THE SIEGE OF ZEITOUN.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 31, 6 February 1896, Page 4

THE SIEGE OF ZEITOUN.

The Armenians, according to the cable news of the past few days, still hold pos_ session of their mountain stronghold^ Zeitoun, and have inflicted several severe defeats on the Turks. We regret to notice that they have also been guilty of brutal reprisals upon the Turks by torturing and murdering two hundred prisoners. That this has happened, however, is not remarkable, in view of the sufferings which their fellow - country - men have endured at the hands of the Turks. Many of those who are now shut up in Zaitoun have seen their wives and children butchered at MarasH, and they are maddened by the lose of friends and relatives massacred by the ruthless Kurd and Turk. They also know what their own fate will bo if they fall into the hands of the soldie'-y who have now invested their stronghold. On our second page to-night we give a sketch map showing the position of Zeitoun, and also an account or the early incidents of the aiege, culled from the full despatch appearing in the American papers received by the San Francisco mail. Mr 11. D. Garabedyan. an Armenian, describes Zeitoun ae « city of about 4,000 families, or 12.000 people. It is located batveen two ranges, or chains, of the Taurus Mountains, about eleven miles northwest of Manish. The city is an old one, having been founded about 500 years aeo by refugees driven out of upper Armenia by the Turks. They built the new sity in a narrow valley, protected on either side and in the rear by high mountain ranges, and in front by a mountain pass, through which a stream flows in the direction of Marash. The mountains are from ]0,000 to 14,000 feet high, and for hundreds of years the Armenians of the northern districts, persecuted by their Moslem neighbour?, have held this fortress as a place of refuga. It is impossible for Zoitoun, without artillery, to hold out much longer against the Turkish army. Only the intense cold of winter has enabled them to resist so long. Their only hope of salvation now is foreign interference, otherwise when the inevitable surrender comes their fate will be horrible indeed.