267 replies to this topic

[Ashot]

KURDS DISGUST THE TURKS
The Latter Protest Against the Atrocities of the Former

APRIL 18, 1915

TABRIZ, April 16, (via Petrograd, April 17.)-- Engagements between Armenians and Kurds are frequent in the vicinity of Van, in Turkish Armenia, according to reliable information reaching Tabriz and a general massacre of Christians is expected in the Province of Bashkals. The Armenians of Van are hurriedly trying to raise volunteers in Azerbaijan Province, Persia, to help them against the Turks and the Kurds,

After several stubborn engagements between Russian and Turks, to the north of Dilman, in Persia, the Turks to the south of Dilman. From the district of the Choruk River it is reported that after an unsuccessful defense of Khopa, the Turks retreated beyond Archava where they have occupied fortified heights from which they are making sorties.

There is said to be growing hostility between the Turks and Kurds, the former deprecating the inhumanity of the latter. In cases where Turks and Kurds are serving together this disaffection has at times approached the mutinous stage. Turkish soldiers and even the younger of the Turkish officers are protesting against the countenancing by higher Turkish officers of the outrages committed by the Kurds. There are several instances of Turkish soldiers having lynched Kurds guilty of unusual atrocities.

New York Times

[Ashot]

VON DER GOLTZ TO LEAD TURKS
German Field Marshal Will Head First Turkish Army

APRIL 20, 1915

CONSTANTINOPLE, April 19, (via London.)-- Field Marshal Baron von der Goltz has been appointed commander-in-chief of the First Marshal recently returned to Constantinople from Berlin, whither he went, according to report, to urge Germany to send an army to attack Serbia.

New York Times

[Ashot]

ENVER SAYS TURKS HAD TO FIGHT
Young War Minister and Generalissimo Lays Blame on Russia and Britain

APRIL 20, 1915

CONSTANTINOPLE, April 18, (via London, April 20.)-- "I am glad you asked that question. This is not a war of the Turkish Government, but a war of the Turkish people," said Enver *****, the most remarkable men in Turkey, who at the age of 33 years is War minister and Generalissimo of the Ottoman army , to the Associated Press correspondent in the first interview ever given to the American press.

"Undoubtedly the world finds difficulty in understanding that the Turkey of today is no longer the Turkey of the past, but that, nevertheless, is a fact which should de apparent to all impartial observers," he continues.

The world's youngest Commander in Chief typifies the Young Turks in intellectual attainments and ideals. The conversation with him was carried on in German, and, besides having a thorough command of the German language, he speaks excellent French. Enver ***** would be boyish in appearance, but for a rather heavy brown mustache. Alert, frank eyes, and pleasing manners make him a delightful conversationalist. He has, moreover, a well-deserved reputation for being the handsomest man in the Turkish Army.

When the correspondent entered, Enver ***** shook hands cordially and said:

"I am sorry to have kept you waiting but I am very busy all day. You have come to interview me ? Well, I will make an exception in your favor. I am averse to talking to men of the press. What do you want?"

"The exact reason for Turkey participating in the war," was the reply.

Forced Into the War.

"You refer, no doubt," said Enver *****," to the assertions in the newspapers of Great Britain, France, and Russia that Turkey entered the war to help Germany. That is very true at this moment, not when we mobilized. Today Austria, Hungary and Germany help us; we help them. But we mobilized because there was no way out.

Long before we took this step Russia had grown ugly on the Black sea and in the Caucasus, invading our territory there, while England had already operated against Mesopotamia, and had concentrated a fleet before the Dardanelle. We were unwilling to start the ball rolling, and even after Russian attacked our fleet in the Black Sea we still waited one week before war was declared.

"We new that Turkey would again be led to the slaughter block; being unwilling that this should happen, we took the only course open. We Turks feel that we have a right to exist, especially when the best of us are straining every effort and are catching up with other countries in intellectual and material development. I believe that there is much good in the Turkish people, contrary to what our traducers say. At any rate, we are about to prove it.

"There was a time when Turkey was merely a Government clique, which was not trusted by the people, but gradually the people are beginning to feel that they themselves are Turkey. I think that this is the healthiest sign here today, and there is also the promise that the progress of all civil life will be rapid."

At this moment the War Minister's Chief of Staff entered with papers. When these were disposed of the interview was continued.

"We are taking care of our troops today," said Enver *****; "hence their loyalty. Formerly a rifle was given to a man and he had to shift for himself as best he could. Today we see that his land is cultivated in his absence. Each village has this system. while a man is at the front his neighbors till his soil.

"This measure has been so effective that the area of cultivated land is 20 per cent greater than ordinary," he went on. When a man is in the field we see that he is cared for, simply perhaps, but sufficiently. The Turkish soldier, moreover, now known how to shoot well. This is instilling the confidence he formerly lacked."

Get Rid of Army's Dead Wood.

To the question as to what was responsible for the better quality of troops, which has been so very apparent, Enver ***** replied:

"When I reached the head of the army I discharged on my second day in????? about 3,000 old officers who had formerly been merely a burden on the Ottoman military establishment. Next I made every effort to have a common soldiers feel that he was part of the service, instead of the subject of it. It can hardly be believed the difference this made. The men now have an esprit de corps."

"How did you manage to mobilize your army of almost two millions with limited resources?" he was asked.

That was a problem, of course, but we overcame it. we had a lot of old Snider rifles ready for the junk market. These I caused to be distributed among the gendarmerie, taking from them their modern rifles. There was formerly a large gendarmerie force in Turkey," explained Enver *****, smiling. "Now it is not so great -- we don't need it. So we armed many men with new rifles. Today every man at the front is well armed. It was a case of helping yourself. We did it."

Replying to questions as to the present status of the campaign, the Generalissimo said:

"Conditions in the Caucasus are more satisfactory. Regarding the situation in the Dardanelles, I will say we are fully confident that it has been demonstrated that fighting down the forts there will be a huge task for the Allies. But even should that happen we would still be masters of the situation there by means of howitzers, mines, and a fleet which is not so incoming up the strait would be obliged to move in single file and the effectiveness of our protective measure should be apparent."

In view of the fact that some excitement has been observed in Turkey because of the export of arms and ammunition from the United States to the Powers of the Triple Entente, particularly Russia, Enver ***** was asked for his views on this subject, and replied;

Friendly to Americans in Turkey.

"The matter has occupied us for some time--even the populace, but you may have notice that there has been no anti-American outbreak on that account. Since the elimination of the Capitulations, this was the first situation in which the Turkish people might express resentment in a drastic way, but our of a few manufacturers is not the fault of those Americans living here, and, therefore, our old good relations continue.

