Armenians Side with Russians

Elyria Evening Telegram, November 13, 1914; also nearly duplicated in Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Nov. 13, 1914, "Armenians Active In European War," as well as the Manitoba Free Press, Nov. 13, 1914 ("Unearthing Guns and Ammunition"); parts may also be read in the Washington Post piece below.


ARMENIANS READY TO SIDE WITH RUSSIANS

Want to Get Into War in order to Be Delivered From Turkish Rule, Says Dispatch From Petrograd

Petrograd, Nov. 13, via London.-Reports reaching the Russian capital from the Turkish border attach increasing importance to the part the Armenians are playing in the Russian-Turkish war.

During the days when coats were ten dollars and sweaters cost a buck.

In several towns occupied by the Russians the Armenian students have shown themselves ready to join the invading army and explained that they had prepared themselves for the Russian approach by constant drilling and by gathering arms, secretly. All along the line of march, according to these dispatches, the Armenian peasants are receiving the Russian troops with enthusiasm and giving them provisions freely.

An Armenian newspaper, referring to this crisis in the history of Armenia, publishes the following.

"The long anticipated way of deliverance for the Turkish Armenians is at hand, and the Armenians are prepared for any sacrifice made necessary by the performance of their manifest duty."

From this border country there have come to Petrograd further reports of armed conflicts arising from the refusal of Armenians to become Turkish conscripts and surrender their arms.

It is now rumored that the Important city of Van is besieged by Armenian guerrilla bands in great force. In Feitun the bands are said to exceed 20,000 in number, and they are reported to have defeated all the Turkish troops sent against them, causing the Turks heavy losses.

A dispatch received here from Constantinople says that the Turkish cruiser Goeben was penetrated by a shell at her water line during the recent bombardment of the Dardanelles by the allied Anglo-French fleet. The damage inflicted is described as serious.

The Goeben is one of the two German cruisers taken over by Turkey after the outbreak of the war.

Armenians Join Russians and 20,000 Scatter Turks

 
The Washington Post, Nov. 13, 1914





ARMENIANS JOIN RUSSIANS AND 20,000 SCATTER TURKS NEAR FEITUN


DEAL BLOW TO TURKS

Russians Scatter a Big Army Occupying Batum Valley.

ARE NEAR ERZERUM FORTRESS

British Capture Turkish Torpedoboat, and Czar's Troops Damage the Former German Cruiser Goeben-Americans Join Russians-Twenty Thousand Defeat Ottoman Forces at Feitun.

London, Nov. 12.— The Russian army of Armenia, whose base is on Kars, Transcaucasia, is approaching the Turkish fortress of Erzerum.

A dispatch from Petrograd says:

"A graphic account has been received here of the end of the Russian transport Truth, which the Russians sank sooner than surrender her to the Turkish cruiser Goeben. When called upon to surrender her captain headed the Truth for the shore, opened the valves, and blew a hole In the bottom of the vessel

Sailors Sing as Ship Sinks.

"Lieut. Ragowsky perished while attempting to fire a second charge of explosives. Part of the crew got off In boats, while the others Jumped Into the water, and were picked up by the Turkish ships.

"The ship's chaplain and a handful of men were left aboard. As the ship went down the chaplain was seen on deck giving his blessing to the men, who remained about him cheering and singing the national anthem."

A Turkish torpedoboat which escaped from the Dardanelles has been captured off Tenedos, an island five miles off the northwest coast of Asia Minor, according to an Athens dispatch.

An Amsterdam dispatch says that the kaiser has ordered that all Mohammedans captured from the allied armies be sent to Constantinople to serve in the Turkish army.


Pic from the front page: WAR, WITH "ALL THE COMFORTS OF HOME." The British trenches along the [Al?ne] are so ingeniously constructed as to afford almost complete protection. Hot meals are served, newspapers are read, and a system of hot baths has in some instances been installed. The floor of the trenches is sloped so as to give good drainage and are arranged so as to communicate with one another.

Austrian Officers for Turkey.

A telegram from Bucharest, Roumania, says that Halil Bey, uncle of Enver Bey, the leader of the Young Turks, has arrived there on a special mission in behalf of Turkey.

Rome, Nov. 12-Advices from Constantinople say that the Ottoman army still lacks 700 officers, and that the authorities at Berlin were requested to supply them. Berlin replied that it would be impossible to send all Germans, but would supplement them with Austrians, who would travel to Constantinople individually as civilians.

