Members met in the churches to avoid suspicion

 Asia Minor was subdivided into provinces, each ruled by a board, whose members were nominated by the Hintchak Supreme Council. Espionage was rife. A scale of punishment for breaches of discipline was drawn up and rigorously enforced. Article 8 of the Hintchak Code ran thus: "The Committee will nominate an Executioner-in-Chief who will have under his orders a body of men chosen for their loyalty. Their duty will be to assassinate those sentenced to death for treachery or because their death is deemed necessary for the furtherance of the cause". Another article lays down the measures to be taken for the protection of weapons given to various committees for use when a rising may be decided on. Another relates to subscribing to the funds of revolutionary societies. Other regulations lay down the means of communications between the local and central committees, the disguise to be used by travelling agents and the methods by which arms, money and revolutionary literature were to be smuggled into the country. The author says that the Armenian bishops, priests and laymen readily joined the Hintchaks and that the Armenian Patriarch himself was a supporter of the same. He declares that members met in the churches to avoid suspicion. After the Armenian riots in Istanbul, the rioters took refuge in the various churches. He states that the Permanent Committee of the Hintchaks has been sitting "in the church within one-hundred yards of the British Embassy gates and from this building the whole operations in Zeitoun have been directed". It is from this church that messengers bearing letters demanding money under threats of death were sent forth. The author has conversed with Armenians who had knowledge of these letters, he has seen the money handed in and he met people arrested with the incriminating documents in their possession. The ostensible object was to raise money for the insurgents in Zeitoun. He records that those Armenians who refused to subscribe have been murdered "under the order of the Hintchaks". Describing them as "unfortunate victims of the Hintchak Revolutionists", the author states that the money distributed by the agents of the Anglo-Armenian Association paves "the way for fresh horrors in the Spring."

...The Armenian people of Sassoun were "graded into rebellion" in the Autumn of 1894 by the inflammatory articles in the revolutionary newspapers published in London, Vienna and New York. 

 Noting that the Armenians own several newspapers in Europe and in the United States (in addition to several news sheets secretly published in Istanbul), the author presents extracts from the Hintchak (or Bell) published in London, the Troshak (Droshak or Standard) of Vienna or the Haik (Armenian) of New York. He quotes several news-items, articles and manifestos, giving sources and dates. For instance, he cites cases of murder of Armenians by Hintchaks. Hadj Dikran, in the employ of the Ministry of Police, was slain on June 3, 1895 by the hands of a Hintchak terrorist. Totinchief was killed in a similar manner. Other news-items reveal that the revolting Armenians "have captured many Turkish villages" near Zeitoun. A "Manifesto", dated November 19, 1895 and addressed to the Armenians of the Adana region, issued the following call: "Arm yourselves now for the battle.. Victory or death is our watchword... Let us draw our swords and fall on the foe..." 

Referring to another "Manifesto" on behalf of the Zeitoun Armenians, again published in the Hintchak, Captain Norman says that "it full proves that the disturbances there were originated by the Armenians". It says: "The hour has come... Today we shall carry fire and the sword into his (the enemy’s) land... The flag of the Hintchak.... has been our beacon and our guide..." Captain Norman declares: "These are scarcely the Proclamations of a people striving peacefully to obtain an amelioration of their condition, but rather of a people stirred up to revolt by unscrupulous agitation who from the safe shelter of a suburban villa fulminate decrees which consign thousands of their ignorant co-religionists to misery and death". He adds: "Liberty or Death is the war cry of the Hintchak Committee. Liberty for the Committee in London, Death for the Peasantry in Anatolia". Foreign emissaries having openly fostered rebellion in Zeitoun, he asks how the foreigners can now ask for "reforms" in provinces where the Armenians are in arms. He says that the Armenian people of Sassoun were "graded into rebellion" in the Autumn of 1894 by the inflammatory articles in the revolutionary newspapers published in London, Vienna and New York. 

 Stating that these newspapers are "supported by forced contributions", Captain Norman cites several threatening letters which say: "You are ordered to give... to the person who presents this to you... and if you refuse to pay this or if you give notice to the police, your life will be forfeited." The author says that hundreds of such letters have been issued within a short period of time and that Armenians like Dikran Karagueusian or Simon Efendi have been stabbed by Hintchakists for having refused to bow. He also states that the latter’s brother is under the protection of the Ottoman police for fear that he may also be killed. In respect to the attitude and reporting of two English correspondents, I prefer to quote Captain Norman verbatim:

"The present Armenian agitation in England may be said to date from the publication of the news of the so-called Sassoun atrocities. This news was first derived from Armenian sources but it was deemed of sufficient importance for the Daily Telegraph, with its usual promptitude, to dispatch a Special Correspondent to report on the facts. The gentleman chosen was a certain D.Dillon who rightfully or wrongfully generally supposed to be one and the same person as the Mr. Lannin whose articles in the Fortnightly Review I have previously alluded to. D.Dillon was speedily followed by Mr. Frank Scudamore who at first represented a syndicate of newspapers after wards became more or less identified with the Daily News.