"We are not savages, who hold the innocent responsible for something not their fault. There are still living in this city under the nominal protection of your embassy, plenty of English and French. They have not been molested despite the fact that our own people have not been treated kindly in France and England. Young Turkey is ready to demonstrate that no particular group holds monopoly on gentlemanliness and so we shall continue taking the best of care of everybody, no matter what the provocation."

"When the Capitulations were abolished everybody thought that foreigners in Turkey were unsafe, but time has shown that foreigners were never safer as you must have observed. But the export of arms and ammunition from the United States to the Entente Powers can have but one result-useless killing. Turkey, like Germany and Austria-Hungary is determined to win this war and there is every indication that we will."

Speaking of Turkey after the war Enver ***** said:

"Turkey will emerge from this war truly united and stronger than ever. The war is popular with the people now because it has given the Government an opportunity that it takes an interest in the people and is for the people.

"Not wishing to show favors, we called everybody able to serve to arms, with the result that we got more than we needed. Many of the surplus men are now building road everywhere even railroads. During the last month we completed fifteen kilometers in Anatolia, and during the last three months forty kilometers , so constructed, were given over to traffic. In Syria also we have built ????toward the Sues Canal.

Army of the New Era, too.

"In addition, the war has brought together under a superior class of officers 2,000,000 men, and the schooling given them is bound to result in good. We are fostering the spirit hero that one must work for others also and that the old era of devil take hindmost is over."

The War Minister, commenting on the work of The Associated Press correspondent in Turkey, said that it had been described as they were, and added that he had given orders that the correspondent be permitted to go anywhere.

"We have no secrets," he said. "Describe everything you see. Though our experience with some newspapers has been sad, we are willing to trust those who do not require their correspondents to lie to them. What I have said will possibly have no influence; that is the reason why so far I have refused to be interviewed."

The correspondent ventured the opinion that everything has some influence replying to which Enver ***** said:

"God grant it will. We Turks have long been dented a fair hearing before the public. We are so used to slander that we are now willing to convince the world with arms that we are not the ethnological carcass some claim."

The interview with the War Minister took place in the War Department Building, which presented an extremely busy scene. Before the turn of the correspondent came many others saw the Minister, among them Turkish leaders from all parts of the empire, Arabs, Persians, and Indians most of them in European dress, waited for hours to see the young man who guides the military and, to some extent, the political fortunes of Turkey.

The contrasts about the large and well-furnished chamber were many. None was so striking, however, as when the muezzin on the ministry minaret called the faithful to prayer, and was answered the next minute by a concert rendered by a splendid military band, which played German marches and opera selections, and ended with a weird Turkish air.

New York Times

Edited by Ashot, 12 April 2008 - 04:50 PM.

[Ashot]

KURDS MASSACRE MORE ARMENIANS

APRIL 26, 1915

TIFLIS, Transcaucasia, April 24 (via Petrograd and London, April 23.)-- Refugees who have reached the Russian line report that massacre of Armenians by Mohammedans are being continued on even a greater scale. They say that all the inhabitants of ten villages near Van, in Armenia, Asiatic Turkey, have been put to death.

On being advised of massacres at Erzrum, Berjan and Zeitun, and of the conditions at Van, the Katolicos, head of Armenian church at Etchmiadzin near Erivan, cabled to President Wilson an appeal to the people of United States on behalf of the Armenians.

Robert M. Labaree, an American missionary of Urumiah, Persia, who visited the Serbian villages and with whom the refugees were quartered, says he found the humanity of the people as broad as their means were limited. The village Governments or Relief Committees had issued eight pounds of flour to each refugee in six weeks.

The Associated Press received reports of the massacre of 800 of the villagers in Urza and of 720 in Salmas. The painful uncertainty concerning the 15,000 survivors of Urza was confirmed by a journey through Salmas. Three weeks had failed to obliterate the signs of the slaughter. Pools of blood still marked the execution places in Haftevan. The caps of thirty-six victims lay where a mud wall had been topped over on them. A young man named Hackatur related the story of his escape from a well in which the bodies of the dead had been crammed. He fell with others and was tossed into the well, but he managed to wriggle through the bodies lying on top of him and escaped at nightfall.

Not all the Christians lacked the courage or means for self-defense. At the desolated Catholic mission at Hosrova, where forty-eight victims of the massacre were buried, Elizabeth Marcara, an Armenian girl, told how she and young David Ishmu battled with the Kurds. Her story later was amply confirmed.

"When the Kurds burst the village gates," said Miss Marcara, "we took rifles and mounted to the roof. I fired eighty shots. The Kurds were forced to withdraw outside the village wall. There I killed two and David two. Later we killed four more, one of whom was the Chief. The Kurds abandoned their plunder, and carried off their dead.

"The battle lasted three hours. The death of their Chief caused the Kurds to flee. We came from the roof and recovered the things the Kurds had left behind them. Reinforced, I fled with my relatives, We saw the Kurds engaged in the pillage of Hafgvan and fired on them, but they escaped with their valuables.

"Near sundown, we were attacked by fifteen Kurds, of whom I killed one. After the Russian defeated the Kurds and Turks near Khol a soldier told the Persian Governor about me, and chieftainship of a regiment of Turks and if I would continue to fight with the Russians."

GREAT EXODUS OF CHRISTIANS

Thousands Suffered Greatest Hardships to Escape Enemies.

DILMAN, Persia, April 24, (via Petrograd to London, April26.)-- The exodus of from 20,000 Armenians and Nestorian Christians from Azerbaijan Province, the massacre of over 1,500 of those who were unable to flee, the death from disease of 2,000 in the compounds of the American mission in Urumiah, and possible of an equal number of refugees in the Caucasus have been confirmed.

When it became on the night of January 1 and 2 that Russian forces had left Urumiah about 10,000 Christians fled, most of them without money bedding, or provisions. Vehicles and camels and donkeys were for hire only at pries at which they might previously have been bought.

A majority of the people started out afoot, through mud knee-deep, across the mountain passes in freezing weather. At Dilman they were joined by many more from Saimas plain. but for Father de Cross of the Roman Catholic Mission at Hosrova, near her the disaster might have become historic. After Assuring the safety of sisters of the mission, Father de Cross joined the pilgrims and managed to secure bread and shelter for many of them.

The caravansaries were so crowded that few persons could lie down in them, and thousands slept in the mud and the snow. Children were born on the roadside or in the corner of a caravansary.

Arriving at Jufa, on the Russian border, passport difficulties added to the troubles of the fleeing people. Maddened woman threw their children into the Araxes River or into pools in order to end their suffering from cold and hunger.

Father de Cross had to put his back against a wall to fight off the famished mob when he began distributing bread. The mud and cold and the shelter-less nights, during which the garments of the refugees were frozen knee high, continued for three weeks, until the people were slowly dispersed by rail. Meantime, hundreds of them had not slept under a roof or near a fire.