Petrograd, Nov. 12-- A dispatch received here from Constantinople says that the Turkish cruiser Goeben was penetrated by a shell at her waterline during the recent bombardment of the Dardanelles by the allied Anglo-French fleet. The damage Inflicted is described as serious.

Russians Take Many Turks.

An official communication from the general staff of the Caucasian army under date of November 10 says "Small skirmishes In the region beyond Tchoruk River, in the neighborhood of the province of Batum have occurred. "We maintained our position at Koprukeut. Turkish attempts to envelop us resulting in failure. We captured many prisoners and large quantities of munitions. We have occupied all of the valley of Alasckertaka.

"According to a Turkish officer taken prisoner, the Turkish army commanded by Hassan tazet Pasha, is guided by Germans."

Armenians Fighting the Turks.

In several towns occupied by the Russians the Armenian students have shown themselves ready to join the invading army. Reports tell of armed conflicts arising from the refusal of Armenians to become Turkish conscripts, and surrender their arms.

It is now rumored that the city of Van Is besieged by Armenian guerrilla bands In great force.

In Feitun the Armenians are said to exceed 20,000 in number, and they are reported to have defeated all the Turkish troops sent against them, causing the Turks heavy losses.


Holdwater: Note these 20,000 Armenians were all Ottoman-Armenians.

A peculiar pattern in reports featuring Armenian belligerence was that the "Armenians fighting Turks" angle rated big headlines, and yet there were hardly many details in the accompanying text; in the example above, no less than three other topics preceded the Armenian portion. This must have been the bigoted editors' way of making their bigoted readers feel good; at last the poor, helpless Armenians were giving the monstrous Turks well-deserved comeuppance!

The accent above is on how the Germans were in control of many segments of the Ottoman military, and the shortage of military manpower (the example here was in the officer corps, but the problem was extensive), demonstrating how desperate the situation was for the Ottomans. The last thing they needed was to deal with many thousands of their own traitorous, revolting Armenians.

Two articles from  The Manitoba Free Press, Nov. 13, 1914


Asquith May Ask for Million More Men

Reports in Lobbies at Westminster Are That Demand for Funds, on Tuesday Will be for Billion Dollars With Probability of Half Crown Income Tax in Addition —Three Thousand German Officers in Turkish Naval Service — Kaiser's Men Control Constantinople.
(...)

GERMANS IN CONSTANTINOPLE.

London, Nov. 12.-An Englishman, long a resident of Constantinople, which city he left on Nov. 1, has arrived in London. He says that in addition to the crews of the cruisers Goeben and Brealau, nearly 3,000 German officers are in the Turkish naval service. Two months ago, he says, all the German clerks of public and private establishments were taken over by the military authorities and placed in charge of the telegraph and postal departments and the censorship.

He adds: "Every Turkish ship has a German officer in command. It was a mistake that the Khedive was not allowed to return to Egypt some time ago, where he could have carefully watched developments, whereas in Constantinople, he is the centre of the intrigues of discontented Arabs of the Nationalist party and Germans."

MORE OFFICERS NEEDED.

Rome, Nov. 12.-Advices from Constantinople say that the Ottoman army still lacks 700 officers and that the authorities at Berlin were requested to supply them. Berlin replied that it would be impossible to send all Germans, but would supplement them with Austrians who would travel to Constantinople individually as civilians.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Manitoba Free Press, Nov. 13, 1914, from the article, "Turks Attack on Koprukeni Repulsed With Heavy Loss."

(...)

Turkey Compelled to Help Germany

London, Nov. 13:—(2-57 a.m.)—The Morning Post's Athens correspondent says:

"According to statements made by a diplomat here, Turkey was compelled to enter the war by a secret treaty made some years ago with Germany whereby Turkey agreed to assist Germany if war was declared on Germany if war was declared on Germany by Russia.

"In return Germany likewise agreed to assist Turkey if Russia declared war on Turkey.

"At the opening of the war Germany demanded Turkey's assistance, but the Turkish cabinet, which regarded such an act as suicidal, replied that Turkey would be unable to assist because she had no money, because the army was going through a period of reorganization, and because the fleet was powerless to defend the capitol.

"Germany answered these objections by sending money, men and ships, whereupon Turkey was compelled to enter the arena because of her solemn treaty obligations."


Holdwater: Interesting explanation as to why the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers; this one has not been as widely circulated.

