THE LIONS OF MARASH

4.

Ur,
THE LIONS OF M A R A S H

PERSONAL E X P E R I E N C E S WITH

A M E R I C A N N E A R EAST

RELIEF, 1919-1922

BY S T A N L E Y E. K E R R

STATE U N I V E R S I T Y OF NEW YORK PRESS

ALBANY 1973
The Lions of Marash

First Edition

Published by State University of New York Press,

99 Washington Avenue, Albany, New York 12210

Copyright © 1973 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Book Design by Richard Hendel

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Kerr, Stanley Elphinstone.

The lions of Marash.
Bibliography: p.

i. Armenian massacres, 1915-1923. 2. Near East

Relief. 3. Armenians in Marash, Turkey (City)
4. Kerr, Stanley Elphinstone. I. Title.
DS5i.Ma8K47 36i.5'3'oga4 [B] 73-38°01
ISBN 0-87395-200-6
ISBN 0-87395-201-4 (microfiche)

Title Page Illustration:

The Marash Lion. This stone sculpture with its
Hittite hieroglyphic inscription dates from the ninth
century, B.C. It stood at the gate of the citadel of
Marash and is now an exhibit in the Museum of the
Ancient Orient, Istanbul, Turkey.
 To the innocent victims
of the siege of Marash,
January—February 1920.

r
 CONTENTS

Foreword by Bayard Dodge ix

Preface xv
Acknowledgments xvii
Introduction by Richard Hovannisian xix

PART ONE EXILE AND REPATRIATION

1. Marash on 20 January 1920 3
2. War on the Eastern Front 10
3. Resistance at Zeitun and Fundijak 14
4. Deportation from Marash 22
5. Wartime Relief Work in Aleppo 28
6. The Occupation of Cilicia 33
7. Rehabilitation 41
8. Unrest in Syria 52

PART TWO THE MARASH REBELLION

9. The French Occupation of Marash 61
10. Preparations for Conflict 65
11. Assignment to Marash 72
12. Harassment of the French 78
13. Disaster at Christmas 86
14. The Marash Rebellion 95
15. Events in the Mission Compound 104
16. The Sheikh's Quarter 113
17. Devastation and Massacre iso
18. Places of Defense and Refuge 131
19. Mediation & a Military Reversal 143
20. Corneloup's Withdrawal 152
21. Betrayal of a Trust 157
22. Victory for the Nationalists 164

r
Vlll : CONTENTS

23.. A Precarious Peace 175

24. The Retreat to Islahiy6 186
25. The French Evacuation 193

PART THREE THE EXODUS

26. Restoration of Order 199
27. Medical Affairs aog
28. The Conflicts at Urfa and Aintab 214
29. Muslim-Christian Encounters 221
30. The Hazards of Travel in Turkey 226
31. The End of Zeitun 231
32. The Accords of London and Ankara 235
33. Life under the Nationalist Regime 238
34. The Final Exodus 247

APPENDIX A
Memorandum of W. Nesbitt Chambers of Near East Relief
Relating to the Marash Disturbances of January 21 to
February 10, 1920 255

APPENDIX B
Extracts from the Diary of YMCA Secretary Crathern
Concerning the Siege and War in Marash, January 20 to
February 11, 1920 259

APPENDIX C
Portions of a Report of Auguste Bernau to the American
Consul J. B. Jackson, Aleppo, 21 September 1916 272

Notes 275

Bibliography 297
 FOREWORD

During World War I the Turkish government used a system of de-

portation to expel the Armenians from Anatolia, to drive them into
the Syrian Desert, and to exterminate as many of them as possible.
News of the deportations reached Ambassador Henry Morgenthau in
Constantinople almost as soon as they began by way of reports from
American missionaries to their headquarters in that city!. At the same
time the German missionaries in Marash reported to their Berlin
office on the passage of deportees from Zeitun. Ambassador Morgen-
thau forwarded all such information to Washington and early in
September 1915 urged the secretary of state to see that an organization
be created to raise funds and provide help to save the Armenians. He
added the grim statement, "The destruction of the Armenian race is
rapidly progressing." 1
In reply to this appeal Dr. James L. Barton, foreign secretary of
the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and my
father, Cleveland H. Dodge, called together a group of men who
organized what in the course of time became known as Near East
Reliefc At their first meeting they voted to raise $100,000. A month
later the money had been raised and transferred to Ambassador
Morgenthau. Since Mr. Dodge assumed the responsibility for payment
of all overhead expenses of the organization, and the workers were to
a large extent volunteers, whatever money was raised was used for
relief work in the Near East.
Funds were needed for refugees in Anatolia but also in the Caucasus,
Syria, Lebanon, Persia, and Greece. In the Urmia district of north-
i. James L. Barton, Story of Near East Relief (1915-1930): An Interpretation
(New York: Macmillan Co., 1930), p. 4.
X : FOREWORD

west Persia, Kurds—encouraged by the Turks—began to massacre the

Christian Nestorians, who fled further into Persia. Dr. Harry Pratt
Judson, president of the University of Chicago, led a timely expedi-
tion to Persia. Some three hundred thousand of the population of
Lebanon died of starvation, despite our efforts to give relief, for Jamal
Pasha withheld supplies of food in reprisal for the sympathy shown
by the Lebanese Christians, for the French as well as for the Arab re-
volt led by the gra id sharif Husain against the Turks.
The greatest need, however, was in the Caucasus. Conditions were
so horrible that people in America thought that the accounts about
them were exaggerated. When he went to the region as a member of
a commission, Howard Heinz of Pittsburgh exclaimed, "Merciful Godl
It's all true. Nobody has ever told the whole truth. Nobody could!"
Col. William Haskell was sent to the Caucasus as a relief com-
missioner. Herbert Hoover, then head of the American Relief Commis-
sion, arranged to contribute goods equal in value to about half a
million dollars per month, for nearly a year, while Near East Relief
provided the practical help to administer the aid. In the Caucasus
territory help was given to over three hundred thirty thousand people
in three hundred thirty-eight villages. More than thirty thousand
orphans were fed, clothed, and trained while they lived in recondi-
tioned barracks.
Until the war came to an end it was difficult for Near East Relief
to help the refugees in what was essentially hostile territory, for
Turkey sided with the Central Powers. But when the war came to a
close, Near East Relief was able to organize one of the most important
programs of service ever undertaken. The board of trustees was en-
larged. Charles V. Vickrey, general secretary from 1916 to 1929, with
the help of Barclay Acheson and Harold C. Jaquith, raised large sums
of money and recruited personnel. Nearly a thousand Americans served
overseas. They displayed wonderful heroism, even martyrdom. Twenty-
one of these workers and five missionaries died in the field from
typhus, pneumonia, and other diseases.
The trustees planned the establishment of fifteen centers for relief
in the Caucasus, Anatolia, Lebanon, and Greece. Each center was to
have orphanages, medical facilities, and industrial work for the
rehabilitation of the refugees. The blueprints of organization, there-
fore, included the personnel and equipment required for fifteen hospi-
tals. Disease was so prevalent that among the thirty thousand orphans
collected in the Caucasus not one was found in good health. In all,
thirty doctors and fifty nurses were selected with the help of the
 FOREWORD : XI

American Red Cross. A number of mission hospitals in Anatolia and

the American University Hospital in Beirut also offered their facilities.
Equipment for the hospital at Kharput in central Turkey had to be
transported five hundred miles on pack animals.
One of the great achievements of Near East Relief was its educa-
tional work. In each of its orphanages the children were given the
equivalent of a good primary school education. In orphanage shops
local carpenters, shoemakers, tinsmiths, tailors, dressmakers, bakers,
weavers, and other tradesmen served as practical and devoted teachers.
This activity not only provided clothing for the children but also
taught them the trades and the manual skills needed later for self-
support.
In Lebanon, some of the teachers thought that the most intelligent
pupils should be trained to become literary leaders of the new
Armenia. Many of their friends encouraged this idea, but with the
help of the exceedingly wise Catholicos, religious leader of the
Armenian community, and several of the leading businessmen, we
insisted upon teaching the orphans Arabic and trades.
The children enjoyed the manual work. In the big carpentry shop
at Amelias the boys erected a sign: Sweet Is the Bread of Our Sweat.
During the war Turkish commander Jamal Pasha gathered about
eight hundred Armenian refugees, both boys and girls, and placed
them in a French Catholic school building at Antoura. A military
officer was in charge, but the orphanage was under the general super-
vision of Halide" Edib, the famous Turkish feminist. At the time of Field
Marshall Lord Edmund Allenby's advance, when the Turks were
escaping to the north, Halide" asked me to be responsible for the
children. I arranged first for the American Red Cross and later for
Near East Relief to take charge of the orphanage. Professor J. Stewart
Crawford was made the administrator (one little boy put a hand in
one of Professor Crawford's hands, saying, "You are not our Mudir
Bey, you're our father 1").
The first Christmas celebration at Antoura was a moving experience.
The children had been given Muslim names under the Turkish ad-
ministration, but on this occasion the relief workers dealt out gifts
marked with their proper Christian names as they stood around a
huge Christmas tree. Imagine the feelings of these boys and girls when
they realized that they had been saved from the war and were being
cared for by loving Christian teachers.
Dr. Kerr's book explains how the Armenians suffered when the
French failed to retain their hold on Marash and other places which
Xll : FOREWORD

they had occupied, and how the Kemalists took steps to expel the
Armenians from their newly formed republic. Near East Relief
workers in the cities of Cilicia inquired whether the orphans would be
sent to Lebanon. One day I asked the viscount Robert Caix de Sainte
Aymour, secretary to the high commissioner for Syria and Lebanon,
for permission to bring twelve hundred orphans to Lebanon.. He
laughed and said, "Do you know what the man who just left my office
asked? He wanted permission to bring twenty-five hundred adults from
Cilicia to Lebanon!"
The orphans were brought southward in caravans with some riding
on pack animals, and many on foot. Once they reached the Baghdad
Railway they were packed into boxcars and brought to Beirut, some-
times on very short notice. At the boys' orphanage in Amelias I in-
formed the diminutive, white-haired Armenian in charge of reception
that several hundred boys were due to arrive there the next morning.
"Let 'em come!" he replied. After the children were unloaded from
the freight train, tired and dirty from their long journey by caravan
and boxcar, they were taken to the orphanage on the seaside at
Antelias, where they gave up their clothing to be cleaned and fumi-
gated. Then they were led naked into the Mediterranean. As Orientals
have a prejudice against nakedness, and none of the children had even
seen the ocean before, it was comical but sometimes pitiful to watch
them. Needless to say, they were thirsty after traveling overnight in the
train, so that the first thing they did was to drint the water. They were
amazed when they found it to be salty. After their clothes had been
cleaned and returned to them, the children were distributed among our
big orphanages at Ghazir and along the coast between Sidon and Jbail.
As the orphans reached the age of sixteen they left the institution
to live outside arid to find employment. Near East Relief organized
workers' homes, night schools, clubs, and other means of helping the
children to adapt themselves to the practical issues of life. Some were
adopted by local families.
It became obvious that Near East Relief could not become a perma-
nent organization to care for orphans. While the children were grow-
ing up, the adult refugees were finding work and improving the places
in which they lived. Accordingly, in 1925, Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones was
appointed to conduct a survey and to recommend whether the tempo-
rary relief should be entirely closed down or else changed into a
different form of work.
A conference was held at Robert College in Istanbul during the
spring of 1927 to discuss the findings of his survey. As a result of this
 FOREWORD : Xlll

conference, Near East Relief was brought to an end, and in 1930 the
Near East Foundation was established. Because the orphans had
matured enough to carry on without further help, and the refugees
had-for the most part been able to find work, the transition was not
too difficult to accomplish.
Today most of the eight thousand children once cared for in the
orphanages still live in Lebanon, have families of their own, and are
more prosperous than one would expect.
Perhaps the most fitting description of the impact of American Near
East Relief has been given by President Calvin Coolidge:
Not only has life been saved, but economic, social, intellectual
and moral forces have been released. New methods in child wel-
fare, in public health and practical education have been intro-
duced. A new sense of the value of the child, a new conception of
religion in action and a new hope for a better social order have
been aroused. All this has brought enduring results, a promise of a
brighter future to replace the despair of years of fear and hopeless-
ness. The work of the Committee has demonstrated practical Chris-
tianity without sectarianism and without ecclesiastical form, recog-
nizing the rights of each and all to their ancestral faith, while
expressing religion in terms of sacrifice and service that others
might live and be benefited. Its creed was the Golden Rule and its
ritual the devotion of life and treasure to the healing of wounds
caused by war.2

Princeton, New Jersey BAYARD DODGE

December 1971
a. Ibid., pp. vii-x.
 PREFACE

Fifty-two years ago Turkish insurgents fought the French army of

occupation in the ancient city of Marash, Turkey. It was the first major
battle of the Turkish War of Independence, a war which ended in the
expulsion from Anatolia of all foreign armies and the overthrow of
the sultanate by Mustafa Kemal Pasha.
In 1914 some eighty-six thousand Armenians lived in Marash and
its neighboring villages. By January 1923 none of them remained. I
worked in Marash as a member of Near East Relief during 1920 and
1922, the years of the last two phases of the decimation of the Ar-
menians in Turkey. This book reviews the deportations of 1915, the
siege of 1920, and the final abandonment of their property by the
remnant of the Armenian population.
The stone lion which stood at the gate of the Marash citadel for
some three thousand years was regarded by the citizens of that city as
a symbol of heroism. Since it had been carved and inscribed by a
Hktite sculptor more than two thousand years before the Turkish con-
quest of Anatolia, no one people can claim that this figure stands for
their bravery alone. Each reader, whether Turkish, Armenian, or
French, may look for his own "lions" in the story which follows.

/V
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Access to documents prepared nearly fifty years ago has enriched this
volume. For cooperation in locating such material I wish to thank
Mr. Antranig Chalabian who found valuable material in the extensive
private collection of Mr. Vah£ Setian and in the library of the Uni-
versite Francaise de Sainte Joseph of Beirut. My thanks are due to the
librarian of Sainte Joseph's and to Mr. Setian; also to Mr. Michel
Nabti, assistant curator of the Near Eastern Collection in the Hoover
Institution for War, Revolution and Peace in Stanford, where Thi-
bault's Historique du 412 e regiment d'infanterie was found. I am in-
debted to Mr. Chalabian for translating into English practically all of
the Armenian documents which appear in the text. Material quoted
from French, German, and Turkish texts were translated by myself un-
less otherwise indicated.
I wish to thank Dr. Alford Carleton of the United Church Board for
World Ministries for granting me access to the correspondence from
missionaries in Turkey filed at the Houghton Library, Harvard Uni-
versity. My thanks also to the director of the Young Men's Christian
Association in New York for permission to use the reports from YMCA
representatives in Turkey.
I am grateful to Mrs. Victoire Souadjian for an English translation
of excerpts from the unpublished memoirs of her father, Setrak
Kherlakian; to Mrs. Makrouhi Der Ohannesian for permission to use
her own unpublished manuscript dealing with her experiences in
Marash; to the Right Reverend Monsignor Pascal Archpriest Maljian
for permission to quote from his personal memoirs published in Les
memoires de Mgr. Jean Naslian; to Paul Snyder for access to his letters
and copies of the diaries written by Mrs. Marion Wilson and Miss

'7
XV111 : ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Frances Buckley; to Ahmed Yoriir for anecdotes about events in

Marash; to Mrs. Harry Serian for the autobiography of her husband,
the Reverend Haroutune Nokhoudian; to Mrs. Marika and Dr. Peter
Manoogian for the biography of the Reverend Sisag S. Manoogian;
and to Dr. E. Shirajian for material about his father, the Reverend
Aharon Shirajian.
I had requested that my family save my letters which I had written
during my service with Near East Relief. I have used these as source
material in the preparation of my manuscript. Extensive notes on their
own experiences were given me by a number of individuals, and for
these I acknowledge my indebtedness to the late Avedis Seferian, Dr.
Dicran Berberian, Mrs. James Lyman (Bessie Hardy), Ohannes Tilkian,
Levon Yenovkian, and Dr. Bayard Dodge.
To all those who generously gave their time for personal interviews,
I express my thanks. Many of these interviews were facilitated by
Krikor Seraydarian in Los Angeles, by Humayak Asbed in the suburbs
of Boston, and by Rudolph Pauly in Albany.
Roy J. King, my fellow worker while I was in Near East Relief, is to
be credited with the preparation of the photographs from my nega-
tives. I am grateful to Marjorie Housepian for certain documents and
for continued encouragement in my writing. I thank Norman Mang-
ouni, director of State University of New York Press, for piloting my
overweight manuscript to a safe docking, and his colleague Elizabeth
Coccio for the streamlining which made the vessel more seaworthy.
Finally, I wish to express appreciation to my wife Elsa, who shared the
experiences of 1932 in Turkey, for helpful criticism and proofreading
but mostly for her forbearance during the many months I have been
engaged with this manuscript.
 INTRODUCTION

On 10 February 1930, the French garrison at Marash withdrew

abruptly under cover of darkness, thus abandoning more than twenty
thousand Armenians to the tender mercies of the Turkish Nationalist
forces. The tactic of swift evacuation is not novel in military history,
but in the case of Marash the retreat occurred even after it was known
that the Turkish insurgents, who had besieged the city and devastated
the Armenian quarters for three weeks, were themselves taking flight.
The French maneuver caused considerable embarrassment in Paris and
roused a storm of angry protest in England and the United States, but
for the natives of Marash, the spirited mountaineers of nearby Zeitun
and Hadjin, indeed for the Armenian inhabitants of all Cilicia, it led
to renewed massacre and to final exodus.
Situated on a major trade route at one of the approaches to the
Taurus mountains, Marash had been an important urban center since
ancient times, in witness of which stood the Hittite lion sculptured
in basalt at the citadel entrance. Caught repeatedly in the East-West
struggle for supremacy in Asia Minor, this highland at the north-
eastern edge of Cilicia slipped successively in and out of Assyrian,
Achaemenid, Seleucid, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Armenian, Seljukid,
Crusader, Mamluk, Mongol, and Turkoman control before it was
encompassed within the Ottoman Empire. But even during five cen-
turies of Ottoman domination, the proud Muslim and Armenian chief-
tains of the Marash sanjak retained much of their traditional au-
thority.
Although Marash (Germanicea) lay outside historic Greater Armenia
and was peripheral to Cilicia proper, where a medieval Armenian
principality and kingdom had existed from the eleventh through the
XX : INTRODUCTION

fourteenth centuries, Armenian colonization of the district dated back

to the beginning of the Christian era. And after the fall of the Bagratid
kingdom in Greater Armenia in the eleventh century and the resultant
mass emigrations toward Cilicia, the Armenian element prevailed in
Marash until successive Turkic migrations diminished the Armenian
proportion to scarcely one third of the total population.
During the nineteenth century, the Armenians of Marash, like their
compatriots the world over, passed through a profound cultural
renaissance. American and European missionaries and educators
helped to enhance Armenian self-awareness and prompted the na-
tional Apostolic Church to extend further its growing network of
parochial schools. Marash itself became a primary missionary center
with a highly literate and progressive citizenry. By the turn of the
twentieth century, no less than a third of the city's thirty thousand
Armenians had become adherents of the Protestant Evangelical Church
or the Eastern-rite Catholic Church.
It was both ironic and tragic that the Armenian renaissance was
paralleled by increasing oppression in the Ottoman Empire and the
entanglement of the European powers in the so-called Eastern Ques-
tion. European demands for Armenian security and self-administration
without the resolve to enforce those demands only increased the sul-
tan's suspicion of his Christian subjects and added to then: distress.
The countless local irregularities that had become a part of Armenian
life burgeoned into general and full-scale massacres in 1895 and 1909.
Yet, as had been their way for centuries past, the Armenian townsmen
and villagers began rebuilding as soon as the vengeful tide of destruc-
tion had ebbed. But time was running short for the Armenians. The
fateful events of 1915 to 1922 were to thwart even the relentless drive
to begin anew.
The grisly details of the deportations and massacres of 1915 and 1916
need not be recounted here. Marash, too, suffered the agony of many
sister cities. The Young Turk (Ittihad ve Terakki) dictators of the
Ottoman Empire cleverly dissipated any potential resistance to the
plan of annihilation by occasionally exempting the Armenian Protes-
tants and Catholics from the general order for deportation, only to set
those groups, too, upon death's road once the Apostolic majority had
been herded away. Still, the Armenians of Cilicia were more fortunate
than their kinsmen of central and eastern Anatolia, where nearly the
entire Armenian population was massacred outright or tormented with
such intensity that there were few who arrived at the assigned destina-
tions in the desert of Syria. The distance between Cilicia and the
 INTRODUCTION : XXI

Syrian wastelands was considerably shorter, and, although many

thousands died in a blistering exile, at least half of the deportees from
Cilicia still clung to life when the world war ended.
Shortly after the Ottoman capitulation to the Allies in October 1918,
British regiments and the volunteer Armenian legion attached to
General Allenby's command occupied several strategic sites in Cilicia
pending the regulation of affairs by the Paris Peace Conference. Allied
officials then urged and assisted the Armenian refugees scattered be-
tween Egypt and Mesopotamia to return home in order to begin the
painful process of reconstruction. During the twelve months that the
British contingents policed Cilicia, nearly one hundred and fifty thou-
sand Armenians were repatriated, including some twenty thousand
natives of Marash and the relatively few survivors of Zeitun and Hadjin.
But the hapless Armenians were to become enmeshed in the intense
postwar rivalries of Great Britain and France. The secret pacts of the
Entente powers marked Cilicia for French domination, yet the British
actually took control there after the armistice. The resultant bitter
dissension contributed to repeated delays in the peace treaty with the
Ottoman Empire, thus allowing precious time for the emergence of
the Turkish resistance movement in Anatolia. Only in the autumn of
1919 was France able to supplant the British regiments with her own.
The instability that arose from the change of occupational forces and
the flagrant lack of cooperation among the Allied victors did not es-
cape the scrutiny of Mustafa Kemal Pasha. The Turkish insurrection
at Marash was to become the first true test of the Nationalist fabric.
And the French forfeiture, only three months after General Henri J. E.
Gouraud's troops had entered the city, brought thousands of previously
hesitant sympathizers into the very midst of the Nationalist camp.
Whereas the Allied-sanctioned Greek occupation of Smyrna (Izmir)
in May 1919 spurred the Nationalists to organize, the Marash affair
provided an enormous boost in morale at a time that the movement
was encountering widespread pessimism. The Turkish people had been
shown that the Allies could be defied and defeated.
Many facets in the struggle for Marash await investigation and eluci-
dation. For example, even as French authorities in Cilicia were assur-
ing the Armenian repatriates full protection, other French agents were
traveling to the Anatolian interior to negotiate with Mustafa Kemal.
No less a personage than Georges Picot, a principal in the wartime
Sykes-Picot arrangements which divided much of the Near East into
British and French zones of influence, met with Kemal in Ankara
during December 1919 and reportedly intimated that the Third
XX11 : INTRODUCTION

