THE SASSUN MASSACRE.
A Deliberate Plan of The Turkish Government--Kurdish Raids--Armenians
Defend Themselves--Kurds Reinforced by Regular Troops--Terrible
Scenes of Slaughter--Stories of Survivors.
In view of the situation set forth in the preceding chapter the
European powers emphasized more earnestly than before their demand for
reforms, and the Turkish Government became convinced that another step
was necessary in order to avert what they feared would be the complete
destruction of their power. What that step was it is the object of this
chapter to describe, leaving the inference as to the plan to come later.
Among the different plains of Eastern Turkey there is none more fertile
than the plain of Mush, about forty miles west of Lake Van. From the
earliest times it has been noted for its harvests and for the general
prosperity of its people, who partook, to a greater degree than was
true of many other sections, of the vigor of the mountaineers. Bordered
with high mountains on every side it was always an object of envy to
the Kurdish tribes. Incursions had been repeatedly made and some result
was manifest in the increase of Moslem villages here and there over the
plain. Still, however, it was the center of Armenian influence in that
section; even Bitlis and Van were scarcely more intensely Armenian than
Mush.
It was natural also that some of the revolutionists should turn
their eyes to this section. Here if anywhere must be the center of
the new Armenia, and an effort was undoubtedly made to stir some of
the people to a revolution in opposition to the Turkish Government.
The plain villagers, however, furnished very little encouragement for
anything of this kind. They realized perhaps even more clearly than
the mountaineers did that opposition to the combined force of the
Turkish Government and the Kurdish tribes was worse than useless, and
the agitators found themselves turned aside after accomplishing but
very little. They then turned their attention to the mountain villages
where the spirit of independence was more strongly manifest. In the
summer of 1893 one of these men was captured near the city of Mush,
and the government had suspicion that friends of his were gathering
in the mountains on the east. They accordingly sent word to certain
Kurdish chiefs whose men had been enrolled in the Hamidieh cavalry to
make a raid. Knowing the character of the mountaineers, these chiefs
made their preparations somewhat carefully. They gathered their men
from every side, and it became evident to the Armenians that there was
to be trouble. For a time there were simply ordinary raids; animals
were carried off, occasionally a man was killed--sometimes Armenian,
sometimes Kurd. Ordinarily when a Kurd was slain his body was secured
for burial before his people could come to claim it.
At last there was a pitched battle in which the villagers were able to
do considerable execution without heavy loss of life to themselves. The
Kurdish chiefs finding themselves worsted withdrew, and no sufficient
pressure could be brought to bear upon them to make them renew the
contest. The Governor-General of the province, however, with troops and
field pieces, infested the mountains but made no attack, preferring
apparently to come into parley with the Armenians. He asked them why
they did not submit to the government and pay taxes. Their reply was
that they were not at all disloyal to the government, but could not pay
taxes twice, to Kurds and to the government. If the Turkish authorities
would give protection, they were perfectly willing to pay the taxes.
During the winter several of their leaders were invited to Mush but
declined to accept.
With the advent of the spring of 1894, the situation became worse. The
government decided to make the advance and reiterated its instructions
to the Kurdish chiefs to attack the whole section, west of the Mush
plain and known now as Sassun, which included about forty villages.
They came on every side and practically besieged the whole province.
They stole animals, and the result was occasional contests in which
one or more on either side fell. On one occasion the Kurds succeeded
in securing the bodies of two of their comrades who had been killed,
and carried them to the government at the city of Mush, reporting that
the whole region was filled with armed men, who were defying the power
of the government. Then followed a general attack upon the different
villages. The Armenians had the better situation, and defended
themselves with considerable success. The Kurds appeared to be unequal
to the task of subduing them. The government reinforced them with
soldiers, regular troops, but generally in disguise so as to retain
as far as possible the appearance of the ordinary contests that had
been going on for years between the villagers and the Kurdish chiefs.
