al-ghusayn martyred armenia

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MARTYREDARMENIA

BYFA'IZ EL-GHUSEINBEDOUIN NOTABLE OF DAMASCUS

Translated from the Original ArabicAll Rights of Translation Reserved

NEW YORKGEORGE H. DORAN COMPANYMCMXVIII


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FOEEWOEDI AM a Bedouin, a son of one of the Heads ofthe tribe of El-Sulut, who dwell in El-Lejat, inthe Hauran territory. Like other sons of tribalChiefs. I entered the Tribal School at Constanti-nople, and subsequently the Eoyal College. Onthe completion of my education, I was attached tothe staff of the Vali of Syria (or Dar.ascus), onwhich I remained for a long while. I was thenKaimakam of Mamouret-el-Aziz (Kharpout), hold-ing this post for three and a half years, after whichI practised as a lawyer at Damascus, my partnersbeing Shukri Bey El-Asli and Abdul-Wahhab BeyEl-Ingiizi. I next became a member of the GeneralAssembly at that place, representing Hauran, andlater a member of the Committee of that Assembly.On the outbreak of the war, I was ordered to resumemy previous career, that is, the duties of Kaimakam,but I did not comply, as I found the practice ofthe law more advantageous in many ways and moretranquil.

I was denounced by an informer as being adelegate of a Society constituted in the Lebanonwith the object of achieving the independence of theArab people, under the protection of England andFrance, and of inciting the tribes against theTurkish Government. On receipt of this denuncia-tion, I was arrested by the Government, thrown intoprison, and subsequently sent in chains, with a


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vi Forewordcompany of police and gendarmes, to Aaliya, wherepersons accused of political offences were tried. Iwas acquitted, but as the Government disregardedthe decisions given in such cases, and was resolvedon the removal and destruction of all enlightenedArabswhatever the circumstances might beitwas thought necessary that I should be despatchedto Erzeroum, and Jemal Pasha sent me thither withan officer and ^ve of the regular troops. When Ireached Diarbekir, Hasan Kaleh, at Erzeroum,was being pressed by the Eussians, and the Vali ofDiarbekir was ordered to detain me at that place.After twenty-two days' confinement in prisonfor no reason, I was released; I hired ahouse and remained at Diarbekir for six anda half months, seeing and hearing from themost reliable sources all that took place in regardto the Armenians, the majority of my informantsbeing superior officers and officials, or Notables ofDiarbekir and its dependencies, as well as othersfrom Van, Bitlis, Mamouret-el-Aziz, Aleppo andErzeroum. The people of Van had been in Diar-bekir since the occupation of their territory by theEussians, whilst the people and officials of Bitlis hadrecently emigrated thither. Many of the Erzeroumofficers came to Diarbekir on military or privatebusiness, whilst Mamouret-el-Aziz was near by, andmany people came to us from thence. As I hadformerly been a Kaimakam in that Vilayet, I had alarge acquaintance there and heard all the news.More especially, the time which I passed in prisonwith the heads of the tribes in Diarbekir enabled meto study the movement in its smallest details. Thewar must needs come to an end after a while, and


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Foreword viiit will then be plain to readers of this book that all1 have written is the truth, and that it contains onlya small part of the atrocities committed by theTurks against the hapless Armenian people.

After passing this time at Diarbekir I fled, bothto escape from captivity and from fear induced bywhat had befallen me from some of the fanaticalTurks. After great sufferings, during which I wasoften exposed to death and slaughter, I reachedBasra, and conceived the idea of publishing thisbook, as a service to the cause of truth and of apeople oppressed by the Turks, and also, as I havestated at the close, to defend the faith of Islamagainst the cuarge of fanaticism which will bebrought against it by Europeans. May God guideus in the right way.

/ have written this preface at Bombay, on the1st of September, 1916.

fI'IZ EL-GHUSEIN.


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MARTYRED ARMENIA


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MARTYRED ARMENIATHE NAEEATIVE

OUTLINE OF Armenian History.In past agesthe Armenian race was, like other nations,not possessed of an autonomous government, untilGod bestowed upon them a man, named Haig, a bold

leader, who united the Armenians and formed theminto an independent state. This took place beforethe Christian era. The nation preserved their inde-pendence for a considerable time, reaching the high-est point of their glory and prosperity under theirking Dikran, who constituted the city of Dikranok-ertaDiarbekirthe capital of his Government.Armenia remained independent in the time of theRomans, extending her rule over a part of AsiaMinor and Syria, and a portion of Persia, but, inconsequence of the protection afforded by the Ar-menians to certain kings who were hostile to Rome,the Romans declared war against her, their troopsentered her capital, and from that time Armenianindependence was lost. The country remained toss-ing on the waves of despotism, now independent,now subjected to foreign rule, until its conquestby the Arabs and subsequently by the Ottomanpower.The Armenian Population.The number of the


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2 Martyred ArmeniaArmenians in Ottoman territory does not exceed1,900,000 souls. I have borrowed this figure from abook by a Turkish writer, who states that it is theofficial computation made by the Government pre-vious to the Balkan war ; he estimates the Armeni-ans residing in Eoumelia at 400,000, those in Otto-man Asia at 1,500,000. The Armenians in Eussiaand Persia are said not to exceed 3,000,000, thusbringing the total number of Armenians in the worldto over four and a half millions.The Vilayets Inhabited by Armenians.-TheVilayets inhabited by Armenians are Diarbekir,Van, Bitlis, Erzeroum, Mamouret-el-Aziz, Sivas,Adana, Aleppo, Trebizond, Broussa, and Constan-tinople. The numbers in Van, Bitlis, Adana, Diar-bekir, Erzeroum, and Kharpout were greater thanthose in the other Vilayets, but in all cases theywere fewer than the Turks and Kurds, with the ex-ception of Van and Bitlis, where they were equal orsuperior in number. In the province of Moush (Vil-ayet of Bitlis) they were more numerous than theKurds; all industry and commerce in those partswas in Armenian hands ; their agriculture was moreprosperous; they were much more advanced thanthe Turks and Kurds in those Vilayets; and thelarge number of their schools, contrasted with thefew schools of their alien feUow countrymen, is aproof of their progress and of the decline of theother races.Armenian Societies.The Armenians possesslearned and political Societies, the most importantof which are the ^'Tashnagtzian'* and the *^Hun-chak.'' The programme of these two Societies isto make every effort and adopt ^very means to


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Martyred Armenia 8attain that end from which no Armenian everswerves, namely, administrative independenceunder the supervision of the Great Powers ofEurope. I have enquired of many Armenians whomI have met, but 1 have not found one who said thathe desired political independence, the reason beingthat in most of the Vilayets which they inhabit theArmenians are less numerous than the Kurds, andif they became independent the advantage to theKurds would be greater than to themselves. Hith-erto, the Kurds have beon in a very degraded stateof ignorance ; disorder is supreme in their territory,and the cities are in ruins. The Armenians, there-fore, prefer to remain under Turkish rule, on con-dition that the administration is carried on underthe supervision of the Great European Powers, asthey place no confidence in the promises of theTurks, who take back to-day what they bestowedyesterday. These two Societies thus earnestlylabour for the propagation of this view amongst theArmenians, and for the attainment of their objectby every means. I have been told by an Armenianofficer that one of these Societies proposes to attainits end by means of internal revolts, but the policyof the second is to do so by peaceful means only.The above is a brief summary of the policy ofthese Societies. It is said, however, that the pro-gramme of one of them aims at Armenian politicalindependence.Any who desire further details as to Armenianhistory or societies should refer to their historicalbooks.The Armenian Massacres.History does not re-cord that the Kurds, fellow-countrymen of the Ar-


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4 Martyred Armeniamenians in the Vilayets inhabited by both peoples,rose in confli


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Martyred Armenia 5lem Kurds and Turks against them, making use ofthe Faith of Islam as a means to attain their objectin view of the ignorance of the Mohammedans as tothe true laws of their religion.Declaration of the Ottoman Government.'^Inasmuch as the Armenians are committing actsopposed to the laws and taking advantage of all

occasions to disturb the Government; as they havebeen found in possession of prohibited arms, bombs,and explosive materials, prepared with the objectof internal revolt; as they have killed Moslems inVan, and have aided the Eussian armies at a timewhen the Government is in a state of war withEngland, France, and Russia; and in the apprehen-sion that the Armenians may, as is their habit, lendthemselves to seditious tumult and revolt; the Gov-ernment have decreed that all the Armenians shallbe collected and despatched to the Vilayets of Mosul,Syria, and Deir-el-Zur, their persons, goods andhonour being safeguarded. The necessary ordershave been given for ensuring their comfort, and fortheir residence in those territories until the termi-nation of the war."Such is the official declaration of the Ottoman

