THE MURDER OF A RACE.

Evening Star, Issue 16350, 16 February 1917, Page 4

THE MURDER OF A RACE.

HOW ARMENIANS WERE EXTERMINATED. Among the abominable cruelties and extensive massacres perpetrated by Germany and her allies, the deliberate attempt of the lurkish authorities to exterminate the Armenian people stands pre-eminent. The evidence available' of this colossal crime has, however, been obtained hitherto mainly from Armenian refugees, American Consuls, and missionaries, ami in some cases from missionaries of German race. Mussulman testimony has been cited at second hand, and could not, therefore, bs expected to carry the weight with tho j.»i.UßHnlinan “world iluit would . until nil ly atlaeli to first-hand reports from reliable Moslem eye-witnesses. Me have now received the personal narratives of two such Mussulmans, whose former official standing is known to ns, and whose veracity we have carefully tested by personal examination. We append the gist of their reports, winch necessarily cover only the occurrences which they themselves witnessed or heard of in tlioir neiwhborhood. and therefore relate only to a small jxvrtinn of the atrocities •actually committed. KILLED ON THE MARCH. In August, 1915 (relates the first eyewitness), 1 saw in tho suburbs of (Mush large numbers of dead bodies of Armenian men, women, and children lying in tho Holds. Some had been shot, some stabbed, and nearly all horribly mutilated. Tho women were mostly naked. In the same month I saw about 500 women, girls, and children, guarded by gendarmes, in a camp outside Bitlis. The gendarme said that these people were being deported, hut that the. orders were to let tho “Shotas," or bands of Kurds, Turkish gendarmes, and criminals deal with them on the way. The bands had been organised by the Government for the. purpose of massacring the Armenians. At Bitlis I saw a number of Armenian bodies floating in the water, borne had been washed up on the banks, Ihe smell was terrible and the water undrinkable. In the same month of August, at about two hours from Zaart, I saw masses of Armenian bodies piled up in two ravines. 1 estimate the number at about 15,000. I learned that (he Armenian Bishop of Zaart had not been killed with the others, luit had. at his own request, been shot iu a cave near hr..

On my wav back from Zaavt to Mush there were oCK) Armenians herded together in a stable near Mush arul locked in. Through an opening in the. roof the gendarmes threw flaming torches; I saw (lie flames and heard the screams l of the victims, all of whom were hunted alive. Ait Mush the streets were strewn with Armenian bodies. V, believer an Armenian ventured out be was killed on the spot. Neither the, old. the blind, nor the sick were spared.

On the way Irani Mush to films T saw piles of Armenian bodies at short intervals in the field.? by the roadside. Between Hints and Shcrkis-Kouri I saw two ravines filled with Armenian i corpses, moiSily men. There were about 400 in each ravine. Another ravine was filled with the hodi-re of little children. At Kara Shulxtu I saw large number of Armenian bodies Heating on the river Murad.

This is what I saw. At Krzingan I was told that wholesale massacres had taken place there, and in the whole country round. Beside? those whom the Turks had killed and burnt alive, thousands v.fro thrown into the Euphrates. Many drowned themselves out of fear of a. worse death.

—An Imperial Order.--The second eye-witness, also a Mitsui man. stats’d :

"In April, 1915, an order came from Constantinople to Krznnn, where 1 was quartered. that the Armenians inhaiiiTiting frontier towns an-:l villages .should be deported into the interior. 1 s,n r large convoys of Armenians 20 through Frnnni. In May I was iran-sfened to Tivbizoud. In July an order came that ail the Armenians of that vilayet .should also be deported to tire interior. As I was a, member of the court marital 1 know that deportation meant massacre, Besides the deportation order, an Imperial Irudeh commanded that all deserters, when caught, should be shot without trial. A secret order, however, said " Armenians-" instead of “deserters.’ A ‘ ’ fetva ” from the Sheikh-ul-lsiam aocompnnied tho Iradeh. saying that the, Armenians, bad shed -Moslem blond, and that it was lawful to kill them. I heard that all Armenian men were being massacred on their way into the interior. They were lined up on the edge of ditches, prepared beforehand, shot, and thrown jnlo the ditehes. 'The women and children wore attacked by organised bands, called "Shotas,” plundered, outraged, and murdered. The children, of whom thn (love.vp.mcub had taken charge, were also massacred. At Trebizond the children, whom the American Consul had taken charge of. were removed, taken out to sea in boats, stabbed, put into sacks, and thrown into the sea. Some of their bodies were afterwards washed up on the shore. “In July 1 was ordered to accompanya convoy of Armenians, the last batch from Trehi/.rmd. It comm-ted of 120 men, 700 children, and about 400 women. I took them to (lumishkhaneh. Here the men went removed and. as I hoard afterwards, all killed. I was ordered to lake the w omen and. children to Kr7.illg.an. On the way I saw thousands of unhm-kvl Armenian bodies. Several hands of ‘Shotas’ mot ns. and asked me to hand over tho women and children in them. I, refused. 1 did leave about 200 children with .Moslem families, who wore willing to taka earn of and educate them. From Krzing.au I wa.s ordered, to go to Kainaeb, where, however, the .•luthorit.ies refused to take charge of the women and childio.n. T became. ill, but was ;r,ld that as long as tho Armenians were alive 1 should he sent lorn one place to another. Finally my bauh was included :n another Kai.ch that had conic from F-rzrum in charge of Mohained KiTendt < f the gendarmerie. Ho tc4.il mo afterwards that on leaving Kami wh. in (lie Kuphrat.es Valiev, a hand "f ‘.Shotas' slopped the convoy, ni-de.red the escort, to withdraw, and then shot ''very Annenia.n and threw tlie Ivvfies into tho river. " At Trehizond Moslems were warned that they woitld be liable to the death penalty if they sheltered Armenians. Tho liest-looking women were picked out by t lovei innent. ollicial.s, outraged, and n.urdered. "At Kc.maeb I saw in prison tho Knr-T ish cb’ettain M urz-i Bey. I asked him why bo was there. He said; '1 l:;ivo killed 70,000 Armenians, and now they have arrested me tor striking a gendar no.' He was afterwards secretly executed." In reply to a question ns to the reason for these massacres, this eye-witness stated, that they were ordered ns a. part of th© settled Young Turkish policy of exterminating the non-Turkish races of the Ottoman Kmpire. The motive was poiitical, not religious:. It was inspired by (be, “ Pan-Turanian idea." He saw no German officers actually connected with tho massa< res. hut the, trennan military antho-

rities in Turkey knew of them, and made no attempt to stop them.—‘The Times.*