Reinforced by these men, the Kurdish chiefs spread on every hand. They
were assisted by the Turkish troops, not only in positive attack, but
in stratagems the most outrageous. Companies of troops would enter a
village, telling the Armenians that they had come for their protection.
They were received and quartered in the different houses; then in the
night they rose and slew the villagers, men, women, and children.
Realizing now the evident intent, the Armenians resolved to fight
and sell their lives as dearly as possible. The result was that for
nearly three weeks from the latter part of August there was a general
campaign of butchery. So bitter was the contest, that the Governor of
Mush, fearing that he had not sufficient force at hand, sent word to
the general commander of the Turkish forces in Eastern Turkey, whose
headquarters were at Erzingan, west of Erzrum, to gather what troops
he could, to join with the troops already there, and the Kurds, in the
fight.
Word meanwhile had been sent to Constantinople, that all Eastern
Turkey was in rebellion, and the Sultan had issued a firman, calling
upon his loyal subjects to put down the rebellion at all hazards. This
firman was in the hands of the Commander Marshal Zekki Pasha as he
came to Mush. He read it before the troops, then placed it upon his
breast, and exhorted the men to do their duty. Especially on the last
day of August, which was the anniversary of the Sultan’s accession
to the throne, was this exhortation read, and by every means in his
power he roused the troops to the bitterest attack. At this time all
pretense of complaint of revolution was thrown aside. Villages against
which no charge of disloyalty had ever been made, where there had been
no trouble of any sort, suffered equally with those where there had
been contests. The receipt of taxes amounted to absolutely nothing. On
every hand it was proclaimed that there must be a clean sweep; that
the whole population of the Armenian district must be exterminated. In
one village the priest, and some of the leading men, went out to meet
the Turkish officer, declaring their loyalty, and begging for mercy.
It was all to no avail. The village was surrounded and every man put
to death. The stories of individual outrages were such as scarcely can
be believed. Private letters, from persons well qualified to know the
truth, many of which are quoted in full in “The Armenian Crisis in
Turkey,” by the Rev. F. D. Greene, give instances almost too terrible
for belief. We quote a few:
“A number of able-bodied young Armenians were captured, bound, covered
with brushwood and burned alive. A number of Armenians, variously
estimated, but less than a hundred, surrendered themselves and pled for
mercy. Many of them were shot down on the spot and the remainder were
dispatched with sword and bayonet.
“A lot of women, variously estimated from 60 to 160 in number, were
shut up in a church, and the soldiers were ‘let loose’ among them. Many
of them were outraged to death and the remainder dispatched with sword
and bayonet. A lot of young women were collected as spoils of war.
Two stories are told. 1. That they were carried off to the harems of
their Moslem captors. 2. That they were offered Islam and the harems of
their Moslem captors; refusing, they were slaughtered. Children were
placed in a row, one behind another, and a bullet fired down the line,
apparently to see how many could be despatched with one bullet. Infants
and small children were piled one on the other and their heads struck
off. Houses were surrounded by soldiers, set on fire, and the inmates
forced back into the flames at the point of the bayonet as they tried
to escape.
“At Geligozan many young men were tied hand and foot, laid in a row,
covered with brushwood and burned alive. Others were seized and hacked
to death piecemeal. At another village a priest and several leading men
were captured, and promised release if they would tell where others had
fled, but, after telling, all but the priest were killed. A chain was
put around the priest’s neck, and pulled from opposite sides till he
was several times choked and revived, after which several bayonets were
planted upright, and he raised in the air and let fall upon them.
“The men of one village, when fleeing, took the women and children,
some 500 in number, and placed them in a sort of grotto in a ravine.
After several days the soldiers found them, and butchered those who had
not died of hunger.
“Sixty young women and girls were selected from one village, and placed
in a church, when the soldiers were ordered to do with them as they
liked, after which they were butchered.
