ERZERUM
We rode through empty spaces, littered with ruin and refuse, haunted
by miserable and filthy dogs, to a street of some width, bordered
by substantial stone houses, down the incline of which we checked
the pace of our mounts. It leads to the north-eastern quarter of the
city--a quarter which is numerously inhabited by Christians, and where
are situated the Consulates of the European Powers, notably those of
Great Britain, France and Russia. The British Consulate is housed
in a small but comfortable residence at the northerly extremity of
the street. There we were received with emotion by the principal
dragoman--an Armenian with a handsome, frank and engaging face,
whose curly black hair had become tinged with grey. I had not seen the
excellent Yusuf for many a long year, not since the time when he used
to delight the fancy of childhood with dainty boxes, or the figures of
various animals, which he would fashion with exquisite skill in a kind
of silver wire--an art practised by the silversmiths of the East. What
tales he would tell us in England of this distant Erzerum! We used,
as children, to try and realise the features of the scenes of which
he spoke--the great Mesopotamian deserts, the encampments of the
Arabs, the khans on the roads to the highlands in which the traveller
rested, the mountains and the snow-clad plains. Alas! for the powers
of description; how different it all looked, when after many years
these various landscapes were successively unfolded before the
eyes! Yet they spoke to the very soul of the child grown to manhood,
perhaps reviving hidden germs in the lengthy process of heredity, or
recalling those early efforts to make pictures of them, or appealing in
virtue of none of these causes, but by the magnetic power inherent in
themselves. And here at last was Erzerum, with Yusuf standing before
the door and running forward with open arms! My reader will, I feel,
pardon this little personal digression, embodying, as it does, one
of my most permanent memories of the northern capital.
Another link of a not less personal nature must be mentioned in
order to explain the length of the sojourn which the present writer
made in Erzerum. It extended from the commencement of the really
cold weather to the approach of spring. Wesson and Rudolph were
committed to the kind offices of the Russian Consul, M. Maximoff,
who furnished them with the necessary facilities for returning home
through Russian territory by way of Sarikamish and Batum. The Swiss
had been experiencing the discomforts of home-sickness; and the
resourceful Wesson, who would make a most excellent campaigner, was
obliged for private reasons to abandon a nomad life and resume his
habits as a Londoner. It was my intention to work up my material in
Erzerum, and to devote a fortnight or more to this end. Our Consul,
Mr. R. W. Graves, most kindly placed two rooms at my disposal, and
insisted upon my being his guest. A friendship sprang up between us,
born of similar age and many common tastes; and, speaking for myself,
I may say that our solitude à deux in this corner of Asia formed
one of the most agreeable experiences of my life. I do not remember
having spent a single dull hour. His conversation, charm of manner and
kindliness of disposition were a resource which was never wanting to
revive one's intelligence after long hours devoted to writing and to
books. I was so happy and he so hospitable that the weeks had become
months before all the excuses which waved away the round of duties
in England had one by one become exhausted, and I tore myself from
his side.
This lengthy stay, followed as it was by two subsequent visits, has
made me feel quite at home with the subject of this chapter. And the
fact that I have approached Erzerum from the three directions in which
it is most accessible, from the east, from the west and from the south,
enables me to speak, in so far as a civilian traveller may judge such
a question, of the strategical importance of a city which is probably
destined to play a leading part in any future struggle between the
Russian and the Ottoman Empires. For an Englishman this side of the
subject has a special interest; since the possession by Russia of
this strong place would mean her control of the head waters of the
Euphrates, which issues in the Persian Gulf. It is a maxim of peculiar
appropriateness to such a country as Asia that he who is master of the
sources of a river is master of the lands through which it flows. On
the other hand, such an event would closely affect all Europe;
for there would then exist no important barrier between the Asiatic
provinces of Russia and the shores of the Bosphorus. Indeed Erzerum
resumes in herself the importance of Turkish Armenia as a factor in the
world movements of the near future. Mistress of this spot of ground,
Russia is mistress of these vast provinces. It is plainly the duty
of a writer who has enjoyed the advantages which I have mentioned,
not indeed to pander to the feeling of blind animosity against Russia,
but to place his readers in possession of the essential facts, in the
hope that at least they may not be taken unawares by any advance of
the northern empire in this direction.
Our large map will, I hope, make clear and preclude the necessity of
minutely describing the topography of the site with its surroundings
far and near. What the basin of Lake Van and the plain of Mush are
to the southern districts of Turkish Armenia, that are the plains of
Pasin and Erzerum to those on the north. They represent depressions of
the surface of the tableland and constitute arteries of communication
between east and west. The northerly is separated from the southern
string of depressions by a block of elevated plateau country, which
is most compact and continuous on a line between Mush and Erzerum,
and more broken into irregular lines of heights with intervening
plains between the northern shore of Lake Van and Pasin. An invader
coming from the east and desirous of forcing his way westwards will
find all his roads converging on either one or other of the two strings
of depressions. The block of lofty tableland, seared by the action of
ice and water, and covered for the greater part of the year with snow,
causes them to be deflected as by an impassable obstacle, though it
is in fact by no means impervious to an army during summer, when the
principal difficulty would be the absence of supplies. The geographical
position of Russia is decisively in favour of an advance by the most
northerly of the two main avenues. She might detach a column to move
upon Bitlis; but the objective of this force would be the lowlands
of Mesopotamia rather than Asia Minor west of the Euphrates. There
can be little doubt that the weight of her onset would be thrown
into the northerly channel; and Pasin would fall without a blow being
struck. At that moment she would be confronted by the defences of the
Deveh Boyun--an impregnable barrier if only held by a sufficient force.
