Armenian massacres in van bitlis mus and kars interwiev with witnesses by lale güvenc

КОК SERIES OF SOCIAL AND STRATEGICAL RESEARCHES: 10

ARMENIAN MASSACRES IN VAN, BITLIS, MU§ AND KARS INTERWIEV WITH WITNESSES

Prof. Dr. Azmi SUSLU Dog. Dr. G ulay OGUN - Lee. M. Torehan SERDAR

ARMENIAN MASSACRES IN VAN, BlTLIS, MU§ AND KARS INTERW IEV WITH WITNESSES

TABLE O F CONTENTS

SUMMARY.......................................................................................... v

SECTIO N ONE: VAN M A SSA C R ES...........................................1 L

T h e A rm e n ia n A ctiv ities in V a n ....................................... 2

T estim o n ie s o f W itn e s s e s .................................................... 8 a.

M uhamm ed Re§it Gtlle§er................................................. 8

§eyh Cemal Talay............................................................... 11

B ek irY 6 ru k .........................................................................14

Ibrahim S arg in ...................................................................20

Ay§e S evim li......................................................................28

Haci Zekeriya Код............................................................ 30

Haci Cemal Quvag............................................................ 34

e-m ail:azm i. suslu ® atam.gov.tr.

H ikm et S ay lik ...................................................................36

w w w :http://www.atam .gov tr. Tel : 90.312.427 08 02

M ehm et § a a r .....................................................................38

Kadriye D u ra n ..................................................................40

Kamile Elibol..................................................................... 43

§ erif Ta§gi...........................................................................44

S a itK a y a ............................................................................46

Ya§ar G urbiiz..................................................................... 47

Yamin Tbsun...................................................................... 49

Faks: 90.312.215 32 74

Haci Ra§it Bans?................................................................51

: koksav® koksav.org.tr

Kaya Q elebi........................................................................52

F ev ziF e y y at...................................................................... 56

90.312.310 32 8 0 / 1072 First Edition : Ankara, 1994 Second Edition : Ankara, 2000

ISBN : 975 - 7430 - 24 - 2 KOKSAV - KOK Social and Strategical Resarch Foundation Turgut Reis Cad. 7/5 Tandofjan 06570 Ankara, Turkiye Tel/Faks E-Posta Web.

: 90.312.212 99 03

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IV.

о.

Abdiirrezak Ayaz....

Abbas Gunesj...................................................................124

M ehmet H atunoglu

Scliк Q elik...................................................................... 125

Mehmet Tai?....................................................................126

WIEWS FROM THE MASS GRAVE EXCAVATION INVAN

Orug T iirkeli...................................................................127

PROVINCE, ZEVE V ILLA GE........................................................ 68

imam Zeynclabiddin.....................................................129

VAN MUSEUM MASSACRE SECTION........................................79

SEC TIO N TWO: B IT L IS AND MUS M A SSA C R ES.............. 87

III. VIEWS FROM THE SUBATAN COUNTY OF KARS PROVINCE................................................................. 132

A rm e n ia n A c tiv itie s in B itlis a n d M u § .......................... 88

T e stim o n ie s o f W itn e s s e s .................................................... 91 a.

Izzet C engiz....................................................................... 91

Ali Riza Azepoglu..............................................................95

Haci Hiiseyin Носа........................................................... 97

Sait A ldanm az................................................................... 98

Ebubekir ve Abdlilkerim..................................................99

H asan M ehmetoglu........................................................ 100

H aydar Isaoglu................................................................101

Devaz §eyhoglu ..............................................................100

Omer M ustafaoglu..........................................................103

Tayyib Abdiilhamitoglu..................................................103

Iso From The Til Village................................................104

Osman From B itlis..........................................................104

F erh at From K arsin....................................................... 104

H alit From O skavak...................................................... 104

Police Officer Hasan Qabuk.......................................... 105

Haci Sadi A ldanm az........................................................106

B irik A ^ it.......................................................................... 107

Faris S u riim .................................................................... 109

Cevaliir K okum ............................................................... 110

Arm enian Terrorism - A Chrondogical R u n d o w n ...................145 BIBLIOGRAPHY.....................................................................................171

III. VIEWS FROM B IT L IS ...........................................................113 I). SEC TIO N TH R EE: KARS M A SSA C R ES................................117

A rm e n ia n A ctiv ities in K ars a n d E n v ir o n s ............... 118

T estim o n ies o f W itn e s s e s .................................................. 122 V

A. SUMMARY Armenians who have an im portant place in the Turkish History have not rebelled suddenly since 1890' s. The rebellion of A rm enians has a phase of preparatory in its historical process. For, in th a t phase, so-called “Armenian Problem” had been falsely produced by the societies and associa tions which were established in or abroad, by the activities of churches, schools, and missionaires, and also especially by the provocative and stim u lative efforts of W estern S tates which had political aspirations on Ottoman Em pire. Afterwards, d uring the World War I, “A rm enian Genocide” had been proposed for a new formula which was instead of “Armenian Problem”. Wherefore, this “legend” has continued for 80 years. For a thousand year, Arm enian minority is one of those minorities, th a t had been em braced w ithout any racial segregation and p resented more rights and privileges them th an Turkish people which were from common race and language, by Turks. Though Turks had much more credit in them, yet they were the cause of annoyance and succeding the very system atic manner, attem pted to destroy Turks by the provocations of West. Not only they satisfied w ith th is m uch, b u t also, while they were sheding Turks blood, raised a clamour thus: “Our blood is being shed, we are being killed, forced to emigration, exposed to genocide!” After leaving th e country with those men who led them to treachery, they had exercised the divers terro r operations, but couldn’t be successful. Henceforth, at this time, by using the scientific methods, they have proposed to reach th a t which desire it. Again, deviating from the tru th , they directed themselves to the ways of error and false accusation. It is m anifest th a t there is no scientific document to prove th a t Armenians or any other minority, were exposed to the act of killing a whole race, and contempted in the last or any period of history of Turks. And so, any scientific docum ent in any place could be discovered, though it had been searched very carefully for about a hundred year. B ut it is an im portant th in g th a t the scientific truths were discovered, declared to the native and foreign people, and persuaded them , as well it was answ ered to c o n c e n tra te d and biased p ro p ag an d a of A rm en ian s. Therefore, recently, th e new scientific activities are being done for th e purpose to reinforce th e scientific assemblies in m any provinces of Anatolia. These are to excavate the graves in a group. The first of these, th a t were excavated in seven places of Eastern Anadolia, is in Igdir Oba on M arch 1986, second in Erzurum -A laca on Ju ly 1986, fifth in Van-Erci§ on Ju ly

1986, fourth in Erzurum -Ye§ilyayla on October 1988, fifth in Van-Zeve (Zaviye) on April 1990, sixth in K ars-Subatan on Ju n e 1991, and seventh in E rzu ru m -T n n ar on Ju ly 1993. Thus, it was m an ifestly ap p eared th a t thousand of Turkish people together w ith whose women or d au g h ters, children or elderly, were killed because of th e violence and genocide of Armenians by th eir system atic and planned terrorism in these places. The approxim ate num ber of these graves in a group which were discovered by great and long scientific researches and local scannings, is 200. Hovewer, perpetual excavations of these graves were going on. By all w hich, w hen A rm enian m a tte r w as draw n to th e scientific ground, Turkey does not only make self-defence, but also begins to attack. But it m ust be continued th e scientific activities, and persuaded the whole world. Wherefore, likewise th a t such of the scientific activities m ust not on ly be locally, but m ust be presented the whole world and m ust take place in the world literature. This kind of activities as in Erzurum , Van, Kars, m ust become more known. And also, archaeological and anthropological datas m ust become more widespread. And also, archaeological and anthropological datas m ust be produced on this field. Likewise, by interrogating the Living W ittness, or Gbazis, and filming them, the specialists in this field, scholars, and press men have to join, be mixed, unite w ith these people. By m eans of these activities, in our opinion, history of Turks which was both darkened and exploited will be illum inated, as well as it will be proved or registered officially in the sight of the whole world. Even though it m ust be confirmed, the scanning of "Living History" is one of the most im portant sources of history. Wherefore, we have scanned Gbazis who are day by day becoming less inhabitants of'Van, Bitlis, Mu§, Kars, IV))- two years. It was scanned and filmed th e residences of civil people who had been killed systematically by Armenians during the WorldWar I and the Turkish War of Independence, m artirium s, and the Gbazis. It was interviewed 62 living Ghazis who had been interviewed by the lecturers of universities in th a t region. In this book, we shall present the results of this research. And also they were broadcasted as a docum entary programm e which was called "Living History" by the second channel of TRT all over the Turkey and abroad. Afterwards, it will be broadcasted on other local and foreign channels of TV. As a result, once again, in the presence of history, it was concluded that, Armenian ideas are inconsistent with the truth, as they lack of witnesses, anthropological and archaeological d atas, docum entaries, proofs which

were obtained by excavations of graves in a group and m artirium s. As a Ghazi said to me: "When all the Western World attacked us, we did not only fight with them, but also we were exposed to the genocide committed by Armenians." During this genocide, those th a t were killed, th a t had th eir homes and their villages, as well as all of their properties destroyed were not Armenians, but more th a n one million muslim Anatolian people. We hope sincerely th a t this tragedy of m ankind is not repeated once again in n ow here th a t is n e ith e r only in A n ato lia, K arab ag , C yprus, B osniaHerzegovina, nor in the whole world. 2 9 th October, 1999 Prof. Dr. Azmi SUSLU

В.

SECTION

ONE

VAN MASSACRES

CITIES & PROVINCES

I. The A rm enian A ctiv ities in Van In accordance with the article 61 of the Berlin Agreement, a reform to be undertaken in the cities where Armenians live is stipulated and the city of Van is among them. This city has been the m ain attraction of the Arme nians and their Western supporters in accum ulating their propaganda and getting organized. Van has been the most visited city by th e Comm ittee Chairman, the Arm enian members of P arliam ent of the Ottom an Em pire and the Western Consuls. Then again, this city has become an area where gradually the activities and the num ber of the Armenian band of brigands with the addition of volunteer troops in later years, increased. In all these activities which was aimed a t the public opinion especially in the European Countries, an image was trying to be created by claims such as; the A rm e nians were put out of work, were cruelly treated, massacred, th eir freedom was in danger and especially it has been claimed th a t the population of the Armenians is more than the Muslim population. When closely examined all the claims are false. Most of th e industrial and commercial businesses in the area were in the hands of th e A rm enians ju st as it is in the public services and members of the Parl iament. The M us lims in the area were generally farm ers and stockbreeders. Most of the Muslims who worked in the areas of industry and commerce were th e em ployees of the Armenians. With the guns obtained from inside and outside, and the organization of bands of brigands unjustly treated, falsified and murdered party became the Muslims, not the Armenians. Even the Arm eni ans with the common sense who did not aprove these events were forced to pay heavy taxes, to m uting and to open lire on th e government forces. In accordance with th e statistics of Counties of Ottom an in the year Ki.'H) dated 1914 (Statistique Official de 1914) by the M inistry of Interior Affairs, the proportion of the population in Van and its districts:

Van (conIci')

ARMENIAN

TURKISH

TOTAL POPULATION

.‘S3.789

45.119

78.908

Kreis

8.08.4

27.323

35.406

y itak

4.292

8.132

12.424

Adilcevaz

4.849

10.820

15.669

10.520

18.123

28.643

H ak k ari

3.461

21.848

25.309

Colemcrik

1.554

7.450

9.004

M ahm udive

2.720

10.230

12.950

11.790

9.873

21.663

1.015

7.691

8.706

82.073

166.609

248.682

G evas

Sem dinan

1Io§ap TOTAL

As it is seen in the list, in the city center of Van and the districts of Hakkari, 70% of the population is Muslim, and only one third, that is P>0r/r is Armenian. Aside from the central district of Van and $itak (Qatak) in all the other districts the Muslim population is two-three times more th an the Armenian population. In the Province of Van with its center district and all the center districts of H akkari the Arm enian population is one third of the Muslim population. A large num ber of Nomadic Muslim tribes, which are not taken into the list, will certainly cause to heighten this proportion. Whit the announcem ent of the Second Constitutional Government, the Armenians objected the proportion of the representation of the P arliam ent members in the E astern Anatolia and especially in the Province of Van. The decision of a swift census to be made in the area by the government, caused the Armenian com mittees to s ta rt to sabotage th e decision immediately, knowing the tru th , as stated in the above list, would come out. The official statistics results prepared by the Commissions including Armenian and for eign consulate authorities also, have been confirmed by numerous foreign sources by giving close num bers. Therefore, in areas where the Armenians claimed being the majority, did not reach even the half of the number of the Muslim population in the province and the districts. As in the case of population, brigandage, m urder and cruelty done by the A rm enians were blamed on Turks. With this aim, the Article 61 of the Berlin Agreement was exploited both by the W esterns especially Russia and

England, and th e A rm enian Comm ittees encouraged by th ese countries. The A rm enian Com m ittees, using th e consulates, schools, churches and associations, got organized speedily and sta rte d brigandage. I§ham and A ram who were sentenced to d eath by the R ussian G overnm ent for the crim es they com m itted, came to join th e gang leaders of th e T ashnakS u ty u n C om m ittee. They tu rn e d th e m o n astic school in th e Is la n d of A kdam ar in Van into th e headquarters of the organization. They trained m ilitan ts by th e money th ey collected and spread th e ir activities to the villages. They appointed to the monastic school a committee m em ber who had nothing to do with being a monk, Yeznik as deputy Katogigok and as his a ssistan t ano th er com m ittee m em ber D aniel was appointed. D aniel had committed several crimes in numerous cities including Istanbul and he w as d e te rm in e d to k ill T u rk s. W h it th e a d d itio n of R afae l, S e rk is, K argekanh V artan, Dsep, who were inspectors of the A rm enian Schools in Iran, Armenian members of Ottoman Parliam ent W ramyan and Papazyan, th e A kdam ar M onastic School became th e rebellion h e a d q u a rte rs from w here all the events of bloodshed in the area were directed and controlled. When the mobilization was declared, completing th eir preparations in the country, these committees with the voluntary troops in Caucusia acted as the vanguards of the R ussian Army. The committees around Van and Mu§, in the leadership of E rzurum lu A ntranik (General), Mu§lu Sim bat, Vanli Hamazasp etc. who were notorious for the activities against Muslims, farmed troops of tree-four hundred people to ease the way for the R ussian Army and to h it th e O ttom an Army from behind.

other government buildings and burned Muslim district. People and the soldiers took shelter in the inner castle in order to defend themselves against the Armenians who had surrounded the city as of 7 April 1915. The Armenians blocking all ways of help from the surroundings, dug trenches around the city, and with the newest Russian weapons and bombs which were brought in secretly from Trabzon in straw bales, began to press the castle. As of 15 April the nearby Armenian brigands more than 10.000 in num bers came and surrounded the city completely. The citizens of Van and a small num ber of soldiers tried to defend the castle under very difficult conditions until the end of May and then the city fell. Both during the siege and after the fell of the city, hundreds of citizens and people from s u rro u n d in g area s w ere m u rd ered and th e city was wracked. The A rm enians took the city and formed a “Temporary Govern m ent” and defied the right to live for Turks. The Governor of Van Cevdet Bey aiming to undertake a “deportation” for the Turks in order to save them from the Armenian savageness, sent the below given telegraph dated 24 April 1915 to the M inistry of Internal Af fairs: "... The rebellions (Armenians) are holding uproads, attacking the near by villages and burning them. It is impossible to stop them. A large number o f women and children are already homeless. It is also impossible and un suitable shelter these in the nomadic tribe villages. Is it suitable to send them to the cities in the West?"

In February 1915 several events occurred: In the Tim ar region of Van during sheep counting Armenians attacked the civil servants, and upon this occasion more than thousand brigands came to the area. Rebellion later spread to Geva$ and §itak (Qatak). Rebels not only cut the telegraph wires but m urdered Ju d g e of Gevasj Ism ail H akki Efendi and am bushed and killed Gendarme Commander Suleyman Bey and his soldiers in B arat, Vil lage of Timar. When the investigation about the event started and some A r m enian spies were captured, band of brigands attacked all the nearby M us lim villages and massacred people.

When the A rm enians with reinforcement started to attack, the Gover nor Cevdet Bey undertook the migration (deportation) of the citizens shel tered in the castle and the Armenians and later the Russians invaded the city. After the invasion of Van with the provocation of the Russians, rebel lions spread out in the area. The Armenian brigands m assacred th e vil lagers and destroyed the villages completely. Thus more than the half of the Muslim population which was around 200.000 in and around Van was m as sacred. As a result of the lately undertaken expeditions some mass graves belonging to those people were found. The mass graves are in: Van (center), Selim Bey district, Erci§ (Ki§la) district, Zeve village (here along with Zeve 3000 villagers from 8 villages were massacred by the Armenians), C atbayir (Bahgesaray), an area in Qaldiran and Alakoy.

L ater half of th e 5000 brigands gathered in th e area, attacked the city center of Van at the beginning of April, and blew up the buildings of the O t tom an Bank, The Public D ept Monopoly (Dtiyun-u Umumiye), post office,

A t the time the A rm enians sources printed th e inhum an malevolence they did to Turks in the European and American Press proudly. These were mentioned in the archives of General Staff, ATASE, Prim em inistry (Interior

Some of these Com m ittees started to attack the civil servants, gen darm es, Muslim population and the Armenians who did not support them and gathering brigands together trying to make Van the headquarters.

an d F o reig n A ffairs), T u rk ish H isto ry of R eform s I n s tit u te , p riv a te archives, and in th e publications of m an y T u rk ish , fo reig n re se a rc h s, w riters, and officials, among thousands, below given is an example to show the difference between th e two communities in un d erstan d in g hum anity. Two paragraphs w ritten by Rafael de Nogales: “We learned that after the Governor o f Van, Cevdet Bey had left Van, the Armen ians dom inated the place and massacred all the M uslim s old, women, children. No where in the World have such vile actions been seen. T his reminded me an event that took place in Van: With a couple o f my officers while were observing the artillery fire, a M uslim woman was hanging her washings on a nearby flat roop. As soon as the Arm enians saw the woman, they opened the fire a n d her old body honey-combed w ith bullets. The A rm en ia n s preferred a n d thoroughly enjoyed k illin g such poor people instead o f fighting a h a lf a dozen officers.” A g a in st th e s e b r u ta l actio n s, T u rk s h u m a n e b e h a v io r is above appreciation. The same w riters recognition: “We saw three Turkish soldiers near the headquarters building. They were giving food to an Arm enian who stayed nine days in a wheel without eating anything. This Arm enian was saying that he had refused to take p art in the assassination attem pt on the life o f the Governor o f Van and to save his life he hid in the wheel. His friends were searching him to kill him. After this Arm enian was fed, he was taken to an hospital and was treated for a couple o f days there.”

Armenian Clergy School in the Akdamar (Ahdamar) Island of Van which was transformed into a center of terror in East Anatolia in First World War. Armenian Deputies Churches-Patriarchate

Committees (Bandits)

2. T e stim o n ies o f W itn esses

discovery, he w as re le a s e d w ith o u t p u n is h m e n t due to th e p o litic a l sensitivities of the time.

a. MUHAMMET RE§iT GULE§ER

Father's Name : Abdullah Mother's Name : Habibe Place of Birth

: Van

Date of Birth

: 1900

I was a young stu d en t a t the (Teachers' training college) school, around 15 or 16 years old during the A rm enian m assacres, and rem em ber w hat happened quite well. Before the F irst World War, we had good neighborly r e la tio n s w ith th e A rm e n ia n s (w h o se p o p u la tio n w as s a id to be approxim ately 17,000). W ith th e d eclaratio n of th e co n stitu tio n al m onarchy in 1908, they sta rte d to exploit the principles of independence, equality, and justice to th eir benefit. Their leader in Van, Aram Pasha, was in the delegation th a t n o tifie d S u lta n H a m it t h a t he w ould hav e to leave h is th ro n e . The A rm enians set up an underground organization in Van, and dug tunnels which extended from n ear th e G reat Mosque (Biiyttk Cami) all the way to the old section of town. It was even possible to go through these tunnels on horseback. One day th e tu n n els were in ad v erten tly discovered when a section caved n er a guard. Even though Aram P asha was detained n ear the G reat Mosque based on th e intelligence provided by an Arm enian after the

In short, th e A rm en ia n s w ere very well organized. A lread y well established in commerce, they were doing very well financially. After the A rm enians and Jew s w ere p e rm itte d to jo in th e m ilitary , g ro u p s of Armenians joined the m ilitary during the retre at of the Van division. The Armenians entered the m ilitary prepared - with their own weapons. Our soldiers were caryying German-m ade prim itive weapons th a t after firing four shots, would drop th e fifth bullet. According to w hat we had heard from Mr. Haci L atif and others who later returned to Van, the Arm enians in the Van division were shooting our soldiers in th e back. There were also several cases of A rm en ian doctors and n u rses poisoning our w ounded soldiers who were hospitalized in Van after retu rn in g from the ea ste rn front. Regarding the situation in Van, the Russians were approaching from th ree fronts, M uradiye, Ozalp, and Ba§kale. The A rm enians in th e city were rebelling and continued an aggressive campaign against the Muslim population for 29 days. We had three barracks, Haci Bekir, Aziziye, and Toprakkale. Ten soldiers would guard each one. They raided these barracks and slaughtered th e soldiers like sheep by slicing their throats. Ali £avu§ was also martyred there. While our weak m ilitia were digging trenches to try to fight, the A rm enians made holes in the walls and were firing shots with machine guns, pouring cans of kerosene, lighting fires, and escaping through the deep tunnels. This brutal attack lasted 29 days. The decision to flee was finally m ade so th a t the Muslim population would not suffer any m ore deaths. Those w ith c a rts used them ; th o se w ith o u t w ere u n d e r desperate conditions, but we all joined the exodus. People left th e ir children on the road, others died from hunger and disease. It should be rem em bered th a t the Armenians not only committed large m assacres in Van, b u t in the villages as well. The homes in the villages of Timar, Ba§kale, and Ozalp were stuffed with hay and set on fire. Those th a t tried to escape were killed w ith bullets and bayonets. The inhabitants of a fev villages in Zeve organized and fought the Armenians, but almost all of them -from seven different villages- were killed. Mass graves are still being uncovered in these villages and a memorial was built. Of the twelve ships th a t carried the Muslim refugees from Van, four of them carried governm ent employees and th eir families. All of the sailors aboard the vessels were Armenians. The A rm enian bandits, aided by these sailors, forced th e four governm ent employee boats to dock a t the A dir

Islan d , and killed all of th e passengers. As for those in th e o th e r eight boats, they w ere tak en to an o th er islan d n e a r Tatvan w here A rm enian bandits were waiting, b u t were able to escape w ith few casualties because they were armed. When we left Van, we first went to Bitlis, and later to Diyarbakir. We w itnessed th e A rm enian savagery along th e way. Finally, I will tell you ab o u t w hat we saw an d h eard upon re tu rn in g to Van. The A rm enians applied all types of to rtu re to the inhabitants, God bless th e ir souls. They paraded Isa Hodja, who was over 100 years old, on a donkey through the village, raided and looted homes, and gathered women and girls into Mr. Ziya's home where they repeatedly raped them . They threw the bodies of th e dead into wells, an d even filled th e well of our m osque w ith th e ir victims' bodies. When G eneral C evdet entered Van for th e first tim e, he ask ed the gendarm es to escort 130 women whose h u sb an d s were a t th e fro n t to Diyarbakir. They had been stranded in Van because they did not have any transportation. About 30 of them stayed in our house. They spun wool to survive. They were also given m ilitary rations. They told us th a t th ere was no end to th e to rtu re an d cru elties th ey suffered a t th e h an d s of th e Armenian bandits. The Armenians skinned th e men, castrated them , and raped and im paled the women. We returned to Van four years later. We stayed two years initially, but were forced to flee again when the Russians arrived. This tim e we w ent as far as Siirt. When we returned 200-250 A rm enian families were seeking refuge on the Q arpanak Island. They vere hoping th a t th e Turks would leave, and th a t they would resettle in Van. Most of them were artisans. A sh o rt time later, a new decree was issued, and they were sent to Revan under the protection of th e government. However, Van, raided seven times by the enemy, was completely destroyed except for the Armenian quarters. We had to rebuild the city.