Issaac Yonan, a graduate of the Louisville (Kentucky) Theological Seminary, was among the refugees. He kept a dairy of the happenings during the exodus. This relates that among the refugees from Urumiah were an old man and his two daughters-in law, with their six children, three of them babies in arms. The oldest child was 9 years old. They were eight days on the way averaging twenty miles daily through the mud. The old man became stuck fast in a pool and at his own request was left there to die. One woman gave birth to a child during the march and an hour afterward was again plodding along with the other refugees.

Two of the children were lost in a caravansary, but were taken up by Cossacks along with forty other persons. The soldiers displayed great humanity, often giving up their horses to the woman.

One young woman carried her father for five days, when he died. A woman was found dead by the roadside with her infant, still living, wrapped up in her clothing.

In a single day twenty persons died in the railway station at Nakhichevan, across the border in Russia. The entire casualties aggregated hundreds. People died unheeded and unmourned; in fact, who died seemed to be envied by the living.

New York Times

[Ashot]

PLOT TO BLOW UP TURKISH WAR COUNCIL
Clockwork Bomb Found in War Ministry at Constantinople; Several Officials Arrested

APRIL 28, 1915

PARIS - April 27. A powerful clockwork bomb was found hidden yesterday in the Ministry of war at Constantinople, according to a dispatch from Saloniki. It was timed to explode at an hour when the Council would be in session. The meeting of this body is attended by Enver *****. Minister of War, Field Marshal von der Goltz and General Liman von Sanders.

An investigation is said to have disclosed that the bomb was placed in the room by a sweep who had come to clean the chimney and who then disappeared. Several minor officials connected with the Ministry of War have been arrested on suspicion of being his accomplice on. The police believed the plot was directed against the Young Turks and the Germans.

Members of the Committee of Union and Progress are said to have decided, at a meeting to which no German were admitted, to adhere , to a "waiting policy," but to favor the conclusion of a separate peace with the Allies if Germany failed to provide the assistance sufficient repulse an attack on Dardanelles.

New York Times

Edited by Ashot, 12 April 2008 - 04:55 PM.

[Ashot]

KURDS RENEW MASSACRES
Attacks on Christians in Armenia Become Violent

MAY 1, 1915

JULFA, Transcaucasia, April 29, (via Petrograd and London, April 30.)-- A renewal of the recent massacres of Christians Armenia is in the progress in the whole district of Lake Van.

Conflict between the Armenians and the Kurds are daily becoming more obdurate. An exceptionally fierce engagement occurred today at Shatasch.

New York Times

[Ashot]

THE CRISIS IN PERSIA

THE CRISIS IN PERSIA * MISSIONARY PERILS IN TURKEY * MISSION SCHOOLS IN TURKEY

MAY, 1915

THE CRISIS IN PERSIA

The Christians in Persia are crying aloud to God for help, as did the Children of Israel in the days of Pharaoh's oppression. Fifteen thousands of the m are in the mission compounds of Urumia, and thousands more facing death or worse in cities and villages. Rev. Robert M. Labaree, who went out ten years ago to take the place of his brother who had been murdered by the Kurds, now writes appealing for help for these starving thousands, who are suffering because they are Christians and not Mohammedans. Turks and Kurds are bearing down upon them burning villages, looting property, killing men and boys, and carrying away women and children to a fate worse than death. More than fifty thousands dollars are needed immediately if these sufferers are not to die of starvation on the mission premises.

In the days of Pharaoh there were no human servants of God who could be called upon to relieve. His people's distress, and He called into operation. His mighty forces of nature to effect their release. To-day millions of men and women profess to be ready to follow His bidding -- "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me." This call comes to Christians in America most loudly and insistently. They are most free from the awful strain of war, and their missionaries have been working in Persia for eighty years, and are the only ones in a position to render the needed help.

Persia is undergoing a baptism of blood, and if the Christian Church gives the needed sympathy and assistance we may see even more wonderful results than have followed in China, where the attempt to stamp out Christianity fifteen years ago resulted in the physical death of 10,000 Christians, but has born fruit in the awaking into spiritual life of hundreds of thousands of those who were spiritually dead in Boxer days. Truly, Christianity in Persia is at a crisis, but it may be a crisis, that may be turned to victory.

MISSIONARY PERILS IN TURKEY

The storming of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus has caused some to fear that the missionaries in Turkey may be in peril. All letters from Constantinople, Smyrna, and Asia Minor, however, report the situation as quiet. The storming of Smyrna will probably not bring danger to the missionaries. The missionaries will, doubt, withdraw to the college grounds outside of the city, where the American flag will be displayed. At Constantinople, Robert College has been selected as the place of rendezvous in case the city is bombarded (which is not anticipated). The Turks have made attacks and there has been some clashing among Turks of a War Party and the Peace Party at Constantinople, the Peace Party being the stronger, but, without much leadership, while the War Party has all the German officers and the army and navy on its side.

In case Russia takes control of parts of Turkey, the change will probably not materially interfere with the missionary work. Russia has shown increasing liberality in the last ten years, and the war will possibly result in greater liberalization of Russian administration and in advancing the Kingdom of God in Turkey. Missionaries write in a hopeful tone for the future. A door of approach is opening to the Moslems surpassing anything in the ninety years' experience of the American Board in Turkey.

On the other hand, letters from Asia Minor describe an attitude on the part of the Turks in authority that looks very threatening toward Christians of any race aside from the Germans. Many Greeks, Armenians, and Protestants are in terror because of threats and daily outrages. Greeks in one city were imprisoned simply for using the Greek language. Pictures of bloody massacres and outrage are posted in Turkish schoolrooms. On the walls of a school for little girls, for instance, states in one letter, hangs a lurid scene in blood-red and white. Headless bodies lie around; hands, arms, feet, from all of which blood streams. In the center stands a Christian hacking an old man to death. On all these pictures are words certain to arouse bitter fanaticism."

The teachers say these pictures are sent by the government, and declare that they are instructed also to teach the children poems which inculcate hatred and contempt. One "hodja," on being reasoned with, merely stamped his foot and said, "So will we grind these enemies under our feet."

The American missionaries, for the most part, seem to expect little trouble in case the Allies capture Constantinople. Years of kindness, and the help and friendliness extended in the last few months, have laid such foundations of trust that the common people will not carry out the cruel or blood plans of some Moslem leaders. Many Americans are looking forward to greater intimacy and helpfulness than ever before, growing out of the shared troubles of recent times.