Government in regard to the Armenians. But thesecret resolution was that companies of militiashould be formed to assist the gendarmes in theslaughter of the Armenians, that these should bekilled to the last man, and that the work of murderand destruction should take place under the super-vision of trusty agents of the Unionists, who wereknown for their brutality. Reshid Bey was ap-pointed to the Vilayet of Diarbekir and investedwith extensive powers, having at his disposal a gang


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6 Martyred Armeniaof notorious murderers, such as Ahmed Bey El-Serzi, Euslidi Bey, Khalil Bey, and others of thisdescription.The reason for this decision, as it was alleged,was that the Armenians residing in Europe and

in Egj^pt had sent twenty of their devoted partisansto kill Talaat, Enver, and others of the Unionistleaders; the attempt had failed, as a certain Ar-menian, a traitor to his nation and a friend of BedriBey, the Chief of the Public Security at Constanti-nople (or according to others, Azmi Bey), divulgedthe matter and indicated the Armenian agents, whohad arrived at Constantinople. The latter werearrested and executed, but secretly, in order that itmight not be said that there were men attemptingto kill the heads of the Unionist Society.Another alleged reason also was that certain

Armenians, whom the Government had collectedfrom the Vilayets of Aleppo and Adrianople andhad sent off to complete their military service, fled,with their arms, to Zeitonn^ where they assembled,to the number of sixty young men, and commencedto resist the Government and to attack wayfarers.The Government despatched a military force underFakhry Pasha, who proceeded to the spot, destroyeda part of Zeitoun, and killed men, women and chil-dren, without encountering opposition an the partof the Armenians. He collected the men and womenand sent them off with parties of troops, who killedmany of the men, whilst as for the women, do notask what was their fate. They were delivered overto the Ottoman soldiery ; the children died of hungerand thirst ; not a man or woman reached Syria ex-cept the halt and blind, who were unable to keep


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Martyred Armenia 7themselves alive; the young men were all slaugh-tered; and the good-looking women fell into thehands of the Turkish youths.Emigrants from Roumelia were conveyed to

Zeitoun and established there, the name of that placebeing changed to ^^Keshadiya," so that nothingshould remain to remind the Turks of the Armenianname. During our journey from Hamah we sawmany Armenian men and women, sitting under smalltents which they had constructed from sheets, rugs,etc. Their condition was most pitiable, and howcould it be otherwise! Many of these had been usedto sit only on easy chairs [lit., rocking-chairs], amidluxurious furniture, in houses built in the best style,well arranged and splendidly furnished. I saw, asothers saw also, many Armenian men and womenin goods-wagons on the railway between Aleppoand Hamah, herded together in a way which movedcompassion.

After my arrival at Aleppo, and two days^ staythere, we took the train to a place called Ser-Arab-Pounari. I was accompanied by five Armenians,closely guarded, and despatched to Diarbekir. Wewalked on our feet thence to Seruj, where westopped at a Jchdn [rest-house] filled with Armenianwomen and children, with a few sick men. Thesewomen were in a deplorable state, as they had donethe journey from Erzeroum on foot, taking a longwhile to arrive at Seruj. I talked with them inTurkish, and they told me that the gendarmes withthem had brought them to places where there wasno water, refusing to tell them where water was tobe found until they had received money as the price.Some of them, who were pregnant, had given birth


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8 Martyred Armeniaon the way, and had abandoned their infants in theuninhabited wastes. Most of these women had lefttheir children behind, either in despair, or owing toillness or weakness which made them unable to carrythem, so they threw them on the ground ; some fromnatural affection could not do this and so perishedin the desert, not parted from their infants. Theytold me that there were some among them who hadnot been used to walk for a single hour, having beenbrought up in luxury, with men to wait on them andwomen to attend them. These had fallen into thehands of the Kurds, who recognize no divine law,and who live on lofty mountains and in dense forestslike beasts of prey; their honour was outraged andthey died by brutal violence, many of them, killingthemselves rather than sacrifice their virtue to theseravening wolves.We then proceeded in carts from Seruj to El-Raha(Urfa). On the way I saw crowds going on foot,whom from a distance I took for troops marchingto the field of battle. On approaching, I found theywere Armenian women, walking barefoot and weary,placed in ranks like the gendarmes who precededand followed them. Whenever one of them laggedbehind, a gendarme would beat her with the butt ofhis rifle, throwing her on her face, till she rose ter-rified and rejoined her companions. But if onelagged from sickness, she was either abandoned,alone in the wilderness, without help or comfort, tobe a prey to wild beasts, or a gendarme ended herlife by a bullet.On arrival at Urfa, we learned that the Govern-ment had sent a force of gendarmes and police to

the Armenian quarters of the town to collect their


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Martyi^ed Armenia 9arms, subsequently dealing with these people as withothers. As they were aware of what had happenedto their kinsmenthe khans at Urfa being full ofwomen and childrenthey did not give up theirarms, but showed armed resistance, killing one manof the police and three gendarmes. The authoritiesof Urfa applied for a force from Aleppo, and byorder of Jemal Pashathe executioner of SyriaFakhry Pasha came with, cannon.. He turned theArmenian quarters into a waste place, killing themen and the children, and great numbers of thewomen, except such as yielded themselves to sharethe fate of their sistersexpulsion on foot to Deir-el-Zur, after the Pasha and his officers had selectedthe prettiest amongst them. Disease was ragingamong them; they were outraged by the Turks andKurds; and hunger and thirst completed their ex-termination.

After leaving Urfa, we again saw throngs ofwomen, exhausted by fatigue and misery, dying ofhunger and thirst, and we saw the bodies of the deadlying by the roadside.On our arrival at a place near a village calledKara Jevren, about six hours distant from Urfa, westopped at a spring to breakfast and drink. I wenta little apart, towards the source, and came upon amost appalling spectacle. A woman, partly un-clothed, was lying prone, her chemise disorderedand red with blood, with four bullet-wounds in herbreast. I could not restrain myself, but wept bit-terly. As I drew out a handkerchief to wipe awaymy tears, and looked round to see whether any ofmy companions had observed me, I saw a child notmore than eight years old, lying on his face, his head


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10 Martyred Armeniacloven by an axe. This made my grief the morevehement, but my companions cut short my lamenta-tions, for I heard the officer, Aarif Eifendi, callingto the priest Isaac, and saying, ^^Come here atonce,^' and I knew that he had seen something whichhad startled him. I went towards him, and whatdid I behold? Three children lying in the water, interror of their lives from the Kurds, who hadstripped them of their clothes and tortured themin various ways, their mother near by, moaningwith pain and hunger. She told us her story, sayingthat she was from Erzeroum, and had been broughtby the troops to this place with many other womenafter a journey of many days. After they had beenplundered of money and clothing, and the prettiestwomen had been picked out and handed over to theKurds, they reached this place, where Kurdish menand women collected and robbed them of all theclothes that remained on them. She herself hadstayed here, as she was sick and her children wouldnot leave her. The Kurds came upon them againand left them naked. The children had lain in thewater in their terror, and she was at the point ofdeath. The priest collected some articles of cloth-ing and gave them to the wopaan and the children;the officer sent a man to the post of gendarmes whichwas near by, and ordered the gendarme whom theman brought with him to send on the woman andchildren to Urfa, and to bury the bodies which werenear the guardhouse. The sick woman told me thatthe dead woman refused to yield herself to outrage,so they killed her and she died nobly, chaste andpure from defilement; to induce her to yield they