Armenians Are Fighting Turks In Self Defense

 

The Newark Advocate, November 7, 1914; the same article was also in The Dallas News, Nov. 8, 1914: "ARMENIANS AND TURKS FIGHT. Several Sharp Engagements at Lake Van," as well as in the last segment of the Atlanta newspaper report, provided below.


Americans [sic] Are Fighting Turks In Self Defense

[ASSOCIATED PRESS TELEGRAM]
Petrograd, via London, .Nov. 7.—A dispatch received here from Tlflls, says Armenian refugees reaching there report that volunteer bands of Armenians have had several sharp engagements with the Turkish garrison at Van on Lake Van In Armenia, and about 145 miles south-east of Erzerum.

These bands of Armenians have come together in the interior of Turkey for self defense.

----------------------



The Atlanta Constitution, Nov. 8, 1914


BRITAIN SEIZES TURKISH SEAPORT

Soldiers from India Occupy Fao,on Persian Gulf — Russians Claim to Be Driving Turks in Great Disorder.

London November 8 — (12:30 a. m. ) The admiralty announces the occupation of Fao, a port of Asiatic Turkey at the mouth of the River [?hat] el- Arab in the Persian gulf. A military force from India covered by the sloop Odin landed with a naval detachment after the Turkish guns had been silenced, according to the announcement.

There were no British casualties.

Fao is the terminus of the submarine telegraph to India.

TURKS ARE DRIVEN BY THE RUSSIANS

Petrograd November 7 — An official communication from the general staff in Caucasia dated November 8 says:

There have not been any considerable actions as yet. Some Kurdish regiments, supported by infantry and masses of the population in arms attempted an offensive movement in the region northeast of Karakilissa. The Turks were driven back with great losses.

The Russians continue to pursue the Turkish and Kurdish troops who were defeated in the hilly regions of Passine [Diadme and Baiazel]. These places have been occupied by our troops. The Turkish troops have been in part exterminated and part dispersed.

A dispatch received here from Tiflis says Armenian refugees reaching their reports that volunteer bands of Armenians have had several sharp engagements with the Turkish garrison at Van on Lake Van In Armenia, and about 145 miles southeast of Ezeroum.

These bands of Armenians have come together In the interior of Turkey for self defense.

Armenians Fight for Russia

 

Manitoba Free Press, Jan. 8, 1915; Also The Reno Evening Gazette, Jan. 7, 1915, p. 5 ("ARMENIANS FIGHT FOR RUSSIA"), and in The Indianapolis Star?, January 08, 1915 ("ARMENIANS JOIN RUSSIANS: Detachment of Volunteers Arrives at Tiflis for Army Service.")


TURKS TAKE URUMIAH

Ottoman Troops Occupy Important Russian Base

Berlin, Jan. 7.— The Turkish official bulletin received here today reports that Ottoman troops have occupied Urumiah, which has been an important base for the Russians.

Urumiah is a town of Persian Armenia in Azerbaijan, with a population of from 30,000 to 50,000.

Armenian Volunteers at Tiflis.

London, Jan. 7.— Reuter's Petrograd correspondent transmits a message from Tiflis stating that a detachment of Armenian volunteers had arrived there from America. The volunteers received an enthusiastic reception.

The Armenian volunteers evidently are to serve with the Russian army in the campaign against Turkey, whose troops were advancing in the direction of Tiflis until as reported in Petrograd two days ago. they were defeated disastrously. Tiflis is a Russian city in the trans-Caucasian region. The territory known as Armenia, which is not a political unit, includes part of the trans-Caucus.

 

Daily Kennebec Journal, May 28, 1915

ARMENIAN VOLUNTEERS ARE TO BE INCREASED TO 15,000

(Associated Press Correspondence)

Tiflis April 23. — A visit to the general staff of the Armenian volunteers disclosed active preparations to raise their contingents from about 5000 to a full division of about 15,000. Five Armenian detachments are now [arriving] from Batum to Tabriz. It is planned to unite all but one in a single body. Volunteering is proceeding briskly having begun even before Turkey entered the war. Armenian subscriptions defray all costs and. the management is in the hands of the Armenian National Bureau, in which all elements of the Armenian race are represented.

Hope of emancipating Turkish Armenia has ended party disputes which used to be as fierce as they were unintelligible to the outside world. There is entire confidence in the allied armies.

The outbreak of war instantly recalled the general inspectors newly created upon the initiative of Russia, and it is now one of the absorbing questions of the Caucasus whether England and France will not leave the determination of the fate of Armenia to Russia alone.