MISSION SCHOOLS IN TURKEY

The degree of the Turkish Government abrogating the "capitulation" was issued last August. Soon after this, a governmental order was issued affecting private religious, educational, and benevolent institutions in the empire, assuming that previous agreements were also abrogated, so that the rights of each institution must be taken up de novo. Institutions that have no imperial formation are reckoned as actually not in existence, and are not to be recognized, and were given two months (from September 18th) to apply directly to a foreman, not through any diplomatic representative. Any institution failing to secure its forms within the two mount's' limit was to be immediately closed.

Some of the statements in the order will gravely affect missionary work if they are put into operation. Foreign individuals may fund private schools in Turkey only by imperial affirmation and the accordance with the Ottoman law, after permission has been granted by the Department of Education.

Some of the conditions indicate the blow that would be struck at Christian missionary education by such regulations. All schools, without exception, are subject to municipal taxation. All schools must make obligatory the study in Turkish of the Turkish language, with the history and geography of Turkey, the Turkish language being the language of the school. The program of the schools is to be approved by the necessary authorities, including the approval of all text-books, etc.

New York Times

[Ashot]

"SPIRIT OF DOOM" HANGS OVER TURKS

MAY 5, 1915


Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES. CONSTANTINOPLE, (via Bucharest,) April 28, (Dispatch to London Daily Chronicle).--An observer in Constantinople cannot be struck by the widespread unpopularity of the war. Against the Russians there is naturally a certain historical animus; toward the British there is at most indifference, but for the French there is a warm and sincere affection. The sympathies of the Greek portions of the population are openly for the Allies, while the Armenians express the same sentiments more cautiously.

But the most curious feature is the attitude of the Jews, who are in many ways the intellectuals. Ever since the revolution, Jewish influence has been enormous in Turkey, and it has been said their Zionist aims had seriously undermined the loyalty of the Arabs. Apparently , however, Enver ***** has decided Arab support is worth a great deal more than of the Jews, and various steps have been taken to force the Jews into Turkish mould. Jewish disaffection is no slight matter, and it is more significant as Jewish influence had hitherto worked powerfully for Germany.

To these elements, Greek, Armenian, and Jewish, must be added the anti-Enver section of Young Turks lead by the Heir Apparent. With this movements are associated many Turkish business men and minor officials, who have been hard hit by the war. It is no exaggeration to say that barely 5 per cent of the population of the empire is enthusiastic for the war, while over 50 per cent, are frankly or covertly hostile.

But it would be a great miscalculation to reckon on this as an immediate factor. The only domestic event which might lead to Turkey's climbing down is the removal of Enver *****. The terror of this decoratively dominating figure causes criticism to sink to limpid whispers in secluded corners. Even neutrals have their life made unbearable by a plague of spies and agents provocateurs, though I personally met with nothing but courtesy from Turkish officials.

German Influence Grown.

Every day tightens the German grip on Turkey. All circumstantial stories of von der Goltzs proposing a separate peace at the war council are idle chatter. Germany holds grimly on to Turkey both for her own sake and as a lever separate Great Britain and Russia. The Government is preparing for every eventuality. Eski Shehir has been chosen as the new capital if Constantinople falls. I have visited this town in the swampy upland valley high among hills in the heart of Asia Minor, 80 miles from the Bosporus on the Anatolian Railway. It occupies an excellent strategic position.

I found work feverishly proceeding to improve the streets and sanitary conditions. Over 200 houses have been commandeered for official use, and thither then families of high official were sent in February and still remain there, owing to the dread of a Bulgarian attack on Constantinople.

The Turkish Ministry of War places the total figure of men under the colors at 322, 000, but probably this is an overstatement. I should estimate the actual number at 800,000, including 200,000 Christians, who are being used for building trenches, railways, roads, and bridges. The rest are divided into five.

The first, commanded by Field Marshal Von Der Goltz, about 100,000 strong is encamped at the Adrianople-Tchataldja lines and Constantinople. The second with 150,000, under Djemal *****, threatens Egypt, while the third. 50,000 strong, operates from Baghdad. The fourth about 18,000 is the Caucasus army. The fifth, under General Von Sanders, composed of picked draft of about 70,000 at Dardanelle, with 15,000 at Smyrna. The headquarters are at Gallipolis. In addition there is a detached force of 20,000 at the disposal of Admiral Suchon for the defense of the Bosporus.

New batches of reservists are arriving daily at the depots, but arms and uniforms are insufficient or inefficient for future formations. It is noticeable many relief infantrymen wear a bandolier of soft-nosed bullets quite openly. The question of ammunition despite official assurances is causing anxiety. The order was issued last week commanding the coast artillery to enjoin strict economy of fire, but as large quantities are still available there is no immediate.

Dardanelle's Preparation.

The Dardanelles have been further strengthened. Since March obstacles have been placed in the way of submarine navigation and the whole British Navy could not force the strait in its present condition by a simple naval action.

It is the current opinion here that landing less than 300,000 men offers little chance of success and the Turks are confident the Allies have no such force available. Their nervousness is due solely for fear of Bulgarian co-operation with Allies. Fort Hamidieh only is manned mostly by Germans; the others are garrisoned by Turkish officers and men with a sprinkling of Germans.

The campaign in the Caucasus is almost at a standstill owing to typhus. On the average, 150 men succumb daily and vigorous measures have been taken to counteract the epidemic, which is raging under indescribably awful conditions. Every available doctor is being died. The commander is contemplating in consequence white drawing into the fortified region of Erzrum there to await the advance of the Russians through the infected region.

Meanwhile the Egyptian expedition is more and more absorbing the energitic and hopes of the Turks. No doubt the next attempt in about two months time will be of a much more formidable character than the last. A light gauged railway is being constructed branching off the Hedjas line, northeast of Akaba, and will be finished six weeks from now. Howitaers have been sent with German gunners for transport over this line.

I made a careful inquiry into the relations of Turks and Germans in the army. There has been some friction between German and Turkish officers due to Teutonic tactlessness, but the rank and file does not resent anything. Under the stern compulsion of his new task-masters the Turk is acquiring a magnificent machine-like efficiency. It would be foolish belittle the admirable work done by the Germans in Turkey on underestimate the resultant vitality in resources and strength of the Ottoman Empire.

Yet it is true that over this land a stranger feels hovering a spirit of doom.

New York Times

Edited by Ashot, 19 April 2008 - 09:37 PM.

[Ashot]

ROUTED TURKISH ARMY PURSUED BY RUSSIANS

Armenians Hold Van Against Turks and Kurds--Massacre of Villagers Continues

MAY 6, 1915

TIFLIS, Transcaucasia, May 5 -- The pursuit of the defeated Turkish army under the command of Khail Bey, in the Khori-Dilman region of the Caucasus, is being continued, according to trustworthy advises reaching Tiflis.