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Martyred Armenia 11killed her son beside her, but she was firm in her re-solve and died heart-broken.In the afternoon we went on towards Kara Jev-

ren, and one of the drivers pointed out to us somehigh mounds, surrounded by stones and rocks, say-ing that here Zohrab and Vartakis had been killed,they having been leading Notables among the Ar-menians, and their Deputies.Krikor Zohrab and Vartakis.No one is igno-rant of who and what wcs Zohrab, the ArmenianDeputy for Constantinople, his name and reputebeing celebrated after the institution of the Cham-ber. He used to speak with learning and reflection,refuting objections by powerful arguments and con-vincing proofs. His speeches in the Chamber weremostly conclusive. He was learned in all subjects,but especially in the science of law, as he was agraduate of universities and had practised at theBar for many years. He was endowed with elo-quence and great powers of exposition; he wascourageous, not to be turned from his purpose orintimidated from pursuing his national aims. Whenthe Unionists realised that they were deficient inknowledge, understanding nothing about polity oradministration, and not aware of the meaning ofliberty or constitutional government, they resolvedto return to the system of their Tartar forefathers,the devastation of cities and the slaughter of inno-cent men, as it was in that direction that their pow-ers lay. They sent Zohrab and his colleague Var-takis away from Constantinople, with orders thatthey should be killed on the way, and it was an-nounced that they had been murdered by a band ofbrigands. They killed them in order that it might


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12 Martyred Armenianot be said that Armenians were more powerful,more learned, and more intelligent than Turks.Why should such bands murder none but Armeni-ans? The falsity of the statement is obvious.Zohrab and Vartakis fell victims to their owncourage and firmness of purpose; they were killed

out of envy of their learning and their love for theirown people, and for their tenacity in pursuing theirown path. They were killed by that villain, AhmedEl-Serzi, one of the sworn men of the Unionists, hewho murdered Zeki Bey; Ms story in the Ottomanupheaval is well known, and how the Unionists savedhim from his fitting punishment and even fromprison. A Kurd told me that Vartakis was one ofthe boldest and most courageous men who everlived; he was chief of the Armenian bands in thetime of Abdul-Hamid; he was wounded in the footby a cannon-ball whilst the Turkish troops werepursuing these bands, and was imprisoned either atErzeroum or at Maaden, in the Vilayet of Diarbekir.The Sultan Abdul-Hamid, through his officials,charged him to modify his attitude and acknowledgethat he had been in error, when he should be par-doned and appointed to any post he might choose.He rejected this offer, saying, ^^I will not sell myconscience for a post, or say that the Government ofAbdul-Hamid is just, whilst I see its tyranny withmy eyes and touch it with my hand. '

It is said that the Unionists ordered that all theArmenian Deputies should be put to death, and thegreater number of them were thus dealt with. It isreported also that Dikran Gilikian, the well-knownwriter, who was an adherent of the Committee ofUnion and Progress, was killed in return for his


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Martyred Armenia 13learning, capacity, and devotion to their cause. Suchwas the recompense of his services to the Unionists.In the evening we arrived at Kara Jevren, and

slept there till morning. At sunrise we went ontowards Sivrek, and half-way on the road we sawa terrible spectacle. The corpses of the killed werelying in great numbers on both sides of the road;here we saw a woman outstretched on the ground,her body half veiled by her long hair ; there, womenlying on their faces, the dried blood blackening theirdelicate forms; there again, the corpses of men,parched to the semblance of charcoal by the heat ofthe sun. As we approached Sivrek, the corpses be-came more numerous, the bodies of children being ina great majority. As we arrived at Sivrek and leftour carts, we saw one of the servants of the khancarrying a little infant with hair as yellow as gold,whom he threw behind the house. We asked himabout it, and he said that there were three sickArmenian women in the house, who had lagged be-hind their companions, that one of them had givenbirth to this infant, but could not nourish it, owingto her illness. So it had died and been thrown out,as one might throw out a mouse.Demand for Eansom.^Whilst we were at Sivrek,Aarif Effendi told meafter he had been at theGovernment officesthat the Commandant of Gen-darmerie and the Chief of Police of that place hadrequested him to hand over to them the fiveArmenians who were with him, and that on hisrefusal they had insisted, saying that, if they wereto reach Diarbekir in safety, they must pay a ransomof fifty liras for themselves. We went to the khan,where the officer summoned the priest Isaac and told


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Martyred Armenia 15of these poor women! Was it in their being superiorto the Turkish women in every respect? Evenassuming that their men had merited such treat-ment, is it right that these women should be dealtwith in a manner from which wild beasts wouldrecoil! God has said in the Koran: *^Do not loadone with another's burthens/' that is, Let not onebe punished for another.What had these weak women done, and what hadtheir infants done! Can the men of the TurkishGovernment bring forward even a feeble proof tojustify their action and to convince the people ofIslam, who hold that action for unlawful and rejectit! No; they can find no word to say before apeople whose usages are founded on justice, andtheir laws on wisdom and reason.

Is it right that these imposters, who pretend tobe the supports of Islam and the Khildfat, the pro-tectors of the Moslems, should trangress the com-mand of God, transgress the Koran, the Traditionsof the Prophet, and humanity! Truly, they havecommitted an act at which Islam is revolted, aswell as all Moslems and all the peoples of the earth,be they Moslems, Christians, Jews, or idolaters. AsGod lives, it is a shameful deed, the like of whichhas not been done by any people counting them-selves as civilised.The Infant in the Waste.After we had gonea considerable distance we saw a child of not morethan four years old, with a fair complexion, blueeyes, and golden hair, with all the indications ofluxury and pampering, standing in the sun, motion-less and speechless. The officer told the driver tostop the cart, got out alone, and questioned the


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16 Martyred Armeniachild, who made no reply, and did not utter a word.The officer said r ^ ' If we take this child with us toDiarbekir, the authorities will take him from us, andhe will share the fate of his people in being killed.It is best that we leave him. Perhaps God will moveone of the Kurds to compassion, that he take himand bring him up.'' None of us could say anythingto him; he entered the cart and we drove on, leav-ing the child as we found him, without speech, tears,or movement. Who knows of what rich man orNotable of the Armenians he was the son! He hadhardly seen the light when he was orphaned bythe slaughter of his parents and kinsmen. Thosewho should have carried him were weary of himfor the women were unable to carry even them-selvesso they had abandoned him in the waste, farfrom human habitation. Man, who shows kindnessto beasts, and forms societies for their protection,can be merciless to his own kind, more especiallyto infants who can utter no complaint; he leavesthem under the heat of the sun, thirsty and famish-ing, to be devoured by wild creatures.Leaving the boy, our hearts burning within us,

and full of grief and anguish, we arrived beforesunset at a kJidn some hours distant from Diar-bekir. There we passed the night, and in the morn-ing we went on amid the mangled forms of the slain.The same sight met our view on every side ; a manlying, his breast pierced by a bullet ; a woman tornopen by lead ; a child sleeping his last sleep besidehis mother ; a girl in the flower of her age, in a post-ure which told its own story. Such was our journeyuntil we arrived at a canal, called Kara Pounar, near


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Martyred Armenia 17Diarbekir, and here we found a change in the methodof murder and savagery.We saw here bodies burned to ashes. God, fromwhom no secrets are hid, knows how many youngmen and fair girls, who should have led happy livestogether, had been consumed by fire in this ill-omened place.We had expected not to find corpses of the killednear to the walls of Diarbekir, but we were mis-taken, for we journeyed among the bodies until weentered the city gate. As I was informed by someEuropeans who returned from Armenia after themassacres, the Government ordered the burial of allthe bodies from the roadside when the matter hadbecome the subject of comment in European news-papers.In Prisoist.On our arrival at Diarbekir the offi-

cer handed us over to the authorities and we werethrown into prison, where I remained for twenty-two days. During this time I obtained full informa-tion about the movement from one of the prisoners,who was a Moslem of Diarbekir, and who related tome what had happened to the Armenians there. Iasked him what was the reason of the affair, whythe Government had treated them in this way, andwhether they had committed any act calling for theircomplete extermination. He said that, after thedeclaration of war, the Armenians, especially theyounger men, had failed to comply with the ordersof the Government, that most of them had evadedmilitary service by flight, and had formed companieswhich they called ''Roof Companies.'' These tookmoney from the wealthy Armenians for the pur-chase of arms, which they did not deliver to the


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18 Martyred Armeniaauthorities, but sent to their companies, until theleading Armenians and Notables assembled, wentto the Government offices, and requested that thesemen should be punished as they were displeased attheir proceedings.