b. ยงEYH CEMAL TALAY

Falher's Name : Cimยงid Mother's Name : Fatma Place of Birth

: Van

Date of Birth

: 1901

The Russians were providing weapons to the Armenians. With m ilitary assistance from the R ussians and encouragem ent from England, France, and th e United S tates, all of which had consulates in Van, A rm enians increased their hostilities in the beginning of 1915. The R ussians were secretly providing them w ith sophisticated arm s lidden in food supplies sent from Russia to the port of Trabzon, and from there sent by caravan to Van. The goods on th e caravans were distributed in the center of th e old city, and the hidden am m unition was secretly distributed to the Armenian m ilitants. The leader of the Arm enian rebellion in Van was Aram P asha, but I don't remember the nam e of the leader of the Dashnaks. They all had land claims, especially in Van. The 11th squadron was assigned to Van, but went to Erzurum to mobilize. The Armenian bandits were emboldened by this and started th e ir campaign of terror against the Muslim inhabitants. T he m ilita n ts w ere la u n c h in g ra id s on th e M uslim v illag es and neighborhoods. The only thing we had to fight them with was a m ilitia led by Imam Osman, composed of those either too old or too young to join the army. L et me tell you a story which I will never forget. I w ent to a school

located n ear th e governm ent m ansion. A rm enians stu d ied a t th e same school. Some of the students in the A rm enian underground w ent to get a M uslim stu d en t nam ed Rtistii from his home on the p retex t of studying. They took him to the Isitm a bridge n ear the industrial park. After insulting him , they raped and killed him, leaving his body for his family to find the next day. The family la ter composed a ballad to honor his memory. I

can rem em ber th e beginning of the skirm ishes between the Muslims a n d A rm en ian s. O ur m ilitia , w hich w ould m e et in th e M a h m u t Aga barracks across the street from the Van S tate Hospital, was on du ty a day before the w ar with th e Armenians started. The Arm enians prepared the night before and positioned them selves well. They had dug holes in the S tate Mansion, and w hen our m ilitia was preparing for morning pray er at a fountain nearby, the Armenians showered them with bullets. M any of our soldiers were killed. The fighting between local Muslims and A rm enians h a d begun. Everyone took to th e stre e ts, an d m ass confusion ensued. Despite this, we got up and went to school. We had two teachers, one from Selanik, one from Edirne. They said "Come on kids, let's all forgive each other, we m ight not see each other again," and suggested we use th e side stre e ts to avoid A rm en ian bullets. I left school w ith some frien d s, b u t decided to ta k e our reg u la r route. We saw th a t weapons and m onitions were being distributed in front of a munitions storage area for protection against the A rm enians. We then noticed a few Armenians creeping up from behind, and notified the m an distributing the weapons. He threw down the monitions in his hand and fired on them, and they ran away. The w ars started on April 2-3, 1915, In 1914, the R ussians had not been able to penetrate th e front line, but they surrounded our soldiers from behind by passing Qaldiran-Bahgesaray, and established a headquarters in the Molla H asan village. It was difficult to provide our soldiers with m ilitary supplies since the young students and elderly people carrying th e equipm ent could not go further because of teh cold weather. Many of them died. We couldn't go anywhere either. But in the spring the A rm enians went completely crazy, on May 10, 1915, the Russians were moving tow ard Van. on Governor Cevdet's orders we evacuated Van, taking with us w h at we could carry. D uring the war, Armenian brutality had reached a stage th a t no one, including th e old, sick, captive, women or children could escape. The atrocities reached the degree th a t even the A rm enians' m ain supporters, the Russians, were trying to prohibit th eir actions. My grandm other M ihri couldn't flee with us because one of my uncles

was paralyzed from the w aist down. Unable to speak because of the shock of w hat happened in our absence, she later ussed sign language to explain w hat had transpired. They shaved my uncle's m ustache along w ith his flesh, and then took them to a house which they used as a detention center and tortured him and the other captives until the Russians arrived. When we became refugees there were 23 members of our family. We lost most of our fam ily on th e road to Bitlis and Urfa. Only two of us returned to Van. Our first stop on the road was Bitlis where we arrived in 11 days, and then w ent to Siirt, w here we had relatives w ith whom we stayed for a few months. When we heard about the Russian advance, we again fled to Diyarbakir. O ur convoy consisted of 250 people. We suffered from hunger and th ir s t on th e way. We w ent th ro u g h K u rta la n and Diyarbakir and the village of Kebir, where we didn't stay long, and again took the road to return to Van. When we reached K urtalan, we learned th a t the Russians had entered Van again and went to Siirt. In the spring of 1916 we went to Baghdad, but fled to M ardin when the English advanced. In 1917 we arrived in Urfa. The French who entered Urfa started torm enting th e Muslims by bringing th e Aleppo A rm enians to the city. This tim e we fought for 22 days. We had left Van in 1915. When we were finally able to return, only two people remained from the 23-member family. Van was totally destroyed. T he A rm en ia n s b u rn e d an d d e m o lish ed e v e ry th in g ex c e p t for th e Armenian-owned homes. In fact, when the Turkish arm y entered Van, around 2,000 Armenian artisans, expecting retaliation for their repression of the Turkish population, sought refuge on the island of Adir. The Turkish government instead ensured th eir safe passage to Revan.

b a rra c k s . T he yo u n g people an d th e e ld e rly le ft in th e M u slim n eighborhoods w ould ta k e tu rn s g u a rd in g a g a in s t th e A rm e n ia n s. Meanwhile, the Russians were sending them gold to finance their effort. This struggle lasted 29 days until the arriv al of the R ussians. The elderly Armenians didn't w ant this fight because they were the w ealthiest in habitants of th e area, and feared sacrificing th e ir stan d ard of living. Armenians owned up to 1,000 stores and sold European cloth in th e old part of the city of Van. When these events broke out, inhabitants of nearby villages and towns all fled to Van, and those stores disappeared w ithin two days.

ั . BEKiRYORUK Father's Name : Yusuf Mother's Name : Gulnaz Place of Birth

: Van

Date of Birth

: 1900

Q: Can you tell us as best as you can remember w hat the Armenians did in Van and Gevaยง? A: We lived in the sam e neighborhoods as the Armenians. We too lived in th e N orยงin n e ig h b o rh o o d and g o t alo n g w ell u n til th e R u s s ia n s intervened. In those days, A rm enian youths established com mittees with R u ssian encouragem ent, and s ta rte d causing trouble. They k illed the s u p e rin te n d e n t of police and th rew him in th e p ark . They k illed th e postm an in Haยงbagi. They bombed a building now replaced by a bathhouse, and twenty people died in the explosion. When the constitutional monarchy w as declared, th e m u fti and th e p rie s t shook h an d s an d extolled the brotherhood of Muslims and Christians. The Mufti cried as he shook hands, b u t ev e n ts d ev elo p ed a g a in s t u s. T he co m m ittee m e m b ers b ecam e in c re a s in g ly o u t of co n tro l an d th e re b e llio n b egan. We fo u g h t th e A rm enians for 29 days in Haยงbagi. We had no weapons. W hen the division went to Erzurum , we rem ained completely defenseless. The A rm enians who joined the arm y after th e estab lish m en t of the constitutional m onarchy used our weapons to shot a t us, and those who rem ained in the arm y h it our soldiers from behind. They also bombed the

Fifty vessels full of people left Van, there of which carried wounded soldiers. Cevdet Pasha saw the passengers off a t the pier. We went to Adir Island, where the Armenians were training underground. We stayed on the island for nine days. The waves destroyed some of the ships with wooden sails. The island had wells and two bakeries. No one brought any supplies from Van. We were hungry and distraught. My elder brother was an officer and came back w ounded from E rzurum . My b ro th er realized th a t the Armenians would cut us off. He convinced his captain, and ten ships left from there, but we couldn't go very far. Thank God we stayed close to shore. The next day we reached Tatvan, but under difficult circum stances. The day we left Van th e A rm enians had set everything ablaze. There w ere wounded soldiers from all parts of Turkey in Van, and the A rm enians fired on apartm ents used as hospital where they were staying. T hat is why Van is sacred ground with m artyrs from 67 provinces (in Turkey). My uncle, Terren Aga, was very old, and we couldn't take him w ith us when we left Van. His wife, doughter, and two grandchildren rem ained with him. Armenian hoodlums b eat my uncle and the children with anax and killed them. His douhgter hid in an abandoned American school. When the Armenians found her, they killed her by throwing her from the second floor. We w ent to B itlis from T atvan w here we rem ained for n early two months. When the Russians arrived, we again w ent on the road. We then went to Hizan and Diyarbakir. After we left, the Gendarme com m ander who was crying like a baby- brouhgt my uncle (who was D eputy Governor Omer Bey) a report. A soldier named M ansur was also present. W hen we asked him to explain, he said th a t three days after Van was emptied they went to pick up the bodies. Hundreds of elderly women were impaled on stakes. They still had their scarves on and looked as if they were sitting. When they got closer they saw that they were killed before being impaled. They saw a woman who was split in two and her unborn child was placed on h er chest.

Muslims who w itnessed these thousand of examples of inconceivable b ru ta lity te arfu lly reported th e in cid en ts to Omer Bey, who th e n told M ustafa Kemal. When the Russians finally arrived, they were displeased with the savageness which resulted in the destruction of four-fifths of Van. In addition to those massacred by the A rmenians, many people also died as they were fleeing. Many collapsed on th e road from hunger and disease. No one was able to take anything with them when they left Van. When we retu rn ed to Van from exile th ree years la ter we found the M uslim neighborhoods leveled to th e ground, b u t th e area s owned by A rm enians w ere left undam aged. W hen we retu rn e d th e re w ere about 2,000 A rm enians living in Van who fled to th e islands when th e Turks started returning. Two years later, the government sent them to Revan. Q: Did you ever participate in the fighting or use a weapon? A: No, I have never used a weapon. I didn't have a gun, plus they didn't give me one because I was too young and didn't know how to use it. Instead, I would bring food and w ater to the combatants. Q: W hat kind of equipm ent were the Armenians using? A: They had the la test equipment which was provided by Russia and England. They gave them weapons and had them fight us. The Armenians couldn't do any th in g to us, but w hen the w ere arm ed, th e balance was upset. Q: Did m any people die in these and other clashes? A: Of course, thousands of people died. After fighting for 29 days, the then Governor Cevdet P asha commanded us to leave Van when he heard th a t the R ussian forces were approaching. Cevdet P asha was actually a very courageous man, but we had neither guns nor ammunition, while the Russians were armed with top of the line weapons. Q: D id n 't th e O tto m an s ta k e ta k e an y p re c a u tio n s a g a in s t th e Armenians arm ing themselves to this extent? D idn't word get around? A: People knew, and the government knew. Yet the m ilitary was on the fighting front, and only a few gendarmes were left in Van. They couldn't do anything about it. The Armenians first shot Police Lieutenant Nuri Efâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;endi, and blew up the H am itaga barracks. Many soldiers were killed. Then they placed bombs in the Nor^in Mosque and Haci Naci Hodja Mosque. They blew up Hafiz Hodja along with his son. Our women were raped, and our children shot.

rainy, as if all hell broke loose. The ships ran into each other. They were unable to approach the pier for a long time. The weather hadn't warm ed up yet -I think it was April. We left before the Russians arrived. There were about 250 people in our group, and 60 died. Some died at the hands of the Armenians bandits, other from cholera, disease, and hunger. My uncle, his fam ily and children, were all cut into pieces w ith a hatchet under the m ulberry tree in our neighborhood. They (Armenians) m assacred all those th a t stayed behind w hen we left. We lived in the NorÂ§in neighborhood at the time. They burned all of Van. All of th is w as p la n n e d by th e A rm e n ia n c o m m itte e s w h ich treacherously m anipulated the Armenian population. Q: Do you rem em ber the names of those committees? A: Dashnak was the most prominent one. There were others as well, but I dont remember their names now. They received money and gold from Russia and England. Q: Did the Arm enians kill may women and children? A: The elderly didn't bother much, but all of their young people were armed. They killed whoever they could corner. They killed them and threw them into the lake or into the fire. For example, a woman was baking bread in a n earb y v illa g e , an d h ad h e r young ch ild was a t h e r sid e. T he Armenians w ent into h er backyard and asked her w hat she was doing. When she answered th a t she was baking bread, they insisted she needed a kebab as well, and pierced her child and threw him into the fire and burned him alive. W hat else can I tell you? God knows the extent of what went on. D uring our escape, we took off on the ships, and stayed around the islands for f our days. We couldn't sleep a t night because of the wails, crying, and scream s we heard all night. T hese were the cries we h eard from su rro u n d in g villages: Zeve, Bardakgi, Kalag, and Molla Kasim. I hope God ensures th a t we don't have to relive those days when these m assacres took place. Q: Where did you go after the islands? A: From the islands we went to the Dervi$ village. I took us all day to get there. Ten ships were tied together at the edge of the lake. We were very frightened. In the morning we left toward Tatvan, and finally reached our destination. We were able to rest there, and later left toward Bitlis. Q: Do you rem em ber how many people were with you in your convoy?

Q: How was the evacuation carried out?

A: There were between 10 and 20 thousand people in our convoy.

A: We left from here on 50 ships. T hat day the w eather was stormy and

Q: Did many people from your convoy die in th e exodus?

A: Of course. Q: Could you tell us how they died? A: The women couldn't ta k e care of th e children. Some would leave them in rem ote areas. H unger an d d isease were ram pant. For example, Omer Efendi wrapped his child in rags and left him aJive under a tree as we approached the Bitlis creek. There w ere many other children like this throwjn into the Bitlis creek, or buried w hen they died. But Omer Efendi regretted w hat he did, and a few days la te r went to retrieve the child and brought him back alive. Q: How lonf were you a refugee? A: Three years. Q: W hat did you fing when you re tu rn e d to Van? How was Van, was there much damage? A: I saw Van; it was completely destroyed and burned. When we were in Bitlis, the Deputy Governor Omer Bey was there. He would regularly receive reports on the situation in Van. We would follow the situation of the Russians from there. One day a soldier, M ansur, came to Bitlis. He was from Halep and used to live n ear the Norยงin Mosque. He was in tears as he told vis the story of how they entered Van, and saw th a t the women were lined up in a row with their head scarves still on. As they approached, they saw th a t they were impaled and killed. They painfully removed them and buried them. The soldiers left all th eir work and buried them. They than went to another location where the women had been raped and then killed. There was blood everywhere. A sim ilar incident occurred in the Amik village which is close to here. The inhabitants took refuge in the castle and pulled up the ladder when the Armenians arrived. The Armenians approached and convinced them to let down the ladder because they were now friendly and there was no reason to Ik.' afraid. As soon as they ascended the stairs, they separated the children and men and th rew them down th e h ill. Some of th e women th rew them selves from the castle, while th e others were taken to an unknown location. Q: Did you hear about sim ilar incidents a t the time? A: Of course I did, b u t w hat else can I tell you? Dignity, chastity, and integrity all went out the window. We suffered so much, some people even resorted to cannibalism. But we were so compassionate th a t when we found Armenians hiding on the island, we didn't do anything to them. Q: Were they the Armenians who stayed when you fled?

A: N o . they were A rm enians rem aining on the island. D uring the they brought many Turks to this island and killed them. The ship captains were Armenians. Many of our people were maliciously killed in this way on the ships. As I told you earlier, we couldn't sleep because of the w ails in those days. W hen we left, Van was burning, and it w as still burning when the soldier M ansur came. exodus

Q: Will you tell us about your situation in Bitlis? A: When we arrived in Bitlis as refugees, they were angry w ith us because we abandoned Van. Initially the people in Bitlis were not very kind to us. asking us why we ra n aw ay and did n o t fight th e enem y. We answered th a t we had no other choice because we did not have guns or ammunition. Not long after, the population of Bitlis had to flee as well, and they understood our position. The heat was debilitating. There was no food or water. Cholera and disease were spreading. Many people died. One day wes saw that vehicles from Elazig were arriving. The army corps came with Armenian drivers to bring salt to Harput. Q: Were the drivers Armenian? A: Yes, Armenian soldiers who were carrying salt. There was a captain leading them, and my brother approached him and asked him to stay and send a telegraph to arrange for a truck to carry us. We obtained permission from M ustafa K em al P a s h a and th e y s ta rte d to tra n s p o rt us tow ard Diyarbakir. There was neither food nor w ater on the way. Many people died from diseases. At th a t time, there was a landowner named Mehmet. He has since died, but he was unique. He had fed the arm y and its horses for a year, and had given the m ilitary the keys to his stables. One year later M ustafa Kemal P asha came, sat across from him, and asked w hat they owed him. When he said "for what?", M ustafa Kemal explained th a t the arm y had depended on him for a year. He responded th a t th e y w ere welcome to the rem aining food. Anyway, when he saw us, he gave the order to set up a feast right away. Bulgur rice, lentils, and meat were prepared and offered. Everyone ate to their heart's content. Let me tell you another story. I saw many of the men who had been tortured by the Armenians with my own eyes. I some places they had no meat on their bones. From hunger they ate hum an flesh. There was a milkman called Faik whose father was carrying a child when we saw him. When I asked him w hat he was doing, he said if he didn't carry the child away, they would eat him too. 1 hope God doesn't make us live through those days again. H unger and disease left us with nothing. No dignity, chastity, nothing.

in taxes, while those unable to pay th a t much were paying five silver coins. There were certain changes during the rule of Sultans H am it and Re§at. They extended equal rights to the Armenians, declaring th a t they would be equal to Muslims, like brothers. They passed a law lifting the tax imposed on them, and m ade them equal to us. There was jubilation in the streets. A rm enian priests and our religious leaders hungged and kissed. A t this tim e it was also decided th a t Armenians would serve in the m ilitary w ith us and study in our schools. The Armenians were thrilled with these changes. As soon as they h ad th e opportunity, they established com m ittees and asked for money from F rance and England and arm s from Russia. They figured they could cooperate with the Russians, receive m ilitary supplies from them, and attack the Ottomans from w ithin while the Russians could advance from the outside.

g. iBRAHiM SARGIN

Father's Name : Halil Place of Birth

: Van-Zeve

Date of Birth

: 1903

I am from th e w ell-know n Zeve village, site of th e m ost ra m p a n t Arm enian m assacres. Q: How old were you when the Armenians rebelled? A: I had ju s t turned 11 at the time. Q: Were your parents alive a t the time? A: Yes, they were. Q: Were they subjected to Armenian atrocities? A: I will tell you all about th a t later. I first w ant to try to explain the Armenians' position. We know how untrustw orthy th e Armenians and Russians were, and about their efforts to attack th e O ttom an S tate from behind by forming bands of rebels. At th a t time, Russians were paying Arm enians a stipend. However, the Armenians were paying the O ttom an S tate only one gold coin

W hat did the R ussians do? They constructed storage bins out of the stove pipes and stove m etal. These bins were three feet long and one and a la ft feet wide, and filled w ith arm s and m unitions. Some of our supplies including kerosene came from Russia a t the time. The Russians delivered these military supplies to th e Armenians by hiding them in the bins and covering them w ith kerosene containers. Having armed the A rm enians in th is way, the R ussians sen t a member of the secret revolutionary society from Russia. His nam e was Aram, and he was blind in one eye. A R ussian A rm enian, they nam ed him Aram P asha. Then they b ro u g h t som eone nam ed A ntranik to the Mu§ area, and called him A ntranik P asha. Plus, th ere was an A rm enian revolutionary committee leader nicknam ed §ahin in th e K arag tin d u z v illa g e of th e E rgek reg io n . T hey w ould s e t up committee organizations and head for the Turkish borders. They crossed into Turkish villages w here they would attack and kill Turks, and th en retreal. They carried weapons and bandits to Karagiindiiz on horseback. Q: Do you rem em ber th e revolutionary committees in the region and th e names of their leaders? A: I named some of them a little earlier. I don't rem em ber any other nam es. They arm ed them selves with the help of the Russians, and came w ith their horses. They created storage areas in the §isanus village, and moved to a lake village which was completely inhabited by A rm enians who had moved into the village earlier. On the lake there were enormous ships w hich could carry 500-600 people. These ships would ca rry arm s and am m unition to Adilcevaz, A hlat, Erci§, and Geva§. Some would la te r be sen t to Tatvan, Mu§ and Bitlis. The Armenians arm ed themselves well with these supplies, and started to from guerilla groups. More specifically, they

organized fighters and hid them on th e Islands of Akdamar, Qarpanak, and Kadir. These fighters Jater scattered th ro u g h o u t th e area, insulting and provoking th e public. A fter a while, th e y decided to get along w ith the Russians. After the Russians declared w ar on th e Ottoman Empire, all of our soldiers left th e area. Some w ent to the C aucasian front line, while others went to the Iranian front line. The A rm enian soldiers accompanied our soldiers. After the two sides started fighting, our soldiers noticed that they were being shot from behind. The doctors could not understand why soldiers who should be hit from the front were h it from behind. Then they realized th a t A rm enian soldiers would kill ours whenever the opportunity arose. We lost perhaps thousands of our soldiers in this way, b u t it was too lat e when it was discovered. Some of th e traitors were found, while some joined th e R ussian fighters. This w ar la sted two and a h alf years. Our soldiers were in terrib le shape, and w ere forced to retreat. The Russian m ilitary started to advance. When they arrived a t th e Qaldiran plains, they came across the Hamidiye regim ent which was formed during the reign of Sultan H am it and was composed of tribes. The Russians used the Hamidiye organization for th e ir own m eans, telling them to provide soldiers to defend the area, while they would provide m unitions and arms. A soldier who heard th a t the Russians arrived in Qaldiran ran to his village (Derebey) and told the village headm an th a t it was futile to work in t he fields since the Russians had already arrived in ยฃaldiran, which m eant th ey would be in th e village e ith e r t h a t day or th e next. He told the villagers they would all be killed if th e y d id n 't flee. H earing th is, the villagers gathered together, took some food and w hatever they could carry, and left to w ard Van. They f ir s t reac h ed th e Z orava village, w hich is Circassian. When the inhabitants asked them w hat was going on, they told them th a t they were headed to Van because th e R ussians had entered Caldiran and were advancing toward Muradiye. Hearing this, th e villagers in Zorava joined the refugees. Later there w ere eig h t villages which joined th is cara v an to Van; H akis, Zorava, Derebey, $ih Omer, ยงihkara, ยงihayne, H idir and Gollii. They had no idea th a t Van was emptied and th a t its inhabitants had migrated. When they arrived at the Everek plains, they saw some Armenians who asked them in Armenian: "Where are you mindless people going?" to which they answered, "We're going to Van. We will go wherever the inhabitants of Van go." To this the Armenians showered them with insults and added "Turks left Van over six or seven days ago, and are refugees. The era of Cevdet Pasha has been over for a long time. The Aram Pasha Administration has been formed. All

nf the wounded, hospitalized, women and children in Van were killed. Mosques were torched, harracks burned. We cut up all of the Muslims in Van. There were only 20-30 women remaining, and we gave them to Aram Pasha." To this. Oircissian Ibo said that they would become prisoners, and proposed th a t th ey go to Zeve. which was very close to th e lake. He suggested they could find a ship there and save the women and children. By the time this group of refugees reached our village (Zeve), we saw th a t there were over 2,000 of them. When we asked them w hat happened, they responded, "We were fleeing to Van, but Armenians preem pted us and told us that the in h a b ita n ts of Van had m igrated, so we came here to acquire a ship in the hopes of saving our women and children." I was spring, and it was not easy to settle the refugees in our small village, but we did our best. We settled them in homes, tents, and barns. There were more than 2,000 of them, and they stayed with our villagers, who numbered about 500. In addition, soldiers disbanded from the arm y cam e home to our village. You should have seen them . They had long beards, their uniforms were torn, they were full of lice. We settled them, too. One was my brother Necip, my cousin M ustafa, my brother-in-law Mehmet, my cousin Ilyas. Recep, son of ยงaban. M ustafa's son Seyyat. and Em rah's son ยงUkrU. They were emaciated -just skin and bones. They took of th eir clothes and burned them and pulled of the lice. My uncle Yusuf was a good barber. After scrubbing their heads with hot water, he shaved them with a razor. Believe me, because of the lice, blood was dripping from their faces and eyes. They were somewhat more comfortable after that. Two days had passed. On the third day, the village Hodja began his morning call to prayer. Those th a t wanted to pray went, others w ent to th eir jobs. There was a river in the middle of our village. If flows all the1 way from the Iranian border, and becomes a lake in the spring when the snow melts. But we were neversure exactly where this w ater came from. One day we heard a woman's voice from the other side of the river calling for someone to carry her to our side. On hearing this, my uncle grabbed his horse, followed the sounds, and what did he see, but Esma. the daughter of A hm et. He was am azed w hen he saw Esm a, who had m arried into the Molla Kasim village. She promised to tell her story after my uncle helped her cross the river. He helped her onto the saddle and brought her to this side of the river. At this tim e the villagers had finished th e ir m orning p r a v e r and had g a th e r e d aro u n d th e m . S he told them to fend for themselves, that Hamit, Molla Kasim, and Ayanos had been killed, and th a t the perpetrators would be in our village any day now. The Hodja addressed

the crowd with "Friends, we are Muslims. It doesn't fit our religion for us to die needlessly. We have about 60 weapons, 2 chests full of ammunition, and eight or nine soldiers with guns and bullets. Let's defend our village. My father's cousin, Hodya Osman who served with Cevdet Pasha had sent 60 guns and the ammunition." There were hills n ear our village, below the bridge. There were plains on the top, and grasslands below. The villagers took th eir positions on the top part of the hills, and w aited for the Arm enians to advance. When the A rm en ian s s u rro u n d e d th e v illage on th re e fro n ts and attack ed , our villagers were prepared. They fought the Arm enians until noon. When our side charged them , th e A rm enians w ere startled . Some of them fled to M erm it village, while other w ent to V adar village. After they fleed they s ta rte d to reg ro u p . T h ere w ere o th e r A rm e n ia n villages such as th e enormous Alay village comprised of 400 homes. They gathered together all of the Armenians, and again started a b attle which continued until the end of the mid-afternoon prayer. After the mid-afternoon prayer, there were up to one hundred horses sepeeding down E rzurum S treet which originated in Van. The villagers thought th a t they were Ottom an soldiers who came to th eir assistance after hearing gunfire, but soon saw th a t they were Russian A rm enians who h eard th e gunfire and came to th e village. The fighting s ta r te d a g a in , an d o u r v illa g e rs s ta r te d to r u n o u t of b u lle ts . T he Armenians saw this as an opportunity and entered the village by killing the Turks who were guarding it. The village was burning, and herds of people num bering two or th re e th o u san d sta rte d to flee. The A rm enians were throw ing sm all children in th e a ir and piercing them with bayonets or sticking them in the stomach with bayonets. The children let out shrill cries and fell to the ground like baby birds. In desperation, some of the women and young girls threw themselves into the river, while others lit fire to bails of grass and threw them selves into the bonfire. T hey c a p tu re d C o rp o ra l S e y a t a liv e , la id h im one th e g ro u n d , undressed him, and skinned him alive. They also carved out his shoulders and carved into h is sid es, ta u n tin g him by say in g th a t S u ltan Reยงat promoted him and gave him a medal. The A rm enians also set fire to the grass and threw some of our women and children into the fire and burned them alive. They sliced the th ro ats of th e rest of the survivors as if they were sacrificial lambs. Not one child survived. After m assacring the entire village, they killed th e five m ost attractive women; my cousin Seher, Esma, th e headm an's wife, a distan t relative Hayriye, my au n t Ayยงe, and Gullii. T hen th e y left. I'll e x p la in to you how I su rv iv e d even th ough th e A rm enians vowed to continue th e m assacres until we were all dead. My

father was very well known, and he had extended much kindness to the Bardakgi village. My father had once saved the life of Kirbe, and his son Asvador was among the Armenians. Although at the time my father was in Iran as a reserve officer, Asvador came to us during the massacre. Asvador told the Armenians not to touch me, my mother, and one of my sisters and saved our lives. After the Armenians left, Asvador took us out of hiding. The wounded were moaning from pain, begging for someone to wrap their wounds or give them some water. Asvador brought us to the Bardakgi village where we stayed for some time. My cousing Sema in Bardakgi would swear to us th a t in the evening th e Armenians would come and pick out ten or eleven women out of the 150, and rape them until the morning. The women would be covered with blood, and after they were dropped of they were unable to even sit. Meanwhile a Russian government was established in Van and Aram P asha became its leader. Aram Pasha's governm ent proclaimed th a t any refugees in need of food or w ater were welcome in Van. My father a t this tim e was in th e Hagik village w here he and m y uncles w ere on H alil Pasha's boat. From there they went to a village in the Hoยงap region. When my uncles heard the proclamation they went to Van. They were shocked to see th a t the city was burned and completely destroyed. The city used to be a t th e foothill of th e castle. E verything was com pletely destroyed: the buildings, barracks, mosques, bathhouses, and government buildings. My father was from th e H agbahan neighborhood w here th e re w ere Armenian homes and stores. Coincidentally, Asvador ran into him on the street. After the coustomary greeting, my father asked him if he had any news about our village. Asvador responded th a t they had slaughtered all of Zeve, but th at his younger wife, child and doughter were safe with him. He volunteered to hand us over to my father. My fath er acknowledged the favor by Asvador, but feared th a t the Armenians would kill him if he w ent to the village, so he suggested th a t Asvador bring us to him instead so th a t he could take us away. When Asvador came to see us th a t night, he toid us th a t he ran into my father, and th at we should prepare ourselves so th a t he could take us to him. In the morning he loaded us onto anox cart, took us to Van, and delivered us to my father. We d id n 't sta y long b ecau se th e Armenians were raiding a village a day. Many people were fleeing either toward Iran, Mardin or D iyarbakir to save their lives. Q: Mr. Ibrahim , can you tell us about w hat hapened in Van. A pparently the first revolt took place their, where the castle was toppled by cannon fire, the city was completely destroyed, and an Armenian government was set up. Since you were in Zeve you may have seen the troubles in Van. Do you have any knowledge of the incidents in Van?