Republic might be willing to forego Cilicia and hence its commitment

to the Armenians in return for generous Turkish economic and political
concessions. But only when all existing records have been examined
will it be possible to determine with certainty whether the relationship
between the French-Turkish Nationalist parleys and the astounding
evacuation of Marash was anything other than coincidental.
The Armenians, citing numerous cases of callous indifference by the
French and even concerted efforts to prevent the Armenians from
taking measures for ^elf-defense, have long since rendered their verdict:
the Christian elements of Cilicia were shamefully betrayed by the
powers that were pledged to protect them. The Turkish interpreta-
tion, too, is explicit, with violations of the right of self-determination,
highhandedness of the French authorities, and cruelty of the Arme-
nian legionnaires invariably listed among the causes that made Marash
an early military objective in the "War of Independence." Unfortu-
nately, the Turkish archival materials for the period remain closed
to all except a handful of carefully screened historians. Until the seal
is removed from these records it is unlikely that the controversy re-
garding Cilicia can be adequately resolved.
In recent years the United States and Great Britain have declassified
their Eastern papers for the interwar decades. By and large, American
missionaries, relief workers, and consular officials—with such notable
exceptions as the United States High Commissioner at Constantinople—
reiterated the Armenian point of view and appealed ceaselessly for
action to safeguard the pitiful remnant of this once proud people. The
following extract of a dispatch from American relief director William
S. Dodd typifies that sentiment:
The chapter of Armenian history that is being enacted in Cilicia
now is as tragic and pathetic as the Great Deportation. Returning
from that exile and beginning with energy to live once more and
to hope once more, they find themselves betrayed, and that by their
allies, massacred by their conquered enemy, and stripped barer
than they were in 1915. . . . Where can we appeal? Who will
listen? Are we to see this tragedy carried out to completion before
our very eyes?
The British documents pertaining specifically to Marash are ex-
tensive.1 The British learned at an early date of the French-Nationalist
liaison and echoed, in terms somewhat more reserved, the American
i. See Great Britain, Foreign Office Archives (Public Record Office), Class
371, especially File 3/44 for 1920.
 INTRODUCTION : XX111

denunciation of the French disgrace at Marash. Still, while quite pre-

pared to embarrass the French government by making insinuative
inquiries into the well-being of the Armenians, the Foreign Office took
repeated pains to advise the cabinet to stop short of any direct involve-
ment in Cilician affairs.
It is understandable that France has been somewhat more reticent in
making public her own Eastern papers. But the availability of this
material now seems imminent, with the files in the foreign ministry
archives at the Quai d'Orsay scheduled for opening in the near future.
And already the military records preserved at the Chateau de
Vincennes are accessible to some historians. In 1971 and 1972 I was
accorded the privilege to utilize these archives, which include detailed
daily reports of the French commanders in the Levant and an entire
file relative to the initial contacts with the Nationalists from 1919 to
igao.2 A thorough history of the struggle for Cilicia must await the
examination of all primary sources and the scrupulous labors of a
skillful scholar possessing facility in English, French, Armenian, and
Ottoman and modern Turkish.
Eyewitness accounts of decisive historical events may be as valuable
as official dispatches and reports. It is in such versions especially that the
human element becomes manifest, affording insights not to be found
in documents. In the case of Marash, the experiences of several of the
Americans who were hurtled into the midst of the fray have been
recorded in part.8 American philanthropy administered through Near
East Relief, successor organization to the American Committee for
Relief in the Near East, saved thousands of starving Armenians from
certain death following the world war. The food stations and orphan-
ages, the expeditions into the desert to retrieve Armenian women and
children from Muslim tribesmen, the construction of workshops and
other rehabilitative establishments by the ACRNE and NER slightly miti-
gated the bitter disappointments arising from the American refusal to
ensure the Armenian people a collective future by accepting a protec-
a. See France, Service Historique de I'Arine'e, Archives Chateau de Vin-
cennes, Class 20 N (Front Oriental), File 172 in carton 61 of Commandement
des Amides Allies en Orient (C.A.A.). See also Class 16 N (Grand Quartier
Ge'ne'ral), File 3194 in carton 3821, File 3206 in carton 3895, and Class 20 N,
Files 157-158 in cartons 47-48, and Files 166-171 in cartons 56-61.
3. Cf. Great Britain, Foreign Office Archives, File 3/44, E 1784, 18 March
1920, for the memorandum of W. Nesbitt Chambers, a Canadian in charge of
the American mission at Adana (see Appendix A), and extracts from the
diary of Dr. C. F. H. Crathern of the YMCA (see Appendix B).
XXIV : INTRODUCTION

tive mandate over the independent Armenian state that had been
sanctioned by the Paris Peace Conference. In Cilicia NER worked among
the repatriates for four years and, after the total Armenian exodus in
19? 2, attempted to assist the refugee throngs to resettle in Syria,
Lebanon, Palestine, and other Mediterranean lands.
Among the scores of men and women who responded to the ACRNE
call for volunteers in 1919 was Stanley E. Kerr, a slender, bespectacled
junior officer in the United States Army Sanitary Corps. First serving
at Aleppo in a multiplicity of positions, including clinical biochemist,
photographer, and gatherer of Armenian waifs from Bedouin and
Kurdish chieftains, Kerr transferred in the autumn of 1919 to Marash,
where he took charge of American relief operations after the French
withdrawal. In view of the fact that many Turkish notables regarded
the Americans as collaborators with the French and Armenians, it was
at no small risk that Kerr and his courageous colleagues stayed at their
posts to help, in what way they knew not, the thousands of Armenians
whom the French had deserted. Indeed, the uncertainties of a hostage-
like existence did not end until Kerr departed for Beirut with the last
caravan of Armenian orphans in 1922.
Three years after his separation from the Near East Relief, Kerr
earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of Pennsyl-
vania and returned to Beirut in 1925 as chairman of the Department
of Biochemistry at the American University. During their four decades
in Lebanon Professor Kerr and his wife, Elsa Reckman Kerr, a former
teacher at the Marash College for Girls and later at the Beirut College
for Women and the American University, counseled hundreds of
students whose parents had been the refugees from Marash and other
Cilician cities. In recognition of his service, the American University
conferred upon Dr. Kerr the rank of Distinguished Professor, and the
Lebanese government honored him with the Order of Merit. On their
retirement the government again honored Stanley and Elsa Kerr by
bestowing on them the Order of Cedars, Chevalier rank.
Now, fifty years after leaving Cilicia, Professor Kerr presents his
account of the happenings in Marash. Although his personal ex-
periences form the basis for the narrative, the author has also utilized
the studies and memoirs of French officers and priests, Turkish military
historians, and Armenian survivors, particularly prominent Protestant
and Catholic spokesmen. Dr. Kerr's sympathy for the Armenians is evi-
dent, but he does not hesitate to note their shortcomings and to point
up the fierce Turkish pride that was to accord Marash a place of honor
in the history of the Nationalist movement.
 INTRODUCTION : XXV

The Lions of Marash is a heartrending, adventurous, occasionally

humorous, and intimate saga. Its essential strength lies in the personal
narrative that touches upon the big and little things in the lives of
commoners and leaders, lays bare the entire spectrum of human emo-
tion, and portrays with shuddering reality man's inhumanity to man.
The reader cannot but react to the description of such scenes as the
immolation of several hundred persons trapped in a church set ablaze
by besiegers or the crazed flight from the city by thousands who met
their end as snow-shrouded mounds in blizzard-swept mountains.
The drama of Cilicia constitutes only one phase of an unparalleled
tragedy in the long and turbulent history of the Armenian people.
Throughout much of its national existence of twenty-five centuries
this people had frequently endured massacre, enslavement, foreign
domination, and assimilation. Yet, however oppressive the circum-
stances, there had always been enough sturdy survivors to build upon
the ruins and replenish the hearths. The unique feature of the period
beginning with the massacres of 1915 and culminating in the exodus
from Cilicia in 1922 was that the Armenians, for the first time in
history, were dispossessed entirely of their ancestral lands. The impact
of that calamity is compounded with each passing year, for soon there
will be virtually no one who shall be able to recall the customs and
daily life, the flora and fauna, in short, the Armenian national exis-
tence in the expanses from Aintab and Marash to Kharput, Van, and
Erzerum.
This inescapable fact cannot but intensify the poignancy of the
reminiscences that unfold in the pages that follow. Some students of
history believe that an essential aspect of their craft is to teach future
generations. But the conscience of mankind is short, and the lessons
of history are rarely heeded. Massacre and genocide; gratuitous cruelty
nurtured by racial, religious, and ideological fanaticism; and displace-
ment of entire peoples have continued with little respite during the
half century since the Armenian cataclysm. Still, Stanley Kerr believes
that his story must be told in the face of frequent and intentional mis-
representations. Here then is the final, decisive struggle of The Lions of
Marash.
University of California, RICHARD G.HOVANNISIAN
Los Angeles

^<^
PART O N E

EXILE AND REPATRIATION

 CHAPTER ONE

M A R A S H ON 20 J A N U A R Y 1 9 2 0

On the morning of 20 January 1920, Marash appeared to be a de-

serted city. Not a single shop was open, as I observed on attempting
to purchase grain for the Near East Relief orphanages. The only sign
of life was a file of armed Turks moving up the steep path to the an-
cient Hittite fortress, a walled citadel in the heart of the city. None
of these men wore uniform. Each of them bore several bandoleers
of rifle cartridges over the shoulder and across the breast. Only min-
utes after I had reached the shelter of my residence in the American
Mission compound a single shot rang out. Within seconds fire broke
out over the entire city as though in response to the baton of a sym-
phony director. Then came the staccato of machine-gun fire, answered
by the drumlike thud of French cannon. Sentries of the French force
of occupation standing guard at their posts fell with the first volley.
Their troops, quartered for the winter in schools and churches, re-
plied to the Turkish onslaught with machine guns and rifles, while
a battery of 75 mm. guns on the northern ridge of the city rained
shells on Turkish positions and set buildings ablaze. Within the next
three weeks the conflagration raged in every quarter, sparing neither
Turkish nor Armenian homes. Thousands of Armenians fled to their
churches, most of which were destroyed by fire, and those who had
taken refuge inside were annihilated. Many mosques were destroyed
by French shells, for the minarets had become posts for Turkish
snipers.
Before the fighting ended some forty-five hundred Turks and about
twice that number of Armenians had been killed.1 Although the
quarrel was between the French and Turks, the twenty-two thousand
Armenians living in the city had good reason to fear any disorder.
 EXILE AND REPATRIATION

Only a few months earlier they had returned from the nationwide
deportation of 1915 to 1916, during which nearly half of their popu-
lation had perished. Their repatriation had been accomplished under
protection of the British and French forces which had defeated the
sultan's armies. Turkish resistance had not ended, however. Mustafa
Kemal Pasha, refusing to accept the terms of surrender, had vowed to
expel all foreign armies from the soil of Anatolia, considered by the
Turks to be the heart of their homeland. The supporters of Mustafa
Kemal in Marash needed little urging to organize resistance to the
French force of occupation. The latter included a battalion of the
Armenian Legion which had participated in the fighting in Palestine
when Gen. Sir Edmund Allenby drove the Turkish forces back into
Anatolia. Knowing that the Armenians were pressing for the estab-
lishment of an independent state in which Cilicia would be included,
the Marash Kemalists resented the presence of Armenian troops and
decided to include the Armenian population, prote^s of France,
among the enemy.

The Armenian Question

A broader review of Turkish-Armenian relationships during the pre-
ceding quarter of a century is a necessary prologue to the drama of
Marash, the first major conflict in Mustafa Kemal's campaign to
oust the troops of France, Greece, and Italy.
In "A Summary of Armenian History," Arnold Toynbee reviews the
pressures which the Great Powers of Europe placed on the Turkish
sultan Abdul Hamid II for reform in the treatment of minorities.2
After defeating the Turks in 1878, Russia agreed to evacuate the Ana-
tolian plateau only on condition that the sultan reform his adminis-
tration of the Armenian provinces in that area. Two years later six of
the Great Powers reminded the sultan of his promise, still unfulfilled,
but he feared the loss of the provinces and decided to crush the Ar-
menians, using another minority group, the Kurds, as his agent.
Kurdish chieftains were given military rank, and their men, the ashi-
rets, were armed but given no pay other than the right to loot a de-
feated enemy. Meanwhile the Armenians were disarmed. "In retalia-
tion they formed revolutionary societies, which fitted in with Abdul
Hamid's plans, for it made a racial conflict inevitable." 3
 MARASH ON 2O J A N U A R Y

The Massacre of 1895

The great massacre of 1895 began in 1894 in Sassoun, where unarmed
men, women, and children were killed by Turkish troops and the
Kurdish ashirets. Throughout the Ottoman Empire the Armenians of
one city after another suffered the same fate. In several districts, such
as Van and Zeitun, the Armenians defended themselves. The Zeitun
warriors held off an entire Turkish army until foreign powers medi-
ated peace. The Turks were not to forget Zeitun.
In Marash the killing of Armenians and the looting of their homes
began on 13 November 1895 and continued for four weeks with one
Bloody Monday—18 November. An American missionary reported
that Arab troops of the regular Ottoman army spearheaded the attacks,
while other detachments were drawn up as reserves on the hills west
of the city. As the soldiers, followed by a mob of the local Muslims in-
tent on looting, were seen approaching the American Mission com-
pounds on the northern slope of the city, the missionaries evacuated
the students of the Marash Girls' College and of the Marash Theologi-
cal Seminary and took refuge in the compound used for missionary
residences. The Girls' College and the seminary were sacked, the semi-
nary was set on fire, and two employees were hacked to death; but a
Turkish colonel mounted on a white horse blocked the mob from
entering the compound in which the students and their faculty, 290 in
all, had taken refuge. The unnamed missionary, author of this report,
quoted a Turk who boasted that forty-seven hundred Armenians had
been killed.4
The pressures applied by the police to place responsibility for the
so-called uprising on the Armenian leaders are described by the young
Reverend Aharon Shirajian.5
William L. Langer, in The Diplomacy of Imperialism, suggests that
Armenian revolutionary leaders had deliberately provoked the Turks
so that the resulting massacre might cause intervention by the Euro-
pean powers.8 Such irresponsible actions might account for local re-
prisals by the Turks but can hardly explain the participation of the
Ottoman troops arid the mass slaughter of innocent Armenians, more
than one hundred thousand, throughout Anatolia.
 EXILE AND REPATRIATION

Armenian Political Organizations

There were, indeed, secret Armenian political organizations, but these
existed among all national groups in the empire, even among the
Turks. The Hunchakian Revolutionary Party, founded by Armenian
students in Geneva in 1887, sought complete independence. The Ar-
menian Dashnaktsutiun, organized in Tiflis in Russian Transcaucasia
in 1890, had for its objective reform in the treatment of minorities and
a certain degree of Armenian autonomy within the Ottoman Empire.
While the Hunchak and Dashnak leaders operated from Geneva and
Tiflis, another group, the Armenagon, developed during the same
period on Armenian native soil. Its aim, preparation for defense
against any Turkish attempt at annihilation, was identical with that
later adopted by the Reformed, or Reconstituted, Hunchak Party.
Meanwhile still another organization, the Ramkavar, or "Democratic,"
Party, had arisen in Istanbul and in Egypt. Although not revolution-
ary, it had to operate secretly until the Young Turk Revolution of
1908 resulted in the proclamation of the establishment of a constitu-
tional government with equality and liberty for all nationalities in the
empire. The Ramkavar members no longer felt any need for secrecy
and announced themselves as the Constitutional Democratic Party.

Turkish Revolutionary Organizations

Turkish revolutionary organizations had their birth at the Imperial
Military Medical School in Constantinople and overflowed into each
of the military and naval academies where the elite of Ottoman youth
sought the opportunities offered by higher education. When the sul-
tan's spies reported their activities, the leaders were banished to distant
parts of the empire, and some escaped to Europe. Among these was
Ahmed Riza who in Paris in 1889 founded a revolutionary journal,
Mechveret (The Council) to be smuggled back to his homeland. He
became the foremost advocate of reform without the overthrow of the
sultanate in the administration of the Ottoman Empire. Another rebel
e'migre' was Prince Sabaheddin, son of the sultan's brother-in-law
Damad Mahmud Pasha. This liberal leader advocated the formation
 MARASH ON 2O JANUARY 1Q2O

of a multinational Ottoman state in which each minority group would

enjoy equal rights and a certain degree of autonomy. This, he believed,
could not be accomplished under the sultanate. Since the program
proposed by Prince Sabaheddin was similar to that of the Dashnaks,
it is not surprising that the Young Turks, as the Paris leaders were
known, invited the Armenian political parties to send representatives
to the Second Congress of Ottoman Liberals which was held in Paris
on 27 December 1907.7
Meanwhile another revolutionary group had been organized among
the Turkish officers based at Salonika in Macedonia. Informed by his
spies of this, the sultan ordered the arrest of the rebels, but the order
passed through the hands of a postal employee, Talaat Bey, himself a
member of the society. Warned by Talaat, the leaders escaped to Paris
where they arranged for the fusion of the older liberal revolutionary
groups with the Macedonian society. The new organization was called
Ittihad ve Terakke ("Committee of Union and Progress"). Its slogan
was Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, and Justice.
The sultan's efforts to break up the Ittihad precipitated the famous
Young Turk Revolution. The Third Army rebelled and openly de-
manded restoration of the liberal constitution adopted in 1876 but
suppressed by the sultan Abdul-Hamid during the first year of his
reign. Alarmed for his own safety, the sultan yielded on 24 July 1908,
and a representative government was established.8
The long-sought goal of the Dashnaks had been reached, it seemed,
for the objectives voiced earlier in Paris by Prince Sabaheddin were
those proclaimed by the Young Turks. The public rejoiced over the
restoration of the constitution, and the Christian population was reas-
sured by the Muslim demonstration of brotherhood. In mosques and
churches fraternity and cooperation were publicly extolled.9 But
within less than a year, in April 1909, the great Adana Massacre took
place. In his Memories of a Turkish Statesman, Jamal Pasha reports
that seventeen thousand Armenians and eighteen hundred fifty Turks
were killed in this massacre.10
Who instigated the massacres in Cilicia? Andre" Mandelstam of the
Russian embassy in Constantinople claims that the Ittihad committee
incited the Turks against the Armenians with a rumor that the Ar-
menians were planning to revolt and establish their national home in
Cilicia.11 Henry Adams Gibbons, correspondent and student of Otto-
man history who was in Adana at that time, reported that the Young
Turks had nothing to fear from the Armenian revolutionaries and
could have placed the few agitators under arrest without resort to
 EXILE AND REPATRIATION

wholesale massacre.12 The small minority of the Ittihad leaders who

sincerely believed in the slogan Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, and Jus-
tice could not prevail against the type personified by Talaat Bey,
Enver Pasha, and the rest, on whom Gibbons lays the blame for the
massacre.13 Mevlan Zade" Rifat, himself a former member of the It-
tihad, also accuses the Young Turk leaders in Salonika of responsibil-
ity for the massacre.1*
The interval between the Young Turk Revolution in 1908 and the
outbreak of World War I was one of crisis for the Ottoman Empire.
A counterrevolution led by followers of the sultan in April 1909 failed;
Abdul-Hamid II was exiled, and his brother Mehmed V became sultan.
Albania revolted in 1910, and the Italians invaded Tripoli in 1911.
Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece allied in 1912 and quickly
defeated the Turkish armies.
During the autumn of 1912 Enver Pasha staged a coup d'etat, and
the Ottoman Empire came under a rule just as autocratic as that of
Abdul-Hamid II. Power rested in the hands of Enver Pasha as minister
of war, Talaat Bey as minister of interior, and Jamal Pasha as minister
of marine affairs. In a second Balkan War the Turkish armies re-
covered some territories, but the country was in such a precarious
position that she could no longer resist pressures from the Great
Powers for reform. Late in November 1912 the Russian ambassador
in Constantinople presented to the Turkish minister of interior a
note stating his country's intention to force changes in the treatment
of Armenians in the Ottoman provinces adjacent to the Russian
Caucasus. The note ended with this statement, "In view of the state
of anarchy in which Turkey is plunged at the moment, the possibility
must be reckoned with that the reforms will not have the calming
effect desired and that it may be necessary for our troops to enter this
region." 15
The Russian Foreign Minister then handed to representatives of
the Western powers in Constantinople a new proposal for reform based
on a draft issued by the Ottoman government in 1895 but never
implemented. The exact text of this program, prepared by Andre"
Mandelstam of the Russian embassy, is given by Jamal Pasha who con-
cluded that if his government had accepted the proposals, all of the
western provinces would have become a Russian protectorate and
would have been occupied by the Russian forces within a year.16
Since the foreign delegates could not come to an agreement on the
Russian proposal, the Turkish cabinet presented to the foreign am-
bassadors a comprehensive program of reform for the whole empire
 M A R A S H ON 2O J A N U A R Y 1020 : 9

which provided for division of the empire into six general inspector-
ates, two of which were to be formed of the Armenian provinces in
eastern Anatolia. The Turks wanted the English rather than the
Russians to assume the supervision of these provinces but found that
England would accept the inspectorates only if the Russians consented.
Finally the representatives of six European powers and the Ottoman
Empire came to an agreement which was signed on 8 February 1914
by the Ottoman foreign minister and by the Russian delegate. Major
Hoff of the Norwegian army and E. Westenenk of the Netherlands
were appointed inspectors general for the two new Armenian prov-
inces, but only one of them reached his post before the outbreak of
World War I.17 The Young Turks were now given the opportunity to
implement the reforms which the Turkish cabinet had accepted and
which would win the support of the Armenians. Instead, when the
war clouds gathered, they chose to dispose of the Armenians in quite
another fashion. Jamal Pasha explains their motives:
Of course it was our hope to free ourselves from all conventions,
and to be able to live in the future as an independent and free
nation, which in its own territory, of its own initiative, introduces
the reforms which local necessities have made imperative. Just as
it was our chief aim to annul the Capitulations and the Lebanese
statute, so in the matter of Armenian reform, we desired to release
ourselves from the Agreement which Russian pressure had im-
posed upon us.18
Five weeks after the assassination of the archduke Ferdinand at
Sarejevo, Enver and Talaat witnessed the signing of a secret pact with
Germany at Constantinople by the Turkish grand vizier and the Ger-
man ambassador.19 Enver Pasha then began making perparations to
free the Ottoman Empire of the Russian threat and to solve the Ar-
menian question.
 CHAPTER TWO