This battle which has resulted in heavy losses for the Turks, began April 29 at Hantahta, near Urumia. In the beginning the Russians stood off the Turks, but the latter received reinforcements and on April 30 the Russians abandoned Dilman and entrenched themselves at Magonzhio, the first village on the way to Khor. From this position they pounded the Turks with their heavy artillery until the arrival of Russian reinforcements.

Three hundred refugees from Dilman have arrived at Julfa, just over the border in Russia, and 1,200 more are on their way. The Russian Council here is taking measures to prevent refugees from Urumiah and Dilman entering the Caucasus.

Nersus, the Bishop of Tabriz, Persia, has arrived here. He describes the situation at Van as desperate. Eight hundred Turks and a large number of Kurds are active there, destroying Armenian villages. Of 300 inhabitants of the village of Rashva, only three escaped. The Armenians, according to the Bishop are still hoping for American and Italian diplomatic interference.

At Van, where a month ago the Armenians were forced to take the defensive and barricade the town they now have been standing off the Turks and the Kurds for a week. Four Turkish regiments, with artillery, are advancing against these Armenians from Erzingan. They are threatened also by gendarmes from the Persian border.

It is feared that the history of 1895 and 1896 will be repeated.

(In these years reforms for Armenia were demanded after a series of act of oppression on the part of Turkey. The presentation of the demands by the States of Europe was followed by terrible massacres of Armenians, which began in September of 1895, and continued into 1896.)

It is declared in Armenia that the Young Turks have Adopted the policy pursued by Abdul Hamid in 1905, namely the annihilation of the Armenians.

The existing state of terror has presented the planting of crops and a famine is impending. The city of Erzerum in Turkish Armenia, has today 300 cases of typhus fever

New York Times

Edited by Ashot, 19 April 2008 - 09:37 PM.

[Ashot]

MISSIONARIES IN DANGER
Americans in Van Threatened as Turks Overcome Armenians

MAY 10, 1915

TIFLIS, (via London,) May 10.--American missionaries in the Vilayet of Van, where the Armenians appear to be weakening after a fierce resistance against attacking Turks and Kurds are reported in grave danger.

The American missions are in the suburbs of the vilayet, where for fourteen days the hundred Armenian boys and girls and thirty American citizens have taken refuge in this quarter of the town.

The Turks have fired 17,000 shells upon the defenders in the fighting of the last few days.

New York Times

Edited by Ashot, 19 April 2008 - 09:37 PM.

[Ashot]

PLEAS FOR ARMENIANS
State Department Inundated with Appeals for Their Protection

MAY 15, 1915

WASHINGTON, May 14.-- Replies were being prepared today at the State Department to a flood of communications from various parts of the country urging that steps be taken to protect native Christians in Armenia and in regions under Turkish control. Assurance will be giving that the department is doing and will do all in its power to aid the Armenians reported to have been attacked.

No recent report from Ambassador Morgenthau, who was directed recently to take the matter up with the Turkish Government, has been received. It was at his request, however, that Turkish regular troops were sent to Urumia, Persia, to keep order. Officials assume that the Ottoman Government will be equally ready to afford protection in other quarters where outbreaks are reported.

It was pointed out today that the feud between the native Christians in Persia and Turkish Armenia and the Kurds had endured for centuries and the present disturbed situation created by the European war was almost certain to be reflected in new outbreaks. The State Department has not been advised officially of the extent of the disorders complained of.

New York Times

Edited by Ashot, 19 April 2008 - 09:37 PM.

[Ashot]

ARMENIANS ATTACK 2 TURKISH DIVISIONS
Serious Uprising Follows Massacre of 2,000 by Kurds or Turks

MAY 17, 1915

LONDON, Monday, May 17.-- A dispatch to THE TIMES from Cairo says it is reported that the Armenians in Zeitun and Cicilia (within Asiatic Turkey) have risen, and that the energies of two Turkish reserve divisions are required to meet the situation.

Armenian newspapers, the corespondent adds, give harrowing details of a massacre of 2,000 Armenians by Kurds of Turks in Transcausia.

New York Times

Edited by Ashot, 19 April 2008 - 09:38 PM.

[Ashot]

DETAILS OF ARMENIAN PLOT

MAY 19, 1915

DETAILS OF ARMENIAN PLOT

Conspirators Planned to Kill the Sultan, Enver *****, and Germans

PARIS, May 18.-- Report from Constantinople confirm the discovery of a plot organized by Armenians and Turks opposed to the new regime to assassinate the Sultan, Enver *****, Field Marshal von der Goltz, and General Limon von Sanders, according to the Journal's Athens correspondent.

Two Armenians, the Journal says, were to have blown up the Karakeul bridge connecting Stamboul and Galate on the Sultan's birthday, while the ruler, accompanied by his commanders, was crossing to attend a ceremony at the mosque of St. Sephin. The plot is said to have been revealed by a son of Zograph Effend, an Armenian Deputy of Constantinople.

The correspondent says that 400 Armenians have been arrested and that their fate is unknown while Kurds have received orders to burn two large villages near Van.

FAMINE MENACES MISSION

Morgenthau Cables an Appeal for Aid for Stations in Turkey

BOSTON, May 18.--The American Road of Commissioners for Foreign Missions today received the following cablegram, dated May 15, from the American Ambassador at Constantinople, Henry Morgentau:

"All stations begging relief funds. Some say starvation threatened. Please help quickly."

The stations mentioned are the seventeen posts of the board in Turkey.

DETAILS OF ARMENIAN PLOT

Conspirators Planned to Kill the Sultan, Enver *****, and Germans

CONSTANTINOPLE, (via London,) May 18. --The following official statement was issued here today:

"On the Dardanelles front near Avi Burnu, there have been very small artillery and infantry engagements, but no important action. Some small transport ships have been damaged by our shells.

"Our troops on the right wing have retaken a height 200 meters from our positions.

"A French cruiser yesterday landed Sarskale, west of Mekri on the southern shore of the Gulf of Smyrna, Sixty soldiers, who fled when out coast guards replied to their rifle fire. Other cruisers landed about 100 soldiers near Sefat, west of Tenika. On the night of May 15-16 two enemy ships which were cruising near the Smyrna forts returned after being damaged by our batteries.

New York Times

Edited by Ashot, 19 April 2008 - 09:38 PM.

[Ashot]

TURKISH OFFICERS IN REVOLT?
Ten Said to be Facing Court-Martial for Disobeying Germans

MAY 22, 1915

PARIS, Saturday, May 22.--Telegraphing from Bucharest, the correspondent of the Havas Agency, says:

"Ten Turkish officers of field rank have been brought back to Istanbul from the Dardanelles to undergo court martial for refusing to obey their German commanders.

