The treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire: Documents presented to Viscount Grey of Fallodon
History
The treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire: Documents presented to Viscount Grey of Fallodon
Armenian question; Armenians; World War, 1914-1918 -- Atrocities; World War, 1914-1918 -- Refugees
In August, 1915, _The All Russia Red Cross Society_ entered the
field of refugee work by opening a medical observation point at
Igdir. The staff here consists of a superintendent, a medical
officer, two assistants, and 19 sanitary officers. In September
last, alone, this body served out 18,598 dinners and 16,775 portions
of tea, and rendered medical aid to 4,652 refugees. In October,
1915, the Red Cross Society daily fed from 850 to 900 refugees in
the district of Igdir. The stations of this Society are well
organised, the staffs strictly disciplined, and their work is
effected with neatness and punctuality. The Society maintains a
dispensary and victualling store at Igdir. The estimated cost of the
dinners and tea served out to the refugees by the Society is between
17 and 18 copecks (3d.) a day per head.
_The Village Communes._—The peasants of each of the villages in
which refugees have been settled have undertaken to accommodate
them, gratuitously, in their houses. In these the refugees find warm
shelter, and are not infrequently fed as well out of the slender
resources at the disposal of their hosts. Whilst seemingly
unimportant, the relief extended to the refugees by the peasantry is
of the greatest value. An accurate idea of this benevolence can only
be formed when all the good deeds of the peasantry are taken into
consideration. Undoubtedly, this aid relieves the contributory
public from responsibilities amounting to several hundreds of
thousands of roubles. In other words, the charitable disposition of
the by no means affluent peasant effects an enormous saving of
money, which under other conditions would have to be provided by the
various organisations.
On the recommendation of Prince A.M. Argoudinsky-Dolgoroukov, who
has recently been on a tour of inspection through the refugee
districts, it has been decided to improve the work of relief by
adopting the following measures:—
1. That the present accommodation at the hospital at Annenfeld be
increased by an additional 30 beds. That the bath-houses in course
of construction at Barsoun and Kedabek be forthwith completed, and a
bath-house built at Tchardahli.
2. That a medical officer, two assistant doctors and two nurses, as
well as another assistant medical officer and three nurses for the
30 additional beds, be immediately appointed to the hospital at
Annenfeld. That all equipment required for the additional 30 beds at
this hospital, and the necessary undergarments and clothing for
outgoing patients, be at once supplied.
3. That should a further evacuation of refugees from Erivan to the
Government of Elizavetpol be ordered by the authorities, additional
warm and roofed-in buildings should be rented at Annenfeld and
Evlakh, and be furnished with some comfort for the refugees, even if
only of a very primitive nature.
4. That kitchens for refugees on the move be opened at Annenfeld,
Evlakh, and Elizavetpol.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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