WAR ON THE EASTERN FRONT

Involvement of the Armenian Population

While the Ottoman minister of war, Enver Pasha, mapped his strategy
for the conquest of the Russian Caucasus, the uncertain role of the
Armenians disturbed him. Roughly two million Armenians were
citizens of Russia, and about the same number were Ottoman sub-
jects,1 hence each of the opposing armies had important units com-
posed of Armenian conscripts. Would they be willing to fight against
each other? Was there danger of sabotage by the large Armenian
population in the area of conflict? Enver Pasha considered this to be
an opportune moment to promise the Armenians a prize they most
desired but had never attained. He sent a delegation of Ittihad mem-
bers to negotiate with representatives of the Armenian Dashnaktsutiun
at Erzerum. In return for support in the event of war with Russia, the
Ottoman government offered to establish an autonomous Armenian
state within the Ottoman Empire in the areas populated by Armenians
both in Anatolia and in the Caucasus. The task of the Armenians
would be to persuade their brothers in the tsarist armies to join with
the Muslims there in revolt against Russia.
The Dashnak representatives, doubting Turkey's ability to defeat
the Allied Powers, argued for a policy of neutrality. They declared,
however, that if a war with Russia should break out, the Ottoman
Armenians would perform fully their duties toward the government.2
Meanwhile in Russia the Armenian representative, Dr. Hagop
Zavrief, had learned from the Russian foreign minister that Russia
intended to support the creation of an autonomous Armenian state
under Turkish suzerainty and the protection of Russia, France, and
Great Britain; and that this state would include a seaport on the
 WAR ON THE E A S T E R N F R O N T : 1 1

Mediterranean.3 This placed the Armenians in a dilemma. Both the

Ittihad and the Russians were offering them an autonomous state in
return for military assistance. Past experience led them to doubt the
sincerity of the Turkish leaders who even then were discarding the
program of reform embodied in the agreement signed on 8 February
1914. Further, they foresaw that no matter who won, the Armenians
were likely to be caught between the two armies on the Anatolian
plateau and thus become the losers.
It is charged by Turkish historians, and confirmed by the tsarist
general Gabriel Korganoff, that during the period of mobilization,
before war began between Russia and Turkey, large numbers of Ar-
menians moved from Ottoman territory and crossed the frontier into
Russia.* With the approval of Tsar Nicholas and of the Armenian
leaders in the Tiflis community, the Russian viceroy for the Caucasus
authorized the formation of military units composed of Armenian
volunteers. Korganoff gives a concise account of the organization of
four Armenian legions, each of battalion size, and of the military ac-
tions in which they took part.5 It might have been the participation
of these units in action against the Ottoman forces that later gave rise
to charges of Armenian revolt in the northeastern territory. To what
extent these volunteers came across the Russian frontier from villages
on the Turkish side is unknown. General Korganoff states that 2,500
men in these four legions were not liable for service in the Russian
forces, being too young, too old, or "from abroad." 6 A note of alarm
was sounded by two leaders of the Armenians, Hovhannes Kachaznuni
and Simon Vratzian, who later became the first and the last premiers
of the short-lived Armenian republic. They warned that "the Ittihadist
rulers of Turkey would utilize the existence of volunteer units com-
posed mostly of former Ottoman subjects to justify measures against
the Turkish Armenians." 7
Whatever the number of these e'migre' volunteers who came from
Ottoman territory into the Russian military services, their action can-
not serve to excuse the deportation of Armenians who remained in
their villages, taking no part in military movements. It is curious to
read Jamal Pasha's advice to the Armenians after the war: "It is al-
ways open to those who want to be Armenians, and Armenians alone,
to settle in the republic of the Armenian Caucasus. But for those who
wish to remain in Turkey, it is an absolute condition that they should
show themselves true Ottoman and refrain from any activities which
might throw suspicion on their loyalty." 8 It was, indeed, this policy
which the Armenians living in the eastern provinces followed in 1914.
12 : EXILE AND R E P A T R I A T I O N

Those who did not wish to be loyal to the Turkish regime moved
across the Russian frontier, while those who remained behind ab-
stained from disloyal activities.
The Russian high command had feared a separatist movement and
had decreed that the four Armenian legions were to be divided among
four of the Russian armies on the Caucasian front where they would
serve as reconnaissance units. The Russian viceroy notified the com-
manders of the legions that it was "imperative that the occasion for
war be given by Turkey itself, and not by any action of [theirs]" and
warned them against instigating the Turkish Armenians to revolt.9
One legion, attached to a Russian army corps, went into action on
29 November, three weeks after the initial clash between the Russian
and Turkish forces.10 The Turkish historian Ahmed Emin relates that
early in December an Armenian detachment in Russian uniform in-
vaded the Plain of Alashkert-Bayazid and massacred all but a tenth of
the defenseless Muslim population, whose warriors—the ashirets—had
gone across the mountains to join the Turkish Eastern Army.11 It
seems evident from General Korganoff's account that the Armenian
detachment was the Fourth Legion of the Russian corps, and this did
not represent an uprising of the local Armenian population. If the
legionnaires actually put defenseless villagers to the sword as stated
by Ahmed Emin, this deed must be entered on the balance sheet of
injustices in the account between Armenians and Turks—an account
which was to receive many new entries in the months which followed.
Late in December the Turkish Third Army, commanded by Enver
Pasha, overwhelmed the Russians but was brought to a halt at Sari-
kamish. Enver had failed to provide his troops with clothing suitable
for the severe Caucasian winter and had pressed them to the point of
exhaustion in pursuit of the Russians. Typhus and cholera broke out,
and whole divisions melted away. Only a tenth of the Third Army,
originally one hundred thousand strong, escaped alive.12 One can
imagine Enver's chagrin and anger. The participation of the Armenian
legions in his defeat at Sarikamish undoubtedly influenced his decision
to take revenge on the Armenians.
In preparation for the drastic measures he was about to take against
the Armenians of Van, Enver Pasha removed Taj sin Pasha, the gov-
ernor of the province whom the Armenians had learned to trust, and
in his place installed his own brother-in-law, Jevdet Bey.
The story of the "revolt" at Van has been presented by an American
eyewitness, Dr. Clarence D. Ussher13 and is corroborated by the Ger-
man missionary Herr Spori, who is quoted by Dr. Johannes Lepsius."
 WAR ON THE E A S T E R N FRONT : 13

It was only after the Turks had sacked eighty of the neighboring vil-
lages and massacred an estimated fifty-five thousand of the inhabitants
that the Armenians of the city barricaded themselves and successfully
fought off the Turks who attacked them. One of twelve couriers carry-
ing appeals for help reached a Russian consul on the Persian border.
The Russian Fourth Army Corps was ordered to move against the
Turks at Van, with the Armenian legions as advance guard. In these
units were men acquainted with the province of Van who also had
family connections there.15 Jevdet Bey's Turkish forces, who had failed
to subdue the Van defenders, withdrew at the approach of the Rus-
sians. The Russian commander, General Nickolaef, then ordered the
legion to expel the Turks from the southern shore of Lake Van in
order to clear the way for a Russian advance into the province of
Bitlis, inhabited by one hundred thousand Armenians.16 This task was
completed when the advance of a strong Turkish force threatened the
Russians with encirclement. The Armenians of Van were advised on
31 July 1915 to abandon their homes and to follow the retreating
Russians across the frontier. The Christian inhabitants of the Bitlis
province were annihilated. Thus in the course of seven months, be-
ginning with the first clashes in December 1914 and ending with the
final exodus in July 1915, the entire Armenian population of the
vilayets of Van and Bitlis had fled into the Caucasus or had been
killed."
The Armenian leaders Hovhannes Kachaznuni and Simon Vratzian,
who had warned that participation of volunteer Armenian units with
the Russian forces might be used by the Young Turk chiefs as justifi-
cation for reprisals against the Armenians remaining in Turkish terri-
tory, undoubtedly reflected sadly on the fulfillment of their prophecy.
The student of history may ask whether the sacrifice of the entire pop-
ulation, mostly innocent villagers, had not sufficed for atonement. It
has been charged, however, that a decision had already been made
for a solution to the Armenian question at a secret meeting of the
Ittihad, this being actually dissolution of the Armenian nation by the
removal or destruction of each of its communities in the empire.18 The
first step in this plan had already been taken at Zeitun before the
"revolt" at Van.
 CHAPTER THREE

RESISTANCE AT Z E I T U N AND F U N D I J A K

The Charge of Rebellion

The mass deportation of Armenians from every corner of Anatolia was
initiated at Zeitun in the district of Marash on 10 April 1915. In a
document presented to the grand vizier Said Halim Pasha on 26 May,1
Minister of Interior Talaat Bey charged that the Armenians had im-
peded the movements of provisions and troops, made common cause
with the enemy, attacked the military forces within the country, killed
and plundered the innocent population of Ottoman cities and towns,
and so on. For these reasons it was necessary, he claimed, that rebellious
elements of this kind should be removed from the area of military
activities and deported to specified areas, including the eastern part of
the Syrian province—a desert.2
This charge against the Armenian civil population is false, for
resistance to the Turks in the vilayet ("province") of Van began on
20 April, after the deportation from Zeitun and only after the Turks
had destroyed eighty of the villages surrounding Van. By that time the
Armenians of Zeitun were being driven from their homes, which were
located in a mountain fastness far from any lines of communication or
military activity into areas where they clogged the roadways needed for
the movement of Ottoman military forces. Jamal Pasha, commander
of the expeditionary force charged with the capture of the Suez Canal,
protested to Enver Pasha that the deportation of Armenians was delay-
ing the progress of his campaign.3
The dissident member of the Ittihad, Mevlan Zad£ Rifat, charged
that the deportations were actually planned by the Young Turk com-
mittee as a means to solving the Armenian question by genocide, and
 R E S I S T A N C E AT Z E I T U N AND F U N D I J A K : 15

he quotes suggestions made in the committee meetings for accomplish-

ing this purpose.4
Another source of information concerning the plan and its execu-
tion is the record of correspondence between the Ittihad committee
executives in Constantinople and the directors of the deportation
centers established by Talaat Bey in Adana and Aleppo. The chief
secretary of the Aleppo office, Nairn Sefa Bey, disapproved strongly of
the measures being taken against the Armenians, and he secretly made
copies of the decoded telegrams issued by Talaat Bey and Enver Pasha.
When British forces occupied Aleppo, Nairn Bey collaborated with
his friend Aram Andonian in publishing The Memoirs of Nairn Bey,
an account of the deportation. Andonian was one of the notables de-
ported to the interior of Anatolia in April 1915, after which he escaped
execution and fled to Aleppo. The telegrams quoted in these memoirs
state explicitly that the government had decided to annihilate all
Armenians living in Turkey.6
Talaat and Enver frankly admitted their intentions to the American
ambassador to Constantinople, Henry Morgenthau, when he protested
against the inhuman treatment of the Armenians.6 Finally, records of
the postwar courts-martial of Turkish officials by Turkish courts con-
firm the guilt of the Ittihad and its leaders.7
In the formal deportation plan submitted to the grand vizier by
Talaat Bey, certain provisions were made for the exiled Armenians.
On the way they traverse, for the safety of their lives and for
their comfort until they reach their destination, food shall be pro-
vided by the administration of the Muhajirs [displaced Muslims,
presumably from the Balkans]. The government shall build dwell-
ing places for them and shall supply seed grain for the farmers and
tools for the artisans. In the towns and cities the property of the
Armenians shall be recorded and turned over to the Muhajirs—
olive and orange groves, vineyards, shops, warehouses and factories
—these shall be sold at auction or rented, and the proceeds placed
at the disposal of the government in trust, to be returned eventu-
ally to the former owners. . . .8
The Ottoman Council of Ministers approved Talaat Bey's plan on
30 May 1915, but neither Talaat nor Enver paid any attention to the
provisions of the decree. It is obvious that they were never imple-
mented from the fact that far more than a million Armenians perished
of starvation, exhaustion, disease, or outright massacre during the
deportations. Reports made to the American consul J. B. Jackson in
l6 : EXILE AND REPATRIATION

Aleppo and forwarded to Washington through Ambassador Morgen-

thau in Constantinople, as well as letters from American and German
missionaries to their headquarters, all tell of the conditions under
which the Armenians were exiled.9
In his own memoir, published after his death, Talaat Bey admits
his guilt. "I admit that the deportation was not carried out lawfully
everywhere. In some places unlawful acts were committed. In many
places people took measures into their own hands and innocent people
were molested. I confess it. I confess also that the duty of the govern-
ment was to prevent these abuses and atrocities." 10

Exile from Zeitun

A year before World War I, the Reverend Dikran Andreasian, a resi-
dent of a village near Antioch in Syria, had moved to Zeitun in the
district of Marash as pastor of the Armenian Evangelical Church. Two
years later, as a refugee in Port Said, he reported the events at Zeitun
to the Reverend Stephen Trowbridge, secretary of the Cairo committee
of the American Red Cross, who in turn recorded the following story.
When war was declared in Europe in August 1914, every male under
forty-five years of age in Zeitun and its neighboring villages was re-
quired to register for active service in the Turkish army. Many of the
Armenians, especially from the villages, withdrew to the mountains to
escape military service. Among these were twenty-five young men who,
according to Andreasian, were regarded by their community as ruffians
and outlaws. This band descended on a company of Turkish recruits
and stripped and insulted them, whereupon the mutasarrif ("gover-
nor") of the Marash district, Haidar Pasha, marched on Zeitun with
600 of his troops. The Zeitun leaders themselves caught the young
rebels and turned them over to the Turkish authorities, but Haidar
Pasha was not satisfied and ordered the surrender of all weapons from
the Zeitunlis who possessed in all about two hundred Martini rifles
and a quantity of antique weapons, many of them made by local gun-
smiths. In a house-to-house search the soldiers secured about one
hundred fifty of these, applying the bastinado as a means of persuasion
when men denied ownership of a weapon. During these searches a
number of women were raped.
A group of thirty-two men who had been abused escaped to the
mountains and took revenge by killing nine Turkish gendarmes much
 RESISTANCE AT Z E I T U N AND F U N D I J A K : 17

to the dismay of the Zeitun community, who feared that the govern-
ment was only waiting for a pretext to destroy them. By 24 March the
town was surrounded by a force of 5,000 Turkish soldiers. A delega-
tion traveled from Marash to advise the Zeitunlis to obey the govern-
ment rather than endanger all Armenians in Cilicia. The citizens
agreed and informed the government that the rebels were hiding in
the Monastery of Saint Mary.
The Turkish garrison of Zeitun attacked the monastery on 25
March. The commander, Captain Khourshid, refused help from the
Marash detachment, having stated that he would have the insurgents
dead or alive within two hours. But by nightfall the Turks had
suffered losses of two to three hundred men. The next morning they
set fire to the monastery and waited to ambush the besieged rebels as
they ran out, but their quarry had escaped to the mountains during the
night.11
Shortly after this event fifty of the Zeitun Armenian community
leaders were summoned to the konak, or "government house," for a
conference. Their families waited in vain for their return. A few
days later, 10 April 1915, soldiers knocked on the doors in a certain
quarter with orders for all residents in those houses to leave the town
immediately. They were given no opportunity to change their clothing,
to put on shoes, nor to call their children from the hills where they
were looking after cattle. Some three hundred families were driven
off across the mountains in the direction of Konia to be settled at
Kara Pounar and Sultania along the railway between Eregli and
Bozanti. Other groups were deported in a similar manner every few
days until all of the eight thousand Armenians in the city and seven-
teen thousand from the surrounding villages had been exiled.12 By this
time the muhajirs were already taking over their abandoned property
and were cutting down trees laden with fruit for fuel and harvesting
unripe grain for fodder.13 Those who were not sent to Kara Pounar
and Sultania were driven by way of Marash to Deir-ez-Zor on the
Euphrates River. .
The six to eight thousand refugees who had been dispatched to Kara
Pounar had no plows, no seed to sow, no bread, no abodes, and they
were dying of starvation and malaria at the rate of one hundred fifty
to two hundred a day.14
Some of the seven thousand refugees at Sultania were housed in
great camel stables. The government had at first issued them bread,
then nine ounces of flour per day to each adult (children under five
were not considered eligible to receive rations), then six ounces, then
l8 : EXILE AND REPATRIATION

finally none. A Turkish colonel who had been assigned to the camp
was so distressed by what he saw that he sent a strongly worded tele-
gram to the war department demanding that rations be given to the
families of three hundred men who had been drafted into a labor
corps. The war department responded, providing for about sixteen
hundred persons, but six thousand received nothing. On 17 July 1915
Dr. William S. Dodd, physician at the American Mission Hospital in
Konia, wrote to Dr. William W. Peet, treasurer of the American
Board of Missions, begging for funds to alleviate the hunger of the
refugees at Sultania. He concluded his letter with the remark, "I have
before heard of refinements of deviltry, but I have seen instances this
year that have burned into my soul. The manifest purpose to destroy
these people by starvation cannot be denied." 1S
The band of young rebels who had escaped from the Monastery of
Saint Mary in Zeitun were hunted by Turkish troops and villagers,
and anyone who gave them food or shelter was liable for trial in the
military court. At the outbreak of World War I, the Reverend Pascal
Maljian, a Franciscan father, returned to his native city of Marash.
There, he was falsely charged with providing food to the Zeitun fugi-
tives. The Marash court found him guilty and sent him to Aleppo
where the higher court sentenced him to death on the scaffold. Appeals
to the sultan resulted in delay of execution, and so he remained a
prisoner until the war ended, and he survived to return to Marash.16

Fundijak
The thirty-two fugitives from Zeitun had withdrawn to the hills above
Fundijak, several miles southwest of Marash. News of the deporta-
tion of the Zeitunlis spread quickly throughout the province, and the
Armenian peasants debated whether to submit to deportation and die
like slaves or to defend themselves. Most of those from the villages of
Kishifli, Der£ Keoy, and Fundijak chose to fight and joined the band
of Zeitun fighters led by the Cholakian brothers. The more conserva-
tive element of Fundijak was opposed to giving shelter and food to the
Zeitun "rebels," for this was certain to cause conflict with the Turkish
army. But the majority welcomed them with full realization of the
danger.
The 82 households of Kishifli and the 140 from Dere" Keoy moved
into Fundijak, a town of 400 homes. Among these was Yeremia
 RESISTANCE AT Z E I T U N AND F U N D I J A K . : 19

Kehyayen, a teacher from Dere" Keoy who related the events of

Fundijak to Krikor Kaloustian, editor of Marash Gam Kermanig ew
Heros Zeyt'own.17 Warriors from these villages took positions in
the mountains around the village, while those from Fundijak assumed
responsibility for guarding the town itself and the only approach to it.
The Turkish captain Omar Bey was charged with disarming the
Armenian villagers and soon learned through spies that the band of
Zeitun fighters was hiding in the hills above Fundijak. Realizing that
his force of 125 gendarmes would have no easy task in subduing these
men who had killed two or three hundred Turkish regulars at Zeitun,
he returned to Marash for reinforcements sufficient to double the size
of his detachment. Meanwhile he arranged with Turks from Marash
and nearby villages to infiltrate Fundijak on the date set for his attack.
On the afternoon of 26 July 1915 Captain Omar Bey's gendarmes
attacked the Zeitun fighters in their hiding place. At the same time
the Turkish population of Fundijak and the Turkish visitors from
Marash began to plunder the market. The Fundijak Armenian fighters
fell on the rear of the gendarmes engaged with the Zeitunlis. Caught
between the two Armenian forces, Captain Omar Bey's force was an-
nihilated. The Turks of Fundijak and those from Marash were then
subdued and imprisoned. Kehyayan reports that on the next morning
the prisoners, "caught in threatening maneuvers, were all shot."
Further, "during the morning the Armenian peasants attacked six of
the neighboring Turkish villages and burned them all, together with
their crops and produce, and unbelievably without losing a single
man." 18
Having eliminated any immediate danger from their Turkish neigh-
bors, the Armenians strengthened their defenses against the attack
they knew would soon come with much greater force.
When the destruction of Omar Bey's detachment was reported to
the district commander Ali Bey at Adana, he assembled a large force
of regular troops (reported by Kehyayan to number eight thousand)19
with batteries of mountain guns and marched on Fundijak. In the
hope that heavy casualties might be avoided, he communicated with
the Marash mutasarrif Ismail Kemal Bey asking that an effort for
mediation be made. Ismail Kemal Bey summoned to his office the
leaders of the three Armenian religious communities and requested,
them to persuade the Fundijak fighters to yield in return for generous
concessions. The Catholic leaders begged to be excused on grounds
that there were no Catholics in that area. The Protestant pastor,
Badveli, or "Pastor," Abraham Hartunian, and two of the Armenian
2O : E X I L E AND REPATRIATION

