Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President, Transmitted to Congress December 2, 1895, Part II
Mr. Terrell to Mr. Olney.
Constantinople, December 16, 1895. (Received Dec. 31.)
Sir: I have the honor to inclose for your information a list of events which has been prepared by trustworthy persons which would seem to indicate that a movement is on foot systematically directed to wipe out Christianity in Asia Minor.
I have, etc.,
Attacks on Christianity in Turkey.
As is now generally known that during the months of October and November the Mussulman population of eastern Turkey, in many places actively aided by Ottoman troops, put to death from 30,000 to 40,000 Gregorian and Protestant Armenians. The killed were chiefly males and included a considerable proportion of the educated and influential classes in the six provinces named in the reform scheme, namely, the Provinces of Erzerum, Bitlis, Van, Diarbekir, Harpoot, and Sivas. A part of the whole number massacred were killed in the cities of Trebizond, Aintab, Marash, Ourfa, and Osesarea, which are outside of the six provinces named above. The massacres were accompanied by pillage on such a scale that nearly the whole Armenian agricultural population in the villages, and the greater part of the Armenian traders and artisans in the cities and towns of the provinces and districts named above, have been plundered of money, goods, food supply, clothing, implements, cattle, and sheep, and their houses destroyed and themselves reduced to abject want.
The purpose of this paper is to invite the attention of the Christian world to a progressive aggravation of this awful crime, which has been brought to light since the middle of November. In a territory some 60,000 miles in area an effort has been and is now being made to extinguish Christianity among the Armenian race by destroying church edifices, killing the clergy, and forcing the surviving members of their flocks, in all places where foreign consuls are not present to report the facts, to become Mohammedans. It now seems probable that a large part of those who have been killed in the country districts are martyrs, who have refused life at the price of denying their Lord. Large numbers of widowed Christian women and orphan children have been swept, without will of their own, into the families of the men who have destroyed their homes. Thousands of others, deprived of succor, deserted by Christendom, and threatened by instant death, have been led to accept in name the religion which has ruined them, have been circumcised by force, and now beseech God and humanity to save them from the death which the Mohammedan law holds over such in case they afterwards attempt to obey the dictates of their consciences; yet other multitudes are now being singly approached and put under pressure of the most awful threats if they continue to refuse to deny the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Armenian Church, for centuries the largest and most sturdy of the Asiatic Christian churches, during the last fifty years has made great progress in moral, intellectual, and spiritual life. Its members have used and fed upon the Bible more than those of either of the other branches of the eastern church. This ancient church is now in the throes of annihilation. Unless Christendom acts instantly and overwhelmingly to arrest this infamy, this century of enlightenment will be marked in history as the one in which a Christian people was destroyed, with the full knowl edge and before the eyes of Christendom, no Christian nation being sufficiently moved by the spectacle to lift a hand to prevent it.
Notes are appended below of some incidents of the recent massacres in Turkey. Only from a few places, comparatively, has the cry of the sufferers been heard. These notes give, however, a slight idea of the ferocity of this attack upon Christianity in Turkey. It will be noticed that wherever a foreign consul is established these things have not been carried to the extent now revealed, for a consul in Turkey [Page 1399] is like a single policeman preserving the public order. * * * Hence the facts which have come to light represent only a small part of the horrors which have occurred.
Incidents of the massacres hearing on this subject.
October 1.—The Monastery of Verakugh, in the district of Kemakh, was sacked.
October 4.—The Sourp Anardzat Monastery, at Pakarich, was pillaged.
October 12.—Five other monasteries in the district of Kemakh were destroyed.
October 21.—The monastery at Chokka, in the same district, was pillaged.
October 21–24.—Eight monestaries in the district of Erzingan were sacked.
October 22.—The church at Pesouan, in the district of Erzingan, was pillaged, and the priest, with 30 of his people, who had fled to the church for refuge, were killed in the church.
October 14.—During the massacre at Baiburt, the Armenian villagers at Baiburt were summoned to abjure their faith on pain of death, and the people of four of these villages yielded to the pressure and declared themselves converted to Islam. In the city of Baiburt itself the archimandrite and all of the school teachers except the teacher of one primary school, who escaped, were put to death.
October 24.—In the Terjan district of the Province of Erzerum, about 1,000 Christians were killed, and the survivors only escaped by accepting Mohammedanism. The males among these converts, including the acting bishop of the diocese, were afterwards publicly circumcised, and the Moslems insisted that the “converted” women should be given at once as “wives” to their young men, as proof of sincerity of conversion.