"The Turkish cruiser Goeben, badly damaged has been towed into the Golden Horn by the crosier Breslau.

"The authorities at Constantinople Wednesday night made a number of arrested. They are charged with plot element. even some Mussulmans were arrested. They are charged with plotting against the Young Turks.

"General discontent in Constantinople is increasing, but the existing reign of terror makes outward manifestations impossible.

"Reports that Italy is about to declare war on Turkey and assist in the attack on the Dardanelles had brought about deep gloom in Constantinople."

New York Times

Edited by Ashot, 19 April 2008 - 09:38 PM.

[Ashot]

ARMENIANS MAY AID ALLIES * RUSSIANS SAVE ARMENIANS

ARMENIANS MAY AID ALLIES

Col. Nevton to Bear Their Offer to Russia

MAY 25, 1915

Colonel Mesrop Nevton Khan, a member of the Persian - Armenian nobility, says last night he would sail in a few days to join the Russian Army against Turkey, bearing to the Czar the offer of more than a thousand Armenians an America to join the ranks of the Allies against the Sultan.

The Colonel, who is the head of the Armenian Colonial Association, spoke at the annual dinner of the New York branch of the Overseas Club at the Majestic Hotel on the anniversary of the birthday of Queen Victoria. The Overseas Club is composed of unnaturalized British subjects in all parts of the world.

The Bishop and Prince de Landas-Berghes and de Roche of Belgium said the Allies had no dream of crashing the German nation, but merely of breaking down Prussianism.

The club adopted a resolution expressing confidence in the administration of Lord Kitchener as head of the British War Office and deploring the recent attacks upon him.

Among the speakers were the Rev. Walter E. Bentiey, the Rev. John Williams, H. J. Riley, and Mrs. J. Elliott Longstaff, President of the Daughters of the Empire.

Report read showed that in six months the club had raised $5000,000 for the Prince of Wales Relief Fund, the Overseas Warship Fund and the Fund to sent tobacco to Soldiers.

RUSSIANS SAVE ARMENIANS

Troops Arrive at Van And Drive Off Besieging Turks

TIFLIS, Transcaucasia, May 23, (via Petrograd, May 24.)--A detachment of Russian soldiers has occupied the town of Van, in Asiatic Turkey, thus bringing relief to the Armenians, who were being besieged there by the Turks. Upon the arrival of the Russians the Turks retreated in the direction of Bitlis.


Van, in Turkish Armenia, and Urumiah, in Persia, have been the scenes of persecution and attacks upon Armenians by Turks and Kurds for several months. The situation became so serious that the power of that Turkish officials would be held personally responsible for the outrages inflicted upon the Armenians.

New York Times

Edited by Ashot, 19 April 2008 - 09:39 PM.

[Ashot]

TURKISH DEFEAT ON DARDANELLES

JUNE 1, 1915

LONDON, May 31.--Heavy fighting on Gallipoli Peninsula, resulting in the rout of the attacking Turkish forces, is announced in an official statement given out here today. The casualties of the Turks are said to have amounted to at least 2,000. The British losses are given at 300. The statement follows:

"Regarding the operations at the Dardanelles on the 26th and 27th of May, nothing of importance occurred.

The Germans are still making efforts to smuggle ammunition through to Turkey. Red Cross material passing through, for example, was found to contain sections of a submarine and an airplane. An X-ray examination of the baggage of a German diplomatic courier at Predeal, on the Austro-Romanian frontier, revealed the fact that its contents consisted of mine case and asphyxiating bombs, while the day before sixteen boxes of cartage cases were seized at Glurgiu among the belongings of an Austrian courier on his way to Turkey.

I have seen a reliable eyewitness of the Armenian massacres. He says the situation in Armenia is perfect hell, and that the inhabitants are maddened by war, typhus, and famine. On May 12 several bands of Kurdish horsemen made a concerted rush into the Armenian quarterly at Moush, first attacking the shopkeepers in the bazaar, burning, looting and murdering as they went. The massacre went on till far in the night, even the regular police joining. Fully 250 men were killed. The women, if old and ugly, were murdered or beaten; if young and pretty, were taken away. The children generally were spared, but a few were put to death for sheer amusement. The political effect of these horrors is very deep in Constantinople, as many of the best officials of the Turkish Government are Armenians.

The heir apparent now speaks openly of the necessity of a separate peace.

I traveled with a German officer from Constantinople, who had just been appointed to the command of the prisoners' camp at Uim. He said he hoped he would have the English prisoners under him, as he wanted to visit the sins of the nation on them, and calmly and rather proudly confessed that when he was at the front in France, near Lille, he had on two occasions done away with British prisoners.

New York Times

Edited by Ashot, 19 April 2008 - 09:39 PM.

[Ashot]

MORE ARMENIAN MASSACRES

JUNE 6, 1915

TIFLIS, Transcaucasia, (via Petrograd and London), June 5.--After the occupation by the Russians of Van, Turkish Armenia, bands of Kurds continued to commit atrocities in the districts of Bitlis, Mush and Diarbekr. Armenian volunteers in increasing numbers are fighting desperately to protect the Christian population from the Kurds. Inhabitants of Diarbekr, following the example of the Armenians in Van, have organized armed bands.

The population of Urumiah, in Persian Armenia, greeted the Russians with enthusiasm. Food for the refugees in the American mission was brought by the Russians. The consulates at Urumiah and Van have suffered little in the fighting which has been on during the last few months.

The successes of the Russians in these districts are creating dissatisfaction among the Persians and Arabians. Disorders are developing.

The concentration by the Turks of military efforts on the Dardanelles has caused a shortage of arms and ammunition for their troops in the Caucasus. A portion of the Artillery has been removed from the Turkish forts at Erzerum, the principal city of Turkish Armenia.

New York Times

Edited by Ashot, 19 April 2008 - 09:39 PM.

[Ashot]

Guerrilla Warfare in Armenia

JUNE 18, 1915

Guerrilla Warfare in Armenia. To the Editor of THE NEW YORK TIMES.

It is a settled rule of international law that protection is never afforded to private individuals who participate in war and to uninformed predatory guerilla bands. "These are regarded as outlaws, and may be punished by a belligerent as robbers and murderers." (Halleck's Int. Law and Laws of War, 386.) That the Armenians at Hosrova have violated the laws of war by waging private war against the Turkish invading army is admitted in the statements made by Elizabeth Macara, and published in THE NEW YORK TIMES: "When the Kurds (in the present war they constitute part of the armed forces of Turkey and are led by Turkish officers) burst the village gates," said Miss Macara, "we took rifles and mounted to the roof. I fired eighty shots. The Kurds were forced to withdraw outside the village wall. There I killed four more, one of whom was the chief. The battle lasted three hours. And all this was done after the Russians had evacuated the piece.