We have seen at the close of the last chapter that the Deveh Boyun
consists of a composite ridge, thrown across a narrow portion of
the northerly depression, and dividing it into two. It is due to an
outbreak of lava--a hard trachyte--which has pursued a direction almost
at right angles to the general structure of the country, its elevation
being nearly meridional. Similar outbreaks are readily recognisable in
the northern border heights of the plain of Pasin; but those ridges are
of little geographical importance, losing themselves on the confines
of the plain. On the other hand the Deveh Boyun, the most westerly
of the series, determines the drainage of the great basin. From its
eastern slopes the waters flow to the Araxes, and from those on the
west to the Euphrates. On the one hand lies Pasin, and on the other
the plain of Erzerum. The height of the pass over the parapet is
not more than some 500 to 800 feet above the level of the adjacent
plains. But the ridge is defended by a line of modern forts; and,
if these were captured, the invading army would find itself enclosed
within a space which, while it can scarcely exceed a width of about
four miles, can be swept by the fire from heights on the north and
heights on the south. These positions, which have all been fortified
since the last Russo-Turkish war, rest against the slopes of the
parallel walls of mountain, confining the depression on either side.
There does exist, I believe, a narrow passage through an irregular
valley between the Deveh Boyun main ridge and the northern wall. But
this approach by the flank is commanded by some of the forts already
mentioned. Nor would the fate of Erzerum be necessarily determined if
both the ridge and the works which protect it had been occupied by the
enemy after a series of frontal attacks and great loss of life. There
would remain the defences of the Top Dagh, a hill mass, or, as they
would say in South Africa, a series of kopjes, separated from the Deveh
Boyun by the valley of a small tributary to the Euphrates derived from
the wall of mountain on the south. The Top Dagh bristles with forts,
of which the most conspicuous are Forts Mejidieh and Azizieh. It
immediately abuts on the enceinte of the city which it screens from
attack from the east. The city lies with its head upon the talus or
accumulated rubble which fans out from the heights on the south. Its
feet touch the floor of the plain.
Under modern conditions Erzerum is by far the most important
strategical position throughout the length and breadth of the country
described in this work. The heights confining the plain on the south
are in fact the edge of the great block of tableland interposed between
the plain of Mush and the northern capital. Although the ground mass
of that lofty stage is composed of stratified and old igneous rocks,
yet more recent eruptive volcanic action has played an important part
in its configuration. To this agency are due the bold mountains along
its northern edge which constitute such a noble background to the
town. The most conspicuous peak is that of the Eyerli Dagh, or saddle
mountain, so called from the shape of its summit. The loftiest is
situated a few miles further east, and stands a little back from the
line of heights. It has an elevation of 10,690 feet above the sea,
or of 4500 feet above the city. It bears the same name as that of
the steep ascent to the plateau, and is known as the Palandöken, or
saddle shifter. Between these two commanding peaks is placed a cirque
or huge basin from which the detritus is emptied into the plain. It
has been supposed that the peaks are only the upstanding sides of
a huge broken-down crater represented by the cirque. It seems more
probable, however, that this great hollow is due to erosive agencies,
and it may originally have been commenced by glacial action.
Standing on the roof of your house in Erzerum, you can scarcely
conceive the approach of an invader by a turning movement across
those heights. It is, indeed, no easy matter to discover any natural
passage; but there are in fact four. The most easterly is Aghzi Achik
(his mouth is open--though I cannot agree that such is the case.) It
leads over to some villages in Tekman. Further west is the valley
called Abdurrahman Gazi after a holy man, reputed to have been the
standard-bearer of the prophet, whose tomb is a favourite resort
in summer. Next comes the Palandöken, grazing the peak upon its
western slopes after finding a way along the eastern declivities of
the cirque. The fourth and most westerly is that of Kirk Deïrmen, or
the forty mills. Of these the only approach of any importance is that
of Palandöken. It constitutes the summer route to the districts on the
south. The pass, just west of the peak, has an elevation of 9780 feet,
and is commanded on either side by two modern forts. A metalled road,
constructed during recent years, at once connects these important
outposts with the city and affords tolerable gradients to caravans. As
you examine the ground in this direction you observe a fortified hill
on the south-west of the enceinte; it is called the Keremitlu Dagh.
The wall on the north of the plain is scarcely less impenetrable,
though Nature has cloven it almost through by the defile known as
the Gurgi Boghaz, or Georgian gates, down which flows the infant
stream of the Euphrates and is carried the road from Olti. But
the portion of the Russian possessions from which it leads are
mountainous and poor in supplies, and the narrows are blocked on
the Turkish side by modern fortifications. In a geographical and
geological sense this northern barrier corresponds to that on the
south of the depression. A plateau-like character is not one of its
least pronounced features--a feature which is presented with startling
fidelity in the outline on the north of the plain of Pasin, where the
heights are called Kargabazar (Fig. 163, p. 193). West of the Gurgi
Boghaz they are broken into peaks, of which the most symmetrical is
the beautiful cone of Sheikhjik--a constant source of admiration to
an inhabitant of Erzerum. It consists of a mass of trachyte which has
welled up from the middle of a crater. [177] As these heights extend
westwards they have been less subjected to eruptive disturbances; and
the fine landmarks of the Akhbaba Dagh, the Jejen Dagh and the Kop
Dagh are composed of non-volcanic rocks. But these eminences serve
to accentuate the prevailing flatness of the outline, which remains
the outline of a block of tableland. Of little comparative width,
this mass declines upon the north to the valley of the Chorokh.
Erzerum, it will have been seen, is almost as difficult to get round
as it should be impossible to take by direct assault from the east. If
only Turkey were a naval power, able to cope with her adversary by sea,
it would be a long time before this bulwark of her Asiatic empire could
be broken down by a Russian attack. Herein lies the value to Turkey
of help from a first-rate naval Power and the hopelessness of her
position should it not be forthcoming. With her fleet in undisputed
possession of the Black Sea, Russia might laugh at the irresistible
defences of Erzerum. It would only be necessary to hold the garrison
by an advance on the side of Pasin; and the real attack, if it were
ever made, would come from the west, the vulnerable side, delivered
by a column which should have been landed at the port of Trebizond,
and which there would be nothing to prevent marching to Erzerum along
the chaussée. Sevastopol and Odessa rather than Kars and Erivan are
the storm centres from which will be let loose the forces that will
sweep the Ottoman Empire out of Asia, when we shall be confronted with
a brand-new set of barriers, precluding for the second time in history
the entrance of commerce and enlightenment into these magnificent
territories. In taking leave of this part of the subject, I must not
omit to mention the route which a Russian army might be expected to
follow in its progress westwards after the fall of Erzerum. As far as
Erzinjan the course of the Euphrates would in general be followed,
when the northern border heights would be crossed and the entry to
Asia Minor effected by way of Karahisar. There are no difficulties to
traffic along this avenue. On the other hand, an advance from Mush,
the side of the southern depression, could only be undertaken by
mountain paths above the course of the Murad, which have never been
touched by an engineer. It is therefore probable that the tide of war
would be diverted for some time to the lowlands, when it might threaten
the south-eastern districts of Asia Minor from the side of Diarbekr.
