|
© 2008 ARMENICA.ORG
|
Print
|
|
|
By this point, an approximate 50,000 km2 area had been created where the Armenians were still in the majority, concentrated mainly around Lake Van. 87
The next step in the Ottoman policy was to scatter this concentrated Armenian population and decrease the number of Armenians in the peripheral of this area. To achieve these ends, the establishment employed various measures.
The Constantinople government manipulated the nomadic Kurds, who were living in the areas south of the Taurus Mountains, driving them to Moush, Van and Erzurum to settle down on Armenian ground, which in countless cases ended with the c confiscation of Armenian properties, and the rightful owner being banished from his home and properties. 88
The numbers of the Kurdish invasion of Armenia, which had been encouraged by the Turks 89 during earlier periods but was at its height between 1877 and 1914 when they settled in Van, Moush and Erzurum, has been estimated to be around 100,000. Tyler, the British consul in Erzurum, reported that almost every Kurd in this province was originally from Diyarbakir. 90
This ongoing settlement of nomadic Kurds in the Armenian provinces could not be concealed from the European major powers, and they made their awareness clear, at least as long as they were upholding their duties according to the Berlin Treaty. Hence, in their letter dated September 7, 1880, the representatives of the major powers stated that: "Nomadic Kurds who live up in the Mountains and do not come down to the inhabited plains, other than for plundering and the creation of disorder, may not be included in the statistics for the inhabitants in each province." 91
The Kurdish emigration northwards and their settlement in the Armenian populated areas resulted in the inevitable decrease in the production and income of the country, as parts of the arable lands farmed by the Armenians were turned into pastures for Kurdish cattle. 92
The more ominous side of the Ottoman government's policy relied on the confiscations, assaults and harassments which occurred as a consequence of the Kurdish immigration. The Ottomans counted on these ill deeds and the fanatic characteristic of certain people in the Ottoman Empire, in conjunction with the government drive to make life unbearable for the Armenians, to bring about Armenian mass emigration from the region. 93
The Eastern expert W. S. Blunt, generally a proponent of Turkish policy, nonetheless described this policy of the Ottoman government thus: "The sultan encouraged the Turks and the Kurds to harass the Christians to such an extent that they were forced to leave their fatherland, so that they would not be compelled to grant Armenia any self-governance because the majority of its population were Christians." 95
This exploitation of the Kurds for the annihilation of the Armenians was especially unforgivable as the Armenians, during the mid-19th century Kurdish rebellion 96, had been loyal to Ottoman rule and discarded the Kurdish invitation to join forces against the Ottoman government. 97
|
|
87) Paul Rohrbach, In Turan und Armenien, Berlin, 1898, p. 232
88) About this aspect of the Ottoman politics and its effects see the following works: Philips Price, War and Revolution in Asiatic Russia, London, 1918, p. 250-251; Paul Rohrbach, Die Wirtschaftliche Bedeutung Westasiens, Halle, 1902, p. 46; K. Hassert, Das Türkische Reich, Tübingen, 1918, p. 152; W. Warfield, The Gate of Asia, A Journey from the Persian Gulf to the Black Sea, New York, 1916, p. 292-293
89) N. and H. Buxton, Travels and Politics in Armenia, London, 1914, p. 8
90) H. Lynch, Armenia, London, 1901, vol. II, p. 421
91) Blue Book, Turkey, 1881, nr. 76, p. 140-146 and K. Basmadjian, Histoire moderne des Arméniens, Paris, 1922, p. 130
92) J. Burt, The People of Ararat, London, 1926, p. 39 and H. Lynch, Armenia, London, 1901, vol. II, p. 11
93) G. P. Goand, History of Modern Europé 1878-1919, London, 1923, p. 233
95) W. S. Blunt, My Diaries, London, 1921, vol. I, p. 190
96) N. and H. Buxton, Travels and Politics in Armenia, London, 1914, p. 19
97) G. Sasouni, Les Arméniens et le Kurds, Hairenik Monthly, Boston, 1929-1930, in Armenian
|