Apostolic priests, Der Arsen Der Hovanessian and Der Sahag Der
Bedrossian, accepted the mission with reluctance. Although they had
no faith in the Turkish promises, they could hardly refuse. Under an
escort of gendarmes the delegation departed on the five-hour journey
to Fundijak and camped on a hill above the village for the night.
On the following morning the mediators reached the village safely
under a flag of truce and conferred with the village leaders in the
presence of the Cholakian brothers and their heavily armed followers.
In reply to warnings that a large force of Turkish regulars already
surrounded the village and that still another regiment commanded by
Ali Bey was marching from Adana to strike at Fundijak, the Armenian
fighters chose to fight and die rather than surrender to the Turks from
whom they expected no mercy.
The Turkish commander was greatly displeased with the failure of
the mission and even more so was the mutasarrif of Marash. On the
next day, Sunday, i August, the siege began. The defenders of
Fundijak numbered not more than five hundred, and only half of
these had modern rifles.20 The Turkish mountain guns rained shells
on the village and on the Armenian positions in the hills, destroying
both the barricades and the defenders. Women and children gathered
in Saint Mary's Church. In spite of heavy losses the Turkish troops
pressed forward, entered the town, and set fire to the church. Hundreds
of the refugees were burned alive. Only the fighters who occupied the
Evangelical Church were able to continue their resistance, and when
it became dark they created a diversion and escaped to the hills.
The next morning the Turks executed 91 of the captured fighters.
One hundred others were bound and marched to Marash. Another
100, wounded, were taken to Marash and later deported. According
to the Armenian account, the Turks had lost approximately two
thousand soldiers and between four and five thousand villagers. The
"Armenians estimated their own losses at twenty-one hundred, most of
whom were noncombatants.21
Those who had escaped were hunted by Turkish troops during the
remainder of the war. Many were killed, but some survived in the
Gavur mountains, living off the land. I talked with one of them
while on a hunting trip at Kishifli in 1919.
On 7 August the 100 captives taken at Fundijak were paraded
through the streets of Marash in chains. One group was led to scaffolds
in the market place and hanged. The others were taken to the open
plain behind the military barracks and the American Mission buildings
 RESISTANCE AT ZEITUN AND F U N D I J A K : 21

where they were mowed down by rifle fire in the presence of much of
the population.22
After overcoming the resistance at Fundijak, the Turkish forces
cleared the Armenians out of all villages in the district of Marash.
On 2 August the director of a German orphanage reported,
The villages around Marash are empty! The villagers had begun
to harvest their crops and now must abandon their fields of wheat,
their fruit, cattle, so carefully protected and now worthless. They
are obliged to sell at ridiculous prices. The women, children, the
sick, the blind and lame—all have been put on the road for de-
portation, to be separated from their hearths forever. Everything
of value that they owned now goes to enrich people who never
earned them by their own labor.23
Estimates of the number deported from villages in the district of
Marash vary from fifty-six to sixty-five thousand. Of these between
fourteen hundred and two thousand returned after the war.24
During the months following the Fundijak affair the population of
Marash was subjected to a speculiar form of harassment. Scaffolds
were erected on a hill near the konak and on the bridge over Kanli
Dere", or "Bloody Stream," in the heart of the city. Armenians who
had been convicted in the Aleppo court were brought to Marash for
execution. Dr. Haroutune Der Ghazarian, graduate of the School of
Medicine at the Syrian Protestant College and surgeon at the German
Hospital in Marash, reported, "There the Turkish mob around the
scaffolds with curses and obscene remarks would watch the hanged
men and rejoice in their death struggles." 25 More than two hundred
twenty Armenians were executed on these scaffolds on charges of
treason. One innocent victim was a Greek pastor, Karalambos Bostanji,
graduate of Saint Paul's Institute in Tarsus and of a Swiss university.
He had preached on the text, "The Kingdom of God is at hand!" The
Turkish court understood this to mean the independent kingdom of
the Armenians.26
Dr. Der Ghazarian interpreted the hangings in Marash as a warning
to the Armenian community against any form of resistance to govern-
ment authority.
 CHAPTERFOUR

DEPORTATION FROM MARASH

The passage of the exiles from Zeitun and Fundijak through Marash,
followed by those from other villages, alerted the Armenians of that
city that they, too, might be deported. Their representative in Parlia-
ment, Hagop Agha Kherlakian, used his influence to protect the
Marash Christians, although the mutasarrif Ismail Kemal Bey warned
him that his activities were arousing the anger of the local Young
Turk leaders, and that he was endangering his own family. Neverthe-
less Talaat Bey inserted a clause in the deportation plan exempting the
Armenians of Marash, a measure that proved to be merely a stay of
execution, for, in spite of the promised exemption, seven prominent
Marash families were given notice to prepare for deportation. Among
these was the Reverend Aharon Shirajian, who in 1895 had been
designated as a dangerous character by the Marash police. On 13
May 1915 gendarmes escorted his family together with six others to
Aleppo.
After the conquest of Fundijak and expulsion of the Armenian vil-
lagers in that area, the commander of the Turkish forces led his troops
to Marash and quartered them in the school buildings of the First
Evangelical Church, thus putting an end to the school program. At
this time Jamal Pasha, governor of Syria, visited Marash. The notables
of the city, both Muslim and Christian, were invited to pay their re-
spects to the pasha, who was one of the Ittihad triumvirate. The Ar-
menians made their obeisance reluctantly; they feared that such a
large force signified the beginning of repressive measures against their
community. The next morning agents of the police moved through
the city streets shouting that all arms were to be surrendered and that
anyone found later with a weapon would be shot. The police then be-
gan a search of the Armenian houses, not only for arms but also for
 DEPORTATION FROM MARASH : 23

incriminating books and documents. No attempt was made to disarm

the Muslim civilians.1
It was on the following morning that the captives taken at Zeitun
and Fundijak were executed, and, before the Armenian community
could recover from these two shocks, the dreaded orders for deporta-
tion were issued. The religious leaders were summoned to the govern-
ment building and notified that all Armenians were to leave the city
by two o'clock the following afternoon, 19 August. To the surprise
of the military commander, no resistance was offered and thousands
left the city the next morning.
There is evidence of a conflict between fanatics among the Young
Turk chiefs and certain local leaders such as the mutasarrif who had
humane instincts. Undoubtedly the mutasarrif Ismail Kemal Bey
possessed a copy of the deportation plan, for his subordinates were
carrying out the instructions for registration of "abandoned" property.
Early that afternoon he called a halt to the deportation, explaining
that the property registration could not be accomplished on such short
notice.2 Thus it is probable that the sudden order for deportation had
been given under pressure from Jamal Pasha.
Thousands had already departed on the road to exile when events
took a course which led to disaster both for the mutasarrif and for the
Protestant leader Abraham Hartunian. That evening the governor
sent word to the pastor that orders had come from Constantinople
exempting the Protestants from deportation. Badveli Abraham im-
mediately demanded that those who had already left the city should
be brought back. Ismail Kemal Bey, knowing the mood of the Muslim
population, first objected but finally yielded to the supplications of his
friend. The anger of the local Turkish residents over this action
obliged the pastor to flee from the city at night, and Ismail Kemal Bey
was ousted from his office as governor. Badveli Abraham found tempo-
rary protection from the German engineers who were constructing the
railway to Baghdad. At Ayran he was given charge of the mill and
bakery which supplied bread to the laborers on the railway.3
Having witnessed the flight of the deportees from Zeitun and
Fundijak as they passed through Marash, an American Board mis-
sionary, Rev. James Lyman, consulted with his fellow workers over
the possibility of sending one of their number with the caravan of
exiles to offer them help.4 Jamal Pasha had refused a request by Dr.
Fred D. Shepard, the American surgeon of Aintab, that he be allowed
to help alleviate the suffering of the deportees.5 But certain German
missionaries were able to evade this restriction. Reports by members of
24 : EXILE AND REPATRIATION

the Marash station of the German Hilfsbund Mission show that they
were actually on the road and engaged in relief work among the exiles.
One can only surmise the discussion in Marash between Mr. Lyman
and the German ladies who worked in close association with the Ameri-
cans operating two orphanages and a fine hospital. The Germans but
not the Americans could travel and give aid to the Armenians, for
Germany and Turkey were allies. Nevertheless they had to operate
secretly. The fact that they reported their expenditures and activities
to the American Board treasurer William W. Peet as well as to their
own headquarters in Berlin indicates that the funds raised in the
United States by the American Committee for Relief in the Near East
were reaching the refugees through the German missionaries of
Marash.6
The first groups to be deported from Marash passed through Aintab
southward to camps on the outskirts of Aleppo. Thousands sought
shelter in Bab and other Arab villages north of Aleppo, and hundreds
of women and children were taken into Arab homes. The officials of
the deportation office in Aleppo attempted to prevent the deportees
from entering that great city where they could easily scatter and dis-
appear before being shipped farther south into eastern Syria or south-
west along the Euphrates. In order to bypass Aleppo, some caravans
from the north were diverted across the Euphrates at Birejik, east of
Aintab, then down the eastern bank of the river toward Ras-el-Ain and
Deir-ez-Zor.
In the autumn of 1915 and on through 1916 Armenians were up-
rooted not only from Marash but from every corner of Anatolia. Those
from western Anatolia converged on the passes through the Taurus
Mountains where German engineers were building the great tunnels
for the railway to Baghdad. The exiles camped by the tens of thou-
sands along the railway with no food and no provision for sanitation.
The American physician Dr. William Dodd reported appalling health
conditions in the camps near Konia, which was his station.7 Miss
Beatrice Rohner and Miss Paula Schafer, both members of the Ger-
man Hilfsbund Mission at Marash, reported conditions in the passes
through the Amanus range where they distributed bread and clothing.
"Though I had seen much distress before," wrote Miss Schafer, "the
objects and the scenes I saw defy description." 8 At the entrance to
the camp were piles of unburied dead, victims of virulent dysentery
and starvation.
The German missionary Miss L. Mohring, traveling by carriage
 DEPORTATION FROM MARASH : 25

from Baghdad to Aleppo in September 1915, reported meeting large

groups of deportees from the villages of the Marash district. Among
these was a girl formerly sheltered in Beitel Orphanage of Marash,
operated by the German Hilfsbund mission. At another point she
encountered a Zeitun girl who had been educated by the Kaiserwert
Deaconesses in Beirut. This girl recounted in perfect German the suf-
fering she and her companions had to endure and asked, "Why does
God allow it?" 9
The last Armenians to be deported from Marash were sent out on
23 June 1916 to join a large caravan from the area between Ayran and
Intilli on the railway to Baghdad. In the spring of 1916 Talaat Bey
learned that thousands of Armenians had been employed by the Ger-
man engineers in the construction of the railway bed and tunnels
through the Taurus Mountains and thus had escaped deportation.
In spite of protests by the Germans he ordered the Armenians be
dismissed and sent to Deir-ez-Zor. To insure compliance he dismissed
the governor of the province of Adana who had allowed the families
of the laborers to camp along the railway and in his place appointed
a man on whom he could count for drastic measures. It was Jevded
Bey, who thirsted for revenge because he had been humiliated by his
inability to overcome the defenders of Van. Within three days of his
arrival on 13 June 1916 he had all of the Armenians, twelve thousand
in number, moving into exile. In this caravan was the Marash pastor
Abraham Hartunian, who recorded the brutality of the guards.10 The
manner in which they carried out their task supports the charge made
by Mevlan Zadd Rifat that criminals released from prison were re-
cruited to police the caravans of deportees.11
The Ayran-Intilli caravan made a lengthy and arduous detour over
the mountains toward Marash in order to collect the group exiled
from that city on 23 June. Then it turned south as far as Aintab, and
eastward to the Euphrates which it crossed at Birejik. At Aintab
friends of Badveli Abraham succeeded in plotting his escape by bribing
the guards. Barely a thousand of the entire caravan, including the
Marashlis, survived their exile. Those who could not keep up with the
column because of weariness or sickness were shot. Men were killed
for protesting the rape of their women. Food supplies had been ex-
hausted during the first few days, and thousands died of starvation.12
No further deportations from Marash occurred. According to Krikor
Kaloustian, six thousand Armenians remained unmolested in the city
throughout the war.13
26 : E X I L E AND R E P A T R I A T I O N

Conditions in the Deportation Camps

A significant description of the conditions of deportees along the
Euphrates River was furnished by American Consul J. B. Jackson and
carried to the American Embassy in Constantinople by "a German
military traveler." 14 Jackson reported that he had commissioned a
German, Auguste Bernau, to undertake the distribution of relief funds
in towns along the Euphrates, a task formerly entrusted to Miss Bea-
trice Rohner. One by one Miss Rohner's aides had been imprisoned,
for "the chief Turkish military authority [undoubtedly Jamal Pasha]
had expressed his unalterable opposition to the giving of relief to the
deported Armenians."16 Portions of Bernau's detailed report are
quoted in Appendix C.
Jamal Pasha's policy opposing the distribution of relief is reflected
in an observation made by Walter Geddes, an American from Smyrna,
in Damascus. To his inquiry as to why no Muslims offered alms to
Armenians came the explanation that this was a criminal offense.16
Despite this harsh policy the exiles in western Syria fared far better
than those sent to Deir-ez-Zor. In his Memories of a Turkish Statesman,
Jamal Pasha noted that he was sympathetic to the Armenians and had
diverted columns of the deportees into territory under his control with
strict orders that no one was to be molested.17 Although the minister
of interior Talaat Bey had prohibited the care of Armenian children
in orphanages,18 Jamal Pasha transferred 750 Armenian boys and girls
from the camp at Hama to the village of Antoura in Lebanon. There
the famous Turkish feminist leader Halide" Edib Hanum was ap-
pointed to supervise the orphanage and to raise the children as
Muslims.19
The majority of the Armenians deported from Marash settled in
camps near the cities of Hama and Damascus, and some were sent by
rail as far south as Tafile1 beyond the southern shore of the Dead Sea.
Conditions of life in the great camp at Hama are described in the
autobiography of Rev. Haroutune Nokhoudian, the leader of the
Armenians living in the district of Antioch who decided to obey the
government edict of deportation rather than join those who chose to
die fighting on Musa Dagh.20
An absorbing account of the trials experienced at Hama by one
family from a village at the foot of Musa Dagh has been given by
 DEPORTATION FROM MARASH : 27

Ohannes Tilkian.21 Only three boys survived in his family of eight

persons, a ratio which seems to have prevailed throughout the camp.
The lack of facilities for bathing and laundry led to the multiplica-
tion of lice which carried the dreaded typhus, and the absence of
latrines permitted hordes of flies to spread a virulent form of dysentery.
These diseases were fatal to the undernourished. During the last two
years of the war famine took an even greater toll than typhus or
dysentery. The government agents commandeered ninety percent of
the grain harvested, flour became unavailable at any price, and hun-
dreds died daily in the Hama camp.
 CHAPTERFIVE

WARTIME RELIEF WORK IN ALEPPO

Although personnel of Near East Relief were unable to reach Ottoman

territory until World War I had ended, the hundred-thousand-dollar
fund raised by the American Committee for Relief in the Near East
reached Ambassador Henry Morgenthau early in October 1915 and
soon was being applied as aid to refugees in Aleppo. Talaat Bey him-
self informed the ambassador of the arrival of this fund. "Why don't
you give the money to us?" he asked.
"What money?"
"Here is a cablegram from America sending you a lot of money for
the Armenians! . . . I always get your cablegrams first, you know.
. . . Why are you so interested in Armenians, anyway? You are a Jew,
and these people are Christians!"i
Enver Pasha also expressed his opposition to American help for the
Armenians: "We don't want the Americans to feed the Armenians.
That is one of the worst things that could happen to them. . . . This
will encourage them to rebellion again, and then we shall have to
punish them still more." 2
It was evident that the distribution of relief moneys would have to
be carried out secretly. Glimpses of the fund at work may be noted in
a number of reports from various sources. When Jamal Pasha rejected
Dr. Fred Shepard's request that he be allowed to ease the plight of the
deported Armenians,3 the American surgeon arranged for the distri-
bution of relief supplies through the German missionaries Paula
Schafer and Beatrice Rohner as mentioned earlier. Miss Schafer re-
ported to Dr. William W. Peet of the American Board of Missions in
Constantinople on i December 1915 about the distribution of food
and clothing to refugees at Islahiye', where the road from Marash
 W A R T I M E R E L I E F W O R K IN A L E P P O : 2Q

meets the Baghdad Railway.4 These ladies had followed the caravans
of deportees in order to give what help was possible and had decided
to concentrate their efforts on saving the orphan children from star-
vation. The Reverend Aharon Shirajian (see note 5 to chapter i, p.
5), also from Marash and therefore well known to the German mis-
sionaries, was engaged in similar work, and it is evident that they
worked in close association. Aleppo was filled with children who some-
how had survived their parents and had managed to enter the forbid-
den city. They roamed the streets begging for food and at night slept
in squalid disease-ridden shelters.5
Pastor Shirajian, known to his people as Badveli Aharon, secured
a building close to the German consulate to provide shelter for the
orphans. He secured Jamal Pasha's support for his special project, the
placement of Armenian boys as apprentices among the artisans of
Aleppo with permission to offer them food and shelter at night. The
project was supported by the fund sent from New York to Ambassador
Morgenthau. Also active in this orphanage program was the Reverend
Sisag Manoogian who had been employed formerly by the YMCA in
Adana. He had been in hiding to escape deportation, but he became
housemaster in an orphanage in the Shekeriye" quarter when the
Turkish authorities permitted Miss Schafer to employ him.6
Since these activities were not in harmony with the purposes of the
Ittihad leaders, Shirajian was continually in trouble with the deporta-
tion office in Aleppo, but he enjoyed a certain degree of immunity
thanks to the support of Jamal Pasha. The general had formed a
friendship with Dr. Aram Asadour Altounian after he had been a
patient at his renowned physician's hospital in Aleppo. Dr. Altounian's
daughter Nora was also active in the orphanage work. Whenever
Shirajian was in trouble with the police, a message transmitted through
Nora and her father brought immediate action. Thus Shirajian was
able to continue his work with the children. His staff of workers were
refugee women willing to serve without compensation other than food
and shelter. A local physician whom he had persuaded to donate an
hour or two of professional services per day protested that it would
be useless when he saw the emaciated children, most of whom were
near death. Nevertheless it was these whom the pastor insisted on
helping. He and his family shared the same quarters and ate the same
food served to the staff and children. When one of his daughters came
down with typhus she lay among the typhus-stricken orphans.
Before the war ended, Shirajian had ten buildings filled with
orphans. The records show that 13,000 children had come under his
30 : EXILE ANDR E P A T R I A T I O N

care, many of them for a few days only,7 for the deportation office,
under orders from Talaat Bey, kept moving them on to Ras-el-Ain or
to Deir-ez-Zor.8
During the last months of the war the exiles who had survived
disease and famine were buoyed by news of the military power of the
British force in the south and of the disruption of Turkish communi-
cations by Arab raiders southeast of the Dead Sea. They knew also
that in the force commanded by the British general Sir Edmund Al-
lenby was a unit, the Legion d'Orient, composed of one battalion of
Syrians and three of Armenians. These were destined to play a signifi-
cant role in the fate of Cilicia.

The Legion d'Orient

The Armenian fighters who had successfully defended themselves and
their families on Musa Dagh and had later been moved on French
warships to Port Said were not content to remain idle in their camp.
Their leaders approached French representatives in Egypt with the
proposition that an Armenian legion be formed to fight as an auxiliary
unit with the French against the Turks. This offer was forwarded to
the Quai d'Orsay. Foreign Minister Aristide Briand seized this op
portunity to provide troops for a commitment made in the still secret
Sykes-Picot Accord negotiated in 1916 between France, Great Britain
and tsarist Russia. According to this plan for the dismemberment of
the Ottoman Empire, France was to inherit control over the coastal
area of Syria and the southeastern part of Anatolia known as Cilicia.
Hard pressed by the Germans in their homeland, the French leaders
had been able to spare only a small detachment of colonial troops for
the conquest of the Turks on the Palestinian front, but the offer of
Armenian troops seemed to provide a solution for this dilemma. He
sent for Boghas Nubar Pasha, the son of a former premier of Egypt
and the foremost of the Armenian leaders in Europe, and asked him
to furnish 5,000 soldiers for the occupation of Cilicia. After conferring
with his counselors, Boghas Nubar Pasha headed a delegation which
met with Briand and agreed to furnish the troops requested.9 The
Armenian leader also met with Sir Mark Sykes and Georges-Picot, au-
thors of the secret accord, at the French embassy in London on 27
October 1916. On this date he sent a coded cable to his son Arakel in
 WARTIME RELIEF WORK IN ALEPPO : 31

Cairo stating that he had been given formal assurance that in the
event of an Allied victory their "national aspirations would be satis-
fied," hence the greatest possible number of volunteers should be
engaged.10 Those who volunteered for service in the legion included
the veterans of the Musa Dagh siege, Armenians among the Turkish
prisoners of war captured by the British, and some from the United
States and Europe. These volunteers had nearly two years of military
training before their first experience in battle.
A training camp was established on the island of Cyprus under the
command of Colonel de Piepape with fifty French officers as instruc-
tors. Since about one tenth of the recruits were Syrian, the force was
named the Legion d'Orient. In July 1918 all but 700—those who had
not yet completed their training—were transferred to Palestine as part
of Colonel de Pidpape's Detachement Francaise de Palestine et Syrie,
which in turn became part of General Allenby's great army. Lieu-
tenant Colonel Romieu was assigned to command the Legion d'Orient,
composed of three battalions of Armenians, one company of Syrians
and a section of light artillery.11
The legion was assigned a position at the center south of Nablus
opposite the Seventh Ottoman Army commanded by Mustafa Kemal
Pasha. The French and Armenian detachments earned fame on 19
September 1918 when Allenby surprised the enemy with overwhelming
force on the Mediterranean coast. The legion took part in the capture
of the Heights of Arara and earned the following tribute from General
Allenby: "I am proud to have had an Armenian contingent under my
command. They have fought very brilliantly and have played a great
part in the victory." 12
Within three days Turkish resistance ceased. The troops fled in
disorder to the north, and only at Aleppo was Mustafa Kemal able to
organize a line of defense. On a ridge five miles north of Aleppo his
troops held their position against an attack by Allenby's Indian
Lancers. By the end of September the Turkish Armies had been
cleared out of Palestine and Syria. The Arab troops which had fought
their way up the eastern bank of the Jordan had entered Damascus
with their leaders, Emir Feisal and Colonel Lawrence. French naval
units entered Beirut harbor on 7 October followed the next day by
Colonel de Piepape with the first detachment of Allied troops, in-
cluding the Legion d'Orient.
The population of Lebanon was in the throes of famine. Fifteen
hundred naked and starving children roamed the streets and swarmed
32 : E X I L E A N D R E P A T R I A T I O N

around the Allied soldiers begging for food. French ships unloaded
15,000 tons of food for distribution. Eighty thousand Lebanese had
died of starvation during the four years of war.

