Armenia, a martyr nation: A historical sketch of the Armenian people from traditional times to the present tragic daysGabrielian, Mugurdich Chojhauji
History
Armenia, a martyr nation: A historical sketch of the Armenian people from traditional times to the present tragic days
Gabrielian, Mugurdich Chojhauji
Armenia; Armenian question
On an appointed day, the governor of a town or city, whichever it might
happen to be, summoned all able bodied men of Armenian race to present
themselves either in a government building or some such designated
place. A sufficient number of police and gendarmes are on hand to see
that this demand is obeyed by all. If any Armenian has the audacity to
disobey, he is dragged there by force. Then these men were led into a
lonely spot and were disposed of. The gendarmes or the police who did
the work of execution returned into the town. If the number was too
large to take them all at once, the process was repeated until all the
work was done in the same manner.
Following is the description of one of scores of its kind:
“In the town of Agantz a list of those to be executed was sent to
the local governor, and 2500 (men) were summoned to appear at the
governor’s house and listen to the reading of a proclamation. The
natives knew the meaning of the order, and many of them ignored it.
They were later dragged to prison by gendarmes and held for execution.
“It is conservatively estimated that 2500 listed men were held in
prison here. They were taken out in groups of fifty, led to a trench
and there shot down. The fifty dead were tossed to one side, a fresh
group of fifty led to the trench. This tremendous execution was
continued until the entire 2500 men were massacred.”
One more instance:
“... One night towards the end of June (1915), suddenly, without any
warning, the houses of most of all of the Armenians who still remained
in the city were forcibly entered by the police and gendarmes. The
men were arrested and held as prisoners in the soldiers’ barracks
at one side of the city. Their whole number amounted to 1213.[165]
Two more of our leading Armenian professors were arrested on this
occasion....” These men “were told that they were to be sent away into
exile at Mosul, in the deserts of Mesopotamia, six or seven hundred
miles away.... These 1213 men, after being held for a few days, were
bound together in small groups of five or six men each, and sent off
at night in companies of from fifty to one hundred fifty under the
escort of gendarmes. Some fifteen miles from the city they were set
upon by the gendarmes and by bondsmen called _chettes_ and cruelly
murdered with axes.... One of the gendarmes who helped drive away
these 1213 men boasted to our French teacher that he had killed fifty
Armenians with his own hands, and had obtained from them 150 Turkish
Pounds. The chief of police at ---- stated that none of these 1213
men remained alive. Our Consular Agent visited the place of this
slaughter early in August, and brought back with him Turkish ‘_Nufus
tezkereses_,’ identification papers, taken from the bodies of the
victims. I personally saw these papers. They were all besmeared with
blood.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account