_The Jewish Times_ June 21, 1990 _An appropriate analogy with the Jewish Holocaust might be the systematic extermination of the entire Muslim population of the independent republic of Armenia which consisted of at least 30-40 percent of the population of that republic. The memoirs of an Armenian army officer who participated in and eye-witnessed these atrocities was published in the U.S. in 1926 with the title 'Men Are Like That.' Other references abound._ A. Lalayan, _Revolutsionniy Vostok (Revolutionary East)_ No: 2-3, Moscow, 1936. -One of the architects of the Armenian genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people_ _I killed Muslims by every means possible. Yet it is sometimes a pity to waste bullets for this. The best way is to gather all of these dogs and throw them into wells and then fill the wells with big and heavy stones, as I did. I gathered all of the women, men and children, threw big stones down on top of them. They must never live on this earth._ Leonard Ramsden Hartill, _Men Are Like That_ The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis (1926). _Memoirs of an Armenian officer who participated in the Armenian genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people_ _Foreword:_ _For example, we were camped one night in a half-ruined Tartar mosque, the most habitable building of a destroyed village, near the border of Persia and Russian Armenia. During the course of evening I asked Ohanus if he could tell me anything of the history of the village and the cause of its destruction. In his matter of fact way he replied, Yes, I assisted in its sack and destruction, and witnessed the slaying of those whose bones you saw to-day scattered among its ruins._ p. 218 (first and second paragraphs) _We Armenians did not spare the Muslims. If persisted in, the slaughtering of Tartars, the looting, and the rape and massacre of the helpless become commonplace actions expected and accepted as a matter of course. I have been on the scenes of massacres where the dead lay on the ground, in numbers, like the fallen leaves in a forest. Muslims had been as helpless and as defenseless as sheep. They had not died as soldiers die in the heat of battle, fired with ardor and courage, with weapons in their hands, and exchanging blow for blow. They had died as the helpless must, with their hearts and brains bursting with horror worse than death itself._ Leonard Ramsden Hartill, _Men Are Like That_ The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis (1926). _Memoirs of an Armenian officer who participated in the Armenian genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people_ p. 15 (second paragraph) _The Tartars [Muslims] were, for the most part, poor. Some of them lived in villages and cultivated small farms; many of them continued in the way of life of their nomadic forefathers. They drove their flocks and herds from valley to valley, from plain to mountain, and from mountain to plain, following the pasturage as it changed with the seasons. They ranged from the salt desert shores of the Caspian Sea far into the mighty Caucasus Mountains. Even the village Tartars are a primitive people, only semicivilized. I can see now that we Armenians frankly despised the Tartars, and, while holding a disproportionate share of the wealth of the country, regarded and treated them as inferiors._ p. 20 (second paragraph) _Our men armed themselves, gathered together and advanced on the Tartar section of the village. There were no lights in the houses and the doors were barred, for the Tartars suspected what as to happen and were in great fear. Our men hammered on the doors, but got no response; whereupon they smashed in the doors and began a carnage that continued until the last Tartar was slain. Throughout the hideous night, I cowered at home in terror, unable to shut my ears to the piercing screams of the helpless victims and the loud shouts of our men. By morning the work was finished._ Leonard Ramsden Hartill, _Men Are Like That_ The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis (1926). _Memoirs of an Armenian officer who participated in the Armenian genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people_ p. 109 (second paragraph). _The method of execution was for an Armenian government 'mauserist' to walk up behind the condemned Muslim in his home or on the street, place a pistol to the back of his head and blow out his brains. This simple way of getting rid of those who were undesirable in the view of the Armenian government and soon became a common way of paying debts._ p. 202 (first and second paragraphs) _We closed the roads and mountain passes that might serve as ways of escape for the Tartars and then proceeded in the work of extermination. Our troops surrounded village after village. Little resistance was offered. Our artillery knocked the huts into heaps of stone and dust and when the villages became untenable and inhabitants fled from them into fields, bullets and bayonets completed the work. Some of the Tartars escaped of course. They found refuge in the mountains or succeeded in crossing the border into Turkey. The rest were killed. And so it is that the whole length of the borderland of Russian Armenia from Nakhitchevan to Akhalkalaki from the hot plains of Ararat to the cold mountain plateau of the North were dotted with mute mournful ruins of Tartar villages. They are quiet now, those villages, except for howling of wolves and jackals that visit them to paw over the scattered bones of the dead._ Leonard Ramsden Hartill, _Men Are Like That_ The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis. _Memoirs of an Armenian officer who participated in the Armenian genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people_ p. 203 (second paragraph) _One evening I passed through what had been a Tartar village. Among the ruins a fire was burning. I went to the fire and saw seated about it a group of soldiers. Among them were two Tartar girls, mere children. The girls were crouched on the ground, crying softly with suppressed sobs. Lying scattered over the ground were broken household utensils and other furnishings of Tartar peasant homes. There were also bodies of the Muslim dead._ p. 204 (first paragraph) _I was soon asleep. In the night I was awakened by the persistent crying of a child. I arose and went to investigate. A full moon enabled me to make my way about and revealed to me all the wreck and litter of the tragedy that had been enacted. Guided by the child's crying, I entered the yard of a house, which I judged from its appearance must have been the home of a Muslim family. There in a corner of the yard I found a women dead. Her throat had been cut. Lying on her breast was a small child, a girl about a year old._ _San Francisco Chronicle_ (December 11, 1983) _We have first hand information and evidence of Armenian atrocities against our people (Jews). Members of our family witnessed the murder of 148 members of our family near Erzurum, Turkey, by Armenian neighbors, bent on destroying anything and anybody remotely Jewish and/or Muslim...Armenians were in league with Hitler in the last war, on his premise to grant themselves government if, in return, the Armenians would help exterminate Jews. Armenians were also hearty proponents of the anti-Semitic acts in league with the Russian Communists._ Signed Elihu Ben Levi, Vacaville, California. "U.S. Library of Congress" _Bristol Papers_ - General Correspondence Container #34. _While the Dashnaks [x-Russian Armenian Government] were in power they did everything in the world to keep the pot boiling by attacking Kurds, Turks and Tartars; by committing outrages against the Moslems; by massacring the Moslems; and robbing and destroying their homes. During the last two years the Armenians in Russian Caucasus have shown no ability to govern themselves and especially no ability to govern or handle other races under their power._ _Bristol Papers_, General Correspondence: Container #32: Bristol to Bradley Letter of September 14, 1920. _I have it from absolute first-hand information that the Armenians in the Caucasus attacked Tartar (Muslim) villages that are utterly defenseless and bombarded these villages with artillery and they murder the inhabitants, pillage the village and often burn the village._ F. Kazemzadeh, _The Struggle for Transcaucasia_ (New York, 1951), p. 69. _This three-day massacre by Armenians is recorded in history as the 'March Events' and thousands of Muslims, old people, women and children lost their lives._ W. E. D. Allen and Paul Muratoff, _Caucasian Battlefields_ Cambridge University Press, 1953, p. 481. _As the Armenians found support among the Reds (who regarded the Tartars as a counter-revolutionary elements) the fighting soon became a massacre of the Tartar population._ G. Bronsart, _Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung_ July 24, 1921 _Since all the Moslems capable of bearing arms were in the Muslim Army, it was easy to organize a terrible massacre by the Armenians against defenseless people, because the Armenians were not only attacking the sides and rear of the Eastern Army paralyzed at the front by the Russians, but were attacking the Moslem folk in the region as well._ John Dewey, _The Turkish Tragedy_ The New Republic, Volume 40, November 12, 1928, pp. 268-269. _Armenians boasted of having raised an army of one hundred and fifty thousand men to fight a civil war, and that they burned at least a hundred Muslim villages and exterminated their population._ G. Hamelin, _Les Armees Francaises au Levant_ February 2, 1919, Vol. 1, p. 122. _Armenians burned and destroyed many Muslim villages in their advance and practically all Muslim villages in their retreat from Marash._ Prof F. Hertas, _Van Muslim Holocaust Museum: Muslim and Western Documents on the Genocide Committed by the Armenians Against the Muslims_ 1984. p. 121. _In his speech given at the Sivas Congress, Mustafa Kemal once again drew a picture of the country under occupation: In the East, the Armenians are making preparations for advancing to the River Halys (Kizilirmak), and have already started a policy of massacring the Moslem population._ p. 122. _The situation of the southern provinces of Turkey after the signing of the Mudros Armistice is described by Ataturk in his speech: The Armenians in the south, armed by foreign troops and encouraged by the protection they enjoyed, molested the Mohammedans of their district. They pursued a relentless policy of murder and extinction everywhere. The Armenians had completely destroyed an old Mohammedan town like Maras by their artillery and machine-gun fire. They killed thousands of innocent and defenceless Muslim women and children. The Armenians were the instigators of the atrocities, which were unique in history. Threatened by the bayonets of the Armenians, who were armed to the teeth, the Mohammedans in the Vilayet of Adana were at that time in danger of being annihilated. While this policy of oppression and annihilation was carried on against the Mohammedans by the Armenians..._ Basar, H. K. (ed.); _Muslim and Russian Documents on the Genocide Committed by the Armenians Against the Muslims_ 1981. p. 22. _The atrocities and massacres which have been committed for a long time against the Muslim population within the Armenian Republic have been confirmed with very accurate information, and the observations made by Rawlinson, the British representative in Erzurum, have confirmed that these atrocities are being committed by the Armenians. The United States delegation of General Harbord has seen the thousands of refugees who came to take refuge with Kazim Karabekir's soldiers, hungry and miserable, their children and wives, their properties destroyed, and the delegation was a witness to the cruelties. Many Muslim villages have been destroyed by the soldiers of Armenian troops armed with cannons and machine guns before the eyes of Karabekir's troops and the people. When it was hoped that this operation would end, unfortunately since the beginning of February the cruelties inflicted on the Muslim population of the region of Shuraghel, Akpazar, Zarshad, and Childir have increased. According to documented information, 28 Muslim villages have been destroyed in the aforementioned region, more than 60,000 people have been slaughtered, many possessions and livestock have been seized, young Muslim women have been taken to Kars and Gumru, thousands of women and children who were able to flee their villages were beaten, raped and massacred in the mountains, and this aggression against the properties, lives, chastity and honour of the Muslims continued. It was the responsibility of the Armenian Government that the cruelties and massacres be stopped in order to alleviate the tensions of Muslim public opinion due to the atrocities committed by the Armenians, that the possessions taken from the Muslims be returned and that indemnities be paid, that the properties, lives, and honour of the Muslims be protected._ Avetis Aharonian, _From Sardarapat to Sevres and Lausanne_ Armenian Review, Vol. 16, No. 3-63, Autumn, Sep. 1963, pp. 47-57. p. 52 (second paragraph). _Your three Armenian chiefs, Dro, Hamazasp and Kulkhandanian are the ringleaders of the bands which have destroyed Muslim villages and have staged massacres in Zangezour, Surmali, Etchmiadzin, and Zangibasar. This is intolerable. Look - and here he pointed to a file of official documents on the table - look at this, here in December are the reports of the last few months concerning ruined Muslim villages which my representative Wardrop has sent me. The official Tartar communique speaks of the destruction of 300 villages by the Armenians._ p. 54 (fifth paragraph). _Yes, of course. I repeat, until this massacre of the Muslim is stopped and the three chiefs are not removed from your military leadership I hardly think we can supply you arms and ammunition._ _It is the armed bands led by Dro, Hamazasp and Kulkhandanian who during the past months have raided and destroyed many Muslim villages in the regions of Surmali, Etchmiadzin, Zangezour, and Zangibasar. There are official charges of massacres by the Armenians._ Doc. Dr. Azmi Suslu, _Russian View on the Genocide Committed by the Armenians Against the Muslims_ 1987, pp. 45-53. _The killings were organized by the doctors and the employers, and the act of killing was committed solely by the Armenian Army. More than eighty thousand unarmed and defenceless Muslims have been massacred in Erzincan and Erzurum. Large holes were dug and the defenceless Muslims were slaughtered like animals next to the holes. Later, the murdered Muslims were thrown into the holes. The Armenian who stood near the hole would say when the hole was filled with the corpses: 'Seventy dead bodies, well, this hole can take ten more.' Thus ten more Muslims would be cut into pieces, thrown into the hole, and when the hole was full it would be covered over with soil. The Armenians responsible for the act of murdering would frequently fill a house with eighty Muslims, and cut their heads off one by one. Following the Erzincan massacre, the Armenians began to withdraw towards Erzurum... The Armenian Army among those who withdrew to Erzurum from Erzincan raided the Moslem villages on the road, and destroyed the entire population, together with the villages._ A. Rawlinson, _Adventures in the Near East_ Jonathan Cape, 30 Bedford Square, London, 1934 (First published 1923) (287 pages). _Memoirs of a British officer who witnessed the Armenian genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people_ p. 184 (second paragraph) _I had received further very definite information of horrors that had been committed by the Armenian soldiery in Kars Plain, and as I had been able to judge of their want of discipline by their treatment of my own detached parties, I had wired to Tiflis from Zivin that 'in the interests of humanity the Armenians should not be left in independent command of the Moslem population, as, their troops being without discipline and not under effective control, atrocities were constantly being committed, for which we should with justice eventually be held to be morally responsible'_ A. Rawlinson, _Adventures in the Near East_ Jonathan Cape, 30 Bedford Square, London, 1934 (First published 1923) (287 pages). _Memoirs of a British officer who witnessed the Armenian genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people_ p. 178 (first paragraph) _In those Moslem villages in the plain below which had been searched for arms by the Armenians everything had been taken under the cloak of such search, and not only had many Moslems been killed by the Armenian Army, but horrible tortures had been inflicted in the endeavour to obtain information as to where valuables had been hidden, of which the Armenians were aware of the existence, although they had been unable to find them._ p. 177 (third paragraph) _Armenian troops have pillaged and destroyed all the Moslem villages in the plain. Caravans of refugees were in the meanwhile constantly arriving from the plain, from which the whole Moslem population was fleeing with as much of their personal property as they could transport, seeking to obtain security and protection._ A. Rawlinson, _Adventures in the Near East_ Jonathan Cape, 30 Bedford Square, London, 1934 (First published 1923) (287 pages). _Memoirs of a British officer who witnessed the Armenian genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people_ p. 175 (first paragraph) _The arrival of this British brigade was followed by the announcement that Kars Province had been allotted by the Supreme Council of the Allies to the Armenians, and that announcement having been made, the British troops were then completely withdrawn, and Armenian occupation commenced. Hence all the trouble; for the Armenians at once commenced the wholesale robbery and persecution of the Muslem population on the pretext that it was necessary forcibly to deprive them of their arms. In the portion of the province which lies in the plains they were able to carry out their purpose, and the manner in which this was done will be referred to in due course._ p. 181 (first paragraph) _The Armenians from the plain were attacking the Kurdish people with artillery, with a large force in support._ Robert Dunn, _World Alive, A Personal Story_ Crown Publishers, Inc., New York (1952). _Memoirs of an American officer who witnessed the Armenian genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people_ p. 361 (seventh paragraph) and p. 362 (first paragraph). 'The most of the Muslims slaughtered by the Armenians are inside houses. Come you and look.' 'No, dammit! My stomach isn't-' _We were under those trees by the mosque, in an open space. 'I don't believe you,' I said, but followed to a nail-studded door. The man pushed it ajar, then spurred away, leaving me to check on the corpse. I thought I should, this charge was so constant, so gritted my teeth and went inside. The place was cool but reeked of sodden ashes, and was dark at first, for its stone walls had only window slits. Rags strewed the mud floor around an iron tripod over embers that vented their smoke through roof beams black with soot. All looked bare and empty, but in an inner room flies buzzed. As the door swung shut behind me I saw they came from a man's body lying face up, naked but for its grimy turban. He was about fifty years old by what was left of his face - a rifle butt had bashed an eye. The one left slanted, as with Tartars rather than with Kurds. Any uniform once on him was gone, so I'd no proof which he was, and quickly went out, gagging at the mess of his slashed genitals._ Robert Dunn, _World Alive, A Personal Story_ Crown Publishers, Inc., New York (1952). _Memoirs of an American officer who witnessed the Armenian genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people_ p. 363 (first paragraph). 'How many Muslim people lived there?' 'Oh, about eight hundred.' He yawned. 'Did you see any Muslim officers?' 'No, sir. I was in at dawn. All were Tartar civilians in mufti.' _The lieutenant dozed off, then I, but in the small hours a voice woke me - Dro's [Armenian architect of the genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people - ye]. He stood in the starlight bawling out an officer. Anyone keelhauled so long and furiously I'd never heard. Then abruptly Dro broke into laughter, quick and simple as child's. Both were a cover for his sense of guilt, I thought, or hoped. For somehow, despite my boast of irreligion, Christian Armenian massacring 'infidels' was more horrible than the reverse would have been. From daybreak on, Armenian villagers poured in from miles around. The Armenian women plundered happily, chattering like ravens as they picked over the carcass of Djul. They hauled out every hovel's chattels, the last scrap of food or cloth, and staggered away, packing pots, saddlebags, looms, even spinning-wheels. 