The Armistice
On 30 October an armistice between Turkey and Great Britain was
signed at Mudros on the Island of Lemnos. A French demand for
participation in the negotiations had been refused by the British repre-
sentatives. The armistice terms required demobilization of the Turkish
armies except for troops needed to maintain order in the interior and
to guard the frontiers. The areas south and east of the Taurus range
were to be evacuated according to a definite timetable which provided
for the movement of Turkish forces to the area north of the Baghdad
Railway and west of the Taurus tunnels at Bozanti no later than
21 December.
The Allies were to assume control of the railway connecting Con-
stantinople with Aleppo and the seaports of Mersind and Alexandretta.
Clause 7 of the Armistice also granted "the right to occupy any strate-
gic points in the event of any situation which threatens the security of
the Allies." 13 This vague provision was later interpreted to justify
military occupation of various zones by the British, French, Italian
and Greek armies while the Turks protested vigorously, claiming with
considerable justice that nothing had threatened the security of the
Allies."
 CHAPTERSIX

THE O C C U P A T I O N OF CILICIA

The time for the occupation of Cilicia had come. General Allenby
reminded General Hamelin, who had succeeded Colonel Pie"pap<§ as
commander of the French brigade, that France had claimed the honor
of occupying "Armenia" and that it was her duty to provide the neces-
sary forces; but since that need had not been met, he was obliged to
assume the responsibility. Allenby assigned the French brigade to the
British Twenty-first Army Corps, whose headquarters were in Beirut,
and ordered the French units to tail the retreating Turks in Cilicia
and to occupy the stations along the railway from the Taurus tunnels
at Bozanti down to the port of Mersine and as far east as Islahiye".
Occupation of the cities further inland—Marash, Aintab, and Urfa—
would be undertaken by General Leslie's Nineteenth Brigade com-
posed of five regiments of Indian cavalry and a labor corps of 6,000
Hindus.1
At this time the battalion of Syrian troops was separated from the
Legion d'Orient for duty in Lebanon and Syria. The remaining three
battalions, composed entirely of Armenian soldiers and henceforth
known as the Armenian Legion, under the command of General
Hamelin, had to be spread very thinly. The First Battalion occupied
points in the area bordering the Gulf of Alexandretta, extending
northward to the Baghdad Railway and west as far as Islahiyd. The
Second and Third Battalions, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel
Romieu, disembarked at Mersine" on 18 December to be deployed in
opposite directions, one moving to points on the railway between
Adana and Islahiy£, the other from Mersine' to Bozanti.
The British forces controlled the operation of the railway, while the
Armenian Legion provided the symbol of strength needed for its
34 '• E X I L E AND R E P A T R I A T I O N

protection. Indeed, the legion was intended to form only the advance
guard of the main body of occupation troops and these were late in
arriving, so that for two months two battalions of Armenians repre-
sented the only Allied force in Cilicia.
In January 1919, the British General Staff issued a circular memo-
randum dealing with the civil administration of enemy-occupied ter-
ritory. The vilayets of Adana (Cilicia) and Jebel Bereket were com-
bined to form the North Zone, and Col. Edouard Breinond was ap-
pointed its chief administrator. The memorandum stipulated that he
was to govern through the local Ottoman functionaries, who in turn
were to be approved by the British General Staff.2
Colonel Bre'mond was well qualified for this post, having spent
many years in the Muslim world.3 He brought with him to Adana
seven French officers to serve as governors of the various sanjaks
("districts") in this territory. Among these were two who were to play
important roles in future events: Lt. Col. Robert Normand, who was
appointed to govern the district of Adana; and Captain Andr^, who
was to govern the district of Jebel Bereket.4
The first detachments of the strong British force which had been
assigned to follow the Armenian Legion into Cilicia arrived in Adana
on 18 February 1919, two months after the advance guard.5 General
Leslie's Nineteenth Indian Brigade relieved the Armenian Legion just
as violence threatened to explode in Adana. At the time of Colonel
Bre'mond's arrival the whole province was in a state of disorder. Thou-
sands of Turkish soldiers, ill fed and unpaid, had deserted their units
and had resorted to banditry for their sustenance. The arrival of
Armenian troops alarmed the population who now feared reprisals
from those who supposedly had been exterminated and whose property
they now occupied. The deportations of 1915 had been carried out by
orders from Constantinople but executed by the local authorities in
every town or city. The Armenians had returned as members of the
armed force of a great European power and could not be expected
to assume the humble attitude demanded of them by the Turks
during the past six centuries. Their new bearing was regarded as ar-
rogance by the Muslims. Furthermore, the Turks became aware of the
fact that the Armenians intended to establish an independent state
in which they, the Turks, would have to live.
Mustafa Kemal Pasha had inherited from Gen. Liman von Sanders
the command of the Second and Seventh Turkish Armies, and in the
process of evacuating Cilicia, he contributed to the Turkish spirit of
resistance. Almost alone among the Turkish leaders, he was deter-
mined to resist the occupation of Anatolia, which was the heart of the
 THE O C C U P A T I O N OF C I L I C I A : 35

now dismembered empire. The terms of the armistice permitted him

to retain whatever forces were needed to defend the frontiers, and with
this objective he reorganized his troops while retreating into central
Anatolia. Lord Kinross credits Kemal Pasha (possibly through his sub-
ordinate Nehad Pasha) with stocking arms and ammunition in various
cities of Cilicia such as Marash and Aintab for possible use in the
future.6 Further, the Turkish leaders throughout Cilicia were urged
to organize national forces for resistance to the enemy who were en-
croaching on the Turkish homeland. The local branches of the Com-
mittee of Union and Progress (Ittihad) took charge of this organiza-
tion. During this period tension had risen to the point that a massacre
of Christians was threatened in Adana, causing Colonel Bre"mond to
declare a state of siege. The arrival of the British Nineteenth Brigade
quieted the incipient revolt. In Aleppo a similar situation ended in the
massacre of 200 Christians on 28 February.7
The British forces moved inland, occupying Aintab in January 1919,
Marash and Urfa in February. According to a Turkish source, Aintab
was occupied in December, Marash on 22 February, and Urfa on 24
March. The Turkish General Staff's official account of the "Turkish
War of Independence—Southern Front" gives a colorful description of
the British occupation of Marash.

When Aintab was occupied, some of the Marash people, under-

standing that Marash, too, would be occupied, burned the bridge
over the Ak Su. . . . The British began advancing toward
Marash, repairing the road. Seeing that the bridge over the Ak Su
had been burned, they set up a narrow bridge and continued
their march.
The Marash and Zeitun Armenians, who favored the British,
became aggressive. Learning of the arrival of the British, the
Armenians . . . with a band andflowers,met the British and the
Armenians who had come with them. Insolence and madness
never before had reached such extremes! "Long live the British!
"Long live the Armenians! Down with the Turks!" they were
shouting. They entered the city, the band in front, then the Ar-
menians, and behind them the British. This tenth degree of in-
solence on the part of the Armenians, who had always been treated
with affection by the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish nation,
and who had been exempted from military service until recent
times, hurt the Turks very much. This British unit, the first to enter
Marash, consisted of cavalry—as much as a regiment—mostly
Indians. They quartered themselves in the buildings of the Ameri-
36 : EXILE AND REPATRIATION

can College, the Ahirbashi [First Evangelical] Church, the Ar-

menian and Catholic Churches, and the German Farm.8

Repatriation of the Armenians

At the time of the Armistice the Allied commanders in Syria found
some two hundred thousand Armenians who had survived the 1915
deportations but were on the verge of starvation. It was decided that
they should be repatriated under assurance of Allied protection.
Colonel Bre"mond was commissioned to undertake this difficult task,
and during 1919 the French governor supervised the return of one
hundred twenty thousand of the exiles to their homes in Cilicia, re-
populating cities as far away as Marash, Zeitun, Aintab, and Hadjin.
Fifty thousand whose homes were in western Asia Minor were shipped
by rail to Ismid.9
One of the most delicate tasks was the restoration of property be-
longing to deported Armenians but taken over by Turks. There were
conflicts, as might be expected, between Turks and the returning
exiles. Colonel Bremond applied justice impartially, a policy which an-
noyed some Armenians who felt that the French should treat their
prote'ge's, the Armenians, more generously than the enemy. It was
inevitable that the aspirations of the Armenians should conflict with
those of the Turks. The fact that the defeated Turkish force on its
retreat toward Bozanti was tailed by none other than the Armenian
Legion under the flag of France sufficed to arouse Turkish fears for
their own independence despite President Wilson's declaration con-
cerning the right of self-determination. The twelfth clause of Wilson's
Fourteen Points recognized the rights of both Turks and Armenians
to security: "The Turkish portions of the Ottoman Empire should be
assured a secure sovereignty but the other nationalities which are
under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life
and autonomous development . . ." 10

The Question of Armenian Independence

The Armenians, no longer content to accept autonomy within the
Ottoman Empire, expected the establishment of an independent state.
 THE O C C U P A T I O N OF C I L I C I A : 37

Assurance of France's support for this goal had been given Boghos
Nubar Pasha by Foreign Minister Briand at the time the Legion was
organized.11 Not only tsarist Russia but also the leaders of Russia
after the Revolution had openly declared support for an autonomous
Armenian state.12
On 26 February 1919 the Armenian delegation to the peace con-
ference presented claims for an independent Armenian state to be
liberated from the Turks and placed under the protection of the
European Powers with a mandate for twenty years. Included in this
state were Cilicia, six of the vilayets in northeastern Anatolia with the
Black Sea port Trebizond, and the territory of the Caucasian Ar-
menian republic.13 In general this constituted the eastern half of
Anatolia from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. The problem for
the peace conference in applying the principle of self-determination
was to balance the conflicting interests of minority groups in such a
manner that a stable peace might be assured for the future. The legal
adviser to the American delegation, David Miller, remarked to Presi-
dent Wilson that the rule of self-determination would preclude the
establishment both of a Jewish state in Palestine and of any autono-
mous Armenian state.14 In much of the area desired by the Armenians,
they were outnumbered by the Muslim population—Turks and Kurds
—and the deportations of 1915 had further reduced their number by
half.

An American Commission of Inquiry

When the Sykes-Picot Accord and other secret agreements came to
light at the peace conference, President Woodrow Wilson was greatly
disturbed, for these proposed to distribute enemy territory in a man-
ner that violated the fundamental principle of self-determination
which he had enunciated in his address of 8 January 1918. At a meet-
ing of the Council of Four representing France, Great Britain, Italy,
and the United States held on 20 March 1919, Wilson proposed the
appointment of an inter-Allied commission to investigate the will of
the people in the conquered territories.15 At the request of the council
President Wilson drew up instructions for the commission, but it soon
became apparent that those who expected to benefit from the terms of
the secret accords had no desire to ascertain the will of the people in
the territories they were to govern.16 Wilson then decided to appoint
38 : E X I L E AND R E P A T R I A T I O N

a commission which would report to him rather than to the peace con-
ference. Headed by Henry Churchill King, president of Oberlin Col-
lege, and Charles Crane, a wealthy industrialist with a deep interest
in and knowledge of American institutions in the Near East, it be-
came known as the King-Crane Commission.
When the commission began its investigations in Aleppo where I
was working with Near East Relief, I became aware of the excitement
among the Arabs and Armenians when they found that they were be-
ing consulted about which foreign power should hold the mandate of
government over them. Attached to the commission as interpreter was
my college classmate Mike Dorizas, a famed athlete at the University of
Pennsylvania.
On 19 July the party moved on from Aleppo to Adana where Dr.
William N. Chambers welcomed them to his home and to the Ameri-
can Mission Hospital. There they conferred with the French governor
Colonel Bre"mond, the British general Mudge, and the Turkish vali
and representatives of the Turkish and Armenian communities. The
Turkish representatives were cautious, preferring to have their leaders
in Constantinople discuss the future of their empire. The few notes
made about the wishes of the Armenian leaders suggest that little time
was allowed them for interviews, although there were between twenty
and twenty-five thousand Armenians in Adana. Two Armenians came
from Marash as delegates of their interfaith council representing some
twenty-two thousand Armenians. These were the council's chairman,
the Reverend Aram Baghdikian, and the Catholic Hovsep Agha Kher-
lakian.17 Although the great majority of the Marash Armenians were
members of the Apostolic Church, no one came to represent them.
Since the problems connected with the Armenian aspirations for
autonomy were to be discussed at length in Constantinople, the Ameri-
can commission proceeded to Tarsus and Mersine1 where an American
destroyer waited to take them to the Golden Horn.
To Constantinople came delegations from every corner of Anatolia
representing the various millets or religious communities: fourteen or
fifteen million Muslims (Arabs, Kurds, and Circassians), and some
hundreds of thousand Christian Assyro-Chaldeans. The Turkish rep-
resentatives argued for a settlement according to the Wilsonian prin-
ciples, and abrogation of the secret treaties for dismemberment of the
empire. Among their spokesmen was Dr. Ahmed Emin Yalman, editor
of the journal Vakit, who had earned a doctorate at Columbia Uni-
versity. Ahmed Emin Bey told the commission that because of the
atrocities committed against the Armenians, it was reasonable that
 THE O C C U P A T I O N OF C I L I C I A : 39

they should, not be required to remain Turkish subjects; therefore

they should be given territory proportionate to their previous popu-
lation.18 Other Turkish delegates felt that peace could not be assured
in the future if a government of Armenians were to be set up in areas
where Turks were in the majority. They considered it better to have
one government for all, reorganized along the lines of American de-
mocracy.
In Paris the Armenian delegation to the peace conference had pub-
lished a document in which their territorial claims were presented: all
of Anatolia from Sivas to Persia, and from Georgia to the Mediter-
ranean.19 A similar claim was presented to the King-Crane Commission
by Professor K. K. Krikorian consisting of the six Armenian vilayets
of eastern Anatolia known as Greater Armenia, and Cilicia, all of this
to be governed under a mandatory. Dr. Krikorian admitted that the
Armenians living in the six provinces and Cilicia had not been a ma-
jority of the total population even at the time of deportations.20
Americans who had lived in Turkey for a long time were also con-
sulted. The American consul general, Gabriel Bie Ravendal, suggested
that Anatolia be placed under a foreign mandate, divided into an inde-
pendent Turkish state, and an autonomous Armenia composed of the
ancient Armenian kingdom and the area demanded by the Armenian
delegation at Paris.21
President Caleb Gates of Robert College warned of the danger of
disorder if an attempt were made to create an independent Armenia.
The Turks of Anatolia were already alarmed by the claims presented
by the Armenians and feared that they might be forced to live under
the rule of an Armenian minority. Gates predicted Turkish resistance
and noted that the Entente forces in Asia Minor were hardly adequate
to save the remnant of the Armenians. The French had made a fatal
mistake, he noted, in sending Armenian troops into Cilicia, for this
confirmed the Turkish fears that the Armenians were preparing to take
over Cilicia by force of arms. President Gates suggested that the wisest
policy would be to establish a protectorate for the whole of the Turk-
ish Empire. Armenians living in exile should be directed to the eastern
vilayets and helped to establish themselves on the land so that gradu-
ally a homogeneous population would be established there, and an
Armenian state could be built up gradually. "An arbitrary enactment
creating a state cannot give it stability, while it possesses only a small
population of whom sixty percent are widows and orphans." The
Armenians should be freed from Turkish rule, and this, suggested
President Gates, might be accomplished under a foreign protectorate.22
40 : E X I L E AND R E P A T R I A T I O N

The final report of the commission to President Wilson recom-

mended that Asia Minor be divided into three states, all under a single
mandatory: An Armenian State with boundaries to be determined by
a special commission, but not to include Cilicia; Constantinople and
the straits as a separate International State; and a Turkish State, to
include the remaining territory. No territory was to be allotted either
to Greece or to Italy. The commission reported that the population of
Asia Minor favored assignment of the mandate to the United States.23
It seems probable that President Wilson never saw the commission's
report. The copy intended for him was delivered to the White House
on the day after he collapsed on a speaking tour and was forwarded
to the Department of State, classified as secret. There it remained un-
available for more than three years. Mr. Crane thought that one of
the primary reasons for refusal to make the report public had been the
opposition of the Zionists.24
 CHAPTER SEVEN

REHABILITATION

Aleppo
The Near East Relief personnel reached Turkish territory in March
1919. Two hundred fifty workers who were recruited to staff fifteen
separate centers in the Near East sailed from New York on the troop-
ship Leviathan, crossed France in a hospital train, and at Marseilles
boarded the British hospital ship Gloucester Castle, which lay waiting
to take this task force, of which I was a member, to Constantinople.
I had been recruited from the laboratory of Walter Reed Hospital
in Bethesda to serve as a clinical chemist on the staff of a base hospital
to be established at Aleppo. Dr. Robert A. Lambert, who had been
formerly on the pathology staff at Yale University's school of medicine,
had been appointed director of the NER work in the Aleppo area,
which included the cities of Urfa, Aintab, and Marash. Each of these
was to undergo tragedy and bloodshed within the coming months.
The NER headquarters and supply base was established in the great
German warehouses at Derindje, the freight terminus for the Baghdad
Railway on the lovely Gulf of Ismid. There a few floors were cleared
of German and Turkish war materials to provide living quarters for
our personnel and a storage area for equipment and supplies. Close to
the warehouse on the shore of the bay lay a pile of mines which had
been swept from the Dardanelles, and on the other side we could look
down on a Turkish ammunition depot guarded by Turkish soldiers.
Freighters had already unloaded mountainous piles of NER supplies,
and these we sorted and inventoried. From this base personnel and
equipment were dispatched to the previously designated stations in
Anatolia; some by ship to the Black Sea and others by rail inland.
The group with which I was to travel was among the last to leave
42 : E X I L E AND R E P A T R I A T I O N

the base at Derindje. It was made up of personnel for Aleppo and

Marash led by Dr. Lambert.
Although the British army and the American Red Cross had helped
to meet the immediate need of relief for refugees concealed in Aleppo
during the Turkish administration, no one was prepared to provide for
the two hundred thousand Armenians who had survived exile in the
camps throughout Syria. These refugees were overjoyed at the an-
nouncement that they should return to their homes in Cilicia under
the protection of the Allied military forces. Their security thus es-
ablished, the Armenians needed no urging. Joyfully they moved out
of their camps and took the roads to the north, reversing their deporta-
tion routes without harassment this time. Thus the efforts of NER in
Aleppo were directed to aid for this moving population which was to
pass through the city.
The Armenians' most elementary need were temporary shelter, ster-
ilization and repair of clothing and bedding, and the correction of
physical ailments. The great Turkish military barracks on a hill two
miles from the city was placed at the disposal of the NER partly as a
hospital but also as the temporary shelter for the tens of thousands of
Armenians coming from the south. Soon the barracks resembled an
enormous oriental khan, or "inn." Built in the form of a hollow square,
its rooms opened on the great central parade ground. Between six and
ten thousand could be accommodated there, depending on how close
together the mattresses were laid on the ground. Indian soldiers
guarded the entrance and maintained order inside.
One of my first duties was to assist in the installation of the steam
boiler and the delouser which we had brought from Derindje. We
connected the boiler to the delouser and to the hospital sterilizer. As
refugees applied for admission to the barracks, they were required
to submit clothing and bedding for sterilization in order to destroy
the organisms which had created such havoc in the refugee camps.
There were few, however, whose garments were fit for anything but
burning. Although a great quantity of clothing had been shipped
from the United States, it was inadequate to meet the need, hence NER
organized the production of cloth, garments, and bedding on a large
scale. Looms were purchased for weaving, and refugee women were em-
ployed to manufacture clothing and bedding. Thus employment was
offered to many, while the products helped to supply the needs of these
exiles who had barely survived three years of hardships under the most
primitive conditions.
The workshop set up by the Reverend Aharon Shirajian for the
 REHABILITATION : 43

manufacture of lace and embroidery was continued and enlarged by

NER and provided many of the women with the means to earn a living.
Although I had been recruited because of my training in clinical
chemistry, the equipment for this had not yet reached Aleppo; hence
I became occupied with other phases of laboratory diagnostic work,
assisting Miss Justine Hill at the barracks hospital. This included the
examination of blood for malaria and relapsing fever, throat smears
for Vincent's Angina, stool specimens for a whole array of parasites,
and sputum for tuberculosis.
Dr. Lambert rented the lower floor of a residence in Aleppo and
commissioned me to convert it into the base laboratory with which he
had planned to provide special services for the hospitals of Urfa,
Aintab, and Marash, as well as Aleppo. The equipment for biochemi-
cal determinations arrived early in July, and I happily set it up and
began preparing the reagents needed for studies on blood. The sensi-
tive analytical balance essential for such work stood on the solid stone
base of a window sill (which proved to be an unfortunate choice).
That such a delicate instrument had reached Aleppo intact was a
miracle!
There was plenty of demand for the services of a chemist, which
included preparation of sterile solutions for intravenous injection, sal-
varsan, and Dakin's Solution; and the examination and chlorination of
water supplies. I spent the mornings at the barracks hospital and the
afternoons at the base laboratory.