The Armenians are consoling themselves with the assurance that the Russian government does not want to arm Turkish Armenia, though they would be very glad if they had even vague promises held out.

But the most striking of the historic Armenian animosities at this time is that, while making larger preparations to fight, the Armenian leaders would much prefer that there should be very little fighting In Turkish Armenia, as every advance of the Russian Armenians would be preceded by massacres and the grant of autonomy would find the Armenian people too weak to utilize their new privileges of self government. There are however words of caution against waiting for peace negotiations to drop Into their laps the ripe fruits of diplomacy.

In any case it is considered doubtful whether Turkey would yield more gracefully to diplomacy than to a [?]. It is feared she would rather repeat, in the form of a reduction of their numbers, the historic argument that the Armenians are really a negligible minority. There is believed to be danger in delay. The diplomatic ch[?]board Is more uncertain than the military. Even if everything should go well with the triple entente, it is believed in the end Turkey will have to be coerced by arms and will almost certainly revenge itself on its helpless Christian subjects.

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BEDRKHAN BEY WILL STRIVE TO REGAIN LOST THRONE

(Associated Press Correspondence)

Russian Headquarters Persia, April 8. —The grandson of the lost King of Botan set out today to win back his ancestral throne with the aid of twenty Kurds. Bedrikhan Bey was really the hereditary lord of a group of Kurdish chiefs and in Asiatic language a King until he became involved in war with Turkey in the year of the Hegira, 1262. Notwithstanding his French education and his polished manners Abdurrazzak thinks In Turkish Arkudish when he relates Kurdish history.

Bedrkhan Bey was Imprisoned and passed 18 years In Crete in honorable detention. Later he was allowed to establish his household gods at Contantinople where Abdurrazzak was born and he died at Damascus. The grandson after being secretary of the Turkish embassy at Petrograd In 1892 and master of ceremonies at the Contantinople court, engaged In a palace plot 10 years ago. Together with two brothers and an uncle he passed four years in a Tripoli prison with heavy ball and chain attached to his leg under a suspended sentence of death.

The Turkish revolution brought freedom and Abdurrazzak shared the honeymoon of Turkish constitutionalism with the Young Turks for seven months. He then formed the plan of separating Kurdistan from Turkey and went to Russia to seek support. After five years there he came to Persla to establish relations with his grandfather's subjects. He opened a Kurdlsh school in a building he bought In the city of Hai and bided his time which he now thinks has come much simpler.

Kurds Continue Atrocities

 

The Pinedale Roundup, Wyoming June 24, 1915

KURDS CONTINUE ATROCITIES.

Armenian Volunteers Fighting to Protect Christian Population.

Tiflis, Trans-Caucasia.—After the occupation of Van, Turkish Armenia, by the Russians, bands of Kurds continued to commit atrocities in the districts of Bitlis, Mush and Diarbekr. Armenian volunteers in increasing numbers are fighting desperately to protect the Christian population from the Kurds. Inhabitants of Diarbekr, following the example of the Armenians in Van, have organized armed bands.

Holdwater: If these atrocities were being committed, the reason was revenge, for the terrible crimes the traitorous Armenians had committed upon the Kurds and other Ottoman Muslims. Yet the newspaper had to make it seem as though the poor, helpless Armenians were being set upon for sport, as though Ottoman Muslims were not going through a nightmare, and did not have better things to do than to use Armenians for target practice.

By the way, how could the Armenians in Diyarbakir have had the manpower to form armed bands? We were around a month into the "deportation" already, and as any Armenian propaganda aficionado knows, all the Armenian young men were killed by this time, leaving only the women, children and old men to be sent off on their un-merry way.

A Russian Army Camp in Turkish Armenia

 

Middletown Daily Times-Press, Aug. 10, 1915

(The same story was also reported in The Daily Northwestern, Aug. 14, 1915: " WARFARE IN ARMENIA ONLY PLAIN MURDER. SOLDIERS SUFFER LESS THAN NON-COMBATANTS, WOMEN'S BODIES BEING STREWN ALONG THE RUSSIAN TRAIL. STRUGGLE FOR LIFE UTMOST")



Sidelights on the War

A Russian Army Camp in Turkish Armenia, Aug. 10 — (Correspondence of the Associated Press) — The Russian army that is in pursuit of the elusive Turks in this region have, at this writing, reached the Valley of the Habur, an affluent of the Tigris, at a point sixty miles south of Van.