'Thank you for a lot, Dro,' I said to him back in camp. 'But now I must leave.' We shook hands, the captain said 'A bientot, mon camarade.' And for hours the old Molokan scout and I plodded north across parching plains. Like Lot's wife I looked back once to see smoke bathing all, doubtless in a sack of other Moslem villages by the Armenian Army up to the line of snow that was Iran.'_ Robert Dunn, _World Alive, A Personal Story_ Crown Publishers, Inc., New York (1952). _Memoirs of an American officer who witnessed the Armenian genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people_ p. 354. _At morning tea, Dro [Armenian architect of the genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people - ye] and his officers spread out a map of this whole high region called the Karabakh. Deep in tactics, Armenians spoke Russian, but I got their contempt for Allied 'neutral' zones and their distrust of promises made by tribal chiefs. A campaign shaped; more raids on Moslem villages._ p. 358. "It will be three hours to take," Dro told me. We'd close in on three sides. "The men on foot will not shoot, but use only the bayonets," Merrimanov said, jabbing a rifle in dumbshow. "That is for morale," Dro put in. "We must keep the Moslems in terror." "Soldiers or civilians?" I asked. "There is no difference," said Dro. "All are armed, in uniform or not." "But the women and children?" "Will fly with the others as best they may." Robert Dunn, _World Alive, A Personal Story_ Crown Publishers, Inc., New York (1952). _Memoirs of an American officer who witnessed the Armenian genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people_ p. 360. _The ridges circled a wide expanse, its floors still. Hundreds of feet down, the fog held, solid as cotton flock. 'Djul lies under that,' said Dro [Armenian architect of the genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people - ye], pointing. 'Our men also attack Muslims from the other sides.' Then, 'Whee-ee!' - his whistle lined up all at the rock edge. Bayonets clicked upon carbines. Over plunged Archo, his black haunches rippling; then followed the staff, the horde - nose to tail, bellies taking the spur. Armenia in action seemed more like a pageant than war, even though I heard our Utica brass roar. As I watched from the height, it took ages for Djul to show clear. A tsing of machine-gun fire took over from the thumping batteries; cattle lowed, dogs barked, invisible, while I ate a hunk of cheese and drank from a snow puddle. Mist at last folded upward as men shouted, at first heard faintly. Then came a shrill wailing. Now among the cloud-streaks rose darker wisps - smoke. Red glimmered about house walls of stone or wattle, into dry weeds on roofs. A mosque stood in clump of trees, thick and green. Through crooked alleys on fire, horsemen were galloping after figures both mounted and on foot. 'Tartarski!' shouted the Armenian gunner by me. Others pantomimed them in escape over the rocks, while one twisted a bronze shell-nose, loaded, and yanked breech-cord, firing again and again. Shots wasted, I thought, when by afternoon I looked in vain for fallen branch or Muslim body. But these shots and the white bursts of shrapnel in the gullies drowned the women's cries. At length all shooting petered out. I got on my horse and rode down toward Djul. It burned still but little flame showed now. The way was steep and tough, through dense scrub. Finally on flatter ground I came out suddenly, through alders, on smoldering houses. Across trampled wheat my brothers-in-arms were leading off animals, several calves and a lamb._ Robert Dunn, _World Alive, A Personal Story_ Crown Publishers, Inc., New York (1952). _Memoirs of an American officer who witnessed the Armenian genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people_ p. 361 (fourth paragraph). _Armenian corpses came next, the first a pretty Muslim child with straight black hair, large eyes. She looked about twelve years old. She lay in some stubble where meal lay scattered from the sack she'd been toting. The bayonet had gone through her back, I judged, for blood around was scant. Between the breasts one clot, too small for a bullet wound, crusted her homespun dress. The next was a Muslim boy of ten or less, in rawhide jacket and knee-pants. He lay face down in the path by several huts. One arm reached out to the pewter bowl he'd carried, now upset upon its dough. Steel had jabbed just below his neck, into the spine. There were Muslim grownups, too, I saw as I led the sorrel around. Djul was empty of the living till I looked up to see beside me Dro's [Armenian architect of the genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people - ye] German-speaking colonel. He said all Muslims who had not escaped were dead._ Robert Dunn, _World Alive, A Personal Story_ Crown Publishers, Inc., New York (1952). _Memoirs of an American officer who witnessed the Armenian genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people_ p. 358. _More stories of Armenian murdering Muslims when the czarist troops fled north. My Armenian hosts told me of their duty here: to keep tabs on brigands, Muslim troop shifts, hidden arms, spies - Christian, Red or Tartar - coming in from Transcaucasus. Then they spoke of the hell that would break loose if Versailles were to put, as threatened, the Muslim vilayets of Turkey under the control of Erevan. Muslims under Christian rule? His lips smacked in irony under the droopy red moustache. That's bloodshed - just Smyrna over again on a bigger scale._ _The Armenians did exterminate the entire Muslim population of Russian Armenia as Muslims were considered inferior to the Armenians by the prominent leaders of the Dashnaks._ _Mikael Kaprilian_ 1919 Sahak Melkonian, _Preserving the Armenian Purity_ 1920 _In Soviet Armenia today there no longer exists a single Turkish soul. It is in our power to tear away the veil of illusion that some of us create for ourselves. It certainly is possible to severe the artificial life-support system of an imagined 'ethnic purity' that some of us falsely trust as the only structure that can support their heart beats in this alien land._ During the First World War and the ensuing years - 1914-1920, the Armenians through a premeditated and systematic genocide, tried to complete its centuries-old policy of annihilation against the Turks and Kurds by savagely murdering 2.5 million Muslims and deporting the rest from their 1,000 year homeland. The attempt at genocide is justly regarded as the first instance of Genocide in the 20th Century acted upon an entire people. This event is incontrovertibly proven by historians, government and international political leaders, such as U.S. Ambassador Mark Bristol, William Langer, Ambassador Layard, James Barton, Stanford Shaw, Arthur Chester, John Dewey, Robert Dunn, Papazian, Nalbandian, Ohanus Appressian, Jorge Blanco Villalta, General Nikolayef, General Bolkovitinof, General Prjevalski, General Odiselidze, Meguerditche, Kazimir, Motayef, Twerdokhlebof, General Hamelin, Rawlinson, Avetis Aharonian, Dr. Stephan Eshnanie, Varandian, General Bronsart, Arfa, Dr. Hamlin, Boghos Nubar, Sarkis Atamian, Katchaznouni, Rachel Bortnick, Halide Edip, McCarthy, W. B. Allen, Paul Muratoff and many others. J. C. Hurewitz, Professor of Government Emeritus, Former Director of the Middle East Institute (1971-1984), Columbia University. Bernard Lewis, Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Near Eastern History, Princeton University. Halil Inalcik, University Professor of Ottoman History & Member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, University of Chicago. Peter Golden, Professor of History, Rutgers University, Newark. Stanford Shaw, Professor of History, University of California at Los Angeles. Thomas Naff, Professor of History & Director, Middle East Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania. Ronald Jennings, Associate Professor of History & Asian Studies, University of Illinois. Howard Reed, Professor of History, University of Connecticut. Dankwart Rustow, Distinguished University Professor of Political Science, City University Graduate School, New York. John Woods, Associate Professor of Middle Eastern History, University of Chicago. John Masson Smith, Jr., Professor of History, University of California at Berkeley. Alan Fisher, Professor of History, Michigan State University. Avigdor Levy, Professor of History, Brandeis University. Andreas G. E. Bodrogligetti, Professor of History, University of California at Los Angeles. Kathleen Burrill, Associate Professor of Turkish Studies, Columbia University. Roderic Davison, Professor of History, George Washington University. Walter Denny, Professor of History, University of Massachusetts. Caesar Farah, Professor of History, University of Minnesota. Tom Goodrich, Professor of History, Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Tibor Halasi-Kun, Professor Emeritus of Turkish Studies, Columbia University. Justin McCarthy, Professor of History, University of Louisville. Jon Mandaville, Professor of History, Portland State University (Oregon). Robert Olson, Professor of History, University of Kentucky. Madeline Zilfi, Professor of History, University of Maryland. James Stewart-Robinson, Professor of Turkish Studies, University of Michigan. _long list deleted_ _Newsweek_ (November 29, 1993, p. 50) _Armenians occupy a quarter of Azerbaijan's territory, and they've displaced almost a million Azerbaijani civilians. Friends of Armenia's powerful lobby in Washington, including the U.S. Government are suddenly a bit aghast. 'What we see now is a systematic destruction of every village in their way' says a senior state department official. It's vandalism._ _THE GUARDIAN_, 2 September 1993 NOWHERE TO HIDE FOR AZERI REFUGEES Armenia is pushing a new wave of displaced people towards Iran. Jonathan RUGMAN in Kanliq, south-west Azerbaijan, reports On the main road south through Kubatli province, thousands of men, women and children are packed into trucks at an Azeri checkpoint waiting for permission to leave. Helicopters shuttle in and out with the wounded, while a group of women sit wailing at the roadside, tearing at their bloodstained faces with their fingernails in a frenzy of grief. A new exodus of refugees is under way towards Azerbaijan's border with Iran as Armenia forces continue ignoring United Nations demands that they stop their offensive. This week the UNHCR began distributing 4,000 tents and 50,000 blankets to those displaced in the recent hostilities. The organisation said about 250,000 Azeris have been displaced so far this year and about 1 million since the massacre began in 1988. [Photo:] A man carries his elderly mother in the capital Baku. The UN says about 250,000 Azeris have been displaced this year. [Map: Shows areas invaded by Armenians] _Newsweek_ 16 March 1992 By Pascal Privat with Steve Le Vine in Moscow THE FACE OF A MASSACRE Azerbaijan was a charnel house again last week: a place of mourning refugees and dozens of mangled corpses dragged to a makeshift morgue behind the mosque. They were ordinary Azerbaijani men, women and children of Khojaly, a small village in war-torn Nagorno-Karabakh overrun by Armenian forces on Feb. 25-26. Many were killed at close range while trying to flee; some had their faces mutilated, others were scalped. While the victims' families mourned, Photo: `We will never forgive the Armenians': Azeri woman mourn a victim. _The New York Times_, Tuesday, March 3, 1992 MASSACRE BY ARMENIANS Agdam, Azerbaijan, March 2 (Reuters) - Fresh evidence emerged today of a massacre of civilians by Armenian militants in Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian enclave of Azerbaijan. Scalping Reported Azerbaijani officials and journalists who flew briefly to the region by helicopter brought back three dead children with the back of their heads blown off. They said shooting by Armenians has prevented them from retrieving more bodies. "Women and children have been scalped," said Assad Faradshev, an aide to Nagorno-Karabakh's Azerbaijani Governor. "When we began to pick up bodies, they began firing at us." The Azerbaijani militia chief in Agdam, Rashid Mamedov, said: "The bodies are lying there like flocks of sheep. Even the fascists did nothing like this." Truckloads of Bodies Near Agdam on the outskirts of Nagorno-Karabakh, a Reuters photographer, Frederique Lengaigne, said she had seen two trucks filled with Azerbaijani bodies. "In the first one I counted 35, and it looked as though there were as many in the second," she said. "Some had their head cut off, and many had been burned. They were all men, and a few had been wearing khaki uniforms." _The Sunday Times_ 1 March 1992 By Thomas Goltz, Agdam, Azerbaijan ARMENIAN SOLDIERS MASSACRE HUNDREDS OF FLEEING FAMILIES Survivors reported that Armenian soldiers shot and bayoneted more than 450 Azeris, many of them women and children. Hundreds, possibly thousands, were missing and feared dead. The attackers killed most of the soldiers and volunteers defending the women and children. They then turned their guns on the terrified refugees. The few survivors later described what happened: 'That's when the real slaughter began,' said Azer Hajiev, one of three soldiers to survive. 'The Armenians just shot and shot. And then they came in and started carving up people with their bayonets and knives.' 'They were shooting, shooting, shooting,' echoed Rasia Aslanova, who arrived in Agdam with other women and children who made their way through Armenian lines. She said her husband, Kayun, and a son-in-law were massacred in front of her. Her daughter was still missing. One boy who arrived in Agdam had an ear sliced off. The survivors said 2000 others, some of whom had fled separately, were still missing in the gruelling terrain; many could perish from their wounds or the cold. By late yesterday, 479 deaths had been registered at the morgue in Agdam's morgue, and 29 bodies had been buried in the cemetery. Of the seven corpses I saw awaiting burial, two were children and three were women, one shot through the chest at point blank range. Agdam hospital was a scene of carnage and terror. Doctors said they had 140 patients who escaped slaughter, most with bullet injuries or deep stab wounds. Nor were they safe in Agdam. On friday night rockets fell on the city which has a population of 150,000, destroying several buildings and killing one person. _The Times_ 2 March 1992 CORPSES LITTER HILLS IN KARABAKH (ANATOL LIEVEN COMES UNDER FIRE WHILE FLYING TO INVESTIGATE THE MASS KILLINGS OF REFUGEES BY ARMENIAN TROOPS) As we swooped low over the snow-covered hills of Nagorno-Karabagh we saw the scattered corpses. Apparently, the refugees had been shot down as they ran. An Azerbaijani film of the places we flew over, shown to journalists afterwards, showed DOZENS OF CORPSES lying in various parts of the hills. The Azerbaijanis claim that AS MANY AS 1000 have died in a MASS KILLING of AZERBAIJANIS fleeing from the town of Khodjaly, seized by Armenians last week. A further 4,000 are believed to be wounded, frozen to death or missing. The civilian helicopter's job was to land in the mountains and pick up bodies at sites of the mass killings. The civilian helicopter picked up four corpses, and it was during this and a previous mission that an Azerbaijani cameraman filmed the several dozen bodies on the hillsides. Back at the airfield in Agdam, we took a look at the bodies the civilian helicopter had picked up. Two old men a small girl were covered with blood, their limbs contorted by the cold and rigor mortis. They had been shot. _TIME_ March 16, 1992 By Jill SMOLOWE -Reported by Yuri ZARAKHOVICH/Moscow M A S S A C R E I N K H O J A L Y While the details are argued, this much is plain: something grim and unconscionable happened in the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly two weeks ago. So far, some 200 dead Azerbaijanis, many of them mutilated, have been transported out of the town tucked inside the Armenian-dominated enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh for burial in neighboring Azerbaijan. The total number of deaths - the Azerbaijanis claim 1,324 civilians have been slaughtered, most of them women and children - is unknown. Videotapes circulated by the Azerbaijanis include images of defaced civilians, some of them scalped, others shot in the head. _BBC1 Morning News at 07.37, Tuesday 3 March 1992_ BBC reporter was live on line and he claimed that he saw more than 100 bodies of Azeri men, women and children as well as a baby who are shot dead from their heads from a very short distance. _BBC1 Morning News at 08:12, Tuesday 3 March 1992_ Very disturbing picture has shown that many civilian corpses who were picked up from mountain. Reporter said he, cameraman and Western Journalists have seen more than 100 corpses, who are men, women, children, massacred by Armenians. They have been shot dead from their heads as close as 1 meter. Picture also has shown nearly ten bodies (mainly women and children) are shot dead from their heads. Azerbaijan claimed that more than 1000 civilians massacred by Armenian forces. _Channel 4 News at 19.00, Monday 2 March 1992_ 2 French journalists have seen 32 corpses of men, women and children in civilian clothes. Many of them shot dead from their heads as close as less than 1 meter. _Report from Karabakpress_ A merciless massacre of the civilian population of the small Azeri town of Khojali (Population 6000) in Karabagh, Azerbaijan, is reported to have taken place on the night of February 28 by the Soviet Armenian Army. Close to 1000 people are reported to have been massacred. Elderly and children were not spared. Many were badly beaten and shot at close range. A sense of rage and helplessness has overwhelmed the Azeri population in face of the well armed and equipped Armenian Army. The neighboring Azeri city of Aghdam outside of the Karabagh region has come under heavy Armenian artillery shelling. City hospital was hit and two pregnant women as well as a new born infant were killed. Azerbaijan is appealing to the international community to condemn such barbaric and ruthless attacks on its population and its sovereignty. _Boston Sunday Globe_ November 21, 1993 by Jon Auerbach Globe Correspondent CHAKHARLI, Azerbaijan -- The truckloads of scared and lost children, the sobbing mothers, the stench of sickness and the sea of blank faces in this mud-covered refugee camp obscure the deeper issue of why tens of thousands of Azeris have fled here. _What we see now is a systematic destruction of every village in their way,_ said one senior US official. _It's one of the most disgusting things we've seen._ _It's vandalism,_ the US official said. _The idea that there is an aggressive intent in a sound conclusion._ The United Nations estimates that there are more than 1 million refugees in Azerbaijan, roughly one seventh of the former Soviet republic's entire population. Thousands who fled to neighboring Iran are being slowly repatriated to refugee camps already bursting at the seams. But because of the Karabakh Armenians' policy of burning villages, relief organizations say there is no hope that the Azeris could return home anytime soon. At Chakharli, about 10 miles from Iran, more than 10,000 refugees are crammed into a makeshift tent city. Aziz Azizova, 33, arrived in the Iranian run camp about three weeks ago, after she and her five children were forced to flee their home in the village of Buik-Merjan. _I left my village with nothing, not even my shoes,_ she said. _You see how our children are living? Some of them are living right in the mud._ Azizova, like thousands of others, escaped by fleeing across the Arax River into neighboring Iran. The UN estimates that around 300 Azeris, mainly women and children, drowned in the river's currents. One of the people who did make it across was Samaz Mamedova, a 40-year-old accountant. Sitting with friends in tent No. 566 on a recent day, Mamedova explained how the Armenians seized her village in less than a half hour, forcing the entire population toward the river in a chaotic scramble for survival. _Cebbar Leygara_ Kurdish Leader - October 13, 1992 _Today's ethnic cleansing policies by the Serbians against Croatians and Muslims of Yugoslavia, as well as the Soviet Republic of Armenia's against the Muslim population of neighboring Azerbaijan, are really no different in their aspirations than the genocide perpetrated by the Armenian Government 78 years ago against the Turkish and Kurdish Muslims and Sephardic Jews living in these lands._ _Tovfik Kasimov_ Azeri Leader - September 25, 1992 _The crime of