I asked whether the Armenians had killed anyGovernment official, or any Turks or Kurds in Diar-bekir. He replied that they had killed no one, butthat a few days after the arrival of the Yali, EeshidBey, and the Commandant of Gendarmerie, KushdiBey, prohibited arms had been found in some Ar-menian houses, and also in the church. On thediscovery of these arms, the Government summonedsome of the principal Armenians and flung theminto prison; the spiritual authorities made repeatedrepresentations, asking for the release of these men,but the Government, far from complying with therequest, imprisoned the ecclesiastics also, the num-ber of Notables thus imprisoned amounting tonearly seven hundred. One day the Commandantof Gendarmerie came and informed them that anImperial Order had been issued for their banish-ment to Mosul, where they were to remain until theend of the war. They were rejoiced at this, pro-cured all they required in the way of money, clothes,and furniture, and embarked on the heleks (woodenrafts resting on inflated skins, used by the inhabi-tants of that region for travelling on the Euphratesand Tigris) to proceed to Mosul. After a while itwas understood that they had all been drowned inthe Tigris, and that none of them had reachedMosul. The authorities continued to send off andkill the Armenians, family by family, men, womenand children, the first families sent from Diarbekir


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Martyi-ed Armenia 19being those of Kazazian, Tirpanjian, Minassian, andKechijian, who were the wealthiest families in theplace. Among the 700 individuals was a bishopnamedas far as I recollectHomandrias ; he wasthe Armenian Catholic Bishop, a venerable andlearned old man of about eighty; they showed norespect to his white beard, but drowned him in theTigris.Megerditch, the Bishop-delegate of Diarbekir, was

also among the 700 imprisoned. When he saw whatwas happening to his people he could not endure thedisgrace and shame of prison, so he poured petro-leum over himself and set it on fire. A Moslem, whowas imprisoned for having v/ritten a letter to thisbishop three years before the events, told me thathe was a man of great courage and learning, devotedto his people, with no fear of death, but unable tosubmit to oppression and humiliation.Some of the imprisoned Kurds attacked the Ar-menians in the gaol itself, and killed two or three

of them out of greed for their money and clothing,but nothing was done to bring them to account. TheGovernment left only a very small number of Ar-menians in Diarbekir, these being such as wereskilled in making boots and similar articles for thearmy. Nineteen individuals had remained in theprison, where I saw and talked with them; these,according to the pretence of the authorities, wereArmenian bravoes.The last family deported from Diarbekir was that

of Dunjian, about November, 1915. This familywas protected by certain Notables of the place, fromdesire for their money, or the beauty of some oftheir women.


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20 Martyred ArmeniaDiKKAN.This man was a member of the central

committee of the Tashnagtzian Society in Diarbekir.An official of that place, who belonged to the Societyof Union and Progress, told me that the authoritiesseized Dikran and demanded from him the namesof his associates. He refused, and said that hecould not give the names until the committee hadmet and decided whether or not it was proper tofurnish this information to the Government. Hewas subjected to varieties of torture, such as puttinghis feet in irons till they swelled and he could notwalk, plucking out his nails and eyelashes with acruel instrument, etc., but he would not say a word,nor give the name of one of his associates. He wasdeported with the others and died nobly out of lovefor his nation, preferring death to the betrayal ofthe secrets of his brave people to the Government.Aghob Kaitanjian.Aghob Kaitanjian was oneof the Armenians imprisoned on the charge of beingbravoes of the Armenian Society in Diarbekir, andin whose possession explosive material had beenfound. I often talked to him, and I asked him totell me his story. He said that one day, whilst hewas sitting in his house, a police agent knocked atthe door and told him that the Chief of Police wishedto see him at his office. He went there, and someof the police asked him about the Armenian Societyand its bravoes. He replied that he knew nothingof either societies or bravoes. He was then bas-tinadoed and tortured in various ways for severaldays till he despaired of life, preferring death toa continuance of degradation. He had a knife withhim, and when they aggravated the torture so thathe could endure it no longer, he asked them to let


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Martyred Armenia 21him go to the latrine and on his return he would tellthem all he knew about the Armenian matter. Withthe help of the police he went, and cut the arteriesof his wrists* . . . with the object of committingsuicide. The blood gushed out freely ; he got to thedoor of the police-office and there fainted. Theypoured water on his face and he recovered con-sciousness; he was brought before the officer andthe interrogatory was renewed.* .... The Chiefof Police was confounded at this proceeding andsent him to the hospital until he was cured. I sawthe w^ounds on his hands, and they were completelyhealed. This was the story as he told it to me him-self. He desired me to publish it in an Armeniannewspaper called Hdyrenik (Fatherland), whichappears in America, in order that it may be read byhis brother Garabet, now in that country, who hadbeen convinced that the Government would leavenone of them alive.I associated freely wdth the young Armenianswho were imprisoned, and we talked much of theseacts, the like of which, as happening to a nation suchas theirs, have never been heard of, nor recorded inthe history of past ages. These youths were sentfor trial by the court-martial at Kharpout, and Iheard that they arrived there safely and asked per-mission to embrace the Moslem faith. This wasto escape from contemptuous treatment by theKurds, and not from the fear of death, as their con-version would not save them from the penalty ifthey were shown to deserve it. Before their de-parture they asked me what I had heard about them,

Episodes in the original are here omitted. Translator.


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22 Martyred Armeniaand whether the authorities purposed to kill themon the way or not. After enquiring about this, andascertaining that they would not be killed in thisway, I informed them accordingly; they were re-joiced, saying that all they desired was to remainalive to see the results of the war. They said thatthe Armenians deserved the treatment which theyhad received, as they would never see the necessityfor taking precautions against the Turks, believingthat the constitutional Turkish Government wouldnever proceed to measures of this kind without validreason. The Government has perpetrated thesedeeds although no official, Kurd, Turk, or Moslem,has been killed by an Armenian, and we know notwhat the weighty reasons may have been whichimpelled them to so unprecedented a measure. Andif the Armenians should not be reproached with anegligence for which they have paid dearly, yet apeople who do not take full precautions are liableto be taxed justly with blameworthy carelessness.My Travelling-Compai^ions.From time to timeI visited the men who had been in my companyduring the journey, but after my release the directorof the prison would not permit me to go to them.I used, therefore, to ask for one of them and talkwith him outside the prison in which the Armenianswere confined. After a while I enquired for themand was told that they had been sent to execution,like others before them, and at this I cried out indismay. One day I saw a gendarme who had beenimprisoned with us for a short time on the chargeof having stolen articles from the effects of deadArmenians, and as he knew my companions I askedhim about them. He said that he had killed the


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24 Martyred ArmeniaGovernment held their hand from the destructionof the latter.The Sykiacs.But the Syriacs in the provinceof Madiat were brave men, braver than all the othertribes in these regions. When they heard what hadfallen upon their brethren at Diarbekir and thevicinity they assembled, fortified themselves in threevillages near Madiat, and made a heroic resistance,showing a courage beyond description. The Gov-ernment sent against them two companies of regu-lars, besides a company of gendarmes which hadbeen despatched thither previously; the Kurdishtribes assembled against them, but without result,and thus they protected their lives, honour, andpossessions from the tyranny of this oppressiveGovernment. An Imperial Iradeh was issued, grant-ing them pardon, but they placed no reliance on itand did not surrender, for past experience hadshown them that this is the most false Governmenton the face of the earth, taking back to-day what itgave yesterday, and punishing to-day with mostcruel penalties him whom it had previously par-doned.

CoNVEESATiON betwccu a postal contractor fromBitlis and a friend of mine, as we were sitting at acafe in Diarbekir:

Contractor: I see many Armenians in Diarbekir.How comes it that they are stil here?My Friend: These are not Armenians, but Syri-acs and Chaldeans.

Contractor: The Government of Bitlis has notleft a single Christian in that Vilayet, nor in thedistrict of Moush. If a doctor told a sick man thatthe remedy for his disease was the heart of a Chris-


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Martyred Armenia 25tian lie would not find one though he searchedthrough the whole Vilayet.Protection Afforded by Kurds to Armenians onPayment.The Armenians were confined in themain ward of the prison at Diarbeldr, and from time

to time I visited them. One day, on waking fromsleep, I went to see them in their ward and foundthem collecting rice, flour and moneys. I askedthem the reason of this, and they said: ''What arewe to do? If we do not collect a quantity everyweek and give it to the Kurds, they insult and beatus, so we give these things to some of them so thatthey may protect us from the outrages of theirfellows.'* I exclaimed, ''There is no power normight but in God,'' and went back grieving overtheir lot.Despatch of the Armenians to the Slaughter.