  ...In none of these eastern provinces (that the Armenians ... call "Armenia"), they were in majority. In fact, far from it

 Captain Norman then gives the particulars of the Sassoun Valley residents, according to Vital Cuinet’s La Turquie d’Asie. The latter states that the Kaza (district) of Sassoun consists of 118 villages with a total population of 20,101 divided into Moslems (10,370), Armenians (8,389), Copts (372) and Yezidis (970). The author inquires: "Now, out of the Armenian population of 8,389 we were told that from 10,000 to 20,000 had been killed but it was generally assumed that 15,000 was a safe estimate". He adds: "Led away by these exaggerated reports the Anglo-Armenian Association held a series of packed meetings and vehemently called on the Government of the day to carry out reform" in accordance with Clause 61 of the Treaty of Berlin. The result of "this agitation" was the joint note of the Ambassadors of France, Russia and England on May 11, 1895. The memorandum demanded reforms in the six eastern provinces.

The author, then, gives the population figures for the provinces of Erzurum, Bitlis, Van, Diyarbakir, Mamuret-ul-Aziz and Sivas, breaking them down for Moslems, Gregorian Armenian, Catholic Armenians, Protestant Armenians, Greeks, other Christians and other races. Consequently, he determines that the Armenians who demand reforms constitute only "one sixth of the population". He also establishes that in none of these eastern provinces (that the Armenians prefer to call "Armenia"), they were in majority. In fact, far from it! There are some Armenian sources which concede that the Armenians formed a small minority even in the eastern provinces of Turkey. Even in Van, records Captain Norman, the Moslems were 241,000 and the Gregorian Armenians 79,000 (Catholic and Protestant Armenians being 708 and 290 respectively). In Erzurum, the Moslems were 500,782 and the Gregorian Armenians 120,273; in Mamuret-ul-Aziz 509,946 and 61,983 or in Sivas 839,514 and 132,307 respectively.

  ...The Armenian Revolutionary Committee intended to force the hands of the British Government by organizing an armed rising in Constantinople

 In the meantime, the Armenian revolutionaries in Europe and the United States pressed for a settlement of their choice, and the Anglo-Armenian Association held several meetings, "denouncing the Ottoman Government in no measured terms" and calling on Lord Salisbury "to force their own reading" of Clause 61 of the Berlin Treaty. Captain Norman continues as follows:

"Towards the middle of September 1895, it became known that the Armenian Revolutionary Committee intended to force the hands of the British Government by organizing an armed rising in Constantinople. His Excellency Nazim Pasha, the very able Minister of Police, appealed personally to the Patriarch Ismirlian to use his best endeavours to stop such a calamity. The Patriarch was either unable or unwilling to do so. The ring leaders at any rate met at the Koum Kapou (Kumkapi) Cathedral under the very shadow of the Patriarch’s own house and there distributed arms and money to those who were to take part in the armed demonstration against the Porte. Many delegates were present from England, France and America and the sinews of war were provided by forced contributions levied under threats of murder from the wealthy inhabitants of Constantinople.

 "On Sunday the 29 Sep(tember) impassionned sermons were preached in the various Armenian churches and on the morrow the storm burst. An armed crowd issuing from the Cathedral marched towards the Porte with the intention of presenting a petition to the Grand Vizier; it was met by a Major of Police who offered to take a small deputation to the Porte. The officer was shot down and hacked to pieces as also were the two men with him at the time, but reinforcements, quickly moving up, the mob was dispersed with considerable loss." Captain Norman apparently witnessed the riot and asserts that "the city was absolutely quiet at 2 p.m., their riot having occurred about noon." He categorically states the following: "The riot was undoubtedly provoked by the Revolutionary party, and so far as I could see the behaviour of the Police Soldiery and populace was most peaceful and orderly. I visited Stamboul daily and nightly during that week. I saw no case, neither did I hear of a case of assault or insult on any Christian man, woman or child other than a Gregorian Armenian". He says that he has known English ladies shopping in the bazaar on that very afternoon and who were unaware that anything unusual occurred. He met a French officer whose evidence corroborated his "in every particular."

In the meantime, reports were being received from the provinces that the Armenian hostilities were in progress. Proclamations were being issued calling on the Armenians to rise as the European Powers were about to compel the Sultan to form an independent Armenian Kingdom. In less than a week after the Kumkapy riots, a similar outbreak took place in Trabzon. The capital itself was "perfectly quiet", but the foreign ambassadors depended on their Christian interpreters for information. They were told that "the situation in the capital was dangerous."

Having fallen into panic, their steam yachts pounded their way down the Bosphorus and anchored off the Sublime Porte firing identical notes to the Grand Vizier threatening Turkey "if order was not immediately restored."

Sir Philip Currie led in pressing for the acceptance of the joint note, and the Sultan reluctantly consented to accept it in a modified form. Consequently, a feud sprung up between the Moslems and Gregorian Armenians. At Diyarbakir, Bitlis, Arapkir and in many other places, "the Armenians commenced the disturbances by firing the Musulman quarter of the town whilst the men were absent at the usual Friday service in the mosques". In Diyarbakir, "126 Mohamedans were killed in endeavouring to escape from the mosque, at Bitlis 84 perished in the same way". At Erzurum, the Armenian bishop "refused to read the burial serice over an Armenian murdered by order of the Hintchak Committee."