A: They used cannon fire to bu rn th e castle. At th a t time we were in the village of B ardakgi, and could see th e fire in Van from there. Mosques, buildings and barracks were burned. After capturing th e castle, they aimed some of th e cannon fire downhill. The mosque n e a r the castle also was burned and destroyed, as well as the H am itaga barracks. They butchered alm ost all of th e M uslim s th e re -only a few women survived. After the R ussian g o v ern m en t was estab lish ed , th e se women com plained to the R ussian ab o u t th e A rm en ian s, an d ask ed for protection because they trusted th e Russians more. The R ussians had the women guarded and did not v io la te th e ir v ir tu e , b u t th e A rm e n ia n s ra p e d o u r women and massacred th e children and elderly. Q: Mr. Ibrahim , is it possible th a t one of the reasons th a t the Russian soldiers did not touch our women was th e possible presence of Turks in the Russian army? A: Yes. There were Crim ean and Caucasian soldiers and officers. They protected our women because th e y too w ere M uslims. In fact, they even sent them back to th e ir villages including th e Molla Kasim village. During the m assacres they could only send 30 of th e 150 women. They planned to s ta y in th e M olla K asim v illag e u n til th e O tto m an m ilita ry arrived. However, they were subject to even fu rth e r hardships. When the Russians retreated, th e A rm enians stayed behind. The Armenians suggested that the Russians leave th e ir weapons, am m unition, cannons, and supplies, so they could fight th e O ttom an governm ent. W hen the Russians left all of their e q u ip m e n t to th e m , th e A rm e n ia n s b ecam e even m ore ru th le s s and continued th e m assacres. When our arm y startin g arriving from Bitlis to Gevasj and clashing w ith these A rm enians, the Armenians headed to Van toward M uradiye and Kars. They ultim ately went to Russia and Iran. Only a handful of A rm enians rem ained behind. They stayed on small islands in Lake Van such as Q arpanak. Q: Were there any A rm enians in yourk Zeve village? A: No, none. Q: W here w ere you a t th e tim e th a t th e A rm enians established an Armenian governm ent w ith th e Russians? A: We were in Zeve at the time. Q: How many people from Zeve survived? A: In addition to myself, six women were saved from Zeve, and that was only because of a good deed my fath er had dome earlier. Everyone else was murdered, including many women and children.

Q: They say th a t a mosque near the Van castle was burned. Was this mosque in Van or Zeve? A: It was in Van, but mosques in Zeve were burned down as well. In Van they burned other mosques such as the Kayagelebi, Ulu, and Husrev P asha, as well as many sm aller mosques. You can still see all of th e ir traces. Q: Were there any people inside the mosques in Van when they were burned down? A: Without a doubt. Q: How about in Zeve? A: Many had gone into the mosque for protection. Among them were uncle Hamza, Dervi?, and Derebeyli. I don't rem em ber the nam es of the others except for a great personality in Zeve whose nam e you may have heard; Sultan Haci Hamza. He built the first dervish lodge in the area. Q: Isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t it true th a t during the massacres the Turks sought refuge in the lodge thinking th a t they would not be killed? A: They sought shelter in the tomb, not the lodge. Q: They say th a t the Armenians burned down the tomb, is th a t right? A: It is true. They set fire to the tomb too, and throught everyone inside had been killed, but three people survived. Unfortunately, mosques, tombs made no difference to them. They burned them down with everyone inside. 1 hope God will protect us from similar events in the future.

together and were shooting a t them. When they fell to the ground, they stabbed them with bayonets. My mother handed them all of her money and valuables so th a t we would not be hurt. They then brought us to Van, and to rtu red the prisoners in unm entionable ways. We stayed in the m ilitary barracks for four months. We later became refugees, and rem ained as such un til April 1918.

AYยงE SEViMU

Father's Name : Derviยง Mother's Name : Hayriye Place of Birth Date of Birth

: Van-Zeve : 1897

When th e villagers heard th a t the Armenians were approaching, they took as m any precautions as possible. They dug positions in the hills. The inhabitants of seven villages filled up our village. There was little room in th e village to m aneuver around the people and carts, on the day th a t we heard the Armenians had almost reached the village, the men ran to take th e ir positions and begin fighting. We had no am m unition or weapons assistance. When the Armenians entered our village, some of our men died fighting; others were burned in th eir homes. I hid w ith my m other and some others in a barn further away from the fighting. I got under a large basket. The Armenians killed everyone they could fing and also fired a t the barn. A bullet hit my mother's scarf, but she was not hurt. I know of only two other womer who survived. The Armenians were in Bardakgi before coming to our village. My God, when we w ent out a t night, blood, gunfire, moaning, and wailing filled the air. I witnessed them torture people by cutting "pockets" out of skin while mockingly telling them they were decorating them with medals. When we approached the Bardakgi village, I saw th a t on the other side of the brook, in th e field n e a r M ehm et's house th e y h ad tied th e arm s of five men

e.HACI ZEKERiYA KOQ Father's Name

Yakup

Mother's Name

Nadide

Place of Birth

VanAyanis

Date of Birth

1908

When the Armenian incidents broke out we were in our village, Ayams. Zeve. M ollakasim and Ayams were th e villages in th e region inhabited entirely by Muslim. There were five or ten Armenian homes in the other villages. Before these problems broke at, we had excellent relations with the A rm enians. We got along particularly well with A rm enian-inhabited Alakoy. We would in v ite each o th e r to b a n q u e ts, and th e re w ere no hostilities between us. Then when everything started and the residents of Van fled, we decided to migrate as well. We got together, filled four carts as much as possible, and got on the road. As we were leaving the village, a man came from Van, and asked us where we were going. When we told him, he urged us to stay, saying he had cannons, guns, and m ilitary supplies, on his encouragement, everyone returned home. Three days passed. On the fourth day, we were at my grandmother's. I was standing and eating a piece of buttered bread my grandm other prepared for me. Three villagers were there helping us out. We heard one gunshot, and the men said "This noise is from Armenian guns, it buzzes like tin. Our weapons clatter. Something is going on."

Meanwhile someone came from Mollakasim, stood on the hilltop of our village, and yelled "Why are you still around? Kurds raided and plundered Alakoy. and the A rm enians are attacking villages." Right after this my cousing Dursun showed up. An elderly woman asked him why he came. He had a bullet through his thum b and said, "They destroyed the village and 1 ran away. Before the villagers had a chance to organize, the A rm enians surrounded the village. The A rm enians captured our livestock n e a r the cemetery and took them to Alakoy. The Armenians went into the villages and separated the men and stuffed them into a room. Their leader was Hamados Pasha, who had paid Iranian Kurds to fight with him. He told his fighters to separate all males over the age of seven, and add them to the men to be burned. They spoke Turkish almost as well as we did. At th a t time I was seven years old. My mother immediately wrapped a scarf around my head, put a loose dress on me, and pulled me doward her. I survived, but they picked out four or five people from among us and took them away near the men. As soon as they added them to the men they poured gasoline on the crowd and lit a fire. The scream s em an atin g from th e re reached th e skies. They rounded up the women and took them outside. They would mock us by saying "ladies why don't you sit here and rest. Look how nicely the dogs are at each other's throats." The "dogs" they referred to were someone's son. husband, father or uncle, crying "oh my God" in agonizing pain. They made us sit there for up to an hour. When we walked by the cemetery, one of the Armenians began singing a ballad mocking us. At th a t m om ent we saw th a t the A rm enians had shot my m other's cousin with her child still nursing on her breast. Then an Armenian came and killed the child with a bayonet. They killed a lot of people in th a t area. Those that could run away escaped, those th a t couldn't had gas poured over them and were burned. We were forced to sit there for quite a while. Hamza, Haci (Jmmet's uncle lived in our village. He always carried a dagger. The Armenians were going to carry him awav and kill him, but he ran toward them. He was either going to kill them or be killed. He could not overcome them. Before they killed him they carved out "pockets" in his thighs and placed his hands inside. Excuse my language, but they cut his organ and placed it in his mounth, and cut his nose and placed it in his behind. They then took us to a hilltop in Alakoy before tak in g us into the village. There they packed us into a barn. The children in the group were starving and began to wail from hunger. The Armenians cut of the hands, feet, and other appendages of the dead men, cooked, them, and brought

them as food. The children could not understand, b u t the women said th a t it was preferable to starve, and had to explain this to the children. W hen nightfall came, they flooded th e barn with water. The women had placed the children on th e ir shoulders and were shouting. After some time they emptied the w ater out of the barn by opening a trench. The next day the women w ere escorted out, and dried th e ir clothes on rocks outside th e village. The women of Mollakasim lived a little further down than us. The A rm enians had killed th e m en in th e village th ere and im prisoned th e women.

A fter five days, th ey brought two more groups of people. In the afternoon they moved us to Haci Bekir's detention center near the old Governor's home. They had also brought the inhabitants of the Muslim village Piirut there. Before they passed out bread, they added sulphir and other things to it. Up to 70 people a day died as a result. The Armenians dug ditches along the wall across from the barracks and brought in the dead on stretchers and threw them there. Here too, we ran across one of the Armenians which my father had saved. That Armenian fed us for a few days. People were attacking the food.

In other words they were raiding Muslim villages, killing the men, and im prisoning the women. In Alakoy then led us onto the road toward Van. W hen we a rriv e d a t th e M e rm it s tre a m , som e of th e w om en th re w themselves into th e w ater ra th e r th an die in the hands of their captors. The infidels shot them from behind and killed some of them. They broke th e arm s and m ashed th e heads of some th a t w anted to jump into the water. I was with my mother, aunt, and grandmother. My mother was still nursing my sister. When my m other w anted to throw herself into the w ater and kill herself, my g ran d m o th er h eld onto h e r and would not le t h e r go. The A rm enians p u t blockades by th e stream to prevent people from jumping. T h e n e x t th in g we knew , a n A rm e n ia n cam e to us a n d a sk e d m y g ra n d m o th e r w ho we w e re , an d fro m w h ich v illa g e we cam e. M y grandm other was rude at first, b u t told him when he insisted. When she r e s p o n d e d t h a t w e w ere fro m th e v illa g e of A yanis, a n d t h a t m y grandfather's nam e was M uhittin, her sons Yakup and Niyazi, he grabbed her and said he would never w ant or perm it harm to come to us. We were s tu n n e d . H e th e n to ld u s a s to ry of w hen th e y w ere com ing from B ahgesaray to Van in eight wagons. My fath er stopped some men who w anted to kill the Armenians from doing so. Instead, he escorted them all of the way to Van, then he turned around and came back to the village.

One week went by, and they told us the Russians had arrived, one day a major, a captain, and two soldiers came into the barracks and counted and recorded the prisoners. The next day we were fed rice with meat, and taken outside where there were Russian guards. The Russians asked about our villages, and told us they would take us there. When we all wanted to go to Mollakasim, they accepted. In the morning they loaded us onto 70-80 wagons and took us to Mollakasim. After arriving, we stuck together out of fear of the Armenians. We picked a leader from among us, and lived th a t way until the Turkish arm y came to Van. After some time, we rehabilitated the villages which the Armenians had burned and plundered.

T hat m an gave us some bread, old cheese, and yogurt. Well into the m orning they took us from there and broughts us to Bardakgi. At night we slep t in th e plains of th e village w ith arm ed guards at our sides. W hat harm could women inflict anyway? There were about 700-800 of us. Then in th e m orning they woke us, and took us to the foot of the castle in Van. T here th e governor of Van, Cevdet P ash a, had a three-story detention center. They brought a lot of people there before us. One of the women who was there gave birth to a baby. The Armenians threw the child off the roof of the building, and th e child was lost. We stayed there for five days. In the afternoon they let us go out in the fields, and people gathered whatever they could find to eat.

f. HACI CEMAL QUVAQ

Father's Name : ibrahim Mother's Name : Fidan Place of Birth

: VanKoprukoy

Date of Birth

: 1905

When the Armenian riots broke out we were living in Koprukoy. Our relations with the Armenians in surrounding villages weren't bad. In fact, they were quite good. But before the inhabitants of Van became refugees, Armenian fighters began shooting at the Muslims. Their leader was Aram the Blind. O ur youth had all joined th e arm y because of th e declared mobilization. In fact, my three brothers were m artyred while serving as soldiers in Erzurum . There were old people like me and children left in the village. Men older than sixty were serving as militia. We hadn't heard th a t the inhabitants of Van had fled -we didn't know, so we stayed. One week we stayed in the $ehayne village. When we learned th a t the R ussians were opproaching from this side, we fled to Van, but heard th a t Van was being evacuated. We got caught in the crossfire W hen we w ere betw een th e v illa g e s of K alecik an d Isk ele, th e A rm enians of Kalecik started to fire on us. We didn't know where to go. Arm enians captured Van, and th e R ussians were behind us. If we didn't flee, the Armeninas would cut us up. At the end we decided to flee to Iran, because Haci Nebi from ยงih k ara had served as a soldier on th e Iranian border and said he knew th e way and we could easily reach Iran. The

inhabitants of the village met at the top of the hill and divided into two. H alf of us joined the Giilsiinler villagers and took the road to Iran, while th e others stayed. D uring this tim e Halil Bey's forced were losing and retreatin g , so we couldn't go to Iran either. So we took to the N ardis m ountains and w ent to S iirt via Hosjap and Haยงir. We spent 32 days traveling in the m ountains. We suffered from hunger hand th irs t. We slaughtered a few animay we had with us, and ate grass to survive. But we owe the soldiers for the fact th a t we arrived safely in Siirt. They fought during the day, while at night we would advance in their shadow. We fled without taking anything with us. Those who stayed behind went to the village of Zeve along with the inhabitants of seven villages. All but a few of them were massacred by the Armenians. I knew Hamza who was among the survivors. He was from the village of Amik, but now he's dead as well. Only one or two women and children survived. They raped and killed the women in their custody. Hamza would tell us about it. They would throw children into the a ir and pierce them with bayonets. They stuffed most of the people into homes and committed mass massacres before setting the homes on fire. There were 18 people in our family who became refugees, but only my father and I survived. The rest died on the road. We went to Siverek and Urfa via Siirt and Diyarbakir. We were in Urfa for three years. When we returned to Van, the Muslim villages were burned down and destroyed. For example, while Hidir, and our village G ulsunler were completely burned down, not one house in the Armenian village of M uprutepe was destroyed. We stayed a while in th a t village, then rebuilt our own village. We were able to return to our village with Mr. Abdurrahman. But I can't explain in words what the A rm enians did to us. The inhabitants of Van, Bitlis, and Mu? ill' ะ eel, while those th a t stayed were massacred. When we returned around 1,500-2,000 Armenians had remained. When th e T urkish arm y e n te re d Van th e y so u g h t refuge on th e Is la n d of (^arpanak. The governm ent took care of them for one and a half to two y ears, and la ter se n t them to Revan. B ut we never re ta lia te d for the repression we suffered. In fact, we fed them for two years.

Many members of my family were m artyred in this village including my mother, father, brother M ustafa and other relatives. Around 30-40 families fled with us, but only ten families returned. Those th a t stayed and those th a t went to Zeve were all massacred. I found the skeletons of nearly 200 Muslims killed by Armenians. I brued them here, but could not afford to provide headstones. This includes the graves of my m other and father as well as many relatives. The Armenians had burned them alive. g. HiKMETSAYLIK

Father's Name

: Ziver

Mother's Name : ยง6hret Place of Birth

: VanGulsunler

Date of Birth

: 1901

I am from the village of Gulsiinler, which used to be called ยงihkara. We le ft th e village w hen th e A rm en ian s raid e d th e v illag es an d s ta r te d m assacring th e M uslim population. We were going tow ard Van, b u t th e Armenians stopped us before we arrived. We had no choice but to return. About 300 people from the village gathered in Zeve, while an equal num ber returned to the village. We fled toward Hoยงap as a group. Turkish soldiers w ere in Hoยงap, and they told us to leave as soon as possible and get out of the line of fire. In spite of the difficulties we faced, we w ent as far as Siirt. M any of th e refugees suffered and died due to w idespread h u n g er and disease. From th e re , we arrived in D iyarbakir, M ardin, and fin ally in Adana. We then went to Konya, because the French had occupied Adana. The governm ent then se n t us to M ersin, b u t when th e Turkish m ilitary took back Van we returned. But Van and its villages were completely ruined quiet, burned, and destroyed. There hundred people were m artyred in our village. They gathered th e people in houses and burned them alive. The in h a b ita n ts of Van fled, and those th a t rem ain ed w ere cu t up by th e Armenians. When we returned, not all of the Armenians had left. Some of the villages, such as Alakoy remained as they were, and the Muslims did not h u rt anyone there. The government later sen t the Armenians to Russia.

Cemetery of Moslems martyred in ยงeyhkara.

year. Since Van and the Muslim villages were all burned and destroyed, we settled down in an Armenian village since they remained intact. We later returned to our villages which we rebuilt with our own hands.

MEHMET ยงAAR

Father's Name

Tevfik

Mother's Name

Rukiye

Place of Birth

Van-Gollu

Date of Birth

1901

I am from the Gollii village. The Armenians revolted when th e arm y in Van retreated toward Erzurum . Our mothers and fathers were all slain by Armenians. My father, a gendarme sergeant, was among those killed. The villagers in M ollakasim , Amik, ยงihayne, Gollii, H idir, K u rts a ta n , and Kopriikoy w ere also m urdered. P a rt of our village hid in Zeve and were la te r killed, b u t we were able to escape. Armenians tortured and inflicted all types of cruelties on the people they kidnapped. They cut up pregnant women and removed th e unborn children w ith bayonets. They raided and burned all of the Muslim villages, m urdering men, women, young and old. The Muslim population which fled the villages I named tried to escape by crossing the bridge on th e Ablengez River. The Armenians demolished the bridge, and threw the bodies of their prisoners into the river. In th e spring when the snow melted, th e bodies were em ptied into the lake. D uring the day, my mother, my two sisters, and I would stay in the hills. We knew if th e A rm enians found us they would kill us. My m other died before we reached Diyarbakir. I la te r lost my two sisters, and was left all alone. I stayed in D iyarbakir for three years, and returned to my village th e fourth

Words cannot express th e to rtu re we suffered a t th e han d s of the Armenians. We lost our homes, families, and possession. After losing my mother, father, and two sisters, I also lost my cousing and other relatives who were trying to escape to Tatvan by ship with thousands of other people. All of th e p a s s e n g e rs on th e s h ip w ere b r u ta lly s la u g h te r e d an d dismembered by the Armenians near the P arkat village near Adilcevaz.

h. KADRiYE DURAN

Father's Name

: Hamid

Mother's Name

: Nigar

Place of Birth

: Van-Kavunlu (Qoravanis)

Date of Birth

: 1904

I was ten years old when we became refugees. Before we fled, Degirmen was an Arm enian village which included 80 Armenian families and th ree M uslim T u rk ish fam ilies, one day th e A rm en ian s g a th e re d th e th re e families, cut them up, and tossed them into a well. They tortured and killed the young m en by cutting "pockets" into their things and crucified them by nailing them to the wall by their foreheads. Roughly 30 young people died this way. A woman whose father-in-law lived in the Degirmen village came to tell a cleric in our village w hat was going on in Degirmen. A fter this, conflicts a ro se w ith th e A rm en ian s liv in g in o u r v illag e, a n d a few A rm enians were killed. After w hat happened in the Degirmen village, a weapon was distributed to every home in our village as a precaution. My fath er was th e headm an of our village. Since th e surrounding villages were A rm en ia n , th e M uslim p o p u latio n feared th a t our v illag e w ould be attacked, and gathered in the mosque. We filled sacks with sand and used them as barriers. D uring th is tim e, two young A rm en ian s w ere locked into a home because our villagers could not bear to kill them . But they dug a tunnel

u nder the house, and fled to Degirmen village carrying news. Then the in h ab itan ts of th ree villages, D egirm en, F a n h and an o th e r A rm enian village raided our village. The fighting lasted for more th a n an hour. The Armenians controlled the bridge above the stream , and invaded Ziyaret as well. The stream overflowed with melted snow, and it was pure chaos when we tried to cross the stream . When my mother entered the water, it reached her chest. Naturally, people broke their arms, legs, or heads, while children were carried away by the water. It was hell, pure hell. The Armenians were throwing the dead bodies onto heaps of wheat. The bodies had piled up like hills. My father wumped on his horse and went to Van from Akkopru. Since Sihke was an Armenian village, they didn't give him perm ission to pass through. My father explained the situation to th e governor of Van, Cevdet P asha and asked for his help. One hundred soldiers came to our rescue, and the Armenians fled. We hid in the village of Dirandaz which was Muslim. After spending the night there, my father went to Van in the morning and asked those entering the city if we should return to our village. They said th a t we shouldn't, so we were forced to become refugees. My sisters and I wore men's clothing and h it th e road. We were going towards Edrem it when the Armenians raided Van. The city was burning, and the houses were in flames which reached the sky. We reached Edremit, but they raided th a t too. We w ent from there to Bitlis, from Bitlis to Siirt, to Diyarbakir, and then to Siverek. We stayed there three years. There were eight people in our family who became refugees. On the way, my brother Ali was captured. The rest died on the road. Only my mother and I were able to retu rn to Van. We were not th e only ones affected. The inhabitants of Van, Edrem it, and Van's Muslim villages all became refugess. Those th a t didn't ru n were killed a t the hands of the enemy, while most of those th a t got away died on the road. A few years later, my m other and I returned to Van, and w hat did we see? There were ruins everywhere, a few people, but they were all hungry, thirsty, and miserable. Neighborhoods and houses were empty. There was no bread, wheat, or anything. We were compelled to return to the village of Qoravanis. The w heat there was starting to m ature. We cracked the bitter seeds, boiled them , and d ran k the water. The A rm enians took w hatever furniture, goods, animals, or whatever they could find, and destroyed our houses as well. A m an on a horse who saw us alone in the village told us th a t three was a grain storage area near the pier. My mother and I w ent to get 60 kilos of flour there, b u t it was later stolen. The Armenians had not yet w ithdraw n completely. There were bandits everywhere. One time my m other and I went to the E rek mountain to gather pieces of m etal which we

wanted to trade for bread with the soldiers. We ran into six A rm enians who wore going to kill us, b u t when it suddenly started to rain and hail, we ran away and hid in a cave. We barely saved our lives. Wc su ffered considerably. T h ree y e a rs la te r m y b r o th e r died in captivity. We were told th a t the Armenians were going to kill him , but the Russians objected. They had made him build roads in A rm enian villages by hand. We rebuilt our homes, planted our fields, and started anew. I. KAMiLEELiBOL

Father's Name

Ali

Mother's Name

Kiยงma

Place of Birth

Van-ErciยงGolagzi

I am from Golagzi Village of Erciยง District (now it is a quarter of Erci? District). When A rm enians raided on us, I was a t age 10. We were not informed that the A rm enians and Russians would raid us. One day wc were told "Get patched, Erciยง is destroyed, the Russians raided. Those who were inform ed earlier could escape, we w ere shocked. We got patched and escaped by following those who moved earlier. The A rm enians raided. Those who could escape, survived and they killed everyone who could not escape. Men escaped b u t th e y captured the women and children. They brought them together and took them to the fortress. They raped m ost of them and then killed them . They killed so m any people th a t they filled th eir corpses into a ship and then dumped them to the sea (implies the Van Lake). Certainly some of my relatives were also died. Among them whom I have kinship from my father, namely Celal, Cemal, Ali, Nureddin became m artyr. We first escaped to A hlat from here. Then moved to Tatvan, Bitlis, D iyarbakir, Adana and Konya. We stayed at these places totally for 10 years. When we returned back we saw th a t Erciยง, Golagzi and its vicinities w ere all destroyed. They le ft nothing behind them . A rm en ian s m ade excessive tyranny.

and thus survived. A part from the four, the rem aining 494 people were frozen and became m artyr. The A rm enians carried th e ir corpses to the Moslem cemetery and dumped them to there. There was no death from our own house. B ut no one could survive among the 10 people from my grandmother's house. There is an individual among our relatives named the Bloody §tikrii. He brought together some of the Moslems in his house which is located a t the place where the government's building is situated at present time. Those w ho were g a th e re d th e re fought a g a in s t th e A rm e n ia n s u n til th e ir ammunition was run out. Finally the Armenians went into th a t house by destroying its back wall. They killed the Moslems there too. One of the fellows who served to the Armenian Gazo (he was Kurdish in origin) would n o tify to th e A rm e n ia n s w h en ev er he w ould find a M oslem . So th e Armenians Would pick them and massacred them in masses. They had killed such people in Boyakgi and Qavu^oglu straw houses which I m entioned earlier. Armenians never act friendly. Coming to those who m igrated, we first went to Urfa. Not long after, the French soldiers and A rm enians took over Urfa. We continuously fought against the Frenchmen and Armenians for one month. We stayed a t Urfa for 7 years. Then we returned back to our hometown. B ut the famine and scarcity were w idespread. O ur houses w ere destroyed. In fam ine th e Moslems were compelled to e a t dogs' and cats' flesh, they were died because of famine and diseases. I praise God th a t no Moslem would encounter the disaster that was made by th e Russians a t th a t time.

i. §E R iFTA §Q I

Father's name

: Ahmed

Mother's name

: Hanifi

Birth Place

: Van Province Ercis District

Birth Date

: 1910

During migration I was a small child. I heard from m y fath er th a t the Armenians came to Van. At one Friday, the A rm enians decided to raid all the Moslems in this vicinity and to slaughter them . So we reacted to them and killed the gang leaders of the A rm enian rio ters from th e Thursday evening by sword without using any gun. On Friday, w hen th e Armenian women saw th a t their husbands are not present, they poured th e heating ashes over th e ir head. The women said : "You Tajiks! You sh all also be condemned by the sam e fate." T h at date th e y b u rn ed th e Government building. Meanwhile we were heard th a t th e R ussians came the Qaldiran District. Therefore our ancestry m igrated from th e re . W hile th ey were moving, th e re is th e nearby O rene river, i t floods d u rin g S prings, the migrants threw their children whom they could not carry w ith themselves and drowned them in the stream. So th a t they would not be captured by the Armenians. Certainly those who had vehicles saved th e ir souls more easily. So those who could escape, survived. Those who could not, stayed here. A rm enians gathered together th e moslems an d locked th em w ithin the BoyakQi building, which is a quite large s tru c tu re and th e n burned the building. They took the remaining of the moslems to a straw house, where is located at the Arapogullari Hotel and around th e nearby stores a t present. They filled 500 moslems to the straw house, th e n then th ey supplied water. The water was frozen a t night. I am the w itness of four persons who could survive from th a t event. They had climbed to th e wooden support pillars

The view of Orene Bridge which is located at QelebibaCji Village ERCl? District.

