NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16147, 27 February 1918, Page 7

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

■ ■ *—: TURKISH TREATMENT OF PRISONERS. There is a striking diversity between the recent statements by Australian wounded men regarding tha Turkish treatment of prisoners of war and the report on the same subject supplied by ihe American Consul at Adana, in Asia Minor, which has ,iust been made public l:y the Commonwealth Minister for Defence. Speaking of iho prisoners from Gallipcli, the Consul says that such few as there were were handed over by the Turks to the Bagdad Railway Construction Company, which employed them in and about the town of Belomedik in tho Taurus Mountains. They were under the supervision of Chief-Engineer Havrocordat (an Austrian subject), who saw to their comfort as far as possible. In the fall of H'ld they were well supplied with clothing (save for a few minor had what food was obtained in the region, enjoyed much freedom of movement, and for the mo.t part were in good health. Tip to tho end of May (I9i<>) a large number of the original British (and prisoners from the Dardanelles remained in Belomedik, preferring to work for the engineer in question rather than risk bad treatment in tho camps at Afion, etc." The Consul, however, admits that cases of ill-treatment by some of the subordinate engineers were reported to I him, but he says that they were the exception. The prisoners received large quantities of clothing and comforts from the American Embassy at Constantinople, and the packages sent them by their friends at "Home. ''No other prisoners," he asserts, "succeeded in getting the parcels sent them from Ejome." Apparently the Australians to whoso sufferings reference was made in vesterdny's cables were either the victims of the subordinate engineers alluded to by the Consul, or they wero interned in sonic other district. GROSS CRUELTY. Other British prisoners, however, suf-i fered terribly from Turkish cruelty. These were the men who were taken when Kut surrendered. Tho majority of tho British prisoners were sent to work on the Bagdad line in tho Adana district in June, 1910, "They were compelled," says the Consul, "to march ovorland from Bagdad most of th© way. Exhausted though they already were, practically no provision for their feeding was made. Most were compelled to soil their clothing and kits to purchase what little food could "be found along the wayside. I talked with German soldiers who had given them something to cat. They described how the English would bo compelled, famished as they were, to lick the plates after the Germans had had their meals; yet their stolid, quiet- resignation to their sufferings was remarked by everyone. Indeed, this may have been disadvantageous. as had thev clamoured more, tho Turkish authorities would most likely have seen to it that they received something." The Consul did what lie could for them, and socured for them a shortperiod of rest.; but the railway engineers wore impatient, and drove the men to work before they wore fit for it, usjng unnecessary severity in some eases. A few months later, over a thousandBritish prisoners wore sont northwards froin_ points south of Adana. "They travelled by rail part of tho way, and then had to march for several days over the Taurus Mountains on foot to Bossnnti Station. "When it is rememberod," writes tho Consul, "that many of tho men wero very sick, that all were in an exhausted condition, and none had received any rations for the, journey, and no fond was given them at any point on the way, the sufferings and hardships of the men Inay be imagined. They were driven along by the huttsof a gendarme's musket. Many fell by the wayside, never to rise again. A few succeeded in taking rofuge iti tlie German and Austrian military camps in the Taurus, where they were succoured, and where I was ablo to send them money. Tho first great body was, however, driven on across the mountains ai" the butt of the musket, many falling by tho way; and their passage resembled a scene from Danto's Inferno. This comparison was made by an Austrian officer." • The kindly American again, as.several of his countrymen in like positions did in tho earlier years of the war, did all that was possible for tho unfortunate men. He persuaded the military Governor of Adana to place about 500 of them in hospitals and other buildings, where they "were looked after by an American doctor and his trained assistants, who, besides, rendering medical aid, gave those able to travel money and food for their journev to the concentration camps. Tlio majority, however, wero too tar gone to recover, and more than half of tho thousand unfortunates were buried in the Protestant Mission For their treatment, rs for the cruelties inflicted on British, prisoners in the Gorman camps, our enemies will have to pny a hoavv reckoning.