On three occasions, all during the course of the present century,
Erzerum has been at the mercy of Russian armies. In 1829 it was
actually taken by Marshal Paskevich, whose troops penetrated as far
north as Gümüshkhaneh and to within eighteen miles of Trebizond. [178]
Recovered by Turkey at the ensuing peace, it was threatened by a
similar fate after the fall of Kars in November 1855. It was only
saved by the Russian reverses in other quarters and by the early
termination of the war (Treaty of Paris, March 1856). In 1877
the Russians forced the Deveh Boyun barrier, which in those days
was unprovided with proper defences; but they met with a serious
repulse in an attempt to storm the forts on the eastern flank of the
enceinte. The investment was not completed until the month of January
1878; and, although the place was held by their armies as a material
guarantee during the negotiations for peace, it was retained by the
Sultan under the terms of the treaties of San Stefano (March 1878)
and Berlin (July 1878). Since the conclusion of that campaign the
advantages of the position have for the first time been turned to
proper account; and, if in the future the system of forts should be
found provided with the most modern ordnance and held by a sufficient
garrison, Erzerum may still earn the glory of owing her preservation
to the sword rather than to the pen.
But not only is this fortress the key to Turkish Armenia; it also
defends the most important of her trade routes. The principal avenue
of the commerce between Europe and northern Persia passes through
Erzerum. This traffic, which is conducted by means of numerous
strings of camels, was originally founded by the Genoese. Its
flourishing condition long after the disappearance of these great
merchants is attested by the Jesuit missionaries in the latter half
of the seventeenth century. [179] As early as the year 1690 we hear
of a British commercial agent residing in the city. [180] In those
days even a portion of the trade with India found its way through
Erzerum. After the initiation of a service of steamers on the Black
Sea in the year 1836, the land routes between the provincial capital
and Constantinople or the Mediterranean ports gradually fell into
disuse. On the other hand, the trade itself received a great impulse,
and has continued to increase year by year to the present day. In place
of the almost endless stages of land carriage through Asia Minor,
European steamers discharge their goods at the port of Trebizond,
whence they are conveyed on the backs of camels through Erzerum and
along a series of plains to the Persian city of Tabriz. In the year
1842 it was ascertained that the number of packages disembarked at
Trebizond in transit for Persia was about 32,000. In 1898 this trade
had increased to over 5000 tons; and in a normal year the value of the
imports into Persia is about £600,000. About two-thirds of this trade
belongs to Great Britain. It is to be hoped that the trunk railway
which already exists in Asia Minor will be extended to Erzerum, where
it should be joined by a branch line from Rizeh or Trebizond. From
Erzerum it could be continued without the intervention of any natural
obstacle through Bayazid to Tabriz; and from Tabriz it would proceed
through Teheran and Ispahan until it effected a junction with the
Indian railways. The capital to construct this railway should be
subscribed in Europe generally; and a certain percentage of interest
should be guaranteed on the revenues of Turkish Armenia as a provincial
unit, as well as on the revenues of Persia.
The population of Erzerum, especially the Armenian element, has
undergone a remarkable oscillation during the nineteenth century. In
1827 it appears to have numbered as many as 130,000 souls. [181]
Another but lower estimate gives a total at that period of 16,378
families, or from 80,000 to 100,000 souls. Of these 3950 families,
or from 19,000 to 24,000 people, were Armenians of the national
religion. [182] The Russian occupation of the city in 1829 was
followed in 1830 by a general emigration of the Armenian inhabitants,
who followed the Russian armies upon its evacuation. Those were the
days when Russia was assisted to her conquests by Armenians and hailed
by them as a deliverer. Numbers of their countrymen--it is said by
Armenians not less than 40,000--had already emigrated into the Russian
provinces from the frontier districts of Persia in the train of the
Russian army when it retired from Tabriz at the peace of Turkomanchai
(1828). [183] What with the exodus of Armenians both from the city
and the plain--which before those times was probably inhabited by an
Armenian majority--and the various calamities of a disastrous war,
the population of Erzerum had declined to a total of not more than
15,000 souls in 1835. [184] Only 120 Armenian families are said to have
remained behind. [185] At the time of my first visit the inhabitants
numbered about 40,000, exclusive of a garrison of 5000 or 6000 men. The
official figures assigned some 10,500 to the Armenians, 26,500 to the
Mussulmans, 1400 to the Persians and strangers, and about 500 to the
Greeks. Of the Armenians some 500 succumbed in the great massacre of
1898. It is evident, however, that the town has been returning to
its former condition; and there can be no doubt that with the most
moderate instalment of tolerable government the older figures would
be soon surpassed. I was informed by the Persian Consul that some
30,000 to 40,000 head of camel were yearly counted as having passed
through the city. The money spent by their owners for provisions
and sundries in Erzerum amounts to about £T90,000 or, in sterling,
£81,000 a year. Such is the value to the city of the Persian trade.
