740 



TURKEY. 



lutionary plot was to break into the Greek churches 

 on the festival of the Assumption in the guise of 

 Turkish soldiers and softas and begin an indiscrim- 

 inate slaughter. The finding of thousands of these 

 disguises and of bombs and weapons in a great va- 

 riety of places showed that the plot was prepared 

 long beforehand and that the circle of complici- 

 ty embraced a considerable proportion of the Ar- 

 menian population of Constantinople. Monsignor 

 Bartolomeos launched a bull of excommunication 

 against, all the leaders and perpetrators of the revo- 

 lutionary acts and plots. The ambassadors esti- 

 mated the number of Armenians massacred during 

 the riots at 4,000, besides 1,000 missing. Other es- 

 timates made the number of victims 8,000 to 10,000. 

 The Turkish officials estimated the number at 1,100 

 and stated that 500 Mohammedans were missing. 

 There were about 240 soldiers and other Mussul- 

 mans reported killed and an equal number wounded. 

 The police found 118 bombs and dynamite car- 

 tridges, which were for a long time exposed to pub- 

 lic view in the artillery arsenal. 



A special commission was instituted by the Min- 

 istry of Police, composed of eight members, Chris- 

 tian and Mohammedan, under the presidency of 

 Lebib Effendi, of the Court of Cassation, for the pur- 

 pose of examining the revolutionaries arrested and 

 the Mohammedans charged with resorting to re- 

 prisals. The Austrian Government refused to sur- 

 render to the police Armenians who had sought 

 refuge in the houses of Austrian subjects. The 

 Russian and other embassies protected thousands to 

 whom they had given asylum or sent them out of 

 the country. The Turkish authorities discharged 

 all who were arrested unless weapons or incriminat- 

 ing materials were found, but those whose home was 

 in Anatolia were sent back by the shipload, about 

 20,000 in all. Bulgaria was the only country that 

 welcomed the refugees; there about 12.000 were re- 

 ceived and assisted by the people and eventually 

 found employment. Others got away to Marseilles, 

 where in a few weeks 1.000 gathered, most of them 

 dependent on French charity and waiting for funds 

 to he subscribed to send them to the United States. 

 Several hundred reached Alexandria in a like pen- 

 niless plight. Those who attempted to enter Boa- 

 mania were turned back by the authorities of that 

 kingdom. The male Armenian population of the 

 capital was reduced to less than half what it had 

 been, and the loss of the commercial middlemen dis- 

 located the entire financial and industrial system. 



The representatives of Austria-Hungary, France, 

 Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and Russia addressed 

 a collective note to the Porte on Aug. 31 directing 

 attention to the connivance of some of the author- 

 ities in the massacre and pillage of Armenians, as 

 evidenced by the facts that the savage bands, armed 

 and dressed" alike, rose simultaneously at different 

 points, led or accompanied by softas, soldiers, and 

 police officers, and that detectives were seen dis- 

 tributing cudgels and knives among the bashi-ba- 

 zouks, who were allowed to accomplish their crimes 

 witli impunity under the eyes of the troops and 

 their officers. The ambassadors demanded that the 

 origin of this organization be sought out and the 

 instigators and principal actors discovered and pun- 

 ished with the utmost rigor. The Porte repelled 

 the accusation that agents of the Government di- 

 rected or connived in the acts of the bands that 

 committed the misdeeds, which collected instantly 

 when the Ottoman Bank was seized because rumors 

 were current of a renewal of the Armenian attacks; 

 the members dressed alike because they belonged to 

 the same trade guilds, having for their weapons 

 only knives and cudgels, which could be procured 

 anywhere. The imperial troops and police had dis- 

 played a high order of discipline and efficiency in 



restoring order within two days, and Mohammedans 

 guilty of criminal acts would be punished. The 

 number of Mohammedans arrested was 200. 



On Sept. 11 the ambassadors received a circular 

 from the Huntchak revolutionary committee de- 

 claring that unless the reforms demanded at the 

 time of the raid on the Ottoman Bank were granted 

 there would be a fresh demonstration more serious 

 and of greater extent than the last. In consequence 

 of this about 3,000 Armenians were arrested. A 

 bomb factory was discovered in Scutari and an Ar- 

 menian prisoner led them to a large depot of rifles 

 and explosives in a house in Pera, including mon- 

 ster bombs to be fired by electricity, infernal ma- 

 chines with clockwork mechanism, and dynamite 

 and nitroglycerin enough to destroy a good part of 

 the city. 



While the English were clamoring anew for a 

 joint occupation of Constantinople by the powers 

 or the deposition of Abdul Hamid, they desisted 

 when the Russian Gen. Tchikhat shell: was called in 

 by the Porte to inspect the forts of the Dardanelles 

 and advise as to strengthening them. In the latter 

 part of September 80 wealthy Armenians were ar- 

 rested for complicity in the revolutionary conspir- 

 acy, one of whom, Apik Effendi Oundjian, the chief 

 army contractor, confessed that he contributed a 

 law sum of money, but said that he was intimi- 

 dated by the revolutionary committee. The levy- 

 ing of contributions by means of threatening let- 

 ters was still continued wherever there were rich 

 Armenians, and announcements of fresh revolu- 

 tionary outbreaks spread terror through Constan- 

 tinople every few weeks. 



The representatives of the great powers ad- 

 dressed another collective note to the Porte on 

 Sept. 15 to point out the danger arising from the 

 impunity enjoyed by the Mohammedans who fo- 

 mented or took part in the massacres, and saying 

 that the trade guilds that, by the admission of the 

 Porte, marched out in a body to massacre were em- 

 boldened by the impunity with which their core- 

 ligionists had committed bloody deeds in Anatolia, 

 and that the troops and police had indeed shown 

 discipline and efficiency by stopping the massacres 

 instantly, but it was after these had been permitted 

 to rage for two whole days. The Government on 

 Sept. 29 appointed an international commission to 

 report upon the causes of the massacres. On the 

 same day the special tribunal convicted for the first 

 time some Mussulmans who were accused of taking 

 part in the massacres, sentencing them to fifteen 

 years' imprisonment. Many Armenians had al- 

 ready been sentenced to death or imprisonment for 

 life. The Sultan promised the French ambassador 

 that he would seek a reconciliation with the Ar- 

 menians, convoke the Armenian National Assembly 

 for the election of a Patriarch, arid put into execu- 

 tion the promised reforms, not only in Armenian 

 provinces, but throughout the empire. Art in. 

 Pasha, himself an Armenian, was intrusted with 

 the mission of finding a basis of reconciliation. He 

 sent his son, Diran Dadian. to treat with the Ar- 

 menian committee of London and ascertain what 

 concessions would be necessary to induce it to sus- 

 pend its hostile agitation. Ex-Patriarch Izmirlian 

 after the riots was exiled to Jerusalem. 



The Grand Vizier warned the authorities in Asia 

 that they would be held accountable for outrages 

 that occurred in their provinces. Several attempts 

 to create alarm were made without result. In the 

 vilayet of Sivas the inhabitants of Tiukan burned 

 their own village. In Angora Armenian incen- 

 diaries tried to provoke a massacre, but the troops 

 intervened. More serious disturbances occurred in 

 districts round Marput and Caesarea. On Sept. 15 

 and 16 the Kurds destroyed the town of Egin and 