On June 2, the right flank of the Russian forces engaged the Turks under Hallid Bey, near the Tigris, and fought until nightfall, when the Turks made off into darkness. The Armenian volunteers, who are doing some of the best fighting for the Russians, began the battle at 9 o'clock in the morning and sustained it alone on open ground until noon, when General T's cavalry from Sarai came into action. The artillery was brought up in the afternoon, but by then to Hallid Bay had taken a position on inaccessible mountains, and since then there has been no contact with him.

Whatever may be true of atrocity stories from other sources. It is certainly a fact that the warfare in Armenia has resulted in the killing of more non-combatants than soldiers, and it is doubtful if there is any other area In the world where the war is so plainly a case of murder.

The Associated Press correspondent has himself seen the corpses of non-combatants, both men and women, strewn alone every trail that the Russian army has traversed. On June 4, while climbing: a pass at least 16,000 feet above sea level, two remarkably handsome Armenians were seen slain beside the road, and nearby lay a Kurdish girl, dead from starvation and hardship. In a niche of the rocks of the high mountain pass there was found a deserted baby softly crying beneath a saddle blanket.

At one point a group of thirty Armenian women gathered at the mid- day halting place of the Russian soldiers on the crest of the pass, and moaned for food and clothes, but there was nothing to spare them, as the soldiers themselves were without bread or fuel to cook their super-abundant mutton. They were in a district where even dry weeds failed them for fire-building purposes, and there were no more villages to destroy for roof timbers. Even the veteran campaigners of the Russo- Turkish war of 1877-8 and of every Russian campaign since then are sickened by the conditions with which they come in daily contact in this devastated land, and especially by the emergence of the brute Instincts to kill and destroy.

The roads and sheep paths everywhere are bestrewn with the possessions of the Kurds of Van vilayet and on the mountains and In the valleys there graze countless thousands of their abandoned sheep. Dead horses, broken saddles, harness and torn uniforms testify also to the rapid weakening of the Turkish regulars.

One mountain stream was found bridged with rugs and carpets laid on roof timbers from a neighboring village. Another was formed of the bodies of sheep, similarly supported.

The Kurds have borne the brunt of the Turkish retreat, and in addition to the leaving behind of their cattle, they have abandoned their rich carpets and rugs, and so much rough carded wool, that in places the wool lies thick enough to pave the muddy roads.

The Russian military students in this camp claim that the present progress of their forces has cast a shade even upon the crossing of the Alps by Hannibal and Napoleon. Almost daily this army has had to cross worse than Alpine heights. The best maps have proven unreliable, and there have been no competent native guides. Detachments have gone three or four days at a time without a pound of bread or rye toast, and a. general halt was made necessary today by the almost total lack of salt, sugar, bread and barley. The horses have climbed up and down many steep slopes 2,000 feet high on grass alone. The last great pass, a snowy waste of many miles, is marked by scores of dead and dying horses. In some places the ground to be traversed was covered with snow hundreds of feet deep. In other places horses had to be led over narrow, melting snow bridges across swirling streams. To slip was to be engulfed and that fate befell three of the Russian soldiers.

In the sunshine it is blistering and blinding, at night there is frost, Last night fresh snow fell on the heights around the camp. The camel train arrived last night, 24 hours late. The men had to sleep the night before in the open. Scarcely a dozen camp fires of scanty dried stubble blazed long enough to boil tea and those too thinly covered to sleep had to walk in the dark to avoid freezing.

To complete the desperation, the bivouac chanced to be in a place overgrown with poisonous weeds, while the starving horses ate greedily. As a result fifty or sixty, including General N's mount, were dead before morning.

For a week life has been reduced to its elements. Thousands of men think day and night of nothing but the primal animal needs. Warmth, food and rest are paradise here. The Russian soldier and still more the Armenian volunteer, is resourceful. Failing tea, bread and meat, he fares forth to milk, fat-tailed or Angora sheep. Boots are wearing out and of course there is no depot. Here, too, the soldiers resort to self help with the aid of freshly skinned horse hides.

Yet there has been scarcely a word of complaint and the chief regret is that they have been able to force their enemy to accept a decisive engagement.

The genocide poster boy

Holdwater: Aside from the two "remarkably handsome" Armenian men, and the women who would have dared to openly meet this regiment, it appears the main sufferers here were Muslims. This is a rare Western report shedding light on these invisible victims, even admitting "the Kurds have borne the brunt."

Two questions come to mind: what became of that abandoned baby? (Is it... is it possible the Armenian soldiers would have saved its life?) And secondly, would the Kurdish girl, dead from starvation and hardship, have looked much better than the "genocide poster boy," shown above? Why is he regarded as a victim of "genocide," and not her?