As to how they would be treated by the American Army under similar circumstances I refer to the "Instructions for the Government of the Armies of the United States in the Field," No.100, Sec.82, April 24, 1863, which says: "Men or squads of men who commit hostilities without being part and portion of the organized hostile army, and without sharing continuously in the war, are public enemies, and therefore, if captured, are not entitled to the privileges of prisoners of war, but shall be treated similarly as highway robbers or pirates." (Moore, Digest Int. Law, Vol. VII. Pp. 174.) A. S. Columbia University.

New York, June 8, 1915.

New York Times

Edited by Ashot, 19 April 2008 - 09:40 PM.

[Ashot]

THE TURK UNVEILED

PUBLIC OPINION (New York) combined with THE LITERARY DIGEST

Published by Funk & Wagnalls Company (Adam W. Wagnalls, Press.; Wilfred J. Funk, Vice-Pres.; Robert J. Cuddiby, Treas.; William Neisel, Sec'y), 354-360 Forth Ave., New York

The Literary Digest for June 26, 1915

What a shock it is to find that we do not understand the Turk, and that we have all this long time been misjudging him! We were so sure of the accuracy of our mental impression--gained partly from "Ali Baba and Forty Thieves" and other "Arabian Nights," and partly from Pierre Loti. We picture him with startling distinctness--in fez and baggy trousers--lounging at the coffee-house, puffing a narwhale and playing chess; or lounging about his palace, with the full harem in attendance. Occasionally we saw him armed with a curved sword and an expression of unutterable ferocity; sneaking up behind an unsuspecting Armenian, only to fall prostate in terror when he discovered the supposed Armenian to be a Westerner. He was to some of us a combination of indolence, cruelty, cunning, childlike naiveté, and vanity. And his wives we thought of as pretty, frivolous, imprisoned butterflies. It was difficult to imagine him at war, and many of us have wondered vaguely how it was that the Allies have found it so difficult to push him off the Gallipoli Peninsula into the waters of the Dardanelles, and to march on triumphantly into Constantinople. That perplexity and others are explained when we are given a true side-light on the Turkish character, as in a letter recently printed in the New York Evening post. This letter, which sounds high praise of the Turk, is written by a British subject, Mr. Arthur P. Tully, manager of the Turkish offices of an English life-insurance company, and is address to his uncle, Mr. Stefen Farrelly, general manager of the American news Company, New York City. Mr. Tully writes, in part:

As an Irishman and a British subject, I consider the fighting at the Dardanelles about the most terrible thing that could well happen, and I can only liken my mental attitude to that of a man who is forced to act as a witness to a duel between his brother and his own dearest and most intimate friend. Nothing could ever alter my feeling toward the Turkish people, for I know them too well ever to misunderstand them, and this war will demonstrate once and for all to the world at large that Turkey can act, in war as in peace, with a humanity and a tolerance that need fear comparison with none, and that to speak of the necessity of capitulation's, foreign intervention, etc., etc., is the leeriest farrago of nonsense ever invented.

I can not, of course, comment on anything connected with the causes of, or responsibilities for, the war, or Turkey's part therein (beyond repeating that Turkey and Turkish affairs have always been most sadly misunderstood, and a little more political sympathy in the past would have worked wonders), nor can I comment on the attitude of the press here and elsewhere, for, just as I could not in war-time discuss the political policy of Great Britain, so I could not criticize the Turks among whom I live, whose mental attitude I understand, and of whom I count someone as my friends. I can, therefore, only try to refer to some more of the current misconceptions which it is only right that I should do my best to dissipate.

There seems, To begin with, to be an impression abroad that the Turks as a race are so sick and tired of war in general, and so uninterested in this war particular, that they would be only too glad to throw down their armies, surrender, and, generally speaking, get out on any terms. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Turkish soldier is second to none in bravery, discipline, and loyal obedience to orders, and the whole Turkish race is at the present moment incensed to the highest degree at the idea of their courage and patriotism being impugned in this respect. It is really not fair to them, and it is not war. Yet I can quite understand how those who know nothing of the Turks and take their impressions from the false traditions current, should be acting, in their own view, quite fairly in thinking and talking of the Turks as they do.

The difficulty is that it is practically impossible to force people to see facts and realize that there is generally more than one aspect of every case. It is unfortunately a very British characteristic to be too optimistic and to minimize difficulties. If my memory is not at fault, it was General Buller who, before the Transvaal Britain a hundred thousand men to carry it through, and for having express this opinion he was recalled. Yet it took us between two hundred and three hundred thousand men.

It is, therefore, of no possible utility for it to be thought in the present war that the Turkish troops are only waiting to be allowed to throw down their arms and surrender; They are not and never have been; and we, as a great and historic nation, should be prepared to allow the Turks to possess the same sentiments of patriotism, loyalty, and obedience to orders that we expect and find in our own countrymen. To act or think otherwise is, besides being a gratuitous insult to a brave and courteous foe, of no conceivable military or other utility.

The writer does not hesitate to admit that some years ago, under the old Hmiddian regime, many of the popular beliefs as to the conditions in Turkey were justified, but that these were due to inherent qualities in the Turks themselves headlines. They were the result solely of the "terrible one-man Government then in force." Turkey had a long, hard journey to make, once they were out of the realm of tyranny, to reach the advanced stage of Western civilization; but they were ready to make the effort. That they have failed in any respect, Mr. Tully holds, is due far more to the lack of assistance and encouragement on the part of stronger nations than to any failure in themselves. He adds:

If only the Power had at the outset of the Constitutional regime in 1908 been willing to give up the capitulation and stand by in a friendly and helpful manner while Turkey put her house in order and in a developed her internal resources by the free control of her own taxation and commerce! It is, of course, always easy to prophesy after the event, but I do think that the efforts our various Ottoman associations, so devotedly made in and out of Parliament to obtain a more sympathetic hearing for Turkey have been more than justified by the trend of events. If only we had had sufficient power and influence and had been able to exercise it in 1908 it is more than probable that the world at large would not now be at war, for, if the Balkan War had never taken a place, it is quite conceivable that Austro-Serbian relations might have taken quite another turn.

The Turkish people, both men and women, are in no need of "education" and "liberation," in the sense in which these poor words are something so misused. They only want a little sympathy, diplomatic courtesy, and leave to organize their own affairs free from foreign interference, and I personally feel sure that, after this war is over, they will at last be accorded this long-desired opportunity.

The nation of Europe will have too many dead to mourn and too many frightful ravages to repair to be able to devote their old attention to Turkey, and therefore, in all probability, the latter. her hands at last freed, will be able to set her house on order and take that place among the independent nations of the world to which her history, her humanity, and tolerance, and the chivalrous characteristics of her people in all human justice entitle her.