Recovery of Armenian Women and Children

As the survivors of the exiled Armenians passed through Aleppo on
their return to their homes in Anatolia, many inquired about children
from whom they had been separated. The Reverend Abraham Har-
tunian related that Turkish women had come to the camp of deportees
at Aintab asking, "Are there any children for sale?" and that the chil-
dren resisted separation, rejecting their mothers' assurances that it was
the only way to escape death. Many women and children were accepted
into Arab homes either out of compassion or because the extra hands
could share in the labor of household and field.
John Dunaway of NER was assigned the responsibility of searching
nearby Arab and Kurdish villages for Armenian women and children.
The Emir Feisal, recognized as the future ruler of the promised Arab
44 : E X I L E ANDR E P A T R I A T I O N

state, issued a proclamation ordering that any Armenians living in

Arab homes be returned to their people. As a result of this order,
groups of children and some adults began to arrive in Aleppo. One
morning a group of sturdy boys in Arab dress applied for admission to
the barracks. I photographed them and asked, "Where have you been
living during the war?"
"In Deir-ez-Zor!" they replied. They were among the fortunate few
Armenians whom friendly Arabs had accepted into their homes.
Early one Sunday morning Dunaway woke me and asked that I join
him in a search for Armenian children at Bab, the town northwest of
Aleppo where tens of thousands of the exiles had settled temporarily.
He had decided to investigate numerous statements made by Armenian
refugees that they had left their children there. Our party included an
English-speaking Arab assigned to represent British authority who was
also armed with King Feisal's proclamation; also an Arab gendarme;
an American Red Cross nurse, Miss Rose Shayb of NER, who spoke
Arabic fluently; and Chris Graeber, chauffeur of our three-quarter-ton
Reo truck.
Ten miles from Aleppo we overtook three men traveling with only
two mounts, a camel and a donkey. When we stopped to ask whether
we were on the road to Bab, the lone pedestrian, an elderly Arab,
asked gently if he might ride with us, for Bab was his hometown. As
it turned out, we were handsomely rewarded! Our gendarme and the
Arab official chatted with him and asked about Armenian girls at Bab,
without revealing the nature of their interest.
"There are many! Three of them live in my house," replied the
Arab. Before we deposited him in Bab we had the names of a number
of Arabs in whose homes were Armenian girls.
Our entry into the town created a sensation, for apparently no
automobile had been seen there in years. We drove through the narrow
bazaar to the government house. Our Arab official explained our mis-
sion and requested the release of all Armenian girls. The kaimakam
("district governor") responded by assigning to us three gendarmes,
one apiece for the Arab representative, Dunaway, and myself so that
each of us could canvass a separate area.
News of this, of course, spread ahead of us, and we found no one at
any of the homes we visited. We learned later that the children were
being told that the Americans had come to steal them, and this rep-
resented a new disaster. They remembered the terror of separation
from their mothers four years earlier. Most of them no longer knew
their nationality and so were greatly disturbed at the prospect of being
uprooted again. However, we already knew of a police clerk and a sol-
 REHABILITATION : 45

dier who had Armenians in their homes, and each of these tried to
avoid losing their prizes by giving the names of ten others. Within an
hour we had fifteen girls. None of them were over thirteen years of
age, hence all had been under nine years old when given up by their
mothers during the 1915 deportation.
Although we knew there were fifty more children, our Reo could not
accommodate all we had collected. In midafternoon Dunaway and
Miss Shayb drove off to Aleppo with twelve of the children, leaving
me in the courtyard of the government house with the three oldest
girls, the gendarme, and our Arab interpreter. Realizing that our Reo
truck could not return before night, we agreed that we might as well
collect more children to fill the car, and within an hour had another
half-dozen in the courtyard. By this time the older girls had come to
understand that our motive was to return them to their own people,
and so they calmed the new arrivals.
By nine-thirty the Reo had not returned. A gendarme officer who
throughout the day had been most courteous brought us a very wel-
come picnic supper of cucumbers, canteloupe, and freshly-baked flat
loaves of Arab bread. Our big family dined happily together on the
ground and then prepared to spend the night in the open courtyard.
Mattresses were brought for me and our interpreter, while army over-
coats were distributed to the nine girls. That night our interpreter
was approached three times with offers of money in return for per-
mission to recover the girls. The Arabs began to insist that they were
Kurds, not Armenians!
Dunaway returned an hour after midnight. The car had broken
down on the way to Aleppo, and on the return trip they had lost the
way.
The girls had never been in an automobile, and the trip to Aleppo
was a great experience. We passed a dozen long camel caravans, each
led by the master on a donkey. The Arabs prefer to travel by night,
thus avoiding the heat of day. Aleppo excited the girls, who were
familiar only with one-story houses, hence those with three stories ap-
peared to them like skyscrapers.
Dunaway returned to Bab the next day but was able to collect only
a dozen girls, for by that time the message of the one automobile that
had come to town was clearly understood. Knowing the location of
certain children in small villages of that district, we called once more
on the governor of Bab and asked for his cooperation. He responded
willingly, for he wanted transportation to discuss some business with
the village sheikhs, and thus we were assured of success.
Our first stop was at the encampment of a Bedouin tribe, a group
46 : E X I L E AND R E P A T R I A T I O N

of the characteristic black goat-hair tents and a few cone-shaped mud-

brick houses. We were received in the sheikh's council hall and seated
against the wall on cushions raised slightly above floor level. After
the customary salaams had been exchanged, our mission was ex-
plained. Without any protest the sheikh gave an order, and soon three
small girls were brought into the room. We were invited to remain for
dinner. It was only nine-thirty a.m., and there were other villages to
be visited, hence our interpreter was instructed to explain that we had
no time to spare.
"They will be insulted!" replied the interpreter. "They have already
killed a lamb and are preparing coffee. And the sheikh says that he
would be forever shamed if we left the village without having eaten
with him."
We compromised by accepting coffee and giving our promise to
return for the feast after completing our business in the next village.
At the neighboring settlement we were again received cordially in the
tribal house, and while a search was made for the four children we
had named, the young men entertained us with native dances. It is pos-
sible that this was a device to keep us from a search of the village, but
we had no means of distinguishing Arab from Armenian and had to
rely on the goodwill of the tribal chief and the prestige of the kaima-
kam's presence.
With our four new protege's we returned to the Bedouin camp,
where we found the village women in the final stages of cooking a
prodigious meal out-of-doors over a fire of dried camel dung. This—
my first experience of Bedouin hospitality—was a communal affair
and a memorable event. The sheikh himself served us. When we rose,
the tray of broiled lamb and parboiled wheat was carried to the tribes-
men, who had been watching us dine. In all about thirty persons had
shared the delicious food.
There were still two groups of Armenians to be found, certain young
women in Bab and a family of five in a village near that city. Dunaway
suggested that while he and the kaimakam took care of the search in
Bab, I should proceed with the interpreter and a gendarme from
Aleppo to the village and bring back the family known to be there.
On reaching our destination we were escorted to the house of the
tribal chief, and ushered into the presence of a distinguished elderly
man. After the usual formalities and the serving of coffee our mission
was explained.
"The five children you are talking about are in my own household.
They are part of my family," said the sheikh.
 R E H A B I L I T A T I O N : 47

The interpreter explained that the Armenians had suffered greatly

during the war, and the Americans were now trying to reunite the
survivors and return them to their own lands.
"Let me tell you how they came to be here," continued the sheikh.
"I knew the family well when I lived in Aintab, where they owned
several houses and farms. When I heard that the Turks were deporting
the Armenians of Aintab, I went there and searched for them. The
father and mother had already been killed, so I brought all five of
the children—three boys and two girls—here to be members of my
family."
The intrepeter turned to me. "What shall we do?"
"Their relatives know that they are here and are asking for them,"
I replied, although I was asking myself whether they might not be as
well off staying with this Arab family. The sheikh asked that the chil-
dren be found and brought to him. There were the two girls, now
young women, and the three fine-looking and robust boys. The sheikh
instructed my interpreter to question them and to learn whether he
had told the truth. It was quite obvious that his story was correct,
and that the children loved this man as a father.
The sheikh then continued his story. "The kaimakam of Bab saw
these girls and tried to take them from me, but my brother and I
fought him. Here are my wounds from that fightl" He opened his robe
and showed us four bullet wounds in his abdomen and thigh. "Now
are you going to take these children from me, after I have protected
them during the past four years?"
If I could have foreseen the future for the Armenians of Aintab I
would have decided immediately to leave these children where they
were loved. But I had been commissioned to get them and allowed my
sense of duty to override sentiment. "I have no choice," I said to the
sheikh. The Emir Feisal has ordered that they should return to their
own community. I must take them to Aleppo."
The sheikh turned sadly to the girls. "You must go!" They threw
themselves on their master's couch, weeping. The entire village came
to say goodbye. Glancing at the interpreter and our gendarme I saw
that they too were moved emotionally by the grief of the children
and their friends. The sheikh asked if he might accompany the chil-
dren to Aleppo to see how they were cared for, and of course I con-
sented. As we drove from the village the entire population ran beside
the car shouting farewells and weeping.
At Bab, Dunaway had collected nine more girls, making a total of
twenty-one for the day, which was twice as many as the car could
48 : EXILE AND R E P A T R I A T I O N

carry. Hence half of them were left under guard at the konak, or
"government house," and the rest of us, the sheikh included, headed
for Aleppo. Halfway home the headlights of our truck revealed a dead
donkey by the roadside, and our gendarme remarked that two days
earlier at this spot highwaymen had held up a caravan and had killed
the leader and his animal. At this moment our chauffeur suddenly in-
creased his speed, for a band of armed men was approaching us. Un-
doubtedly it was the sight of several rifles protruding from our Reo
that caused them to let us pass without a challenge.
On reaching Aleppo the children were given a warm welcome by
members of the NER reception staff, who had been waiting for them.
The sheikh entered with the children, was satisfied that they were in
good hands, and bade us good bye. At this center the children were
checked by NER medical personnel, with special attention to con-
tagious diseases and intestinal parasites, and were then grouped ac-
cording to sex and age and prepared for transport to orphanages in
the districts where they had been born. Girls who had been violated
(some, indeed, were pregnant) were placed in "rescue homes" which
had the facilities for infant care.
Dr. Lambert accompanied Dunaway the next day to bring the rest
of the children from Bab. By the end of September nearly every village
within fifty miles of Aleppo had been visited, and 450 children
brought to Aleppo for repatriation to their homes in Anatolia. Some
Armenians estimated that we had recovered only a quarter of those
who were actually in Arab homes in that area.
In order to facilitate the reunion of children with their parents, a
census was organized of all those who were under the care of NER in
Anatolia and Syria. Copies of this were to be made available to various
centers, not only in the Near East but also in New York. The census
was to include data which might aid in identification and a photo-
graph of each child as well.

Last Days in Aleppo

On opening my laboratory one morning, I discovered that during the
night a thief had broken the glass of the barred window in which the
analytical balance was stationed. Unable to pass such a large object
through the bars, he had dismantled the movable parts, leaving the
instrument useless. This made the preparation of certain reagents
 R E H A B I L I T A T I O N : 49

required for the analysis of blood impossible. However, it had already

become obvious to me that the level of their blood sugar was of little
importance to refugees whose chief concern during the past four years
had been to avoid losing their entire blood supply to an antagonist's
knife. Starvation, too, could be diagnosed without an examination of
the blood for acidosis. Hence, when I reported the theft of the
balance's beam and weights, I expressed to Dr. Lambert my desire for
work of greater significance than clinical chemistry.
"You are right! There are more important things to be done. In any
case most of the refugees have returned to their homes in Anatolia, so
we plan to close the barracks hospital. I plan to send you to Marash
within a few weeks. Meanwhile I want you to photograph all of the
children in our orphanages at Aintab. Make a record for each child—
his name, the names of his parents—anything that may help parents
locate their missing children. Later when you go to Marash, photo-
graph the children there, too."
The NER Graflex camera was entrusted to me for this project, to-
gether with an ample supply of film, developer, and photographic
paper; and I set out for Aintab on this pleasant mission. There I
photographed the children in small groups and obtained information
for a history sheet for each child. The stories told by the older children
seemed so fantastic that at first I found them unbelievable, but one by
one they corroborated each other. They had seen violence and death
while small and had accepted it much as children today accept it on
the television screen—it was happening to someone else.
By the end of October the repatriation of Armenians who had sur-
vived in Syria was completed. Many had chosen to remain in Syria
and Lebanon. Among the last to leave were the orphans sheltered first
in Hama by the Reverend Haroutune Nokhoudian and later in Aleppo
by the Reverend Aharon Shirajian. On 23 October they were taken to
Aintab in the NER trucks.
Had the Armenians known the disasters which they were to face
once more within a year, none would have undertaken the hardships
of that return to their villages in Cilicia.

Summary of Armenian Losses

Only after the survivors of exile had returned to their former homes
could an estimate be made of the number missing. A precise figure
50 : EXILE AND R E P A T R I A T I O N

for those who perished is precluded by the circumstances, for the

Armenians had died by the thousands of dysentery, typhus, and star-
vation in their camps and had been buried in mass graves. Those
who suffered outright massacre such as described by Jacob Kunzlerl
were not to be documented by the Turkish officials. Others unac-
counted for included not only the dead but also women and children
who had been taken into Turkish or Arab homes, thus becoming
members of the Muslim community. Some of the exiles had settled in
Syria or Palestine or emigrated overseas. These factors account for
the wide discrepancies in the estimates of losses presented by various
authors. In a review of this subject Sarkisian and Sahakian quote the
conclusions of a Turkish historian, also of a member of the Russian
embassy's staff in Constantinople, and that of the German orientalist
Dr. Johannes Lepsius.2 Bayur stated that "massacres perpetrated by
Kurds and auxiliary gendarmes, contagious diseases, want and fatigue
had resulted in the loss of nearly half a million people." 3 Andre" Man-
delstam concluded that a million Armenians had perished.4 Dr. Lep-
sius, who personally gathered data with the help of German consuls
throughout the Ottoman Empire, also concluded that one million
had been lost.5
In 1961 the Armenian Academy of Sciences at Erivan published the
results of its own investigation.6 In order to include among the sur-
vivors those scattered outside of the Ottoman Empire, they compared
the world-wide population of Armenians before the deportation with
similar data for the years 1924-1926, and corrected the difference for
casualties suffered by Armenian soldiers on the battlefields of World
War I, also for the death of civilians during Mustafa Kemal's 1920
campaign in Cilicia, and for the losses suffered by the defenders of
the new Armenian state during its formation in 1918 and its subse-
quent sovietization. In this manner the number of those who perished
as a result of the exile and its attendant massacres was estimated at
1,170,000.
A recent study places the figure for Armenian dead at a much higher
level. Impressed by the rational method used by the Armenian Acad-
emy of Sciences, but doubtful of the accuracy of certain sources used,
Dr. Sarkis J. Karayan, of Beirut, Lebanon, gathered new data on the
Armenian population of some sixty cities and two thousand two hun-
dred towns and villages in all vilayets of the Ottoman Empire, also
of the Soviet States and the diaspora for the years 1914 and 1922—1926.
The figures presented in his documented study indicate that the losses
 R E H A B I L I T A T I O N : 51

suffered by Armenian civilians during World War I was close to two

million.7
The deportees from the city of Marash had fared considerably bet-
ter than those from areas farther north on the plateau of Anatolia, for
their journey to western Syria was shorter and did not pass the regions
occupied by hostile Kurdish tribes. Of the thirty thousand Armenians
residing in the city of Marash in 1914 twenty-four thousand had been
deported and sixteen thousand returned in the post-war period. While
these figures suggest that the loss was only one-third of the city's
Christian population, it should be noted that the sanjak ("district")
as a whole suffered a seventy-five percent loss, for out of a pre-war
population estimated at eighty-six thousand, only eighteen thousand
returned. The peasants had been decimated, for only two thousand
of them survived out of some fifty-four thousand.8
 CHAPTER EIGHT

UNREST IN SYRIA

October was marked by disorder in various parts of the Near East.

Rumors that the British forces were to withdraw and that French
troops would replace them disturbed the population. President
Wilson's proclamation concerning the right of self-determination,
followed by the interviews conducted by his King-Crane Commission,
had created the expectation that the peoples of Syria were to choose
their own rulers. In Aleppo there were parades and demonstrations
at which enormous crowds of the Arab population were addressed by
speakers who insisted on the right for self-rule. One day I photo-
graphed the movement of a body, at least a regiment, which included
Arab infantry, cavalry, artillery, machine-gun companies, and supply
wagons. These were the forces of Emir Feisal, who was preparing to
oppose the occupation by France of any portions of Syria which he
understood were to be included in his Arab state. In a letter dated 24
October 1915 Sir Henry McMahon, on behalf of the British govern-
ment, had assured Sherif Hussein of Mecca that in the event of victory
over the Turks an Arab kingdom would be established in return for
Arab participation in the war against the Ottoman Empire. Excluded
from this state was the coastal area of Syria west of the vilayets of
Aleppo, Horns, Hama, and Damascus.1
Until the end of October the French had only a token force in
Cilicia which was limited to the holding of stations along the Baghdad
Railway. In view of the fact that the French occupation of Cilicia was
never fully completed and came to a bitter and disastrous end, it is
appropriate to review the initial causes of failure. Foremost among
these was the delay in sending a force adequate to the task, caused
in part by the fact that the French armies in Europe were engaged in
 U N R E S T IN S Y R I A : 53

combat until the German capitulation, while the British force which
had defeated the Turks on the Near Eastern front were already in
the area to be occupied and consequently had assumed France's
responsibility.
The French historian Paul du Veou, in his La Passion de la Cilicie,
charges that for four months Premier Clemenceau resisted pressures
from French sources to relieve the British occupation troops in Syria
and Cilicia. Although Field Marshal Foch had furnished him as early
as 5 February with a detailed list of the military units and of the
materiel of war needed for the occupation, Clemenceau refused to act.2
Meanwhile Allenby was objecting to the landing of French reinforce-
ments in Syria, allowing only the replacement of those whose term of
service had ended. The account of dissention between Clemenceau and
Lloyd George over the appointment of commissioners for the King-
Crane Commission, presented by Professor Harry Howard in An
American Inquiry, clearly indicates that General Allenby feared an
armed conflict between the French and Arab forces over the control of
Syria.3 This difficulty was resolved when Allenby agreed with Lloyd
George to the reinforcement of the small French contingent in
Cilicia, and on 9 June 1919 two squadrons of the Cinquieme Chaus-
seurs d'Afrique reached Adana. A month later, on 12 July, three bat-
talions of the French 412th Infantry Regiment followed the Africans.
This famous regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Thibault,
had fought for twenty months at Verdun. These were the only "metro-
politan," meaning French rather than colonial, troops to be sent into
Cilicia.4 Still, the British forces remained in Cilicia while the fate of
the Ottoman Empire was debated at Paris.
The question of a complete replacement of the British forces occupy-
ing Cilicia and the littoral of Syria was not settled until 15 September
1919 when Clemenceau met with Lloyd George in Paris in a closed
session with not even a secretary present to record the conversation. At
the request of his Prime Minister, Allenby (recently promoted to field
marshal) came from Haifa to attend the conference, while Clemenceau
excluded his own high commissioner for Syria, Georges-Picot, who was
already in Paris, and ordered him to return to his post in Beirut on
the eve of the meeting. Foreign Minister Briand later referred to the
deal which was made at this meeting as the most shocking in the
settlement of the war. Clemenceau had renounced France's interests in
oil rich Mesopotamia, large areas of Anatolia, and in Armenia. The
British agreed to withdraw all military forces from areas north of the
Palestine-Syrian frontier, which meant the evacuation of Cilicia,
54 : EXILE ANDR E P A T R I A T I O N

Lebanon, and Syria. French troops were to replace the British on i

November 1919. Thus the French had only six weeks to assemble an
army of occupation and to move it into Syria and Cilicia.6
Field Marshal Foch was at last empowered to create the Arme'e
Franchise du Levant. He assigned to it the 1561!! division of African
troopsxcommanded by Gen. Julien Dufieux which had occupied Buda-
pest after participating in the conquest of Hungary. Two regiments of
French troops were included in the new army, the 415th, which had
already disembarked at Beirut in March, and the 412th which had
reached Cilicia in July. Altogether the army was composed of thirty-
four battalions of infantry, five and a half of engineers, fifteen and a
half regiments of cavalry, and thirteen batteries of artillery.
Along with the decision to create this army Premier Clemenceau
ordered the recall of Georges-Picot and General Hamelin and named
General Gouraud high commissioner of France in Syria and Cilicia
with authority over both military and civil affairs. Georges-Picot
remained in Beirut until General Gouraud arrived on 26 November,
long after the date set for the exchange of French for British troops in
Cilicia and Syria. This left the command of the new army in the hands
of France's youngest but brilliant general Julien Dufieux.
General Dufieux's most urgent task was to divide his army into
separate units for the occupation of Marash, Aintab, and Urfa and to
move these and the necessary military stores before i November, when
the British forces were to be withdrawn. He recognized at once the
importance of the railway between Beirut and Aleppo as the umbilical
cord required to nourish the embryonic military force already in
southern Cilicia with supplies in Beirut. The southern part of this
line lay between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges in an area
claimed both by Emir Feisal and the French. The Emir had refused the
French permission to use the railway.
General Dufieux, with the approval of the high commissioner, pre-
pared for military action and seizure of the Beka'a plain, through
which the railway passed. News of this reached Field Marshal Allenby,
who supported the Emir and had feared such an event. A fascinating
account of the contest between Dufieux and Allenby is given by the
French historian Paul du Veou.6 The French were finally obliged to
moved their troops and supplies by sea, with such delay that their
garrisons in Marash and Urfa, deprived of reinforcements and muni-
tions, suffered humiliating defeats. The Urfa garrison, in fact, was
annihilated. And nine months later the French fought the Emir
Feisal, taking the Beka'a after a bloody battle.
 U N R E S T IN S Y R I A : 55

The Exchange of Troops

By chance I witnessed the movement of French forces into Cilicia
during the last week in October. As I traveled to Aintab to photo-
graph the orphan children, my Reo truck paused at a railway crossing
near Katma for an approaching train. It was loaded with Algerian
troops and artillery and headed for Jerablus on the Euphrates River.
These were units of General Dufieux's 156111 Division, which had dis-
embarked at the ports of Alexandretta and Mersin£. Within less than
a week the British forces were to leave this area.
Ten of my fellow passengers were Circassian officers en route to
Sivas. Each one had his saddle, for the truck went no farther than
Marash where they were to hire horses for the journey over the moun-
tains to Sivas. These men were imposing figures in their splendid uni-
forms. Beautifully embossed silver scabbards enclosed their daggers
and set off their long dark cloaks and fur hats. Undoubtedly they were
to serve in the Nationalist forces being organized by Mustafa Kemal in
Anatolia.
One evening at Aintab I was the guest of Dr. Lorrin G. Shepard,
physician and surgeon at the American Mission Hospital, and the
Reverend John R. Merrill of the American Mission. After dinner my
hosts discussed the significance of the exchange of French for British
occupation forces. Several units of the French army had already arrived
and were camped on the outskirts of the city. Their commander,
Lieutenant Colonel Flye Sainte-Marie, had proceeded to Marash in
the company of the British commander, General Weir, to review a
ceremonial exchange of troops there on 31 October.7
A formal review of the Eighteenth Indian Lancers by the French
staff officers was scheduled for the morning of 3 November. When I
requested permission to photograph the ceremonies, both the British
and French commanders seemed pleased, and each asked for a set of
the pictures. I arrived at the parade grounds just in time to witness a
charge of the Indian cavalry in one line abreast past the reviewing
officers. The lancers then re-formed and at the command of their officer
charged directly towards the staff officers, reigning their horses from a
gallop to a dead stop not more than fiftten paces from the French com-
mander. The turbaned Indians had been trained superbly. Each one
carried a lance and had a sword attached to one side of his saddle
and a rifle to the other.
56 : E X I L E AND R E P A T R I A T I O N

