless we were
absolutely obliged, so we finally decided to make our way round the
north of the Lake to Tabriz and there confer with our consul, if he
were still present—reports varied on this point. An additional
reason for the selection of this route was that M. Cordonnier was
going in that direction, and his Customs officials who accompanied
him were of incalculable assistance to us, as they knew the road,
transacted all necessary business, and acted as an armed escort in
case of an encounter with ugly customers by the way.
We had not gone far before we came up with a sight which we shall
never forget to our dying day. As far as the eye could reach in
either direction was a great river of fugitives, comprising very
nearly the whole Christian population of the villages of the Urmi
plain. They had had to flee at a moment’s notice with such things as
they could carry; a great number were absolutely without food; the
nights were bitterly cold; and many old people and little children
died by the way. Especially painful was the passage over the high
pass leading into the plain of Salmas. It was covered with deep
snow, which on the northern slope became ice, and the sight of these
poor creatures slipping and stumbling down the steep descent, with
the precious beasts of burden falling from fatigue and totally
unable to rise again, was one that Belgium could hardly equal. Worst
of all was the feeling that we were powerless to render any
assistance. Many a mother cried for a lift for her little ones on
our horses, but what could one do in the midst of thousands?
On the second day we parted from this sad procession, they going on
towards Khoi, and we, as I said above, taking the road eastward
round the Lake. We met with all manner of reports by the way; it was
quite impossible to learn the truth of what had happened at Tabriz,
and we never knew what the next bend in the road was to bring forth.
At one halting-place we met with a striking instance of the ups and
downs of an oriental career, being overtaken by an ex-official of
some importance in the service of the Governor of Urmi, now humbly
and shamelessly suing our companion, against whom he had so often
worked, for a place in the douanes. As we rounded the end of the
Lake we saw a great column of smoke rising up from Sherafkhané, the
landing-stage for the boats on the eastern shore, and were informed
that the supply of petroleum was being burnt to prevent its falling
into the hands of the enemy, the boats having been previously sunk.
On reaching Sofian we found a considerable number of Russian troops
in the village, and took courage. We tried to telephone through to
Tabriz to enquire who was there, but without success, so left our
tired animals to come on in the morning—we had been travelling most
of the previous night—while we went on to Tabriz in a carriage which
most opportunely happened to be obtainable. We arrived that evening,
the fifth day of our wanderings, to find that all the English
residents had left some days ago; so we proceeded to the American
consulate to ask advice. This was concise and definite: “The Russian
troops may leave any minute—the Turks are only nine miles away—you
had better get on as fast as you can.” Again fortune favoured us,
and we managed to procure a carriage which had just returned from
conveying our consul, Mr. Shipley, to the frontier, only waiting a
few hours to refresh ourselves, while things were made ready....
149. ERZEROUM: LETTER, DATED 21st MARCH, 1916, FROM THE REV. ROBERT
S. STAPLETON TO THE HON. F. WILLOUGHBY SMITH, U.S. CONSUL AT
TIFLIS; COMMUNICATED BY THE AMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR ARMENIAN AND
SYRIAN RELIEF.
I have just posted a letter to you in reply to yours of the 29th
February. This letter comes in the form of a request from the
Armenians here. Let me give a few details of happenings here this
last year and a half as a preface to the request.