systematic cleansing by mass killing and extermination of the Muslim population in Soviet Republic of Armenia, Karabag, Bosnia and Herzegovina is an 'Islamic Holocaust' comparable to the extermination of 2.5 million Muslims by the Armenian Government during the WWI and of over 6 million European Jews during the WWII._ _The Times_ 3 March 1992 MASSACRE UNCOVERED By ANATOL LIEVEN More than sixty bodies, including those of women and children, have been spotted on hillsides in Nagorno-Karabakh, confirming claims that Armenian troops massacred Azeri refugees. Hundreds are missing. Scattered amid the withered grass and bushes along a small valley and across the hillside beyond are the bodies of last Wednesday's massacre by Armenian forces of Azerbaijani refugees. In all, 31 bodies could be counted at the scene. At least another 31 have been taken into Agdam over the past five days. These figures do not include civilians reported killed when the Armenians stormed the Azerbaijani town of Khodjaly on Tuesday night. The figures also do not include other as yet undiscovered bodies Zahid Jabarov, a survivor of the massacre, said he saw up to 200 people shot down at the point we visited, and refugees who came by different routes have also told of being shot at repeatedly and of leaving a trail of bodies along their path. Around the bodies we saw were scattered possessions, clothing and personnel documents. The bodies themselves have been preserved by the bitter cold which killed others as they hid in the hills and forest after the massacre. All are the bodies of ordinary people, dressed in the poor, ugly clothing of workers. Of the 31 we saw, only one policeman and two apparent national volunteers were wearing uniform. All the rest were civilians, including eight women and three small children. Two groups, apparently families, had fallen together, the children cradled in the women's arms. Several of them, including one small girl, had terrible head injuries: only her face was left. Survivors have told how they saw Armenians shooting them point blank as they lay on the ground. THE COMMITTEE FOR PEOPLE'S HELP TO KARABAKH (OF THE) ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE AZERBAIJAN SSR - 1988 An Appeal to Mankind During the last three years Azerbaijan and its multinational population are vainly fighting for justice within the limits of the Soviet Union. All humanitarian, constitutional human rights guaranteed by the UN Charter, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Helsinki Agreements, Human Problems International Forums, documents signed by the Soviet Union - all of them are violated. The USSR's President, government bodies do not defend Azerbaijan though they are all empowered to take necessary measures to guarantee life and peace. The 240,000 strong army of Armenian terrorists with Moscow's tacit consent wages an undeclared war of annihilation against Azerbaijan. As a result, a part of Azerbaijan has been occupied and annexed, thousands of people killed, thousands wounded. Some 400,000 Azerbaijanis have been brutally and inhumanly deported from the Armenian SSR, their historical homeland. Together with them 64,000 Russians and 62,000 Kurds have also been driven out, a part of them now settled in Azerbaijan. Some 80,000 Turkish-Meskhetians, Lezghins and representatives of other Caucasian nationalities who escaped from the Central Asia where the President and government bodies did not guarantee them the life and peace also suffered from these deportations. One of the scandalous vandalisms directed not only against Azerbaijan science but the world civilization as well is the Armenian extremists' destruction of the Karabakh scientific experimental base of The Institute of Genetics and Selection of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijan SSR. We beg you for humanitarian help and political assistance, for the honour and dignity of 7 million Azerbaijanis are violated, its territory, culture and history are trampled, its people are shot. There is persistent negative image of Azerbaijanians abroad, and this defamation is spread over the whole world by Soviet mass media, Armenian lobby in the USSR and the United States. We are for a united, indivisible, sovereign Azerbaijan, we are for a common Caucasian home proclaimed in 1918 by one of the founding fathers of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic - Muhammed Emin Rasulzade. But all these goals and expectations are trampled upon the Soviet leadership in favour of the Armenian expansionists encouraged by Moscow and intended to create a new '1,000 Year Reich' - the 'Great Armenia' - by annexing the neighboring lands. The world public opinion shed tears to save the whales, suffers for penguins dying out in the Antarctic Continent. But what about the lives of seven million human beings? If these people are Muslims, does it mean that they are less valuable? Can people be discriminated by their colour of skin or religion, by their residence or other attributes? All people are brothers, and we appeal to our brothers for help and understanding. This is not the first appeal of Azerbaijan to the world public opinion. Our previous appeals were unheard. However, we still carry the hope that the truth beyond the Russian and Armenian propaganda will one day reveal the extent of our suffering and stimulate at least as much help and compassion for Azerbaijan as tendered to whales and penguins. _The Age_ Melbourne, 6/3/92 By Helen WOMACK - Agdam, Azerbaijan, Thursday The exact number of victims is still unclear, but there can be little doubt that Azeri civilians were massacred by Armenian Army in the snowy mountains of Nagorno-Karabakh last week. Refugees from the enclave town of Khojaly, sheltering in the Azeri border town of Agdam, give largely consistent accounts of how Armenians attacked their homes on the night of 25 February, chased those who fled and shot them in the surrounding forests. Yesterday, I saw 75 freshly dug graves in one cemetery in addition to four mutilated corpses we were shown in the mosque when we arrived in Agdam late on Tuesday. I also saw women and children with bullet wounds in a makeshift hospital in a string of railway carriages. Khojaly, an Azeri settlement in the enclave mostly populated by Armenians, had a population of about 6000. Mr. Rashid Mamedov Commander of Police in Agdam, said only about 500 escaped to his town. _So where are the rest?_. Some might have taken prisoner, he said, or fled. Many bodies were still lying in the mountains because the Azeris were short of helicopters to retrieve them. He believed more than 1000 had perished, some of cold in temperatures as low as minus 10 degrees. When Azeris saw the Armenians with a convoy of armored personnel carriers, they realised they could not hope to defend themselves, and fled into the forests. In the small hours, the massacre started. Mr. Nasiru, who believes his wife and two children were taken prisoner, repeated what many other refugees have said - that troops of the former Soviet army helped the Armenians to attack Khojaly. _It is not my opinion, I saw it with my own eyes._ _The Washington Post_ 2/28/92 _Nagorno-Karabagh Victims Buried in Azerbaijani Town_ "Refugees claim hundreds died in Armenian Attack...Of seven bodies seen here today, two were children and three were women, one shot through the chest at what appeared to be close range. Another 120 refugees being treated at Agdam's hospital include many with multiple stab wounds." _The New York Times_ 3/6/92 _A Final Goodbye in Azerbaijan_ [Photo by Associated Press]: "At a cemetery in Agdam, Azerbaijan, family members and friends grieved during the burial of victims massacred by the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabagh. Chingiz Iskandarov, right, hugged the coffin containing the remains of his brother, one of the victims. A copy of Koran lay atop the coffin." _The Washington Post_ 3/6/92 _Final Embrace_ [Photo by Associated Press]: "Chingiz Iskenderov, right, weeps over coffin holding the remains of his brother as other relatives grieve at an Azarbaijani cemetery yesterday amid burial of victims killed by Armenians in Nagorno-Karabagh." _The Washington Times_ 3/2/92 _Armenian Raid Leaves Azeris Dead or Fleeing_ "...about 1,000 of Khojaly's 10,000 people were massacred by the Armenian Army in Tuesdays attack. Azerbaijani television showed truckloads of corpses being evacuated from the Khocaly area." _The Independent_ 2/29/92 By Helen Womack "Elif Kaban, a Reuter correspondent in Agdam, reported that after a massacre on Wednesday, Azeris were burying scores of people who died when Armenians overran the town of Khojaly, the second-biggest Azeri settlement in the area. 'The world is turning its back on what's happening here. We are dying and you are just watching,' one mourner shouted at a group of journalists." _Reuters_ 2/12/92 _Armenians Burn Azeri Village_ "Armenian Army attacked a strategic Azeri village...in Nagorno-Karabagh and burned it to the ground on Tuesday, Commonwealth television reported. Channel one television said the village of Malybeili, in the Khodzhalin district, was now cut off and a large number of wounded were left stranded. Itar-Tass news agency said several people were killed and 20 wounded in the attack on the village... Tass also said shells fired from Armenian villages into the Azeri populated town of Susha, just 6 miles south of Stepenakert, demolished two houses and damaged five others." _The Washington Times_ 3/3/92 _Massacre Reports Horrify Azerbaijan_ "Azeri officials who returned from the scene to this town about nine miles away brought back three dead children, the backs of their heads blown off...'Women and children had been scalped,' said Assad Faradzev, an aide to Karabagh's Azeri governor. Azeri television showed pictures of one truckload of bodies brought to the Azeri town of Agdam, some with their faces apparently scratched with knives or their eyes gouged out." _The Washington Post_ 3/3/92 _Killings Rife in Nagorno-Karabagh_ "Journalists in the area reported seeing dozens of corpses, including some of the civilians, and Azerbaijani officials said Armenians began shooting at them when they sought to recover the bodies." _The Times (London)_ 3/3/92 _Bodies Mark Site of Karabagh Massacre_ "A local truce was enforced to allow the Azerbaijanis to collect their dead and any refugees still hiding in the hills and forest. All are the bodies of ordinary people, dressed in the poor, ugly clorhing of workers...All the rest were civilians, including eight women and three small children. Two groups, apparently families, had fallen together, the children cradled in the women's arms. Several of them, including one small girl, had terrible head injuries: only her face was left. Survivors have told how they saw Armenians shooting them point blank as they lay on the ground." _The SUNDAY TIMES_ 8 March 1992 Thomas Goltz, the first to report the massacre by Armenian soldiers, reports from Agdam. Khojaly used to be a barren Azeri town, with empty shops and treeless dirt roads. Yet it was still home to thousands of Azeri people who, in happier times, tended fields and flocks of geese. Last week it was wiped off the map. As sickening reports trickled in to the Azerbaijani border town of Agdam, and the bodies piled up in the morgues, there was little doubt that Khojaly and the stark foothills and gullies around it had been the site of the most terrible massacre since the Soviet Union broke apart. I was the last Westerner to visit Khojaly. That was in january and people were predicting their fate with grim resignation. Zumrut Ezoya, a mother of four on board the helicopter that ferried us into the town, called her community "sitting ducks, ready to get shot". She and her family were among the victims of the massacre by the Armenians on February 26. "The Armenians have taken all the outlying villages, one by one, and the government does nothing." Balakisi Sakikov, 55, a father of five, said. "Next they will drive us out or kill us all," said Dilbar, his wife. The couple, their three sons and three daughters were killed in the massacre, as were many other people I had spoken to. "It was close to the Armenian lines we knew we would have to cross. There was a road, and the first units of the column ran across then all hell broke loose. Bullets were raining down from all sides. we had just entered their trap." The azeri defenders picked off one by one. Survivors say that Armenian forces then began a pitiless slaughter, firing at anything moved in the gullies. A video taken by an Azeri cameraman, wailing and crying as he filmed body after body, showed a grizzly trail of death leading towards higher, forested ground where the villagers had sought refuge from the Armenians. "The Armenians just shot and shot and shot," said Omar Veyselov, lying in hospital in Agdam with sharapnel wounds. "I saw my wife and daughter fall right by me." People wandered through the hospital corridors looking for news of the loved ones. Some vented their fury on foreigners: " Where is my daughter, where is my son ?" wailed a mother. "Raped. Butchered. Lost." _The Independent_ London, 12/6/92 _Painful Search_ The gruesome extent of February's killings of Azeris by Armenians in the town of Hojali is at last emerging in Azerbaijan - about 600 men, women and children dead. The State Prosecutor, Aydin Rasulov, the cheif investigator of a 15-man team looking into what Azerbaijan calls the "Hojali Massacre", said his figure of 600 people dead was a minimum on preliminary findings. A similar estimate was given by Elman Memmedov, the mayor of Hojali. An even higher one was printed in the Baku newspaper Ordu in May - 479 dead people named and more than 200 bodies reported unidentified. This figure of nearly 700 dead is quoted as official by Leila Yunusova, the new spokeswoman of the Azeri Ministry of Defence. FranCois Zen Ruffinen, head of delegation of the International Red Cross in Baku, said the Muslim imam of the nearby city of Agdam had reported a figure of 580 bodies received at his mosque from Hojali, most of them civilians. "We did not count the bodies. But the figure seems reasonable. It is no fantasy," Mr Zen Ruffinen said. "We have some idea since we gave the body bags and products to wash the dead." Mr Rasulov endeavours to give an unemotional estimate of the number of dead in the massacre. "Don't get worked up. It will take several months to get a final figure," the 43-year-old lawyer said at his small office. Mr Rasulov knows about these things. It took him two years to reach a firm conclusion that 131 people were killed and 714 wounded when Soviet troops and tanks crushed a nationalist uprising in Baku in January 1990. Officially, 184 people have so far been certified as dead, being the number of people that could be medically examined by the republic's forensic department. "This is just a small percentage of the dead," said Rafiq Youssifov, the republic's chief forensic scientist. "They were the only bodies brought to us. Remember the chaos and the fact that we are Muslims and have to wash and bury our dead within 24 hours." Of these 184 people, 51 were women, and 13 were children under 14 years old. Gunshots killed 151 people, shrapnel killed 20 and axes or blunt instruments killed 10. Exposure in the highland snows killed the last three. Thirty-three people showed signs of deliberate mutilation, including ears, noses, breasts or penises cut off and eyes gouged out, according to Professor Youssifov's report. Those 184 bodies examined were less than a third of those believed to have been killed, Mr Rasulov said. "There were too many bodies of dead and wounded on the ground to count properly: 470-500 in Hojali, 650-700 people by the stream and the road and 85-100 visible around Nakhchivanik village," Mr Manafov wrote in a statement countersigned by the helicopter pilot. "People waved up to us for help. We saw three dead children and one two-year-old alive by one dead woman. The live one was pulling at her arm for the mother to get up. We tried to land but Armenians started a barrage against our helicopter and we had to return." There has been no consolidation of the lists and figures in circulation because of the political upheavals of the last few months and the fact that nobody knows exactly who was in Hojali at the time - many inhabitants were displaced from other villages taken over by Armenian forces. _The Independent_ London, 12/6/92 Photographs: Liu Heung / AP Frederique Lengaigne / Reuter Aref Sadikov sat quietly in the shade of a cafe-bar on the Caspian Sea esplanade of Baku and showed a line of stitches in his trousers, torn by an Armenian bullet as he fled the town of Hojali just over three months ago, writes Hugh Pope. "I'm still wearing the same clothes, I don't have any others," the 51-year-old carpenter said, beginning his account of the Hojali disaster. "I was wounded in five places, but I am lucky to be alive." Mr Sadikov and his wife were short of food, without electricity for more than a month, and cut off from helicopter flights for 12 days. They sensed the Armenian noose was tightening around the 2,000 to 3,000 people left in the straggling Azeri town on the edge of Karabakh. "At about 11pm a bombardment started such as we had never heard before, eight or nine kinds of weapons, artillery, heavy machine-guns, the lot," Mr Sadikov said. Soon neighbours were pouring down the street from the direction of the attack. Some huddled in shelters but others started fleeing the town, down a hill, through a stream and through the snow into a forest on the other side. To escape, the townspeople had to reach the Azeri town of Agdam about 15 miles away. They thought they were going to make it, until at about dawn they reached a bottleneck between the two Azeri villages of Nakhchivanik and Saderak. "None of my group was hurt up to then ... Then we were spotted by a car on the road, and the Armenian outposts started opening fire," Mr Sadikov said. Mr Sadikov said only 10 people from his group of 80 made it through, including his wife and militiaman son. Seven of his immediate relations died, including his 67-year-old elder brother. "I only had time to reach down and cover his face with his hat," he said, pulling his own big flat Turkish cap over his eyes. "We have never got any of the bodies back." The first groups were lucky to have the benefit of covering fire. One hero of the evacuation, Alif Hajief, was shot dead as he struggled to change a magazine while covering the third group's crossing, Mr Sadikov said. Another hero, Elman Memmedov, the mayor of Hojali, said he and several others spent the whole day of 26 February in the bushy hillside, surrounded by dead bodies as they tried to keep three Armenian armoured personnel carriers at bay. As the survivors staggered the last mile into Agdam, there was little comfort in a town from which most of the population was soon to flee. "The night after we reached the town there was a big Armenian rocket attack. Some people just kept going," Mr Sadikov said. "I had to get to the hospital for treatment. I was in a bad way. They even found a bullet in my sock." Victims of massacre: An Azeri woman mourns her son, killed in the Hojali massacre in February (left). Nurses struggle in primitive conditions (centre) to save a wounded man in a makeshift operating theatre set up in a train carriage. Grief-stricken relatives in the town of Agdam (right) weep over the coffin of another of the massacre victims. Calculating the final death toll has been complicated because Muslims bury their dead within 24 hours. Amnesty International International Secretariat 1 Easton Street London WC1X 8DJ United Kingdom 22 APRIL 1994 ARMENIA - MUSLIM PRISONERS MURDERED IN "EXECUTION-TYPE SHOOTINGS" Forensic evidence released this month suggests that six Azerbaydzhani prisoners of war held in Armenia were victims of "execution-type shootings", according to a forensic expert. Following an announcement, in February, by the Armenian Foreign Ministry that eight Azerbaydzhani prisoners had been shot while attempting to escape, ten bodies were transferred from Armenia to Azerbaydzhan in March. Professor Derrick Pounder, head of the Department of Forensic Medicine at the University of Dundee, United Kingdom, began post- mortem examinations on the bodies at the beginning of April. The bodies had also undergone previous examinations by both the Armenians and the Azeris. He found that six of the men - Rustam Ramazan ogly Agev, Elehan Guseyn ogly Akhmedov, Elman Mamed ogly Akhmedov, Kurchat Kiyaz ogly Mamedov, Eldar Chakhbaba ogly Mamedov and Faig Gabil ogly Guliyev - had been murdered by a single gunshot wound to the head. He also found that in three of the six cases the muzzle of the gun had been in contact with the head at the time the shot was fired. It was not possible to determine the range at which the shot had been fired in the other three cases owing to earlier removal of physical evidence. Professor Pounder concluded that the pattern of gunshot wounds was not consistent with allegations that the six men had been shot while attempting to escape, and said that the common pattern of the wounds was "strongly suggestive of execution-type shootings". Amnesty International is urging the Armenian authorities to conduct a prompt, impartial and thorough investigation into the deaths of these six men, to make the findings public, and to bring to justice any perpetrators of execution-style killings, within the bounds of international law. The human rights organization is also urging the Armenian authorities to investigate the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the remaining four men whose bodies were returned, in order to determine if criminal proceedings are necessary in their cases also. Professor Pounder found that one of these had wounds to the throat in a pattern of injury consistent with suicide, one died of a single gunshot wound to the chest, and in two instances the cause of death could not be determined. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH HELSINKI Formerly 485 FIFTH AVENUE,NEW YORK,NY 10017-6104, TEL(212)972-8400,FAX(212) 972-0905,EMAIL;hrwatchnycigc.apc.org. 1522 K STREET,NW,H910,WASHINGTON,DC 20005-1202,TEL(202)371-6592, FAX(202)371-0124,EMAIL,hrwatchdc igc apc.org 90 BOROUGH HIGH STREET,LONDON UK SE1 ILL,TEL(71)378-8008,FAX (71) 378-8029,EMAIL:hrwatchuk gn apc org MOSCOW, RUSSIAN FEDERATION, TEL and FAX(7095)265-4448 MARCH 2, 1994 PRESIDENT LEVON TER-PETROSSIAN MARSHAL BAGRAMIAN PROSPECT,26 375019 YEREVAN BY FAX:52-15-81 DEAR PRESIDENT TER-PETROSSIAN, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH\HELSINKI (Formerly Helsinki Watch) is the largest human rights organisation in the United States. We have closely followed the Armenian massacre of the Azeri people in Nagorno Karabakh, and have published two reports on violations of the Geneva Conventions. I am writing you to express our organisation's deep concern about the deaths of Azerbaijani prisoners of war in Armenia. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the following men were shot to death in an Armenian detention camp in Sritak in late January or early February: Rustam Ramazan-oglu Agaev,(birthdate unknown), from Masalin District Elman Mamed-oglu Akhmedov,b. 1961,from Yevlakh District Elshan Hussein-oglu Akhmedov,b.1974, from Saatlin District Bakhram AKIF-oglu Giiasov,b. 1972,from Siazan FAIG Gabil-oglu Guliev,b.1969,from Baku Enver Asker-oglu Jafarov,b.1972,from Sumgait Eldar Shahbaba-oglu Mamedov,b.1966,from Baku Girshad Kniaz-oglu Mamedov,b.1974 from Yevlakh I thank you for your attention to this matter and look forward to learning the results of the investigation. Yours sincerely, Jeri Laber Executive Director _Newsweek_ November 29, 1993, p. 50 _For the past seven months Armenian troops and tanks have swept across Azerbaijan -- a land grab exceeded only by what the Serbs have accomplished in Bosnia in the past year...Last month they pushed south all the way to the Iranian border, driving more than 60,000 Azerbaijani civilians across the Araks river into Iran -- and looting and torching vacant villages in their wake._ Christopher Walker, _Armenia_ New York (St. Martin's Press), 1980. This generally pro-Armenian work contains the following information of direct relevance to the Nazi Holocaust: 1) Dro (the Butcher), the former dictator of ex-Russian/Soviet Armenia and the architect of the Armenian genocide of 2.5 million Muslims in Russian Armenia and Eastern Anatolia, the most respected of Nazi Armenian leaders, established an Armenian Provisional Republic in Berlin during World War II; 2) this _provisional government_ fully endorsed and espoused the social theories of the Nazis, declared themselves and all Armenians to be members of the Aryan _Super-Race_; 3) they published an Anti-Semitic, racist journal, thereby aligning themselves with the Nazis and their efforts to exterminate the Jews; and, 4) they mobilized an Armenian Army of up to 30,000 members which fought side by side with the Wehrmacht. _San Francisco Chronicle_ (December 11, 1983) (Editor's Mailbox - Section B) _We have first hand information and evidence of Armenian atrocities against our people (Jews). Members of our family witnessed the murder of 148 members of our family near Erzurum, Turkey, by Armenian neighbors, bent on destroying anything and anybody remotely Jewish and/or Muslim...Armenians were in league with Hitler in the last war, on his premise to grant themselves government if, in return, the Armenians would help exterminate Jews. Armenians were also hearty proponents of the anti-Semitic acts in league with the Russian Communists._ Signed Elihu Ben Levi, Vacaville, California. The Armenian publication in Germany, Hairenik (an official mouthpiece for the ex-Soviet Armenian Government), carried statements as follows:[*] _Sometimes it is difficult to eradicate these poisonous elements [the Jews] when they have struck deep root like a chronic disease, and when it becomes necessary for a people [the Nazis] to eradicate them in an uncommon method, these attempts are regarded as revolutionary. During the surgical operation, the flow of blood is a natural thing._[**] [*] James G. Mandalian, _Dro, Drastamat Kanayan,_ in the 'Armenian Review,' a Quarterly by the Hairenik Association, Inc., Summer: June 1957, Vol. X, No. 2-38. [**] Quoted by James Mandalian: _Who Are The Dashnags?_ Boston, Hairenik Press, 1944, pp. 13-4. _These European Armenians, with headquarters in Berlin, appealed to, and bargained with Hitler's emissaries for an 'independent' Armenian state. That they had to bootlick Nazi masters goes without saying. That, as potential officials of a puppet Nazi state, they would have assumed the infamous roles of the Paveliches, Antonescus, Lavals, Tisos or Vidkun Quislings was also a foregone conclusion. Once committed to it, there was no alternative to the price for 'independence' except subservience to Hitler._[*] [*] Arthur Derounian under the pseudonym 'John Roy Carlson,' _Armenian Affairs_ a Quarterly Journal of Armenian Studies, Winter 1949-50, p. 18. 'After all, who remembers today the extermination of the Tartars?' (Adolf Hitler, August 22, 1939: Ruth W. Rosenbaum) _The Muslim Holocaust - Musluman Soykirimi_ p. 213. _Thursday, August 2, 1984 issue of 'Armenian Reporter'_ In fact, by 1942, Nazi Armenians in Europe had established a vast network of pro-German collaborators, that extended over two continents. Thousands of Armenians were serving the German army and Waffen-SS in Russia and Western Europe. Armenians were also involved in espionage and fifth-column activities for Hitler in the Balkans and Arabian Peninsula. They were promised an 'independent' state under German 'protection' in an agreement signed by the 'Armenian National Council.' (A copy of this agreement can be found in the 'Congressional Record,' November 1, 1945; see Document 1.) On this side of the Atlantic, Nazi Armenians were aware of their brethrens alliance. They had often expressed pro-Nazi sentiments until America entered the war. In 1941, while the Jews were being assembled for their doom in the Nazi concentration camps, the Nazi Armenians in Germany formed the first Armenian battalion to fight alongside the Nazis. In 1943, this battalion had grown into eight battalions of 30,000-strong under the command of Dro (the butcher), who was the former dictator of x-Soviet/ Russian Armenia and the architect of the cold-blooded genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people between 1914-1920. An Armenian National Council was formed by the notorious Dashnak Party leaders in Berlin, which was recognized by the Nazis. Encouraged by this, the Armenians summarily formed a provisional government that endorsed and espoused fully the principles of the Nazis and declared themselves as the members of the Aryan super race and full participants to Hitler's policy of extermination of the Jews. This Armenian-Nazi conspiracy against the Jews during WWII was an "encore" performance staged by the Armenians during WWI when they exterminated 2.5 million Muslim and Jewish people. As early as 1934, K. S. Papazian asserted in _Patriotism Perverted_ that the Armenians _lean toward Fascism and Hitlerism._[1] At that time, he could not have foreseen that the Armenians would actively assume a pro-German stance and even collaborate in World War II. His book was dealing with the Armenian genocide of 2.5 million Muslim and Jewish people in Eastern Anatolia and Russian Armenia. However, extreme rightwing ideological tendencies could be observed within the Soviet Armenian Government long before the outbreak of the Second World War. In 1936, for example, O. Zarmooni of the _Tzeghagrons_ was quoted in the _Hairenik Weekly_ (an official mouthpiece for the ex-Soviet Armenian Government): _The race is force: it is treasure. If we follow history we shall see that races, due to their innate force, have created the nations and these have been secure only insofar as they have reverted to the race after becoming a nation. Today Germany and Italy are strong because as nations they live and breath in terms of race. On the other hand, Russia is comparatively weak because she is bereft of social sanctities._[2] [1] K. S. Papazian, _Patriotism Perverted_ (Boston, Baikar Press 1934), Preface. [2] _Hairenik Weekly_ Friday, April 10, 1936, 'The Race is our Refuge' by O. Zarmooni. The Armenian fascism traditionally employed extreme means for the sake of Armenian cause, including massacres and genocide. In World War I, Russian Armenian Government annihilated the entire Muslim population of Russian Armenia and exterminated millions of Muslim and Sephardic Jews in Eastern Anatolia. While having collaborated with the Nazis against Stalin during the Second World War, Nazi Armenians changed their policy after Hitler's defeat. They now backed Stalin's claims on Eastern Turkish provinces, hoping that these would be annexed to Soviet Armenia and their Muslim population would be exterminated again. Stalin played on Armenian national sentiments to enlist the support of Armenians in the USSR and America for his imperial ambitions.[1] Stalin's ultimatum to the Turkish government led Truman to formulate his famous Doctrine. [1] Walter Kolarz, _Religion in the Soviet Union_ (London, Macmillan & Co Ltd; New York, St Martin's Press 1961), pp. 160-164. Nazi Germany had shown interest in nationalities, as a tool to dismember the Russian empire, back in World War I. In the time between the two World Wars, expelled leaders of Soviet nationalities were lobbying the capitals of European powers to gain support for their respective causes. Already in 1936, the SS Headquarters (Reichssicherheitshauptamt) had created bureaus (Vertrauensstellen) to contact emigrants and oversee their activities. The Vertrauensstellen for the Caucasus was led by the Armenian Deirajr Froundjian and the Georgian Lado Achmeteli.[1] Shortly after the occupation of Warsaw and Paris, the German Abwehr (Secret Service) assumed ties with exiled leaders of diverse Soviet nationalities, among them Russian Armenian Government officials.[2] One of the leaders of the ex-Soviet Armenian Government, the aforementioned General Dro (the butcher), who was the chief architect of the Armenian genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people in Russian Armenia and Eastern Anatolia between 1914-1920. An Armenian National Council was formed by the notorious (Drastamat Kanajan) began working relationship with the Nazis around that time. [1] Patrick von zur Muhlen (Muehlen), _Zwischen Hakenkreuz und Sowjetstern_ (Droste Verlag Duesseldorf 1971), p. 37. [2] Ibid., p. 84. In April 1942, Hitler was preparing for the invasion of the Caucasus. A number of Nazi Armenian leaders began submitting plans to German officials in spring and summer 1942. One of them was Souren Begzadian Paikhar, son of a former ambassador of the Armenian Republic in Baku. Paikhar wrote a letter to Hitler, asking for German support to his Armenian national socialist movement Hossank and suggesting the creation of an Armenian SS formation in order _to educate the youth of liberated Armenia according to the spirit of the Nazi ideas._ He wanted to unite the Armenians of the already occupied territories of the USSR in his movement and with them conquer historic Muslim homeland. Paikhar was confined to serving the Nazis in Goebbels Propaganda ministry as a speaker for Armenian- and French-language radio broadcastings.[1] The Armenian-language broadcastings were produced by yet another Nazi Armenian Viguen Chanth.[2] [1] Patrick von zur Muhlen (Muehlen), p. 106. [2] Enno Meyer, A. J. Berkian, _Zwischen Rhein und Arax, 900 Jahre Deutsch-Armenische beziehungen_ (Heinz Holzberg Verlag-Oldenburg 1988), pp. 124 and 129. A genocide is a deliberate and organized massacre of people in an attempt to exterminate a race. This is the worst crime in history. It happened to the Muslims in Russian Armenia and Eastern Anatolia. 2.5 million Muslims were killed by Armenians in the worst ways imaginable. It is sickening to think that the human race is capable of such actions, but there is no denying the fact that the Armenian genocide of 2.5 million Muslims happened. Furthermore, the establishment of Armenian units in the German army was favored by General Dro (the Butcher), the architect of the Armenian genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people. He played an important role in the establishment of the Nzi Armenian _legions_ without assuming any official position. His views were represented by his men in the respective organs. An interesting meeting took place between Dro and Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler toward the end of 1942. Dro discussed matters of collaboration with Himmler and after a long conversation, asked if he could visit POW camp close to Berlin. Himmler provided Dro with his private car.[1] A minor problem was that some of the Soviet nationals were not _Aryans_ but _subhumans_ according to the official Nazi philosophy. As such, they were subject to German racism. However, Armenians were the least threatened and indeed most privileged. In August 1933, Armenians had been recognized as Aryans by the Bureau of Racial Investigation in the Ministry for Domestic Affairs. [1] Meyer, Berkian, ibid., pp. 112-113. Altogether 30,000 Nazi Armenians served in various units in the German Wehrmacht, according to Ara J. Berkian. 14,000 in predominantly Armenian army units, 6,000 in German army units, 8,000 in various working units and 2,000 in the Waffen-SS.[1] A number of these Nazi Armenians were volunteers from France and Greece who had chosen to commit themselves to the extermination of the European Jewry. Derounian says that _Nazi Armenians from France bore the mark 'Legion Armenienne.'_[2] That Nazi Armenians like Dro 'the Butcher', Armenian architect of the genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people, and Nezhdeh sided with the Germans probably had an impact on the decision of Armenians who overwhelmingly opted for armed service. [1] Enno Meyer, A. J. Berkian, _Zwischen Rhein und Arax, 900 Jahre Deutsch-Armenische beziehungen_ (Heinz Holzberg Verlag-Oldenburg 1988), pp. 118/119. [2] John Roy Carlson (Arthur Derounian), ibid., p. 19. In fall 1942, the Armenian infantry battalions 808 and 809 were formed, to be followed by battalions 810, 812 and 813 in spring 1943. In the second half of 1943 infantry battalions 814, 815 and 816 were created. These battalions together with other indigenous Caucasian units were attached to the infantry division 162. Also attached to ID 162 were the field battalions II/9, I/125 and I/198 which were formed between May 1942 and May 1943. Altogether twelve Armenian battalions served the Nazi army, if battalion II/73, which was not employed at any time, is to be included.[1] Most battalions were commanded by Nazi Armenian officers. Armenians wore German uniforms with an armband in the Dashnag colours red-blue-orange and the inscription _Armenien._ [1] Joachim Hoffmann, _Dies Ostlegionen 1941-1943, Turkotataren, Kaukasier und Wolgafinned im deutschen Heer_ (Verlag Rombach Freiburg 1976), p. 172. The Armenian SS unit was formed following a directive of Himmler in the beginning of December 1944.[1] The Armenian Liaison Staff actively recruited volunteers[2] and by February 1945 a cavalry formation of twenty thousand Armenians was integrated into the larger Caucasian Waffen-SS unit. The Armenian SS formation was employed last in Klagenfurt.[3] In addition to this exclusively Armenian unit, Nazi Armenians also served in the thirty eight other SS divisions, one of them even in the elite _Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler._[4] [1] Meyer, Berkian, ibid., pp. 136-137. [2] United States National Archives, T-175, Roll 167, pp 2700157/2700158, SS-Headquarters, Amtsgruppe D - Oststelle, see _Documents 3 and 4._ [3] Georg Tessin, _Verbaende und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im zweiten Weltkrieg 1939-1945,_ (Frankfurt am Main 1965-1980), Volume 14, Armenian Legion/Waffen SS. [4] Meyer, Berkian, ibid., p. 119. Derounian says that _Greece was honeycombed with Armenians serving as Nazi spies._[1] Many Nazi Armenians were arrested by the British and sentenced by the Greek government as collaborators in espionage.[2] In Rumania many Nazi Armenians were found in Antonescu's Iron Guard during arrest of members after the war. Bulgaria was the operational base of Tzeghagrons-founder Garagin Nezhdeh, who commanded a network of espionage from there. [1] John Roy Carlson (Arthur Derounian), ibid., p. 20. [2] Meyer, Berkian, ibid., p. 150. In Russia General Dro (the Butcher), the architect of the Muslim Holocaust in ex-Soviet/Russian Armenia and Eastern Anatolia, was working closely with the German Secret Service. He entered the war zone with his own men and acquired important intelligence about the Soviets. His experience with the Muslim Holocaust in ex-Soviet/Russian Armenia and Eastern Anatolia made him an invaluable source for the Germans.[1] [1] Meyer, Berkian, ibid., p. 113; Patrick von zur Muehlen, ibid., p. 84. Numerous articles in major newspapers (London Times) and periodicals (Newsweek) during the war, had suggested the existence of a significant collaboration between Armenians and the Nazis. Arthur Derounian deserves credit for being the first person to deal with this issue extensively. Derounian's motives were twofold: his deeply held democratic convictions gave him a sense of duty and he felt obliged to shed light on this yet another dark chapter of Armenian history. Concurrently, Derounian embarked on what one would call _crisis control_ or face-saving. In order to forestall any potential attacks on the larger Armenian community in the United States, he marginalized collaboration as deplorable but insignificant.