This was a most shocking proceeding, appalling inits atrocity. One of the gendarmes in Diarbekirrelated to me how it was done. He said that, whenorders were given for the removal and destructionof a family, an official went to the house, countedthe members of the family, and delivered them to theCommandant of Militia or one of the officers ofGendarmerie. Men were posted to keep guard overthe house and its occupants during the night until8 o'clock, thereby giving notice to the wretchedfamily that they must prepare for death. Thewomen shrieked and wailed, anguish and despairshowed on the faces of all, and they died even be-fore death came upon them.* .... After 8 o'clockwaggons arrived and conveyed the families to a

* A few sentences of immaterial description are here omitted.Translator.


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26 Martyred Armeniaplace near by, where they were killed by rifle fire,or massacred like sheep with knives, daggers, andaxes.Sale of Aemenian Effects, and Eemoval of

Crosses from the Churches.After the Armenianshad been destroyed, all the furniture of their houses,their linen, effects, and implements of all kinds, aswell as all the contents of their shops and store-houses, were collected in the churches or other largebuildings. The authorities appointed committeesfor the sale of these goods, which were disposed ofat the lowest price, as might be the case with theeffects of those who died a natural death, but withthis difference, that the money realised went to theTreasury of the Turkish Government, instead of tothe heirs of the deceased.You might see a carpet, worth thirty pounds, soldfor ^ve, a man's costume, worth four pounds, soldfor two medjidies, and so on with the rest of thearticles, this being especially the case with musicalinstruments, such as pianos, etc., which had no valueat all. All money and valuables were collected bythe Commandant of Gendarmerie and the Vali,Eeshid Bey, the latter taking them with him whenhe went to Constantinople, and delivering them toTalaat Bey.* . . .The mind is confounded by the reflection that this

people of Armenia, this brave race who astonishedthe world by their courage, resolution, progress andknowledge, who yesterday were the most powerfuland most highly cultivated of the Ottoman peoples,have become merely a memory, as though they had*Some remarks in this connection are omitted. Translator.


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Martyred Armenia 27never flourished. Their learned books are wastepaper, used to wrap up cheese or dates, and I wastold that one high official had bought thirty volumesof French literature for 50 piastres. Their schoolsare closed, after being thronged with pupils. Suchis the evil end of the Armenian race: let it be awarning to those peoples who are striving for free-dom, and let them understand that freedom is notto be achieved but by the shedding of blood, andthat words are the stock-in-trade of the weak alone.

I observed that the crosses had been removedfrom the lofty steeples of the churches, which areused as storehouses and markets for the keepingand sale of the effects of the dead.Methods of Slaughtee.These were of variouskinds. An officer told me that in the Vilayet ofBitlis the authorities collected the Armenians inbarns full of straw (or chaif), piling up straw infront of the door and setting it on fire, so that theArmenians inside perished in the smoke. He saidthat sometimes hundreds were put together in onebarn. Other modes of killing were also employed(at Bitlis). He told me, to my deep sorrow, howhe had seen a girl hold her lover in her embrace,and so enter the barn to meet her death without atremor.At Moush, a part were killed in straw-barns, butthe greater number by shooting or stabbing withknives, the Government hiring butchers, who re-ceived a Turkish pound each* day as wages. Adoctor, named Aziz Bey, told me that when he wasat Marzifun, in the Vilayet of Sivas, he heard thata caravan of Armenians was being sent to execution.He went to the Kaimakam and said to him: ''You


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28 Martyred Armeniaknow I am a doctor, and there is no difference be-tween doctors and butchers, as doctors are mostlyoccupied in cutting up mankind. And as the dutiesof a Kaimakam at this time are also like our owncutting up human bodiesI beg you to let me seethis surgical operation myself/' Permission wasgiven, and the doctor went. He found four butchers,each with a long knife; the gendarmes divided theArmenians into parties of ten, and sent them up tothe butchers one by one. The butcher told the Ar-menian to stretch out his neck; he did so, and wasslaughtered like a sheep. The doctor was amazedat their steadfastness in presence of death, not say-ing a word, or showing any sign of fear.The gendarmes used also to bind the women and

children and throw them down from a very loftyeminence, so that they reached the ground shatteredto pieces. This place is said to be between Diar-bekir and Mardin, and the bones of the slain arethere in heaps to this day.Another informant told me that the Diarbekir

authorities had killed the Armenians either by shoot-ing, by the butchers, or at times by putting numbersof them in wells and cave^, which were blocked upso that they perished. Also they threw them intothe Tigris and the Euphrates, and the bodies causedan epidemic of typhus fever. Two thousand Arme-nians were slaughtered at a place outside the wallsof Diarbekir, between the Castle of Sultan Muradand the Tigris, and ^t not more than half an hour'sdistance from the city.Brutality of the Gendarmes and Kurdish Tribes.There is no doubt that what is related as to the

proceedings of the gendarmes and the Kurdish


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Martyred Armenia 29tribes actually took place. On receiving a caravan01 Armenians the gendarmes searched them one byone, men and women, taking any money they mightfind, and stripping them of the better portions oftheir clothing. When they were satisfied that thereremained no money, good clothes, or other things ofvalue, they sold the Armenians in thousands to theKurds, on the stipulation that none should be leftalive. The price was in accordance with the numberof the party; I was told by a reliable informant ofcases where the price had varied between 2,000 and200 liras.After purchasing the caravans, the Kurdsstripped all the Armenians, men and women, of theirclothes, so that they remained entirely naked. Theythen shot them down, every one, after which theycut open their stomachs to search for moneyamongst the entrails, also cutting up the clothing,boots, etc., with the same object.Such were the dealings of the official gendarmerieand the Kurds with their fellow-creatures. Thereason of the sale of the parties by the gendarmeswas to save themselves trouble, and to obtain deliv-ery of further parties to plunder of their money.Woe to him who had teeth of gold, or gold-plated.The gendarmes and Kurds used to violently drawout his teeth before arriving at the place of execu-tion, thus inflicting tortures before actual death.A KuKDisH Agha Slaughters 50,000 Armenians.A Kurd told me that the authorities of Kharpouthanded over to one of the Kurdish Aghas in thatVilayet, in three batches, more than 50,000 Arme-nians from Erzeroum, Trebizond, Sivas, and Con-stantinople, with orders to kill them and to divide


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30 Martyred Armeniawith themselves the property which he might takefrom them. He killed them all and took from themtheir money and other belongings. He hired 600mules for the women, to convey them to Urfa, atthe rate of three liras a head. After receiving theprice, he collected mules belonging to his tribe,mounted the women on them, and brought them toa place between Malatiya and Urfa, where he killedthem in the most barbarous way, taking all theirmoney, clothes, and valuables.The Violation of Women befoke oe afterDeath.* ....Incident of the Sheikh and the Girl.^I saidabove that the Armenian women were sent off inbatches under guard of gendarmes. Whenever theypassed by a village the inhabitants would come andchoose any they desired, taking them away and giv-ing a small sum to the gendarmes. At one place aKurd of over 60 picked out a beautiful girl of 16.She refused to have an^^thing to do with him, butsaid she was ready to embrace Islam and marry ayouth of her own age. This the Kurds would notallow, but gave her the choice between death and theSheikh ; she still refused, and was killed.Barsoum AoHA.Whilst I was Kaimakam of thedistrict of Kiakhta, in the Vilayet of Kharpout, Iwas acquainted with an Armenian Notable of that

place, named Barsoum Agha. He was a worthyand courageous man, dealing well with Kurds,Turks, and Armenians, without distinction; he alsoshowed much kindness to officials who were dis-missed from their posts in the district. All the Kur-

* I refrain from particulars. The gendarmes and Kurds are statedto have been the perpetrators of these acts. Translatoe.


