A SLOUGH OF DISCONTENT
(VAN AND THE ARMENIANS)
We enter a new world as we come up from the south to the land which is
never called Armenia officially, but where the Armenians dwell. The
great plain of Mesopotamia, the wild gorges of the range of Taurus, are
left behind; and the traveller emerges on to a lofty plateau, averaging
6000 feet above the sea, and dotted with the cones of one of the great
volcanic fields of the world. Sipan and Ararat are both magnificent
peaks, though the crater of the latter has been weathered away. Nimrud
Dagh offers the student of eruptive phenomena such a field for his study
as can hardly be matched in the world; and the lava flows from Mount
Etna, which are out and away the most magnificent in Europe, are not to
be compared for a moment with the twenty miles square of "black glacier"
that have streamed from the fissures of Tendurek Dagh. These mountains,
as already related, are grouped around the site which tradition has
assigned to the Garden of Eden; and it is on the peaks of Niphates, the
Hakkiari mountains to the southward, that Milton has pictured Satan
alighting to wreak his vengeance on God's new creation Man.
One of these great lava flows, that of Nimrud Dagh, forms the dam that
holds up the large salt lake of Van; a body of water of about the size
of the lake of Geneva, but carrying almost as much mineral matter in
suspension as does the companion lake of Urmi. In this case, however,
the mineral is not ordinary salt, but borax (bi-borate of sodium, to be
accurate); so that the water is pleasanter to swim in, and not so
absolutely fatal to animal life.
At certain seasons of the year the mouths of the rivers that enter the
lake swarm with fish--a variety of bleak. They run up into fresh water
to spawn, and in the process are scooped out by the basket-load. Certain
types of water-snake also haunt the rocky shores.
These are about four feet long, and creamy white in colour (or appear
so, when seen through some depth of water); and they have the
characteristic wedge-shaped head that one generally associates with
poison.
Given better means of transport, and better government, one may yet see
Lake Van become a health resort and a _bad_; for its waters are
certainly curative in certain types of skin disease. The writer has
known an obstinate case of soriasis cured by a summer spent in camp on
the lake, with regular bathing as part of the day's programme. The
effect on human hair is also very peculiar; for an English lad with
ordinary light-brown hair developed, under similar treatment, an aureole
of the purest gold ever seen on human head. The change seemed permanent
too, at least as regarded all that was above scalp-level at the time.
Later growth was unfortunately of the original hue!
This country was formerly the home of one of the great empires of
ancient history; that of the Urartians, or Khaldians, who could dispute
the hegemony of Asia with Assur, at the time when the first colonists
were settling on the seven bare hills that afterwards were Rome. Van
(Dhuspas as it was then called) was their capital; and their kings had
their palace on the great limestone ridge that rises, like the vertebrae
of some huge saurian, 300 feet above the alluvial plain. As a stronghold
this rock was impregnable, and could turn back even Assur at her
strongest; and to this day the masses of cyclopean masonry on its crest,
and the scores of inscribed cuneiform tablets on its precipitous faces,
bear witness to the might of its former lords. The language in which
these inscriptions are written is unknown elsewhere (unless it may prove
to have affinity with the mysterious Hittite, in spite of the difference
of script); but fortunately a tri-lingual inscription left by Xerxes the
son of Darius has enabled the records to be deciphered. They do not, as
a rule, possess as much interest as the Assyrian inscriptions; and are
usually to the effect that "I, Menuas son of Ishpuinis, set up this
stone, and invoke the Curse of Cowdray upon the man who throws it down."
Menuas, and his son Argistis, were the two most powerful monarchs who
occupied the throne of Dhuspas; and their reigns (B.C. 820 to 760 or
thereabouts) coincided with a period of decadence in the rival power of
Assyria. But in 735 B.C. the Empire of Urartu succumbed before Tiglath
Pileser II; though their then king, Sharduris II, was able to make good
his defence of this unconquerable citadel.
The plateau of Van is at present the home of the Armenian race; but it
is very doubtful whether these have any connexion with the aboriginal
Khaldian inhabitants. Their own traditions absolutely contradict the
theory; but their modern national writers are apt to claim such descent,
now that European scientists have made out the meaning of the
inscriptions. Whatever their blood may be, there the Armenians are now;
but it is one of the features of that most tangled problem, the Armenian
question, that members of the race are never more than a minority,
wherever they are found.
Men of that nationality exist everywhere; and no "shadrach" in a blast
furnace refuses more obstinately to melt and become assimilated to the
rest of the iron ore, than they refuse to assimilate themselves to their
neighbours. They are found elsewhere only in colonies; but even in this
their original home, massacre, oppression, and the deliberate planting
of counter-balancing colonies of Kurds in villages whence the original
owners have been expelled, has reduced them to something less than half
the present population.
As a people there are few who have a good word for them. They are said
to be cowardly and treacherous; to be mere money-grubbers, and so on _ad
nauseam_. The charges vary; but all agree that the objects of them are
objectionable somehow. They seem, in fact, to be a sort of Dr. Fell of
nationalities; for every one dislikes them, though often enough they
cannot tell the reason. Even the writer, who has not the least objection
to thieves, murderers, and devil-worshippers, and who has a kindly
feeling for a successful cheat, admits to getting on less well with
Armenians than with other Orientals.
And yet there is much about them that anyone must admire. They have, in
fact, much in common with the Jew, who excites much the same feeling
among many estimable people! Both have the same attachment, alike to
money and to their own peculiar form of religion. Both have the same
power of endurance and toughness. And as both have had much the same
treatment for generations, and both are nations without a country, they
have developed much the same characteristics. Money and intrigue have
been their only weapons; and they have naturally come to think these the
most important of all things. We can have nothing but admiration for
their devotion to their nation, with which their religion and their
church is bound up; and they have a high sense of their duty to it, as
shown by their educational institutions. Men call them a nation of
cowards; but that charge at least is false. In the massacres of 1895,
armed men were butchering unarmed; and there was no test of anything but
passive endurance. Yet how many could have saved their lives by a mere
verbal acceptance of Islam? We shall have a good deal to say to the
discredit of the revolutionaries among them, the "_Fedais_;" but at
least the terror that that very small body could inspire among Turks and
Kurds in three provinces ought alone to acquit them of any reproach of
cowardice.