The aspect of Erzerum, when seen from without, is sombre and
unattractive. This impression is principally due to the colour of the
stone of which it is built and to the scarcity of trees. I am tempted
to offer my reader two illustrations of the place, the one taken from
the higher ground on the south, and displaying the features of the
great plain with the city in the foreground and in the distance the
lofty outline of the northern heights (Fig. 164); the other looking
south-west from the roof of the British Consulate, with the castle
in relief against the slopes of the Eyerli Dagh on the right of the
picture (Fig. 165). This view does not comprise the peak of Palandöken,
situated a little further to the left. The eminence in the centre
is a nameless mass, intermediate between the two greater mountains
and screening the cirque from the plain. A curious feature in the
landscape of the city, when seen from very near, are the chimneys,
which look like rows of dove-cots. The smoke escapes at the sides. It
is strange that the inhabitants display so little love of verdure,
for the sun is always brilliant and productive of glaring lights,
while during two or three months of the year its rays are fierce. The
few gardens that there are grow quantities of lilac, of a perfection
of bloom and colouring and perfume which surpasses any examples I
have seen elsewhere. Abundance of delicious water flows down from the
heights on the north; and under happier circumstances the slopes and
the plain outside the city would be dotted with dwellings embowered
in trees. At the present day, when once you have passed outside the
enceinte, you feel like a ship which has taken to the open sea. Not
a hedgerow, no oasis of foliage diversifies and softens the naked
and vast expanse. You steer your course whither you will. For at
least five months in the year the ground is covered with snow--an
unbroken sheet spread over mountain and plain. Little specks in the
landscape are recognised as villages; and now and again a gliding
object--it might be a boat on the ocean--moves swiftly towards the
city and, approaching nearer, is seen to be a sledge. The climate
of Erzerum has been compared to that of St. Petersburg, but the
comparison is most unhappy and in many respects fallacious. Sun and
sky belong essentially to the South. It is only the great altitude
of over 6000 feet above sea-level that produces the rigour of winter
and the crispness of the summer nights. My daily observations of
temperature during the months of December and January supply the
following results. In December the highest reading at 9 A.M. was 37°
Fahrenheit, or 5° above freezing-point; and the lowest at the same time
of the day was 8°, or 24° of frost. During January the maximum at 10
A.M. was 30° Fahrenheit, and the minimum at the same hour was -19 1/2°
centigrade, or 3° below zero of Fahrenheit. Double windows and German
stoves are necessaries in such a climate; and, as you take your ride
of an afternoon and gallop over the powdery snow, it is necessary to
protect the ears against frost-bite. On the other hand, it is not easy
to realise the severity of the weather, so brilliant are the rays of
the sun. And the warmth of walking exercise completes the illusion
of a snowfall in summer, while your spaniel ranges widely over the
endless white surface, intent upon his forbidden pursuit of the larks.
The charm of the place--and it has a charm which must appeal
to all sensitive minds--consists in the grandiose scale of the
surroundings--the sculpturesque beauties of the parallel lines of
mountain which meet in the perspective of the west; the subtle effects
of light and tint, which are those of some summit in the mountains
transferred to the habitable earth. The setting of the sun and the
rising of the moon reflect the originality of such conditions. The
plain itself must be close upon 6000 feet high; it has a length,
from west to east, of eighteen miles, and it is not less than some
ten miles across. [186] In its trough lies the infant stream of the
Western Euphrates, which, rising on the slopes of the Dümlü Dagh,
[187] a mountain of the northern border, is for some little distance
lost in a zone of marshes, almost opposite the city but not less
than about five miles away. These marshes are quite an aviary of all
kinds of wildfowl, which, besides supplying eggs to the inhabitants
of the neighbouring villages, afford most excellent opportunities to
the sportsman.
The enceinte, or circumvallation of Erzerum was constructed during
the period between the war of 1855 and that of 1877. It consists
of a rampart or ramparts of earth with ditches, and resembles the
enceinte of Paris. Cannons are mounted upon it at intervals. It
embraces an area of about three square miles, and is furnished with
four principal gates. That on the west is called the gate of Erzinjan,
and the one on the east the gate of Tabriz. The gates on the north and
south-west are named respectively the Olti and Kharput gates. Each
gate is guarded by sentries. The space enclosed within this rampart
is only partially covered by buildings, the town occupying not more
than about a square mile of ground. Down to comparatively recent times
Erzerum consisted of a citadel and walled city, with suburbs lying
outside the walls. These walls, which dated back to the Byzantine
period, were double and defended by sixty-two towers. They were
further protected by a moat. Their circumference appears to have
been not less than three or four miles, and no Christian was allowed
to reside within them. They were provided with four gates, bearing
the same names as those in the present enceinte. Texier, who visited
Erzerum in 1839, records that Greek characters were to be seen upon the
gates, and crosses incised in the stones of the walls. Both features
were evidently of Byzantine origin. His authoritative testimony
is supported by at least two of his predecessors, Hamilton (1836)
and Poser (1621). The last-mentioned traveller describes a marble
bas-relief and Greek inscription which he saw upon one of the gates. I
have little doubt that this bas-relief is the same of which Yusuf spoke
to me as having been copied by Consul Taylor in the sixties and taken
to the British Museum. The document is, however, not forthcoming in
our national treasure-house, and the original has disappeared. Only
in the central and more southerly quarters of Erzerum did I observe
a few remnants of the old walls. The citadel is still in existence,
crowning the highest ground in the city, and it still contains the
famous old tower. It seems to have served as a watch-tower, and was
provided with a clock which the Russians carried away in 1830. In
old days the captain of the Janissaries resided in the citadel;
and the only occasion upon which a pasha of Erzerum would enter that
sanctuary was if he came to have his head cut off. [188]
Not many ancient buildings remain in the city, which has not seldom
been visited by severe earthquakes. One of the most violent occurred
in the month of June 1859, destroying or seriously damaging 4500
houses, overturning several portions of the old walls and levelling
nine minarets with the ground. [189] The most pretentious edifice
is the old medresseh or college, called [Chifteh Minareh.] Chifteh
Minareh or the double minaret (Fig. 166). My illustration is from a
photograph taken many years ago, before the caps of both minarets had
fallen away. I was unable to obtain permission to enter the edifice,
which was being used as a military store. It has been described at some
length by more than one of my predecessors, and it is, I believe, an
architectural solecism. [190] The façade of hewn stone with elaborate
