736 



TURKEY. 



affairs of Turkey and in trusting in the good will of 

 the Sultan to bring about an amelioration in the 

 condition of his subjects and preferring to exercise 

 no pressure beyond addressing friendly and well- 

 meaning advice to the Sultan, decided to proceed 

 no further, although hoping little from the negative 

 and expectant attitude on which the Russian Gov- 

 ernment relied, being convinced that the evils that 

 would result from the interruption of the harmoni- 

 ous relations of the powers would outweigh any ad- 

 vantage that could possibly be expected from iso- 

 lated action. Facts collected and tabulated by 

 delegates of the six embassies in Constantinople 

 showed that the total loss of lives in the massacres in 

 Armenia and Asia Minor respecting which accurate 

 information was obtainable was about 25,000, not 

 including estimates concerning massacres of which 

 there were no official or accurate details, as was the 

 case of the villages in Van, Kharput. and Diarbekir, 

 respecting whose fate it was only known that the 

 whole country in which they were situated had been 

 devastated. The starving inhabitants of the dt 

 tated Armenian districts embraced Islam in great 

 numbers to escape further persecution and obtain a 

 share of the succor extended by the authorities. 

 The Sultan refused permission to representatives of 

 the Red Cross Society to enter his dominions and 

 distribute aid contributed in the Tinted States. 

 The consular representatives of the powers made an 

 arrangement with the rebellious Armenian town of 

 Zeitun, whose inhabitants gave up their arms, retain- 

 ing their hunting weapons. The town was crowded 

 with 8.000 refugees from the villages, who, though 

 perishing from hunger, cold, and smallpox, refused 

 to return to their fields for fear of their Moslem 

 neighbors, notwithstanding these were disarmed by 

 the Turkish soldiery. The spread of the anti- 

 Christian disturbances to Orfah, Biredjik. and the 

 neighboring districts was followed by wholesale 

 conversions to Islam. When the Armenian Protes- 

 tants at Abbastan were reported to have embraced 

 Islam in a body, the Armenian Patriarch raised a 

 protest against the enforced conversion of Arme- 

 nians. The Grand Vizier had already sent orders 

 forbidding the use of force or intimidation in pro- 

 curing conversions, and when the converted Protest- 

 ants were reported to be unwilling to return to their 

 former faith, he had instructed the Turkish authori- 

 ties in Asia Minor to repel all Armenians desiring 

 to embrace Mohammedanism. The British minister 

 complained about the forcible conversion of Ar- 

 menians, to the Sultan, who declared that he had 

 documentary evidence that the Armenians had 

 adopted the Moslem religion of their own free will, 

 and said that it was difficult for him to discour- 

 age persons sincerely desirous of embracing his 

 faith. He proposed to inquire into the matter, and 

 suggested that Sir Philip Currie nominate some 

 trustworthy person to act with his commissioners. 

 The investigation showed that about 6,000 persons 

 had embraced Islam, not because the Mussulmans 

 actually invited them to choose between the Koran 

 and the sword, but yet under fear and danger of 

 massacre. At Biredjik the Christian quarter was 

 pillaged on Jan. 1 and 150 Christians were slain. 

 Those who escaped took refuge with friendly Mus- 

 sulmans, whose house was assaulted by the mob 

 until finally a woman mounted to the roof with a 

 white flag and announced that all within had joined 

 the faith of Islam. The local authorities refused to 

 recognize conversions, following instructions from 

 Constantinople, and this exasperated the Mussulman 

 fanatics and prompted them to more murderous 

 deeds. The Moslems of Asia Minor believed that 

 the whole Armenian nation desired to set up a 

 Christian government in which they would change 

 places with their Mussulman lords, and that they 



were intriguing with the Christian powers to secure 

 this political autonomy by their aid and had actually 

 risen in insurrection and attempted to storm the 

 Porte at Constantinople. As the Sheri law, which 

 the Sultan had done his utmost to uphold and in- 

 culcate, declares that the lives and property of 

 Christian rayahs who attempt to enlarge their 

 privileges are forfeited to their Mussulman lords, 

 the Turkish masses, believing that the Armenians 

 had committed this offense, considered it their re- 

 ligious duty and a righteous thing to destroy the 

 lives and seize the property of such dangerous 

 traitors. The local authorities often connived at 

 the massacres, and it was an exceptional thing when 

 the Mussulman notables, as at Behensi, took a firm 

 stand to save the Armenian Christians from injury 

 and wrong. The massacres all occurred posterior 

 to the granting of the scheme of reforms suggested 

 by Great Britain, and the system and organization 

 evident in their direction pointed to political and 

 official inspiration. In only comparatively few 

 cases were the Armenians the aggressors. The 

 massacres occurred almost simultaneously in widely 

 scattered parts of Asia Minor, begun in most cases 

 by the Turks, openly participated in by Turkish 

 soldiers, and ended only when the survivors em- 

 braced Mohammedanism. The number of Turks 

 killed was insignificant, and the Armenians were 

 almost the only Christians who were molested. 

 With one exception, the massacres were confined 

 within the limits of the districts in which the 

 promised reforms were to be put in operation, as 

 though the .Mussulman element sought to reduce or 

 annihilate the Christian population in order that 

 there might be no Armenians in the local executive 

 when the reforms were carried out and Christians 

 and Mussulmans represented in the local govern- 

 ment in proportion to their numbers. 



In February fresh massacres were reported from 

 Sivas and Harput and from Marsovan, where the 

 Mohammedan mob were said to have forced the 

 Armenians to change their faith, killing all whore- 

 fused. A riot occurred on Feb. 23 at Adana, where 



15 Armenians were killed. Chakir Pasha, Impe- 

 rial Commissioner for Armenia, reported that the 

 Armenians, reduced to the last extremity and deci- 

 mated by hunger and cold, were committing vari- 

 ous revolutionary acts. In Guendu, Bitlis, 15 

 Armenian families were murdered by Kurds be- 

 caiise. after embracing Islamism, they returned to 

 Christianity on the advice of the authorities, who 

 declined to register them as Moslems. 



To Miss Clara Barton and other agents of the 

 American Red Cross permission was eventually 

 granted to proceed to certain desolated districts to 

 dispense aid to the sufferers under the supervision 

 of Turkish officials. George P. Knapp, an American 

 missionary, was expelled from Bitlis in March on 

 charges of sedition. The claim of $100,000 brought 

 by the United States Government in behalf of mis- 

 sionaries for compensation for buildings destroyed 

 at Harput and Marash was allowed by the Porte. The 

 demands of the British, French, and Russian gov- 

 ernments for T. 24,000 damages for an attack upon 

 their consular representatives at Jiddah were also 

 granted. The United States requested to be allowed 

 to send the war vessel " Bancroft " through the Dar- 

 danelles to be at the disposal of the legation at 

 Constantinople. This request was refused on Jan. 



16 in a note from Mavroyeni Bey. Turkish minister 

 at Washington, on the ground that the signatory 

 powers of the Treaty of Paris alone had the right to 

 station guard ships at Constantinople. The Arme- 

 nian Patriarch Izmirlian steadily refused to pre- 

 sent an address to the Sultan laying the blame for 

 the disturbances in Asia Minor on his compatriots, 

 and resisted the pressure brought to force him to 