Both as nation and as church they have a long history, for which we may
refer the reader to such works as Lynch's "Armenia." They have been
subject to the Ottoman Turks since the year 1365, when the latest of a
series of Armenian kingdoms finally collapsed. But outlying colonies of
their nation exist, as is well known, in several lands, notably in
Persia and India.
Their Christianity dates back to 312 A.D. when the whole people was
converted by the joint efforts of their king, Tiridates, and Saint
Gregory the Illuminator. The Greek Church calls them heretical; but
their heresy is in truth no more than a resolution to maintain the
independence of their church, which is now the sole expression of their
nationality, and is prized accordingly. It is true that they refuse to
accept one of the Councils that most of the world calls "General," viz.
that of Chalcedon; but they have been at some pains to insert into their
version of the creed words expressly condemnatory of that peculiar
"Monophysite" heresy which their rejection of Chalcedon is supposed to
affirm; and their real cause for disagreeing with that Council was its
recognition of the Primacy of the Patriarch of Constantinople.
For some time after their conquest the Armenians had nothing particular
to complain of in their lot as Ottoman subjects. The Turk had no cause
to fear anybody, for his dominion was unshaken, and it is only when he
fears that he is oppressive and cruel. Moreover if his method of
government did suggest the habits of a man who lives on capital rather
than income, there was still a good deal of capital left, and all was
comfortable for every one while it lasted. The Armenians were rather the
favourites among the subject races. They were the _millet-i-zadik_, the
loyal people, who had no friends outside the empire, and no political
aspirations, but were content to be Ottoman subjects provided that their
religious institutions were respected. Any interference with these was
the last thing that the Turk contemplated; for the Mussulman was, to do
him justice, the first ruler that was really tolerant in religious
matters. Armenians were very convenient underlings in all the work of
governing. "We Turks do not know how to make money, we only know how to
take it;" and a Turk does not know to this day, and probably never will
learn, how really to govern a country. His sole conception is to occupy
the land, and take as much money from his subjects as his needs require.
His instincts are really those of the nomad; the _rayats_ are his sheep
and cows,--there to be milked. He does not want to kill them, for he is
a kindly fellow; and besides, who ever kills his own cattle wantonly?
But if a sheep exhibits an unpleasant independence of disposition, and
propagates the blasphemous doctrine that it was created for other things
than the due provision of milk, wool, and mutton in due season for its
lawful owner, the shepherd is apt to say it is a vicious beast, and to
take measures accordingly.
The country that the Turk acquired had of course to be administered
somehow; but it was not Turks by blood that did the administering. The
high officials were usually the selected children, taken from their
Christian parents by the "Janissary" tribute (which provided also the
_corps d'elite_ of the army). Or else they were European adventurers and
renegades; or (in the case of many of the very best of them) Albanians.
The underlings were very largely Armenians, who form most admirable
subordinates in all Government offices. They were never trusted with any
high executive posts; but they did all the inferior work, and no
objection was raised to their filling their own pockets the while.
There were isolated cases of oppression in plenty, as there always will
be when Armenian and Turk deal with one another; but it was not Turkish
tyranny that was invariably to blame. We have known of an Armenian
father, on his death-bed, giving his last charge to his son, as follows:
"Grigor, these are the last words of your father; and see that you
honour and obey them, as such words should be honoured."
"I will my Father; on my head and eyes be it," said the youth.
"My son, never pay your taxes until you have been thrashed."
Under these circumstances, it really does not prove brutality in the
tax-collector, if he sometimes thinks he may as well begin with the
stick, and so save trouble all round.[119]
The fact is, that to try and get the better of the Government in a
bargain (or for that matter, of anybody else) is an Armenian's notion
of sport; and abstractedly, there is as much to be said for it as for
professional football! Very pretty fencing sometimes results, as the
following case may show. Educational institutions and church property
have to be registered in the names of trustees; and, in consideration of
the fact that they pay no taxes, certain fees are demanded when a new
name has to be registered. The idea of saving that expense appealed to
all Armenians; and there was the further consideration that no one of
them ever feels any confidence in another's honest administration of any
trust fund. A brilliant idea occurred to some genius. He would secure a
trustee who was indubitably honest and immortal as well; the property
should stand in the name of the Patron Saint!
So, in one instance (the thing was done repeatedly) the school attached
to the church of SS. Peter and Paul was solemnly registered in the names
of Peter, son of Jonas, fisherman by trade, resident at Capernaum in the
province of El Kuds (Jerusalem), and Paul, father's name unknown,
tentmaker by trade, resident at Tarsus in the province of Adana. The
scheme worked admirably for a while; and when the Ottoman officials
realized what was being done, and objected to losing their fees, it must
be owned that they played the game prettily. They sent in a formal
notification to the Armenian authorities, that they understood that
these two trustees, Petrus Effendi and Paulus, were now dead; and (so
far as their information went) that both gentlemen had died intestate.
If this were so, then in course of law their trust property would revert
to the "Ministry of Pious Benefactions," whence very little of it would
ever come out for the use of any Armenians!
There was a terrible scare for a while among those concerned; but
Turkish good nature came into play, and the matter was dropped, in
consideration of proper trustees being registered in future--and no
doubt a decent _bakhshish_ to the officials concerned.
While the nation as a whole was not badly off, individuals were often in
a position of privilege, owing to some personal claim that they happened
to have on some official. One of these, which endures to the present
day, is so remarkable as to deserve special notice.
