|
© 2008 ARMENICA.ORG
|
Print
|
|
|
In September 1895, the Armenians in Constantinople arranged a demonstration led by the Hntchak party, which tragically ended in a bloodbath. 182 In the wakes of this event, other large massacres took place, from September until December 1895. 183 Large scale massacres also took place in Trabizond 184, Bayberout, Erzurum 185, Erzinjan, Bitlis 186, Diyarbakir 187, Kharpout, Arabkir, Malatya 188, Sivas, Mardin, Aintab, Marash and Caesarea. The atrocity of these massacres reached its peak in Ourfa, where 3,000 Armenians were murdered during the first week of the new year, of whom the majority were women and children who had taken cover in the city church. They were burned alive in the church. 189
We do not go into the details of these massacres here (see further on regarding the genocide) but content ourselves with the words of Georges Clemenceau: This is, with an ongoing futility, the same history of crime and catastrophe which has been accomplished with the same methods during this period in other places." 190
The total number of victims of the massacres in 1894, 1895 and 1896 has been estimated to around 150 000 people. This is the sum of 100 000-110 000 murdered; 191 plus tens of thousands who lost their lives during the harsh winter in Armenia as their homes had been burned to the ground and they lacked food and heating; and children who became orphans when their mother and father fell victim to the massacres. According to Gladstone: "language is not powerful enough to describe these events, and whatever we can say about this, it will never be an exaggeration."
In addition to this figure are those who were forced to convert to Islam (the alternative was death), the number of whom according to the French ambassador amounted to 40 000. 192
Such a horrifying ordeal worsened the already unbearable situation for the survivors of the Armenian nation. 2 500 societies had been entirely emptied of their populations and those who had survived in many places lost their properties (confiscated by Turks and Kurds). These actions led a group of 500 000 people into total poverty. 193
Finally, a group of 100,000 Armenians left Western Armenia between 1894 and 1897 to search asylum in Transcaucasia 194, the Balkans and the USA.
Added to the massacres in Semvat, 1894-1897, these numbers show that the Ottoman government forcefully reduced the Armenian population in the Armenian provinces by 400 000 people (200,000 in Erzurum, Van and Bitlis alone).
At the start, the Turkish officials, in accordance with habit, denied these massacres completely (and continue to do so to some degree), claiming that the events were nothing more than disturbances 195. Before long, however, the Turks and their defenders were compelled to give in before the indisputable documents which were presented and which confirmed these events. 196 The Turks' next step was to reduce the significance of the catastrophe by claiming that these massacres were merely the government's necessary answer to the general uprising of the Armenians. 197
|
|
182) Livre Jaune (Yellow Book), Affaires Arméniennes, Paris, 1897, p. 137 and 143
183) Among the numerous documents which exist about these massacres, we specialy refer to the British and French official documents which have been published in diplomatic and consular reports. The British documents have been published in the Blue Book (British Parlaimentary Report), Turkey, 1896, nr. 2, 3, 5, 6 and Turkey, 1897, nr. 1, while the French documents have been published in the papers of the Foreign Ministry with the title Documents Diplomatiques, Livre Jaune (Yellow Book) , Affaires Arméniennes (1893-1897), Paris, 1897, and supplements (1895-1896), Paris, 1897. The German documents exist in published form in Die Grosse Politik der Europäischen Kabinette, Berlin, 1923, vol. 10. The essential source of these letters are the countless Catholic missionaries who witnessed these events personally. These letters are published in Bulletin de l'Æuvre des École d'Orient, Paris, 1895-1898. Among the reports from the investigation we in particular refer to the works by L. de Contenson, J. Harris, G. Hepworth and Paul Rohrbach.
184) About the massacre in Trabizond see the report from the Austria-Hungarian general consul, published in Die Grosse Politik der Europäischen Kabinette, Berlin, 1923, vol. document 2444
185) About the massacres in Erzurum see E. Bliss, Turkey and the Armenian atrocities, London, 1896, p. 415-425
186) About the massacres in Erzindjan and Bitlis see G. Clemenceau, Les Massacres d'Arménie, Témoignages des Victimes, Paris, 1896
187) About the massacres in Diyarbakir see the report from the French vice consul, published in Livre Jaune (Yellow Book), Affaires Arméniennes, Paris, 1897, p. 30; See also Blue Book, Turkey, 1896, nr. 2 and V. Bérard, La Politique du Sultan, Revue de Paris, December 15, 1896, p. 889-895
188) About the massacre in Kharput, Arabkir and Malatya (which took 12 000 lives) see E. Bliss, Turkey and the Armenian atrocities, London, 1896, p. 427-440
189) About the massacres in Ourfa, where 6 000 Armenians were killed, see Livre Jaune (Yellow Book), Affaires Arméniennes, Paris. See also till L. de Contenson, Chrétiens et Musulmans, Paris, 1901, p. 57-62
190) G. Clemenceau, Les Massacres d'Arménie, Témoignages des Victimes, Paris, 1896, p. 11
191) For estimation of the number of victims refer to Livre Jaune (Yellow Book), Affaires Arméniennes, Paris. See also Sir Edwin Pears, Life of Sultan Abdul-Hamid, London, 1917; Fridtjof Nansen, Gjennem Armenia, Oslo, 1927, p. 220; L. de Contenson, Chrétiens et Musulmans, Paris, 1901, p. 150; E. Lamy, La France du Levant, Revue des Deux Mondes, November 15, 1898, p. 428; Sir William Ramsay, Impressions of Turkey during Twelve Years Wandrings, London, 1897, p. 157
192) Livre Jaune (Yellow Book), Affaires Arméniennes, Paris, p. 229, 238. See also the reports from first secretary of the British Embassy, G. Fitzmaurice, published in the Blue Book, Turkey, 1896, nr. 5 and an interesting event told by Paul Rohrbach published in the book Vom Kaukasus zum Mittelmeer, Leipzig, 1903, p. 77
193) About the economic effects of these massacres and these constant plunderings refer to the testimonies of two travellers who in 1898 travelled through the Armenian Highland and their story has been rendered by H. Lynch, Armenia, London, 1901, vol. II, p. 333, 341 and Paul Rohrbach, Vom Kaukasus zum Mittlemeer, Leipzig, 1903, p. 65-74 and 147.
194) From 1895 to 1897, almost 60 000 Armenians emigrated as a result of the massacres to Transcaucasia. See Paul Rohrbach, In Turan und Armenien, Berlin, 1898
195) Georges Clemenceau writes: "They have started to talk about the disturbances in the Armenian vilayets, but it is obvious what these words mean. These are only a way to justify the massacres of the Armenians". (G. Clemenceau, Les Massacres d'Arménie, Témoignages des Victimes, Paris, 1896, p. 5)
196) See Vambéry, The Story of my Struggles, London, 1904 edition, vol. II, p. 367-368; Pierre Loti, La Turquie agonisante, Paris, 1913, p. 170-171. Pierre Loti claims the following: "Yes, the Armenian massacre is in progress here. It is not a lie, not a fantasy, but a horrible truth. Here are the great histotical efforts which I, with my life and my conscience regard to be justified, since if they were guilty I could not defend them in any ways".
197) Sir Edwin Pears, Life of Sultan Abdul-Hamid, London, 1917, p. 237-238 and Fridtjof Nansen, Gjennem Armenia, Oslo, 1927, p. 221
|
|
|