■

j. SAiTKAYA

k. YA?AR GURBUZ

Mother's name

: Emine

Narrated by

Birth Place

: Van Province Ercis District,

NAZO BiBi

Birth Date

: 1898

I am from Erciยง since birth. The A rm enians rioted a F riday and planned to kill the Moslems in masses. When this was heard our m an were brought together the Armenian leaders and killed them by sword. I m ean the only leader males, because our religion prohibits th e killing of children, women and innocent and arm less people. L ater w hen th e A rm enian p rie st was together with the Armenian Nishan Subgovernor, he says "It is a pity that you did not allow us, we had to kill them one week earlier." I t became spring, we migrated in the face of Armenian tyranny. We escaped but the m ajority left a t th eir houses. The A rm enians captivated them and filled them to the barns and killed them. As we m igrated early, no one among members of my family was killed by Armenians. However several Moslems w ere s la u g h te re d and b u rn ed by th e A rm e n ia n s. We f ir s t m oved to Diyarbakir and then to Urfa. We stayed there for three years. From there, we moved to Antalya. As we were not in peace with Italy, th e governor did not allow us to the city. We went to Denizli and stayed th ere for eight years, fin a lly we returned back to our hometown Erciยง. They h a d b u rn ed and destroyed most of the houses. We worked for years and could b u ilt them again.

Father's name

: Suleyman

Mother's name

: Nazime

I tell what I heard from my mother and father. I know the place where Turks were massacred. Their bones are still there. My mother had told me : When we heard th e sounds of cannons and guns, we understood th a t th e enemy raided and we started to m igrate. With donkeys, horses and carts, w hatever we had, we loaded some food, water, and beds and started to travel. Because we knew th a t if we did not escape, Armenians would slaughter us. In case this was w hat happened. They had collected to g eth er m any Moslems and had killed them in the Bridge a t Orene quarter. Also they had collected together the others and told them th a t they would go to Van. The Armeanian notable Aram P asha would pay them salaries. By deceiving the people as such they filled them to a ship and took them to Erciยง Fortress and slaughtered them there. My fa th e r had told me th a t H is sister (th at is my aunt), his fath er in-law's sister were slaughtered there. His father told him th a t his father in-law, w hen returned from m ilitary mobilization, had gone to the fortress and found his sister's yellow h airs there. Also they m ade extensive torture to my father's sister. According to w hat my father said, my aunt did not m igrate and left a t home. For her, we p u t aside and hid 12 golden coins underneath

a sun dried brick in the house wall. They have heard from 1-2 individual who were survived from the fortress th a t they had fastened a rope to my au n t's neck and in sisted her to reveal them where th e m oney is. After having learned the place where the money is hidden, they took them and killed my au n t with torture. Now the bones of th e m artyrs in the fortress are seen when th e waves are withdrawn. My m others had lived in m igration for three years. They h ad gone to Urfa. "In retu rn everywhere was in ruin. There was no house, no food or cloth" she says. For two years after having lived in misery, th e y could manage to establish th eir former order. Bu they never forget th e Armenian tyranny.

I. YAMiNTOSUN

Father's Name

Osman

Mother's Name

Hamm

Place of Birth

: Van-ErciยงHaydarbey

I am front th e H ay d arb ey village. We becam e refugees w hen th e Armenians revolted and the Russians came. We moved to Urfa, where my mother, father, and sibling died because of the famine th a t year. When the R ussians retreated , A rm enians took th e ir place, b u t the Turkish arm y pushed them back to Revan. We returned to our homes, and found Erciยง, th e M uslim v illa g e a n d o u r v illa g e c o m p le te ly b u rn e d dow n a n d demolished.

m. HACI RA?iT BARI?

Father's Name : Basu Mother's Name : Cevahir Place of Birth

: Van-ErciยงYukari lยงikli

Date of Birth

: 1901

I am from the Yukan Iยงikli village of Erciยง. After the mobilization was declared, the Russians arrived. Arm enians had already rebelled by then, and we could only defend ourselves from them for a month, after which we fled. I remember th a t my fath er was wounded at th a t time. The Arm enians shot him, shrapnel split his head, and he was severely hurt, but did not die. We first went to Bitlis, M ardin, and Diyarbakir. When we returned to our village it was completely ruined.

Cemetery in Van DeQirmen Village for those martyred.

n. KAYAQELEBi Father's Name

: Vehbi

Motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Name

: Cemile

Place of Birth

: Van

Date of Birth

: 1925

First World War, but the w ar was an opportunity for them to collaborate with the R ussians. The A rm enians in Van and E rzurum en su red the Russian entry into Van by leading them to the city after the start of the war. Naturally, with the Russian occupation, many Turks became refugees. In fact, they had previously sent a division in Van to Erzurum , and Van was left without the presence of soldiers. Van's leaders at the time went to the governor and asked him how he perm itted the departure of a division with the presence of an Armenian threat. The governor responded th a t he could defend the city with a squadron, since the opposition was not even a state. Despite all the insistence, the division was sent to the front from Van. The public became w orried and held a m eeting. They sent the division off, crying and scream ing, as if they knew w hat fate was aw aiting them . A rm enian b rig an d s took ad v a n ta g e of th is situ a tio n and positioned themselves. Van was occupied by Russian forces on May 20, 1915. Their terror continued for two years, ten months, and eleven days until April 2, 1918. Given the oppression, the governor decided to evacuate Van. Q: Since the revolt started in April, and the occupation was in May, can you tell us about the beginning of the revolt as described by your mother?

Kaya Qelebi retelles the stories told by his mother Cemile (1884-1984) Q: When did your mother pass away? A: She passed aw ay a month ago at the age of 100. Q: Can you tell us, without editorializing, or becoming emotional, w hat your mother said about the incidents in Van, the Armenian revolt, and th e reason th a t it happened? A: You know th e reasons. The Armenians lived under the protection of the O ttom an S tate for 600 years, a rd had every privilege. They took advantage of this land and of us. They rose to high positions including m in isters in g o v ern m e n t agencies. T h ere was no p re s s u re on them . However, this favorable treatm ent caused a reaction. I predict th a t they got the idea of forming th e ir own state. Q: Do you rem em ber you mother's description of the development of the revolt in Van and the accompanying incidents? A: I can tell you about it. Their only goal was to establish an Armenian sta te in ea ste rn A natolia with Van a t its center. Revolts and te rro rist incidents started to take playce everywhere. These even started before the

A: There were rebellions earlier as well, but the initial large revolt was in April. The then-governor Cevdet P ash a saw th a t th e situ a tio n had deteriorated, and commanded th a t all women, children, elderly, men and women board ships docked in Lake Van. Anyone th a t could carry a weapon was already in the arm y -m o st of them on the Erzurum front. Those th a t were in Van could not have defended themselves. The ships were full when they left, but since the owners were Armenian, they carried the passengers to the side of the Q arpanak island and killed many of them. This was later discovered, and the public then opted forland transportation. My m other was pregnant, and had three other children, 10, 7, and 5 years old. T hat day my mother gave birth. When we learned th a t the Russians had started to advance from Qatak, she wrapped up the child without recovering, and hit the road even though she was ill. She was trying to follow a group to Edremit. Although she was slowing down the crowd of 60 because she did not feel well, they waited for her. My g ran d fath er was a retired police officer, and my father was a m anager in G urpinar. My grandfather was with my mother and helped her, because many people were too weak to carry their children. For this reason there were many abondened children on the road. In fact, my grandfather thought it was best to leave the child, but when my mother refused, he had no choice but to give up. As the crowd left for Edrem it, 7 guards were provided for protection. However, 20-30 Armenian bandits cut them off around Edremit, and fought with the guards. When the guards lost, the crowd was taken hostage. The

men were shot on the spot, and my grandfather died on my mother's lap. Two of the bullets scraped my mother's shoulders, and the scars rem ained for the re s t of h er life. After killing th e elderly men in cold blood, th e Armenian bandits gathered the women and children, and told them th a t they would be taken back to Van. After insulting, torturing, and h ittin g them with the butt of guns, they took them to an area outside of Van w here they asked them to w ait because they would take them to th e American Embassy. However, they explained th a t they could not ta k e th e en tire group at one time because the Russians would kill them if they saw them , so they would take them in groups of three or five. The bandits sta rte d leading sm all groups through th e trees. Among them was my m other's mother-in-law and other relatives. Soon shots were heard, and the group th o u g h t th e re was a skirm ish. In fact, w hen th e y wrere o u t of sig h t, Armenians killed them and p u t them in sacks. Another group was taken away, and again, shots were heard. When the next group was taken, m y mother was left behind since she had a small child. However, they took aw ay my sib lin g s a n d two g ra n d m o th e rs , and k ille d th e m as w ell. Meanwhile, an Armenian girl approached my mother. My m other said she was their gardener's daughter. My grandfather was one of the outstanding citizens of Van. Q: W hat was your grandfather's name? A: It was M ahm ut. The A rm enian girl asked why my m other w as sitting around. She responded th a t she would be taken to th e American Embassy, just like her mother, mother-in-law, children, and other relatives before her. The girl revealed th a t they were all taken further down the road to be killed, and offered to take my mother to the Embassy since she was considered a family friend. My m other th e n followed h er and fled to th e A m erican consulate without being discovered among the trees. She sought refuge there for some time, but the Russians claimed the refugees as their prisoners, and took all of the women, with the understanding th a t they would be led to Batum and Tiflis. They h it the road under Russian m ilitary surveillance, and traveled with horses and donkeys. Q: Was this group massacred as well? A: A rm enian bandits stopped them as well, and tried to take them aw av by force. The R u ssian s did not p e rm it th em , b u t th e re w ere casualties in the process. Q: Was your m other saved? A: My mother was saved, and went as far as Tiflis where Azeri Turks lived. They distributed one or two people per home, and my mother was

placed in a Turkish home. She did not know her children were killed, and told the man of the house th a t her children were sent to the consulate in Batum . She asked to be ta k e n th e re so th a t she could look for them . Because the gentlem an was well off, he was able to send h er to Batum i shortly, where she visited all of the orphanages. Despite her endeavors and search, she was unable to locate her children or relatives, and had to give up. These orphanages were established by Azeri Turks, and took care of all refugee children. W hen they discovered th a t my m other could read and write, they made her m anager of one of the orphanages. My m other was around thirty years old at the time, and managed the orphanage for about three years. She cared for and ta u g h t the children. Finally, after th ree years, Van was liberated by the Turks on April 2, 1918. A truce was later signed, and prisoners were exchanged. T hat is when my m other arrived in Istanbul on a ship called "Nurcemal". After an exhaustive search, she found some relatives, and settled down near them. Meanwhile, my father looked for my mother in Batum. A fter learning from the prisoners th a t she had gone to Istanbul, he travelled there and found her. Five years later, my father opened a tea house and took a civilian job with the m ilitary. He joined a group in Beยงiktaยง which took officers to the independence struggle in Anatolia. They carried m en a t n ig h t in boats and ships. He th ereb y helped Atattirk by supplying him with very capable commanders. Q: Do you remember w hat your m other told you about the atrocities the Armenians committed in Van? A: She said this about th e massacres: Instead of taking them to the American consulate, they stuffed many Turks into homes, poured gasoline on them, and burned the inhabitants alive. The other massacres took place in the Zeve village n ear Van. The Armenians raided this village. Of course, there were no men th a t were able to fight in this village, they were all a t the front. There vrere only women and th e elderly, who tried to defend themselves with weapon scraps. But when they ran out of am m unition, the Armenians entered the village. Some of the Turks hid, and hoped they would not be h u rt, th e A rm enians sta rte d to kill women, children, th e elderly, and anyone who crossed their paths. They burned some of them alive, and raped the women. Some women could not tolerate w hat was happening, and threw them selves in the river hoping to preserve th e ir dignity. They took th eir lives w ithout surrendering. As a result, more than 2,000 people died. We built a m onum ent to th e m artyrs in Zeve to commemorate these incidents. We unveiled it in 1973 at the 50th anniversary of the Republic. We tried to publicize the m assacre to the world in this way.

Ц>: Wasn't there a national force to protect these villages? A: No. there was nothing. No weapons. The troops had gone to war. The Russian war had started, and the youth had joined the army. Then old men like me, women, and children stayed behind. In fact, during the exodus, it was women, not men who were carrying what they could from their homes. Women and children were left to do all of the work. I was around eight or nine years old at the time, and remember quite well. We went to Re^adiye. My father later caught up with us when he was on leave from the army, and helped us out for a while.

о. FEVZiFEYYAT

Father's Name

Haci

Mother's Name

Zekiye

Place of Birth

Van-Geva§

Date of Birth

1906

At th a t time when the Turkish men were being drafted, there were a lot of Armenians. In fact, some of the villages w ere completely occupied by Armenians. Turks were located closer to the center of town. There were a few Turkish families left in some of the Armenian villages, but at the first opportunity they m igrated to places where Turks were a majority. The Armenians cut off the roads. In Geva§ we could not go out and act comfortably. The country was at war, and the Armenians saw th a t as their opportunity and started a civil war. They raided many villages. In some, th e re were only th re e or four hom es th a t survived. In th e village of Dereagzi, they cut up all of the inhabitants by sword. Q: When you fled the village, who was with you?

Q: Could you tel) us about th e period of A rm enian revolt, and its causes?

A: The Armenians stalled to revolt against the Turkish nation and the Muslim nation. They were getting support from Yerevan, as well as from Russia and from Armenians in Russia. They were cutting up the Turkish people w ith o u t rem o rse. For exam ple, th e y h an g ed and c u t up th e inhabitants of the Arkalan village. They skinned them alive, and killed the gendarmes. H unjit Aga, a community leader, was killed the first day. The villagers wore spared no cruelties. A massacre to this extent w asn't even witnessed in the first days of history. Q: Do you rem em ber other incidents like this one? A: Of course, th e re are more. For exam ple, we had a village called M n к (is, whose nam e has changed to Bahgesaray. B ahgesaray is in the K irnuzikopru region. They used swords to wipe out th e en tire village. Families left all of th eir possessions behind and fled. Those th a t couldn't run wore killed. The residents of three or four of the neighboring villages wore unable to flee the Armenian massacres.

A: My m other, my fath er, and two uncles w ere with me. Van was evacuated on the rum or th a t the Russians were approaching, but of course, there were some th a t stayed. We left from, and joined the refugees on the road. Many did not have any belongins with them. Some had one or two donkeys with them loaded with what they could carry, fod and drink. Q: Were there m any elderly women and men with you? Were there many children? A: There were lots of children. Of course, many died in front of our eyes, some of which were either thrown in the lake or left behind. Some were left behind because they could not be carried. I remember very well. A woman wrapped her daughter in a red dress, kissed her several times, and threw her in the lake. Some died because of h unger and disease. Some were successful in carrying th e ir children even though they were hungry and destitute. Q: Did you come across any Armenian rebels during your flight? A: No, disease and w eather conditions h u rt us more. Q: How did you acquire food and drink? A: We had brought some with us when we left. It was spring, however it was not possible to find water. I remember well, it was May 16"

Q: Could you tell us about those th a t left Van on ships? A: Yes, some came to Tatvan on boats. Q: Could you tell us about th eir experiences? A: They too le ft Van because th e R u ssian s w ere approaching, b u t because the captains of the ships were Armenian, m any were killed on th e islands. O nly a few w ere able to get away. Anyway, a fte r A rm en ian s occupied Van, those th a t stayed were killed and cut up too. Q: How long were you refugees? A: Three years, after which we returned to Van. We reaped the crops th a t the Armenians h ad left. This t ime they ran away. Q: Do you remember w hat Van was like then? A: The homes belonging to th e M uslim Turks w ere all burned an d destroyed, w hile som e of th e A rm en ian hom es w ere still p ain ted an d furnished. The anim als and belongings they were unable to carry were left to us.

o. ABDURREZZAKAYAZ

Father's Name

Omer Qavuยง

Mother's Name

Emine

Place of Birth

Van-Gevaยง

Q: W hat else can you tell us? A: I remember th a t we went to Reยงadiye and came back to get wheat. We w an ted to get some w h eat to ta k e to th e m ill. A crowd appeared, declaring th a t th e R ussians were coming. W hen we tried to return, th e Turkish soldiers on th e road did not let us. Then H alil P ash a's division made several gains against the Russian army. After th e cannon ball noise died down, th e division com mander gave us perm ission to continue. We continued our journey with horses laden w ith food. O ur army, praise God, was later victorious. Q: Did you ever face death during your journey? A: No, we were never attacked on the road, b u t those who fled on boats were in a terrible situation. Someone called Sait told us about it. He said he fell asleep, b u t when he awoke he saw th a t ship had approached an island, and asked th e captain why this was so. He told th e captain there were Armenian brigands on the island, which th e captain denied. They didn't believe him. The Armenians on th e island then started to shoot at them. Many people were shot and died, b u t Sait and others were able to get away. There are so m any stories, b u t which one should I tell? I hope God doesn't m ake us relive those days.

(Recounting the experiences of his father who died at 75 years old.) Q: Can you tell us about the Armenian revolt and massacre which took place before your father died? A: My fa th e r w as an a rtille ry m an who defended Van w hen th e Russians were advancing. In fact, they were able to keep the Russians back for some time with cannon fire. Yet later, the Russian military again went on the attack. As a result, the inhabitants of Van fled, and those from Gevay later also became refugees. When the Russians entered, they burned and destroyed the place as they had done to Van, including crops and trees. Those on the road were s ta rtin g to die because of hunger and disease. N either the army nor the refugees had anything to eat. My father had told me about their situation wit great sorrow. He said he was very strong, so he returned to Gevas? with his weapon and a sack with the hopes of finding food to carry back. He found a dark cloud over the city, with everything burned. He couldn't find anything to eat. When he went to the creek, he saw a Russian horse which had died. Their horses were very large. It was infested with worms because it had lait there for a while, but undamaged

parts remained. He cut off those parts, p u t it in the sack, and brought it to his group. They ate off of th a t for a while. Q: Did he ever mention the m assacre when he retu rn ed to Gevaยง? A: Of course he did. He saw m any corpses. All those who stayed behind were killed. They even burned the anim als and trees. Q: Did the Russian military come th a t far? A: They came as far as Bitlis. Their arm y and cannons passed through these hills. The Russians attacked the population from one side, and th e Armenian brigands from the other. He said they w ent as far as Siirt, and returned when the Russian arm y retreated. Everything was damaged or destroyed. They h arv ested w h at th e A rm enians had sowed. Slowly b u t surely they I'eestablished themselves, b u t came across many hum an bones when digging up covered pits. He would always cry when telling stories of sufferin g , b u t c u t it off by sa y in g "I hope God k eep s us from th o se experiences again."

p. MEHMET HATUNOGLU

Father's Name : Veii Qavus

Some of us young people, and the elderly able to fire a gun went, up to the mountains to defend ourselves against the Armenian massacres. We learned that the A rm enians burned Erci$, along with the old Karayusuf Pasha Mosque, $ukru's home, and many other buildings with our women and children inside. We chose the most courageous among us and sent them down to the city a t night to learn what was going on. I can't tell you what, I saw. it was so hideous. They (Armenians! planted a stake every fifty m eters on th e P u lu r (now Q inarli neighborhood), and E rci^-E gans road, and impaled the elderly taken from the mosques on these stakes, They all died in a pool of blood. Then we went into the large ^avu^oglu barn, and saw people sliced up and laying in blood, most of which were relatives or people we knew. They were beaten and killed with axes, shovels, and cleavers. They placed a basket over the head of H aydar Imam, and impaled him. We th o u g h t th a t no one was left alive, but la te r learned th a t H atce. who worked as a maid with the Armenians, survived but had lost consciousness. The Armenian ยงimo had a beatiful daughter who was very helpful to Muslim Turks. She would bring them w ater and intelligence. According to

rumor, she was in love with a young m an named Emin. She was cau g h t bringing news to the Turks the day the b arn was raided, and she too w as killed. There were about twenty or twenty five people in the barn. Some of them were taken to the pilgrimage in Haydarbey after we retu rn ed from exile. O ther bodies which started to rot were covered by wicker, dirt, an d herbs by a group of women. Until recently this was a place where people visited m artyrs and prayed. After some time, no one took responsibility for the site, and it fell into disrepair.

The back view of a skull belonging to a woman. The split and the hole at the top and left side of the skull are the impacts caused by a cutting tool. After these impacts the women died immediately.

The side view of the skull belonging to a male. A large knife is collided the neck and tore away the mastoid process behind the ear. This male is torn, encountered torture and then killed by having burned in the fire.

The back view of the same skull. The suture caused by the cutting tool has penetrated into the brain and caused to the death of the individual.

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The side view of the skull belonging to a male. The stroke to the head from left had cut the parietal in horizontal plan. The cutting tool which penetrated into the brain killed the male immediately, and the person who is slaughtered was then burned.

The side view of the skull belonging to the same individual. The cutting tool which stroke to right ear had cut the right arm of the chin in half apart from the mastoid process.

The close up view of the skull belonging to the same person. The cut trace and the injury marks just above this trace are more apparent.

The top view of a skull belonging to a female. The sutures in the forehead and on the two parietal bones caused death of the individual. The stroke had also cracked the skull and penterated into the brain.

The magnified vision of a skull belonging to a male from top. The impact traces caused by a cutting tool and the abrassion. Also the hole that is opened in the skull which penetrates into the brain. All these are the evidence that the individual had encountered with several tortures.

The back view of the skull belonging to the male. There are 4 stroke traces on the skull in horizontal plan. The cuts on the skull caused by the cutting tool are apperant.

IV-

VIEWS FROM THE MASS GRAVE EXCAVATION IN VAN PROVINCE, ZEVE VILLAGE.

One of th e m ilesto n es in T u rk s' s e ttle m e n t in A n ato lia was th e ir settlem ent in Van Province. Indeed Van was an im portant center in trad e, industry, transportation and culture. A symposium was arranged by th e Y uzuncu Yil U n iv ersity for th e m em ory of 72nd a n n iv e rsa ry of V an's Liberation from enem y occuppation which is titled as "Van in th e recen t histoiy" In the m arty r cem etery in which about 3.000 corpses were b u rn ed in Zeve (Zaviye) village of Van Province in th e April and May of th e year 1990 by Armenian Voluntary Regiments supported by R ussians were excavated at the date of 4th April 1990 a t 10.00 hours. In the first grave which w as excavated ab o u t 40 skeletons belonging to fem ales and ch ild ren , th e Russian made bullets and bulled cases, th e cutting tools, coins having th e stam p of Sultan Reshad, ornam ental personal belongings, am ulets, p rayer beads, and necklaces are found. All these were evidenced under presence of national and foreign scientists, th e press staff and a crowded group of people. During where the about th e exhibition

th e same day, the M assacre Section was opened in Van Museum , skeletons, findings and the historical publications are exhibited Turks who were m assacred and revealed during a foundation around th e Qavuยงoglu Straw house.