October 27–31.—The church at the village of Umudum was burned and the priest killed. The church at the village of Tevnik was robbed and then profaned. The church at the village of Koinik was pillaged and the priest killed. The church at the village of Garash was sacked and profaned. The above-named villages are all in the plain of Erzroum, where 24 Armenian villages were devastated at the same time. The Armenian monastery at Hassan Kale was burned, and in it the bishop and 11 inmates of the monastery.
October 27–30.—In the District of Kara Hissar Sharki nearly all the Armenian villages (27 are known) were destroyed, numbers of the men killed, and a great many young women and girls were carried off to be incorporated in the Mohammedan population. The destitute survivors, fleeing toward the coast, have been turned back by Government troops. Many churches have been desecrated and pillaged. At Tamzara, in this district, the old and rich church of Sourp Takavor, a place of pilgrimage dear to the Armenians, was entirely emptied of its contents—sacred vessels, books, vestments, jewels, etc., valued at £6,000. The Monastery of Sourp Kevort was also pillaged. Two priests and two school teachers (one of them a Protestant) were killed. At Purk, in the same district, the church was burned, with the people who had taken refuge in it.
October 28.—At Enderes, in the same district, the church was burned, with a number of women and children who had taken refuge there.
November 2.—Two priests were killed at Pingian, in the Province of Harpoot. At Danzik, in the same province, the Armenian villagers, being commanded to become Moslems on pain of death, saved their lives by professing Islam. At Lijk, in the same province, the village was summoned to become Moslem on pain of death, but the result is not yet known.
November 9.—At Missis (Mopssestia) in the Province of Adana, the commander of the Turkish troops of the reserves, with a number of his men, entered the Armenian church during service, tore the vestments from the priest’s back, desecrated the sanctuary, poured out the holy oil and the sacred wafers, tore up the Bible and prayer books, beat the priest, and outraged his wife, who lived in rooms adjoining the church. The priest afterwards sought to make complaint to the civil authorities, but was imprisoned for slander at Adana. * * * A considerable number of the population have been forced to become Moslem.
November 5–14.—In 53 Armenian villages on the plains of Oulova and Cozova in the Province of Harpoot the churches have been sacked and many of them are known to have been destroyed. Scant returns have as yet come in, but many of the clergy are known to have been killed.
November 11.—In the city of Harpoot the Christian quarters of the city were sacked and many houses burned. Over 500 people were killed, and many others escaped death only by accepting Islam. The churches and schools were sacked and burned. Many priests were killed with horrible torture. Others yielded to the pressure and became Mohammedans. The Protestant pastor at Kop, near Harpoot, was killed for refusing to become a Mussulman. The Protestant pastor of Hulakeny escaped from the horde of butchering Moslems and with his wife reached the city of Harpoot in safety. There they were taken from the house where they had found refuge, were ordered to accept Islam, and on refusal both were put to death. At Itchme, near [Page 1400] Harpoot, when the massacre occurred, a number of the people succeeded in escaping to the Armenian church, which was a strong stone building. Having been induced to come out, they were allowed to pass the door one at a time. Each one as he came out of the church was invited to accept Mohammedanism. All who refused were killed on the spot. Fifty-two thus accepted martyrdom, among them the venerable Protestant pastor Kirkor. The Armenian-church has now been transformed into a mosque, and the Protestant church into a stable. The latest information from the city of Harpoot is dated November 26. The pressure to force both Gregorian and Protestant Armenians to become Moslems was very great. The letter adds, “Many martyrdoms have occurred in the villages.” The four great monasteries in the Province of Harpoot have been pillaged and burned. The Archimandrite Papazian, who was at the Monastery of Tadoum, was subjected to horrible torture before his persecutors finally became weary and put him to death.
November 10.—In the villages of Erzingan the people, still threatened with massacre, refused protection by the Government officials, and finding no help from any source, are losing courage and becoming demoralized, and the tendency to escape from an awful situation by accepting Islam shows signs of increase.
November 18.—In the city of Marash many hundreds of Gregorian and Protestant Armenians—men, women, and children—were massacred by Moslems, aided, if not led, by the troops. Nearly all of the leading men of the Protestant churches of the city and the pastor of the church which is affiliated to the Church of England were killed. The pastors of two of the other Protestant churches of the city have been imprisoned since these dreadful events. The theological seminary of the American mission in this city was pillaged and burned by Ottoman troops.
November 11.—The theological seminary of the American mission at Harpoot, with several other buildings belonging to the mission, was pillaged and burned in the unconcerned presence of the troops.
November 30.—In the city of Cæsarea several hundred Gregorian and Protestant Armenians were massacred. It seems probable that in every case the offer of life on condition of acceptance of Mohammedanism was made. Numbers of women and children of 12 years were thus killed after refusing to deny their Lord. A considerable number of women and children in the city and surrounding region have been carried off as booty by the Moslems.