 

Cedar Rapids Republican, July 18, 1915

TURKS DRIVEN BACK FROM PASS

APPROACH TO VAN IN HANDS OF RUSSIAN ADVANCE GUARD

ARMENIANS BIG HELP

Threatened Massacre or Christians by Turks and Kurds Averted by Victories of Russians In Turkish Armenia

Dehr, (Vilayet of Van) Turkish Armenia, May 18.—(via Petrograd, June 6):— Outposts of the Russian forces here are bivouacking 10,000 feet above sea level around the region of the Haneour pass, marking the approach to Van, the capital of the Armenian vilayet, which is an important [seat] of American missions. The pass itself has been taken back into Russian control by an operation in which the Armenians cleared the surrounding hills of scattered Turks and Kurds. From the number of empty cartridges found in the yielded trenches, it is apparent that the Turks lacked marksmen rather than ammunition.

Bashkala, the most important town between Dilman and Van was re-occupied today by Russian cavalry, which drove off about fifty Kurds, and with this event the long expected advance on Van began in earnest. The great question agitating the minds of the Russians and of the Armenian volunteers is whether they will arrive in time to save the beleaguered Armenians of Van from slaughter.

(Note: Cable despatches from Turkish Armenia in the middle of June said briefly that the Russian forces had occupied Van, and that the threatened massacre of Christians by Kurds and Turks had been averted).

The Armenian volunteers have behaved well in this campaign, as they did in Dilman. Here they held an exposed trench fourteen hours after Turkish fire without relief and then advanced on the wavering enemy. The head of the Armenian volunteers has been a leader of revolutionary bands for twenty years. A silent, observant man with bronzed features, shaggy brows and mustache, he might pose for a western sheriff. Samson Khan, his chief ot staff, as a striking contrast. He is typically Armenian in his vivacity, but an indispensable aide, as the leader does not speak Russian. The detachment of Armenian volunteers, numbering about 1,000, is composed of only fifteen per cent Russian Armenians, the remainder being more or less recent refugees from Turkish oppression. There are two from America, one from China, and quite a number from Armenian colonies in Bulgaria and Rumania. One of the men from America abandoned a prosperous business In New York to help free his race. Another was professor of archeology at Petrograd. A third was a teacher in an Armenian college at Yalta. The junior surgeon was educated In the American college in Beirut. Many expect to emigrate to America after the war.

So far, the Russian pursuit of the Turkish army has been largely a question of communications. The slope from the plain of Salmas to the [Honeuur] pass is long, but in the main regular and could be traversed in an automobile, but the pass itself is a difficult divide of fully ten miles with many steep ascents. The mountains, upwards of 8,000 feet high, are so far bare of snow but also are void of any vegetation except short grass and early field flowers. Not a bush or tree has been seen since the plain was left behind, and the snow-clad mountain masses ahead do not promise fuel. The soldiers gathered dry weeds to boil their tea kettles until Dehr was reached. There dismantled Armenian houses afforded firewood. The train is composed of camels, pack-horses, mules and donkeys.

Dehr is the seat of an ancient monastery whose foundation is lost in traditions of the early Christians. The present fortress-like church was probably built over 1200 years ago. Bullets and shells did no damage to the six-foot thick walls but everything movable was destroyed and defaced by the Turks and Kurds. The village was plundered and dismantled. The Turks seem bent on the total destruction of Armenian culture. The villagers were killed or enslaved or escaped without any of their possessions. But with the hope and determination of their race, they are already returning to rebuild their homes.

  Armenians Loot Turk Homes in Retaliation

 

The Dallas News, October 6, 1915

ARMENIANS LOOT TURK HOMES IN RETALIATION

AMERICAN MISSIONARIES ARRIVING IN NEW YORK GIVE NEW VIEW OF TROUBLE.

STORY OF VAN'S DEFENSE

Turks and Kurds Waging Holy War on Christians With Intention of Extermination.

New York, Oct. 5. - The Turks and Kurds are waging a holy war of extermination on the Armenians, according to sixteen members of the Armenian board of foreign missions, who arrived today from Van, Turkey. Ernest Yarrow, one of the missionaries, told how the Armenian population of Van, numbering 1,500, held out against 5,000 Kurds and a Turkish company commanded by a German officer, from April 20 to May 17, when Russians arrived and relieved the town.