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Martyred i\rmenia 31dish Aghas thereabouts kept close watch over him,hating him because he was their rival in the suprem-acy of the place. When, after my banishment, Iarrived at Sivrek and heard what had befallen theArmenians, I enquired about him and his family.I was told that when the Government disposed ofthe Armenians of Kiakhta he was summoned andordered to produce the records of moneys owingto him (Kurds and Armenians in that district owedhim a sum of 10,000 liras) ; he replied that he hadtorn up the records and released his debtors fromtheir obligations. He was taken away with the otherArmenians, and on arrival at the Euphrates heasked permission to drown himself. This wasgranted, and he endeavoured to do so, but failed, ashe could not master himself. So he said to the gen-darmes, ''Life is dear and I cannot kill myself, sodo as you have been ordered,'' whereupon one ofthem shot him and then killed the rest of the family.Narrative of a Young Turk.This youth, whohad come to Diarbekir as a schoolmaster, told methat the Government had informed the Armeniansof Broussa that their deportation had been decided,and that they were to leave for Mosul, Syria, or El-Deir three days after receiving the order. Afterselling what they could, they hired carts and car-riages for the transport of their goods and them-selves and startedas they thoughtfor their des-tination. On their arrival at a very rugged andbarren place, far distant from any villages, thedrivers, in conformity with their instructions, brokeup the conveyances and left the people in the waste,returning in the night to plunder them. Many diedthere of hunger and terror ; a great part were killed


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32 Martyred Armeniaon the road; and only a few reached Syria or El-Deir.Children Perishing of Hunger and Thirst.An

Arab of El-Jezira, who accompanied me on myflight from Diarbekir, told me that he had gone witha Sheikh of his tribe, men and camels, to buy grainfrom the sons of Ibrahim Pasha El-Mellili. Ontheir way they saw 17 children, the eldest not morethan 13 years old, dying of hunger and thirst. TheArab said : ^ *We had with us a small water-skin anda little food. When the Sheikh saw them he weptwith pity, and gave them food and water with hisown hands; but what good could this small supplydo to them? We reflected that if we took them withus to the Pasha, they would be killed, as the Kurdswere killing all Armenians by order of the authori-ties ; and our Arabs were at five days ' distance fromthe place. So we had no choice but to leave themto the mercy of God, and on our return, a weeklater, we found them all dead.''Narrative of a Provincial Governor.^We were

talking of the courage and good qualities of theArmenians, and the Governor of the place, who waswith us, told us a singular story. He said : *^ Accord-ing to orders, I collected all the remaining Arme-nians, consisting of 17 women and some children,amongst whom was a child of 3 years old, diseased,who had never been able to walk. When the butch-ers began slaughtering the women and the turn ofthe child's mother came, he rose up on his feet andran for a space, then falling down. We were aston-ished at this, and at his understanding that hismother was to be killed. A gendarme went and tookhold of him, and laid him dead on his dead mother. '


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Martyred Armenia 33He also said that he had seen one of these womeneating a piece of bread as she went np to the butcher,another smoking a cigarette, and that it was asthough they cared nothing for death.Narrative of Shevket Bey.Shevket Bey, one ofthe officials charged with the extermination of theArmenians, told me, in company with others, thefollowing story: ''I was proceeding with a party,and when we had arrived outside the walls of Diar-bekir and were beginning to shoot down the Arme-nians, a Kurd came up to me, kissed my hand, andbegged me to give him a girl of about ten years old.I stopped the firing and sent a gendarme to bringthe girl to me. When she came I pointed out a spotto her and said, * Sit there. I have given you to thisman, and you will be saved from death.' After awhile, I saw that she had thrown herself amongstthe dead Armenians, so I ordered the gendarmes tocease firing and bring her up. I said to her, *I havehad pity on you and brought you out from amongthe others to spare your life. Why do you throwyourself with them? Go with this man and he willbring you up like a daughter. ' She said : ^ I am thedaughter of an Armenian ; my parents and kinsfolkare killed among these ; I will have no others in theirplace, and I do not wish to live any longer withoutthem.' Then she cried and lamented; I tried hardto persuade her, but she would not listen, so I let hergo her way. She left me joyfully, put herself be-tween her father and mother, who were at the lastgasp, and she was killed there.'' And he added:''If such was the behaviour of the children, whatwas that of their elders?"Price of Armenian Women.^A reliable inform-


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34 Martyred Armeniaant from Deir-el-Zur told me that one of the officialsof that place had bought from the gendarmes threegirls for a quarter of a medjidie dollar each. An-other man told me that he had bought a very beauti-ful girl for one lira, and I heard that among thetribes Armenian women were sold like pieces of oldfurniture, at low prices, varying from one to tenliras, or from one to five sheep.* . . .The Mutesaeeif and the Aemenian Girl.Onthe arrival of a batch of Armenians at Deir-el-Zurfrom Eas-el-Ain, the Mutesarrif desired to choose aservant-girl from amongst the women. His eye fellon a handsome girl, and he went up to her, but onhis approach she turned white and was about tofall. He told her not to be afraid, and ordered hisservant to take her to his house. On returningthither he asked the reason for her terror of him,and she told him that she and her mother had beensent from Eas-el-Ain in charge of a Circassian gen-darme, many other Armenian women being withthem. On the way, the gendarme called her mother,and told her to give him her money, or he would killher ; she said she had none, so he tortured her till shegave him six liras.f . . . He said to her: ^'Youliar! You [Armenians] never cease lying. Youhave seen what has befallen, and will befall, allArmenians, but you will not take warning, so I shallmake you an example to all who see you. ' ' Then hecut off her hands with his dagger, one after theother, then both her feet, all in sight of her daugh-ter, whom he then took aside and violated, whilst hermother, in a dying state, witnessed the act. ^ ' And

* An unimportant anecdote omitted. Translator.f Unfit for reproduction. Translator.


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Martyred Armenia 35when I saw you approach me, I remembered mymother's fate and dreaded you, thinking that youwould treat me as the gendarme treated my motherand myself, before each other's eyes."* . .''The Eewakd of Hard Labour."The Turks hadcollected all those of military age and dispersedamongst the battalions to perform their army serv-ice. When the Government determined on the de-portation and destruction of the Armeniansasstated in their official declarationorders weregiven for the formation of separate battalions ofArmenians, to be employed on roads and municipalworks. The battalions were formed and sent to theroads and other kinds of hard labour. They wereemployed in this manner for eight months, when theseverity of winter set in. The Government, beingthen unable to make further use of them, despatchedthem to Diarbekir. Before their arrival, the officerstelegraphed that the Armenian troops were on theirway, and the authorities sent gendarmes, well fur-nished with cartridges, to meet the poor wretches.The gendarmes received them with rifle-fire, and840 men perished in this manner, shot close to thecity of Diarbekir.A Caravan of Women.t . .A Night's Shelter for Fifty Pounds.The manwho showed the greatest capacity for exterminatingArmenians was Eeshid Bey, the Vali of Diarbekir.I have already stated how many were killed in his

* Unimportant anecdote omitted.Translator.f Unimportant. The writer describes the inhabitants of Diarbekir,on the arrival of a party, as hastening to select women. Two doctors

pick out twenty of them to serve as hospital attendants. Trans-lator.


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36 Martyred ArmeniaVilayet. When news of his removal arrived, theremaining Armenians, and the Christians generallyrejoiced, and shortly after the report was currentsome Armenians, who had hidden themselves, cameout from their concealment and walked about thecity. The Vali, who was anxious to keep his re-moval secret and to inspire terror, began deport-ing Armenians with still greater energy, and thosewho had come out returned to their hiding-places.One of the principal men of Diabekir stated that oneArmenian had paid fifty Turkish pounds to an in-habitant for shelter in his house during the nightbefore the Vali's departure, and another told methat a man had received an offer of three poundsfor each night until the same event, but had re-fused from fear of the authorities.Chastity of the Aemenian Women.* ....An Arab of the Akidat told me that he was going

along the bank of the Euphrates when he saw someof the town rabble stripping two women of theirclothes. He expostulated and told them to restorethe clothes, but they paid no attention. The womenbegged for mercy, and finding it unavailing theythrew themselves into the river, preferring death todishonour. He told me also of another woman whohad a suckling child, and begged food from thepassers-by, who were in too great fear of the author-ities to help her. On the third day of starvation,finding no relief, she left the baby in the market ofEl-Deir and drowned herself in the Euphrates. In

* An official relates how he wantcc" to choose a servant from aboatload of victims, vsrho said they were willing to come as servants,but as nothing else. He took one, and on coming home one nightdrunk he tried to offer her violence; she reproved him in suitableterms and he conducted himself well thenceforward. Translator.