“In another village fifty choice women were set aside and urged to
change their faith and become _hanums_ in Turkish harems, but they
indignantly refused to deny Christ, preferring the fate of their
fathers and husbands. People were crowded into houses which were then
set on fire. In one instance a little boy ran out of the flames, but
was caught on a bayonet and thrown back.”
The following stories from survivors of the massacre will give a more
vivid picture than any general description:
STORY OF A SURVIVOR OF THE SASSUN MASSACRE.
“My name is Asdadur Giragosian. My home was on the sunny side of
a high mountain, in the central village of the beautiful valley of
Geligozan. This valley presents a charming scene when viewed from the
top of one of the surrounding mountains, with many villages scattered
here and there, and clumps of huge walnut trees between, giving the
valley its name, ‘Valley of Walnuts.’
“Up to 1894 my family was a prosperous one, as were most of the
families of Sassun. The Kurds who lived about us were, on the whole,
friendly, though they frequently practiced their habitual business of
stealing cattle and sheep, but we were generally able to re-take our
own, or others in their place. Our family consisted of twelve members,
and we had many cattle and sheep. In the whole village were two hundred
families, who possessed in the aggregate more than 15,000 sheep. Of
course each of the sixty Armenian villages in the Sassun district (of
which 42 are now ruined) had many cattle and sheep.
“In the spring of 1894 the Kurds began to drive away our sheep more
boldly than usual. At the same time the government, suspecting that
there were many armed revolutionists in Sassun, sent to search for
them, but failed to find them. They then wished to arrest some of
our notables and take them to Mush as revolutionists, saying, ‘You
have revolutionary societies here.’ We resisted and prevented their
taking our men. As I said, the Kurds made several attacks that spring,
carrying off our animals, and we pursued them and rescued the animals,
killing one or two men, whom we buried so they could not find them.
Twice they attacked with this result, but the third time we were not
able to bury the two Kurds we killed, and they carried them to Mush
and showed them to the government. A great tumult resulted, and it was
reported, ‘The Armenians of Sassun have rebelled and massacred the
Moslem inhabitants.’ Also, ‘They are armed with rifles and cannon.’
The Turkish Government availed itself of the excuse, and instigated
the Kurds to attack the Armenian villagers and massacre them. This
they attempted to do, a large number attacking us, aided by many
soldiers in disguise. But though the Kurds had been well armed by
the government, we were able, owing to our superior position, to
withstand them successfully for fifteen days. The Kurds were constantly
repulsed, leaving many dead and wounded. During this time the Turkish
soldiers were being rapidly collected in Mergé-mozan. About twenty-five
battalions of soldiers were gathered there. In these fights with the
Kurds we lost only seven persons, but three Armenian villages were
burned.
“The assembled soldiers now began to attack. One day we heard the
sound of their bugles, and for a whole day they continued to advance
with great tumult and besieged Geligozan on the sides. The road to
a very high mountain named Andok was left open, and we were able to
carry our families and animals there, but this in a hasty manner, while
fighting with Turkish soldiers. Then the army divided, one part going
toward Andok, the other coming toward us. We had already left the
village and taken refuge among the rocks above it. Our position enabled
us to withstand them all day, but we could see that they had burned the
village of Husentsik, near our own. Toward evening they made a fiercer
attack and got nearer us. Our ammunition was nearly exhausted, and
we began to retreat. They now set fire to our village too, and from
a distance, in the dark, we could see it burning. We fled to Andok,
where our families and animals had been carried, but seeing that it was
not a safe place to stay, we left it, and after a day’s journey over
rocks and mountains, towards evening reached a ruined church. Here we
passed the night, but in the morning soldiers appeared and we hastened
our flight. All our goods and most of our animals we left there. Near
evening we reached a mountain named Gala-rash (Black Castle). We were
very tired and hungry, but had nothing to eat, so we killed a sheep and
ate it. But few of the villagers were to be found, the greater part
having fled to other places. From this place we fled in the dark to the
neighboring Kurdish village, where our Aghas (chiefs) lived. Before
morning we learned that Aghpig was also burned. Our Kurdish Aghas came
out from the village to defend us against the soldiers, but did not
succeed, and returned to the village, and we were obliged to continue
our journey, though tired and thirsty.