The photo taken during the Zeve M artyr cem etary excavation is at th e enclosure.

The Zeve Martyr Cemetary Excavation where about 3.000 Turkish corpses were placed after having massacred by the Armenian by the aid of Russians started in 4th April 1990.

The excavation is continued under presence of the domestic and foreign scientists who were mainly the historians, archeologists, press and news staff and also of the people.

The first skeletons who were found at a dept of 30-40 cm are exposed by the Turkish TRT, the German ARD TV and the Russian TASS, the Chineese XINHUA and Taiwaneese CNA Television and press staff.

The representative of the Ministry of Culture is together with the Van Musuem Director Ersin Kavakli, the excavation team and Ibrahim Sargin.

The skeletons and finding from the mass grave which were excavated for the first time.

The skeletons which appear one over another, the Russian made bullets and bullet cartridges and the cutting tools.

Russian bullet and bullet cartridges which are found nearby the burned and cracked skeletons.

V. VAN MUSEUM MASSACRE SECTION Almost all the villages and towns of the E astern Anatolia were burned and destroyed by the A rm enian committees who m ade cooperation w ith the enemy during the F irst World War and th e Turkish nation whose m en were in fronts were faced with a system atic genocide. The A rm enians and th e ir supporters m ain tain th eir p a st hostile and inhum ane conduct today th ro u g h e ith e r th e p re ss and p u b licatio n or diplomacy and they try to accuse Turks for the own evil actions. The result th a t is obtained from th e domestic and foreign resources, documents and the research th a t is carried out is th a t the num ber of the Turks who were m assacred by the A rm enians exceeded one million and there are over 100 mass graves locations altogether. The first three of them are opened in E rzu ru m and K ars Provinces. One of them is p resen tly exhibited in Erzurum M useum Genocide Section which was opened in 9th F eb ruary 1989 and th e re m a in in g tw o are exhibited in Van M useum Genocide Section.

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In the genocide section a t Van Museum which was opened in 4th April 1990, the skeletons th a t are found during a foundation excavation in Ercis District CavuÂ§oglu straw house area are exhibited. Their anthropological examination were carried out by H acettepe University in A nkara. Also the findings th a t are obtained from Zeva M artyr Cemetery are exhibited in this section.

ГЛ — гг

The findings that are collected during the excavation and delivered to the Van Museum Directorate : The bowls belonging to Turks, cutting and piercing tools, Russian bullets and bullet cartridges, ornaments having the stamp of Sultan Reshad and the coins, burned hair knits, dresses and amulets.

The buttons, ornaments belonging to Turks. A burned hair knit, a Russian made bullet inserted into a child's hip bone.

Arms and legs that were cracked by large blades and axes during the Erciยง Qavu?oQlu Straw House genocide.

小.

SECTION

TWO

BtTLiS AND MUS MASSACRES

1-A rm enian A ctiv ities in B itlis and Mu§ As of 1890 rebellions stretched in Bitlis and its surroundings resu ltin g from the provocations of Russians and cooperating with them, the w estern countries using reform as an excuse and with the activities of the A rm enian members of the Parliam ent, Armenian priest chosen and sent to the area b y the P atriarchate and the committee members. Bitlis and its vicinity becam e the m ost active area due to its connections with V an-D iyarbakir-H alepisk e n d e ru n roads and its being close to Mu§-Talori, th e cen ter of t h e Armenian rebellions.

in Bitlis. From tim e to tim e these brigands w earing O ttom an uniform s killed Muslims as if this was not enough they spreaded the lie "Muslims are murdering us". Concerning hundreds of m assacres com m itted by these Armenian brigands; there are several local and foreign documents. Since the reports of the Russian Consulate in Bitlis, have been published by us and Kara Schemsi (§emsi) we shall leave the details out. N evertheless it should be added th a t the Bitlis Armenians m atched the Kayseri Armenians in their savagery. With the mobilization, the activities of the Arm enians started in many places in the E astern A natolia, and w ith he fall of Mu§ and Van these increased resulting in many m assacres in the area.

When th e mobilization was announced, with the order of the Ta§nakSutyun committee Van and Bitlis environ was divided into two areas. Mu§ and BitJis environs were given u nder th e command of P apazyan, th e Member of P arliam en t of Van to cause rebellions. Environs of Van w a s given u n d e r th e com mand of V ram yan also a m em ber of th e O ttom an P arliam ent and th e son of a Russian General Loris Melikof for the sam e reason.

At the beginning 7000 Armenians were arm ed and sent to the villages in groups. To these groups. Armenians who escaped from the duty of m ilitary service especially th e young A rm enians in S asun a t the age of m ilitary service joined directly. The O ttom an Officers, who w ant to the area to draft soldiers, were killed.

D ue to all th e s e p re p a ra tio n s an d th e a c tiv itie s of th e v o lu n te e r Armenians who came from Russia, the Armenians who joined th e O ttom an A rm y an d th e n d e s e r te d ta k in g th e ir a rm s w ith th e m , c h u r c h e s , committees and the local Armenians, the area became like a bomby read y to burst. While trying to h it the Ottoman Army from the back, lacking th e active force because of the mobilization, the unprotected Turkish women, girls, children and the old people were subject to daily m assacre and to rtu re by the Armenian brigands as of 1915.

When the R ussian Army came to the area in the villages and towns, Ta§nak and Hingak groups of brigands ju s t to show th eir "Heroism and th e ir faithfulness to R ussians", m assacred an d savagely to rtu re d the women, children and old people, families of Turkish soldiers who were away in war. With addition of "Volunteer Troops" of Armenians, th a t came from Russia their num ber increased to 30.000. Those were directed by Rupen (General) and 30 other ringleaders and th eir activities were described as "Rebellion" by some Armenian sources also.

These activities increased, the roads of supply for the O ttom an Army that was fighting against Russia in the east and against Allied Powers in the West and Canakkale, were barricaded and the telegraph lines were cut. The wounded O ttom an soldiers who came back from the front and th e gendarm es responsible for the public security were killed systematically. Thus the rebellions, Armenian brigands massacred m any Muslims in Sekur Village of Iiizan, Korsu, Ahkis, Beygeri, Ar§in, Tasu. When the gendarmes pursued these groups of brigands they took refuge in the m onasteries of (,/anli and Arak near Musj, Although the priests gave their words th a t the brigands were not in the monasteries, as soon as the gendarm es entered the firing-line, some of then were killed by the brigands. With the help of the p riests, b rigands escaped a t night. The o rg an izatio n , finance and protection of these brigands in and around Van, Erzurum , Trabzon, Adana. M a'm u ratiil-A ziz, D iy a rb a k ir w ere c a rrie d out by th e p rie s ts of the churches under the directives of the Patriarchate and Egmiyazin as it was

There are numerous local and foreign sources about the Turks who were murdered in Mu§ by the Armenian brigands. Stated below are only a few paragraphs from the records of testim ony given under oath which were mentioned by K ara Schemsi: "The testimony o f Haci Ali-Zade Abdiilbaki, Haci A hm ed oglu Yunus Qavuij and his friends, given under oath: D uring the first days o f the war, 1200 A rm enian brigands under the command of Surun from Beyazidli and the Parliament member o f Erzurum Karakin Pastirmaciyan attacked and plundered the Muslim villages, and chased away to unprotected people from their homes an d villages in a savagery unheard of. Most o f the people o f Уегатщ and A k^aviran were massacred. Even the sick and wounded soldiers could not escape from this savagery. Thus often the R ussian Army left all the wounded soldiers o f the Ottoman Army left behind in Lize were killed. Aided by the Russian Arm y the Arm enian brigands massacred most o f the 53 villages and 20.000 people

in M alazg irt Area. Most o f these events took place in fro n t o f our eyes. Although the son o f Bekran who was the barber o f the village and his wife bagged, their daughter was raped and tortured in front o f her parent's eyes. M ardiros a n d Larabe from Dolaba§ Village, Sim on from Kasim Village, M ardivagik a n d Yurak from Kasaba were murdered by Serbians. J u d g e Hiiseyin Bey a n d Malazgirt Adm inistrative Committee member, $anli Bey from A da Village, were tortured in front o f their wives who had been raped before in front o f their husbands, and later these two men were m urdered by the A rm enians who had been their servants. Little Sabiye was raped in the open. A fter the fa ll o f Mu§, the A rm enian brigands like bloodthirsty w ild anim als toured the city shouting, "We took revenge" and murdered every M uslim they came across, savagely. Women were raped, old were b u rned alive. Haci M urat and Re§id belonging to one o f the notable families o f Mu§, Haci Mehmet and Cafer from Yunay, Timur, Abdullah, Y usuf Mehmet H a n and N a d ir H an's troths were slashed like sheep.

2. T estim on ies o f W itn esses

a. iZZET CENGiZ

Father's Name

: Mehmet

Mother's Name

: ifakat

Place of Birth

: Bitlis-AhlatAdabag

Date of Birth

: 1906

People o f 15 villages o f which Cindi Aga from the Cebranli tribe o f A yiz (Varto) was the chief, heavy horse-shoes nailed under their feet were throw n into H azar Lake into which M urat Qay flows. A part from the above said, the Armenians also attacked the M uslims who were forced to m igrate into the m iddle Anatolia by M evkelli road. S ic k people, children a n d old women were burned alive in the Tekke Monastery into where they were crammed. Young girls whose breats had been cu t o ff were later hanged. Into mouth o f a wounded child lying on the ground, his mother's breast was p u t after it had been cut from the mother. A m an o f religion, by the name o f Shey Abdiilgaffar Efendi died w hile scalped. Doctor M ustafa Bey sw eared th a t he h a d seen the A rm en ia n brigands took around hundred children with women dancing and singing infront o f them a n d later he saw that thousands o f dead bodies o f women and men most o f them suffocated between the western bridge. and Dikili Ta§. (23 May-5 June 1916) Assistants to Police Commissar Mehmet, Ahmet, K am il" T his m a ssa c re com m itted a g a in st th e M uslim people and how th e A rm en ian s took th e arm s before th e T u rk ish -R u ssian W ar have been confirmed by an article w ritten by the owner of an A rm enian M agazine "Van". The owner also being a parliam ent member of Van and one of th e leaders of T a§naksutyen M.V. Popazyan, u n d er th e heading "La G u rre G enerale de la region Mu§, 1914-1915" (1914-1915 G eneral War of Mu§ Area.)

I am from th e A dabag village of A hlat, We used to have A rm enian villages nearby: Karnug, and on this side of A hlat, Agag, Kizva, Zigag. Sivot, and Tevot (on the outskirts of N em rut mountain). I was about six or seven years old, and rem em ber th e A rm enians rebelling. From w h at I heard , I rem em ber th a t the A rm enians s e t up com mittees, b ro u g h t in fih ters, and m assacred M uslim s who boarded Armenian-run ships on the Van lake. From tim e to time they robbed and plundered our village too. When events sta rte d to tak e place w here we lived, they kidnapped my grandfather Dervi§ who was in Kotan. There is a stone quarry facing Mecca, where three men attacked my grandfather with the intention of cutting him up. He saw th a t one of them was Serop who worked with him for th ree years. My g ran d fath er asked him if he was killing him because he took care of him for three years. Serop let him go, saying he was going to cut him up thinking he was Nadir. Yet shortly after, my grandfather became very ill with fear and died soon after. One evening some young visitors came from Kotan, and were having

dinner with us. My father had recently retu rn ed from a trip and was sitting with them. Soon after, my uncle Osman came in, and asked my mother for some bread for a caravan w hich came to th e village. W hen my m other brought him some, he said it was not enough, and told her to round up all she had and follow him . Since our v illag e is n 't re a lly on th e road to anything, my father became suspicious of th e caravan story. He followed my uncle to see w hat is going on. At th e edge of the castle he saw a ship w ith Armenian bandits n ear the shore. They were roasting a cow which th ey caught while it was grazing n ear the castle. They h ad secretly set up an ambush and were waiting. When my uncle had gone out to look for the anim als, they cut him off, asking for bread, b u t demanding th a t he tell no one. They told him they would retu rn his cow if he did as they said. My fath er w ent and got m y cousins. D avut and HurÂ§it, so th ey could all go and keep w atch at th e castle. They also sent a m essenger to A hlat to tell th e army. At daybreak they fired at the ship and sunk it. W hen the Arm enian issue flared up in and around Van, it really became heated around here. We left our village once, anticipating th e arrival of the Russians who came to Deliklitas (Bitlis). We w ent as fa r as K urtalan, also know as Zoh, and stayed about three months. We retu rn ed to the village when we heard that the Russians h a t retreated. The crops had dried up, and there was no feed for the animals. The villagers th e n gathered th e ir anim als and sen t them to Diyarbakir. A shepherd called A hlatli Sadik came to th e village to pick up his herd. The Russians arrived before he could leave, and we all became refugees again. Since th e Rahva grassy plains were covered w ith snow, the villagers used the back roads. My m other's uncle was ill, an d could only walk with crutches. He had th ree sons, who left with my other uncles and my brother. My m other sewed her valuable jew erly onto th e clothing of my brother. She never told him, b u t always worried th a t he m ay lose it. I stayed in the village w ith my m other and h er uncle. My cousins were going to b rin g a sled b eca u se of th e snow, an d all th e children re m a in in g in th e v illa g e w e re g o in g to le a v e on it, in c lu d in g m y grandmother, my little cousins, and others. One day while we were w aitin g for th e sled, A rm enians dressed in Russian m ilitary uniforms raided th e village. They gathered us all in front of our house, and surrounded the village. We had no weapons, we were all women and children. They th reaten ed us, and the Arm enian revolutionary committee leaders placed a guard w ith us and w ent to pillage the other homes. I was standing near my m other a t the edge of the wall. Before I knew it, my mother was slowly creeping around the wall, and then she ran.

I was only a child. I thought for a moment, and ran after her by following her footsteps. When we had cleared the village, I started to cry because I was afraid. As I approached the rocks overlooking the lake, I saw hat my m other was standing a t th e edge of the rocks and was going to throw herself into the water. I started to screams as loud as I could, asking her what she was doing. She told me to go back, saying th a t they would not hurt me since I was a child, but th a t they would soil her innocence. When I told her I would jum p after her, she changed her mind and returned. She carried me on her back and we went and hid in an area used as a wool storage center by our neighbors. W hen I tried to cry once, my m other covered my mouth. She said I didn't let her kill herself and escape, and we couldn't let the Armenians discover us. We stayed there until late the following day. My mother asked me to go check on the dog quietly. If it was resting, she said, there were no foreigners in the village. But if it was up and barking, it m eant the Arm enians were still there. I went out, saw th a t the dog was laying down, and told my mother. She got out, and saw th a t my grandmother, who had been wounded by a bullet on the lower right side of her body, was looking for us. It turns out th a t an Armenian knew my father, and wanted to mock her by asking her where he was. She answ ered th a t her son had been m artyred, and added th a t if he were alive he surely would protect her. With th a t, the Armenian fired at her. The bullet hit her right cavity, near her stomach. Even though may grandm other told him to shoot again because she was still alive, the A rm enian answ ered th a t th is w as enough for her, and walked away. We learned from my grandm other th a t my au n t Vahide was injured, a women named H asret jumped in the lake and was shot by the Armenians, and another woman from another neighborhood died when her a I'm was torn off. We were m iserable in a village burned, destroyed, and pillaged. We boiled the bones of dead anim als and drank the water. We survived for three days by eating the snow a t the edge of the rocks. After four days, the Russian soldiers arrived, took us captive, and brought us to Agri. There were roughly 70-80 m ilitary prisoners along with us. They left my mother's uncle behind with the promise of sending a vehicle to pick him up later. My m other laid out h alf of a blanket under him, and covered him with the other half. She also left a small bundle of money with him. L ater during the journey, she saw th a t same bundle of money being carried on the money belt of a soldier. When she asked w hat happened to her uncle, he replied th a t he w asn't there when they returned â&#x20AC;&#x201D;he seemed to have disappeared. We never learned w hat happened to him. There were

many Armenians in the Russian army, and they were hurling insults at th e captives. There was an older prisoner nam ed Mr. Sadik among us, who noticed th a t one of the Russian soldiers was reading the Koran. Mr. Sadik, who spoke Russian, asked him why. The soldier said he was a Turk from K azan, and a M uslim . He asked us to appeal to th e h ig h e st R u ssian m ilitary official in A gri's Yogurtyemez village for protection from th e Armenian massacres. They later handed us over to a Tatar guard. Among the prisoners from my village whose n am es I rem em ber w ere my m other, my a u n t M ahi (whose child they took from her arms and we never heard of again), m y a u n t G ulsum , her d au g h ter H ayriye, Mr. Sadik, his wife Zeliha, th e ir daughter Selvi, their daughtcr-in-law Nergis, and my cousin Mikail. The Russians settled us in the Yekmal village of Agn, where we stayed three years. When they retreated during the Russian revolution, they left all of their belongings to the A rmenians. We later settled in th e Sofyan village. An Armenian named Agop from the Kazer village sent us word th a t we needed to be prepared against an Armenian group advancing before th e Ottomans. He said he was Muslim, but planned to go with them because he (eared th a t they would hu rt him otherwise. On this news, we went to th e Birikan village. Men who could carry weapons in the Brikan and Sofyan villages put up a good fight against the Armenians from Sofyan. But in th e G ilasor village, th e A rm enians loaded th e Muslim population into two homes and burned them. The same things happened in the village of Lesjko.

b. A U RIZAAZEPOGLU

Place of Brith

: Bitlis -Ahlat

I am from Ahlat. I am residing in Ahlat. I listened to living witnesses who had lived the Armenian oppressions in this region and due to my some in te re st in history, I had taken notes from time to time. Let me tell some of them . There was a policeman in Bitlis, named Hamdi Sayin. I learned th a t he died in Van. I listened from him. He was captioned by A rm enians as a p riso n e r of w ar w ith his uniform . He was brought to Yeni Koyrukoyii Village of Ahlat. Armenians killed there a few hundred Moslem prisoners of w ar th a t they had in their hand. He was also going to be killed. However, a Turkish - origin officer from Kazan had saved his life. He told th a t Turkish officer from Kazan gave him dress, they had sent me to Russia together wilt a detachm ent consisting of Russian and Turkish m en; and I had seen th e m assacre com m itted by A rm enians in Yeni Kopriikoy (Garnug) by my own eyes. I had listened from a veteran of First World War and Independence War, named Celal Sumer. He had worked in E rzurum , P]rzincan and Refahiye. He had told th a t Armenians gathered ab o u t 200 Moslems in a mosque in Erzincan, burned them and he had saved the lives of approximately same am ount of people before they had

also been burned and further his grandfather was m artyred by Armenians in Ahlat. Abdtilkabber Bey, who was sent to Siberia after he was captured as a prisoner of w ar was telling. He was being taken in a carriage in the convoy of prisoners of war since he was wounded and ill. An Armenian guard came, had beaten him deadly, taken the money he had and left him; thinking th a t he was dead. He told w hat happened to a Russian soldier who came ju s t afterwards. The R ussian caught the Armenian, beaten him, he made th e wounds to be w rapped and provided th a t he was taken to Siberia under security. A sergeant nam ed A bdurrahm an Yilmaz from Ahlat told th a t he could never save him self from the influence of the events th a t happened when he went to suppress the uprising in Van.

c. HACI HUSEYiN НОСА Place of Brith Date of Birth

: Bitlis -Ahlat : 1904

A governm ent serv an t nam ed M uhiddin Geylani who served in B itlis Province H eadquarters told th a t the Armenians had made plans for a widescale m assacre when th e m ilitary forces in Bitlis w ent to suppress th e uprising Van. He told th a t they avoided th is plan th a t was obtained by intelligence a day before through the m easures taken. There was an outstanding person in nam ed Serop in Ahlat region. A n action for killing the Moslem people in Ahlat was prepared like it was in Betles. However, this had been avoided by the militia powers existing in th e region by getting rid of the outstanding Armenian volunteers. Also, I had an uncle. He used to tell. At th a t time, Mu$ was dependent on Van. The officials of Britisih and American consulates in Bitlis had also reported the m assacres commited in the villages of Mui? by the Armenians. According to w hat we heard from our elderly people, Armenians residing around Ahlat and Bitlis had at one hand blocked the roads of the refugees from Van and killed them and at the other, they had assassinated those people in the region who were old, ill and young th a t could not emigrate. One of these is one of my cousins. Russian had entered A hlat two times. In the first one, they retracted after they were beaten by our militia powers in the Seyitbeydiizu battles. In the second time, the Hamidiye Regiment and a small arm y unit of C ibranh H alit Bey (H alit Bey of Gibran) had again beaten the Russian in Kavaktepe and Sivritepe battles th a t had happened. A lot of Armenians had also come in Russian uniform within the Russian u n its. Those M oslem people who e n te re d th e ir v illag es to becom e em igrants, to take some of their valuables after the second retra ct of the Russian had seen these massacres by their own eyes.

I am from A hlat. I w as a child d u rin g th e m obilization years. The Armenians formed com m ittees and m assacred people. But they did it more around Van then Bitlis or A hlat. We were forced to become refugees because of th e A rm enian re v o lt a g a in s t th e M uslim p o p u latio n . We w e n t to Diyarbakir where we stayed for one year, and later went to Batman where we stayed four years. My brother was in Nusaybin. My sister and I were the only members of my fam ily who survived when we w ent to Batman. The rest died on the road during the flight.

d. EBUBEKiRANDABDOLKERiM

SAiTALDANMAZ

Father's Name

Bahri

Places of Birth: Bitlis-Kolpig

Mother's Name

Nigar

Dates of Birth: 1900-1901

Place of Birth Date of Birth

: Bitlis 1900

I was fourteen years old during the mobilization. Armenians insulted u s in every way. With my own eyes, I saw an Armenian poke a dagger into a woman's stom ach and pull out h er child. They killed 15-20 people w ith bayonets in my neighborhood of Ersan. W hen the R ussians arrived, th e Arm enians helped them . The Arm enians who arrived with th e R ussians attacked our soldiers under the Hormuz police station. We saw th e bodies which were left on th e snow. These incidents took place during th e second migration of September, 1916. We fled one other tim e in Ju ly 1915, and stayed in Gorlar for a month. When the Russians were unable to penetrate Bitlis, we returned. Only 45 families fled. We left everything behind - our thome, our anim als, our barn - and they were all destroyed. Among th e ruins of every home, in the fields, and in th e farm s were th e bodies o f people killed with the Armenians' bayonets. We applied for permission to bury them . The soldiers dug ditches and th e bodies w ere buried there. There were thousands, not hundreds of bodies, because five-ten people were killed in each home w ith bayonets.

We had been out of the village when some of the villagers w ent to Bitlis. W hen they re tu rn e d , th e y told us ab o u t th e fall of th e city. W hen we learned that the enemy was advancing from the Tatik plains, some of our m en w ent th e re w ith th e goal of stopping th em . O thers w ent tow ard Karcigan. When it was clear during our fight w ith the enemy th a t we would not la st long, we im m ediately fled to save our families. At this critical time, th e Russians and a large num ber of Armenians were charging toward our village from two different directions. They started to kill people and burn their homes. One hundred and fifty people were killed w ith swords. As we escaped, Armenians nam ed Bidet, Arยงak from the O rans village, Sandir from the H erit Armenian village, and K rizikio from the ยงube village were chasing us and cursing our Muslim religion as well as hurling insults at our prophet. The Russians and Armenians had tortured the population so much th a t on our return, no one could hold back the tears. Naked men and women w ere tied to each other and hanged from trees. Dead mothers who had their heads and breasts cut still held their lifeless children in th e ir arms. They had kidnapped the young and beatiful women. The bandits also took the fu rn itu re they could use with them, and burned the rest.

HASAN MEHMETOGLU

f. HAYDAR iSAOGLU

Place of Birth

: Bitlis

Place of Birth: Bitlis

Date of Birth

: 1890

Date of Birth: 1898

I was on d u t a t n ig h t around ten o'clock when th e city of Bitlis was invaded and occupied. My sister came and told us th a t the city was invaded by the enemy. When we went out on the street, we saw the people running. We heard th o u san d s of guns and m achine guns. I w as forced to go to Arapkoprusu, a half an hour away from Bitlis to save my family. Behind us, the Russian forces and Armenian brigands were killing all of the Muslims who were trying to save themselves by stopping them with a forceful bullet. On th e other side, the R ussian Cossacks were tram pling them with their horses. The m ixture of scream s, hopelessness, and the children's wails were em anating from all sides. It was a miracle th a t a small group like ours survived. While we were running away, assistan t police chief M ehm et Vehbi was shot and wounded. All th o se th a t w ere left b eh in d w ere th e victim s of R u ssia n and Armenian im petuousness. Among the ill-fated victims were the following people I knew: Van A ssistant Chief of Police Mr. Vefik, Police Officer Ali, A ssistant Sperintendent of Police Mr. Suleyman, Remzi, and S ait who were from Van but were serving in Bitlis, Bitlis policemen Mr. Hamdi and Mr. Resul, Bitlis C ourthouse Records A dm inistrator §aban Vehbi, and Носа Ish ak ’s son, Abdurrezzak.