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Martyred Armenia 37this way do they show high qualities, honour, andcourage such as many men do not possess.Women-Sekvants in Diarbekik.You cannot en-ter a house in Diarbekir without finding from oneto five Armenian maid-servants, even the hum-blest shopkeepers having one, who probably in thelifetime of her parents would not have condescendedto speak a word to the master whom she now has toserve in order to save her life. It is stated that thenumber of such women and girls in the city is over5,000, mostly from Erzeroum, Kharpout and otherVilayets.

Narrative of Shahin Bey.Shahin Bey, a manof Diarbekir, who was in prison with me, told methat a number of Armenian men and women weredelivered to him for slaughter, he being a soldier.He said: ^^ Whilst we were on the way, I saw anArmenian girl whom I knew, and who was verybeautiful. I called her by name, and said ' Come, Iwill save you, and you shall marry a young man ofyour country, a Turk or a Kurd. ' She refused, andsaid : ^If you wish to do me a kindness I will ask onething which you may do for me. ' I told her I woulddo whatever she wished, and she said: ^I have abrother, younger than myself, here amongst thesepeople. I pray you to kill him before you kill me, sothat in dying I may not be anxious in mind abouthim.'- She pointed him out and I called him. Whenhe came, she said to him, ^My brother, farewell. Ikiss you for the last time, but we shall meet, if it beGod's will, in the next world, and He will soonavenge us for what we have suffered.' They kissedeach other, and the boy delivered himself to me. Imust needs obey my orders, so I struck him one


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38 Martyred Armeniablow with an axe, split his skull, and he fell dead.Then she said: 'I thank you with all my heart, andshall ask you one more favour'; she put her handsover her eyes and said: 'Strike as you struck mybrother, one blow, and do not torture me/ So Istruck one blow and killed her, and to this day Igrieve over her beauty and youth, and her wonderfulcourage. 'Photogeaphs of Ahmenians lying in the road,

dressed in turbans, for despatch to Constantinople.The Turkish Government thought that Europeannations might get to hear of the destruction of theArmenians and publish the news abroad so as toexcite prejudice against the Turks. So after thegendarmes had killed a number of Armenian men,they put on them turbans and brought Kurdishwomen to weep and lament over them, saying thatthe Armenians had killed their men. They alsobrought a photographer to photograph the bodiesand the weeping women, so that at a future timethey might be able to convince Europe that it wasthe Armenians who had attacked the Kurds andkilled them, that the Kurdish tribes had risenagainst them in revenge, and that the Turkish Gov-ernment had had no part in the matter. But thesecret of these proceedings was not hidden frommen of intelligence, and after all this had been done,the truth became known and was spread abroad inDiarbekir.

Conversion of Armenian Women to Islam.When the Government undertook the exterminationof the Armenians some of the women went to theMufti and the Kadi, and declared their desire toembrace the Mohammedan faith. These authorities


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Martyred Armenia 39accepted their conversion, and they were married tomen of Diarbekir, either Turks or Kurds.After a while, the Government began to collect

these women, so the Mufti and the Kadi went to theVali and said that the women in question were nolonger Armenians, having become Mussulmans, andthat by the Sacred Law the killing of Mussulmanwomen was not permissible. The Vali replied:^^ These women are vipers, who will bite us in timeto come; do not oppose the Government in thismatter, for politics have no religion, and the Gov-ernment know what they are about.'' The Muftiand the Kadi went back as they had come, and thewomen were sent to death. After the removal ofthe Valiin consequence, as it was said, of abusesin connection with the sale of effects left in Arme-nian houses and shopsorders arrived that the con-version of any who desired to enter Islam should beaccepted, be they men or women. Many of the Ar-menians who remained, of both sexes, hastened toembrace the Faith in the hope of saving their lives,but after a time they were despatched likewise andtheir Islamism did not save them.The Germans and the Armenians.Wheneverthe talk fell on the x^rmenians I used to blame theTurks for their proceedings, but one day when wewere discussing the question, an official of Diarbekir,who was one of the fanatical Young Turk National-ists, said: ''The Turks are not to blame in this mat-ter, for the Germans were the first to apply thistreatment to the Poles, who were under their rule.And the Germans have compelled the Turks to takethis course, saying that if they did not kill the Ar-


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40 Martyred Armeniamenians there would be no alliance with them, andthus Turkey had no choice. *

This is what the Turk said, word for word. Andit was confirmed by what I heard from a Turk whowas imprisoned with me at Aaliya, on the charge ofcorresponding with Abdul-Kerim el-Khalil. He saidthat when passing through Damascus he had visitedthe German Vice-Consul there, who had told himconfidentially that Oppenheim had come on a specialmission, which was to incite Jemal Pasha to perse-cute the Arabs, with a view to causing hatred be-tween the two races, by which the Germans mightprofit in future if differences arose between themand the Turks. This was a short time previous tothe execution of Abdul-Kerim.The Killing of the Two Kaimakams.^When theGovernment at Diarbekir gave orders to the officialsto kill the Armenians, a native of Baghdad wasKaimakam of El-Beshiri, in that Vilayet, and anAlbanian was Kaimakam of Lijeh. These two tele-graphed to the Vilayet that their consciences wouldnot permit them to do such work, and that theyresigned their posts. Their resigiaations wereaccepted, but they were both secretly assassinated.I investigated this matter carefully, and ascertainedthat the name of the Baghdad Arab was Sabat BeyEl-Sueidi, but I could not learn that of the Albanian,which I much regret, as they performed a noble actfor which they should be commemorated in his-tory. . . .*

* The writer here describes how a Turkish judge (Tcddi), to whomthe office of Kaimakam was entrusted after the murder of Sabat Bey,boasted in conversation that he had killed four Armenians with hisown hand. ''They were brave men,*' he said, ''having no fear ofdeath, ' ' Translator.


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Martyred Armenia 41An Akmenian Betkays His Nation.* . . .The Sultan's Order.Whilst I was in prison, a

Turkish Commissioner of Police used to come tosee a friend of his, who was also imprisoned. Oneday when I and this friend were together, the Com-missioner came, and, in the course of conversationabout the Armenians and their fate, he described tous how he had slaughtered them, and how a numberhad taken refuge in a cave outside the city, and hehad brought them out and killed two of them him-self. His friend said to him: ''Have you no fearof God? Whence have you the right to take lifein defiance of God^s lawf He replied: ''It wasthe Sultan's order; the Sultan's order is the orderof God, and its fulfilment is a duty."Armenian Death Statistics.At the end ofAugust, 1915, I was visited in prison by one of myDiarbekir colleagues, who was an intimate friendof one of those charged with the conduct of theArmenian massacres. We spoke of the Armenianquestion, and he told me that, in Diarbekir alone,570,000 had been destroyed, these being people fromother Vilayets as well as those belonging to Diar-bekir itself.

If to this we add those killed in the followingmonths, amounting to about 50,000; and those inthe Vilayets of Bitlis and Van and the province ofMoush, approximately 230,000; and those who per-ished in Erzeroum, Kharpout, Sivas, Stamboul,

* The author tells the story of an Armenian of Diarbekir who gaveinformation to the police against his own people, disclosing theirhiding places. He saw him walking about the streets with an insolentdemeanor, giving himself the airs of a person of great importance.He considers that such a traitor to his nation deserves the worst formof death. Translator.