“When it was possible to stop, our first care was to find water
and kill a sheep for food. The following day we learned that Hedink
also was burned. Hearing this we fled to Heghgat, and then to a near
mountain. The next morning we heard that Heghgat was burned. We
descended from the mountain into a valley up which we slowly retreated,
changing our position every day. But on the third day our pursuers
appeared, and we left all our sheep and fled with our cattle. Soon we
left the cattle too. One of my brothers, Atam, fled with the family,
while my other brother, his fifteen-year-old daughter, and I, lagged
behind and entered a forest, but when they saw my brother, two soldiers
fired and he fell dead. Hearing the noise, the girl cried out and they
saw her and shot her dead also. Me they did not find, and towards
evening I came out of the forest, and hurrying forward, reached the
family and told them of my brother’s and his daughter’s death. We
wept aloud and spent the night disheartened, tired and hungry. In
the morning, thinking the soldiers had turned back, we returned to a
village to obtain food. I found my brother’s body and buried it, but
before I had time to bury the girl, the soldiers appeared. My remaining
brother fled with the family, but I entered the forest. In the morning
I found another refugee in the forest, who was seeking his family. He
told me he had killed an ox, but had been obliged to leave it because
the soldiers appeared. We were so hungry and faint that we could hardly
walk, but we sought the ox and were about cooking some meat when
soldiers again appeared.
“So we left the fire, climbed up the mountain, and hid behind some
rocks. The soldiers saw us and two of them came to find us. We waited
there for a few moments all trembling with terror. Suddenly a soldier
appeared, aimed his gun at me and fired, the bullet piercing my leg.
The other soldier also fired and pierced my thigh. Then they came up
and severely wounded me with their short swords, in the shoulder and
thigh. I shut my eyes and they thought me dead, and were about to
depart when they saw my companion behind a rock; they fired at him with
true aim, and I heard his horrible cry as he fell. Before leaving us,
one of the soldiers suspecting I was still living, proposed to cut my
body to pieces, but his companion rejected the proposition, objecting
that there was no water to wash the swords. So they merely threw some
large stones at me, which fortunately did no special harm. When the
soldiers were far enough away I spoke to my companion to see if he was
living, and he answered very feebly saying he could neither walk nor
move, and I was in the same condition. Oh! our distress then! Tired,
hungry, thirsty, severely wounded, we should die in torture, or be the
prey of wild beasts. I cried to the soldiers, ‘We are still alive, come
and put an end to our misery.’ I cried but they did not hear me.
“After a while two Armenian fugitives passed by and saw us, and we
besought them to carry us to a ruined sheep-cote near by. They were
so hungry and weak they could hardly walk, and said they were not
able to carry us, but yielding to our entreaties, they made a great
effort and carried us there, gave us some water and fresh cheese and
departed. We remained there three days, these friends coming to us at
night and going away in the morning. We soon saw that this was too
dangerous a place to stay, as we constantly heard the sound of guns
and bullets passing over our heads. So they transferred us to another
ruin, where we were tortured by the heat by day and the cold by night,
naked and wounded. Our friends did not do much for us, not believing
we could live. After three days my companion’s mother came, bringing
some millet to cook for us, but going out to get some water, she
heard the sound of bugles and fled, but soon returned and cooked it.
The next day our brothers came with the woman and tried to cook some
wheat, but were again frightened by the sound of the bugles and fled,
my brother wishing to carry me with him, but I said, ‘It is better for
you and the family to escape. I must die.’ Toward evening they came
back and carried us on their shoulders to another place, where some
other families had already taken refuge. Soon they were obliged to
leave this place also, fleeing in haste, and left me there. I remained
in this dreary place eight days alone with my suffering save that they
sometimes brought me a little food. After the eight days we heard that
a firman had come ordering the massacre to cease. The soldiers then
drove any fugitives they met, wounded or not, to the ruined villages.