The house of the Armenian priest of Adeljivas, on Lake Van, is
officially recognized as having perpetual immunity from all forms of
taxation. The family legend has it that their ancestor was the personal
servant of Ali, the nephew of the Prophet, in some warlike expedition
that he made. The scene of the campaign is said to have been Egypt.
Ali was hit in some skirmish by an arrow, which pierced his heel and
broke in the wound. The steel could not be found and extracted, and
signs of mortification set in, so that the doctors gave up hope. Still
the Khalif, though he thought himself dying, insisted on rising from his
couch to say his prayers as a good Mussulman should; while his faithful
Christian servant stood behind him the while. One of the attitudes of
Moslem prayer involves bowing forward from a kneeling posture till the
forehead touches the ground. (It is this attitude that makes such a
headgear as the fez or turban obligatory for a Moslem. The hat is not
removed in prayer, and yet the forehead must touch the ground.)
Naturally, a wound on the heel was drawn open by this act, and the
Armenian saw the arrowhead in the flesh. He, prompt man, dropped on his
knees, got a good hold of it with his teeth, and pulled! The steel came
out, but Ali fainted with the pain, and the servant fled, fearing he had
killed his master. The latter recovered, however, and ordered search to
be made for his benefactor; and when he had found him, told him to name
his own reward. Perpetual immunity for all males of his house from all
taxes was what the practically minded Armenian chose; and Ali granted
him this boon at once, giving him a piece of his own robe in testimony.
Each successive Khalif has recognized the act of his great predecessor,
and in many cases has given a _firman_ declaring the same; and these
documents are now stored in the house of the present holder of the
privilege. They naturally form a most interesting collection; ranging,
as they do, from the great purple and gold parchments, works of art of
great value to connoisseurs, which were granted by Sulieman the
Magnificent and Murad the "Father of Clubs," down to the flimsy
half-sheet of notepaper which bears the seal of Abdul Hamid II.
With them is kept what purports to be the original fragment of the robe
of Ali; which is a valuable possession in itself, for water in which it
has been dipped is a specific for most diseases for all faiths. The
piece of stuff has some unusual qualities certainly, if it is genuine;
for it is said to have lasted undecayed through some thirteen centuries
of soaking and drying again. As for the cures it works, they are genuine
enough, provided that the patient has sufficient faith!
Gradually, however, the comfortable state of things referred to, from
which both Ottomans and Armenians profited, changed and took a bad turn.
The Ottoman Government grew worse itself absolutely; and much worse
relatively to the progress made by other nations in Europe. Turks saw
one Christian nation after another (Greek, Bulgar, and Serb) slip from
their control, and grew more and more suspicious of those that remained;
while these became more and more aware and resentful of their
sufferings. The old oppression and corruption grew worse; while the old
laziness and good nature that had tempered things helped less. The
latter qualities, however, are not quite extinct even yet, as a case
from the writer's own knowledge may illustrate.
An unfortunate Assyrian _qasha_ was arrested on some charge or other;
and after he had endured some months of close confinement in a very foul
prison, was tried and fully acquitted--and then sent back to prison
again indefinitely, because he could not pay to the jailer the fees he
had incurred during his avowedly illegal confinement! One must admit
that the same thing used to happen in England during the eighteenth
century; but perhaps the English official would not have been as kindly
as was the Ottoman _Vali_, who replied to the intercession of the writer
by saying, "Well it is a hard case. Look here, _Effendim_, you can have
him out any Sunday for service, if you will promise to send him back on
the Monday!"
That official's successor, by the way, had the idea of doing things more
in order; and signalized his departure from the old slack ways by
inviting any folk who had the misfortune to be under sentence of death
in his province, to come in and be executed without more delay. When the
order had gone out, he set about inquiring how many he might expect to
surrender themselves; and found that the number of gentlemen who were
under sentence of outlawry in his jurisdiction, and liable to death or
imprisonment for life on arrest, amounted to between seven and eight
hundred, and included every Kurdish Agha of any note in the
_vilayet_![120] The decree caused much inconvenience; for naturally
there was some delicacy felt about coming to pay your respects to the
new governor under the circumstances.
While the Government got worse, the national self-consciousness of the
Armenians developed; particularly in the light of the fact that they saw
how other subject nations, who made sufficient noise, were given their
independence by Europe. They began demanding reform, and a measure of
autonomy; requests which it was natural they should make, in light of
the fact that they could not help being aware that they were far
cleverer and more adaptable than the Turks, and that nevertheless they
were treated as an inferior race by them. On the other hand, the Turkish
feeling was "This country is ours and we mean to rule it. Equality of
treatment such as these Armenians demand is a sheer impossibility; for
the reason that the races are not equal. While we have the power, we can
keep them under; but to put them on an equality means that in a very few
years we shall be under them." Reform is anathema to the Turk, for he
knows (even if he cannot put the matter into words) that reform means
subjection of the Turk to the _ray[=a]t_.
Armenians, and many of the friends of the Armenians, seem unable to
understand this side of the question. They cried out in horror at the
steps (certainly sufficiently grim ones) which the Turk took to
preserve his threatened rule: and not without full cause; for the steps
referred to were the Armenian massacres. Still, the fact is that if you,
being in the same field with a bull, choose to wave a red handkerchief,
it really is no use to explain that any animal of ordinary intelligence
ought to have known that you only wanted to blow your own nose; and that
anyhow the creature's prejudice against red is very unreasonable! The
Turk thinks he has a right to rule; but the only methods he knows are
those which did not shock the conscience of anybody in the seventeenth
century, but do shock the European conscience now; and hence his verdict
was, "The way to get rid of the Armenian question is to get rid of the
Armenians."