...Where 2,000 Armenians were supposed to have been murdered, "only five lives were lost".

 

He then proposes to deal with a few "of the most glaring misstatements that have appeared in the press with reference to the Armenian question". He relates that in December the Anglo-Armenian Association made considerable capital out of the treatment accorded to one Aslanian, and his affidavit recounting his sufferings, published in several papers, attracted considerable attention. Aslanian apparently asserted that "he was travelling from New York to Kharput in Anatolia to visit his family", that on landing in Istanbul he was arrested and "tortured on eleven different occasion in the Central Prison", that "he saw about 300 men killed in that establishment" and that finally he was put on a ship and packed off to Marseilles. The author asks what the facts were in relation to that episode. For one, Aslanian was a well-known member of the Hintchak Society in New York. He was sent to Istanbul to assist in the rising there and then to proceed to Asia Minor for the same purpose. His departures from New York and from Marseilles were reported to the Minister of the Police. He travelled "under a false name". He arrived in a Greek trading vessel, which instead of entering the port anchored off the shore. The police had been informed when the craft passed through the Dardanelles. Aslanian and his companion were arrested before they could leave the ship. Aslanian was confined in one of the large wards, given food "with meat thrice weekly", and "he was never subjected to torture". Captain Norman says that he has visited the Central Prison "not once, but twenty times", thrice during the period of Aslanian’s incarceration. He has visited it since "to test the accuracy of his statement". He saw the wounded in the hospitals and others in the large wards. He says: "No appeal was made to me by any prisoner although they were particularly told they might make their complaints to me. I have seen and conversed with many Armenians who were released after two or three days confinement, but though they say that they were severely handled whilst being conveyed to the jail, all affirmed that on reaching it they were well and fairly treated". Evaluating an Aslanian statement to the effect that he saw "several officers in uniform calling out... "Mehmed’i seven vursun" (Those who love Mehmet, strike! Or Strike in Mehmed’s name!), Captain Norman says that no Turk would use such a phrase, but Allah’I seven vursun or Peygamberi seven vursun (Strike in the name of God or the Prophet).

The balance of opinion is in favour of the Armenians

 

He categorically states: "It has been proved beyond the possibility of a doubt that the Armenians provoked the disturbances in Stamboul on the 30th September last and I seen no reason to believe that they were not the aggressors on every other occasion". Feeling that the Sultan’s efforts to ameliorate the conditions of his Armenian subjects and to inquire into the origin and progress of the disturbances in Asia Minor have never been properly evaluated, he endeavours to recapitulate them. He says that on learning of the events in Sassoun, the Sultan dispatched Abdullah Pasha, one of his Aide-de-Camps, to report on all the circumstances. In the early Spring of 1895, he nominated a Commission to proceed to Sassoun and conduct an exhausting inquiry. He permitted the foreign delegates to accompany the Commission. He then appointed a Superior Commission in the capital under the presidency of Turhan Pasha, the late Governor of Crete, to draw up a scheme of reforms. In August 1895, Sakir Pasha, formerly the Ambassador to St. Petersburg, was appointed High Commissioner and proceeded with instructions to visit every part of the country. In October, the Sultan published a scheme of reforms based on the joint note of May 11. In November a Sub-Commission was appointed "consisting of some of the best men in the Empire" to travel through the disturbed provinces. The Sultan appointed Christian Deputy Governors and judicial-financial inspectors in each province. He issued orders to all civil and military local authorities not to discriminate between Moslems and Christians, "should disturbances arise". He accepted Sir Philip Currie’s suggestion that the Consuls of the Six Powers proceed to Zeitoun and endeavour to negotiate with the rebels. And he appointed a Commission to collect funds and distribute relief to the victims of the rebellion in Anatolia.

Enumerating all these measures, Captain Norman asks what else the Sultan "could have done to prove that he was sincerely desirous of putting and end to the grievances of his Christian subjects". In an effort to meet the challenge that these steps might be "bogus measures" with no real effort, the author says that such assertions are "without proof". Captain Gordon is aware that the views he holds are shared only by a minority in his country and "the balance of opinion is in favour of the Armenians." "This is due to the fact," he says, "that the true story of Armenian intrigues and Armenian plottings have never been laid before the people of England." He adds that "he makes no rash statements founded on bazaar gossip", but that he quotes "authorities for every accusation". He suggests that England "march hand in hand with Turkey in ridding the peaceful peasantry of Anatolia from the intolerable burden of these (Armenian) secret societies." 



Holdwater note: In case readers ascertain that Captain Norman was a "pro-Turk," here is what Prof. Justin McCarthy wrote in a "Death and Exile" footnote, regarding C. B. Norman's 1878 book, Armenia and the Campaign of 1877, that Prof. Ataov referred to above: "However, one must allow for Norman's vehement anti-Turkish and pro-Russian sympathies, which cloud all he wrote. He believed, for example, that the Turks were guilty of starting the war of 1877-78."