[1] [1] John Roy Carlson (real name Arthur Derounian), _The Plotters_ E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., New York 1946, p. 182. Also, it is not surprising that the Armenians collaborated with the Nazis. _Wholly opportunistic the Armenians have been variously pro-Nazi, pro-Russia, pro-Soviet Armenia, pro-Arab, pro-Jewish, as well as anti-Jewish, anti-Zionist, anti-Communist, and anti-Soviet - whichever was expedient._[1] [1] John Roy Carlson (Arthur Derounian), _Cairo to Damascus_ Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1951, p. 438. _Mitteilungsblatt_ Berlin, December 1939, Nr. 2 and 5-6 Yet another historical fact: a fact that for years has been deliberately forgotten, concealed, and wiped from memory - the fact of Armenian-Nazi collaboration. A magazine called Mitteilungsblatt der Deutsch-Armenischen Gesselschaft is the clearest and most definite proof of this collaboration. The magazine was first published in Berlin in 1938 during Nazi rule of Germany and continued publication until the end of 1944. Even the name of the magazine, which implies a declaration of Armenian-Nazi cooperation, is attention-getting. This magazine, every issue of which proves the collaboration, is historically important as documentary evidence. It is a heap of writing that should be an admonition to world opinion and to all mankind. In Nazi Germany, Armenians were considered to be an Aryan race and certain political, economic, and social rights were thus granted to them. They occupied positions in public service and were partners in Nazi practices. The whole world of course knows what awaited those who were not considered _Aryan_ and what befell them. The Tzeghagrons (Armenian Racial Patriots -- Nazi Armenians) was the youth organization of the Armenians. It was based in Boston (where Muslim/Jewish Holocaust apologists of SDPA/Armenian Church are located) but had followers in Armenian colonies all over the world. Literally Tzeghagron means _to make a religion of one's race._ The architect of the Armenian Racial Patriots was Garegin Nezhdeh, a Nazi Armenian who became a key leader of collaboration with Hitler in World War II. In 1933, he had been invited to the United States by the Central Committee of the Armenians to inspire and organize the American-Armenian youth. Nezhdeh succeeded in unifying many local Armenian youth groups in the Tzeghagrons. Starting with 20 chapters in the initial year, the Tzeghagrons grew to 60 chapters and became the largest and most powerful Nazi Armenian organization. Nezhdeh also provided the Tzeghagrons with a philosophy: _The Racial Religious beliefs in his racial blood as a deity. Race above everything and before everything. Race comes first._[1] [1] Quoted in John Roy Carlson (real name Arthur Derounian), _Armenian Affairs_ Winter, 1949-50, p. 19, footnote. The Armenians were deeply anti-semitic as well. In the May 10, 1936 edition of _Hairenik Weekly_ (an official mouthpiece for the ex-Soviet Armenian Government) the vice-mayor of Bucharest, Rumania is quoted as saying: _The Armenians helped us not to become the slaves of the Jewish elements in our country._ In another edition, an author named Captain George Haig writes: _And the type of Jew who is imported to Palestine...is not anything to be proud about. Their loose morals, and other vices were unknown to the Arabs prior to Balfour Declaration, on top of all communist activities were the cause of most of the Arab criticism._[1] [1] Captain George Haig, _The Case of Palestine_ in Hairenik Weekly, Friday, September 25, 1936. As amply admitted by the ex-Soviet Armenian Government, the Armenians were also fascist. Before Pearl Harbor, the Dashnak daily _Hairenik_ [an official mouthpiece for the ex-Soviet Armenian Government] (not to be confused with the Tzeghagrons _Hairenik Weekly_) expressed pro-Nazi sentiments: _And came Adolf Hitler, after herculean struggles. He spoke to the racial heart strings of the German, opened the fountain of his national genius, strock down the spirit of defeatism...At no period since the World War had Berlin conducted so realistic, well organized, and planned policy as now, since Hitler's assumption to power...And whatever others may think concerning Hitlerism and Fascism as a system of Government, it is proved that they have revitalized and regenerated the two states, Germany and Italy._[1] [1] _Hairenik_ official organ of the Dashnaktsuitune, Sept. 17, 1936; quoted in John Roy Carlson (see endnote 1), p. 21. During World War II, while the Turkish Government was giving asylum to many Jews fleeing from Hitler's tyranny, anti-Semitism engulfed the Armenian circles in the Nazi-occupied territories. A publication of the Armenian Information Service in New York, entitled Dashnak Collaboration With The Nazi Regime, purports to show that Armenian sympathies with racism had reached dangerous proportions. The following quotation from the Armenian daily Hairenik of 19, 20 and 21 August 1936 exposes something much more than prejudice and bigotry: _Jews being the most fanatical nationalists and race-worshippers... are compelled to create an atmosphere..of internationalism and world citizenship in order to preserve their race...As the British use battleships to occupy lands..Jews use internationalism or communism as a weapon..Sometimes it is difficult to eradicate these poisonous elements when they have struck deep root like a chronic disease. And when it becomes necessary for a people to eradicate them...these attempts are regarded revolutionary. During a surgical operation, the flow of blood is a natural thing...Under such conditions, dictatorships seem to have a role of saviour [1]._ [1] Quoted by James Mandalian: _Who are the Dashnags?_ Boston, Hairenik Press, 1944, pp. 13-4. In May 1935 the Armenians of Bucharest attacked the Jews of that city, while the Greeks of Salonika attacked the Jews in the August of the same year. During World War II, Armenian volunteers, under the wings of Hitler's Germany, were used in rounding up Jews and other ''undesirables'' destined for the Nazi concentration camps. The Armenians also published a German-language magazine, with fascist and anti-Semitic tendencies, supporting Nazi doctrines directed to the extermination of 'inferior' races [1]. This is confirmed by Armenophil Christopher J. Walker, who admits that the Armenians collaborated with the Nazis. According to him, members of the Dashnak Party, then living in the occupied areas, including a number of prominent persons, entertained pro-Axis sympathies. A report in an American magazine went so far as to claim that the Nazis had picked on the Dashnaktsutiun to do fifth- column work, promising the party an autonomous state for its cooperation. Walker goes on to claim that relations between the Nazis and the Dashnaks living in the occupied areas were close and active. On 30 December 1941 an Armenian battalion was formed by a decision of the Army Command (Wehrmacht), known as the 'Armenian 812th Battalion'. It was commanded by Dro, and was made up of a small number of committed recruits, and a larger number of Armenians. Early on, the total number of recruits was 8,000; this number later grew to 30,000. The 812th Battalion was operational in Crimea and the North Caucasus.(These are the dates and numbers given by Walker[3].) A year later, on 15 December 1942, an Armenian National Council was granted official recognition by Alfred Rosenberg, the German Minister of the occupied areas. The Council's president was Professor Ardashes Abeghian, its vice-president Abraham Giulkhandanian, and it numbered among its members Nzhdeh and Vahan Papazian. From that date until the end of 1944 it published a weekly journal, Armenien, edited by Viken Shant (the son of Levon), who also broadcast on Radio Berlin. The whole idea was to prove to the Germans that the Armenians were 'Aryans'. With the aid of Dr. Paul Rohrbach they seemed to have achieved this as the Nazis did not persecute the Armenians in the occupied lands [2]. [1] Turkkaya Ataov: _Armenian Extermination of the Jews and Muslims_ 1984, p. 91. [2] C.J. Walker: _Armenia_ London, 1980, pp. 356-8. _Emperor Romanus I Lecapenus, in about 935, again ordered the forcible conversion of all the Jews of Byzantium, leading to the murder of hundreds of Jews and the desecration of many synagogues throughout the empire. All the while Jews came under increasingly savage attack by Byzantine popular preachers and writers as well as by officials trying to stir the populace in support of the Crusading knights coming from the West to wrest the Holy Land from the "infidel Muslims". As a result, Emperor Andronicus I Comnenus (1183-85) again attempted to convert the Jews to Christianity, though by persuasion and argument rather than force. When Crusaders passed through Constantinople on their way to the Holy Land, they invariably were assigned to camp next to the Jewish quarters, particularly that adjacent to the Galata Tower, and usually spent most of their spare time attacking and killing Jews and stealing their properties. At the same time they stirred local populace to similar activities. It was at this time, also, that Constantinople's Armenians joined the Greeks in attacking Judaism for the first time. [1]_ [1] Yvonne Friedman, 'Antijudischen Polemik des 12 jahrhunderts', Kairos XXVI/1-2 (1984), 80-88. ''Blood libel accusations were made against Jews by Ottoman Christian subjects starting in the sixteenth century, most frequently in the Arab provinces, first at Jerusalem in 1546. The most famous Christian assault on Ottoman Jews in medieval times came in the central Anatolian town of Amasya some time between 1530 and 1540, when a blood-libel accusation against local Jews was spread by local Armenians who said that an Armenian woman had seen Jews slaughter a young Armenian boy and use his blood at the feast of Passover. Several days of rioting and pillaging and attacks on Jews followed...Later, however, the Armenian boy who supposedly had been murdered was found and the Ottoman governor punished the Armenian accusers, though nothing could be done about the Jews who had suffered.''[1] ''There were literally thousands of incidents in subsequent years, invariably resulting from accusations spread among Greeks and Armenians by word of mouth, or published in their newspapers, often by Christian financiers and merchants who were anxious to get the Jews out of the way, resulting in isolated and mob attacks on Jews, and burning of their shops and homes [2]. The attacks were brutal and without mercy. Women, children, and aged Jewish men were frequently attacked, beaten and often killed.''[3] [1] Stanford J. Shaw, ''Christian Anti-Semitism in the Ottoman Empire'', Belleten C. LIV, 68, p.1103 (1991). [2] Abraham Ben-Yakob (Jerusalem), ''The Immigration of Iraki Jews to the Holy Land in the 19th Century'', paper delivered to the First International Congress for the Study of Sephardic and Oriental Judaism, 27 June 1978. [3] Stanford J. Shaw, ''Christian Anti-Semitism in the Ottoman Empire'', Belleten C. LIV, 68, p.1129 (1991) By Andrew Sackser: Throughout history the children of Israel have suffered at hands of others. A people set apart from their neighbors by their faith, countless. Jews have often had to pay for this faith with their lives. There was, however, one haven where Jews did not suffer the large-scale persecution characterizing their entire existence. This haven was Turkey. For over five hundred years Jews have flourished there, enjoying relatively uninterrupted freedom and safety that has only been rivaled in America. This year marks the quincentennial anniversary of the ingathering of Jews to Turkey, and highlights one of the brighter chapters in Jewish history. ... Source: HIRHURIM - The Jewish Magazine of Brendeis University (Massachusetts). Vol. 1, No: 2, Spring 1992 Source: Doc. Dr. Azmi Suslu, "Ermenilerin Yaptiklari Katliamlar (Les Massacres Commis Par Les Armeniens)," Ankara Universitesi Basimevi, Ankara, 1986. p. 1. Fotograf: Ermeni ceteleri tarafindan 25 Nisan'da Subatan koyunde karinlari yarilip cocuklari cikarilan kadinlar ve cocuklari. Fotograf: Mus ve Bitlis'te kurulup Rus ordusuna onculuk eden ve Turklere karsi giristikleri mezalimle taninan Ermeni cetelerinden bir grup (Ermeni Amal ve Harekat-i Ihtilaliyyesi-Tesavir ve Vesaik. Osmanlica, Almanca, Ingilizce ve Fransizca aciklamali Album, nu. 2, s. 58.) p. 26. "Bu koyler son derecede acinacak haldedir. Gidip gelmeleriyle Ermeni ihtilalcileri, bunlara kitlik getirmislerdir." p. 40. Rus Generali Mayewski: "Her konuda oldugu gibi, ilkbaharda isyan faaliyetlerinin hazirliklari da hizlanmistir. Hatta, sehrin yakinlarindaki birkac Turk'un katledildigi ve vucutlarinin parca parca dograndigi gibi bazi cinayetlerden bile soz edildigi duyulmaya baslanmistir. Ozellikle bu tur cinayetlerin sorusturulmadigini goren isyancilar gunden gune cesaretlenmislerdir." p. 42. Van Ingiltere konsolosu Williams: "Ekselanslarini haberdar etmekten seref duyarim ki, bu bolgenin durumu arzu edildigi sekilde degildir. Ermeni isyancilari iki defa Muslumanlara saldirmislardir; birincisinde uc Turk oldurulmus, iki kisi yaralanmis; ikincisinde ise iki-uc kisi oldurulmustur. Her iki olayda da vucutlar vahsice parcalanmistir...Her halukarda bu ahmak ve rezil Ermeniler olayin musebbipleridirler" p. 54. Rus Generali Mayewski: "12-13 Eylul'de Hincak cetesi ortaya cikmistir. Bu cete Van sehrine Ovannis koyunden saldirmistir. Gectikleri heryeri tahrip etmis olan bu ceteciler, Ermeni mahallesinin bahcelerine kadar ilerlemisler;..." Onsozunde Yunus Zeyrek imzasi ile $unlar yazili: ''Birinci Cihan Harbi'nin son yillarinda Ermenilerin Turklere yaptigi mezalimi yerinde tespit icin yabanci gazetecilerin de bulundugu bir heyet kuruldu. Ahmed Refik Bey bu heyetin reisiydi. Alman yazari Vays, Avusturyali yazar Dr.I$tayn'tan mute$ekkil heyet 17 Nisan - 20 Mayis 1918 tarihleri arasinda bir kisim $ark vilayetlerini dola$ti. I$te elinizdeki eser, bu seyahatin mahsuludur....Osmanlinin zeval buldugu zamanlarda Moskof himaye- sindeki Ermenilerin yaptigi $eni cinayetleri bizzat gorur gibi oluyoruz. Bazen hakimane bir tavir takinan Ruslarin, katil Ermeni ceteba$larini madalyalarla taltif ettikleri de bilinen hakikatler arasindadir....'' Ahmed Refik, 'Kafkas Yollarinda Hatiralar ve Tahassusler,' (1919). Birinci Baski, Agustos 1981, Kultur Bakanligi Yayinlari: 473. pp. 36-37: ''Erzincan, 2 Mayis: ...Ruslarin geri cekilmesini muteakip Ermenilerin zulmettikleri yerlerden biri de Erzincan. Vaktiyle yirmi bin nufusu ihtiva eden kasabada $imdi uc-dort bin ki$i bile yok. Ruslarin istilasi esnasinda kasabada kalanlar fakir ve aciz halk. Bunlarin da yedi yuze yakin kismi Ermeniler tarafindan kesilmi$, oldurulmu$, yakilmi$ ve kuyulara atilmi$. Kasaba Osmanli ordusu tarafindan $ubatta i$gal olunmu$. Olulerin toplanmasi hala bitmiyor. Bu feci kan ve sefalet manzarasi kar$isinda karli daglar, bahara hazirlanan ovalar, henuz ciceklenen agaclar sessiz ve cansiz. Firat, yine sessiz, mutevazi ve pur-vekar yoluna devam ediyor. Ku$lar yine harabeler ortasinda bezgin ve mahzun du$unuyor. Bedbaht Erzincanlilarin yanik, muessir, kurdi makamlarla soyledikleri turkuler $imdi hakikaten yerini bulmu$. Bugun o turkuler soylendigi, o hazin nagmeler yurtlarina donen felaketzedeler lisanindan i$itildigi zaman muteessir olmamak kabil degil: Vardim ki yurdumdan ayak gocurmu$ Leyla gitmi$, issiz kalmi$ otagi Camlar $ikest olmu$, meyler dokulmu$ Sakiler meclisten kesmi$ ayagi Filhakika Erzincan'da tum otaglar issiz kalmi$. Butun camlar $ikest olmu$. Butun bahceler peri$an. Butun gonuller cok kederli: Vardim ki baglarda bagban aglar Sunbuller peri$an guller kan aglar $eyda bulbul terk edeli bu bagi Kangi dagda bulsam ben o marali Kangi colde sursem ce$m-i gazali Yavrusun yitirmi$ ceylan misali Gezer colden cole yoktur duragi. Halk, ac ve sefil. Yollarda, omrunu muharebelerde ve gurbetlerde geciren bu halk zaten ne zaman saadet yuzu gormu$!...Kadin lisanindan soylenen turkulerde bile harpten ve ayriliktan ba$ka bir $ey i$itilmiyor: Dersim'in bayir ba$i Yikilmi$ dagi ta$i Agamdan ayrilali Akiyor gozum ya$i Durmuyor gozum ya$i...'' pp. 40-41: ''Erzurum, 6 Mayis: Erzincan, issizligiyla kalbe kasvet veriyor. Bu yangin yerlerinden bir an evvel kurtulmak adeta bir saadet. Yola ciktigimiz zaman, aclik manzaralari, sefaletler, Ermeniler tarafindan kesilmi$ ba$lar, parca- lanmi$ vucutlar, bir turlu gozlerimizin onunden gitmiyor. Erzincan ovasi, karli daglar arasinda kurumu$ otlari, ciplak sogutleriyle nihayetsiz ve geni$. Yollardan kalkan tozlar gogusleri tikiyor. Hic bir guzellik, hicbir cicek kalbe ferahlik vermiyor. Ovanin iki tarafina dogru yukselen, karli daglarla nihayetlenen meyiller uzerinde buyuk buyuk koyler var. Fakat bunlar ciplak ve siyah agaclariyla buyuk lekeler te$kil eden yangin yerlerinden ba$ka bir $ey degil. Yanmami$, yikilmami$, kirilmami$ hic bir $ey yok. Her taraf issiz. Bu baglarin sahipleri, bu koylerin sakinleri nerede? Sukut!...'' Ahmed Refik, 'Kafkas Yollarinda Hatiralar ve Tahassusler,' (1919). Birinci Baski, Agustos 1981, Kultur Bakanligi Yayinlari: 473. pp. 47-48: ''(Erzurum, 9 Mayis 1918:) ..Erzurum ahalisi gayet zeki ve ihsana deger verir. Sozleri duzgun. Esnafi bile irfan sahibi. Onlarin size iltifat icin: --Begim, gozun ustune gele! deyi$leri var ki, bu basit cumlelerdeki teslimiyetkarane ve samimane edalarina kar$i Anadolu'nun bu serhad halkina kalben bir hurmet beslememek mumkun degil. Rus istilasi altinda silahsiz ya$ayan, Ermeni mezalimine cocuklarini, erlerini, hatta kadinlarini kurban veren, i$te bu halk... Erzurum, bir harabe gibi. Camiler, ambar vazifesi gormekle kurtulabilmi$. Mamafih bunlarin da mustesnasi var. Lala Mustafa Pa$a Camii, Mimar Sinan'in bu guzide eseri, butun muzeyyenatindan (suslerinden) mahrum. Pencerelerinin etrafini susleyen renkli ciniler bile sokulmu$. Erzurum'un bu kismi kamilen harap. Hukumet dairesi, beylik yerler dumandan simsiyah kesilmi$, korkunc bir iskelet halinde, dort duvardan ba$ka hic bir $ey degil. Kilise Meydani civari, Islam mahalleleri yikilmi$ ve yakilmi$... Ruslarin cekilmesi uzerine $ehir kamilen Ermenilerin elinde kalmi$. I$te butun zulumler, yanginlar ve facialar o zaman ba$lami$. Yalniz Erzurum sokaklarinda toplanan Islam na$i (cesedi) dort binden fazla. Evlere doldurulup yakilanlar, yol yaptirmak bahanesiyle uzaklara goturulup oldurulenler bu hesaba dahil degil. Erzurum'da yakilan binalar hesapsiz. Ermeniler hemen her tarafi yakmi$lar, yikmi$lar...Daha ziyade mudafaada bulunamiyacaklarini anladiklari zaman pe$lerinde olum ve ate$ten murekkep bir harabe birakarak kacmi$lar.'' IHA (9 Temmuz), Erzurum: ''Erzurum'un Pasinler Ilcesi'ne bagli Timar koyunde, Prof.Dr. Enver Konukcu ba$kanligindaki 20 ki$ilik bir heyet tarafindan 350 ki$ilik bir toplu mezar ortaya cikarildi. Iki yildan beri tespit edilmeye cali$ilan toplu mezarda, Ermeniler tarafindan olduruldukten sonra birbirinin uzerine atilarak gomuldukleri anla$ilan 350 Turk'un iskeletleri arasinda ziynet e$yalari, kismen yanmi$ Kur'an-i Kerim'ler, Osmanlica kitaplar ile 3 adet de altin bulundu. Katliamdan sag olarak kurtulmayi ba$aran 84 ya$indaki Ethem Aydin kazi boyunca gozya$larini tutamadi.'' Extracts from a letter dated December 11, 1983, published in the San Francisco Chronicle. "We have first hand information and evidence of Armenian atrocities against our people (Jews). Members of our family witnessed the murder of 148 members of our family near Erzurum, Turkey, by Armenian neighbors, bent on destroying anything and anybody remotely Jewish and/or Muslim. Armenians were in league with Hitler in the last war, on his premise to grant themselves government if, in return, the Armenians would help exterminate Jews. Armenians were also hearty proponents of the anti-Semitic acts in league with the Russian Communists." Signed Elihu Ben Levi, Vacaville, California. A. Alper Gazigiray, "Muslim Archival Material on the Genocide Perpetrated by the Armenians Against the Muslim people in Eastern Anatolia," Gozen Kitabevi, Istanbul, 1982. pp. 455-456. Picture: Corpses of Muslim children butchered by Armenians. "Simdi Savur'da yasayan memleketi Bitlis olan 40 yasinda Isa oglu Haydar'in yeminli ifadesi: 1915 yilinin subat ayinda ailemle Bitlis'in bir koyu olan Tako'da bulunuyordum. Yolda Bitlis halkindan bir kafile gorunce, gidislerinin sebebini sordum. Bunlar bana sehrin ansizin Rus ve Ermeni birlikleri tarafindan basildigini, bu birliklerin daha ziyade Ermeniler tarafindan teskil edildigini, rastladiklari Islamlari kadin, erkek ve cocuk ayirmaksizin sungu darbeleriyle oldurduklerini soylediler. Haber salmam uzerine Bitlis'in Kersan mahallesinde oturan Suleyman oglu Ali asagidakileri anlatti. Kardeslerim Ismail ve Halil kapilarinin esiginde Ermeniler tarafindan oldurulmuslerdi. Haci Alinin oglu kayinbiraderim Yusuf'u oldurmusler ve halasi Sakir'in kizi olan Mercan rezilane suikastler maksadiyla cete tarafindan goturulmustur. Hasta olan komsum Seyh Harzan Ahmet yataginda karisi Semo ve hizmetcilerinden bir tanesi oldurulmustu. Seyhi ziyarete gelmis olan Mustafa oglu Recep'in de mukadderati ayni olmustur. Ismail Kilincizade oglu Hasan kendisinden buyuk bir fidye alinmasina ragmen Suleyman Yusufzadenin evinin yakininda oldurulmustur. Oglu Izzet ve Haci Nasullah'in oglunu kasatura darbeleriyle oldurmuslerdir. 