This was how matters stood between the parties in the period 1904-1910
when the writer was resident in Van. At that time the reforming or
revolutionary party among the Armenians was known by the generic name of
the "_Fedais_;"[121] and was divided internally into two parties, the
"_Armeni_" who were more or less moderate in their views and methods,
and the "_Tashnak_"[122] society, which advocated open violence.
The line which the Tashnak brotherhood followed was simply this:--to
provoke open massacre by deeds that they knew must infuriate the Turk;
in the hope that if only the massacre was horrible enough, European
intervention would follow. There are perhaps two things that may be said
in excuse for this appalling line of action. First, that the Tashnakists
did expose themselves pretty freely to those perils which they were
deliberately drawing down on their unfortunate fellow countrymen; and
second, that they had seen success follow the adoption of very similar
methods in Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria. The headquarters of their
organization were in the Caucasus, that sink of all that is disorderly
in the Russian Empire; but they had their local leaders in Turkey, and
Van was one of their most important centres. Their object was the
creation of an independent or autonomous Armenia; and they worked on
parallel, but by no means on friendly, lines with the "Young Turk"
Party.
As to their methods, Armenian sympathizers were expected to support them
voluntarily; but blackmail and terrorism were also used
freely--particularly on the wealthier merchants, who (having something
to lose) were not merely blind opponents of the Turkish régime. Thus in
one case a merchant was captured, and simply given the choice between
paying £100 to the cause, or forfeiting his ears; when he offered £50,
he was told that in that case only one ear would be taken. Under that
pressure he paid, and was released; with the warning that immediate
death would follow any attempt to obtain redress from the Government.
In like fashion, the Bishop of Akhtamar, near Van, was deliberately
murdered; either for not supporting the movement with church funds,
or--as some said--for not exerting himself sufficiently to obtain
redress from the Government for his oppressed flock.
Sometimes, however, they did execute a sort of irregular justice. One
notorious Kurdish oppressor at least was found shot; and information was
sent to the Government that this was the justice administered by the
Tashnakist organization for what that man had done, and that therefore
if any of the dead man's immediate _rayats_ were charged with it, the
Government officials would hear more of the matter. Had they confined
themselves, under the existing circumstances, to this twentieth-century
version of the _Vehm-gericht_, it would not have been difficult to
sympathize with them.
Their local organization consisted of a small "inner ring," which had
not more than a dozen members at most. Next to them came perhaps 600
"sworn soldiers," who were well armed with Mauser pistols, and had each
of them taken an oath to fight to the death under the orders of the
"ring," and never to surrender under any circumstances. Beyond these
again were "adherents" in indefinite number (perhaps 3000 in all), for
whom guns had been smuggled in, and stored in secret arsenals; with the
idea that this force could be called to arms if ever an opportunity of
open rebellion arrived. If the massacre they courted should begin, these
arms could of course be of use for defensive purposes.
The guns were a "scratch lot;" the best being Mausers, but the majority
Russian military rifles. It would seem that discipline in the Caucasus
was benevolently slack, and that very few questions were asked if a
soldier sold his rifle for vodka. They had also a good supply of bombs,
the material for which was transported from the Caucasus, and made up
locally by a chemist of the band.
In the summer of 1905, the Fedais at large attempted what might be
called a guerrilla war on a fairly large scale in the district of Mush,
to the west of Lake Van. They said they were interfering to protect the
peasants from the troops. The troops said that they had been marched
down to protect the peasants from the brigands. And the unfortunate
peasants heartily wished both parties away! In any case, there were some
300 Tashnakists wandering in the land, having arrived in small parties
from Russia; and they were levying open war on the Government, which had
to reinforce the local garrison by some 6000 men to deal with the
annoyance, and then failed to catch them. One may have one's own opinion
of the cause and methods of the Fedais; but it must be admitted that
their claim that Armenians proved themselves to be as good fighting men
individually as any Turk was well substantiated.
In one case, a party of some twenty of these desperadoes were fairly
caught by 700 Government troops, regular and irregular, upon an isolated
and waterless hill. It did seem that these men were cornered, for there
was not cover for a rat to escape by, and no man can fight against
thirst. However, the Armenians did not wait for the next day's attack,
but came down that moonless night, provided with the weapons they
had--rifles, bombs, and electric torches. Obviously, they had a leader
with a head on his shoulders, for their plans were regularly laid. They
advanced in couples; and as soon as a challenge was heard Armenian A
threw the flashlight from his electric torch on to the sentry, and
Armenian B threw the bomb at him and annihilated him. The explosion
roused the camp; but the band of Fedais rushed straight on, flashing
their lights and throwing their bombs at anything that came in their
way. Naturally, half trained troops were not going to face Sheitan
himself in this style. They broke; and the band went through without the
loss of a man, thanks to an ingenious combination of the tactics of
Gideon with those of the modern anarchist.
On another occasion the result was not quite so successful, though the
revolutionaries secured a full price for every man they lost.
Eighteen Fedais, their work done, were endeavouring to leave the
country, but were forced by sheer hunger to halt near a friendly
village, while food was provided for them. Somehow, the fact of their
presence leaked out, and the Kurds of the neighbourhood gathered to the
prey. The men took refuge in three small caves that stood side by side,
serving, as is often the case, for sheepfolds. These were hollowed
artifically in loose conglomerate rock, their roof being formed by a
comparatively thin shelf of projecting limestone. The Fedais put their
bombs in readiness at the cave mouths; these forming their sole weapon:
though the fact that they were carrying some £6000 in gold on their
persons made them a prize worth winning. One party of Kurds occupied the
top of the shelf of rock, while the main body prepared for a frontal
attack. As these rushed up the slope, an Armenian in the central cave
took up a bomb from the heap that lay ready, and hurled it at the enemy.