In February 1916, I was in a village of Bitlis called Tako. When I saw a convoy of inhabitants from Bitlis on the road, I asked them why they were leaving. They told me th a t the city was unexpectedly invaded by Russian and Armenian forces, th a t these forces were composed mainly of Armenian soldiers, and th a t they were killing all Muslim men, women and children th a t they came across. When 1 sent word, Ali, the son of Suleyman, who lived in Bitlis' Hersan neighborhood, told me the following story. He said his brothers Ismail and H alil were killed by A rm enians in front of th e ir door. The wife of my brother, daughter of Yakup, was forcibly taken away. His brother-in-law, Haci Ali's son Yusuf was also killed, and his cousin mercan was taken away by bandits who later committed an outrageous murder. His neighboor $eyh H arzan was ill and was killed in bed, and his wife §emo and one of their servants were also killed. Recep, the son of M ustafa who had come to visit th e S eyh, also faced th e sam e fate. T hey k ille d H a s a n , th e son of Kilimcizade near his home, even after collecting a large ransom . M any people were forced into carrying heavy objects for long distances barefoot

and w ithout any h ead coverings d e s p ite th e snow and b ru ta lly cold weather. Among them was A hlatli Nigar, a woman around 80 years old. Tero's sick wife Bezirgan, H alil, th e son of Ism ail, M ehm et, th e son o f Ahmet, his brother M ithat, and his uncle ยงeyh Hafi, who was around 50 years old. After this news, I did not have th e courage to go to Bitlis, and returned to my village Tako. g.

DEVAZ ยงEYH0G LU

OMER MUSTAFAOGLU

TAYYiP ABDULHAMiTOGLU

Place of Birth

: Bitlis

Dates of Birth

: 1897-18991901

On July 12, 1915, the platoon commander in Kotum warned the village elders th a t the Russians and Armenians were approaching the village. The inhabitants prepared to flee toward Bitlis. A half hour before reaching the Armenian village of Doga few hundred Armenians and Kazakhs attacked the refugees. Even though they raised their arm s to surrender, men, women and children were brutally murdered. Only 30 of them survived.

iso FROM THE T iL V iL L A G E

OSMAN FROM BiTLiS

FERHAT FROM KARSiN

HALIT FROM OSKAVAK

Place of Birth

: Bitlis

Dates of Birth

: 1896,1898, 1899,1902, respectively.

The Armenian bandits, who were supported by the Cossacks during th e R ussian a s s a u lt, w ere leading th e g re a te r R ussian army. They w ere re sp o n sib le for a tta c k in g th e v illag es and c re a tin g co n fu sio n . T h e inhabitants of the attacked villages were hiding on the trails so th a t they would not be followed by the bandits, but they were discovered and carried away by the Russian soldiers. The stronger men were taken into Russia as prisoners of war by the Russian army. But the Muslims taken away by the Armenians and Cossacks were massacred without exception. The rem aining were led on a march with thirty guards in April, 1916. The sei'geant and some of the guards were Armenians from the Caucasus. On the first day, they continued to walk, but when they reached th e trail on the secondly day, th e sergeant said to one of the guards in alow voice in Armenian, "let's kill them." Haydar from Derbo who understood Armenian, relayed the death command to his friends, and suggested th a t is was better to attack the guards than die like sacrificial lambs. When they reached ^ahniyan, the smell of death perm eated the air. Bodies torn into pieces were laying on the side of the rocks. Everyone felt th a t d eath had arriv e d . D esp ite th is, th e y atta c k e d th e g u ard s. Six prisoners died, but some guard also lost th eir lives.

m. POLICE OFFICER HASAN QABUK

Father's Name :

Yusuf

Place of Birth

Bitlis

Date of Birth

1896

The Armenians committed trem endous cruelties in Bitlis. I v/as in Bitlis at the time. I had graduated from the Sultan high school there. When the war broke out, I was drafted. After fighting in Erzurum and Pasin, I fell into the w ater in Bitlis on the way to Baghdad, an stayed in Bitlis because I became ill. That is how I witnessed the atrocities first-hand. Most of the population had fled before the occupation, but those th a t remained were subject to the massacres. The Armenians killed Mr. Polat, and his family. Women and girls were rounded up by the Arm enians and taken to the A.ynel B arut mosque where they were killed after being raped repeatedly.

n. HACI SADi ALDANMAZ

Father's Name

: Bahri

Place of Birth

Date of Birth

: 1902

Bitlis

We loft Bitlis before the Russians occupied the city. I was 13 years old at the time. There were up to 100 children left on the side of the road on the snow from A rap k o p ru su to D uhan. Those th a t stayed in th e city were subject, to a frig h tfu l m assacre. The A rm enian com m ander A n tra n ik bayoneted 16 women and children with his own hands. The A rm enian? were committing atrocities [in Bitlis] before the Russian invasion as well, but after the occupation, the crimes accelerated. As far as I remember. 9 year old H atice who lived in the H ersan neighborhood was taken from her mother's arm s by the Armenians, and viciously raped without reference to the fact th a t she was a child. Hako was the Armenian who took this child from her m other and raped her. He was known as cold blooded Hako.

o. BiRiK AÂ§iT

Place of Birth : Date of Birth

Bitlis 1890

In anticipation of the Russian advance toward Bitlis, a battalion of 200 Armenians in Siirt led by a Turkish commander came to Bitlis. They were going to defend Bitlis against the Russians. The front of Ulu Mosque was an open b a z a a r a t th e tim e , and th e A rm e n ia n s re s te d there'. T he commander was the only Turk in the army. The commander staying a t t he old Hazro inn next to the Alemdar bridge. A Turk was guarding the front, of the commander's home. In th e morning the guard excitedly knocked on the commander's door, saying not one soldier remained in the city. When the b attalion com mander arrived a t the bazaar, he saw th a t not one o( the A rm enian soldiers were th ere. He la ter learned th a t they w ent tow ard Bashan to join the Armenian Russian forces. They later joined the Russian forces and participated in the massacres in the city. I witnessed three events during the Bitlis occupation which I will never forget. First,, the Russian soldiers housed more than 200 women, children, and elderly in Hamza and $ukru Qelebiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s home, and placed an Armenian soldier to guard the door. At night this soldier notified his friends, and they at night went to the home, and took the women they liked. After taking advantage of them, they killed them at the side of a brook.

A Russian commander made a surprise inspection visit. An older w om an told him th a t while they numbered 200 when they arrived, 80 were ta k e n aw ay a t n ig h t by A rm en ia n s, an d only 120 rem a in ed . T he R u s s ia n commander then replaced the Armenian guard at the door with a R u ssian one. Second, there was a pregnant woman who lived in a home in the D ilan neighborhood with h er three children. When the Armenians entered th e ir home, they made a bet as to w hether she was carrying a boy or girl, and s lit her stomach with a bayonet. Thirdly, before th e Russians came to Bitlis, ten Armenian families cam e to my home, and said th a t they wanted to go to the mosque and convert to Islam. We took them to the mosque, and they converted. We started to see them more often, and help them. After th e Russians came to Bitlis, th e y asked us to take them to the Russian soldiers in exchange for money. W hen I asked them why they wanted to go there, they answered th a t they w ere Armenian, and were never Muslims.

o. FARI'SSURUM

Father's Name :

Kasim

Place of Birth

BitlisCevizyatagi

Date of Birth

1904

Around the tim e th a t Bitlis was going to be saved from the Russians, we were continuously fighting. During this time the Russians and Armenians would cut up anyone they found in the city. There was a two story house in the Mermutlu neighborhood, next to Sutlu Bulag. The Muslims hid there out of (ear. Those barbarians cut up all of the defenseless people there. I don't know the exact number, but there were so many Muslims killed th a t the blooc! was flowing from the door. They carried the bodies to the second floor since there was not enough room for them on the first floor. When we later took back Bitlis from the Russians, we started to follow the R ussian forces. The enem y was re tre a tin g tow ard A hlat. When we arrived to the Zigag village near Ahlat, we couldn't hold back our te ars in the face of the brutality we witnessed. The Arm enians had planted shap metal poles, and im paled pregnant women stomach first on those poles. Some of the poles w ent into their stomachs and out of their backs. I will never forget this savageness until I die.

middle of the rest of them , and killed them all with a thousand and one torture methods. My cousin Htisniye was unable to escape and got stuck in the city. They killed her six children, and when they were taking her away on horseback, she jumped from the horse and ran toward the fields. Unfortunately, she was caught by the Arm enians, who raped and killed her.

p. CEVAHiR KOKUM Father's Name : Place of Birth Date of Birth

ibrahim

: Bitlis-HizanGokekyazi 1899

Were all the A rm enians so barbaric? W eren't there any good ones? I am. sure there were. My deceased grandm other would always talk about an Armenian named Manik. When talking about him, she would also pray in thanks for all th a t he had done. Manik worked as a servant for Haci Yusufzade. This Armenian saved my grandm other and her other relatives from the Armenian m assacre. Let's hear the story from Hanife Boran. ”1, my father Нане, m y uncle Suleym an, an d my aunt Felek were left am ong the enem y, but our A rm enian servant M anik saved us from the Russians and Armenians.

When the Russian forces entered Bitlis in the beginning of March, we were forced to become refugees. We abandoned our homes and marched toward Hizan. We came across hundreds of people who fled like us on th e road. They were so frightened th a t they crawled under or into any structure they could find on th e road. M eanw hile, we w ere b ein g followed by Armenian bandits. When §eyh Selahattin heard of this, he came to us and asked that all men able to fight follow him. On the way, he asked us to light a (ire under a bush so th a t those who saw it would th in k th a t we were a large group. We later learned th a t in a subsequent fight the Armenians lost and that §eyh Selahattin lost an eye to an enemy's bullet. Meanwhile, hunger had reached a peak level. We sen t a convoy of 12 men and 4 women to H in t (Qokekyazi) village to get food. They were cut off by Armenians in the Musktinus (Diizkoy) village. Although the women were succesful in escaping, the men were caught by the Russians. These 12 men were t ied to each other, a "pocket" was cut out of their skin о their' legs, and their hands wore placed in these pockets. T heir organs were cut off and placed in their mouths. Unsatisfied by this brutality, they built a fire in the

"One day an Arm enian general came to our home and asked, us for some milk. Since it was winter, we were feeding our anim als a bitter plant, a taste which naturally was reflected in the m ilk. When the Arm enian general drank the. bitter milk, he ordered to have my uncle Solomon murdered as punishment. They tied my uncle to two side by side steel doors, and fiercely tortured him by opening and shutting the door. Unsatisfied with this, they took him away. Manik went and got my father. "Л few days later they picked out and took away all o f the pregnant women among us. We later learned that they tied them all to poles, bet on whether they were, carrying boys or girls, and killed them by cutting them open. M anik was unable to do anything about this, he sim ply was not powerful enough. "They later took us from the Avih neighborhood to the convent o f Emin Efendi in the city. They taped red crosses to our arms. Manik immediately look them off our arms. When we later asked him the meaning o f that, he said the crosses marked, those that would be taken to Russia. One day, Manik came running to us. Th• said the home we were in was going to be hit by Russian cannon fire. When he brought us to another house, he kept us hidden by following the sewers. Manik would leave in the day, and return at night fall with all o f the bread, sugar, and other food supplies he. could find.

When we asked why he was doing this, he replied that he could not betray u s after eating our bread for so many years.

III. V IE W S F R O M B IT L IS

"One day, Manik came to us excitedly and said that the Russians h a d emptied the city, and that it was not right for him to stay after everything that the Arm enians had done, and that he would emigrate to Russia w ith the rest o f the Armenians. We sat and cried, since Manik left, but we d id n o t forget him or what he did. "We can only thank Manik and those like him. We have nothing else to say."

THE GERMAN HOSPITAL W hile the building belong to the Armenian local notable Pohtisiro in 1880, it was used as German Hospital after the second Sasun riot in 1904. After the foundation of the Turkish Republic, it was used as the State Hospital and as a High School for Imams and Orators. Later, it was sold to orivate persons and at present it is emptv.

The Bitlis Fortress that was destroyed by the Armenian Committees and Russian Army.

Шер* JkJtm. RUSSIAN CONSULATE BUILDING While the building initially belonged to the Armenian Garabit Aga, it was hired to the foreign consulates starting from 1900, after the foundation of the Turkish Republic it was used as a military hospital. At present it is used as a lodging of an official department.

115

SECTION

THREE

KARS M A S S A C R E S

1. A rm enian A ctivities in Kars and E nvirons Basing on the documents of local and foreign archives, reference w ritten work, alive w itnesses in th e area s, a re a l surveys, archaeological an d anthropological diggings it can be said th a t there are close to 200 m ass graves belonging to over one million Turks massacred by the Armenians in the south and south-east Anatolia. Those m ass graves are found in th e areas from Adana to Kars, from Erzurum -Erzincan to Qankm-Sivas, an d from Van-Bitlis to Mu§, but most of them are in Kars and its envi rons. With the cooperation of the State, nation and the universities first m ass grave was uncovered in the Oba Village of Igdir in March 1986, second an d th ird in J u ly 1986 in E rzurum cen ter A laca and again in D um lu an d Ycsjilyayla Villages of Erzurum in October 1986. The fourth mass grave was uncovered on July 1988 in Qavu§oglu Samanligi of Ki§la D istrict of Erci§ in Van. In the fifth mass grave 2000-3000 skeletons were found belonging to the people of 8 villages namely Zeve (Zaviye) center Van, Derebey, Hakis, Zorova (Yemlice), Hidir, Gollu, §eyhayne (Otluca), §eyhkara (Gulsunler), who were massacred by the Armenians with the help of the Russian Army. The seventh mass grave was uncovered in the Timar Village of E rzurum Hasankale. All these m ass graves were uncovered vith th e su p p o rt of A n k ara, Haccttepe, Gazi, A tatiirk, Yiizuncuyil, F irat, Dicle ve Inonii universities teachers, local auth o rities and our people. Findings such as skeletons, deadly sharp instrum ents, bullets, cartarage cases, jewellery belonging to gills and women are being exhibited in the Museums of Erzurum , Van and Kars in the massacre section. The skeletons and materials th a t are uncovered from the village of Oba Igdir will be exhibited after the ending of this two days semposium and its evaluation on 20 July 1991 Thursday and th e Findings from Subatan will be exhibited in the massacre section of the Kars Museum. Those exhibitions are a decisive conform ation of th e m assacres and terroist activities executed by the Arm enians. Those A rm enians living in Europe and United States of America, and especially th e Ex-President of Armenia Levon Ter Petrosyan and all the Armenian terro r organizations who are supported by the western countries, every tm ie they yell "Kars belongs to us" and later thrown away like a rag used, should study these exhibitions and realize the tru th . All these surveys of local and foreign archives, local and foreign research works, examination of local documents, testim onies of alive w itnesses whose generation is exhausting, filming, areal expeditio n s are carried o u t openly an d in accordance w ith the

in tern ational scientific m ethods, in th e presence of local and foreign s c ie n tis ts , e s p e c ia lly h is to r ia n , h is to r ia n s of a r t. a r c h e o lo g is t. anthropologist, local and foreign press, publishers, adm inistrative, civil and m ilitary au th o rities, alive w itnesses and public. A fter th e uncovered sk e le to n s and o th e r fin d in g s a r e e v a lu a te d a rc h e o lo g ic a l ly and anthropologically by th e concerning u n iv e rsitie s, th e re s u lt is being announced to the scientific world and public, including th e A rm enians. Then they are given to the museums for exhibiton and take their place in local and foreign literature. As a resu lt of these careful efforts, in many scien tific m e etin g s held ab ro ad , m any local and foreign s c ie n tis ts , parliam enters, m em ber of press and publications even some p a rt of the Western public opinion have began to realize th a t it was the Turks who w ere killed not th e A rm en ia n s. F rom th e n on th e c lassical d efen se concerning the subject was left and attack began. Below is the list of 58 mass graves confirmed with expeditions only in Kars and its environs. Locations o f M ass G raves in Kars and its Environs: KARS 1. Akbaba Village (Center) 2. Alkali Village (Center) 3. Aynah Village (Center) 4. Bogazkoy (Meiikkoy, Center, found 280 skeletons in the mass grave) 5. Dereigi Mahallesi (Center) 6. D i g o r ( ( " e n t e r )

7. Kalo (Derecik. Center found 360 skeletons in the mass grave) 8. Orta Kilise Village (Ortalar, Center) f). Subatan Village (Subasan, Center, found 570 skeletons in the mass g rav e) ARDAIIAN 1. A c a r c a V i l l a g e

2. Badigna Village 3. D a n g a l V i l l a g e

H a v u r V illage

Г). K n r o s V i l l a g e

6. M orcahit Village 7. Mulabi Village

2. Hakmehmet Village (found 85 skeletons in the Uzun H asan Well and a moratorium) 3. Kogkiran (A^burun) Village (mass grave in Mosques court)

ARALIK 1. Aralik (Merkez Kopruler Mahallesi)

4. Kulluk Village (found 40 skeletons in the Yakup Gorel Well) 5. Oba Village (Mass grave was opened in March 1986. Skeletons and findings exhibit in Museum of Erzurum .)

ARPAQAY 1. Arpa^ay (Merkez Bahfeler Mahallesi)

KAGIZMAN

2. Biiylik Qatma Village (found 178 skeletons in the mass grave)

1. Alipman Area

3. Guvercin Village

2. Ceperli Village (found 150 skeletons in the mass grave)

4. Ktiguk Qatma Village (found 178 skeletons in the mass grave)

3. Qilehan Village

5. Mesciltli Village

4. Kizilveren Village

6. ยงam ran Village 7. Ta$baยงi Village

TUZLUCA

8. Tomarli Village

1. Ali P m an Village

9. Incedere Village (skeletons in the well)

2. Sofular Village

g iL D IR

OTHER VILLAGES

1. Aยงagi Cincirof Village

1. Alaca Village

2. B erihatun Village

2. Haci Halil Village

3. Kayabeyi Village

3. Harabe Village

4. Kayabeyi Village

4. Ilham Village

5. Olgek Village

5. Kalul Village

6. Rabat (Yildirimtepe) Village

6. Ketak Village

7. Sikip (Kotanh) Village (found 80 skeleton in the mass grave)

7. Magisto Village

8. Yukari Cincirof Village

8. Milanh Village 9. Tekneli Village

GOLE 1. Dereyolu Village 2. Esenbogaz Village (found 456 skeletons in the mass grave) 3. Surguden Village (found skeletons in the mass grave) IG D IR 1. 'Jayrak Tutan Village (Aga Qelik Samanhgi)

10. Yakinsu Village (19 Lost) Women, girl, old, young, sick wounded and even unborn babies who faced with Armenian m assacre in Kars, Anatolia, Caucasus and soldiers who lost their lives during the First World War and Liberation War, may rest in peace.-'*7 37

Local Witnesses and the letter, which was written by Mirliva ยง e v k i Bey, and sent from Ministry of National Defense to Third Army Commanding Unit.. Genelkurmay ATASE, nu.1-65. dolap 140, Goz 4, Klasor 1847, dosya 89, Fikrist 7-14.

2. T estim onies o f W itnesses

The Armenians la te r stuffed them into b arns in Kizilveren village, and killed thousands of men. They cut th e ir legs, arm s, beat them , and cut off their heads with swords. They then burned down the barns. May God bless this army, this nation, and K ara Kazim Bekir Pasha's soul, the liberator of the Eastern cities. We owe our lives to him. We now look forward to our country, our religion, a n d our rig h ts. We w ill n ev er fo rg et th e p ain A rm en ia n s c a u se d u s, a n d th e h u r t in th e h e a r ts of o u r c h ild re n . Armenians caused great damage, gave vomen swords, m ade them cut off th eir husband's legs, hands, and cheeks. They burned m en alive. An Armenian clergym an in the D evletli village, who read th e bible, a p p ea led to h is people to cease su ch b eh av io r, w hich d am a g e d th e Armenians' pride. They took him and his family to a barn at the foot of the village, asked him why he did w hat he did, and burned him and his entire fam ily alive. The clergym an was a m an of God, his h e a rt ached a t the massacres, and he cried. As he cried, the Armenians gathered mor people, filled them into his barn, and burned it down. My name is Elzade ยงahin. I am from the Karacaoren village. We can never forget this pain, and should construct a m onum ent a t the graves of these men. They should never be forgotten. I am aw are of 25 villages which ache with this pain, and with th is cry.

THE MASSACRE IN TWENTY-FIVE VILLAGES IN KARS May th e soul of K ara Kazim Bekir P ash a re s t in peace. He w as th e liberator of th e easte rn cities, a high level official, a loyal and devoted person. We w ere from th e villag e of Isek . The A rm en ian s fooled us. Claim ing th ere was peace, they gathered th e in h ab itan ts of 12 villages together, they cut off the men's paths with bayonets, and gave the women bayonets and swords. In the village of Kalinaga? they forced the women to cut off th e ir own m en's heads w ith bayonets, tortured people by cu ttin g their faces and legs, and stuffed them into barns. After burning the barns, they chased on horseback after those th a t had run away to the creeks and hills. When they caught them, they killed them. The survivors went south to Kagizman. The A rm enians intercepted them in th e K ilahna village of Kagizman, telling them there was peace, and they would be accompanied to th e O tto m an s ta te . They offered m oney to m any of them , te llin g th e Muslims who had escaped to th e hills th a t they would be given livestock and houses if they would come down. Then they started the m urders. They killed the Muslims with axes, bayonets, and shots in the mouth, and set fire to th e ir clothing. The Muslims united in K agizm an's Kizilveren village, where the A rm enians spoke to them and convinced them th a t they would be taken to the O ttom an State, and th eir weapons were taken from them.

The Armenians shot an outstanding individual in the Deli Ahmet village nam ed Kaba M ustafa. If this man had not been killed, this Turkish nation, and this city would not have been massacred. The Armenians told him th a t th e y wanted peace, and th a t they would m ake him al leader. F or this reason, they m et him a t th e station where they talked for a while. They m ade a pact th a t there would be peace, and to celebrate they engaged in ta rg e t practice. A very skillful gunman, Kaba M ustafa hit a bull's eye. The A rm enians then backed up the target. As he was preparing to frie again, four Armenian fighters, using a special bullet, fired at one time, and his lungs were destroyed. His la st request was th a t a forest should replace w here his blood was spilled. You may have seen a small forest by the Deli A hm et station. It was sowed on th a t m an's blood, and the Turkish nation welcomes the fact th a t his wishes were heeded.

KIN ТАИ

a. ABBAS GUNE?

Place of Birth Date of Birth

b. SELiMQELiK

KarsHakmehmet

Birth Place : Van Birth Date

1899

1897

The A rm enians came to our village of Hakmehm et. They called out to the leaders of the village, promising peace. They gathered us in a mosque, inviting all men, women, and children. A fter searching us, they took th e jewellery from the women. At night they led us like a pack of anim als out of the village. They again searched us, saying th a t they would kill anyone who hid money. Some villagers tu rn ed in th e ir money, others did not. They ordered us to split into two groups and advance toward the villages ahead. We sta rte d w alking w hen an A rm enian approached on horseback, and recommended th a t we hurry, because the other Armenians would kill us. We continued on the road. Women unable to carry th eir small children left them at the foot of trees or rocks, or in ditches. The children were crying. We reached the Iran ian villages on foot. We later heard th a t the rem aining villagers w ere m u rd ered . Some of th em w ere shot, oth ers killed w ith swords, and th e n all throw n into a well.

MASSACRE IN TWO VILLAGE OF KARS PROVINCE W hen the R ussians came and passed, they did not do anything. They retu rned back, after they returned the A rm enian came. A fter A rm enians came, they said such things as a cannon were sinked into th e soil, go and recover it. The y o u n g sters w ent b u t never cam e back. My fa th e r and m other were also gone. They gather us and brought to H asankale fortress. They brought us together there. There was a m an he said "Let me make you escape". This m an caused us to escape. We w ent to Akbaba village. We stayed at a house there. A burglar came there, for two days w ithout seeing us, we came to Banazli village. Two Armenians came. They wanted food. We gave them food. W hen we said them th a t "Soldiers were coming to the Village", they escaped.

9. ORUQTURKELi

С. МЕНМЕТТА?

Place of Birth Place of Birth Date of Birth:

: Kars Esenbogaz 1902

GENOCIDE AT ESENBOGAZ VILLAGE OF KARS PROVINCE Mehmet Ta§ shows th e scar in his face. When Armenians approached to our village, th e re was a forest in th e close vicinity, we escaped to th a t forest. The A rm enians deceived us and brought us to the village. They collected us into a room and burned us. An Armenian saw me and sroke his scimitar. (He shows his face and weeps...), he pushed me into the fire. I suddenly stood up b u t then fell down again, I lied among the death corpses, in the evening the soldiers came, th at's all th a t I can remember... I was a child, my leg was also burned. (He shows his leg)...

