TURKISH ATROCITIES

Southland Times, Issue 17630, 15 January 1916, Page 7

TURKISH ATROCITIES

IMAGINARY AND REAL. j CLEAN FIGHTING AND DIRTY ADMINISTRATION. (From Malcolm Ross, Official Correspondent with X. Z. Forces.) Prom time to time one continues to find in Xew Zealand and Australian newspapers references to alleged atrocities committed by the Turks in the fighti ing .on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The statements arc generally made in soldies’ letters, which, as often.as not, contain ludicrously inaccurate statements. In practically every ease of alleged atrocity that has been charged against the Turk in the Gallipoli campaign, close ncquiry has proved that the charge had no foundation in fact. In the first days of the severe hand-to-hand lighting, no j doubt, things were done in hot blood that would not be done in the more regular fighting that has prevailed for ■ months past: the character of the first I fighting made it a necessity that little quarter should ho given. There is one case in particular that one heard often quoted in the early clays, and which, on the fact of it, did seem a real one; but when one became aware of the .surrounding circumstances it was clear that the Turks were quite blameless. * The man referred to had simply put an end to his own .miseries, as he previously had told -■ his friends he would do under such circumstances. In those days, also, there were stories of torture by fire. In these cases it would be found that burns on bodies were simply the result of shell fire. In short, of the many stories one heard of Turkish atrocities, only in two or three cases did there appear to be any proof that there was ground for complaint. Even in these few cases, we do not know what provocation may have been given. On the other hand, wo know of many instances in which the Turks have treated our wounded and our prisoners in the most considerate and humane/ manner. They have given them of their own fond and water, and have dressed and bandaged their wounds, even when under our fire. There are, of course many instances in which our dressing stations have been hit by shell fire and by bullets, and cases in which our wounded being carried down to safety or to the evacuating jetties have been further wounded, .and oven killed, but we all recognise the probability that in not ■ a single instance has this been intentional. It was a necessary disability of the circumscribed area in which we had to conduct our operations. Similary, our hospital ships have always been respected. We know from prisoners we have interrogated that botii our wounded and our prisoners who have fallen into tiie hands of the enemy have been well treated; and these statements are i confirmed by the word of the American i Ambassador at Constantiuople. In this ! war one hits already seen thousands of j dead and wounded; but in no single ini stance has one seen any evidence of atrocities committed. Aly own experience litis been the experience of the other war correspondents, and of our own soldiers. The stories that appear to bo I current in Australia and New Zealand I one never hears mentioned on the Gallii poli Peninsula! On the contrary, both i officers and men have come to regard ! the Turk as a clean fighter, and as a 1 foetnan worthy of their steel. j MASSACRING THE ARMENIANS. But while the soldier Turk lias “play- ! cd the game” against us lie lias not I even condescended to use gas—the Ad- ! ministrator Turk has, in other quarters, j been proving himself as brutal and as I tyrannical as in the days when under j tiie sway of tiie old Kultan a thousand Christian boys were taken yearly to form that legion of Janissaries that became in. after years a terror to tiie ene- ! mies of the .Moslem faith. In fact, at this very moment, tiie Turk is turning back the pages of history and reverting to the methods of the tyrants of a byI K one age. Some few weeks ago I gave | an account of tiie manner in which the I Greeks were driven out of the coastal towns of Asia -Minor in the‘n(Ti,ghbourliood of Alitylene, which, at that time, hold between 70,000 and 80,000 refugees, in the soup-kitchens and refugee camps on the island one beard first-hand titles of plunder and rapine and murder done in cold blond at the bands of the authorities. One saw actual photographs that made otic sad. In every ca.sc the bia.tne was laid at tiie door of the German ofli-e.