His aim was not too good, however, for the missile hit the edge of the
rock and exploded; the concussion naturally detonating the whole
magazine. Of course the six Armenians in that cave were never seen
again; though the writer was shown some of the coins that were then in
their waist-belts, and which had in several cases been blown clean into
the rock, looking as if they had been battered with a hammer on an
anvil. If the garrison perished, however, their cave was turned for the
moment into a great cannon. Every Kurd in the path of the explosion was
killed; and the roof of the cavern, with all the men on it, disappeared
into space. Thirty-five Kurds missing altogether, besides a number
wounded, was fair recompense for the loss of six men. The assailants had
no wish to face the two remaining caves after the reception they got
from the first one, and the rest of the party effected their retreat
safely.
Nature aided the Tashnakists, by giving them practically inexpugnable
strongholds in the land, with ready exits into Persian territory. The
great crater of Nimrud, some six miles across, was one of their refuges;
and this is paved for much of its area with a maze of corrugated lava
whence no man who knows the runs can be dislodged. Here are also hot
springs, just of a temperature to sit in comfortably, in which some of
these fellows actually lived for weeks during an Armenian winter, with
the thermometer far below zero. They had rigged up an ingenious
arrangement, so that they could lie in the water and sleep with their
heads above the surface.
Their strangest stronghold, however, was the giant lavaflow of Tendurek.
Here either the lava has streamed from great horizontal fissures, or
possibly the whole mountain has been blown away by the discharge of an
accumulation of energy. Whatever the cause, an area some twenty miles
square has been covered with a sea of black lava; which has split and
fissured in every direction as it cooled, and now resembles nothing so
much as a gigantic black glacier. It is a place where any number of men,
and any amount of stores, could lie _perdu_ for as long as they wished;
for there is an abundant supply of water in the crevasses. One edge of
the field is admittedly in Persian territory, and so cannot be policed,
even if it were a simple matter to put a cordon round such a place. All
the guns of the empire might bombard the stronghold to the crack of doom
without inconveniencing its occupants, except by an occasional lucky
shot; and the garrison could issue from it at any point to cut up any
isolated post. It is an absolutely ideal guerrilla stronghold; for men
can move from end to end of it unseen, while every movement of the
besieger is conspicuous to them on the bare downs that surround it.
Of course, the game was a superb one for the Tashnakists, or for anyone
who enjoys gambling against heavy odds with death as the penalty. For
the unhappy Armenian _rayats_, who wanted to be let alone and given a
chance to make a living, it was a different story. The revolutionaries
wanted to do them good, no doubt; but few folk really like being done
good to. And to like the peculiar Tashnakist method of getting them
massacred for the assumed benefit of posterity was impossible for human
nature. "We used to have one set of masters, and Allah knows that they
were hard enough," was the moan they made; "now we have two, and Allah
alone knows which is the harder." The revolutionaries came down on them,
and demanded, at the mouth of a pistol, supplies to enable them to fight
against the Government. Then they withdrew, and the Government came down
on the poor _rayats_ in their turn (or in some cases turned the Kurdish
irregulars loose upon them), for their crime in "resetting" avowed
rebels against the State. How many deaths took place in the summer of
1905 in the Mush district was never known; but the estimates of those
who were in a position to know put the numbers at about 5000.
One party of the Fedais, in the course of their retreat to Persian
territory entered the city of Van, where their proceedings gave a good
instance _in petto_, of their whole _modus operandi_.
Entering the "garden city" by night, they encountered one of the police
patrols; and a skirmish resulted, in which a policeman was shot. Of
course the troops were called out, and the house in which the rebels had
been received was attacked and burnt, after another and sharper
skirmish. Still they effected their retreat from it, and were lost to
sight for a moment in the walled gardens of the town.
The _Vali_ had now to choose. Should he order a strict search for those
who were in open war against the Government and had thus outraged his
authority? It was in his power to do so, and catch and destroy this band
of a dozen men; but it was not in his power to hold the troops if the
search, with its attendant street-fighting, once began; and the act
spelt massacre for an unknown number of peaceful Armenians. On the other
hand, could he allow those rebels to retire uninjured? What would his
master the Sultan say to him if he did? And would the troops, one of
whose comrades had been "murdered by these Armenian dogs," obey him if
he gave such an order? For twenty-four hours the scales wavered, every
foreign house and Consulate being packed with terrified Armenian
refugees. While in the Turkish quarter of the town the panic was hardly
less, though less conspicuous; for to them every Armenian was a Fedai,
and every Fedai had his pockets full of bombs.
The twelve Tashnakists themselves were probably the only people
unconcerned; for they had won their game, though they might have to pay
the forfeit of their lives, a thing that they had deliberately risked
throughout. If they were allowed to withdraw, they had at least flaunted
the Government in its provincial capital, and dictated terms to it
there. If the attack was made, they could die fighting, and had secured
the great "massacre advertisement," for which they had been playing
throughout. The fact is that an opponent who is reckless of his own life
is very awkward to deal with! All honour is certainly due to the _Vali_
(that same Tahir Pasha whom we knew in Mosul later), for he decided
that, come what might, he would not order the massacre of those whom he
was there to protect. He was able to induce the military commandant to
withdraw the troops to barracks, and allow the Tashnakists to effect
their retreat. He risked his career to save his subjects from their own
friends.
Peace ruled in Van for a year or two after this incident; but the
importation of rifles and other revolutionary material continued, and
considerable arsenals were accumulated: the Kurds on the frontier being
glad enough to earn good pay by asking no questions as to the nature of
the loads that passed through their territory. Government was vaguely
aware of what was going on, and was uneasy; particularly as an
oppressive _Vali_ (successor of the shrewd old Tahir) was actually
murdered by the Fedais. As this event took place in Russian territory,
when the man was on a journey to Constantinople, no local disturbance
was caused by it.