traceries contrasts with the brickwork of the pair of circular towers
which rise from stone piers on either side. The circumference of each
tower is diversified by eighteen small shafts, morticed into the main
mass. The space between each pair of shafts is filled by a triangular
moulding, of which the edge or narrow side faces outwards. Shafts and
moulding are built of reddish kiln-burnt bricks, inlaid with small
blue bricks. At the base of either pier is a large panel, framing an
elaborate ornament in sculptured stone. Between the uppermost sprays
of a bunch of foliage or feathers rests the device of a double-headed
eagle. The stalks or quills of the garland rest in the hollow of a
small semicircle, which is supported by the interlaced forms of two
dragons. The question is suggested whether this double-headed eagle
be the well-known emblem of the Roman empire over East and West. But
we know that the emblem was adopted by the Seljuk dynasty of the
Ortukids and by their successors the Ayubids; [191] and, indeed,
if one were left to one's own judgment, one might well suppose
that this was a monument of the Seljuk period. On the other hand,
a Cufic inscription, communicated to Professor Koch in the forties
by the dragoman of the British Consulate, is to the effect that this
building and an adjacent mosque were founded by a nameless benefactor
during the caliphate of Malek Khan and in the year of the Hegira
351 (A.D. 962). The inscription is described as consisting of two
portions, one on either tower. [192] Personally I could not discover
any trace of Cufic writing, nor, so far as I am aware, has such been
observed upon this monument by any of my predecessors. Adjoining
the building on the south side is a circular tomb in hewn stone,
resembling the mausolea at Akhlat, which are works of the thirteenth
century. Tradition ascribes the tomb to a Sultan of Persia. [193]
[Ulu Jami.] The large mosque of Ulu Jami is not more than a few steps
distant from the entrance to Chifteh Minareh. It has rather a vast
interior with several vaulted aisles; but it is devoid of architectural
pretensions. I was shown an ancient paper belonging to this mosque,
in which it was stated that it had been built by the Head of the
Government and Religion, Mohammed el-Fateh, in A.H. 575 or A.D. 1179.
The most pleasing situation in the city is that which is presented by
the disposition of the buildings as you make your way southwards up an
irregular ravine or gully, down which trickles a little stream. On your
right hand the high ground is crowned by the bastions of the citadel;
while to your front, on the same heights a little south of these grim
walls, rise the slender towers of Chifteh Minareh. The slopes on the
east are much gentler, and are covered with houses, terraced up the
incline. Here and there you may discern a pile of stones, or a block
of masonry abutting on a house. These fragments are the [Relics of
the old walls.] relics of the old walls, which formerly separated the
great mosque, the Chifteh Minareh and the citadel from the suburbs with
which these buildings are now continuous. One may turn aside among the
houses to visit a [Holy well.] holy well, which is frequented by both
Mussulmans and Armenians. The former assert that it is situated on
the spot where the successor of Sheikh Abdul Kader of Baghdad is said
to have met his death. The latter attribute its origin to a miracle,
by which the water welled up from the ground upon which was shed the
blood of two of their martyrs, the brothers Isaac and Joseph. They
met their fate in A.D. 796. [194] The spring rises from the mud floor
of a humble little house, and is quite tepid to the touch.
[Churches.] I need not detain my reader with any description of the
churches, because Erzerum has always differed from other Armenian
centres in not possessing any remarkable Armenian temples. The early
travellers speak of two insignificant chapels, and one of these still
remains. During the forties the Armenian inhabitants set about building
a more spacious edifice; and Curzon tells an interesting story in
connection with the enterprise, which may explain the origin of the
number of old sculptured stones which are such a feature in the walls
of many an Armenian church. The priests, he says, urged their flock
to bring in the tombstones of their ancestors; and the response was
so warm that there was quite a rush of able-bodied Armenians, carrying
tombstones from the graves of their families on their backs. Many were
unable to obtain a place in the walls or windows for their contribution
to the structure of the house of God. [195] I do not know whether
the edifice of which this traveller speaks is the same as the present
cathedral. In addition to the little chapel of which I have spoken,
this is the only church of the Gregorian community of Erzerum. The
city is the centre of one of their dioceses and was inhabited by a
bishop at the time of my stay. Monsignor Shishmanean--such was the
name and title under which I was introduced to this prelate--received
me with some show of state, being attended by all the members of his
lay council. He conversed quite fluently in the French language.
[Sanasarean school.] The popular basis of the Armenian Church is one of
its most remarkable features, and, with the rapid spread of education
which is now in process among the community, ought before long to
be productive of far-reaching reforms. This lay council consists
of notables chosen by the people; and, in a vacancy of the see, the
patriarch at Constantinople submits to them the names of candidates
among whom to choose a successor to their late bishop. In Erzerum this
lay body is an operative factor in the life of the community; but I
doubt whether its counterpart could be discovered in such centres as
Bitlis or Mush. It exercises considerable influence in the government
of the Sanasarean school, to a brief account of which I now proceed.
The origin of this institution--designed to dispense a higher standard
of education than that which obtains in other Armenian schools in
Turkish Armenia--goes back to 1881. In that year Mr. Madatean, one of
the three existing Directors, visited the provincial centres at the
invitation of a wealthy Armenian gentleman, the late Mr. Sanasarean. He
returned to Erzerum with several pupils, chosen among the poorer
class. In 1883 the school entered upon its present premises, which
have been considerably enlarged since. Its patron, Mr. Sanasarean,
died in 1890, bequeathing a sum of about £30,000 to his foundation
and directing his executors to draw up a constitution. This charge
has now been fulfilled. Two councils have been appointed--one at
Constantinople under the presidency of the patriarch, and the other
at Erzerum under that of the bishop. Thus the college is under the
protection of the Church; and it is with the patriarch or the bishop
that Government deals. Three Directors were chosen to preside over the
teaching staff, and to dispense instruction themselves. The council
of Erzerum consists of this triumvirate, who hold office for life,
and of three notables, one of whom vacates his charge every year. It
has also been provided that, upon the decease of any member of the
triumvirate, his colleagues shall take his place until the number shall
have been reduced to one, so that eventually there may be only a single
Director. Of the two councils that at Constantinople is supreme. They
administer the revenues, which have been increased since the death
of the founder by the receipt of at least one substantial legacy. The
institution has been launched with every promise of success, although
it seems likely to be destined to undergo vicissitudes before attaining
a full measure of usefulness.