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42 Martyred ArmeniaTrebizond, Adana, Broussa, Urfa, Zeitomi, andAintabestimated at upwards of 350,000we arriveat a total of Armenians killed, or dead from disease,hunger, or thirst, of 1,200,000.There remain 300,000 Armenians in the Vilayet

of Aleppo, in Syria, and Deir-el-Zur (those deportedthither), and in America and Egypt and elsewhere;and 400,000 in Roumelian territory, held by theBalkan States, thus making a grand total of1,900,000.The above is what I was able to learn as to thestatistics of the slaughtered Armenians, and I wouldquote an extract from El-Mohattam, dealing withthis subject:

^*The Basle correspondent of the Temps statesthat, according to official reports received fromAleppo in the beginning of 1916, there were 492,000deported Armenians in the districts of Mosul, Diar-bekir, Aleppo, Damascus, and Deir-el-Zur. TheTurkish Minister of the Interior, Talaat Bey, esti-mates the number of deportees at 800,000, and statesthat 300,000 of these have been removed or havedied in the last few months^

^* Another caculation gives the number of de-ported Armenians as 1,200,000 souls, and states thatat least 500,000 have been killed or have died inbanishment'' {El-Mohattam, May 30th, 1916).The Armenians and the Arab Tribes.As Iapproached Diarbekir, I passed through many Arabtribes, with whom I saw a number of Armenians,men and women, who were being well treated, al-though the Government had let the tribes know thatthe killing of Armenians was a bounden duty. I didnot hear of a single instance of an Armenian being


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Martyi'ed Armenia 43murdered or outraged by a tribesman, but I heardthat some Arabs, passing by a well into which menand women had been thrown, drew them out whenat the last extremity, took them with them, andtended them till they were recovered.The Akab and the Armenian BeggarWoman. ....The narrative concludes with the relation of an instance of courage-

ous charity on the part of a Baghdad soldier to an Armenian v7onianbegging in the streets of Diarbekir. Translator.


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CONCLUSION


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CONCLUSIONIF the Turkish Government were asked the reasonsfor which the Armenian men, women, and chil-dren were killed, and their honour and propertyplaced at any man^s mercy, they would reply thatthis people have murdered Moslems in the Vilayetof Van, and that there have been found in their pos-session prohibited arms, explosive bombs, andindications of steps towards the formation of anArmenian State, such as flags and the like, all point-ing to the fact that this race has not turned from itsevil ways, but on the first opportunity will kill theMoslems, rise in revolt, and invoke the help of Eus-sia, the enemy of Turkey, against its rulers. Thatis what the Turkish Government would say. I havefollowed the matter from its source. I have en-quired from inhabitants and officials of Van, whowere in Diarbekir, whether any Moslem had beenkilled by Armenians in the town of Van, or in thedistricts of the Vilayet. They answered in the nega-tive, saying that the Government had ordered thepopulation to quit the town before the arrival of theEussians and before anyone was killed; but thatthe Armenians had been summoned to give up theirarms and had not done so, dreading an attack by theKurds, and dreading the Government also ; the Gov-ernment had further demanded that the principalNotables and leading men should be given up to

47


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4B Conclusionthem as hostages, but the Armenians had not com-plied.

All this took place during the approach of theEussians towards the city of Van. As to the adja-cent districts, the authorities collected the Arme-nians and drove them into the interior, where theywere all slaughtered, no Government official or pri-vate man, Turk or Kurd, having been killed.As regards Diarbekir, you have read the wholestory in this book, and no insignificant event tookplace there, let alone murders or breaches of thepeace, which could lead the Turkish Government todeal with the Armenians in this atrocious manner.At Constantinople, we hear of no murder or otherunlawful act committed by the Armenians, exceptthe unauthenticated story about the twenty bravoes,to which I have already referred.They have not done the least wrong in the Vil-ayets of Kharpout, Trebizond, Sivas, Adana, or Bit-lis, nor in the province of Moush.

I have related the episode at Zeitoun, which wasunimportant, and that at Urfa, where they acted inself-defence, seeing what had befallen their people,and preferring death to surrender.As to their preparations, the flags, bombs and thelike, even assuming there to be some truth in the

statement, it does not justify the annihilation ofthe w^hole people, men and women, old men and chil-dren, in a way which revolts all humanity and moreespecially Islam and the whole body of Moslems,as those unacquainted with the true facts mightimpute these deeds to Mohammedan fanaticism.To such as assert this it will suffice to point outthe murders and oppressive acts committed by the


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Martyred Armenia 49Young Turks against Islam in Syria and Mesopo-tamia. In Syria they have hanged the leading menof enlightenment, without fault on their part, suchas Shukri Bey El-Asli, Abdul-Wahhab Bey El-Inglizi, Selim Bey El-Jezairi, Emir Omar El-Hus-seini, Abdul-Ghani El-Arisi, Shefik Bey El-Mowey-yad, Rushdi Bey El-Shamaa, Abdul-Hamid El-Zahrawi, Abdul-Kerim El-Khalil, Emir Aarif El-Shehabi, Sheikh Ahmed Hasan Tabara, and morethan thirty leading men of this class.

I have published this pamphlet in order to refutebeforehand inventions and slanders against the faithof Islam and against Moslems generally, and Iaffirm that what the Armenians have suffered is tobe attributed to the Committee of Union and Pro-gress, who deal with the empire as they please; ithas been due to their nationalist fanaticism and theirjealousy of the Armenians, and to these alone; theFaith of Islam is guiltless of their deeds.From the foregoing we know that the Armenianshave committed no acts justifying the Turks in in-flicting on them this horrible retribution, unprece-dented even in the dark ages. What, then, was thereason which impelled the Turkish Government tokill off a whole people, of whom they used to saythat they were their brothers in patriotism, the prin-cipal factor in bringing about the downfall of thedespotic rule of Abdul-Hamid and the introductionof the Constitution, loyal to the Empire, and fight-ing side by side with the Turks in the Balkan war?The Turks sanctioned and approved the institutionof Armenian political societies, which they did notdo in the case of other nationalities.


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50 ConclusionWhat is the reason of this sudden change of atti-

tude?It is that, previous to the proclamation of the

Constitution, the Unionists hated despotic rule ; theypreached equality, and inspired the people withhatred of the despotism of Abdul-Hamid. But assoon as they had themselves seized the reins ofauthority, and tasted the sweets of power, theyfound that despotism was the best means to confirmthemselves in ease and prosperity, and to limit tothe Turks alone the rule over the Ottoman peoples.On considering these peoples, they found that theArmenian race was the only one which would resenttheir despotism, and fight against it as they pre-viously fought against Abdul-Hamid. They per-ceived also that the Armenians excelled all the otherraces in arts and industries, that they were more ad-vanced in learning and societies, and that after awhile the greater part of the officers of the armywould be Armenians. They were confounded atthis, and dreaded what might ensue, for they knewtheir own weakness and that they could not rival theArmenians in the way of learning and progress.Annihilation seemed to them to be the sole meansof deliverance; they found their opportunity in atime of war, and they proceeded to this atrociousdeed, which they carried out with every circum-stance of brutality-a deed which is contrary to thelaw of Islam, as is shown by many precepts and his-torical instances.* ....In view of this, how can the Turkish Government* Fa 'iz El-Ghusein here gives a list of citations from the Koran,the Traditions, and from Moslem history in support of this view.Translator.


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Martyi'ed Armenia 51be justified at the present time in killing off an en-tire people, who have always paid their dues ofevery kind to the Ottoman State, and have neverrebelled against it? Even if we suppose the Ar-menian men to have been deserving of death, whatwas the offence of the women and children? Andwhat will be the punishment of those who killed themwrongfully and consumed the innocent with fire!

I am of opinion that the Mohammedan peoplesare now under the necessity of defending them-selves, for unless Europeans are made acquaintedwith the true facts they will regard this deed as ablack stain on the history of Islam, which ages willnot efface.From the Verses, Traditions, and historical in-stances, it is abundantly clear that the action of theTurkish Government has been in complete contra-diction to the principles of the Faith of Islam; aGovernment which professes to be the protector ofIslam, and claims to hold the Khildfat, cannot act inopposition to Moslem law ; and a Government whichdoes so act is not an Islamic Government, and hasno rightful pretension to be such.

It is incumbent on the Moslems to declare them-selves guiltless of such a Government, and not torender obedience to those who trample under footthe Verses of the Koran and the Traditions of theProphet, and shed the innocent blood of women, oldmen and infants, who have done no wrong. Other-wise they make themselves accomplices in this crime,which stands unequalled in history.In conclusion, I would address myself to thePowers of Europe, and say that it is they them-

selves who have encouraged the Turkish Govern-


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52 Conclusionment to this deed, for they were aware of the eviladministration of that Government, and its barbar-ous proceedings on many occasions in the past, butdid not check it.Completed at Bomhay on the Srd September,

1916. FAIZ EL-GHUSEIN.


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E D - 7 5.


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