The acting _Vali_ who took his place, one Ali Riza, was quietly at work
in his house one night in February 1908, when he was informed that an
Armenian insisted on seeing him on some important business, which he
would disclose to no underling. After some demur he was admitted, and
came to the point at once. "See here, _Vali_ Pasha. My name is David;
and I am come to tell you that I am one of the 'inner ring' of the
Tashnakist society. For reasons of my own, I mean to disclose everything
that I know to the Government. Give me a band of men now, and I will
take them this very night to the house where the rest of the 'ring' are
to assemble; and to-morrow, I will show you the depôts of rifles and
cartridges."
The motive for this act of exceptionally black treachery was, of course,
some quarrel with his comrades. Several versions of this, all coherent
enough, but all contradictory, circulated in the town during the next
few days; the most probable being the obvious one that he and his chief
(the man was second in command of the Van organization) had both fallen
in love with the same girl. Most agreed, however, that David had somehow
become aware that sentence of death had been passed on him by "the
circle"; and hence had declared, "then I will at least have my revenge
beforehand."
Will it be believed that the _Vali_ was either too fearful, or too
stupid, to rise to this opportunity? He gave orders to keep the man in
custody till next day, saying, "then he shall show us the depôts; and if
his story is true about the guns, we can proceed to arrest the brigands
themselves." All suggestions that the guns could not be removed without
some delay, but that the brigands would certainly not continue in that
night's meeting-place after the discoveries had begun, were unavailing;
and nothing was done that night. Next day the man redeemed his pledge,
and there was rare excitement in Van. Rifles by the hundred were
unearthed from various places; and one realized, in watching the
searchers, how admirably a mud house lends itself to the making of a
_cache_. The earth of Van sets into excellent sun-dried brick (in fact
Urartian forts built of it in 800 B.C., remain to this day), and house
walls of this material are usually about three feet thick. A hollow
large enough to contain a score of rifles can easily be excavated in the
middle third of the thickness, and the place built up again. Once let
the fresh mud plaster have time to dry, and what tapping or sounding
will reveal the hollow that exists behind it? Rifles to the number of
nearly 500, half a million cartridges, and some three hundred packets of
dynamite, were the spoil of that day.[123]
One must own that the search was conducted as courteously as might be. A
large proportion of the cartridges were found in a recess of the wall in
the sanctuary of one specially prominent church; but every care was
taken not to disturb the adornments of the altar, though irreverent
conduct would not have been without excuse just then. Similarly, a young
woman found alone in one of the houses that the searchers entered, was
not only not molested, but was even allowed to exhaust a most copious
vocabulary of abuse on the head of the informer. It was strange to see
the Turkish soldiers knocking civilly at doors which could have been
sent in by a blow from the butt of a rifle.
The Tashnakists did not part with these cherished treasures without at
least a snap. The carts taking the plunder to the citadel were attacked
in the street as they left the Armenian quarter; and a very pretty
skirmish followed. The combatants took cover in the houses on opposite
sides of the road, and fired at one another thence, while the prize of
victory lay on the ground between them. With real politeness to the
foreigner they selected a battle-ground under the very windows of the
British Consulate, so that that official and his guests enjoyed a most
interesting view of the proceedings. As a matter of fact, however, it
was not courtesy that dictated the choice, but the desire of the Fedais
to have their right flank covered by the Consulate garden, which was
necessarily neutral ground. The skirmish lasted for about an hour,
during which time about twenty-five men (if you count every scratch)
were killed or wounded; and the battle was finally brought to a close by
a bullet striking the heap of dynamite that lay exposed in the road.
Nobody knew whether this was accident or design; but naturally the blow
detonated all that was there, and a magnificent explosion resulted.
However, with its usual freakishness, the explosive only excavated a
huge pit in the roadway, and did no other harm; not even injuring the
overturned cart that lay by it!
Of course the Tashnakists vowed vengeance on David, who was made a sort
of hero by the Turks, and granted a liberal pension; perhaps with the
feeling that he was not likely to draw it for long. Various Mussulman
officials declared openly that if he should be attacked, they would
exact a hundred lives for his; and it is believed that the principal
Tashnakists, hearing of this, ordered that no step should be taken
against him. However, they were unable to control their followers; and
after an interval of about six weeks, David was shot down in the street
by a lad named Tirlamazian, and died a few days later. The assassin
escaped for a time.
The Turks kept their word: for something over 100 Armenians (mostly
honest shopkeepers returning from the market) were butchered at once by
the "black-heads" (_kara-bashlar_, the low class civilian
population).[124] Again it appeared that the troops, assisted by the
Mussulman populace, would break into the Armenian quarters of the town,
and that a most hideous massacre would follow. Both sides stood to arms,
and for a matter of five weeks the tension was very great; hardly any
Armenians venturing to leave their quarters. On the other hand, the
Turks had just as much fear of entering there, for the position was
eminently defensible. The houses of the garden city were too solidly
built to be much damaged by field artillery (which was all that was
available); and standing as they do for the most part in large gardens
surrounded by mud walls, there was a distinct possibility that the
troops (if they entered the quarter at all) might be very seriously
entangled in them. Further, all the Turkish and Kurdish forces had a
very lively respect for the prowess of the Tashnakists, and an
exaggerated idea of their numbers.
So the position continued; an anomaly that surely would be possible only
in Turkey. A force of armed rebels standing at bay in one ward of the
scattered town, and defying the Government in the other. While all the
time (for men must eat and Armenians must trade) business was conducted
pretty much as usual in the market of _Hach Poghan_, which stood
conveniently on neutral ground at the edge of the two districts. The
foreign Consuls, by the way, had insisted that food should not be cut
off from the Armenian quarter, on proper payment for it!