The Sanasarean college is essentially a boarding college, and day
pupils are not encouraged. It has a roll of not more than about
eighty inmates, of whom nearly half are the sons of parents in narrow
circumstances, and pay nothing for maintenance. About fifteen youths
are natives of Erzerum, and the rest are derived from the provinces. A
few will have journeyed hither all the way from Constantinople. It is
expected of the gratuitous scholars that they shall all become teachers
in the various Armenian schools throughout Turkey. Of the sixty
members who had already completed the course at the time of my visit
one-half had adopted the scholastic profession. I went carefully over
the school, and was delighted with the arrangements. The dormitories
are large and kept scrupulously clean, and the same may be said of
the classrooms. There are a hospital attached and a playground. The
technical school is well provided with lathes and all kinds of
implements, and some excellent work is forthcoming from the young
handicraftsmen. Boys enter the college in about their tenth year,
and leave at the age of seventeen or eighteen.
The course comprises a preparatory class and six higher classes. The
subjects taught are in the first place the Armenian and the Turkish
languages, the former comprising both the ancient and the modern
speech. Of foreign tongues French and German are included, but
neither Latin nor Greek. The history of the Armenian Church and
nation is imparted under great difficulties and without the aid of
books. These would be confiscated by the Censor. In mathematics the
curriculum provides for algebra and geometry; and in natural science
for geography, geology, botany, zoology, astronomy, anatomy, chemistry,
and physics. Commercial book-keeping can also be learnt. Music is
studied and practised with much appreciation, and there are several
tolerable performers on the violin. The prospectus of studies must
by law be submitted to Government; but the Mudir or local director
of public instruction confines his energies to an occasional and
friendly visit. Most of the text-books are German. The teaching staff
numbers twelve members, including the Directors; the French master
had recently arrived from France. It is desired that the teachers
should have passed through this school, and then have completed their
studies in Europe. A certain portion of the funds have been set aside
to meet the expenses of one or two students during their residence
abroad. Two have already proceeded to St. Petersburg, and two more
are about to leave for Reichenberg in Bohemia in order to study in
a technical school.
I offer my reader a group of the scholars of this institution, with a
picture of the founder in their midst (Fig. 167). The faces are full
of character and determination. Nor should I wish to omit a similar
group of the comely maidens of Armenia, taken at Edgmiatsin and showing
the national dress (Fig. 168). I received the impression that there
was something wanting to the vitality of the school, that the pupils
were not using their talents to the best advantage. For instance,
when I asked them for the result of x + y × x - y, they were obliged
to make the sum and could not supply the result offhand. Personally the
Directors are charming men, neither self-assertive nor obsequious. All
three have studied in Germany; but not one of them has taken his
doctor's degree. They told me that they had in this obeyed the
expressed desire of their patron, M. Sanasarean. But, although
there can be little doubt that they made excellent use of their
opportunities, it is most pernicious to the interests of the school
that their example should be made a precedent. By what means can the
Council ensure that the young men sent abroad to study have really
penetrated into the inner circle of European scholarship? Only
by requiring that they should not return without obtaining its
badge. It also seemed to me strange that the pupils passed from
class to class by length of residence rather than by merit. Other
drawbacks, the first of which might be easily remedied, were the
absence of sports and games as a prominent feature of school life,
the want of touch with the Armenian schools in the Russian provinces,
and the unreality of the diplomas granted by the institution, which
have not as yet become the key to a variety of careers. The fact, too,
that the minds of the Directors have been filled with the pedagogic
lore of Germany militates against success. That so-called science
betrays the weaknesses of the powerful German intellect. In Germany
its pedantic influence is counteracted by military service; but this
wholesome corrective is wanting to the Armenian youth of Erzerum.
[Armenian Catholics of Erzerum.] In addition to the Sanasarean
college, the Gregorian community possess no less than six ordinary
schools. Of these the principal is attached to the cathedral and
is named Artsenean. It is attended by about 200 day scholars, and
corresponds to an Armenian school of two classes in Russia. The school
for girls, called Ripsimean, appeared to be well administered; it has
a roll of 350 maidens. The Armenian Catholics of Erzerum province
number several thousands of souls; and the city is the seat of one
of their bishops. Their school, which is conducted by four French
priests, is considered one of the best in the town. It is attended by
over 100 pupils, of whom nearly one-third are Gregorians. A little
boy of three did the honours of his class, when I availed myself of
the kind invitation of the frères. He addressed me in the following
speech, delivered with the most graceful gestures:--"Monsieur! Soyez
le bienvenu; que le ciel vous protège, cher Monsieur!"
[American missionaries.] The American missionaries have a
large establishment with schools in Erzerum. Their mission was
founded in 1839. It was presided over during my residence by the
Rev. W. N. Chambers, a man in the prime of life with fine physique
and a face of great beauty, which corresponds to the nobility and
sweetness of his character. His wife and worthy companion--one of
the most charming and refined of women--was perpetually busy with
her girls' school. One reflected upon the value to the womanhood of
the Armenian race of such an example as hers. In taking leave of the
American missions, it is pleasant to dwell upon this memory, which,
indeed, illustrates the kind of benefits which they confer upon the
country better than all the figures in their reports. They raise the
standard of life, and diffuse an atmosphere of wholesome living. I
ought to add that their missions are conducted by quite exceptional
men and women--of a type and perhaps of a class far higher than one
would expect. One admires in them a broad tolerance and entire absence
of all cant. One says farewell from the depth of the heart.