80 lik bir kadin olan Ahlatli Niger ve Tero'un hasta karisi Bezirgan Cilvinzade Ismail oglu Halil, Ahmet oglu Mehmet, kardesim Mithat Efendi ve amcasi 50 yaslarinda olan Seyh Hafi kar ve sogugun siddetine ragmen acik bas ve yalinayakla angarya yapmaya ve uzak mesafelere agir yukler tasimaya mecbur edilmislerdi. Bunun uzerine Bitlis'e gitmeye cesaret edemiyerek koyume, Yako'ya dondum." p. 458. "Hafif Suvari Alayi Komutani Nuh Beyin ifadesi: 1915 Subat ayinda Rus saldirisi esnasinda Mus vadisinde bulunan bilhassa Kolisek, Zikzak, Varsad, Abzit, Kurni, Pav, Capkis, Agudat, Sipahiyan, Suspiret, Til, Tekmal, Norkak koyleri tamamiyle yikildi..." Source: _Russian View on the Genocide Committed by the Armenians against the Muslims_ by Doc. Dr. Azmi Suslu, Ankara Universitesi Basimevi, Ankara, 1987. p. 38. Picture: Ermeni mezalimine ugrayan masum Turk halkinin katlinden sonra karlar uzerine terk edilen cesetleri. "Ermeni asilli istihkam subayi Morozof Meguerditche'in raporu Bu dakikadan itibaren hicbir taraftan emir verilmeksizin katliam basladi. Katliama koylulerle birlikte muntazam askerler de istirak etmekteydi. Katliam en cok Ermeni kilisesi civarinda icra edilmistir. Yapilan nasihatlara ragmen katliamin onune gecmek mumkun olmamistir. Neticede yaklasik olarak 250 ile 300 Musluman katlolunmustur." "Erzincan bolgesinde binlerce musluman, hicbir ayirim yapmadan Ermeniler tarafindan vahsice oldurulmustur. Nitekim Osmanli ordusu Erzincan'a geldigi zaman Ordu Komutani'nin 16 Subat'da Baskomutanlik Vekaletine yazdigi rapor aynen soyledir: 'Cardakli bogazindan Erzincan'a kadar olan butun koyleri, hatta bir kulube bile saglam kalmamak sartiyla, tahrip edilmis gordum. Bahcelerin agaclari kesilmis, koylerden bir fert sag kalmamistir. Ermenilerin Erzincan'da yaptiklari facialari dunya tarihi bugune kadar kaydetmemistir. Uc gunden beri Ermeniler tarafindan oldurulup meydanda kalan Islam cenazeleri toplattirilmaktadir. Sehid edilmis olan bu bigane ve masum halk arasinda memeden kesilmemis cocuklar, doksan yasini ikmal etmis ihtiyarlar, parcalanmis kadinlar vardir.'" Source: _Russian View on the Genocide Committed by the Armenians against the Muslims_ by Doc. Dr. Azmi Suslu, Ankara Universitesi Basimevi, Ankara, 1987. pp. 10-13. Picture: Ermeniler tarafindan katledilen yakinlarinin basinda aglayan masum Turkler. "Rusya'nin Bitlis Konsolosu'nun raporu Bitlis vilayetinin dikkat ceken ozelliklerinden biri de, Ermeni ihtilal cemiyeti olan Tasnaksutyun'un bu vilayette daimi surette faaliyet gostermesidir...Simdi adigecen cemiyetin Sasun, Mus sancagi, Mus ovasi, Bulanik, Ahlat ve Malazgirt kazalariyla, Bitlis sehrindeki uyelerinin sayisi 100,000 kisiye ulasmistir. Bu teskilatin vilayet icindeki baslica reisi Karmen (Carmen), diger adiyla Karnik'tir. Tasnaksutyun cemiyetine girmeden once Karnik bir papazdi. Asil adi Dacad Vartabed (Dadjad Vartabete) imis...Karmen'in Mus sehrindeki yardimcilari ise, ilk basta Simon Zavaryan ve daha sonra Agop Hadoyan, Mecobuluyan ve Simbat'tir. Bulanik kazasindaki Hupe (Houppe), Karmen'in vekili Museg (Mochehe), Sasun'da Manuk, Mus ovasinda Iso Kumuslu (Isso Koumssel) ve iki Misaklar'dir. Reisleriyle birlikte bu 100,000 uyenin girdigi cemiyetin merkezi idaresi Mus sehrinde yapilmaktadir. Bu teskilat, 20 komiteye, 100 alt komiteye ve 8,000 gruba ayrilmaktadir. Binaenaleyh her gruba 10 ila 12 uye dahildir. 100 ila 1,000 Ermeni bir alt komite ve 1,000 ila 5,000 kisi de bir komite teskil ederler. Buyuk merkez komitesi daimi surette Mus sehrinde bulunmakta ve Mus sehri ile Mus ovasi, Sasun, Bulanik ve Malazgirt kazalariyla Bitlis sehri ve civarindaki Tasnaksutyun subeleri adigecen merkeze tabi bulunmaktadir. Tasnaksutyun cemiyetine dahil bulunan uyelerden her biri her ay cemiyet kasasina on paradan bir kurusa kadar bir meblag odemeye mecburdur. Bundan dolayi cemiyetin yalniz Bitlis vilayetinde senelik 1,000 ila 1,500 liralik gelire sahip oldugu zannedilmektedir. Bu surette her grup ve komitenin topladigi akce Cenevre'deki Tasnaksutyun'un Garb Kalemi'ne gonderilmekte ve bu kalemce Isvicre Tasnakist Hey'et-i Aliyyesi mukarreratina gore sarfedilmektedir. Komite ve alt komitelerin baskanlari ve Osmanli askerleriyle savasmis 'eski' ihtilalcilerde Revolver ve Miravn, Musin ve Berdan sisteminde tufeklerle luzumu kadar fisek vardir. Tasnaksutyun cemiyetinin diger uyelerine gelince, bunlarin elinde Berdanga, Kerd (Kramnofmas/Kramnovka), Martin ve Gra (Gras) gibi degisik sistemlerden olmak uzere 600-800 tufek vardir. Bu tufekler eskiden koylerde toprak altinda muhafaza edilirdi. Simdi oralardan cikarilmistir. ...Tasnaklarin hareketlerine karsi Mus ovasindaki Kirtakum koyu ahalisi de siddetle memnuniyetsizliklerini beyan etmislerdir. Bu sene gerek Mus ve gerek Bitlis memurlarina kendilerinden sozde mektepler icin para toplayan ve ayni zamanda silahlanmalarini tavsiye eden Karmen aleyhinde sikayette bulunmuslardir. Her halde Tasnakcilarin mektep ve egitim konusunda yapacaklari faaliyetleri, diger faaliyetlerini gizlemektedir." Source: _Russian View on the Genocide Committed by the Armenians against the Muslims_ by Doc. Dr. Azmi Suslu, Ankara Universitesi Basimevi, Ankara, 1987. p. I. Picture: Isyanci Ermeni ceteleri tarafindan vahsice sehid edilmis olan kadin ve cocuk cesetleri sedyelerde. p. 8. "Birinci Dunya Savasi basinda Car II. Nicolas'in Ermenilere hitaben yayinladigi beyannamede soyle bir ifade kullanilmistir: 'Ermeniler! Dogudan batiya kadar buyuk Rusya'nin butun ahalisi davetimi buyuk bir saygiyla kabul etti. Ermeniler, bircogunuzun altinda ezildigi ve bugun ezilmege devam ettigi bes asirlik istibdattan sonra hurriyete sahip olacaginiz saat geldi. Ruslar, Ermeni evladini buyuk bir iftiharla hatirliyor. Lazaroflar, Melikoflar ve benzer Ermeniler Slav kardeslerinin yaninda vatanin gelismesi icin savasmislardi. Asirlardan beri devam eden sadakatiniz icin bu buyuk gunde de butun vazifelerinizi sarsilmaz bir iman ve kanaatle ifa edeceginize ve gercek davamizin ve silahlarimizin kesin zafere ulasmasi icin calisacaginiza bir delildir. Ermeniler! Carlar Hukumetleri altinda kan kardeslerinizle birleserek nihayet hurriyet ve adaletin nimetlerine kavusacaksiniz' (Ermeni amal ve harekat-i ihtilaliyyesi, tesavir ve vesaik, Osmanlica, Almanca, Ingilizce ve Fransizca Album, nu. 2, s. 36). Ihtilal sonrasinda ise, bu ifade soyle bir sekil almistir: 'Ermeniler ve ihtilalci komiteleri oyunda gerekli olan ahmaklardir' (Lenin). Rusya'nin dun Balkanlar'da Slavcilik veya Hiristiyanlik adi altinda uyguladigi ve Dogu Anadolu'da da Ermenilere tatbik ettigi iki yuzlu siyaset, bugun de daha degisik sekilde, fakat ayni amaclarla devam etmektedir." A. Alper Gazigiray, _Muslim Archival Material on the Genocide Perpetrated by the Armenians Against the Muslim people in Eastern Anatolia,_ Gozen Kitabevi, Istanbul, 1982. pp. 453-455. Picture: Another heap of slaughtered Muslim women and children by Armenians. "Bitlis Tas Mahallesinden olup, simdi Savur'da bulunan 45 yasinda Huseyin oglu Bakkal Muhittin Efendi'nin yeminli ifadesi: 1915 Subat ayinin sonu idi. Evimde otururken, birden sehirin cesitli yerlerinden surekli ates sesleri ve gurultulu sesler gelmeye basladi. Bu Rus-Ermeni birliklerinin geldigini delalet ediyordu. Hemen sokaga ciktim. Ceteler sehirde umumi bir katliam yapiyorlardi. Hemen ailemi kurtarmak icin eve gittim. Yolda, Viranli katip Fazil Efendinin parca parca edildigini gorunce, ailemle birlikte vilayet konagi tarafindan kacmaya mecbur oldum. Orada yollar Ermeniler tarafindan kesilmisti. Butun Muslumanlari yas farki gozetmeksizin olduruyorlardi. Kurtulabilmek icin o taraftan hic bir cikis bulamadigimdan, dusmanin eline gecmemek icin kendimi Bitlis'ten gecen nehre atmak istedim. Kardesim Musa bu tesebbusume mani oldu ve Tanrinin inayetiyle buyuk zorluklar pahasina genel katliamdan kurtulduk. Binlerce kurban arasinda su taninmis kisiler vardi: 1. Esraftan Haci Semsettin oglu Tosun Efendi, 2. Herson mahallesinden Haci Yusuf oglu Abdulbaki Efendi, 3. Haci Hasan oglu Haci Mehmet, 4. Mahmut oglu Nadir, 5. Cemal oglu Abdulrezzak, 6. Mehmet oglu Dursun, 7. Recep oglu Hamit, 8. Bilal oglu Cemil, 9. Seyh Mehmet Kufrevi oglu Seyh Abdulmalik Efendi, 10. Bitlis Jandarma komutani Ismail Bey. Mardin eski kadisi Ahmet Efendi yataginda katledildi. Kiz kardesi Bedriye Zaman Hanim, Recep Efendinin kizi Perihan hanim, Onbasi Halit'in karisi Leyla ve oglu Salih de korkunc iskencelerle evlerinde oldurulduler. Musa Efendi kendi tarafinda kardesi Muhiddin gibi aci sahneleri yasadi." A. Alper Gazigiray, _Muslim Archival Material on the Genocide Perpetrated by the Armenians Against the Muslim people in Eastern Anatolia,_ Gozen Kitabevi, Istanbul, 1982. pp. 451-452. Picture: Heap of massacred Muslim women and children by Armenians. "Mus multecilerinden 18 yasinda olan Abdurrahman oglu Mehmet Resul'un Hani Muduru onunde verdigi yeminli ifadesi: Betlevo koyu yakinlarinda 1915 ocaginin yarisina dogru yapilan savasta yaralandim. Hasta olan uc arkadasimla ilerlemekte olan orduyu takip edemedik ve dusman tarafindan esir edildik. Ilk once er Huseyin'in gozlerini oydular ve ayaga kalk Osmanli askerleri geliyorlar mi diye bak dediler. Sonra kucuk bir vadiye goturup orada kursuna dizdiler. Bu cinayetten sonra ismini bilmedigim bir arkadasima saldirdilar. Korkunc iskence ettikten sonra onu da oldurduler. Ucuncu arkadasimin sirasi geldi. Onun tenasul uzuvlarini kesip agzina soktular ve sonra da bogdular. Cellatlar arasinda uc Ermeniyi tanidim. Mus'un Jakar mahallesinden Kes oglu Aram, Bagdasar oglu Aleksan ve Mus'un Bas mahallesinden Avukat Hrant'in oglu Hrant diger bes tanesi Rus askerleriydi. Bu haydutlar bana yaklasarak butun muslumanlarin sonunun bu oldugunu soylediler ve tufegin demir ucunu yaktiklari ateste kizartip vucuduma 24 yerinden sapladilar. Bu iskencelerden beni kurtarmak isteyen bir Rus askeri geldiginde aci cigliklar atiyordum. Bu asker beni bir kenara cekerek isminin Abdulmalik olup Kazanli bir musluman aileden geldigini ve kurtarabilecegini soyledi. Sekiz cellat ben ve 100 kisilik bir grup bize iltihak etti. Til koyu istikametine gidiyorduk. Yolda 800 civarinda bir musluman topluluguna rastladik. Ermeniler istisnasiz hepsini oldurup imha ettiler. Aksama dogru Til koyune geldik. Ermeniler yanlarinda Karamese koyu yagmasi esnasinda kacirdiklari iki musluman kadini getirmislerdi. Bu bahis konusu olan iki kadin hamile idi. Ermeni ve Ruslarin ortasina getirildiler. Iki asker ve iki Ermeni, kadinlarin tasidiklari cocuklarin cinsi uzerine iki mecidiyelik bahse girismislerdi. Bunun uzerine kadinlarin karinlarini bicakla deldiler, birisinden bir oglan cikarttilar, digerinin cenini ise cesitli tahminlere yol acti. Bes dakika sonra 4 Rus ve 6 Ermeni, 6 genc musluman kiz getirdiler. Ermenilerin arasinda, Mus'un Ziyaret koyunden olan birini tanidim. Kizlar siraya sokulmuslardi. Bir Rus subayi geldi, aralarindan birini secerek goturdu...[a disgusting story - ye]. Til koyunde uc gece gecirdim. Hernekadar yaralarimdan pek aci cekiyor isem de musluman Rus askerlerinin yardimiyla kurtulabildim. Safaga dogru Kazan koyune hakim sinirlara geldim. Koyun icinden aci cigliklar atiliyordu. Gun agardiginda Ermenilerin koy sakinlerini oldurduklerini ve diri diri yaktiklarini gordum. Dehsetten tas kesilerek gece oluncaya kadar yerimi terk etmedim. Karanlikta yola koyuldum ve her cesit zorluk ve tehlikelerle karsilasilarak Hani'ye vardim." A. Alper Gazigiray, _Muslim Archival Material on the Genocide Perpetrated by the Armenians Against the Muslim people in Eastern Anatolia,_ Gozen Kitabevi, Istanbul, 1982. pp. 450-451. Picture: Heaped corpses of slaughtered Muslim children by Armenians. "Akcan (Mus) Nehiyesine bagli Avran koyunden gecen Osmanli Askerlerine Ermeniler tarafindan yapilan zulum: Eski Akcam Nahiyesi Muduru simdi Bervari Kazasinin Kaymakam Vekili olan Ahmet Nurettin Efendinin yeminli ifadesi: Hukumet tarafindan genel seferberlik ilan edildi ve bir ay sonra Akcan nahiyesine mudur olarak atandim. Mus Mutasarrifi olan Servet bey hic bir irk ve din farki gozetmeksizin sancagin tum halkina karsi durust ve koruyucu idi. Halbuki Mus Ermenileri imkan oldugu zaman vergilerde ve askerlere alinmada hukumete zorluklar cikartiyorlardi. Tasnaklarin ve Ermeni papazlarin kiskirtici hareketlerini acikca goruyorduk. Ve cevrilen dolap duzenlerin zararlarini arada sirada hissediyorduk. Fesatci tesirlerin telkini ile Ermeni koylerinin bir cogu vahset hareketlerinde bulunmakta gecikmediler. Ermeniler su ve ekmek bahanesiyle gonullu asker ve Milisleri evlerine davet ediyorlar ve orada bu kisileri kapali ve tenha yerlere goturup boguyorlar, gozlerini oyup baslarini kopariyorlardi. Ozellikle askerlerin tufeklerine sahip olmak icin hic bir zorluktan cekinmiyorlardi. Ermenilerin mezalimi ozellikle 300 evlik olan Avran koyunde yapilmisti. Iste bu koyde 15 temmuz 1915 tarihinde actigimiz sorusturma sonucunda asagidaki bilgiler meydana cikti. Tasnak komitesi uyesi Ermeniye ait olan evin civarinda agzi cok dar olan kapatilmis bir kuyu bulduk. Ortuyu kaldirdigimizda igrenc ve pis kokular etrafa dagildi. Asagiya indirdigim bir adam kuyunun insan cesetleriyle dolu oldugunu bildirdi. Kimliklerini tesbit etmek uzere onlari yukari yukari cikarttik. Kurbanlarin sayisi 19 olup masum ve zavalli askerlerden baska bir sey degildi. Cesetlerin durumu Osmanli hukumetinin 600 senelik samimi himayesine mahzar olmus bu Ermenilerin isledikleri korkunc cinayetlerin ancak uc dor gunluk bir mazisi oldugunu gosteriyordu. Ermeniler tarafindan alcakca bogulan bu askerlerin cesetlerini gomdukten sonra terk ettik." A. Alper Gazigiray, _Muslim Archival Material on the Genocide Perpetrated by the Armenians Against the Muslim people in Eastern Anatolia,_ Gozen Kitabevi, Istanbul, 1982. pp. 448-450. Picture: Corpses of Muslim women and children slaughtered by Armenians. "Sahitlerin Ifadeleriyle Ermeni Mezalimi - Bitlis Vilayeti: Memleketi Bitlis olan ve simdi Mardin'in Nayalu koyune goc eden Suleyman Oglu Ali'nin yeminli ifadesi: Ruslarin Bitlis'i isgal etmek istediklerini erkenden ogrenen Van ve Bitlis Ermenileri Muslumanlara saldirdilar. Kacmalarini onlemek icin yollarini kapatarak Musluman halkini merhametsizce katlettiler. Bu arada 11 yasindaki kayinbiraderim Ali, annesi Rabia, Azaranli Seyh Ahmet, karisi ve bir hizmetcisi, komsularimiz Ahmet oglu ve kucuk yasta oglu, seksenlik Hasan oglu Izzet, izinde olan iki asker kendilerini parca parca yapan bu barbarlarin vahsetinin kurbani oldular. 17 kisiden mutesekkil ailemizden yalniz bes kisi, o da buyuk zorlukla katliamdan kurtulabildiler. Yegenimin bir cogu havaya atilmis duserken de bu haydut Ermeniler tarafindan ikiye kesilmistir. Genc kizlari igfal etmisler sonrada hepsini kanlar icinde sokaklarda suruklemislerdir. Toplam olarak; Muslumanlar uzerine, Ermeniler duyulmamis, tasvir edilmez cinayetler islemislerdir. Memleketi Bitlis olan ve simdi Mardin'in Nayali koyunde multeci olarak bulunan Kamil oglu Abdulrazzak'in yeminli ifadesi: Ilimizin isgalinde bir kardesimin ve amcamin aileleri ile birlikte erken saatlerde Araplar koprusune gidiyorduk. Ermeniler yolumuzu kestiler ve bizim onumuzde, kardesim Cerkes donlu oglu Abdulnadir ve kiz kardesim Emine'yi oldurduler. Biz kactik ve 18 kisiden yalniz 5 kisi kendini kurtarabilip Mardin'e gelebildi. Gruptan geri kalanlar kandi cocuklarim dahil olmak uzere esir olarak goturulduler veya oldurulduler. Nazim kazasina bagli Kolpic Koyu ve bu koyden Ebubekir ve Abdulkerim'in yeminli ifadesi: Koyumuzun ilerisinde bulunan bir yerde bulunuyordum...Bu kritik anda koyumuze iki ayri noktadan baskin yaparak gelen Rus ve cok miktarda Ermeniden kurulu dusman ordusu halki oldurmeye ve evleri yakmaya basladi. Icimizden bazilarinin bulundugu 150 kisi kilictan gecirildi. Biz kacarken 'Bidet,' Orans koyunden 'Arsak,' Herit Ermeni koyunden 'Sandir' ve Sube koyunden 'Krizikio' adli Ermeniler arkamizdan; Islam dinimize kufur ve Peygamberimize hakaret kusuyorlardi. Rus ve Ermeniler o derece iskence yapmislardi ki donusumuzde hic kimse goz yasini tutamadi. Birbirine baglanmis ciplak kadin ve erkekler agaclara asilmislardi. Baslari koparilmis, memeleri kesilmis kadinlarin goguslerinde iki parcaya bolunmus cocuklar vardi. Genc guzel kizlar goturulmuslerdi. Haydutlar kendilerine yarayacak mobilyalari almislar, digerlerini de yakmislardir." A. Alper Gazigiray, _Muslim Archival Material on the Genocide Perpetrated by the Armenians Against the Muslim people in Eastern Anatolia,_ Gozen Kitabevi, Istanbul, 1982. pp. 396-398. Picture: Armenians burning a Mosque. "Buradan Peklic koyune gidilerek bu bedbaht koyun de Ermeni mezaliminin en igrenc sahnelerine maruz kaldigi gorulmustur. Mal, mulk yagma edilmis, cami tahrip ve kirletilmistir. Burada da ahaliden gorulebilen birkac kisi yemin ederek gorduklerini soylemislerdir: Dusmanla birlikte koye giren Ermeniler, Karacayli Emrah ile Mahmut'un yolda rastladiklari biri alti, digeri yedi yaslarinda iki masum cocugunu almislar, kilise kapisinin esigine goturerek orada koyun bogazlar gibi kestikten sonra kesilmis baslarini kilise tarafina govdelerini de kapinin onune birakmislar ve ihtiyarlarin Fettah oglu Ahmet'i, Mirin Efendiyi, Ahmet oglu Halim'i Akva oglu Kaya onbasiyi, Ciddi Mehmet'i, Muhiy oglu Melayi, Mehmed Cavusu ve Mahdumu Osman'i, Sed Agayi, Hafiz oglu Veli'yi, Dellal oglu Hayri'yi ve yedi yasindaki oglu Hakki'yi, Mustafa oglu Zihni'yi, Yusuf oglu Mevlud'u, dort yasindaki kardesi Eyup'u, kadinlardan Altin sacli Mevlud'un validesini, kizlardan Seyh Besir'in 15 yasindaki kizini, Mustafa'nin alti yasindaki kizi Fatma'yi, Karsli Omer'in sekiz yasindaki kizi Lefce'yi, dort yasindaki diger kizi Ermer'i pek feci bir surette katl ve sehit ettiler. Pekvisli Ahmet Bey hanesine iltica eden ve gizlenen 150 kadinla Ahmet beyin ailesine ve Mamahatunlu Mustafa Efendinin biri 12, digeri 14 yasindaki kerimesinin, 500 mutecaviz Ermeni tarafindan hucum edilerek kiz ve kadinlarini namuslari kirletilmis ve bunlardan kendini teslim etmeyen dort kadinla Izzet hatun adinda 30 yasinda bir kadinin bogazlanarak kuyuya atildiklarini Molla Sukru ile arkadaslari buyuk bir teessur icinde anlatmislardir. Heyetimiz koye vardigi zaman anlatilan senaata kurban olan Izzet Hatun'un kesilmis basi henuz yerde idi. 150 kadinin ve bir yasindaki kiz cocugun parmagindaki yuzugu almak icin parmaklarini kesmislerdir. Bu koyun ihtiyarlarindan Dursun aga adindaki zat boynuna taktiklari bir iple kuyubasina goturulerek bas asagi asarak oldureceklerini soyleyip para istemisler, mevcut parasini verdigi halde bir cok iskenceden sonra boynunun arkasindan kasatura ile kesmeye baslamislar, nihayet her nedense terkederek gitmislerdir. Bu adam boynundaki buyuk ve muthis yara ile bitap bir halde idi. Bu koyde yapilan mezalimin haddi hesabi yoktu. Erzurum - ilica - Askale - Tercan yolu uzerinde ve yakininda 11 koy ile Tercan kasabasinda Ermenilerin yaptiklari buyuk iskence zulum ve katliamlar boylece ozetlenmistir. Bu koylerden baska daha yuzlerce koy ozellikle Antranik pasa diye anilan ve aslen Tercan'in Koturlu koyunden bir Ermeni olan Aleksan oglu Antranik komutasindaki hain ve insani duygulardan mahrum, kana susamis, birer hayvan gibi vahsi cetelerin yaptiklari facialari, mubalagaya kapilmadan arzederim ki, ancak %1 dir. Bu koyler tamamen harap olmus, butun kadinlarin irzina gecilmis, cogu kesilmis ve onemli bir kismi da Erzurum'a sevkedilmek bahanesiyle yollarda katlolunmustur. Bu alcak ve zalim insan kilikli hayvanlar Turklerden intikam almak bahanesiyle ve tamamen zevk icin yapmislardir. Eger yanlarinda Ruslar olmasa idi, belki daha muthisini yapacaklardi. Uzun zamanlar bu tahrip edilen koyler issiz ve virane olarak kalmistir." Neside Kerem Demir, _The Crime of Genocide Committed by the Armenians Against the Muslim People,_ Hulbe Basim ve Yayin T.A.S., Ankara, 1979. pp. 158-159. Picture: Corpses of Muslim women and children slaughtered by Armenians in the snow. "San'atkarlar yaratilis itibariyle daha hassastirlar. Zulum ve iskence, onlara daha cok tesir eder. Ermenilerin Turklere yapmis olduklari mezalim, bilhassa halk sairlerimizde derin izler birakmistir. Insanin maruz kalmaya degil, seyretmeye tahammul edemeyecegi Ermeniler tarafindan cizilen bu korkunc manzaralar, 'Asik Kahraman'i tabir-i hakikisiyle inletmistir. Zira, Asik Kahraman, bu vahsetin icinden, kaderin siyirip cikardigi, bir kazazededir. Bu kazazede'nin basindan gecen hadiseyi ve mezalimi tablolastiran siirini beraberce okuyalim. Bu siir, Ermeni vahsetinin, dunya edebiyatina gecmis tek kanli levhasi degildir. Ama biz sadece bir tane ile iktifa ediyoruz. Ermeniler, 12 Mart'da ordumuzun Erzurum'a girisinden sonra da kanli ve cok alcakca usullerle Turkler'i katliama giristiler. Yalniz, Sarikamis, Arpacayi arasinda bulunan elliiki Turk koyunde, silahsiz erkekleri ve coluk cocugu, cami, merek, ashane, kom ve ahir gibi buyuk yapilarla, evlere doldurup, bir yandan gazyagi ve benzinle atese vererek, bir yandan da benzeri kesici nesnelerle, yaylim atesleriyle pek vahsice kirdilar. Altiyuzyetmisbir nufuslu (Kars'in dogu yakasindaki) Kale koyunden (Derecik'ten) kurtulabilen 11 kisiden birisi olan Asik Kahraman (1863 - 1944), bu koyle ucyuzaltmis kisinin bir yere doldurularak, 15 Nisan'dan sonra nasil kirildigini, su acikli destaninda anmaktadir. 11 Haziran 1939'da bu agiti yazdirmak icin tekrarliyan rahmetli halk sairimiz, bunu soylerken gozlerinden dolu gibi yas dokmus ve siirinin sonuna gelmeden, bayilivermisti." Kalekoy (Derecik) Kirginina Agit: 1. Ey agalar nasil diyem derdimiz: Vardi zulum sonu arsa dayandi. Ermeni, Islami kirdi, taladi, Mazlumlar amani, Arsa dayandi. 2. Kalo'nun koyunu basti, ceng acti Mitralyoz, tufeklen od, ates sacti Ana: Evlat atti, dag tasa kacti Sabiler sivani, Arsa dayandi. 3. Mevla'nin takdiri eristi basa Yuzcevirdi, bakmaz kardas kardasa Ucyuz altmis cani yakti atasa Koptu Nuh Tufani, Arsa dayandi. 4. Bir cenaze gordum: Kan olmus yuzu, Patlamis kenara sicramis gozu, Ucyuz altmis canin sonmemis kozu, Yanan can dumani, Arsa dayandi. 5. Bir yigit vurulmus: Parmaklar, kamis, Kacarken Kafir'e yolu ugramis, Kafir tutmus: Tike, tike dogramis, Hancer, kilic yani, Arsa dayandi. 