Even in Turkey such a position could not continue indefinitely. As soon
as a sufficient body of troops, regular and irregular, had been
accumulated, and resistance was manifestly hopeless, the Armenian
quarter was formally occupied, and regular search made for arms and
revolutionaries. Many of the former were found and confiscated; and the
twelve members of the "ring" endeavoured to effect their escape from the
town. But this they now found impossible. After some searching, their
place of concealment was disclosed; and they were marked to ground in
one of the _kerezes_ or subterranean channels that bring water from the
mountains to the town.
These _kerezes_ are made by sinking pits at intervals of about fifty
yards, to a depth of about thirty feet, and tunnelling from one to the
other. Many of them date back to the Urartian period of history. In this
case, the troops were able to ascertain that the objects of their search
were probably in a certain length of channel; but it was difficult to
devise any means of making sure, or of getting them out. One soldier,
however, volunteered to be lowered down alone to investigate; a plucky
act, for it entailed something like a descent into the den of wolves at
bay. Down he went; and discovered that they had selected exactly the
right one of the series of pits, for he was lowered into the very midst
of the gang of Fedais. They seized him, of course, and were about to
kill him, when he got his word in first. "Look here, you can kill me of
course, but what good will it do you? When I do not come out, my officer
will know that you are here, and you can just be smoked out like
jackals. Your game is up, and you had better surrender to me."
Well, the position was hopeless; and possibly eight and forty hours in a
dark drain, sitting cramped together with your feet in cold water, and
the prospect of slow suffocation to follow, has a damping effect on the
courage of the bravest. Anyhow, these twelve men, maugre their vow never
to surrender under any circumstances, did surrender to the one; and the
soldier had the well-earned satisfaction of sending each of the party up
in turn, in the bight of a rope, to where his comrades were waiting for
them above ground. They were taken to the town prison, of course, and
confined there.
Grim tales are told of torture in such places, when it is needful to
extract information from the prisoner; and deprival of sleep and
hammering the finger-ends are the reported methods. Still, nothing of
the kind was inflicted on these men (save that one of them, the lad
Tirlamazian, was flogged), though it was of course known that they had a
good deal of important information to give. During their stay in Van
jail, they had nothing worse than most uncomfortable detention to
complain of; though confinement in a foul cell, swarming with vermin,
may become a very fair imitation of torture after a few hours,
particularly if the prisoner is chained so that he cannot scratch!
Orders were sent, we believe, for the forwarding of at least the chief
of the Tashnakists, Aram, to Constantinople, under strong guard. Once in
the clutches of Abdul Hamid his fate would have been a grim one
indeed. But before the decree was executed, a marvellous transformation
took place. This was nothing less than the Turkish Revolution of 1908,
with its consequent amnesty for all political offences. All proceedings
were dropped, and the prisoners emerged to be greeted as national heroes
after their confinement.
[Illustration: CHURCH OF MAR SHALITHA, QUDSHANIS.
The larger arch opens into the Sanctuary, the veil of which is never
withdrawn except for the celebration of _Qurbana_. The smaller opens
into the Sacristy, where is also the font. _Ex voto_ offerings of
aromatic herbs hang from the tie beams; and the Church is lit only by a
tiny cruciform loophole at the west end, so that the interior is almost
pitch dark.
No. 11]
Very soon, however, the real problem of the relations of the Armenian
and Ottoman began to come up again in a slightly different form.
The Young Turk ideal was an Ottoman Empire; with equal rights no doubt
for all who were content to become Ottomans, but Ottomanization for all.
The Tashnakists (who kept up their organization, observing, in answer to
all protests, that it was as necessary for them as was that of the
Committee of Union and Progress for others) were Armenians first and
foremost; and further were anxious to set about the immediate
realization of a programme that was wildly Radical, not to say
Socialistic, in its objects. Confiscation of all landed property;
disendowment and disestablishment of the Church;[125] universal suffrage
(which was to include female suffrage by the way), and the abolition of
all religious teaching in schools, were some of the planks of their
"platform." All authority, save that of the nation, was disowned; even a
parent was not to exercise any power over his son. In fact all the
reforms that even a Socialist admits must come in gradually in the West,
were to be administered _en bloc_ to an astonished East.
Even a schoolmaster's authority was declared anathema according to the
modern dogmas, and attempts were made to act on this hopeful doctrine.
Thus, a certain missionary in the town forbade his Armenian pupils to
smuggle revolvers, and other contraband dear to the heart of every boy,
into the school premises. Having reason to suspect that the command had
been disobeyed, he began a search in the boys' boxes; but while in the
stooping attitude necessary for the purpose, he was vehemently assaulted
_a posteriori_ with hat-pins by his pupils, and was solemnly forbidden
by the Tashnakists either to cane or to expel those guilty of this
_lèse-majesté_. The first punishment was derogatory to the dignity of
the young rascals as free-born Armenian citizens; the second deprived
them of their natural Right to a good education. Further, it was
solemnly argued, "if we do not send our boys to your school what will
become of you? The funds have been subscribed by the friends of Armenia
for our teaching, not for your livelihood." To manage a school under
these conditions was obviously difficult; and to quote John Dryden, "the
sons of Belial had a glorious time." But at last the absurdity of the
_impasse_ forced even the Tashnakists to be a little more reasonable.
"We work for those who come a hundred and fifty years hence," said Aram
proudly to the _Vali_.
"Leave that to Allah," said the more practically minded Turk, "and help
us Turks to work for to-morrow."
"Well you see, I do not believe in Allah," said the Armenian; who, like
most of these Fedais, had been so highly educated that it was impossible
for him to believe that any power could have made so supreme a _chef
d'oeuvre_ as his magnificent self.
"What? Won't He recognize your importance?" said the Turk shrewdly;
after which it was not wonderful that they did not part on too friendly
a footing.