[Rushdiyeh. Idadiyeh.] Education is provided for the Mussulman
population by a single but well-appointed institution. It combines
the courses of a Rushdiyeh, or High School, with that of an Idadiyeh
or lycée. It is housed in a spacious new building in the centre
of the town, and I found it occupied by 130 pupils, of whom 45
were boarders. Youths enter the school between their eleventh and
fifteenth years, and stay seven years. Of this period three years
are spent in the lower and four in the higher course. There are
about eight teachers. The majority of the scholars were attired in a
quasi-military uniform; the rest were in civil dress. All looked in
excellent health. The dormitories were provided with brass bedsteads;
and I noticed that the linen was scrupulously clean. Shining napkins
were spread out upon the table of the dining-room, which was lined with
a row of chairs and provided with crockery. Adjoining the school is
a small hospital. The course comprises the same subjects as those in
the curricula of the Van schools; and, although this school professes
to dispense a much higher standard, it is in fact less advanced than
the so-called military school at Van. This is the only Idadiyeh in
Turkish Armenia; and the admirable official who acts as coadjutor to
an invisible Director of Public Instruction informed me that in the
year preceding my visit a Government order had been issued, to the
effect that all candidates for subordinate posts in the civil service
should be required to produce a diploma from an Idadiyeh. I learnt
on the same authority that there existed a Rushdiyeh in each caza of
the vilayet of Erzerum with the exception of the caza of Terjan.
We found Erzerum in a condition verging upon famine. During my
residence several people died of inanition, and the poorer classes
were only just alive. I was informed that there was no lack of grain
in the place; but it was all in the hands of merchants, and they
refused to sell except at famine prices. A short harvest in 1892 had
been followed by insufficient sowing, owing to the consumption of the
seed for food. Grain was said to be lying at Trebizond on Government
account; but the officials pleaded that they were unable to obtain
transport. Some of them, if not all, were no doubt confederates of
the Corn Ring. The same state of things was prevalent at Van; and
throughout our journey we had great difficulty in obtaining barley for
our horses, even when offering exorbitant prices. One may present some
conception of the acuteness of the sufferings of the townspeople by
recording some particulars of prices and wages. Wheat was selling at
50 piasters a kilé, or about 2 1/2 piasters an oke (2 3/4 lbs.). The
price of bread was 2 piasters an oke. A healthy man requires at least
three-quarters of an oke of bread a day, in addition to his ration
of sheep's tail or meat sausage, of which the working classes lay
in a provision in the autumn. The wages of a carpenter or skilled
labourer are in good times 8 piasters a day. But hundreds of workmen
were seeking employment at 1 1/2 piasters, and the best paid among
the makers of cigarettes for the régie were receiving a daily wage
of 2 piasters. Rice at Erzerum is quite a luxury, and potatoes are
so little grown that they may be left out of account. How was a man
to pay for his lodging, provide food for his family and himself, and
obtain tezek, or cow-dung cakes, for his fire upon the current wages? I
was shown the kind of bread upon which the majority were living; it
looked like a thin pancake, and its staple consisted of a black grain
or seed. But the principal ingredient was mud and chopped straw. The
cruelty of the situation was accentuated by the fact that all kinds
of comestibles were spread out upon the booths of the bazar. One
regretted the absence of the glass windows of our shops. Here the
temptation might be touched as well as seen. There is no poor-law,
and no poor-houses. People starve in the streets. A Mussulman girl
of great beauty came to our house, and begged piteously for food,
showing her face. We endeavoured to obtain for her a place as servant
in the residence of some Turkish ladies. But it was well known that
there was many a brute in Erzerum who, like the Spectre of Hunger in
the pregnant lines of Alfred de Musset, demanded kisses as the price
of a piece of bread.
The economical condition of the surrounding country is woeful in the
extreme. The great plains from Pasin to Lake Van were being raided by
bands of Kurds. I shall describe in a future chapter how this predatory
people came to be established in the agricultural centres. Erzerum was
full of accounts of their open attacks upon the industrious peasantry;
and even the Mussulmans, as, for instance, at Hasan Kala in Pasin, were
petitioning Government for protection. It is true they did not dare to
call their assailants to book as Kurds, but described them merely as
brigands. It was well known that these bands were led by officers in
Hamidiyeh regiments--tenekelis, or tin-plate men, as they are called
by the populace, from the brass badges they wear in their caps. The
frightened officials, obliged to report such occurrences, take refuge
behind the amusing euphemism of such a phrase as "brigands, disguised
as soldiers." The scourge had almost exhausted the Armenian population,
and was now commencing to sit heavy upon the Mussulmans. The Armenians
were emigrating as fast as they could. The Russian Consul informed
me that he had been obliged to issue no less than 3500 passports to
Armenians during the current year. The Russians did not want them;
but what were they to do? I learnt from another source that in the
caza of Khinis alone 1000 Armenians had left their homes, the majority
in abject poverty, and had taken refuge across the frontier.
With a famine in the provincial capital and the adjacent territory
stripped by marauders, the inhabitants of any other country would have
risen in revolt against the Government. But the population of Asiatic
Turkey, in spite of religious differences, are the most easily governed
in the world. All the talk about Mussulmans and Christians flying at
each other's throat is talk, and moreover very idle talk. During my
subsequent visits to Erzerum it was admitted to me by Turkish officials
that the massacres of 1898 were perpetrated in these districts
by bands of imported ruffians. The still unavenged guilt of these
abominable orgies does not lie upon the Mussulman population. Only
on one occasion during my residence did the famished townspeople of
the dominant religion come near to measures of insubordination. They
sent their women--a method of petition which is neither usual nor
lightly to be dismissed--in a body to Government House. Thence
the petitioners proceeded to the residence of an official of the
Treasury at Constantinople, who had been despatched to Erzerum to
make enquiries into the scarcity. The indignant matrons assailed his
ears with the pertinent question: neye geldin, whereto didst thou
come? Dissatisfied with the answer they received, they smashed the
windows of the functionary; but nothing came of the demonstration.