"We had six American and two Red Cross flags." said Mr. Yarrow, "and we flew these over the mission, but they were not respected by either of the combatants. The Turkish company arrived three or four days before the Russian relief came, and the shrapnel from the Turkish guns tore down all of our flags.

"We sheltered large numbers of Armenian women and children, but as soon as the Turks and Kurds had been driven away from the town, virtually all of the Armenians turned out to loot the Turkish houses and duplicate the atrocities that had previously been practiced upon the Armenians. It was with great difficulty that they were restrained.

"The Turks and Kurds have declared a holy war against the Armenians and vowed to exterminate them. The population of Van was poorly armed and was forced to use brass and copper trinkets to make bullets. Three small cannon were made of scrap metal. The supplies of ammunition were running short and the Russians arrived just in time to save the Armenians from being wiped out."

Mr. Yarrow said many Armenians were suffering from typhus and other diseases and when he left conditions almost everywhere in Armenia were terrible. Half of the missionaries were taken ill during the siege and six died. Mr. Yarrrow said only a portion of the real story had been told.


Holdwater: In April, 1915 there were 33,789 Armenians in the city of Van, out of some 100,000 for the province. This does not take into account the many thousands of Armenian fighters who had piled into Van, which Morgenthau had estimated as close to 25,000. Yet the lying missionary Yarrow, in an attempt to show how poor and helpless his beloved Armenians were, vouched for "1,500." He also would distort the fact that the Armenians possessed superior weaponry (for example, as sophisticated Mauser firearms working like machine guns), which the Armenians had stockpiled well in advance of their planned rebellion.

Although the headline promises a telling of Armenian crimes, the accent surely needed to fall upon the "extermination" efforts of the Turks, outnumbered and out-resourced as they were. We are asked to believe the Armenians were "restrained" from their very real extermination efforts, but at least Yarrow was being inadvertently truthful by stating, "only a portion of the real story had been told."

Russians Victorious (with 50,000 Armenian volunteers)

 From The New Oxford. The same article was reproduced in The Frederick Post (Maryland), Feb. 23, 1916, with similar headings: "Russians Win Van District Drive South. Menaces Turks' Mesopotamia Army. SLAVS ARE NEAR TREBIZOND. Turkish Losses In Past Two Weeks' Fighting Said to be Nearly 100,000. Bitlis Reported Evacuated."; the text below begins with "London, Feb. 22.")


Russians Victorious in War District


The Russians have occupied the entire Lake Van district, the Turks retiring southward and even evacuating Bitlis, according to a Petrograd despatch received in Rome and given out by the wireless press.

On the other wing, according to the despatch, the Russian advance guards have arrived within a short distance of Trebizond, on the Black sea coast.

Earlier despatches show that the Russians are pressing their advance on both flanks. Driving the Turkish rear guards before them with heavy losses, one of their armies is advancing rapidly toward Diarbekr, on the Tigris river.

Diabekr is only fifty miles from the Constantinople-Bagdad railway, the only line of communication for the Turkish army in Mesopotamia.

Turkish losses in the past two weeks' fighting with the Russians are said to be nearly 100,000 men in killed, wounded and prisoners. The kaiser is reported to have sent an imperative message to Field Marshal von Der Goltz, the chief military adviser of the Turkish army, that the advance of the Russians must be stopped at any cost.

It is reported on excellent authority that a big German force is being massed east of Constantinople for the protection of the Turkish capital. The menace of the Russian invasion of Turkey is more dangerous that at any other time during the course of the war. Approximately 250,000 Russians have poured through the passes of the Caucasian mountains supported by enormous quantities of artillery.

Along the Black sea littoral Russian warships are bombarding Turkish towns.

Information received in Rome that the Turkish rout in the Caucasus surpasses all imagination. No unit remains intact and the debris of the army in flight is being massacred by the insurgent population.

All able-bodied Armenians who escaped from Turkish conscription have enlisted in the Russian army. Grand Duke Nicholas, it is reported, has now 50,000 Armenian volunteers under his command.


Emphasis of last paragraph is Holdwater's: That would be a lot of Ottoman-Armenians, busting the myth that the Armenians who served with the Russians were composed primarily of Russian-Armenians.

 

Manitoba Free Press, Winnipeg, Oct. 5, 1918; the same article was also in the same-dated The Ogden Examiner, Utah: "ARMENIAN VOLUNTEERS BATTLING TURK WITH VICTORIOUS BRITISH.")