I remained thus among the ruins for two months, till my wounds were
healed. As soon as I was strong enough, I left the ruins and slowly
made my way to Vartenis (an Armenian village on the Mush plain). There
I found my wife, but of the rest of the family I know nothing.”
With the man whose story is told above was a lad of seventeen years,
named Serope Asdadurian, from the village of Mushakhshen, not far from
Mush city. His statement shows the state of the region before the date
of the massacre.
STORY OF SEROPE ASDADURIAN.
“Our family consisted of fifteen members, of whom four are now living,
the others having died by the hands of the Kurds and Turks.
“Before the year 1893 the brother of the celebrated robber chief,
Mousa Bey, had abducted the daughter of the head man of our village.
After a while the girl was rescued from his hands and married to a
young man of Vartenis. In the spring of 1893 she visited her father’s
house, after which her father wished to send her, under safe escort,
to her husband at Vartenis. He besought my father to carry her, and
he accepted the charge. On the way fifteen Kurds attacked the party
and attempted to carry off the woman, but my father and his companions
resisted, and delivered the woman safely to her husband, two of the
Kurds being killed in the affray. My father fled to Russia, but soon
returned, and for a month or so remained so concealed that no one saw
him. After a while, however, it became known that he had returned, and
suddenly one day the Mudir (Turkish petty governor) of the neighboring
village surrounded our house with a band of zabtiehs (gendarmes) to
seize my father. He knew that to be taken was probably to be killed
with tortures, and determined to sell his life as dearly as possible.
So when the zabtiehs burst open the door and came in my father killed
one of them and rushed out with his rifle. But in his haste he struck
his head violently against the frame of the door and fell, nearly dead.
One of the zabtiehs fired and killed him. They then killed my mother,
my two sisters, my uncle and four cousins. They carried away our cattle
and sheep, robbed the house and burned it.”
So the crimson storm of carnage rolled on, until not less than thirty
villages had been laid waste, so completely destroyed that even the
names had been erased from the official records. As to the number of
killed it is almost impossible to give accurate estimate. It must have
been not less than five or six thousand, many put it much higher.
Some soldiers said that a hundred fell to each one of them to dispose
of, while others wept because the Kurds did more execution than they.
Some, however, claimed to have been unwilling actors in the scene and
suffered great mental torments. The wife of one noticed that he failed
to pray, as had been his invariable custom. She spoke of it to him and
he answered, “God will not hear me. If there is a God he will take
vengeance for these awful deeds. Is there any use to pray?” It is also
told of other soldiers that on reaching their homes they inquired of
Armenian acquaintances, “Who is this Jesus of Nazareth? The Sassun
women were constantly calling out to Him.”
At last the carnage stopped. The commander-in-chief of the fourth army
corps at Erzingan reached the field in time to save a few prisoners
alive and to prevent the extermination of four more villages that were
on the list to be destroyed. He then sent a telegram to Constantinople
that rebellion had been overcome and that order had been restored in
the province. For this he received a medal and the thanks of the Sultan.
[Illustration:
THE CITY OF HARPUT IN EASTERN TURKEY. This is the eastern portion
of the city, somewhat distant from the site occupied by Euphrates
College and the mission house. The hill is several hundred feet
higher than the plain. Immediately in front with the dome is an
Armenian Church. The city of Harput suffered very severely in the
massacres.]
[Illustration:
THE CITY OF AINTAB, NORTHERN SYRIA. In the background is the old
citadel. In the center is the Girls’ School of the American mission.
The building in the foreground gives a very good idea of the way in
which the roofs are made. The stone roller is used especially when,
after a period of drought, the rain moistens the mud surface of the
roofs.]