All through that anxious time the civil government was in abeyance;
and nothing was set up in its place. The Vali was recently dead;
his successor had not been chosen; the deputy Governor was at
once a puppet and an imbecile. An honest man with a few policemen
at his back could restore not only order but prosperity. There is
only one essential of any importance: to reorganise the territorial
boundaries of the provinces, select good governors and invest them with
extensive powers. If my reader be inclined to smile at the choice of
my epithet when applied to a Turkish official, I can only say that I
much regret my inability to introduce him personally to the present
holder of the office of Vali of Erzerum. I was privileged to make the
acquaintance of Raouf Pasha on the occasion of my second visit. His
career through a long life has been one of much distinction; he is
honest, just, capable, humane. If such a man could only be freed from
the leading-strings of the capital, he would go far towards a happy
settlement of the Armenian question, and of the still more important
question, the continuance of the Ottoman Empire.
The Armenian inhabitants of the provincial capital are undergoing
a state of transition from their ancestral customs to the less
straitened manners of the West. But these customs die a hard death,
and the emancipated Armenian who has studied in Europe must feel
their fetters upon his return to his native land. Let us suppose
that he wishes to marry; he must have recourse to his mother, or,
if she be dead, to a female relation. A bride is chosen for him,
whom, as likely as not, he does not see until the marriage ceremony
has been performed. If the parents of the bridegroom be still alive,
the newly-married couple reside with them; and it is the custom that,
while sons and daughters are permitted to speak to their parents,
a similar license is not usually accorded to the sons' wives. Thus a
maiden quits a home where freedom of intercourse and speech is allowed
her to enter one where she is not permitted to open her mouth. A son
may not smoke in the presence of his father; and great are the agonies
endured by the younger generation in this respect alone. The earnings
of the sons are handed over to the father, who rules the family quite
in the patriarchal style.
A single family comprises a very large number of members, all living
in the same house. In one house in which I visited there were not less
than thirty. I photographed a group of five generations in this family,
each person being in direct lineal descent. The infant is the son of
the pretty young lady on the left of the picture, and it reposes on
the lap of her great-grandmother (Fig. 169).
To Erzerum belongs an antiquity which, if not remote, is at least
respectable; and her history, or rather the glimpses which we obtain
of that history, illustrate the time-honoured struggle between
East and West. Founded during the reign of the second Theodosius
(A.D. 408-450), at the instance of one of the greatest of the early
Armenian patriarchs, and upon the site of a village which dated from
ancient times, [196] the new city received the name of Theodosiopolis,
and was designed to constitute an outer bulwark to the Roman Empire
of the East. In the description of this event which we receive from
Moses of Khorene the traveller recognises the familiar surroundings
of the present town. The emissary of the emperor had journeyed over
an extensive tract of country in search of a suitable site. His
choice at length fell upon a position in the province of Karin, at
the foot of a mountain in which several rivulets had their origin. At
no great distance were situated the sources of the Euphrates, which,
collecting into a sluggish stream, formed a large marsh, supporting
abundance of wildfowl, on the eggs of which the inhabitants lived. The
province lay in the centre of the country. Upon this site were laid
the foundations of a fortified city, defended by moat and walls and
towers. Baths of solid masonry were erected in the vicinity over the
hot springs which welled from the ground. [197]
Seized in the year 502 by the Sasanian king of Persia at the
inception of his war with Rome, this remote stronghold was shortly
afterwards recovered by the Emperor Anastasius and restored to its
former fame. [198] The fortifications were enlarged and increased by
Justinian; [199] but at the close of the sixth century it again fell
into Persian hands. [200] I do not know that we are able to follow
its fortunes during the campaigns of Heraclius, who is said to have
assembled there a council of Armenian bishops (A.D. 629?). [201]
In the year 647 Theodosiopolis became the prize of the Arabs; and
more than a century elapsed before it was regained by the Cæsars
under Constantine the Fifth (755). [202] That monarch razed the
walls, reduced the inhabitants to slavery, and transported a great
number of Armenians of the Paulician sect to Constantinople and
to Thrace. [203] Shortly after this event it appears to have been
rebuilt by the Mussulmans; and it played an important part during
the wars of Leo (886-911) and his son Constantine Porphyrogenitus
(911-959) with the Arabs in the neighbouring province of Pasin. [204]
But the waves of Mussulman conquest were closing in upon the Eastern
Empire. About the commencement of the thirteenth century we find the
place in the possession of a prince who bears the Turkish name of
Toghrul Ben Kilijarslan. From his hands it passed into the dominions
of the Sultan of Iconium. [205] The Seljuk Sultan was known as the
lord of Erzerum, just as his Ottoman successors bore the title of
lords of Kars. [206] The rule of the Seljuks was followed by that of
their Tartar conquerors. In the first half of the fifteenth century
Erzerum was in the keeping of the Turkomans, from whom it was wrested
by the Ottomans under Mohammed II. [207]
The name Erzerum dates from Mussulman times, but its exact derivation
is obscure. It may either signify the land (Ard in Arabic, Arz in
Turkish) of Rum, or of the Roman Empire; or it may be compounded of
this last name and of the name of an unfortified town in the vicinity
which was known as Artze or Artsn. It is quite probable that this
town was at an early date called Artze of Rum to distinguish it from
another Artze in the south of Armenia which lay within the Persian
sphere. [208] Local tradition places the site of the first of these
Artzes close to the present city and on or near the banks of the Kara
Su. We know that the place was sacked by the Turks in the middle
of the eleventh century; [209] and according to Saint Martin the
survivors took refuge within the walls of Theodosiopolis, to which
they transferred the name of their own populous town. [210] However
this may be, the ancient Armenian name of Karin is still applied to
the present city. [211] The monuments of the Eastern Empire have been
seen in Erzerum by modern travellers; and the chain of history has
not been broken in a manner to disparage the identity of the Roman
fortress with this key to the Asiatic dominions of the Ottoman Turks.