-rs, who were said to be the prime instigators. Apparently, the men who sacked Louvain have sent their prototypes further east. Recently, in the House of Lords, Viscount Bryce raised the question ol other atrocities in -Asia. Minor and the Government confirmed the statement s ie- was aide to make. TIIK MASSACRE CONTINUED. Recently, two prisoners of war, who have fallen into our hands here, have driven to the authorities a picture of the horrors that the Turks, under the German piasters, are still putting into execution in Eastern Asia Minor. For obvious reasons, the names of some of the towns and districts and of certain persons mentioned in Hie narrative are suppressed. R is a long story, and ran only he told in brief. Tin- narrator is an Armenian solnier, who was for a time on Uu- Caucasian front, and, later, was s--nt to Gallipoli. He refers to Co- wholesale imprisonment and ill-treatment ol tin- Armenian communities. Tie- Bishop of ftivtis wan arrested and exiled to a distant place. Tiie Goveriinr-( ion U'al gave orders to shoe his hare leet just like a horse, saying, sarcastically, "He is an old man, and the head of the Armenians of this district so, as an honour to Ins office, ami out of i esp.-et for >• is old age, we must io it tuat it- does not go ’barefooted." This s-ldier was an eye- witni-ss ol tin- cruel deed. Hr course, tile unhappy bishop iambi not e-.-en move, so I" - was thrown into pris,,n In 1 1 is native town of Zile this man found an i u t 1 dera ! >! e state oi atlairs pre v.-i i 1 i a g Tie- pel i p 1 e were put in prison ami r-ceived all sorts of ill-treat--11;,.e I - . 100 horrible lo pul on paper. At 11 ,,. v wet •• led out of town four . ,1 ii-cii s t and lied together wiVi ropes, oslelisihly to la- taken to the coun-Mar-Hal at Blvas, hul in reality to be massacred be their captors at another place. -j-j s .. v.-i o d hi the grim wot k a fler--,..n.,p. I .o’ tl-o tdoiely .!••, it. This was is March l-isf as,! was tie- ftrs> H a .scries of 1 ■." i." -. a - - r - -" tbai to- i-v 'e ,

Sivas) had mapped out, for two days later nearly all the male population from ]> to 50 years of age were collected and put in prison, only to be taken out in companies of 100 and 200 and sent out on the awful expedition in different directions. The property of these unfortunates was commandeered by the I Government. A town crier went through the market proclaiming; "Hear, people of the town! Whoever has in his possession property of any kind, cows, oxen, sheep, etc., belonging to an Armenian, partner or no partner, is hereby ordered to deliver up same to the Government. Anyone who hides or smuggles out such property, or Slides or protects any infidel, will be severely dealt with." X'eedless to say, a good deal of the .yoney thus arbitrarily collected stuck to the fingers of the Vali! Here most of me ' men had been already massacred. The ! rema'nder were waiting for their turn in the prisons. As to the women, these, ’ j together with their children, were placed | in ox carts, with few clothes and little , bedding and carried to a plain distant “ two Pours' march. Pay after day, night - after night, they wore exposed to hunger and cold until it was thought they would ' accept a change of condition at any I terms. They were approached and reasoned with by their captors in the following strain: “Now your husbands have t all been killed. If you accept the true re- ,, ligion you will be allowed to go homo ~ with your children. If you refuse you shall follow your husbands." The captives without exception chose the latter t fate, which drew forth from the chief ! officer the remark that apparently it j was a truth that a tough infidel would never become a Moslem. At the same time ho gave orders to separate the young and put them in carts. While ! these were torn from their mothers and ~ ! transferred to the carls, a company of I gendarmes who were in ambuscade came 1 i out of tlie.ir hiding place and bayoneted J the mothers before the eyes of the, little ones. The develish deed done, the chile dren were conveyed back to town and ’ a j taken to the police station, and from ® ! there to Sivas. to be kept as prisoners. 