6. Bir yigidi: Vurmus, yolda koymuslar, Can teslim etmeden, deri soymuslar, Cep - cep etmis, yanlarini oymuslar, Et cepte, figani Arsa dayandi. 7. Bir gelini gordum: Ayaga kalkmis, Sandim ki, cani var, yuzune bakmis, Kafir mismar ile direge cakmis; Mismar, civi unu, Arsa dayandi. 8. Bir hamile kadin: Davranmis kaca, Ermeni, eylemis hep parca parca Kilic ile vurmus, bolunmus kalca, Aman kizil - kani, Arsa dayandi. 9. Cocugu, karnindan cikartmis, bakar; Can teslim etmeden, sunguye takar, Bebegin figani, dagi - tasi yakar, Dagin, tasin sani, Arsa dayandi. 10. Altiyuz altmis can, batti kirildi, Cogu yandi, geri kalan vuruldu, Bu koyun defteri artik duruldu, Halinin yamani, Arsa dayandi. 11. Tanri, Ermeni'ye vermis firsati, Kesti kokumuzu, kirar milleti, Ruz-i Kiyamet'e kaldi muddeti, Intikamin gunu, Arsa dayandi. 12. Kahraman, kan aglar, bu serim duman, Catti bu zamana, ol Ahir - zaman, Islam'a olsun Ahrette iman, Kafirler isyani, Arsa dayandi.[88] [88] Edebiyatimizda Kars, II. Kitap, s. 123, 1958, Istanbul. Neside Kerem Demir, _The Crime of Genocide Committed by the Armenians Against the Muslim People,_ Hulbe Basim ve Yayin T.A.S., Ankara, 1979. pp. 171-172. Picture: 1915 - Slaughtered Muslim women and children by the Armenians in Subatan village. "Harbin ilk zamanlarinda Beyezid'in Ermeni cete reislerinden Sevrun, eski Erzurum Meb'usu Pastirmaciyan Karakin idaresinde bulunan 1200 mevcudlu hunhar Ermeni cetesi musluman koylerine musallat olarak vahsi hayvanlara rahmet okutacak canavarlikla onlerine gelen masum musluman ahaliyi parcaliyor, mal ve esyayi yagma ediyorlardi. Yaramis, Agca, Viran koyleri ahalisi ekseriyetle oldurulduler. Bunlarin kanli elinden yarali ve hasta askerler de kurtulamiyordu. Lize mevkiinde ordumuz tarafindan mecburen terk edilen yarali askerleri, sonralari Ruslar cekildigi zaman, Ermeni cetesi tarafindan sehit edilmis olarak bulduk. Ruslarin yardimci oldugu Ermeni cetesi, Malazgird'de elliuc koyu yikmis ve yirmibinden asagi olmayan nufusun buyuk bir kismini oldurmustur. Bunlarin coguna sahid olduk... Mus'un sukutunda Ermeni komitecileri kana susamis canavar gibi etrafa saldirarak ele gecirdikleri muslumanlari feci bir surette oldurmuslerdir. Kadinlarin irzlarina tecavuz ediyor, ihtiyarlari ve gencleri olduruyorlardi. Esraftan Haci Murad ve Resid, Guneyli Haci Mehmed ve Cafer, Timor, Abdah, Yusuf, Mehmed Han ve Nadir Agalar Ermeniler tarafindan Maktel adi verilen yere goturulerek koyun bogazlar gibi kesilmislerdir. Ermeniler Varto kazasinin Ayaz nahiyesi dahilinde Cebran asiretinden Cundi Aga'ya aid onbes koy halkini Murad nehrinin Gol Hazal denilen koluna atmislar ve ayaklarina agir nalin cakmislardir. Mugullu yoluyla dahile cekilen musluman ahaliye Ermeni komitecileri hucum ederek acize, cocuk ve kadinlarin ihtiyarlarini Seyhulkarib denilen Tekkeye doldurup yakmislar ve genc kadinlarin memelerini keserek asmislar, annesi yarali bir cocugun sokakta annesinin kesilmis memesini agzina vererek emzirmislerdir. Ulemadan Seyh Abdulgaffar Efendi'nin kafasinin derisi soyularak sehid edilmistir. Sertabib Mustafa Bey, onbes yirmi Ermeni komitecisinin binden fazla coluk cocugu sarkilarla ve onde kadinlar raks etmekte olduklari halde goturduklerini ve Garp koprusunden Dikili Tas'a kadar binlerce cenaze gordugunu ve bunlarin buyuk bir kisminin pek feci bir tarzda bogazlandigini yeminle ifade eylemistir." Veysel Eroglu, _The Armenian Genocide of the Muslim People in Eastern Anatolia,_ Sebil Yayinevi, Istanbul, 1978. pp. 191-194. Picture: Corpses of Muslim children massacred by the Armenians. "Ruslara rehberlik eden Ermeniler ugradiklari koylerdeki erkekleri tamamen oldurup kadinlara da tecavuz ile cesitli alcakliklar yaptilar. Cocuklarla ihtiyarlar bile bunlarin vahsi zulumlerinden kurtulamadi. Bir takim ihtiyar kadinlari bir eve doldurarak atese verdiler. Hamile kadinlarin cocuklarini sungulere takarak teshir ettiler. Bu duruma, hicrete mecbur olan ve her bir suretle hayatini kurtaran yuzlerce kisi sahiddir. Bes yuzu gecen ihtiyar erkeklerle pek cok kadin ve cocukdan meydana gelen bir kafile Ermeni ve Ruslar tarafindan Arpaderesi namindaki mevkie goturulerek orada kursun ve kilicla yok edildiler... Askerimiz cekildikten sonra Ermeni ceteleri Rus ordusunun onculeri olarak kasabaya girdiler. Cocuklara varincaya kadar ellerine gecen erkekleri olduruyor, kadinlarin irzlarina geciyor ve masum bakire kizlara acikca ve alcakca tecavuz ediyorlardi. Serhad sehri guzel Erzurum'umuzu da Ermeniler kana boyadilar. En buyuk mezalim burada islenmisti. Erzurum katliamini Antranik ve doktor Azarif tertib ve icra etmislerdir. Bu icraata 10 Subat'da baslaniyor. Erzurum'un butun mahalleleri devriyelerle ihata olunuyor. Carsi ve pazarda toplasan cocuk, ihtiyar, kadin, erkek yol yaptirmak bahanesiyle toplaniyor. Toplanan bu masumlar kitlesi kafile, kafile Kars kapisi civarina yigiliyor. Uzerleri iyice aranip para ve kiymetli esyalari tamamiyle gasbedildikten sonra acilan cukurlara dolduruluyor. Sonra Erzurum garnizonlarinda bulunan bilumum Ermeni askerleri, evlere taarruza basliyorlar. Yagma, katliam, irza tecavuz gibi senaat butun siddetiyle tatbik ediliyor. Bu mezalim Turk Ordusunun Erzurum'u kurtarma tarihi olan 24 Subat'a kadar devam ediyor. Erzurum'a giren Turk kitalari sehir dahilinde ikibinyuzyirmiyedi maktul cenazesini defnetmis, ayrica Kars kapisi haricinde ikiyuz elli ceset bulmustur. Muslumanlar, Ermeniler tarafindan balta, sungu ve mermi vasitasiyle oldurulmus, cigerleri cikarilmak ve gozlerine kazik sokulmak suretiyle sehid edilmisti (Mezalim Dosyasi). Hulasa olarak sadece Erzurum icinde katliama maruz kalan ihtiyar, kadin, cocuk, ve erkegin yekunu sekiz bini buluyordu. Erzurum'un Turk pazari kamilen yagma edilmis ve yakilmistir. Turk kitalarinin Erzurum'u seri bir sekilde kurtarmalari, geri kalan musluman ahalinin katliamini engelliyor. Erzurum'da Rus Kale Topcu Ikinci Alayi Kumandani, Yarbay Twerde Khlebok kendi elyazisiyla yazdigi hatiratinda Ermenilerin isledikleri katliami tamamen teyid etmektedir. Rus ihtilali basindan itibaren Osmanli kitalarinin Erzurum'u kurtardiklari 12 Mart tarihine kadar Ermenilerin Erzurum sehri ve havalisindeki Turk ahalisine karsi tavir ve hareketlerine dair yazilan bu hatirat [37] Onbirinci Rus Erzurum Kale Topcu Alayinin tarihcesine ilave olarak yazilmis ise de basli basina bir vesika mahiyetini haizdir. Iste bu hatirattan alinan kisimlari dikkatlerinize sunuyoruz: [more horror stories on the Armenian genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people - uta]" [37] Bu vesikanin asli, Harp Tarihi Dosyasi Arsivi - Dolap: 123, Goz: 10, Dosya: 2-5'dedir. Veysel Eroglu, _The Armenian Genocide of the Muslim People in Eastern Anatolia,_ Sebil Yayinevi, Istanbul, 1978. pp. 181-186. Picture: Heap of Muslim women and children massacred by the Armenians. "Erzurum vilayetine bagli kaza ve koylerde Ermenilerin isledikleri mezalim tuyler urperticidir. Bu korkunc zulumleri dikkatlerinize sunuyoruz: Tahribat ve mezalim hakkinda tahkikat icrasi icin memur edilen komisyonun raporlari da Ermenilerin zulumleri hakkinda bize kafi derecede fikir verecektir. '24 Mayis sali gunu buyucek bir koy olan Kurukol'a ulastik. Bu koy Ermeniler tarafindan yapilan tahribattan dolayi elim bir harabe manzarasina ducar olmustu. Perisan enkaz, yapilan alcakliklarin sanki lisan-i hal ile sessiz birer sahidi idi. Bu issiz harabeyi buyuk bir teessurle konusturmaya calisirken Mizkik koyunden ailesiyle birlikte hicret etmekte bulunan tahminen 65 yaslarinda Kaya Mehmet naminda bir ihtiyara tesaduf ettik. Bu zavalli bedbaht adam Mizkik Koyu'nde Ermeni ceteleri tarafindan irtikap olunan alcakliklara bir daha hedef olmamak icin Erzincan'a hicret ediyordu. Sahid oldugu facialar hakkinda malumat taleb ettik, yemin ederek asagidakileri soyledi: `Kadin ve cocuklari taarruzdan kurtarmak icin binalarda, yerin altindaki anbarlarda erzak kuyularinda saklamaga mecbur olduk. Ermeniler kadinlari, bulamayinca busbutun hiddetlenerek ele gecirdikleri erkekleri oldurup yok ediyorlardi. Mizkik Koyu'nde Ismail adindaki kardesimi kursunla kafatasini parcalamak suretiyle sehid ettiler. 60 yaslarinda Kurt Ahmet adinda bir ihtiyarin sungu ile gobeginden, Esat adindaki oglunun da kilinc darbeleriyle boynundan vurularak vahsiyane bir tarzda sehid edildigini... Ermenilerin, ayirarak Pasinler'e gonderdikleri ondort gencden ucu kacarak Goktas'a avdet ettiler. Bunlarin sozlerine gore iclerinden iki genc sungu ile parcalanmistir. Bu koyde sekiz dokuz yaslarinda kizlar da dahil oldugu halde butun kadinlarin namuslari cignendi. Koyde yirmiyedi ev tamamiyle yikilmistir. Goktas ahalisi bu alcakliklari yapan Ermenilerin ekserisinin Tercanli olduklarini gormusler, bunlari sahsen tanidiklarini ifade etmislerdir. Antranik Pasa adiyla anilan Goturlu Aleksanoglu Antranik, Cilinizli Nisan, Armenak Taku'nun oglu Olos, Masikoglu Sehak ve arkadaslari oldugunu tanimislardir. Ermeniler koyun camiini de tahrib ettikten sonra ahira cevirerek kirletmisler ve boylece Islam'in mukaddesatina tecavuzden geri durmamislardir. 7 - 9 yaslari arasinda uc kiz cocugunun bikirleri izale edilmistir. Buradan Alirik koyune hareket ettik. Bu koy de zulum ve tecavuzlerin en muthisine sahne oldugunu acikca gosteriyordu. Koyun esraflarindan Mehmed Bey bazi koylulerle birlikte yemin ederek gorduklerini buyuk bir teessurle hikaye ettiler.'" Veysel Eroglu, _The Armenian Genocide of the Muslim People in Eastern Anatolia,_ Sebil Yayinevi, Istanbul, 1978. pp. 177-180. "Enva-i mezalim ve iskenceyle hapishaneye sokuluyor carsi ve pazarda bulunmiyanlarin zorla evlerine giriliyor. Para, kiymetli esya ve ziynetleri alindiktan sonra bir kismi kapilari onunde feci bir suretde katlediliyor. Diger kismi ise cesitli zulumlerle hapishaneye sevkolunuyor. Bu hale Subatin ucuncu sabahina kadar devam ediliyor. 3 Subat sabahi musluman kadinlarinin da toplanmasina baslaniyor ve topladiklarindan ondort kadinla iki kizi, Salih Hamdi Efendi'nin ticarethanesi karsisindaki Haydar Bey'in ahsap oteline dolduruyorlar. Alaturka saat ucte mevkuflarin katli su surette icra edliyor. Ise evvela Salih Hamdi Efendi'nin ticarethanesinde mevkuf bulunanlardan baslaniyor. Salih Hamdi Efendi'nin girildigi zaman sagdan birinci odaya yirmiuc, soldan birinci odaya dort, ikinci odaya altmis, ucuncu odaya elli ve boslugun nihayetindeki odalardan soldakine kirksekiz ve sagdakine sekiz ki, cem'an yuzdoksanuc can yerlestiriliyor. Evvela soldan birinci odada bulunan belediye reisi Hafiz Suleyman Efendi ile Kormas koylu Ahmed ve Abrasli Irfan ve Vagandali Piri odadan cikariliyor. Ellerinde bulunan sungu, balta ve demirle pek feci bir surette olduruluyor, muteakiben sirasiyla diger odalara gecerek ayni suretle mahpuslar katle baslaniyor. Gozleri onunde feci bir surette ve vahsice arkadaslarinin katledildigini goren diger mahpuslar canhiras sadalarla bagiriyorlar ve kendilerine sira gelince mumkun mertebe nefislerini mudafaaya calisiyorlarsa da butun mudafaa imkanlarindan mahrum bulunmalari yuzunden iskence ve vahsetin en buyugune maruz kalarak bin turlu mezalim arasinda terk-i hayat ediyorlar. Yalniz ikinci odada bulunan altmis kisiden Murad, Cavus, Sevki, Sarac, Hafiz ve Zahid mahallesinden Beydioglu Sadik (Ermeniler firar ettikten sonra yangin icinden cikarilmislar ve halen hayattadirlar) oluler arasina sokularak kendilerine olu vaziyeti vererek hayatlarini kurtarabiliyorlar. Sungu ve baltayla icra edilen fecaat kafi gelmiyormus gibi cenazeler uzerine gazyagi dokulmek ve ateslenmek suretiyle arada sikisik kalanlardan olmemis olanlar dahi yakiliyor. Buralarda fecaat sahneleri kapandiktan sonra boslugun nihayetindeki ve soldaki odada bulunan kirksekiz kisiye sira geliyor...[a disgusting story and a picture - uta] Bu feci sahne devam etmekteyken Haydar Bey'in oteline doldurulan ondort kadini bastan nihayete kadar soyduktan sonra ciplak bir halde Haydar Bey'in oteline bitisik Cavusoglu'nun oteline nakil ve birer birer katlettikten sonra oteli yakiyorlar." Veysel Eroglu, _The Armenian Genocide of the Muslim People in Eastern Anatolia,_ Sebil Yayinevi, Istanbul, 1978. pp. 173-175. "Karargahini Erzurum'un onuc kilometre batisinda Alaca Koyu'ne nakleden Osmanli Birinci Kafkas Kolordusu kumandani mezkur koyde Ermeni mezalimine dair gorduklerini su suretle naklediyor: a) Odalara doldurularak yakmaga tesebbus ettikleri musluman ahaliden ikiyuzyetmissekizi sehid edilmis, kirkikisi'nden cogu agir olmak uzere yarali olarak bulundu. b) Ikiyuz yetmis sekiz sehid, kumes icerisinde, irzlarina tecavuzden sonra oldurulerek, cigerleri duvarlara asilmis genc kizlar, karinlari desilmis hamile kadinlar, beyinleri akitilmis veyahud uzerlerine benzin dokulerek yakilmis cocuk ve erkekler mevcuttu. c) Ilica kasabasi da ayni akibete ugruyor. Burada yuzlerce masum mahv u perisan oluyor. Yek digeri takip eden bu facialar sistematik bir tarzda cereyan ediyor. Hasseten Cenes, Alaca, Ilica mezalimleri bilhassa tuyler urpetici ve dehset verici bir tarzda islenmistir. Kadinlari duvara civilemek, o kalbleri cikarilarak duvarlara asmak, hamile kadinlarin cocuklari cikarilarak kucaklarina verilmek gibi hunharca mezalim islenmistir. Ahmed Refik ise bu bolgedeki mezalimi soyle anlatiyor: 'Ilica, muntazam ve buyukce bir koy. Erzurum ovasi buradan basliyor. Ovanin solunda kalan koyler kamilen harab, Ilica'nin hamamlari muntazam ve latif. Suyu o derece sicak degil. Ermeniler en ziyade burada mezalim yapmislar. Coluk cocuk, kadin erkek, koyun ahalisinden bir cogunu oldurmusler. Koyde tek bir kimse dahi kalmamis.'[35] Ermeni mezalimi sonunda Dogu Anadolu'da harabeden, yikilmis, sondurulmus ocaklardan baska birsey kalmamisti. Ahmed Refik'in musahadelerini dikkatlerinize sunuyoruz. 'Harabeler ortasindayim. Etrafimda turbeler yikilmis, camilerin cinilerine varincaya kadar sokulmus. Evlerin yanmis direklerinden el'an bogucu bir duman cikiyor. Ellerimi surdugum tuz cuvallari bile hala sicak...Burada benzin alevleri icinde bogucu dumanlar, kizgin atesler arasinda feryatlari ayyuka cikarak can veren Turkler, Ermeni zulmuyle perisan olmuslar, yanik direkler altinda yatiyorlar. Trabzon'dan Erzurum'a kadar harabeden baska birsey gorulmuyor. Hicbir koyde, hicbir kulubede dahi canli bir mahluka tesaduf edilmiyor. Ermeni zulmunu simdi aclik takib etmis.' Ardasa'dan Erzincan'a kadar butun yol boyunca pak nadir olarak, ac ve perisan Turkler'e rastlaniyordu. Bir zamanlar kasabalari ve koyleri dolduran Turk halki adeta kokunden denecek derecede ortadan kalkmisti. Muhaceret ve olum, Anadolu'nun camlik tepelerinde, yesil ovalarinda tuten ocaklari sondurmus mahvetmisti. Moskoflarin geri cekilmeleri uzerine Ermeniler kasabalarda ve koylerde o derece tahribat yapmislardi ki; Trabzon'dan Kars'a kadar hicbir koyde yasayan bir can koymamislar, zaten toprak binalardan ibaret koyleri yakmislar, yikmislar, gerilerinde harabeden baska birsey birakmamislardi." [35] Ahmed Refik, "Kafkas Yollarinda," sh. 35-36. Veysel Eroglu, _The Armenian Genocide of the Muslim People in Eastern Anatolia,_ Sebil Yayinevi, Istanbul, 1978. pp. 170-173. "Mamahatun (Tercan) istikametinde ilerliyen Turk kitalari, Mamahatun kasabasinin kamilen denecek derecede yakilarak kasabanin yerle bir oldugunu ve ahalisinin evlere doldurularak yakmak, sungu ve kursunla oldurulmek suretiyle imha edilmis oldugunu gormustur. Mamahatun kasabasi icinde ve civarinda sungu ve kursunla sehid edilip Turk kitalari tarafindan toplattirilan masumlarin adedi ucyuzu buluyordu. Birinci Kafkas Kolordu Kumandani, Onbesinci Kolordu Kumandani Tuggeneral Kazim Karabekir'in 15 Eylul'de Erzurum'a gelen Amerikali General Harbord Hey'etine verdigi raporda Mamahatun'daki mezalimi soyle anlatiyor: 'Mufrezemiz 22 Subat'ta Mamahatun'u isgal etti. Burada sag kalan kimse bulunmadi. Butun ahalisi buyuk bir cukura doldurularak oldurulmustu; her taraf yaniyordu. Bunlari gozumle gordum. 25 Subat'ta bir kesif kolumuzla Askale isgal edildi. Karargahimin bulundugu Alacakoyu'nde cenazeler insanin aklini oynatacak bir haldeydi. Butun cocuklar sungulenmis; yaslilar ve samanliklara doldurulup yakilmis gencler baltalarla parcalanmisti; civilere asilmis ciger ve kalpler goruluyordu...' [usual horrifying pictures of the Muslim women and children slaughtered by the Armenians - uta] Simdi de Erzincan - Erzurum arasinda Ermeni Mezalimini Ahmed Refik'in 'Iki Komite Iki Kital' isimli eserinden nakledelim: 'Anadolu sefalet icindeydi. Bican'da cocuk baslari goruluyor. Mamahatun, parcalanmis evladlarini sinesine gommus, harab camileri, yikilmis evleriyle adeta agliyordu. Ermeniler Akkoyunlulardan kalma camii berhava etmisler ve ahaliden pek cogunu da oldurmuslerdi. Asagida dere kenarinda genis bir cukur yuzlerce Turk oluleriyle doluydu. Kokmus insan oluleri, elbiseleriyle, cariklariyla birbirlerine karismisdi. Bu cesetlerin eriyen yaglari, ezilmis baslari, kopmus kollari ve ayaklariyla yiginlar teskil ediyordu. Sigircik kumeleri bu talihsiz olulerin etrafinda, soguktan kabaran siyah tuyleriyle otusuyor ve ucusuyorlardi. Anadolu acliktan telef oluyordu. Yenikoy halki harabeler ortasinda ot yemekle mesguldu...Yollarda koy harabelerinden baska birsey yoktu. Hicbir koyde bir tek insan gorulmuyordu. Yol kenarlarinda insana muteallik tesaduf edilen seyler; kol, ayak, el, kelle parcalariydi. Koca Ilica hemen bombostu. Bu guzel yerleri sigircik kumelerinden baska hicbirsey senlendirmiyordu. Ilica halki Ermeniler tarafindan kamilen denecek derecede kana bogulmustu.'[34] Tazegul koy ahalisinden otuz kadin, cocuk katlolunuyor ve yirmibes erkek de birlikte alinip goturuluyor ki, bunlarin da ayni elim akibete ducar olduklari anlasiliyor. Tilkitepe'sinin iki kilometre guneyinde Cenes koyu halkinin yakilmak ve sungulenmek ve hamile kadinlarin karinlari yarilarak cikarilan cocuklar kucaklarina verilmek suretiyle pek feci ve seni bir surette sehid edilmis olduklari anlasildi. Oreni, kamilen yakilmis ve ahalisi tamamen katledilmistir." [34] Ahmed Refik, "Iki Komite Iki Kital," sh. 73-74. Veysel Eroglu, _The Armenian Genocide of the Muslim People in Eastern Anatolia,_ Sebil Yayinevi, Istanbul, 1978. pp. 673-769. Pictures of the Muslim women and children slaughtered by the Armenians in Subatan village. Picture of Erzincan, a Muslim city burnt and destroyed by the Armenians. Pictures of the aged Muslims stabbed to death after having their eyes gouged out by the Armenians. Pictures of the corpses of massacred Muslims in the snow. Pictures of the Muslim children massacred by the Armenians. Pictures of the heaped corpses of butchered Muslim children by the Armenians. Picture of another heap of slaughtered Muslim women and children by the Armenians. (so it goes...) pp. 390-392. "24 Mayis sali gunu buyucek bir koy olan Kurukale'ye gidildikte bu koyun Ermeniler tarafindan tamamen harab edildigi gorulmustur. Koyde hic kimse yoktur. Bu koyden ayrilip baska bir koye giderken Mijik koyunden ailesi ile birlikte goc eden 65 yaslarinda Kaya Mehmet adinda bir ihtiyara rastlanildi. Bu zavalli bahtsiz adam, Ermenilerin zulmunden kurtulmak icin Erzincan'a goc ediyordu. Bu adam, vilayet hukuk musaviri Kemal, ve Ilica nahiye Muduru Sukru Beylerin onunde yemin ederek sunlari soylemistir: 'Kadinlari ve cocuklari taarruzdan korumak icin evlerin altindaki zahire kuyularina saklamaya mecbur olduk. Ermeniler, kadinlarimizi bulamayinca busbutun kudurarak oradaki butun erkekleri oldurduler. Yine Geyik koyunde Ismail adindaki kardesim kursunla kafatasini parcalamak suretiyle sehit edildi. 60 yaslarinda Kurk Ahmet namindaki bir ihtiyarin sungu ile gobeginden ve Esad adindaki oglunun da kilic darbeleriyle boynundan vurularak vahsi bir tarzda sehit edildigi gibi Sabit oglu Medet ve Ali oglu Aga ile Dursun oglu Husnu de her turlu iskence ve eziyetlerle oldurulduler. Bunlari bizzat gordum. Bu feci olaylar, gozumun onunden hic gitmiyor. Hele Dursun oglunun haremi Izzet Hatunu oyle bir vaziyette katlettiler ki, bunlari unutmak kabil degildir. Bicare kadinin bacak ve budunu adeta kiyma dograrcasina sungu ile parcaladilar.' Bu zavalli adam bunlari anlatirken mutemadiyen agliyor, gordugu korkunc facialarin etkisiyle heyecandan tir tir titriyordu. Ayni gun aksama dogru Terpusak koyune gittik. 70 lik uc dort ihtiyarla iskence yapilmis bir genc kiz bir kac kadindan baska kimse olmayan bu koyde, ihtiyarlardan Sadir oglu Musa ile Muhtar Huseyin, Suleyman oglu Hurrem yemin ettikten sonra sunlari anlattilar: 'Ruslardan once Terpusak koyune gelen Ermeni cetelerinin yaptiklari yagma ve gasp ile mezalim soylemekle bitmeyecek derecede coktur. Ermeniler genc erkekleri birer birer sokaklarda kudurmus kopekler gibi katl ve itlafa basladilar. Kadinlara fiili seni (gayri mesru bir sekilde irza tecavuz) icrasindan sonra turlu hakaret ederek onlari oldurduler...'" A. Alper Gazigiray, _Muslim Archival Material on the Genocide Perpetrated by the Armenians Against the Muslim people in Eastern Anatolia,_ Gozen Kitabevi, Istanbul, 1982. pp. 388-390. "Ermeniler Bayburt'u terkettikleri gun kasabanin en guzel konak ve magazalarindan 400 kadarini yakmislardir. 