THE UNHAPPY SYRIAN.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLVIII, Issue 4474, 15 February 1917, Page 6

THE UNHAPPY SYRIAN.

HOW HE IS FARING IN TURKEY. A Syrian resident in Wanganui has received advice that the Syrians are very badly oppressed. On the 12th of October last the Go-vernor-General in Damascus ordered all Christians to he taken from their villages, and they had to go a long distance to part of the country called Etchra, about 100 miles from Damascus, to worlc. The' work was very hard, as they, were employed on roads, etc. ’ Those”eligible to fight were put into tbe ranks, but they would die before fighting for the Turks. The Turks brought '35 children of the Mohammedan people from Arzroum, who were taken to the best college belonging to the Jesuit Order in Alt. Lebanon, while clergy were thrown out on to the streets. The Alt. Lebanon property is also under the control of the Turks, who have the old people to work land for them. They have strict orders that fruit from the vineyards was not to be touched. The produce, live stock, etc., lias been seized by the Government, and typhoid, with several other fevers, is raging there. It is estimated that the number of people who have died from cruelty and starvation since Syria has been seized bv tlie Turks is 150,000. The A 1 Mokattam, an Egyptian paper, says that there are 25,000 Syrians fighting with the Allies.