Date of Birth

KarsHakmehmet 1899

T h ere w ere no A rm e n ia n hom es in our village a t th e tim e. Then Armenians and Muslims became enemies, and the A rm enians arrived in Kars. They didn't have any possessions or homes then, but they came and stayed in our village. The Armenians had a wise man named D ikran who also stayed in our village. The oldest was their leader. My mother would make bread, and I stayed near her. One day, I went outside to play with the children and have a good time. I heard th a t the Armenians surrounded the village. I asked myself why this was so, since Armenians lived among us as well. They told us to gather our belongings so th a t we could make peace. I went home to tell my mother. She had baked bread, and two arm ed Armenians came and told us to gather the bread and go inside. We did as they said. It was either the first or second day of our religious holiday. We had m eat too, but they left nothing. They took us away. There is a home in the village where they put all the women, m en and children from the village. They put the older boys and men in one room, and the younger ones with the women. I was w ith my mother. We had a few

gold coins which my m other placed at the baseboards of the walls, because they would come and search the homes and confiscate any money. We h a d nothing else. Nightfall came and it became dark. They treated us like a heard of sheep. We were women and children. They p u t two A rm enians on each side of us who led us by poking us with bayonets. They took us o u t of the village, and would stop and check us from time to tim e for money. M y mother threw the coins on the ground which was made of dirt and stepped on them. They took us to the fields in the middle of the village, and told us to divide into two and march tow ard the next village. Armenians on horses arrived, and th ey told us th ey w ould ta k e us back because th e o th e r A rm enians would kill us. We continued to march, while they retu rn e d . They stood and waited for a while, and then left. There were m any sm all children w ith their mothers. Those unable to carry th e children left th em behind. Mothers were carrying one child in their arms, one on th eir backs, and holding the others by the hand. A few children were left by rocks or ditches.

d. iMAM ZEYNELABiDiN

Place of Birth

Kars

Date of Birth:

1908

We w ent to Iranian villages, and later learned th a t they massacred those th a t stayed behind, including my father, and threw the bodies into wells. Some were killed by bullets, some by sword, and some were throw n into th e wells alive. Those wells were old and deep, b u t they threw them all in there. We stayed in Iran for eight to ten years. Our villagers later returned, but of course my father was killed by the Armenians. I am 82 y e a rs old, an d w itn e sse d th e A rm e n ia n m a s s a c re s . The A rm enians raided the refugee tents of Mr. Abdullah, and killed him and m any other people whose nam es I do not know. Since Mr. Abdullah's second wife Zeytun was very attractive, they took her away and killed him. One day, they gathered th e M uslims from Digor, and placed th e men in Laz H asan's house. The women were put in the ditch near Haci Aziz's home. They fired into the ditch and killed more than 400 Muslims th a t way. As for th e m en, they would take them out two by two and cut their heads off with axes. From Mr. Halil's family, they killed him, his sons and the rest of the family. I know their nam es because we were relatives. Yusuf, his son, father of E sen, the mayor, was wounded but able to save himself. His brothers Asaf, Arslan and T hair all died. They stole a lot of personal property. All the people sought refuge in the mountains. The elderly and sickâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;th a t were left behind in the village were all killed. I can't tell you all of the terrible things th e A rm enians did. Thank God for our soldiers who saved Kars.

The living witnesses of Subatan genocide : Fariz OztGrk and DurdaCji Ozturk

The two Subatan Ghazis, that is who were wounded by survived during the event named DurdaQi Ozturk and Sitki Kaya show the martyr cemetery that contains 570 individuals who were massacred in front of their family and friends were tortured and burned to death.

III.

VIEWS FROM THE SUBATAN COUNTY OF KARS PROVINCE

The excavation of Subatan M artry Cemetery is one of the m ass graves in Kars province where about 70 sim ilar m ass graves are located. The m a ss grave was opened 20th of Ju n e 1991 between 9.00 - 11.30 under presence of adm inistrative, m ilitary posts, scientists, people from every town of K ars province, the ghazis who survived from th e Subatan m assacre among th e 570 Turks who were killed there and the members of press and publication in stitu tes. H ere, several skulls and skeletons of which m ost belonged to children a n d women, who seem to have faced w ith to rtu re w ere fo u n d together w ith the R ussian made bullets and bullet cases, cutting devices. Also various ornam ents belonging to Turkish women, am ulets and coins w ith S ultan Reshad stam p on them evidenced th a t th e skeletons belonged to Turks. D uring th e same day, the Kars Museum Genocide Section was opened by cutting a black ribbon in its gate. Here, the findings th a t are obtained from Subatan Excavations, th e domestic and foreign archive documents and th e reference docum entation related w ith the A rm enian m assacres and ty ran n y are exhibited. The skeletons and other findings th a t th a t are derived from Subatan and other m ass graves and also those th a t shall be derived in th e future shall be continuously exhibited in this Section.

The Ghazis tell the scientists how the Subatan genocide had occured.

The excavation that occured in three different places are shown to the members of press.

At depths of around 1 -1 ,5 meters the skeletons who are who embraced each other with their skulls, arm and leg bones cracked and also other findings appear in the photo.

Skeletons and findings belonging to Turks: The local ornaments belonging to women-girls, Ottoman coins with stamps, half burned dresses, hair remains, buttons and amulets...

Skeletons one over another, those embracing one another are at first glance the findings belonging to Turks.

A part of the women and children who were killed by Armenians in Subatan village (In 25th April 1334 Islamic Calendar)

The skull having two traces of large blade strokes, cracked and broken head, arm and leg bones.

The womem

who were killed in Subatan Village in 25th April 1334 and the babies that are taken out of their mother's wombs by cutting and opening their abdominal cavities.

VIEWS FROM KARS M U S E U M G E N O C ID E S E C T IO N

Armenian Terrorism - A C hronological R undow n

Đź

January 27, 1973

San ta Barbara, C alifornia

The Armenian Gourgen Yanikian, a.U.S. citizen, invites the Turkish Consul .General, Mehmet Baydar, and the Consul, B ahadir Demir to a luncheon. The unsuspecting d ip lo m ats accept th e frie n d ly in v ita tio n . G ourgen Yanikian murders hist two guests. He is sentenced to life im prisonment. April 4, 1973

P aris

Bombings a t the Turkish C onsulate G eneral and th e Offices of Turkish Airlines (THY). Extensive damage. October 26, 1973

The Armenian genocide, tyranny, publications about Subatan village massacre, and the findings obtained during the excavation.

N ew York

A ttem pted bom bing of th e T u rk ish In fo rm a tio n Office. T h e bom b is discovered in tim e an d defused. A group callin g its e lf th e "Y anikian Commandos" claims responsibility. They w ant the release of th e doubla murderer of Santa Barbara, Gourgen Yanikian, who insidiously m urdered two Turkish diplomats. February 7, 1975

B eiru t

Attempted bombing of th e Turkish Information and Tourism Bureau. The bomb explodes while being defused. A Lebanese policeman is injured. The "Prisoner Gourgen Yanikian Group" claims responsibility. F eb ru ary 20, 1975

B eiru t

The "Yanikian" group dem anding the release of th e doubla m u rd erer of S a n ta B a rb a ra s trik e s again. E xtensive dam age is caused by a bomb ex p lo sion a t the THY offices. ASALA (A rm enian S ecret A rm y for th e L iberation of Armenia) also claims responsibility for the bombing. O c to b er 22, 1975

V ienna

T h e T u rk ish Ambassador, DaniÂ§ Tunaligil, is assassinated in his study by th r e e A rm enian terrorists. ASALA claims responsibility.

O ctober 24, 1975

Paris

October 4, 1977

Los A ngeles

A m bassador Ism ail Erez and his driver, Talip Yener, are m urdered. The ASALA and th e JCAG (Justice Commandos for the A rm enian Genocide) dispute responsibility.

Bomb attack a t th e h ouse of P ro fesso r S tan fo rd Shaw, who te a c h e s Ottoman history a t the U niversity of California in Los Angeles (UCLA). Responsibility is claimed by an â&#x20AC;&#x153;Armenian Group of 28."

O ctober 28, 1975

January 2, 1978

B eirut

G renade attack on the Turkish Embassy. The ASALA claims responsibility. February 16, 1976

Frankfurt, E ssen, C ologne

C onsulates G eneral in F ran k fu rt, Essen and Cologne are the ta rg e ts of sim ultaneous bomb attack. May 28, 1976

Bomb attack at a building containing Turkish banking services. The "New Armenian Resistance" claims credit.

B eirut

The F irst Secretary of th e Turkish Embassy, O ktar Cirit, is assassinated in a restau ra n t on H am ra Street. The ASALA claims responsibility. May 17, 1976

Zurich

Bomb attacks a t the officies ofthe Turkish Labor Attache and the G aranti Bank. Extensive damage. A bomb in the Turkish Tourism B ureau is defused in time. Responsibility is claimed by the JCAG.

June 2, 1978

B eirut

The cars of the M ilitary Attache, N ahit Karakay, and th e A dm inistrative Attache, Ilhan Ozbabacan, are destroyed. The two diplomats are uninjured. Credit is claimed by the ASALA.

M adrid

Terrorist atta c k on th e autom obile of th e T u rk ish A m bassador, Zeki Kuneralp. His wife, Necla Kuneralp, the retired Turkish A m bassador BeÂ§ir Balcioglu die im m ediately in the rain of gunfire. The Spanish chauffeur, Antonio Torres, dies of his injuries in the hospital. ASALA and JCAG claim responsibility. December 6, 1978

G eneva

A bomb explodes in front of the T urkish C onsulate G eneral. E xtensive damage. The "New A rm enian Resistance Group" claims responsibility. December 17, 1978

May 2, 1977

B ru ssels

G eneva

A bomb explodes a t the THY Bureau. ASALA claims responsibility. July 8, 1979

P aris

Bomb attack at the Turkish Tourism Bureau. Extensive damage. The "New Armenian Resistance Group" claims responsibility.

The French capital experiences four bomb attack in a single day. The first is at the THY offices; the next a t the offices of the Turkish Labor Attache; the third in the Turkish Information and Tourism Bureau. A fourth explosive, intended for the T urkish P erm anent R epresentative to th e O.E.C.D., is defused before it explodes. The JCAG claims responsibility.

J u n e 5, 1977

A ugust 22, 1979

May 14, 1977

P aris

Zurich

Bomb attack a t the store of a Turkish citizen, Htiseyin Bulbul. J u n e 9, 1977

Rom e

A ssassination of the Turkish Ambassador to th e Holy See, Taha C anm . He dies soon after the attack. The JCAG claims responsibility.

G eneva

A bomb is thrown a t the car of the Turkish Consul General, Niyazi Adah. The diplomat escapes unhurt. Two Swiss passers-by are injured. Two cars are destroyed.

A ugust 27, 1979

Frankfurt

December 17, 1979

London

The offices of THY are totaly destroyed by an explosion. A ped estrian is injured. The ASALA claims responsibility.

Extensive damage is caused when a bomb explodes in front of the THY offices. A "Front for th e Liberation of Armenia" claims responsibility.

O ctober 4, 1979

December 22, 1979

C openhagen

Two D anes are in ju red when a bomb explodes n ear th e offices of THY. ASALA claims credit. October 12, 1979

T he H ague

A h m et B e n le r, th e so n of T u rk ish A m b a ssa d o r O zd em ir B e n le r, is assassin ated by A rm enian terro rists. The m urderers escape. JCAG an d ASALA claim responsibility. O ctober 30, 1979

Y ilm az Q olpan, th e T ourism A tta c h e a t th e T u rk is h E m b a ssy is assassin ated w hile w alk in g on th e C ham ps Elysees. Several groups, including ASALA, JCA G and th e "Commandos of A rm enian M ilitants Against Genocide" claim responsibility. D ecem ber 22, 1979

Am sterdam

Heavy damage results from a bomb explosion in front of the THY offices. ASALA claims credit.

Milan

The officies of THY are destroyed by a bomb explosion. ASALA claim s responsibility. N ovem ber 8, 1979

Paris

Rome

D ecem b er 23, 1979

Rome

A bomb explodes in front of a World Council of Churches Refugee Center, being used as a tran sit point for Armenian refugees from Lebanon. ASALA claim s credit for the attack and warns the Italian authorities to halt "the A rm enian diaspora."

T he T u rk ish T ourism Office is d e stro y e d by a bomb. ASALA claim s responsibility. D ecem b er 23, 1979 N ovem ber 18, 1979

Paris

Bomb explosions destroy the offices of THY, KLM, and L u fth an sa. Two French policemen are injured. Responsibility is claimed by ASALA. N ovem ber 25, 1979

Rome

T h rcc bomb explosions occur in front of the officies of Air France and TWA, in ju rin g a dozen passers-by. ASALA claims responsibility, stating th a t the b o m b was placed "in reprisal against the repressive m easures of French au th o rities against Armenians in France" (i.e., questioning suspects, carry o u t investigations, etc.)

M adrid

Bomb explosions in front of the offices of TWA and British Airways. ASALA, in claiming responsibility, states th a t the attacks are m eant as a w arning to the Pope to cancel his planned visit to Turkey.

A bom b which explodes in fro n t of th e THY offices causes ex ten siv e dam age. ASALA claims responsibility.

D ecem ber 9, 1979

J a n u a r y 20, 1980

Rome

Two bombs explode in downtown Rome, dam aging the offices of PAN AM, British Airways and the Philippine Airways. Nine people are injured in the t e r r o r i s t a t ta c k . A "New A rm e n ia n R e s is ta n c e M o v em en t" claim s responsibility.

J a n u a ry 10, 1980

Teheran

M adrid

A series of bomb attacks, resulting in num erous injuries, occurs in front of th e offices of TWA, B ritisih A irways, Swissair, and Sabena. The JCAG claim s credit for the attacks.

F ebruary 2, 1980

B russels

Two bombs explode w ithin m inutes of each other in front of the downtown offices of THY and Aeroflot. The "New Armenian Resistance Group" issues a comm unique in which they claim responsibility for both attacks. February 6, 1980

Bern

A terrorist opens fire on Turkish Ambassador Dogan Turkm en, who escapes w ith m inor w ounds. The w ould-be-assassin, an A rm enian nam ed M ax K lin d jia n , is s u b s e q u e n tly a r r e s te d in M a rse ille s an d r e tu r n e d to Switzerland for trial. The JCAG claims credit for the attack. February 18, 1980

Rome

Bomb a tta c k s on th e THY and Turkish Tourism B u reau offices on th e Piazza Della Republica. The blasts kill two Italians and injure fourteen. Credit for the attack is claimed by the "New Armenian Resistance of th e Armenian Secret Army." April 17, 1980

M arseilles

A ro ck et a im e d a t th e T u rk ish C o n s u la te G en eral in M a rs e ille s is disvovered and defused prior to exploding. ASALA and a group calling itself "Black April" claim credit for the attack. J u ly 31, 1980

Lyon

Two terrorists storm into the Turkish Consulate General in Lyon and open tire, killing two and injuring several other bystanders. ASALA claims credit for the attack. August 11,1980

N ew York

An "Armenian group" hurls paint bombs a t the Turkish House across from the United Nations, home of the Turkish Representations in New York. Septem ber 26, 1980

Paris

Selcuk Bakkalba^i, the Press Counselor a t the Turkish Embassy, is shot as be enters his home. Bakkalba^i survives but is permanently paralyzed as a result, of his injuries. ASALA claims responsibility for the attack. O cto b er 3, 1980

Geneva

Tw o A rm enian te rro rists are injured when a bomb they are p rep arin g explodes in th eir Geneva hotel room. The two, Suzy M ahseredjian from C anoga Park, California, and Alexander Yenikomechian, are arrested. Their a r r e s t leads to the form ation of a new group called "October 3," which subsequently strikes a t Swiss targets.

Rome

The Turkish am bassador to the Holy See, Vecdi Turel, is shot and seriously wounded. His chauffeur, Tahsin Guveng, is also slightly wounded in th e assassination attem pt. JCAG claims responsibility for the attack. May 19, 1980

August 5, 1980

Rome

The offices of L ufthansa, El A1 and Sw issair are dam aged by two bomb attacks. Telephone m essages give th ree reasons for th e attacks: 1. The G erm ans support "Turkish fascism"; 2. The Jews are Zionists (ASALA); 3. The Swiss behave "repressively" towards the Armenians. M arch 10, 1980

Ozmen and his fourteen-year-old daughter, N eslihan, are killed in th e attack. His wife, Sevil, and his sixteen-year-old-son, Kaan, are wounded. Credit for the double killing is claimed by ASALA.

A thens

Galip Ozmen, th e Adm inistrative A ttache a t th e Turkish Embassy, and his family are attacked by A rmenian terrorists while sitting in their car. Galip

O cto b er 3, 1980

M ilan

Two Italians are injured when a bomb explodes in front of the THY offices. ASALA claims credit for the attack. O ctob er 5, 1980

Madrid

The offices of Alitaila are rocked by a bomb explosion which injures twelve individuals. The ASALA claims responsibility for the attack. O ctob er 6, 1980

Los A ngeles

Two molotov cocktails are throw n into the home of th e Turkish Consul G eneral, Kemal A nkan. He survives w ith injuries.

October 10, 1980

B eirut

Two boms explode near Swiss offices in West Beirut. A group calling itself "October ,T claims responsibility for these bombings as well as others on the same clay against Swiss ofiices in England.

November 9, 1980

ii, .ivy damage resu lts from a bomb b la st a t the T urkish <u'lHTal. The attack is claimed by ASALA. November 10, 1980

October 12, 1980

N ew York

A bomb placed in front of the Turkish House explodes. Four passers-by are injured. JCAG assumes responsibility.

Strasbourg

Rome

people are injured in attacks on the Swissair and Swiss Tourist offices. ASALA and "October 3" claim credit. Five

November 19, 1980 October 12, 1980

Los A ngeles

A travel agency in Hollywood, owned by a Turkish - American, is destroyed. JCAG claims responsibility.

Rome

The offices of the Turkish Tourism Bureau and those of THY are damaged by a bomb explosion. ASALA claims responsibility. November 25, 1980

O ctober 12, 1980

London

The Turkish Tourism and Information Bureau's offices are damaged by a bomb explosion. ASALA claims credit.

G eneva

The offices' of the Union of Swiss B anks are h it by a bomb explosion. Responsibility is claimed by "October 3." December 5, 1980

O ctober 12, 1980

London

A Swiss shopping complex in central London is damaged by a bomb blast. Callers claim the explosion was the work of "October 3." P aris

A Swiss tourist office is damaged by a bomb explosion. "October 3" again claims credit. O ctober 21, 1980

M arseilles

A police expert d efu ses a tim e bom b le ft a t th e Sw iss C o n su la te in Marseilles. "October 3" claims responsibility. December 15, 1980

O ctober 13, 1980

C onsulate

London

Two bombs placed in front of the F rench Tourism Office in London are defuesd by a Scotland Yard bomb squad. "October 3" claims the bombs are a warning to the F rench for assistance th ey have rendered the Swiss in fighting Armenian terrorism .

In terlak en , S w itzerlan d Decem ber 17, 1980

S yd ney

A bomb is found in a Swiss express train coming from Paris. Luckily, it does not explode. "October 3" is believed to be behind the action, which could have caused a catastrophe.

Two terrorists assassinate ยง a n k Anyak, the Turkish Consul General, and his bodyguard, Engin Sever. JCAG claims responsibility.

N ovem ber 4, 1980

D ecem b er 25, 1980

G eneva

T he Swiss P alace of J u stic e in G eneva is heavily dam aged by a bomb explosion. Credit is claimed by "October 3."

Zurich

A bomb explosion destroys a rad ar monitor a t Kloten Airport, and a second explosive planted on the m ain runw ay of the airport is defused. "October 3" claim s credit for these attem pted mass-murders.

D ecem ber 29, 1980

M adrid

A Spanish reporter is seriously injured in a telephone booth while calling in a story to his paper about the bomb attack on the Swissair offices. "October 3" claims responsibility. D ecem ber 30, 1980

B eirut

Bomb attack on the Credit-Suisse offices. ASALA and "October 3" fight over who gets the credit. January 2, 1981

B eiru t

In a press communique, ASALA th reaten s to "attack all Swiss diplom ats throughout the world" in response to the alleged m istreatm ent of "Suzy a n d Alex" in Switzerland. On Jan u ary 4, ASALA issues a statem en t giving th e Swiss a fev days to th in k things over. January 14, 1981

P aris

A bomb explodes in th e car of Ahm et Erbeyli, the Economic Counselor of th e Turkish Embassy. Erbeyli is not injured, b u t th e explosion totally destroys his car. A group calling itself th e "Alex Yenikom echian Comm andos" o f ASALA claims credit for the explosion. January 27, 1981

Los A ngeles

Bom b-squad officials d isarm a bomb left a t th e Sw iss C onsulate. T he te rro ris ts th re a te n in anonym ous phone calls th a t such a tta c k s w ill continue until Suzy M ahseredjian is released. February 5, 1981

Paris

Two terrorists open fire on Reยงat Morali, Labor A ttache a t the Turkish Embassy, Tecelli A n, Religious Affairs A ttache, and Ilkay KarakoQ, the Paris representative of the Anadolu Bank. Morali and A n are assassinated. Karakog manages to escape. ASALA claims responsibility. March 12, 1981

Teheran

A group of ASALA terrorists try to occupy the Turkish Embassy, killing two guards in th e process. Two of th e p erp etrato rs are captured and la te r executed by the Iranians. ASALA claims credit. April 3, 1981

C openhagen

Cavit Demir, the Labor A ttache a t the Turkish Embassy, is shot as he enters his apartm ent building late in the evening and is seriously wounded. Both ASALA and JCAG claim the attack. J u n e 3,1981

Los A ngeles

Bom bs force th e cancellation of perform ances by a Turkish folk-dance <jroup. Threats of sim ilar bombings force the group's performances in San Francisco to be canceled as well.

M ilan

The S w issair and Swiss Tourist offices in M ilan are dam aged by bomb explosions. Two passers-by are injured. "October 3" claims credit for th e bombing in a call to local media representatives. February 3, 1981

March 4, 1981

Paris

Bombs explode in th e TWA and A ir F rance offices. One in ju red , heavy m aterial dam age. "October 3" claims credit.

J u n e 9, 1981

G eneva

M ehm et Sava$ Yerguz, Secretary in the Turkish, Consulate, is assassinated by the Armenian terrorist Mardiros Jamgotchian. The arrest of th e ASALA te rro rist leads to the formation of a new ASALA branch called the "Ninth of J u n e Organization," which will be responsible for anew series of attacks. J u n e 11,1981

Paris

A group of Armenian terrorists, led by one Ara Toranian, occupies the THY offices. Initially ignored by the French authorities, the terrorists are only ev icted from th e p rem ises a fte r v eh em en t p ro te sts from th e T urkish Embassy. J u n e 19, 1981

Teheran

A bom b ex p lo d es a t th e offices o f S w issa ir. T he " N in th of J u n e Organization" claims responsibility.

Ju n e 26, 1981

Los A ngeles

A bomb explodes in front of the Swiss Banking Corporation offices. Again the work of the "Ninth of June Organization." Ju ly 19, 1981

Two pc'ople are injured as a bomb explodes in front of the THY offices. Police experts m anage to defuse a second bomb. Credit is claimed by a "Sixth Armenian Liberation Army." Septem ber 17, 1981

Teheran

A bomb explosion damages a Swiss Embassy building. ASALA's "Ninth of June" claims responsibility.

Zurich

"Ninth of June" strikes again. A bomb explodes in an autom atic photo-booth a t Zurichâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s International Airport. Ju ly 21, 1981

Copenhagen

Bern

A bomb explodes a t the Swiss Parliam ent Building. "Ninth of June" claims responsibility. Ju ly 20, 1981

Septem ber 15, 1981

L au ssan e

Twent women are injured as a bomb laid by Armenian terro rists explodes in a departm ent store. "Ninth of June" claims responsibility.

S ep tem b er 24, 1981

Paris

F our Armenian terrorists occupy the Turkish Consulate General. During th e ir entry into the building, the Consul, Kaya Inal, and a security guard, Cemal Oxen, are seriously wounded. Terrorists take 56 hostages. Ozen dies of his injuries in the hospital. The terrorists are ASALA members. October.'}, 1981

Geneva

A bomb explodes in a locker at the train station. A uthorities suspect "Ninth of June."

T he main post, office and the city courthouse are hit by bomb explosions.An ASALA member is scheduled to go on trial for m urder in the courthouse. "N in th of June" claim s credit for the attacks, which leave one person injured.

J u ly 22, 1981

O ctob er 25, 1981

J u ly 22, 1981

G eneva

Rome

An hour later, a second bomb explodes in a locker a t th e station. Police cordoned off th e area following th e first explosion, th e re b y p rev en tin g injuries from th e second.

An Armenian terrorist fires at Gokberk Ergenekon, Second Secretary at the T urkish Embassy. Ergenekon is wounded in the arm. ASALA claims credit, in th e name of the "September 24 Suicide Commandos".

A ugust 11,1981

O ctober 25, 1981

C openh agen

Paris

Two bombs, destroy th e offices of Swissair. An American to u rist is injured in the explosion. "Ninth of June" claims responsibility.

F o u q u et's. th e fashionable French re s ta u ra n t, is th e ta rg e t of a bomb attack. A group calling itself "September-France" claims the attack.

A ugust 20, 1981

O ctober 26, 1981

L os A ngeles

Paris

A bomb explodes outside the offices of Swiss Precision In stru m en ts. The attack is claimed by "Ninth of June."

The same group is behind the explosion of a booby-trapped automobile in front of "Le Drugstore."

A ugust 20, 1981

O ctober 27, 1981

P aris

Explosion a t A litalia Airlines. "October 3" is back in action.

Paris

"September-France" carries out a bomb attack a t Roissy Airport.

October 27, 1981

P aris

A second bomb explodes near a busy escalator a t Roissy Airport. No one is injured. "September-France" claims responsibility. October 28, 1981

Novem ber 15, 1981

B eirut

Simultaneous bomb attacks are carried out against three French targets: th e "Union des A ssurances de P aris", the Air F ran ce offices and th e "Banque Libano-Frangaise". "Orly" is responsible.

P aris N ovem ber 15, 1981

Paris

The same group is responsible for a bomb attack in a movie theater. Three people are injured.

A McDonald's restau ran t is destroyed by "September-France"

Novem ber 3, 1981

N ovem ber 16, 1981

M adrid

Paris

A bomb explodes in front of the Sw issair offices, in ju rin g th ree persons. Considerable damage to nearby buildings. ASALA claims responsibility.

A bomb injures two innocent bystanders a t the Gare de l'Est. "Orly" claims responsibility.

N ovem ber 5, 1981

N ovem ber 18, 1981

Paris

A bomb explodes in th e Gare de Lyon, injuring one person. The attack is claimed by the A rmenian "Orly Organization."