That night the British garrison from Marash reached Aintab and
camped for the night. At 8:30 the next morning, 4 November, the
Marash and Aintab contingents of the British army broke camp and
started their long trek to Egypt. Three hours later the camping
grounds were so clean that except for the watering troughs and fences
no one would know that an army had been quartered there.
The British and French staff officers and several Turkish officials
were assembled on a bank along the roadside. The Turks included the
mutasarrif Jellal-eddin, his deputy Sabri Bey, and the Dervish Sheikh
Mustafa.8 There were also several American women representing the
NER and mission personnel of Aintab and Marash. The French troops
lined the road south of the city; they had a band to serenade the de-
parting British troops.
The various units of the British force took two and a half hours to
pass the reviewing stand. First came the advance guard of armored
cars, followed by Ford trucks each mounted with a machine gun; then
came Indian lancers, artillery, ammunition carts and supply wagons,
and finally ambulances and the rear guard. When the last of the
British troops had passed, Lieutenant Colonel Flye Sainte-Marie
mounted his horse and, with a flourish of his sword, led his own troops
into the city. Compared with the British garrison, it was small but it
represented approximately one-third of all the French troops available
in Cilicia at that time, for the 156th African Division was still disem-
barking. The British high command, unhappy over the decision to
give over this rich territory to the French, had refused to delay the
evacuation in order to accommodate their rivals. Clemenceau alone
had assumed the responsibility for the date of exchange without con-
sulting Field Marshal Foch as to the feasibility of moving an army
into Cilicia within a six-week period. The weakness of the French
garrison did not go unnoticed by the Turkish Nationalists.
The presence of Turkish officials at the review did not signify ap-
proval. Even before the exchange of troops, Sabri Bey had addressed a
note of protest to the French commander. In this he reviewed the terms
of the armistice signed at Mudros: "The Allies have the right to occupy
any strategic point which affects their security in case of disorder. . . .
In the event of massacres in any of the seven vilayets, the Allies reserve
the right to occupy that part." Sabri Bey pointed out that since there
had been neither disorder nor massacre, the occupation of Aintab was
not acceptable; hence he requested the French to leave.9
After the review of Indian lancers on 4 November, I was asked to
photograph a group of officers, both English and French, and two
 U N R E S T IN S Y R I A : 57

Turkish officials. At that time one of the English officers engaged me

in conversation and learned that I was scheduled to go to Marash
within a month. "You are not going to stay there, are you?" he asked.
"Yes, for the next six months at least," I replied.
"Let me advise you—don't go! There will be fighting. We have
released our Turkish prisoners and they have been armed. They are
preparing to fight the French!"
Dr. Mabel Elliott, physician in charge of the NER hospital at Marash,
received a similar warning in Aleppo. She and a friend, Miss Morgan,
were preparing to return to Marash. A British officer whom she knew
well "went so far as to say that if [she] were his sister he would keep
[her] out of Marash by force." Others, both American and British,
advised her, "Don't go back to Marash. Don't leave the railroadl" 10 On
their return to Marash—for they never questioned their responsibilities
—they met the British garrison departing from Marash to Aintab and
were invited to stand beside Colonel Rowecroft at the review of troops.
A few days later, while returning to Aleppo, I passed the ten-mile-
long column of British forces. An English officer had estimated that the
journey to Beirut would require twenty-six days, and still they had to
go on to Egypt. Between Aleppo and Killis we met French troops, units
of the i56th Division headed for Aintab. Only a day earlier one of the
NER trucks passing over the same course had been fired on three times.
Turkish Nationalist guerrillas, the chete, were beginning their attacks
on French supply columns, and they were unable to distinguish
American from French vehicles.
PART TWO

THE MARASH REBELLION

 CHAPTER NINE

THE FRENCH OCCUPATION OF MARASH

When General Crawford, commander of the British forces at Marash,

was notified that his troops were to be withdrawn at the end of
October, he passed this information on to the Reverend Aram Bagh-
dikian, president of the Armenian National Union. This body was
composed of representatives from each of the three Armenian religious
communities—Armenian Apostolic, Roman Catholic, and the Evangeli-
cal (Protestant) churches—each recognized by the Ottoman govern-
ment as a legal millet. At that time, according to the Reverend
Baghdikian, Marash was encircled by Turkish chete ("bands" of armed
irregulars) numbering from twenty-five to thirty thousand men. The
Union leaders decided to send a delegation to Adana to urge the French
administrative officer that French troops should be sent before the
British forces were evacuated in order to insure the safety of the Chris-
tian population. The roads were already unsafe, but Chairman
Baghdikian, accompanied by Mihran Damadian, made the journey and
presented his request to Col. Edouard Br^mond.1
Independently the Armenian Catholic bishop Avedis Arpiarian,
warned of the withdrawal by an English colonel whose wife was Catho-
lic, decided to carry an appeal for protection of the Christian popula-
tion directly to the high commissioner in Beirut. He left Marash the
next morning by carriage, accompanied by his colleague the Reverend
Pascal Maljian. They were received graciously in Beirut by High Com-
missioner Georges-Picot who agreed that a French force should occupy
Marash before the British withdrew and instructed General Dufieux
accordingly. The Reverend Maljian reports that an advance guard of
twelve to twenty officers with an armed escort entered Marash on motor
cycles.2
62 : THE MARASH R E B E L L I O N

Colonel de Pie'pape' supervised the entry of French contingents into

Marash, Aintab, and Urfa. The advance guard was a single company
of two hundred men under the command of a captain.3 As mentioned
earlier, the senior commanders of the British and French forces,
General Weir and Lieutenant Colonel Flye Sainte-Marie, had come to
Marash to attend the formal ceremony of the transfer of authority to
French hands. Lieutenant Colonel Abadie records that the Marash
contingent included Captain de Fouquet's Fifth Company of the 412th
Infantry Regiment, the First Battalion of the Armenian Legion, and a
squadron of Algerian cavalry.4
According to the official Turkish account, the first contingent of
French forces arrived on 29 October and "on the following day Marash
was occupied by a company of the 42nd French infantry, a battalion of
the Armenian Legion of the Orient, and a detachment of Algerian
cavalry. These numbered approximately four hundred Armenians, one
hundred fifty French and Algerians." 5
An Armenian resident of Marash, Nishan Saatjian describes the
arrival of the Armenian legionnaires.
Finally in October two French detachments arrived at Marash.
There were two companies of the Armenian Legion with pointed
caps and shining eyes, happy to greet the native Armenians on
Cilician soil. Our joy and enthusiasm reached a peak, and the souls
of our martyred brothers and sisters were flickering around us.
These were happy days, to end too soon! 6
The Turkish description of the same event is of interest.
The Armenians went out to meet the French with a display even
greater than they had given the British, with a band and a bouquet
of flowers. "Damn the Sultan! Damn the Turks! Long live the
French and the Armenians," they were yelling. By their actions the
Armenians were showing their gratitude to the French, who—they
thought—were bringing their independence. The British, after
turning Marash over to the French, all departed from Marash.7
Within two days after the French occupation, a telegram signed
by eleven of the leading Turkish citizens of Marash was addressed to
the commander of French forces at Aintab (the Marash detachment
being subsidiary to the Aintab headquarters). The telegram stated that
during eight months of British occupation no incident had occurred to
offend Muslim feelings, religious or national. The Muslims had no
objections to a French occupation, since they recognized the traditional
justice and civilization of the French. However, the majority of the
 THE F R E N C H O C C U P A T I O N OF M A R A S H : 63

new troops were Armenian, not French. And these Armenians, natives
of the region "from the moment of their arrival had shown nothing
but hatred for the Muslims." The telegram continued with details of
abuse and insult, stating that in spite of protests to the French com-
mander, such incidents continued to take place.8
The Armenians deny these charges. Pierre Redan suggests that since
"the only attitude permitted the Christians in the past had been that
of the bowed head," it was inevitable that the Turks would resent the
attitude of the legionnaires, which was no longer one of subservience.9
When one considers that the recruitment of the Armenian Legion
began at Port Said where the survivors of the Musa Dagh battle had
been housed, and that motivation for joining the French forces must
have been revenge for the cruel deportation and massacres,10 it would
seem inevitable that clashes between some members of the legion
and the Turks would take place. With the "souls of martyred brothers
and sisters flickering around them" restraint could hardly be expected
of every legionnaire, especially when faced with the contemptuous
epithet gavur, or "infidel," which every Christian in Turkey at one
time or another experiences.
An example of misbehavior on the part of legionnaires is given by
the Turkish military historian Saral.
On 31 October Armenian volunteers were escorting French sol-
diers through the market in Uzunoluk ("the long street") and
seeing some women coming out of a bathhouse tore off their veils.
Two Turks who tried to protect the women were wounded. At this
juncture an old man known as the "milkman Imam" shot several
of the guilty Armenians and disappeared.11
An Armenian resident of Marash, discussing the causes of conflict
between the Christians and Muslims, related to me another version of
the same incident, without being aware of the Turkish account. An
Armenian rakiji (one who distills a liqueur flavored with anise) was
honoring the newly arrived legionaires with gifts of his product. One
of them, intoxicated by several samples of the raki, tore the veil from a
Moslem woman coming from the bath. In the commotion which fol-
lowed someone shot and killed an innocent legionnaire—not the guilty
one.12
The major conflict between the Turks on one side and the French
with their Armenian prote'ge's was, however, not the result of incidents
between members of the two groups; it had already been scheduled by
the leaders of the Turkish Nationalist movement. The presence of an
Armenian battalion, representing nearly three-quarters of the initial
64 : THE M A R A S H R E B E L L I O N

French detachment, merely served to crystalize public sentiment among

the Turks by creating fear that Cilicia might be ruled by the Arme-
nians.
The Reverend Pascal Maljian recorded an episode which illustrates
the animosities existing at that time between Muslims and Christians:

One Sunday in the autumn after Mass, Mr. Hovnan sent for me,
asking that I submit a list of volunteers to be presented to the
French commander. On my way someone threw a large jagged
stone from a window to fell me. Fortunately the stone did no more
than cut a deep gash in my right cheek, which required several
sutures. The entire city was disturbed. Captain Joly—chief of the
detachment of more than one hundred soldiers quartered at the
Armenian Catholic Church—without considering the Muslim law
sent fifteen soldiers to search for the criminal. A boy of fifteen or
sixteen years was arrested and submitted almost to torture at the
bishopric.
That same evening about 9:00 P.M.—my face bandaged—I was
at the bishopric chatting with Captain Joly about this incident
when we heard an explosion. It shook our stone building. The
captain immediately sent soldiers to investigate. The explosion
had taken place at a cafe where Turkish notables were accustomed
to gather in the evening and discuss the events of the day. The cafe1
was only twenty-five paces from the spot where someone had made
the attempt on my life, and where my blood had been spilled.
Hovnan Pasha had summoned several of the new Armenian
recruits and demanded that my blood should not be allowed to
dry without being avenged on that very Sunday afternoon. A
young man, whose name I was never able to learn, had volun-
teered. He went there with his rifle and hid behind the trees in
front of the caf£, which was illuminated by a Lux kerosene pres-
sure lamp. He fired at the lamp, and taking advantage of the con-
fusion when it flared up, tossed a German hand grenade into the
cafe". The explosion wounded some twenty of the Turkish notables
and killed another twenty.
On the following day four of the survivors brought to the
French commander an accusation against me. My name remains in
their annals as the "bomb-carrying priest," but Captain Joly was
able to prove that he had been with me in my salon at the time of
the explosion.13
 CHAPTER TEN

PREPARATIONS FOR CONFLICT

The Turkish Nationalist Movement

After the defeat of Ottoman forces in Palestine and the signing of the
armistice, Mustafa Kemal Pasha alone among the Turkish leaders was
determined to resist occupation of Anatolia, the Turkish homeland.
An Allied fleet lay in the Golden Horn, and Allied troops occupied
the capital. Mustafa Kemal, commander of the Seventh Army, asked
for an appointment to Anatolia and was made inspector general of the
Third and Ninth Armies with unusual powers intended to facilitate
the restoration of order. Only a few of his friends knew that his
purpose was to lead a national revolutionary army against the forces
of foreign powers which had occupied his country. The Greeks had
landed at Smyrna only four days before he reached the Black Sea port
of Samsun on 19 May 1919. The Italians had occupied Adalia on the
southern coast of Anatolia, while British and French troops were oc-
cupying several cities in Cilicia.1
Mustafa Kemal decided to move inland from Samsun in order to
avoid observation by the British detachments stationed on the Black
Sea coast. Within a month he had established his first resistance cell at
Amasya, and there on 21 June he and three friends (one of them the
former minister of marine affairs, Hussein Rauf Bey) signed a sacred
alliance declaring their intention to resist occupation or annexation of
any part of Anatolia by foreign powers and to create a national govern-
ment independent of that in Constantinople which, under Allied con-
trol, was incapable of representing the will of the people.2
In order to test the reaction of the public to their program, the four
who had signed the declaration of independence arranged to have
Kiazim Karabekir Pasha who had been second in command to Kemal
66 : THE MARASH R E B E L L I O N

on the Caucasian front, and was now commander of the Fifteenth

Army Corps, to summon delegates from the eastern provinces to a
conference at Erzerum late in July.
Since Kemal Pasha was openly disregarding orders from his govern-
ment in Constantinople, his colleagues urged him to resign his military
commission before attending the conference. This he did reluctantly.
At the same time the expected notice of dismissal arrived, and the
district governors were notified to ignore any further orders from him.
At Erzerum the delegates elected Mustafa Kemal chairman of the
congress and proceeded to draw up a National Pact. This historic
document affirmed the right of the Turkish nation to an independent
existence—a right which was then threatened by three foreign powers
—and the determination to resist any change in the frontiers of the
homeland occupied by a Turkish-speaking majority. Non-Turkish
minorities were to have no special privileges. The pact also announced
the intention to form a provisional government composed of repre-
sentatives elected by the people.3
When news of the Erzerum Congress reached Constantinople an
order was sent to Kiazim Karabekir for the arrest of Kemal Pasha and
his colleague Rauf Bey, but Kiazaim himself was an enthusiastic sup-
porter of Kemal and his revolutionary plans and took no action.4
The next step was to assemble delegates from every area in Anatolia
free of coercion by the sultan's government or by foreign powers in
order to create the representative government demanded by the
Erzerum Congress. The delegates were called to Sivas for another
congress to be held 4-13 September 1919. Again Mustafa Kemal was
elected chairman. The National Pact proposed at Erzerum, and
strengthened by certain amendments was confirmed, and a representa-
tive committee was established to serve as a provisional government
with Mustafa Kemal as its chairman.5
Confident that he had the support of the Turkish people, Kemal
Pasha directed a barrage of telegrams from every corner of Anatolia to
the government in Constantinople demanding the overthrow of the
cabinet and the election of a new parliament. The grand vizier was
unable to persuade the British and French officers stationed in Con-
stantinople to support a campaign against the Nationalists, and finally
the sultan yielded to Kemal's demands.
Within a month after the Sivas congress, the cabinet had resigned,
and within two months a new parliament had been elected, with repre-
sentatives from Kemal Pasha's group included.6
In Marash a number of officials were cautious and continued to
 P R E P A R A T I O N S FOR C O N F L I C T : 67

turn to the sultan's government in Constantinople rather than to

Kemal Pasha. Soon after the arrival of French troops at Aintab, Urfa,
and Marash, Mustafa Kemal telegraphed to the officials in these cities
urging that they let Europe and America hear their protests over this
intrusion.7
Dr. Mustafa was one of the most active of the younger Turkish
leaders in Marash. Educated at the Imperial Military College of
Medicine in Constantinople, he had practiced medicine first in Damas-
cus, then in his native city, Marash, and soon found himself included
among the Young Turk leaders. His brother Lutfi, trained as a phar-
macist, was also a member of this group. After the exchange of troops
and the French occupation on 29 October Dr. Mustafa, together with
some friends, went to Albustan north of Marash where he could use
the telegraph system without interference by the French censor. In this
way he established contact with Mustafa Kemal and made arrange-
ments for the organization of a National force in the Marash-Albustan
area and for the stocking of arms and ammunition.
At midnight on 27 November 1919 a group of Turkish patriots
gathered secretly at the home of Vezir-oghlu Mehmet to organize
resistance to the French occupation. They elected a committee of eight,
and the members took the following oath: "For the security of our
Nation we swear to Allah to sacrifice our lives; and to punish by death
—even if it should be our brothers—any treachery made against our
organization; and to guard all secrets." 8
In time this commission expanded its membership to thirty-five. At
the same time another committee was being organized in the Shekerli
and Hatuniye" sections of Marash. Realizing that one large organiza-
tion might be discovered by the French, the group decided to have
ten branches, each representing a separate district, and no one of these
knew the names of members in any other group nor their activities.
The chairman of the ten subcommittees formed a separate central
committee which met in the Ulu Jami school. In this way the Com-
mittee for the Defense of Rights was established at Marash. Representa-
tives were sent to all surrounding villages to establish branches of this
organization. This permitted a census to be made of available man-
power together with the number of rifles and the supply of ammuni-
tion in each village.
The fighting men in every village were organized in squads, each
having its sergeant and two corporals who had had experience in the
Turkish army. These squads were combined—four of them into a
company—under the command of a veteran officer from the reserve
68 : THE MARASH R E B E L L I O N

corps. Maps were prepared indicating routes to be used between

various points. Thus a system of communication for intelligence pur-
poses was created.
Mustafa Kemal's Third Army Corps in Anatolia was engaged in
the defense of the area bordering the Black Sea against Pontus
("Greek") bands, hence it could offer no regular troops to take part in
the attempt to oust the French. However, a message from the com-
mander of the corps stated that certain officers could be released "on
leave" for leadership in the Marash area. Among those who came to
Marash was, the Kurdish officer Kuluj Ali, companion and friend of
Mustafa Kemal Pasha.9

Armenian Preparations for Defense

During the period of British occupation the Armenian leaders in
Marash became concerned with the failure of the commanding officer
to protect their compatriots in the outlying villages. The peasants had
already suffered losses far greater than those of the Marash people, for
out of a prewar population of fifty-six thousand villagers, only two
thousand had returned from exile.10 Kishifli, a village which I had
visited several months earlier on a hunting trip, had been destroyed in
1915, rebuilt in 1919, and now again was threatened by armed bands
of Kurdish and Turkish irregulars. The villagers feared to work in
their vineyards. The French military detachment which occupied
Marash was far too small to be scattered in the villages, but in spite of
this the commander refused to arm the peasants.
The Turkish military historian Saral states that the French recruited
Armenians from the civil population of Marash and armed them,
and that they could be seen drilling on the parade grounds of
the barracks.11 This is confirmed by the Reverend Pascal Maljian, who
reported that a group of the local Armenians had been organized
secretly to serve as volunteers and had received arms from the French
commander.12 Under the direction of Setrak Kherlakian, formerly a
major in the Ottoman army, these volunteers were divided into seven
groups and assigned to various quarters of the city for defense of the
Christian population. Each week the district commanders met with a
sympathetic French officer who acted as adviser in the plans for
defense. Among the district commanders was a graduate of the Turkish
academy in Constantinople, Avedis Seferian, who was destined soon
 P R E P A R A T I O N S FOR CONFLICT I 69

to be engaged in a death struggle with his Muslim neighbor, Evliye

Efendi. Since the latter has been cited for several exploits by the
Turkish historian, Seferian's colorful background also deserves men-
tion.
On his graduation from the military academy Seferian was honored
by the Turkish minister of war, Enver Pasha, but on the same day was
charged with treason because of activity in the Hunchak revolutionary
society. He was sentenced to death by the court martial in Marash.
Thanks to the intervention of influential relatives, he had escaped the
hangman and found employment on the Baghdad Railway under an
assumed Turkish name, only to be caught in the Ayran and Intilli
deportations. From this he had escaped and settled in Damascus. As-
sured by the Franco-British promises of protection for repatriated
Armenians, he had returned to Marash. There the Armenian com-
mittee for defense assigned him to command a group of volunteers in
the zone in which he lived, between the citadel and the konak in the
northwestern area known as the Koulagi Kourtlou Quarter. Across the
street from his home lived the Muslim family of the lawyer Evliye,
nephew of the Sheikh-ul-Islam.13 The Turks were also organized for
resistance to the French occupation, and Evliye Efendi commanded
the Turkish volunteers in his quarter.
The problem of Armenian defense was complicated by the fact that
the Christians were not segregated in separate quarters. Further, the
French authorities had supplied arms only to the few volunteers in
training and not to the general public, with the result that fewer than
two hundred rifles were found in the hands of the Armenians at the
end of the conflict. The Turks, on the other hand, had access to the
army rifles stocked by direction of Mustafa Kemal at the time of the
armistice, and kept under seal by the local gendarmerie.

The Flag Incident

Serious trouble between the Turks of Marash and the French forces
of occupation developed over the question of civil administration.
During the British occupation, the Turkish administration had been
allowed to function without interference, but Georges-Picot, the high
commissioner of France, ordered that the civil government of the
Eastern Territory be placed under French control. This order was
repeated by General Dufieux, who temporarily replaced General
70 : THE MARASH REBELLION

Gouraud. But undoubtedly the policy had been initiated in Paris.