Among other misconceptions, the writer hastens to correct any notion we may have that Constantinople is a city cowering down behind the tottering defense of the armies in the Dardanelles. As he says:

Locally, matters are here much as usual. Severe precautions are naturally being taken against espionage, real or imaginary, and a few arrest have been made. The treatment accorded to those imprisoned has, however, been exceedingly good, and some of those concerned have afterward even expresst themselves as astonished (yet another breakdown of the "savage-Turk" theory). One can (I doubt whether this is the case in all countries)walk about freely, speaking one's own language and without the faintest trace of those "scowls and black looks" which I remember to have seen so frequently referred to by certain journalists of too fertile imaginations during the Balkan War. Food is, on the whole, cheap, and bread in particular is little above the normal price; but there has been a substantial rise in such kinds of preserved provisions, etc., as used previously to be imported by sea--largely from France and England.

Our chief trouble is that life is somewhat dull, as expert for cinematography and concerts, etc., given in aid of the Red Crescent and other objects of a kindred nature, there is really little to do. The Red Crescent Society, as also the Defense Nationals and the Association in Aid of the Families of Soldiers, are working miracles in their efforts to care for the wounded arriving from the Dardanelles, and in this connection it is especially worthy of note that Turkish ladies are taking a leading part in the collecting and organizing work, and cooperate in the most efficient way with the central organizations.

This will probably create yet another start of surprise to those who still have the old impression of the traditional Turkish woman. As a rule, the real in this world falls short of the ideal, but in this particular instance it is quite the reserve. To put it briefly, the educated Turkish lady is a lady in exactly the same sense of the word as in Europe or America, and the restrictions on her outward freedom in such matters as going in public unveiled, etc., have quite misled the majority of observers and writers on Turkey. In some respect--notably with regard to managing her own business affairs independently of any control on the part of her husband, her position is a good way ahead of that of her Western sisters, and many an American girl who clings fondly to the myth of the "secluded" and "tyrannized" Turkish wife would be astonished beyond measure did she but once get a glimpse of the real facts.

New York Times

[Ashot]

The "Jihad" Rampant in Persia
By Rev. Robert M. Labaree, Tabriz, Persia

JULY, 1915

Perhaps nothing will better show the spirit in which the war is being wage in Persia than recent massacre of Christians in Salmas. Certainly nothing more clearly reveals the consequences of injecting religious prejudices and hatreds into the conflict which is making such havoc of the world. The suffering and bloodshed on the plains of France and Poland, where Christian is fighting Christian, are sickening; but the horrors there are somewhat mitigated by some acknowledgment of Christian ideals. But when Moslem is arrayed against Christian, and a "jihad" or holy war is proclaimed, all the elementary passions in man burst forth without check in savage fury.

Salmas, where I write, is only one little spot in the world of Islam, and the forces involved in the conflict are inconsiderable and almost negligible as compared with the multitudes engaged in blood-letting elsewhere. But small as the numbers are, one can see what would happen if the "jihad" should become general throughout Moslem countries. Then wherever Mohammedan and Christian communities touched one another the same awfulness of hate and cruelty would be seen on an indefinitely larger scale.

Salmas is the extreme northwestern corner of Persia, where is to be found a Christian population of about twelve thousand Armenians and Syrians, surrounded by a very much larger number of Moslems. Three months ago, when the Russian army withdrew from this region, the greater number of Christians, realizing what would happen at the advance of the Turks and Kurds, fled across the Arax river into Russian territory. A small portion of them alone remained, secreted in the homes of friendly Moslems, and scattered among the Mohammedan villages of the plain.

All that was left in the Homes of the fleeing Christians was plundered, not only by the invading Kurds, but even more by the inhabitants of the district, and the larger part of the booty is now hidden in the different Moslem villages. The governor of this district, who is himself a Mohammedan, told me that he was sure that 90 per cent. of the Moslems here were implicated in this wholesale robbery. The Christians were the most prosperous people of the community; so their houses were well furnished with all the comforts of an Eastern home, and their stables were filled with the best of cattle. They were naturally envied by their poorer Moslem neighbors, who welcomed the popular doctrine that in the time of a "jihad" the property as well as the lives of Christians is lawful prey to Mohammedan.

But property is small consideration at such times. It was from death--from death in its most horrible forms, that the people fled. How well founded were their fears may be seen in a recent events in the very town in which I am writing. For weeks the few who remained behind kept concealed in their various hiding-places, most of them in this town of Dilman. They were secreted by Moslem friends, even against the pressure of the Turkish officials, who with fiendish determination sought them out. As soon as it became known where the Christians were hidden, all the males, to the number of about 750. were seized and gathered at central points, from which they were taken to nearby villages, bound together in twos and threes, and there were massacred with all the cruelty that human deviltry could invent. Eyes were torn out, members severed one by one, and parts of the body flayed. Then all were hacked to pieces, their bodies thrown into wells or stretched in rows under walls which were pulled down upon them. The bodies of little boys as well as of old men were found a few days later among the dead, all bearing marks of the awful tortures they had endured. The massacre was carried out with deliberateness and cruelty worthy of a savage; but the man who planned it all was a Turkish official who had studied in the Roman Catholic College at Beirut, Syria.

He was the son of a Jumer Vali of Van, who in the time of the massacres there had shown himself well disposed toward Christians.

The most relating features of the "jihad" remain to be told. The women and girls whose fathers ,brothers, husbands, had been thus butchered, escaped an awful fate by the timely arrival of the Russian army the day after the terrible deed was perpetrated. But women elsewhere were not so fortunate. Take, for example, the case of the large and prosperous village of Gul*****n, near Urumia. After the men of the village had been taken out and shot in cold blood, the women were given over to the brutish will of their captors. Not a female, from the old women of seventy years down to the little girls from seven to ten, escaped the savage lust of the fiends in human form. None were spared; a fact that proves the crime was not the result of blind passion only, but a deliberate purpose to dishonor all Christian women.

Alas, such acts call forth similar acts of retribution on the part of those who are called Christians, but who know not the gentleness and love of Christ. There is here a band of Armenian volunteers numbering about 1,000 to 1,500 who are one arm of the Russian army. Smarting over the massacres perpetrated on their people in Turkey in past years and still more over recent crimes, these men are burning to repay I like coin.

Who can preach the theory that war is a benefit to humanity, that it develops the virile elements in men, and saves us from the self-indulgence that peace brings? War in fact means only the calling forth of all that is hateful and fiendish in man; and in no sort of conflict are these qualities developed in more lurid fashion than in the miscalled "holy wars" of the East.