"Orly" announces th a t it has planted abomb at the Gare du Nord. N ovem ber 20, 1981

N ovem ber 12, 1981

B eirut

Sim ultaneous bomb explosions occur in front of th ree French offices: th e French C ultural Center, the Air France offices and th e home of th e French Consul G en eral. The "Orly O rg an izatio n " claim s resp o n sib ility . T h is organization owes its nam e to the fact th a t the French police arrested an Armenian at Orly A irport in Paris because of forged papers. The idea now is to "bomb him free". N ovem ber 14, 1981

Paris

A bomb explosion dam ages an autom obile n e a r th e Eiffel Tower. "Orly" claims responsibility. N ovem ber 14, 1981

Paris

"Orly" launchers a grenade attack on a group of tourists disem barking from a sightseeing boat on the River Seine. Novem ber 15, 1981

Paris

"Orly" threatens to blow up an Air France airplane in flight.

Paris

Los A ngeles

T he Turkish Consulate General in Beverly Hills suffers extensive damage. T he JCAG claims credit. J a n u a ry 13, 1982

Toronto

A n ASALA bomb causes extensive dam age to th e T urkish C o n su late General. J a n u ary 17, 1982

G eneva

Two boms destroy parked cars. The ASALA "Ninth of Ju n e Organization" claims credit. Jan u ary 17, 1982

Paris

A bomb explodes at the Union of Banks and a second is disarm ed a t the C redit Lyonnais. "Orly" claims responsibility. Jan u ary 19, 1982

Paris

A bomb explodes in the Air France offices in the Palais des Congres. "Orly" claims responsibility.

Jan u ary 28, 1982

Los A ngeles

Kemal Arikan, the Turkish Consul General in Los Angeles, is assassin ated by tw o te r r o r is ts w h ile d riv in g to w ork. N in eteen y e a r old H u m p ig Sassounian is arrested and sentenced to life.

throughout the world. In the course of the investigation, it is discovered that the terrorists fire-bombed the house of an Armenian who refused to make his contribution to Armenia terrorism . May 18, 1982

M arch 22, 1982

C am bridge, M assach usetts

A gift shop belonging to O rhan Gundiiz, th e Turkish H onorary C onsul General in Boston, is blown up. Gundiiz receives an ultim atum : E ith er he gives up his honorary position or he will be "executed." Responsibility is claimed by the JCAG. M arch 26, 1982

B eirut

Two dead, sixteen injured in an explosion at Đž movie theater. ASALA claims credit for the attack. A pril 8, 1982

O ttowa

Kani Gungor, the Commercial Attache at the Turkish Em bassy in O ttaw a, is seriously wounded in an attack by Armenian terrorists in the garage of his apartm ent house. ASALA claims responsibility. A pril 24, 1982

D ortm und, West G erm any

Tampa, Florida

Attack at the office of Nash K arahan, the Turkish Consul General. May 26, 1982

Los A ngeles

A bomb dam ages the officc of Swiss Banking Corporation. The suspects: four Armenians accused of involvement in ASALA. May .â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;{0, 1982

Los A ngeles

Three members of ASALA are arrested when planting a bomb in the Air ( 'anada cargo-office. J u n e 7, 1982

Lisbon

T he Administrative Attache at the Turkish Embassy, E rkut Akbay, and his wife, Nadido Akbay, are assassinated in front of their home. JCAG claims responsibility. J u ly I, 1982

R otterdam

S everal T urkish-o w n ed b u sin esses su ffer ex ten siv e d am ag e in bomb a tta c k s . T h e "New A rm e n ia n R e s is ta n c e O rg a n iz a tio n " " .a im s responsibility.

K em alottin Demirer, the Turkish Consul General in R otterdam , is shot dow n by (bur A rm eian te rro ris ts . An "A rm enian Red A rm y" claim s responsibility.

May 4, 1982

J u ly 21, 1982

C am bridge, M assach u setts

O rh an G tindiiz, th e T u rk ish H o n o rary C onsul G en eral in B oston is assassinated. The m urderer is still a t large. May 10, 1982

G eneva

Paris

Sixteen injured in a bomb explosien near a cafe in the Place Saint-Severin. C red it is claim ed by th e Orly O rganization. "Orly" com plains th a t the F re n c h do not tr e a t th e a rre s te d . A rm en ia n te rr o r is ts as "political prisoners," but rath er as ordinary criminals.

Bombs explode a t two banks. The attack s are claimed by an A rm enian "World Punishm ent Organization."

J u ly 26, 1982

May 18, 1982

"Orly" is responsible for injuring two women in an explosion in P aris "Pub Saint-Germ ain."

Toronto

F our A rm enians are a rre s te d for try in g to sm uggle m oney o u t of th e country. The m oney was extorted from A rm enians, a common practice

Paris

Decem ber 8, 1982 August 2, 1982

P aris

Pierre G ulum ian, an A rm enian te rro rists, is killed w hen a bomb he is making explodes in his face. August 7, 1982

A nkara, E sen b oga A irport

Two Arm enian terrorists open fire in a crowded passenger w aiting room. One of the terrorists takes more th a n tw enty hostages while th e second is apprehended by th e police. Nine people are dead and eighty-two-injuredsome seriously. The surviving terrorists, Levon Ekm ekjian is arrested and sentenced.

A thens

Two Armenians on a motorbike throw a bomb a t the offices of the Saudi Arabian Airlines. The bomb hits a power pylon, explodes and kills one of th e te rr o ris ts . H is accom plice, an A rm en ia n from Ira n nam ed V ahe K ontaverdian is arrested . It is la te r revealed th a t ASALA ordered the attack because Saudi Arabia m aintains friendly relations w ith Turkey. January 21, 1983

A naheim , C alifornia

Nine "sophisticated" pipe bombs are confiscated from an Armenian bakery after one of the detonators goes off and causes fire. January 22, 1983

P aris

A bomb is defused in time. "Orly" regrets th e discovery.

Two te rro rists a tta c k the offices of THY with h an d grenades. No one is injured. ASALA claims credit.

August 12, 1982

Jan u ary 22, 1983

August 8, 1982

P aris

Terrorists open fire on a policeman assigned to protect the offices of th e Turkish Tourism Attache. Luckily, he escapes w ithout injury.

French police defuse a powerful explosive device near the THY counter at Orly airport.

August 27, 1982

F eb ru ary 2, 1983

O ttaw a

B ru ssels

Colonel A tilla A ltikat, th e M ilitary A ttache at th e T urkish Embassy, is assassinated in his car. JCAG claims responsibility.

T h e offices of TH Y a re bom bed. T he "New A rm e n ia n R e s is ta n c e Organization" claims responsibility.

Septem ber 9, 1982

F eb ru ary 28, 1983

B urgaz, B u lgaria

Bora S u elk an , th e A d m in istra tiv e A tta c h e a t th e T u rk ish C o n su late Genera] in Burgaz, in assassin ated in fro n t of his home. The assassin leaves a m essage "We shot dead th e T urkish diplomat: Com bat U nits of Justice Against the Arm enian Genocide." An anonymous caller claims th a t the assassination is th e work of a branch of th e ASALA. October 26, 1982

Los A n geles

Five Armenian terrorists are charged with conspiring to blow up the offices of the H onorary Turkish Consul G eneral in Philadelphia. All belong to the JCAG.

L uxem bourg

A bomb placed in front of Turkey's diplom atic m ission is defused. The A rm e n ia n R e p o rte r in New York r e p o r ts t h a t th e "New A rm e n ia n R esistance Organization" is responsible. F ebruary 28, 1983

P aris

A bomb explodes a t the M arm ara Travel Agency. Killed in the explosion is Renee Morin, a French secretary. Four other Frenchm en are wounded. A few m inutes after the attack, ASALA claims responsibility. M arch 9, 1983

B elgrade

G alip B alkar, the T urkish A m bassador to Yugoslavia is assassin ated in central Belgrade. His chauffeur, Necati K ayar is shot in the stomach. As the

two assailants Пес from the scene, they are bravely pursued by Yugoslav citizens. One of the terrorists shoots and wounds a Yugoslav Colonel, and is in turn apprehended by a policeman. The second te rro rist opens fire on civilians who are chasing him, killing a young stu d en t and w ounding a young girl. The two terro rists, Kirkor Levonian and Raffi E lbekian, a r e tried and sentenced. March 31, 1983

Frankfurt

An anonymous caller threatened to bomb th e offices and kill th e staff of Tercuman newspaper, a Turkish daily. May 24, 1983

B ru ssels

Boms explode in front of the Turkish Embassy's Culture and Inform ation offices and in front of a Turkish-owned travel agency. The Italian director of the travel agency is wounded. ASALA claims credit. Ju n e 16, 1983

ista n b u l

Armenian terrorists carry out an attack with hand grenades and autom atic w eapons inside th e covered b a z a a r in ista n b u l. Two dead, tw en ty -o n e wounded. ASALA claims responsibility. J u ly 8, 1983

Paris

July 15, 1983

London

A bomb, sim ilar to the one th a t exploded a t Orly, is defused in time. ASALA claims responsibility for both attacks. July 18, 1983

Lyon

A bomb th re a t is m ade by ASALA against the Lyon railroad station. July 20, 1983

Lyon

Panicky evacuation of Lyon's G are de Perrache following a bomb th re a t from ASALA. Ju ly 22, 1983

Teheran

"Orly" carries out bomb attacks on the French Embassy and Air France. Ju ly 27, 1983

Lisbon

Five Armenian terrorists attem pt to storm the Turkish Embassy in Lisbon. Failing to gain access to the chancery, they occupy the residence, taking the D eputy Chief’ of Mission (DCM) and his family hostage. When explosives being planted by the terrorists go off, Cahide Mihgioglu, wife of the DCM and four of'the terrorists are blown to pieces. The DCM, Yurtsev Mihgioglu, and his son Atasay are injured. The fifth terrorists is killed in the initial assault by Turkish security forces. One Portuguese policeman is also killed and another wounded. The ARA claims responsibility.

Armenian terro rists attack the offices of th e British Council, p ro testin g against the trials of Armenians in London.

J u ly 28, 1983

J u ly 14, 1983

A nother bomb th re a t on Lyon-Perrache railroad station. ASALA claims responsibility.

B ru ssels

Lyon

Armenian terrorists m urder D ursun Aksoy, the Adm inistrative A ttache a t the Turkish Embassy. ASALA, ARA and JCAG claim responsibility.

J u ly 29, 1983

Ju ly 15, 1983

A threat to blow up the French Embassy in Teheran with a rocket attack causes Iranian officials to increase security a t the facility.

Paris

A bomb explodes in front of the THY counter a t Orly Airport. E ight dead, more than sixty injured. A 29 years old Syrian-Armenian nam ed Varadjian Garbidjian confesses to having planted the bomb. He adm its th a t the bomb was intended to have exploded once the plane was airborne.

J u ly 31, 1983

Teheran

Lyon and R en n es

Bomb threats from Armenian terrorists force the emergency landing of two domestic French flights carrying 424 passengers.

A ugust 10, 1983

Teheran

A bomb explodes in an automobile at the French Embassy. ASALA claims credit for the attack. A ugust 25, 1983

Bonn

A whole series of bomb attacks ag ain st offices of th e French C o n su late G eneral claim two lives and leave tw enty-three injured. ASALA claim s responsibility.

Hasan Servet Oktem, First Secretary of the Turkish Embassy, is slightly wounded ashe leaves his home; Ibrahim Ozdemir, the A dm inistrative A ttache a t th e Turkish Embassy, alerts police to two suspicious looking men. They tu rn out to be Armenian terrorists and are arrested; In th e afte rn o o n of th e sam e day, I ra n ia n police a r r e s t th re e m ore Armenian terrorists outside the Turkish Embassy;

Septem ber 9, 1983

Teheran

Two F rench E m bassy cars are bombed. One of th e bombs in ju re s tw o embassy staff members. ASALA claims credit. October 1, 1983

M arseilles

A bomb b la s t d estro y s th e U .S., Soviet an d A lg erian p av ilio n s a t a n international trade fair in Marseilles. One person is killed and tw enty-six injured. ASALA and "Orly" claim credit. O ctober 6, 1983

An Armenian terrorists is killed when a bomb he is attem pting to plant in t h | c a r of th e T u rk is h A s s is ta n t C o m m ercial C o u n se lo r ex p lo d es prem aturely. The dead terrorists is la te r identified as S ultan Gregorian Sem aperdan (ASALA). M arch 29, 1984

Los A ngeles

ASALA sends a w ritten th re a t, saying th ey will a s s a s s in a te T urkish a th lete s who take p art in the Olympics.

Teheran

A French E m bassy vehicle is bombed, in ju rin g two p assen g ers. "Orly" claims responsibility. O ctober 29, 1983

A p ril 8, 1984

B eirut

ASALA issues a communique w arning th a t all flights to Turkey will be considered m ilitary targets.

B eiru t

Pland-grenade attack on the French Embassy. One of the ASALA terro rists is arrested. February 8, 1984

Paris

A p ril 26, 1984

Ankara

The Turkish Prime Minister, Turgut Ozal, receives a th re a t w arning him th a t if he goes ahead with a planned visit to Teheran, ASALA will schedule a m ajor terrorists operation against his country.

Bomb th rea t on an Air France flight to New York. A p ril 28, 1984 M arch 28, 1984

T eheran

A tim ed series of attacks is carried out against Turkish diplomats: Two A rm en ian te rr o r is ts shoot an d serio u sly wound S e rg e a n t Ism ail Pamuk^u, employed a t th e office of th e Turkish M ilitary Attache;

Teheran

Two Arm enian terrorists riding a motorcycle open fire on Iยงik Yonder as he drives his wife, Sadiye Yonder, to the Turkish Embassy where she works. Iยงik Yonder is killed, and ASALA claims credit for yet another senseless m urder. J u n e 20, 1984

V ienna

A bomb explodes in a car belonging to Erdogan Ozen, A ssistant Labor and

Social Affairs Counselor at the Turkish Em bassy in Vienna. Ozen is killed and five others seriously wounded, including a policeman. ARA te rro rists claim credit for the crime.

D ecem ber 1984

Authorities are able to thw art a bombing attem pt a t the residence of Selguk Incesu, Turkish Consul General. D ecem ber 29, 1984

June 25, 1984

Los A n g eles

A news agency office in France receives a letter th reaten in g to attack all governm ents, org an izatio n s an d com panies w hich a s s is t, in an y w a y whatsoever, Turkey's team at th e Los Angeles Olympics. August 13, 1984 Lyon A bomb explodes in a Lyon tra in station causing m inor dam age. ASALA claims credit. Septem ber 1984

Two French buildings in E ast Beirut are bombed. ASALA claims credit. D ecem ber 29, 1984

T eheran

Iranian authorities expose a plot to assassin ate Ism et Birsel, th e Turkish Ambassador to Teheran. Ista n b u l

Two Armenian terrorists die as one of th e ir bombs goes off too soon. The ARA claims credit. Novem ber 19, 1984

P aris

Following an ASALA th reat to blow up an Air France plane, police increase security a t the Charles de Gaulle Airport. Jan u ary 3, 1985

B eirut

The offices of Agence France Presse are extensively damaged when a bomb explodes. M arch 3, 1985

V ienna

Evner Ergun, Deputy Director of th e C entre for Social Development and H um anitarian Affairs of the U nited N ations, V ienna is assassinated while driving to work. The assassins leavve a flag w ith th e initials 'ARA on his body.

Paris

An anonymous caller to Agence France Presse threatens to attack French interests throughout the world upon the indictm ent of the three terrorists who participated in the Orly attack. M arch 12, 1985

Septem ber 3,r1984

B eiru t

T eheran

Several Turkish owned firms in Ira n come u n d er attack after receiving w arning letters inform ing them th a t th e y are to be targ eted . The fir s t victim is the Sezai Turkeยง Company. A Turkish employee is injured while lighting the fire caused by the explosion. A chain of sm aller scale acts of intimidation follows. Sem ptem ber 1, 1984

B ru ssels

Ottawa

T hroe heavily arm ed te rro rists storm th e Turkish Em bassy, killing a C anadian security guard in the process. After blowing up the front door, the gunrhen enter the building. Ambassador Coยงkun Kirca manages to escape but suffers extensive injuries. The wife and daughter of the Ambassador, who were taken hostage, are later released, and the terrorists surrender. ARA claims responsibility. March 2fi, 1985

Toronto

A th re a t to blow up the city of Toronto's tra n s it system leads to chaos during the rush hour. An "Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Our Homeland" claims responsibility for the threat. N ovem ber 1985

B ru ssels

A special anti-terrorist security squand of the Belgian police exposes and arrests three A rm enian terrorists with Portuguese passports. They were planning an attack on Turkish officers a t NATO headquarters.

N ovem ber 28, 1985

P aris

French police arrest the leader of the terrorists organization-the "Arm enian S ecret A rm y for th e L ib eratio n of A rm en ia-R ev o lu tio n ary M ovem ent" (ASALARM) — Mr. M onte M elkonian, a U.S. citizen . In M elk o n ian 's a p a rtm e n t, police confiscate w eapons, explosive devices, a rriv a l la n d departure inform ation on Turkish ships scheduled to visit F rance an d a picture of Turkey's Ambassador to France, Adnan Bulak. D ecem ber 1985

P aris

Forty-one shoppers in two of P a ris1 leading d ep artm en t stores (G allerie L afay ette an d P rin te m p s) a re in ju red (tw elve seriously) w hen n e a rly sim u ltan e o u s bomb explosions rip th ro u g h th e s tre e t. T he A rm e n ia n Reporter, published in New York, reports in its December 12 th e issue th a t French law enforcem ent authorities are concentrating on ASALA as th e most likely perpatrator. ASALA la ter takes credit for th e two bombings. N ovem ber 23, 1986

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M elbourne

At 2:15 a.m. a bomb explodes in front of th e Turkish Consulate General. One dead -presum edly the perpetrator- and one A ustralian injured. • • • • • • • • • • •

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• Me Carthy, Justin, Muslims and Minorities, the population of Ottoman Ana tolia and the end of the Empire. New York, London, 1983; • "Armenian Terrorism, History as Potson and Anatidode", Ottoman ArchivesYildiz Collection the Armenian Question - Osmanh Ar§ivi-Yildiz Tasnifi-Ermeni Meselesi tarihi Ara§tirmalar ve Doktimantasyon Merkezleri Kurma ve Geli§tirme Vakfi, Istanbul, 1989,1. cilt: • Migirdig, Agop, Turkiye Ermenileri. Istanbul, 1338. Moser, Pierre A., Armeniens, ой est la realitee? Saint Aqullindepacy. 1980. Nazim Pa§a (Zaptiye Nazim), Ermeni Tarih (1) Vukuati. 22 Kanun-i Evvel 1312 (3 Ocak 1896)'da Sultan Abdulhamid'e Nazim Pa§a'nm Arzettigi Rapor, Ba§bakanlik Ar§ivi, Yildiz Tasnifi, Kisim 36, nu. 131,151. Nogales, Rafael de, Four Years Bneath the Crezcent. New York, 1926. • Terc. Kaymakam Hakki, Hilal Altinda Dort Sene ve Buna Ait bir Cevap, iiistanbul, 1931. Onar, Mustafa, Kurulu§undan Kurtulu§una Baglantilari ile Saimbeyli. Adana 1989. Оке, M. Kemal, Ermeni Meselesi. Istanbul, 1986. Ozalp, Yalgm, Gazilerin Dilinden Milli Mtlcadelemiz. 1986. Ozkan, Zafer, Ermeni Tehciri, Ankara Universitesi Tiirk Inkilap Tarihi Enstittisti, basilmami§ Doktora Tezi, Ankara, 1985. Ozkaya, Inayetullah Cemal, Le Peuple Armenien et les tentatives de reduire le peuple turc en sevitude. Ankara, 1971. Polonsky, J., Documents diplomatiques secrets russes, 1914-1917. D'apres les Archives du Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres a Petrograd. Paris, 1928. Sabis, Ali Ihsan, Harp Hatiralarim. Ankara, 1951. Sakarya, ihsan, Belgelerle Ermeni Sorunu. Ankara, 1984. Saral, Ahmet Hulki, Ermeni Meselesi. Ankara, 1970. Sonyel, R. Salahi, "Tehcir ve Kirimlar Konusunda Ermeni Propagandasi. Hiristiyanlik Dtinyasim Nasil Aldatti". Belleten, T.T.K., cilt: PXLI, sayi: 161, Ocak 1977. • Ermeni Tehciri ve Belgeleri (Tiirkge-ingilizce-Fransizca). Ankara, 1978. • Yeni Belgelerin I§igi Altinda Ermeni Tehcirleri”. Belleten TTK, c.XXXVI sayi 141, Ocak 1972, Ankara. Siislti, Azmi, Ruslara Gore Ermenilerin Ttirklere Yaptiklan Mezalim, Ankara, 1987; • Siislii, Azmi, Ermenilerin Yaptiklan Katliamlar, Ankara, 1986, General Mayewski'nin Les Massacres d'Armenie-Statistique des Provinces de Van et de Bit lis (Fransizca ve Rusfa metin). Petersbourg, 1916'dan tercume. • Silslii, Azmi, Ermeniler ve 1915 Tehcir Olayi. Ankara, 1990. • Stislu Azmi, Armenians and the 1915 event of Displacement. Ankara, 1994. Stinbtil, Tahir, Azerbaycan Dosyasi I, Ankara, 1990.

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Nisan 1990'da yapilan sempozyum ve toplu mezar kazisi, Ankara, 1990, .1994. Yildinm, Htisamettin, Rus-Turk Ermeni Munasebetleri, Ankara, 1990. Yurtsever, Cezmi, Ermeni Teror Merkezi Kilikya Kilisesi. Istanbul, 1983. Ayni yazar, (pukurova'da Tiirklerin Soykinma Ugradigi Bir Yer, Ye§iloba, Anka ra, 1990. Ayni yazar, Zeytunlu'nun 311 Mirasi... Andmn Baskmi... Geben Faciasi... £ukurhisar Soykinmi ve Ortaya Qikanlan Toplu Mezarlar... Ankara, 1991. Zeve, Van'x Tanima ve Tamtma Cemiyeti Yayini nu.2. Istanbul, 1963.

KOKSAV -KOK SOCIAL AND STRATEGIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION PUBLICATIONS A. KOK SERIES OF SOCIAL AND STRATEGIC RESEARCH 1.Prof. Dr. Mehlika Aktok KA§GARLI, Kilikya Tabi Ermeni Baronlugu Tarihi, Ankara 1990, Altincioglu Matbaasi, XV + 181 pages., (Out of Stock) 2.Yasin ASLAN, Can Azerbaycan (Karabagj’da Talan Var), Editor Dr. Bugra Atsiz, Baysan Basim ve Yayrn Sanayii A.§., 110 pages., (Out of Stock) 3.

Yard, Dog. Dr. Zeynel Abidin MAKAS, Azerbaycan'in Tarihi ve Kiiltiirel Cografyasi, Ankara 1990, Baysan Basim ve Yaym Sanayi A.§., VI+60 pages., (Out of Stock)

4. Mirza Cevan§ir KARABAGLI, Karabag Tarihi, Qev. Tahir Stinbiil, Ankara 1990, Detay Basim Cilt ve Miicellithanesi, 104 pages. 5. Tahir SUNBUL, Azerbaycan Dosyasi I, Ankara 1990, Detay Basim Cilt ve Miicellithanesi, 150 pages. 6. Hiisamettin YILDIRIM, Rus-Turk-Ermeni Munasebetleri (1914-1918), Ankara 1990, Detay Basim Cilt ve Miicellithanesi, XV1+137 pages. 7. Rustem HALILOGLU, Atina ile Lefkose Arasindaki Sava§in igyuzti, Ankara 1990, Detay Basim Cilt ve Miicellithanesi, VII+336 pages. 8. RaufR. DENKTA§, Kibrista Bitmeyen Kavga, Ankara 1991, Detay Basim Cilt ve Miicellithanesi, 12 pages. 9. RaufR. DENKTA§, Kibns Davamiz, Ankara 1991, Detay Basim Cilt ve Miicellithanesi, 80 pages. 10. Halim QAVU§OGLU, Balkanlar’da Pomak Turkleri-Tarih ve Sosyo-Kulturel Yapi, Ankara 1993, Detay Basim Cilt ve Miicellithanesi, VIII+232 pages.

B. KOK SERIES OF LIVE HISTORY 1. Ramazan KORKMAZ, Genel Olarak Ermeni Sorunu ve Canli Kaynaklardan Qildir’da Yapilan Ermeni Mezalimi, Ankara 1990, Baysan Basim ve Yaym Sanayii A.§., 23 pages. (Out of Stock) 2. Cezmi YURTSEVER, Qukurova’da Turkler’in Soykinma Ugradigi Bir Yer YE§ILOBA, Ankara 1990, Baysan Basim ve Yaym Sanayii A.§., 43 pages., (Out of Stock) 3. Cezmi YURTSEVER, Zeytunlu'nun 311 Mirasi, Ankara 1991, Ayyildiz Matbaasi, 64 pages., (Out ot Stock)

C. KOK SERIES OF SOCIAL AND STRATEGIC RESEARCH 1. General MAYEWSKY, Massacres by the Armenias Against the Turks, Edited by Prof. Dr. Azmi Siislii, Ankara 1991, Detay Priting and Binding Office, 86 pages. 2. Prof. Dr. Azmi SUSLU, Russian View on Atrocities Commited by the Armenians Against the Turks, Ankara 1991, Detay Printing and Binding Office, 176 pages. D. KOK SERIES OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH l.Yuksek Ogretimde Uygulamalar ve Yonelimler, Ankara 1992, Biiro Ozen Matbaacilik, 22 pages. E. KOK SERIES OF LITERATURE; POEMS 1. A hm et KOQAK, Atlilar, Ankara 1992, Ankara Yildiz Matbaacilik 137 pages. 2. A hm et KOQAK, Aynalar, Damlalar, Ankara 1992, Ankara Yildiz Matbaacilik, 116 pages.