However, the Tashnakists soon found that the attachment of their
countrymen to the old church that had kept their nation alive through
the centuries, was so strong that some outward deference must be paid to
it. Therefore, on the principle that it is well to do thoroughly that
which you have to do, Aram became a Sunday-school teacher! The spectacle
of this atheistic revolutionary (who had deliberately planned, and
executed, murders by the dozen; and was indirectly responsible for
heaven alone knew how much bloodshed besides), solemnly teaching little
girls their Catechism, was at least striking, if not particularly
edifying.
Time went on; and gradually, the utter failure of the effort of the
"Young Turks" to effect the regeneration of their country became
manifest. The handicap against them was cruelly heavy. They were
themselves without experience in working that great crazy combination of
makeshifts which men call the Ottoman Government. Yet kept going it must
be; and the only men who had the requisite knowledge were just that
clique of unspeakably corrupt officials whom it would have been the
first duty of any good Government to clear away. Further, while the
great mass of the subjects of the Sultan, of whatever creed; are easily
governed folk enough, and obey any order that the _Hukumet_ gives,
within certain limits; yet everywhere in each one of the varied nations
there was a small, noisy and irreconcilable minority--sets of men who
could work neither with the Government nor with one another.
There was the blind, fanatical opposition of the mollahs, and those
Mussulmans whom they influenced. There were the self-styled leaders of
each separate Christian nation; who usually misrepresented the
inarticulate _rayats_ most woefully, and were clamouring for the
immediate introduction of "reforms," that would have provoked a
conservative reaction in France or America. And, moreover, there were
very many others of the type that prefers troubled waters, because they
are the best to fish in. Further, the Young Turks were themselves
theorizers, and theory ridden. Ottomans and secularists, who wished to
Ottomanize every one and to disregard religion; and did not realize how
much the twin principles of religion and nationality went for in the
land they wished to govern.
Thus they brought upon themselves a needless Albanian revolt, and saw
much of their prestige vanish in it. They outraged the prejudices of
every conservative Mussulman by their open disregard of such an
institution as Ramazan. They offended the very Christians whom they were
trying to benefit, by the proposal to remove all the distinctive
privileges of each _millet_, and make them all Ottoman subjects and
citizens alike. The effect was to make them all as wrathful as the thief
who found that he was not to be honoured with a higher gallows than his
companions.
Had time been given them, and had the army continued to back them,
things might have gone well; for no European proverb holds in Turkey,
and there it is not the case that "you can do anything with bayonets
except sit on them." Bayonets enough make a very comfortable seat for
the Government, or seem to do so. Still, time was not given; and two
disastrous wars have not left much of the prestige that is the breath of
life to an Oriental Government.
The Turk has the misfortune to be an anachronism in power. His present
methods were those of every European Government some five hundred years
ago; but European consciences have developed in the interval, and his
has not. Modern civilization, though willing enough to shut its eyes to
a good deal that is ugly, cannot avoid seeing what the Turk does. He
happens to occupy lands which must attract the religious and antiquarian
interest of the world, and which are the nearest unexploited field for
European capital besides. He is then, and must be, in the limelight.
Still, you cannot do in the limelight what sentiment will allow you to
do in the dark; and the trouble is, that the Turk knows no other way of
doing his business than the habits he learnt when everything was dark.
You can give an old dog a new collar, but you cannot teach him new
tricks; and even calling the Government of Turkey "constitutional," has
not altered its methods. Bribery is more costly now than under the old
regime, in that you have to insure against risk; but it is not less
prevalent: and the Turk has been given an excellent additional reason
for disregarding the advice of foreign Consuls; for what _locus standi_
have they in a Civilized and Constitutional country like the Ottoman
Empire? These facts appear to a European resident to be the two
principal results of the "new régime" after five years. What can Dame
Europe say or do to the grim old mastiff, who can still bite enough to
make her very nervous about handling him, and who says "What my enemies
have left me of the kennel is mine; and while it remains mine I will
manage it as I like."
NOTE. It is one of the consolations of life in Turkey that the more
tragically serious a thing is in reality, the more certain it is to
present a comic aspect in practice.
A good instance of this was provided for the foreigner in Van,
shortly after the proclamation of the Constitution in that city.
The position of women in the East is a great and important question
enough, in all conscience; and on its right solution depends
probably the future of those lands; yet the problem presented
itself in Van in the guise of a battle between old and young which
had all the elements of absurdity in it.
A caravan load of what professed to be the latest Paris fashion in
hats arrived at Van; and the younger female population (who had
been previously obliged to veil themselves for several reasons)
took to the innovation very kindly. They discovered, however, that
by doing so they had roused the wrath of conservative mamma, and of
even more conservative grandmamma, who declared that "nobody will
ever marry you if you go about with your face naked in that
fashion."
As a matter of fact, the Armenian Pyramus had no more objection to
looking on Thisbe's uncovered face than has his European cousin.
The real objection lay deeper. Hitherto marriages have been
arranged, as is right and proper, between the mothers and
grandmothers on each side; and the bridegroom never sees his bride
till the knot has been tied. If, however, damsels took to going
about "with their faces naked in that fashion," there obviously
might be difficulties in getting the consent of the young man to
the marriage arranged by his seniors; and it was even possible that
young people might take to settling things between themselves. In
this case, the rule of grandmamma over the house totters to its
very foundations--which is a catastrophe too terrible to be
contemplated for an instant. Hence _obsta principiis_ was the
order, and the hats were confiscated. Picture the feelings of those
scores of damsels who, having acquired European hats for the first
time, found themselves deprived of them; and condemned--not to a
transparent veil or becoming _mantilla_--but to a thick knitted
shawl drawn over the face whenever there was a male animal about.
Conservatism triumphed on this occasion; but had the new régime
been a success, we fancy that feminine youth would have put up a
better fight for it. As things were, the old conditions persisted,
which had made it none too safe for any young girl to allow her
face to be seen in the streets; and they gave way. No doubt the
battle will be renewed at a later date, and possibly with better
fortune!