Armenian Volunteers Aided General Allenby


Boston, Oct. 4.—Announcement that Armenian volunteers, many of them from this country, participated in the British victory over the Turks in Palestine, under General Allenby, was contained in cablegrams received today at the headquarters here of the Armenian National Union of America.

Officials of the union here explained that the fact that Armenians are fighting with the British in Palestine had not been made known heretofore because of the fear of massacres of their countrymen by the Turks.


Holdwater: Had the Brits been aware of the concept of genocide that would arrive years later, they would have needed to ask how those Armenians they feared would be in line for massacres would have still been alive in the first place.

Of interest in this piece is this rare acknowledgement: "The Seventh Ally" of the Entente were not only fighting with the Russians and the French, but with the British, as well.

Armenians Go to Europe to Fight for the Allies

 

The Racine-Journal News, August 31, 1917

ARMENIANS GO TO EUROPE TO FIGHT FOR THE ALLIES

Word has been received by Mr. Armen Babian. 604 State street, this city that a group of 20 Armenian volunteers to fight for the allies in Europe, have arrived In Bordeaux, France. K. Hagopian, a former Racine tailor, has sent a postal card from there. As the above group only left Detroit Aug. 4 and the post card is marked Aug. 14, this is declared to be a remarkably fast trip considering present conditions.

Armenians Recapture Erzerum After a Battle with the Turks

Bridgeport Telegram (Connecticut — "New England's Greatest Manufacturing City"), April 5, 1918

 

ARMENIANS RECAPTURE ERZERUM, AFTER A BATTLE WITH THE TURKS


Natives, in Revolt at Massacres, Fight Oppressors

London, April 4.— Erzerum, the principal city of Turkish Armenia, is reported in an Exchange Telegraph despatch from Moscow to have been recaptured from the Turks by an Armenian corps, aided by a detachment of Armenian volunteers.

The Armenians are reported, to be holding other territories in the Erzerum district.

After the conclusion of peace with Turkey, Russia evacuated Turkish Armenia which the Turks re-occupied. They began a fresh series of massacres and the Armenians undertook the organization of an army to defend themselves.

(Also on the cover, the headline: "1,000 French Men & Women Send [sic] to Slavery by Huns," a report claiming that French civilians from occupied northern France were sent to Russia by Germany to perform hard labor, "according to information obtained by Baron Cochin, formerly a member of the French cabinet." They were initially offered for exchange with "Alsatians who have escaped to France.")

Holdwater: on the same day, there was the totally contradictory report below in another newspaper, attesting to the Turks' having taken Erzurum. In addition, although the Russians were out of the war, and peace held sway between the Turks and the Russians, we learn the Soviets socked it to the Turks.

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Oakland Tribune, April 4, 1918, front page

ERZURUM TAKEN

LONDON, April 1— Erzerum. the principal city of Turkish Armenia. is reported in an Exchange Telegraph despatch from Moscow, to have been recaptured from the Turks by an Armenian corps, aided by a detachment of Armenian volunteers.

(On the same page, in "UKRAINE-HUN FORCE BEATEN BY RUSSIANS...Turco-German Ships Driven Back by Slavs," it was reported: "Turco-German forces have been thrown back from the Erzurum-Kars line" (by "the soviets"); "Erzurum is 110 miles south of Batum and was recently recaptured by the Turks.")

Janesville Daily, Jan. 27, 1919

 


ARMENIANS SEEK ORIGINAL COUNTRY AND INDEPENDENCE

Map shows Armenia which wants peace conference to restore original boundaries and grant its independence.

Armenians are looking to the peace conference to restore all of Armenia to its people and make it a separate state, says Dr. James L. Barton, president of Euphrates college. Armenia, for nine years, and now secretary of the Armenian board of commissioners for foreign of Turkish, Russia and Persian missions. Armenia now consists Armenians. The population totals principally Armenians.


Holdwater: Of course, the English is not the only mixed up part of the above caption.

Armenians in Revolt

Evening Gazette, Oct. 21, 1919

ARMENIANS IN REVOLT

CONSTANTINOPLE, Oct. 21.— Severe fighting is in progress in the vicinity of Zanghizur, in the Russian Caucasus, between the Armenians and regular troops from Azerbaijan province.

(A revolt recently broke out in the Persian province of Azerbaijan, the population of which is almost entirely Turkish, which was ascribed in some quarters to protest against the generally recently concluded Anglo-Persian agreement.)

The regular troops from Azerbaijan province, it is stated, opened the hostilities.


Holdwater: Who "stated" that?