28 Subat gunu ekmeklik un dagitilacagini ilan ederek bir kisim kadin, erkek ve cocuklari evvelce mahpushane yapilan buyuk bir binaya sokarak o binayi vahsiyane bir sekilde yakmislar ve ayni zamanda sokaklarda tesaduf ettikleri cocuk, kadin ve erkekleri sungu ve kursunla sehit etmek suretiyle her turlu fenaligi yapmislardir. Ermeniler bu zavalli insanlari yakarken bunlarin imdat diye bagirislari ve inlemelerini bir musiki nagmesi gibi karsilayarak eglenceler yapmislar ve bununla da yetinmeyerek binanin icine bacalarindan iceriye el bombasi ve pencerelerden de kursunlar yagdirmislardir. Insanlik aleminin simdiye kadar sahit olmadigi ve tarihin hic bir devirde kaydetmedigi bir sekilde yakilan ve katledilen gorulmemis iskencelerle yok edilen bu Turk halkinin mevcudu 500 den fazla idi. Bunlardan baska kasaba icinde 300 kadar yarali kadin, erkek ve cocugun askeri doktorlarimiz tarafindan tedavisine ve yaralarinin sarilmasina baslanmistir. Vehip Pasa da bas komutanlik vekaletine bir rapor vermistir: Ayni dosyanin 51 nci bolgesini teskil eden bu rapor soyledir: 'Bugun Erzincan'a geldim. Cardakli bogazindan Erzincan'a kadar olan bahcelerin agaclari kesilmis, koylerden bir kisi dahi saglam kalmamistir. Erzincan'da isledikleri facialari insanlik tarihi bugune kadar kaydetmemistir. Uc gunden beri Ermeniler tarafindan oldurulerek meydanda kalan cenazeler toplattirilmaktadir. Sehit edilen gunahsiz halk arasinda memeden kesilmemis cocuklar, 90 yasini ikmal etmis ihtiyarlar, parcalanmis kadinlar vardir. Bunlarin fotograflari aldirilmaktadir [pictures are available in the book if you have the stomach - uta]. Vakalar hakkinda tutanaklar tutulacaktir.' 9 uncu Ordu Komutani Yakup Sevki Pasa da Erivan bolgesi hakkinda su raporu gondermisti: 'Ermeni kit'alarinin Erivan guney dogusundaki demir yolunun hemen dogusundaki bolgede bulunan Vedi ve Serdar abad kasabalari civarina gelerek islam halkini katlettikleri ve esraftan Ali zade Demir Beyle, Fethi Bey zade Bedri Bey'lerin de bu maktuller arasinda bulunduklari bu arada bir cok halki katleyledikleri, bunlardan 600 kadarinin Aras nehrinin dogusuna kacarak perisan bir halde Dogu Beyazid'a geldikleri ve Ermenilerin islam halki keserek ilerledikleri bildirilmistir. Nahcivan bolgesinde de bir cok islam halk Ermeniler tarafindan sehit edilmistir. Nahcivan'in kuzeyinde Elmali denilen yerde 683 ve buna yakin diger bir koyde de 516 kisi katledilmistir. Bu esnada genc ve guzel kadinlari da ayirarak bunlarin irzlarina gectikleri ve diger bir kisim kadin kafilesini de evlere doldurark yaktiklari ogrenilmistir.' Birinci Dunya Harbinde yapilan Ermeni mezalimi daha ziyade Erzurum, Van, Bitlis, Diyarbakir, Trabzon vilayetlerinde yapildigindan, bu vilayetlerdeki mezalimden toplanabilenleri asagiya cikarilmistir. Bunlar yapilan mezalimin pek azini teskil eder. Hepsini toplamak cok zamana ihtiyac gosterdigi gibi, ciltler ve kitaplar dolduracagindan bu sebeble yalniz bir fikir vermek uzere bu kadarcikla yetinilmistir." Veysel Eroglu, _The Armenian Genocide of the Muslim People in Eastern Anatolia,_ Sebil Yayinevi, Istanbul, 1978. pp. 169-170. "Ermeni Mezalimi'nin Erzincan'daki canli sahidi Haci Dursun'un bu kitabin yazarina aglayarak anlattiklarini arzediyorum: 'Erzincan'da ahaliyi kisim kisim toplamaya Ruslar'in cekilmesinden bir ay sonra basladilar. Once imamlari ve muhtarlari Devekuru'ya yol yapma bahanesiyle topladilar. Fakat bunlari Kilise Meydanindaki Kiliseye goturup aksam oldugunda onar kisilik kafileler halinde kuyu baslarina getirip davar keser gibi kestiler. Sonra diger halki da emsaliyle toplayip ayni hunharca mezalimi irtikap ettiler. Kactiklari gunu Tilhas'li Mahmud Efendi'nin coluk ve cocugunu dogradilar. Sipyatagi'li Hoca'nin dort oglunu kursunladilar. Jandarma Yuzbasisi Memduh ve hemsiresini Tasci Mahallesindeki evlerinde katlettiler. Isledikleri katliam korkunctur. Mesela Kanligol Mahallesinde bir adami oldurdukten sonra duvar kenarina dayamislar, gogsunu yarip cigerlerini ve girtlagini cikarip girtlagini agzina, cigerlerini de kucagina vermislerdi. Osmanli Ordusu sehri kurtardiginda Kilise Meydaninin civarindaki harabe ve arsalarin Ermeniler tarafindan katledilen muslumanlarin cesetleriyle tiklim tiklim dolu oldugunu gorduk. Erzincan ahalisinin takriben %90'ini coluk, cocuk, kadin ve ihtiyar demeden katlettiler. %10'u ancak mucize eseri kurtulabildi.' Dursun Dayi'nin kalbi yaraliydi. Aradan gecen yarim asirdan fazla zaman bu yarayi kapatamamisti. Mamahatun istikametinde ilerliyen Turk kitalari, Mamahatun (Tercan) kasabasinin kamilen denecek derecede yakilarak kasabanin yerle bir oldugunu ve ahalisinin evlere doldurularak yakmak, sungu ve kursunla oldurulmek suretiyle imha edilmis oldugunu gormustur. Mamahatun kasabasi icinde ve civarinda sungu ve kursunla sehid edilip Turk kitalari tarafindan toplattirilan masumlarin adedi ucyuzu buluyordu." Dr. Kirzioglu M. Fahrettin, _The Armenian Genocide of the Muslim People in Kars Province,_ Kardes Matbaasi, Ankara, 1970. pp. 83-86. Kazim Karabekir: "Gectigim yerlerde hayat kalmadigini goruyordum. Karargah'imin bulundugu Alacakoyu'nde, cenazeler, insanin aklini oynatacak bir halde idi: Butun cocuklar sungulenmis; yaslilar ve kadinlar samanliklara doldurulup yakilmis, gencler baltalarla parcalanmisti; civilere asilmis ciger ve kalpler goruluyordu. Erzurum'da oyle acikli manzaralar gorduk ki, insani insanliktan igrendiriyordu: Halk, gozyaslari ile suraya - buraya kosup kimi oglunu, kimi babasini, kimi karisini sungulenmis veya yakilmis buluyor, saclarini yoluyordu. Bircok sokaklarda, hic hayat gorunmuyordu: Yerlerde cocuk, kadin, yasli kanlar icinde yatiyordu. Yalniz son gece (11-12 Mart) uc bin Musluman kestiklerini, iyice ogunerek Ermeniler, Ruslara'a da anlatmislar; bunu, Yarbay Twerdo-Khlebof Rapor'unda ('Hatira'sinda) nesretmistir. Demiryolu Istasyonu'nda, sanki bir mezarlik olulerini disariya firlatmisti. Cenazeler arasindan gecerek, bu kiyiciliklari gorduk. Hele (Resul Beyin Konagi basta olmak uzere), icerisine insanlari doldurup birlikte yaktiklari karsilikli binalar, insani titretiyordu. 8 Nisan'da Kagizman'i isgal eden bir mufrezemiz, Islam ahaliden dortyuz kisinin sokaklarda olduruldugunu; bu cinayetin yapilmasi icin: 'Artik kardes olduk, silahlarinizi veriniz; birbirimize bir kotuluk yapmiyacagiz' diyerek, silahlari topladiktan sonra kirgin'a baslamis olduklarini bildirdi (bu arada, 1893 dogumlu ve essiz degerde cok kudretli bir sair olan Kagizmanli Hafiz Receb Hifzi de, Carsi Mahallesindeki Mahbushane'ye doldurulup sungu ile sehid edilen yuzlerce Turk arasinda, iki sungu yarasi basindan ve bir sungu yarasi da gogsunden alarak olum halindeyken dize cokup - 'Allah, Allah' diye zikretmekte iken 8 Nisan'da gorulup bir eve goturulmusse de, ertesi gun gece vakti sehid olmustur)." A. Alper Gazigiray, _Muslim Archival Material on the Genocide Perpetrated by the Armenians Against the Muslim people in Eastern Anatolia,_ Gozen Kitabevi, Istanbul, 1982. pp. 386-388. "Ermeniler tarafindan tamamen tahrip edilen kasabada hic bir bina yoktur. Ruslarin cephane anbari yaptiklari cami dinamitle ucurulmustur. Mamahatun [Tercan - uta] turbesi yakilmistir. Kasaba bir harabedir. Her taraf musluman oluleriyle doludur. Yalniz kasabada Ermenilerin oldurdukleri coluk cocugun miktari yediyuz'e yukselmistir. Cesetlerin bazilarini hendek kenarlarinda kollari bagli olarak birakmislardir. Bir coklarinin baslari balta ile kesilmistir. Halk Ruslardan hicbir fenalik gormemistir. Butun cinayetler ve tahribat Ruslarin cekilmesinden sonra Ermeniler tarafindan yapilmistir. Ruslarin biraktiklari erzak ve malzeme, kasabayi mudafaa eden Ermeniler tarafindan yakilmistir. Erzurum mezalimi hakkinda verilen diger bir raporda, yuz kadar konagin icine ikiser ucer yuz kisilik insanlarin doldurularak konaklarin atese verildigi bildirilmektedir. Bu hesaba gore Yalniz Erzurum'da Ermenilerin bu surette yaktiklari insanlarin miktari 10 bin'den fazla oldugu anlasilmaktadir. Bunlardan baska Erzurum sokaklarinda ve evlerde toplanan cenazelerin miktarinin dort binden fazla oldugu anlasilmistir. Bu raporlarin kapsadigi bilgiler, yabanci gazete muhabirleri tarafindan aynen gorulmustur. Dogu grubu komutani Yakup Sevki Pasa tarafindan 29 Mayis tarihinde Ermeni mezalimi hakkinda bas komutanlik vekaletine yazilan yazilar soyledir: 'Rus ordusunun terhisinden sonra cephenin Ermeniler tarafindan isgaline baslandigi gunden itibaren bugune kadar Ermeniler islam koylerini yakip yikmislar ve katliam etmislerdir. Erivan, Kars, Kagizman, Sarikamis kismen Ardahan bolgesindeki butun koylerdeki halkin cogunun katledildigi ve koylerin tahrip olundugu ogrenilmistir. Ermenilerin simdiye kadar yaptiklari mezalim ve facialar sayilmayacak kadar coktur. Leninakan'da 500 araba ile baska yere nakledilmekte olan 3000 kadar islam ahaliyi Ermeniler yollarda tamamen katletmislerdir. Arpacay kazasinin Melik koyu bolgesindeki koyler tamamen yakilmis ve ahalisi katliam edilmistir. Suragel nahiyesi bolgesinde 67 koy halki Ermeniler tarafindan tamamen katledilmistir. Kagizman dogusundaki Kulp ve civarinda 1000 kisi iki makineli tufek iki top'tan murekkep bir Ermeni kuvveti Kolp ve Erivan bolgesindeki koyler halkini kamilen oldurmustur.'" A. Alper Gazigiray, _Muslim Archival Material on the Genocide Perpetrated by the Armenians Against the Muslim people in Eastern Anatolia,_ Gozen Kitabevi, Istanbul, 1982. pp. 384-385. "Ayni dosyada, Ermeni cetelerinden ortalama 2000 kisilik bir kuvvettin Akcaabad kasabasini isgal ederek kasabanin muslumanlarini vahsiyane bir surette katliam ettikleri yazilidir. Bu caniler, musluman kadinlarin baslarini kesmisler ve erkeklerle kadinlarin parcalanan cesetlerini ve muhtelif azalarini pek cirkin bir surette teshir eylemislerdir. 17 sayili dosyada da, 1000 kadar Ermeni eskiyasinin alti adet toplariyla birlikte 2 Mayis tarihinde Yenikoy yolu uzerinden Dogu'ya cekilirken yol uzerinde rastladiklari 300 kadar silahsiz ve mudafaasiz Turk halkini katliam ettikleri ve yaktiklari yazilmistir. Ermeniler Turk ordusunun baskisi altinda Erzurum'dan cekildikten sonra burada oldurulmus bir cok halka tesaduf edilmistir. Bu zavallilar gorulmemis olarak yollarin uzerinde yatmakta idiler. Sokaklardan, evlerden, dukkanlardan, bahcelerden ve ahirlardan toplattirilarak 312 ceset defnedilmistir. Bunlarin icinde yirmisi kadin, 71'i on yasina kadar muhtelif cocuk, 19 beyaz sakalli ihtiyarlar vardi, geri kalan 202 kisi genc erkeklerden ibaretti. Rus yuzbasisi Kazimir ifadesinde yalniz kendisinin, 800 Turkun sehit edildigini gozleriyle gormus oldugunu bildirmistir. Bu rapor da Vehib Pasa tarafindan Baskomutanliga bildirilmistir. Erzincan, Bayburt, Torul, Gumushane, Vakfikebir, Akcaabad sehir ve kasabalari bir katliam sahnesi halini almistir. Erzincan ve Bayburt'ta bulunan Ermeni elebasilarindan Murat ve Arsak adindaki caniler bu son gunlerde binlerce islam halki evlere doldurark yakmislar ve bir coklarini da feci bir sekilde sungulemislerdir. Ermeniler, Sarikamis yolunda calisan 500 Turk askerini katletmislerdir. Ahil Kelek'te Ermeniler 10,000 muslumani katletmislerdir. Erivan vilayetinde 40 koy yakilmistir. Ermenilerin Rusya dahilindeki Azerbaycan muslumanlarini da katliam ettikleri alinan son haberlerden ogrenilmistir. Ermeniler Ilica nahiyesinde de cok katliam yapmislar, 365 erkek sungulenmis, kuyulardan da 15 kadin cesedinin cikarildigi ve sokaklarda analari, babalari oldurulmus kimsesiz cocuklara rastlandigi Baskomutanlik vekaletine raporla bildirilmistir." A. Alper Gazigiray, _Muslim Archival Material on the Genocide Perpetrated by the Armenians Against the Muslim people in Eastern Anatolia,_ Gozen Kitabevi, Istanbul, 1982. pp. 382-383. "3 uncu Ordu Komutani Vehib Pasa da verdigi raporda, Rus uniformali Ermeni cetelerinin Turk koylerini bastigi ve kadinlarin irzlarina gectikleri ve katliam yaptiklari bildirilmisti. Yine Vehip Pasa'nin bildirdigine gore; Torol'un uc kilometre kadar guneyindeki bir Turk koyunu Ermeni ceteleri basarak evleri yakmislar ve halki da katliam etmislerdir. Ayrica Erzincan'in 18 kilometre guney dogusunda Zeggic koyunun de evleri yakilmis ve halki katledilmistir. Ucuncu Ordu Komutanligina yazilan bir raporda da; 'Rus ordusunun geri alinan kisimlari yerine gecen Ermenilerin Islam halka mezalim ve iskence yaptiklari ve bir cok yerlerde katliamlara basladiklari ogrenilmistir.' denilmektedir. Ermeniler Erzincan'da halkin evlerinden disari cikmalarini ve bir koyden diger bir koye gitmelerini siddetle yasaklamislar ve suclu diye evlerden topladiklari Turkleri suraya buraya goturup oldurdukleri cesetleri ozellikle kiliseler civarinda actiklari cukurlara gomdukleri anlasilmistir. Bu hal gosteriyor ki Ermeniler Turk varligini yok etmege azmetmis bulunmaktadirlar. Kars ve havalisinden cekilen Ermenilerin Gumru ve Revan (Erivan) taraflarindaki Islam halkin mezalim ve iskencelerle olduruldugu Birinci Kolordu Komutanligindan bildirilmistir. Yakup Sevki Pasa yazdigi raporda; 'Ermeniler kamilen kaciyorlar, biraktiklari bolgede hayat kalmamistir. Bunlarin simdiye kadar doktugu kan, yaktigi can ve sondurdugu ocaklar oyle buyuk bir dereceye varmistir ki, tarife imkan yoktur.' diyor. ...Gece sabaha karsi Vahit Beyin konaginda 1500'e yakin musluman toplanmisti. Ermeniler konagin her tarafini atese verdiler. Yanmamak icin kendilerini pencereden atmak isteyenler konagi abluka etmis bulunan Ermenilerin kursun ve sungusu ile olduruldu (13 Nisan). Bugunlerde Ermeniler, Kal'a kislasina ve uc buyuk konaga kadin, cocuk doldurarak yaktilar ve sehir icinde 1000 kadar ev tahrib edilmis ve yakilmistir. Ermeniler, halki imha etmek icin toplarken evlere kapilari kirarak zorla girmisler ve kadinlarin namuslarina tecavuz etmislerdir. Ucuncu Ordu Komutani Vehib Mehmet Pasa tarafindan Baskomutanliga yazilan bu raporda Ermenilerin Turkleri tamamen imha etmege karar vermis olduklari da bildirilmektedir." A. Alper Gazigiray, _Muslim Archival Material on the Genocide Perpetrated by the Armenians Against the Muslim people in Eastern Anatolia,_ Gozen Kitabevi, Istanbul, 1982. pp. 267-268. "Van'dan sonra ilk isyan Sebinkarahisar'da basladi. 1915 senesi 5 haziran da, Sivasli Murat [Hamparsum Boyaciyan - uta] denilen bir caninin emri altinda 500 kadar cete Sebinkarahisari basti. Burasi o zaman en onemli askeri bir yerdi. Erzurum bolgesinde Rus ordusu ile savasan Osmanli Ordularinin butun ikmal araclari buradan gecmekte idi. Ermeniler boyle onemli bir yer isgal ettikleri takdirde Turk ordularinin ikmali yapilamayacak ve Rus Ordularinin harekati kolaylasacakti. Sebinkarahisarin islam mahalleleri tamamen atese verildi. Her rastlanan Turk iskence ile olduruldu. Mus'da ayni sekilde isyan devam ediyordu. Sason daglari Ermeni eskiyalariyla dolu idi. Bu isyanlari, ordunun arkasini vurmak ve Rus Ordusunun ilerlemesini saglamak icin Ermenilerin pasa dedikleri Rupen idare ediyordu. Bundan baska, Rus Ordularinin Rus - Turk sinirindan gecerek Turk topraklarina girdikleri bu safhada Rus Ordusu icinde bulunan Ermeni gonullu alaylariyla Rus Ordularinin isgali altina giren Ermeni koylerindeki silahli halk, Turk koylerine hucum ederek bu koyleri yakip yikmislar ve Turk halkini hatira gelmeyen mezalim ve iskence ile oldurmulerdir. [Yet another annoying picture of the slaughtered innocent Muslim children by the Armenians] p. 285. "Bu suretle sehirde 23 gun cok kanli olaylar cereyan etti, bu sure sonunda Van, Ermeniler tarafindan tamamen isgal olundu. Buradan kacabilen Turklerin, Ermenilerin davranislari hakkinda verdikleri haberler tuyler urpertici idi. Cunku isyancilar halkin cogunu oldurmus, kadinlarin irzina gecmis, Turk kadin ve kizlarini bazi evlerde topladiktan sonra buralarini Genelev haline getirmislerdir. O zaman Van'da 1500 kadar kadin ve cocuktan baska Turk kalmamis, bunlari da oradaki Amerikalilar korumustur. Sehir bastan basa harab olmus, carsi kamilen yanmisti." A. Alper Gazigiray, _Muslim Archival Material on the Genocide Perpetrated by the Armenians Against the Muslim people in Eastern Anatolia,_ Gozen Kitabevi, Istanbul, 1982. pp. 260-261. "Van isyaninda gerek Van sehri ve civari Ermenilere birakildigi zaman, gerek Turk halkinin yollarda kacarken maruz kaldigi facianin toplami hakkinda, bunca arastirmalara ragmen tam ve kesin bir bilgi elde edilememistir. Fakat yukarda isaretlendigi gibi yalniz Van sehri halkindan 10,000 Turk oldugune gore, civardaki kasaba ve koylerden kacan halktan da en asagi 20,000 Turkun oldurulmus oldugu kabul edilebilir. Van isyani, Turk milleti icin unutulacak bir olay degildir. O, erkek, kadin, ihtiyar, cocuk on binlerce cana nasil kiyilmis oldugunu gosteren cok acikli bir trajedi sahnesidir. En buyuk bir facia, en buyuk bir vahset ve cinayet sahnesidir. Sefalet o derecede idi ki 1915 senesinin yaz aylarinda bir yandan tifo, tifus, dizanteri ve kolera gibi bulasici hastaliklar; ote yandan aclik, halkin bircogunun yollarda perisan olmasina sebebiyet veriyor ve yollar cesetlerle dolmus bulunuyordu. Yiyecek temini, bir sey bulmak mumkun olmadigi gibi icecek su dahi yoktu. Cunku 70 km. uzunlugundaki Bitlis deresi, cekilmege calisan zavalli Turklerin cesetleri ile dolu bir halde idi. O billur gibi akan ve hayat kaynagi olan Bitlis deresinin bircok yerleri adeta kan rengine burunmustu. Ozellikle derenin kenarlarinda toplanmis olan su birikintilerinde yeni dogmus yavrularin cesetlerini ve bir cok kan pihtilarini gormek ne kadar aciydi. Bu asil Turk milletinin geceli gunduzlu ac ve sefil bir halde yuruyen en asagi on binlerce zavalli evlatlarini Siirt, Diyarbakir yollarinin birlestigi, ziyaret denilen Veyselkarani Turbesinin bulundugu vadi duzlugune geldigi zaman, durumun fecaatini buyuk bir uzuntu ile seyrettim. Bu duzluk basi sarili, hasta yatan ve acliktan iskelet haline gelmis insanlarla tamamen dolu idi. Inleyen bir kalabalik, bir taraftan hastalikla mucadele ederken, diger taraftan da esyasiz ve cirilciplak terk ettigi evini, tarlalarini ve oradan getiremedigi aile efradini dusunerek buyuk izdirap icinde olduklari yasli gozlerinden anlasiliyordu. Biz bu hale mi dusecektik? Her seyimizi verdigimiz, kendilerine tamamen itimat ettigimiz bu Ermeni canileri bize bunu da mi yapacaklardi? Diyerek agliyorlardi. Buradan bir kisim halk Diyarbakir'a, bir kismi da Siirt'e gitmeyi kararlastirarak bu istikametlerde yollarina devam etmeye basladilar, kacmak lazimdi. Cunku Ermeniler Rus Ordusu ile beraber durmadan Turkleri oldurmege geliyorlardi." Veysel Eroglu, _The Armenian Genocide of the Muslim People in Eastern Anatolia,_ Sebil Yayinevi, Istanbul, 1978. p. 195. A disgusting picture of the Muslim women and children slaughtered by the Armenians. "Erzurum - Ilica arasi yollar boyle mudafaasiz Turk kadin ve cocuklarinin parcalanmis cesetleriyle doldurulmustu." p. 227. Yet another vilely picture of the butchered Muslim women and children by the Armenians. "Kars'ta Ermeni komiteleri tarafindan birbirlerine baglanarak katledilen masumlar." p. 183. "Ruslardan once Terpusek'e gelen Ermeni ceteleri'nin yaptiklari yagma ve gasp ile zulumler soylemekle bitmeyecek derecede coktur. Ermeniler genc erkekleri birer birer sokaklarda kudurmus kopekler gibi oldurmeye ve yok etmeye basladilar. Kadinlari, alcak hareketi yaptiktan sonra cesitli hakaretlerle vahsetlerden haric birakmadilar." p. 210. "Erzurum'un kuzeyine cekilen Ermeni kitalarindan bir kismi, o havaliyi de bir katliam sahnesine cevirmislerdir. Bilhassa Erzurum'un kuzeyinde Ergenis koyunden kadin cocuk ihtiyar demeksizin elli musluman katledildikten sonra koy kamilen yakilmistir. Erzurum'un dogusundaki ova koylerinde Ermeniler tarafindan pek cok kizlarin namusuna tecavuz ve pek seni muameleler tatbik olundugu ve bir kisminin da birlikte alinip goturuldugu anlasilmistir. Hosan, Kalcak ahalisinden elli erkegin Kumkum'da cesetleri bulunmustur. Makalisor koyu ahalisi ve Kumkum'daki butun erkekler yol yaptirilmak bahanesiyle goturulmus ve bunlarin akibetleri mechul kalmistir. Ermeniler Kumkum'u, kasabada bulunan yirmi kadin ve cocugu katlettikten sonra terketmislerdir." Neside Kerem Demir, _The Crime of Genocide Committed by the Armenians Against the Muslim People,_ Hulbe Basim ve Yayin T.A.S., Ankara, 1979. pp. 116-117. "Ilica kasabasindan kacamayan Turkler'in hepsinin oldurulmus oldugunu ve kor baltalarla enselerinden kesilmis bircok cocuk cenazesi gordugunu bizzat Odiselidze soyledi. Ilica kirginindan uc hafta sonra oradan donen Yarbay Griyaznof, gorduklerini soyle anlatti: 'Koylere giden yollarda, uzuvlari tahrip edilmis bircok cenazeye rastladim. Her gecen Ermeni, bu cesetlere bir kere soger ve tukururmus. 12 - 15 sajen (25.5 - 31.9 metre) karelik cami avlusunda iki arsin (142 santim) yuksekliginde cenaze yigilmisti. Bunlarin arasinda her yasta kadin, erkek, cocuk ve yaslilar vardi. Kadin cenazelerinde zorla irza gecme izleri, pek belli bir halde idi. Bircok kadin ve kizlarin tenasul yerlerine, tufek fisegi sokulmustu...Ermeniler, bir kadini canli oldugu halde, duvara civilemisler; sonra gogsunu oyup, basinin ustune asmislar.'"