Germany, Turkey, and Armenia: A Selection of Documentary Evidence Relating to the Armenian Atrocities from German and other SourcesAnonymous
History
Germany, Turkey, and Armenia: A Selection of Documentary Evidence Relating to the Armenian Atrocities from German and other Sources
Anonymous
Armenian question; World War, 1914-1918 -- Armenia
My informant tells me that, after the departure of the Armenians from
Konia for Kara-Pounar, he saw an Armenian woman throw her new-born
baby into a well; another is said to have thrown hers out of the
window of the train.
--th May.
A letter has come from Kara-Pounar. I know the writer of it, and can
have no doubt of his truthfulness. He says that the 6,000 or 8,000
Armenians from Zeitoun are dying there from starvation at the rate of
150 to 200 a day. So from 15,000 to 19,000 Zeitounlis must have been
sent into Arabia, the total population of the town and the outlying
villages having been about 25,000.
--th May.
The whole garrison of ---- and of Adana have left for the
Dardanelles. There are no troops left to defend the district if it
should be attacked from outside.
--th May (the next day).
New troops have arrived, but they are untrained.
--th May.
The last batch of Zeitounlis passed through our town to-day, and I was
able to speak to some of them in the han where they had been put. I
saw one poor little girl who had been walking, barefoot, for more than
a week; her only clothing was a torn pinafore; she was shivering with
cold and hunger, and her bones were literally pushing through her skin.
About a dozen children had to be left on the road because they could
not walk any further. Have they died of hunger? Probably, but no one
will ever know for certain. I also saw two poor old women without any
hair left, or with hardly any. When the Turks drove them out of Zeitoun
they had been rich, but they could not take anything with them beyond
the clothes they were wearing. They managed somehow to hide five or six
gold pieces in their hair, but, unfortunately for them, the sun glinted
on the metal as they marched along and the glitter attracted the notice
of a zaptieh. He did not waste any time in picking out the pieces of
gold, but found it much quicker to tear the hair out by the roots.
I came across another very characteristic case. A citizen of Zeitoun,
formerly a rich man, was leading two donkeys, the last remnants of
his fortune. A gendarme came along and seized their bridles; the
Armenian implored him to leave them, saying that he was already on
the verge of starvation. The only answer he received from the Turk
was a shower of blows, repeated till he rolled over in the dust;
even then the Turk continued beating him, till the dust was turned
into a blood-soaked mud; then he gave a final kick and went off with
the donkeys. Several Turks stood by watching; they did not appear to
be at all surprised, nor did any of them attempt to intervene.
--th May.
The authorities have sent a number of people from Dört Yöl to be
hanged in the various towns of Adana Vilayet.
--th May.
There is a rumour of a partial exodus from Marash. It is going to be
our town next.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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