1 I The hoys then were separated from the 2 : girls, circumcised, and afterwards taken '' to “mesjlds”—schools attached to a 2 mosque—to be brought up as Mohamme--2 ! dans. Then a town crier went forth r I announcing that “now that Allah had * j been so good as to hand over these 1 j Giaours, it was both a 'savab' (virtue) 2 and an 'imtiyaz’ (privilege) for any 1 Moslem to go and have a look at these 2 i girls and select for himself." The Kai- ' | makam himself went and picked up two’ * [of them for his sons'. Day after day the ■ . unhappy girls were there like so many 2 , sheep for sale in the market. ■ [ One might well pause here for a retro--2 I spective glance at all that was expected t i from the regime of the Young Turkish - Party under the aegis of German inliuf cnee and kultur. and to speculate upon I what would happen to the rest of the , world should it come under the heel of - the modern Hun, who has found in the ' murderers and ravisbors of the Xcur - Hast a fitting ally in this war. i The narrator, continuing liis story of i the atrocities in this village, said that i the Muezzin went tip to the bell-tower i of their church to call the people to ; prayer, the bell having recently been ; | taken down, and the town-crier mean- - I time proclaimed that any person who ’ j had the appetite to kill infidels was in- , I vited to come, the Government to fur- * 1 lush him witli arms to do the killing, i I It was, he added; far better to become , "ghasT’ there than "shahid” on the 1 battlefield. At a village half an hour’s . walk away ibC Christians were butchered to the last man. ( This prisoner, during his .journeyings —at one stage disguised witnessed many cruelties. "All the way to Angora," he ,says, "it was one unbroken tragedy that was enacted before our . eyes.” Wherever Armenians, singly or in groups of four or live or more were found by Turkish Itedifs or Dasbibazouks. going to be enlisted they were attacked by them and killed right out. Partners returning from their fields or I even men who had delivered their tithes , of the crops to the Government and were returning home were killed in cold blood by these would-be defenders of their country." ; Describing'what happened at Angora, the man said, "An officer came, to the barracks and ordered all the men to be ! lined up in tin; yard. Then he said T ! want 100 men skilled in the use of i bayonets.' More than lot) came forward, . land in batches of eight or ten began to ! patrol the town, ostensibly to maintain 1 order. We saw two priests ami forty ; j Armenians dragged by policemen towards ; , tile prison-house. Then the police began .j to enter the shops, and turning the . I tenants nut into the streets, handcuff : them, and take them to the prison-house. 1 ! For three days this continued. Then the major came and asked for forty of the I j best bnyoneters for a special purpose. I The purpose was to convey the uufor- I I tunate people—who came out of the | | prison gates to the number of tIUO, tied i ■ lour abreast with ropes—to a spot where j they were butchered by a hundred of 'the gendarberie. What I saw," he added, ; "was about l(e> human wolves plunge 'among about ten limes as many defence- ■ less beings, also human, and tear them I Ito pieces with bayonets. The Armenians I were unable to run away; they were tied together, four by four, and utterly exhausted. The assassins simply nailed them to the ground. One strange thing was that wc found the raid on the way : back strewn with money. The prisoners, knowing well what was in store for them, had thrown their money away. I There was no shooting. J’reference was i given to bayoneting as the ipilelest .method. Two days after this, for a whole day and a-half, some twenty ear- j riages were kept busy conveying women I and children to the railway station. They i were nlaer-d like so many -.at lie in an | eiielrisiire. with guards all round. Great j crowds gilt bored about the (dace. An j officer mafic a speech to I lie effect that I these women and grills were now public I pioperty. Half-a-dozen policemen got j inside the enclosure, separated l.lm boys, [ mill landed Ihcni to the piddle garden. I The younger girls were also brought | back to the <dly, while the marri-i yea hie | ones were plaerd in the 'fash Khan cam- I vam-erai at Angora, for exhibition. Married women were sent to a prison-1 osme. I What became o# them 1 cannot tell, as : I left Angora soon after: but 1 presume they did mil fate any better j|mn their | 1 sisters of Zile. A few days later wc ; i were scut to ihe front. I shall not go I over the details of our journey to Con- ! 1 slant inapt,;, suffice it to say that the ! same scenes wen presented, t:.e same ' atrocities repeated every where.' j | Xole by Censor. —"Certain place .names. Hie publication of which cannot ! j lead to the idea ; dies tie,; o| m.-rican j 1 li- the e'em-ra! oCift, ‘j