Colonel Bremond, governor of the area, aware of the resentment which
such a move would create among the Turks, responded that he was
leaving to his subordinates in various localities the decision as to when
the order should be implemented, since he did not have the force
necessary to exact obedience in case of resistance.14
Meanwhile certain Turkish citizens of Marash who were loyal to
the sultan had become disturbed over the rapid development of the
Nationalist revolutionary movement. Among these were Bayazid Zad£
(a descendant of the ancient Kurdish feudal lords of Cilicia) and other
Kurdish, Circassian, and Kizilbach leaders. In order to oppose the
Kemalist movement they telegraphed Colonel Bre'mond in Adana ask-
ing that the civil affairs of Marash be placed under French administra-
tive control. The sanjak of Marash had already been included by the
High Commissioner in the area assigned to Captain Andre1 as civil
governor.15
Before the war Andre had been a student of Near Eastern languages
and of Islam. Almost alone, with no French troops, he had gained the
loyalty of the Turkish population and officers of the gendarmerie at
his headquarters in Osmaniye'. His reputation as an able administrator
had reached Marash.
Captain Andre arrived in Marash on 24 November escorted by one
hundred fifty of his own gendarmes, most of them Muslim. He was
escorted to the konak by Bayazid Zade1, and there was introduced to
the mutasarrif and other officials. That night a sumptuous reception
was held in his honor at the home of Bayazid Zade".16
Among the most influential families among the Armenians of
Marash were the Kherlakians. They had adopted French culture, were
Catholic, and had become wealthy through service as contractors for
the sultan's government. Hagop Agha, the senior member of the
family, and his brother Kevork Agha had been invited by the sultan
Abdul Hamid to his palace and there had been decorated and show-
ered with gifts. Captain Andre" soon became a guest at the Kherlakian
residence, where he met two attractive granddaughters of Hagop
Agha, Helene, Hovsep's daughter, and Victoire, Setrak Efendi's
daughter.
An amusing account of Captain Andre's social life is found in the
official Turkish War of Independence. One evening after dinner with
the Kherlakian family, Captain Andre1 suggested to one of the young
ladies—presumably Helene, since Victoire was then only ten years of
age—that they should dance.
 PREPARATIONS FOR C O N F L I C T I 71

"I don't like to dance in a city where there are no flags—neither

French nor Armenian flags!" she replied.
On the morning of Friday 28 November the Turkish lawyer Mehmet
Ali, whose window faced the nearby citadel, was astonished to see the
French flag flying in place of the Turkish emblem on the citadel's
tower. He sat down and wrote an emotional appeal to his fellow
Muslims: "It is worthwhile that a little Turkish blood be shed to cor-
rect this insult!" He placed copies of this appeal in conspicuous places
in the Ulu Jami, or "Great Mosque," to which the Muslims were
already coming for the Friday prayers. The assembled crowd of more
than a thousand agreed that there would be no prayers until the
Turkish flag was replaced.
Silently the men began climbing the steep path to the gate of the
citadel which had been formerly guarded by the stone lion of Marash.
They overpowered the guards on duty, tore down the French flag, and
hoisted the Turkish banner in its place. At this the Muslim population,
watching from the rooftops, broke out into cheers. Some of the crowd
went to the konak and asked that the mutasarrif should come to his
office. There Ata Bey met with Captain Andre". During the interview
the captain's interpreter, Vahe" Khoubesserian, was heard saying to the
Captain, "What a fuss to make over a piece of cloth!" According to the
Turkish historian, this remark nearly cost the interpreter his life.17
Redan denies that the French flag was ever flown from the citadel
tower, since this would have been contrary to military custom.18 He
states that on Friday at midday, Dr. Mustafa with a band of horsemen
numbering about twenty galloped up to the unoccupied citadel and
hoisted both the Turkish flag and the green religious emblem, or
tekke. Then they disappeared, firing their rifles in the air and creating
a panic in the city. A mob poured into the streets. The pro-French
Bayazid Zade was insulted and threatened with death. An eighty-year-
old professor of theology, Dayyi Zade" Imam, who that morning had
preached obedience to the French, was dragged by the beard in the
mud.19
Captain Andre" telegraphed to the commander of the Aintab-Marash
Circle, Lieutenant Colonel Flye Sainte-Marie, asking for military rein-
forcements. The colonel replied, asking Andre to come to Aintab. On
30 November the captain and his aide left Marash on horse, never to
return. The importance of the flag incident was that the Turks had
defied French authority with impunity.
 CHAPTER ELEVEN

ASSIGNMENT TO MARASH

On the Sunday that ended Captain Andre's governorship at Marash,

Dr. Marion C. Wilson, the Near East Relief surgeon at Marash, and
Paul Snyder, his quartermaster, came to Aleppo for supplies and per-
sonnel. The NER director in Marash and Miss Adeline Pears, a labora-
tory technician, had already departed from Marash, and Dr. Wilson
was assigned to the vacant directorship. He had volunteered for service
in Turkey as a surgeon, and he was not happy to find himself in-
heriting administrative work. Dr. Robert A. Lambert, the area director,
attempted to solve this problem by assigning me to Marash as both
administrative assistant to Dr. Wilson and replacement for Miss Pears.
Dr. Lambert, wishing to inspect the NER work in Marash, joined us
for the trip. We spent the first night at Aintab. That same evening
Captain Andre1 was in Aintab consulting with Lieutenant Colonel Flye
Sainte-Marie about the precarious situation in Marash.
The next morning we proceeded through mountainous country
toward Marash. As far as Aintab the country had offered little of
interest or beauty, but now as we rounded a hill a breath-taking pano-
rama of the northern end of the Amanus range opened before us some
twenty miles westward. At the village of Karabiyikli ("Black Mous-
tache") we found the entire population at the roadside, curious to see
what^jtjreigners were traveling by automobile—a rare sight since the
British departure.
From Karabiyikli the road descended steeply through gorges to the
plain of the Ak Su, or "White River," passing near the village of
Pazarjik which already—unknown to us at the time—was becoming a
center for the organization of the Turkish guerrillas. The old stone
bridge over the Ak Su had been destroyed by the Marash Turks when
 A S S I G N M E N T TO M A R A S H :

British forces first occupied Aintab in January, but Indian engineers

had quickly laid down a wooden structure over which we passed.
Beyond the river, twelve miles distant, lay Marash at the foot of
Akhyr Dagh, embraced on either side by ridges in the shape of a horse-
shoe open to the plain south of the city. In the midst of the city and
dominating it rose the ancient Hittite citadel, capped with a walled
enclosure which from time immemorial had served as a fortress. Here
at the entrance had stood the basalt figure of the Marash lion, covered
with undeciphered Hittite characters.
We entered the city at the Shahadie" Gate, creating a panic in the
narrow bazaars which were barely wide enough to accommodate the
Reo truck for pedestrians had to press against the walls of the shops
to let even loaded camels pass. In these bazaars were the workshops of
artisans: the kazanjilar beating sheet copper into trays and pots, all
confined to one area; shoemakers displaying the colorful and unique
boots with the toe curved to a point, identical to the footwear on
representations of Hittite figures. Goldsmiths here had made the city
famous as early as the seventh century B.C., as shown by the silver vase
mounted on a gold lion, now displayed in the British Museum.1
In 1920 the artisans were all Armenian. The Turks engaged in
commerce, land development, and in civil administration.
A remarkable feature of Marash was the water supply. From three
sources in the hills above the city an abundant supply of pure water
rushed through the various quarters. The western branch (Sheker
Dere1) and the central one (Ak Dere1) joined the eastern Kanli Dere1
("the Bloody Stream") to emerge as one river. From these branches
water was channeled into the houses. I was not able to determine in what
manner waste from the houses was disposed of. Certainly this wonder-
ful supply of water suffices to explain the existence of Marash from the
dawn of history.
We crosse'd the bridge over the Kanli Dere', passed the German
Hospital, and drove up the hill to the lower gate of the Girl's College
of the American Board of Missions. We walked through the seminary
compound—guarded by French sentries, for the French commander
had taken the seminary for his headquarters— and entered a third
compound. In this were two buildings erected as residences for the
missionaries. The first of these was now the headquarters office for
NER, with sleeping quarters above. I was assigned to a room adjacent
to others for Paul Snyder and the Reverend James K. Lyman, who
was the sole male member of the mission. Next-door was the residence
of Dr. and Mrs. Wilson. The Wilsons generously shared their home
74 : THE MARASH R E B E L L I O N

and meals with unattached male members of NER, such as Snyder and
myself. The Wilsons were happy, of course, to have Dr. Lambert as a
guest. Another guest was Dr. C. F. H. Crathern, who had come to open
a branch of the YMCA in Marash. He was waiting for the arrival of
an associate, Frank S. Johnson, for this post.
That evening at dinner Dr. Wilson suggested to Snyder that he
take Dr. Lambert and me on a tour of the orphanages the next morn-
ing. During the afternoon he would show us the medical facilities.
Escorted by Paul, we crossed the city to a hill in the Kumbet quarter
where the German Hilfsbund Mission—undoubtedly stimulated by
the great massacre of 1895—had erected an orphanage for boys in 1898
and named it Beitshalom, "the House of Peace." There we found some
four hundred boys under the care of an able staff of Armenian teachers
headed by Miss Frances Buckley, an American Red Cross nurse. She
was assisted by Maria Timm, the only remaining member of the
Hilfsbund Mission. She, too, was a trained nurse. The affection given
her by the boys was shown by the name they had given her—Tanta
Maria.
The Beitshalom boys received a good elementary education. A few
of the teachers had been trained in Germany, while the others were
recruited from the local Boys' Academy or the Girls' College. The first
German director, Herr Speaker, had the foresight to provide the
orphanage with the equipment required for vocational training: looms
for weaving, tools for shoemaking, equipment for carpentry, and so
on. Thus many of the needs of the orphanage were supplied by the
boys themselves. An outfit for fighting fire, a hand-operated pump and
fire hose, was one of the orphanage's prized possessions.
The same German mission had likewise established an orphanage
for girls, Bethel, which we visited next. It was located immediately
adjacent to and below the Wilson house; only a stone wall separated
the girls from our compound. The organization was similar to that of
Beitshalom, except that there were no foreign staff members and the
vocational training program was geared to prepare the girls as home-
makers.
The massacres of 1895 had aroused the sympathy of the English
population as well as that of the German, and two other orphanages
had been established by an English mission in 1898: Ebenezer for boys,
and Beulah for girls, under the direction of Miss Salmond, who in
1920 was still in Marash, an invalid. At Ebenezer, too, the boys were
taught the skills of various trades, including baking. The Ebenezer
 A S S I G N M E N T TO M A R A S H : 75

bakery supplied all of the orphanages and the mission and NER staffs
with bread.
Near East Relief had assumed the responsibility for the administra-
tion and financing of all four of these orphanages and had added a
fifth, the Acorne Orphanage, commemorating the earlier name of our
organization, the American Committee for Relief in the Near East.
Altogether the orphans in the five institutions numbered about four-
teen hundred.
The Ebenezer shops for vocational training also became the nucleus
for a program of industrial work among the sixteen thousand Ar-
menians who had returned from exile within recent months, most of
them destitute and undernourished. Rather than hand out cash for
relief, NER offered work. In order to obtain the maximum opportunity
for labor, the manufacture of clothing started with the basic materials,
raw cotton, and wool as it came off the sheep. Thus the steps of wash-
ing, combing, spinning, dyeing, weaving, and sewing employed many
men and women. The products, clothing, mattresses, and yorgans
("quilts"), were distributed to the needy or sold in the market. Each
phase of the industrial work was directed by Armenian ustas, or
"masters of their trades."
During this tour of NER activities I met two other members of our
staff, Evelyn Trostle and Minnie Dougherty, each of them busy super-
vising certain phases of the industrial work and distributing the
products of that activity.
During the afternoon Dr. Lambert and I visited the German
Hospital. The Hilfsbund Mission which had built Beitshalom and
Bethel orphanages had also erected a fine hospital below the American
Mission buildings. When the British forces occupied Marash the
Germans transferred this institution to the Americans and returned
to their country. The hospital was under the direction of Dr. Mabel
Elliott, whose story of events in Marash reveals her sensitivity of spirit
and the warm relationship she developed with the Armenian doctors
and nurses and with the British and French officers.2 Among the im-
portant staff members was Dr. Haroutune Der Ghazarian, known to
his friends as Dr. Artin, a surgeon trained at the American Medical
School of the Syrian Protestant College in Beirut. Mrs. Mabel Power
directed the nursing service at the hospital. Stepan Chorbajian, grad-
uate of the Syrian Protestant College's School of Pharmacy, was phar-
macist, assisted by Luther Orchanian, who had served the Turkish
army in that capacity for several years.
76 : THE M A R A S H R E B E L L I O N

We called also at the Children's Hospital, directed by Miss Helen

Shultz, a nurse. This institution (the importance of which will appear
later) was located in the seminary compound, adjacent to the head-
quarters of the French commander.
One other small institution, the NER Rescue Home, housed young
women who had been taken into Arab or Turkish homes during the
period of exile and later released by order of the Allied commanders
and of emir Feisal. Here, in the center of the city near the First
Evangelical Church, lived eighty young women with Mrs. Gohar Sham-
lian, who served as matron.
The financing of all these activities became my responsibility. The
funds, raised in the United States, came by way of Aleppo, and I soon
learned that the simplest and safest method for obtaining cash was the
sale of drafts on the Aleppo office. At this time the roads were unsafe
for travelers, owing to the bands of guerrillas as well as deserters who
had to live off the land, hence the Marash merchants competed for my
drafts which could be cashed for Turkish gold in Aleppo and con-
verted to merchandise in that great trade center.
On his departure Dr. Lambert reminded me of the urgency for an
inventory of the orphan children such as I had made at Aintab. He
entrusted the fine Graflex camera to my care, together with an ample
supply of film, developer, and photograhic paper. Paul was an en-
thusiastic camera fan and helped prepare a darkroom. Together we
photographed the children, obtained the history of each one, and
within a week completed the development of film and printing of
group photographs.
Mr. Lyman took me to the campus of the Girls' College to introduce
his colleagues of the American Board of Foreign Missions to me: Miss
Ellen Blakely, head of the college, and the other American teachers,
Bessie Hardy, Kate Ainslie, and Inez Lied.
Lyman had survived eight years in Marash, and these included the
five harrowing years of war. He had learned the need for relaxation.
Finding Paul and me together one Saturday morning, he said,
"Would you like to join me hunting partridge this afternoon?" He
was carrying a beautiful double-barreled shotgun made in France of
Damascus steel—a gun left behind when the French consul Edde" fled
from Marash at the outbreak of war in 1914. Nothing could have
pleased us more. Between the Mission compounds and Akhyr Dagh
was a barren plateau into which deep ravines had been cut by erosion.
A variety of partridge known as the Anatolian rock pigeon assembled
in large coveys near the ravines. They knew the range of a shotgun,
 A S S I G N M E N T TO MARASH : 77

for the moment we approached the effective range they took off to the
far side of the ravine. The partridge suffered few casualties, for we
had only one shotgun. Within two months this area was to be raked
with machine-gun and rifle fire, and we were to become the targets!
During such expeditions as these Mr. Lyman gave us a good account
of recent events and the problems which faced the population of
Marash.
 CHAPTER TWELVE

HARASSMENT OF THE FRENCH

The Turkish defiance of French authority during the flag incident

alerted the French command to the fact that their military forces in
the outlying districts were entirely inadequate. Colonel Bremond had
foreseen this when he warned the high commissioner that it would
not be wise to displace the Turkish civil administration so long as the
French lacked the force needed to insure obedience.1 When Captain
Andre' appealed to Lieutenant Colonel Flye Sainte-Marie to reinforce
the Marash garrison, the Aintab commander replied that his own
troops were already too weak. It was important that the area com-
mander should receive a firsthand report of the situation in Marash,
hence the colonel sent Captain Andr£ on to Adana, knowing that
General Dufieux was on his way there from Beirut, where he had
served temporarily as high commissioner pending the arrival of Gen-
eral Gouraud.
The troops at General Dufieux's disposal included his own Blue
Horizon (the 156111) Division of African troops, and the equally
famous 4i2th Infantry Regiment, veterans of Verdun, commanded by
Lieutenant Colonel Thibault. The Fifth Company of this regiment
was already in Marash, having formed part of the force which replaced
the British troops late in October. General Dufieux decided to rein-
force the Marash garrison by sending the Third Battalion of the 412th
Regiment commanded by Major Roze des Ordons, and a battery of
65 mm. mountain guns. At the same time he reinforced the Aintab
garrison by transferring Captain de Fouquet's Fifth Company there
from Marash. This move was made on 21 December. When these
troops crossed the Ak Su and began to climb the mountain road to
Karabiyikli, they were ambushed in a defile known as the Gavur, or
 H A R A S S M E N T OF THE F R E N C H : 79

"Infidel," Pass. This was the first clash between the Nationalist ir-
regulars (chete) and the French forces.
The troops assigned to Marash moved by rail to Islahiye", the station
nearest Marash. There Major Roze des Ordons set out on the three-
day journey northward, leading his battalion of French infantry and
artillery. Snow fell heavily with the result that the guns and carts
were repeatedly mired and had to be extricated by the men. They
reached Marash, exhausted, on 23 December.
On Christmas Eve another detachment of the 412th Regiment
reached Marash by way of Aintab. It was the Tenth Company of
infantry and the Third Machine Gun Company. The new troops were
assigned various churches in the city as barracks, and the cavalry was
quartered at the German Farm, which the Hilfsbund Mission had
established. It was intensely cold.2
A cordial relationship between the French and American personnel
was established on Christmas Eve during a dinner to which we invited
the newly arrived officers. Later Major Roze des Ordons, the senior
officer, came frequently to call on the Wilsons. Since he spoke no
English and the Wilsons no French, the officer brought along an
interpreter but was embarrassed to discover that he, too, knew no
English! This difficulty was overcome when we discovered German
as an intermediate. The interpreter converted French conversation to
German, which I rendered into English. Thus we were kept informed
of the political developments.
Another visitor who came frequently was a prominent Turk on
whom Dr. Wilson had operated successfully after Turkish physicians
had ruled that nothing could be done to save him. This grateful
patient found Sunday noon a convenient time to call, thus benefitting
from the food provided by Mrs. Wilson's able kitchen staff.
Although the 4iath Regiment had possessed a set of the equipment
required for wireless communication, this had not been forwarded
from Beirut, with the result that the Marash commander could com-
municate with his superiors in Aintab and Adana only by means of
the Turkish telephone and telegraph systems, or by courier.3 Raphael
Kherlakian, closely associated with the commander of the Aintab-
Marash Circle as his aide and interpreter, reports that Lieutenant
Colonel Flye Sainte-Marie telegraphed to his superiors asking for the
installation of wireless equipment but received no answer.4
A few days after Christmas Major Roze des Ordons sent a courier
escorted by Spahi cavalrymen to Islahiye" with a confidential report
for General Dufieux, for he dared not entrust such messages to the
8o : THE M A R A S H R E B E L L I O N

Turkish communications systems. The courier and his escort fell into
an ambush near Islahiye', and all were killed.5 This was the first pay-
ment for the failure of the staff officers in Beirut to forward the wire-
less equipment.
Angered by the attack on the courier and the loss of his Spahis,
General Dufieux moved to clear out the bandits, as the French had
designated the guerrilla fighters, on the road between Islahiye" and
Marash. On 2 January he assigned Major Corneloup of the .Seven-
teenth Senegalese Regiment to the command of a detachment composed
of the Second Company of the 412th Infantry Regiment, a company
of the Armenian legionnaires, and two sections of machine gunners,
and commissioned him to seek out and destroy the chete who had
ambushed the patrol.6 The general had underestimated the enemy
strength and leadership. In the neighborhood of Sarilar, on the road
between Islahiye' and Marash, the French force was caught in an
ambush and suffered seven killed and twenty-one wounded.7 For three
days the French were boxed in at El Oghlou but finally disengaged
themselves and reached Marash on zo January. Meanwhile Major
Corneloup dealt very harshly with the villagers of El Oghlou.8
The official Turkish report deals with this engagement in consider-
able detail. Captain Kuluj Ali, on leave from his regular command,
had established his headquarters at Pazarjik, near the bridge over the
Ak Su, and was directing the activities of the Nationalist forces. Ac-
cording to this report the French commander at Marash on 5 January
sent a detachment of one hundred men with two cannon and some
machine guns to meet Major Corneloup's force coming from Islahiye".
A Turkish force of sixty men commanded by Muallim Hayrulla pre-
pared an ambush at the village of Killi, near El Oghlou, and surprised
the Marash detachment, taking thirty prisoners. Two days later
Hayrulla's men ambushed Major Corneloup's battalion five miles
southwest of El Oghlou, near Jejeli. In retaliation the French destroyed
Jejeli and its animals and food supplies. Although the French were
superior in strength, several units of the Turkish Nationalists joined
an effort to bar their advance toward El Oghlou.

At this point Muallim Hayrulla's men, coming from Jejeli,

reached the hill of Tanish and began attacking the French van-
guard. The Nationalist forces, under fire of French machine guns,
found themselves in a very difficult position. In order to raise the
morale of his troops—taking no precautions whatever—Hayrulla
climbed a rock hill and while giving orders to his men was
 H A R A S S M E N T OF THE F R E N C H : 8l

wounded. He died shortly after being carried to Marash. Faced

with this situation the Nationalist forces under his command were
forced to fall back.9

In Marash we codld hear the thud of distant cannon fire as the

French besieged at El Oghlou defended themselves. The Turks in the
city were excited, and the Armenians began burying whatever treasures
they possessed.
A new French commander, General Que"rette, had been appointed
to command the guth Brigade of troops quartered in the Eastern
Territory and established his headquarters in Aintab. Thus the gar-
risons of Aintab, Urfa, and Marash came under his command while he
himself was responsible to the divisional commander in Adana,
General Dufieux. General Que'rette had spent the major part of the
Great War as a prisoner of the Germans.
When General Dufieux learned from a Kurdish chief that Major
Corneloup had been attacked by Turkish chete near El Oghlou, he
ordered General Que'rette to transfer his headquarters to Marash,
which appeared to be the center of revolt. This transfer was made on
13 January.10
Today the Turks of Marash tell how the general came through the
streets of the city on horseback with an escort. Noting a group of men
sunning themselves against a wall, he stopped and spoke to them
through an interpreter, "I have come to Marash to make peace! If you
want peace, come and give me your right hand." At once an old man
sprang to his feet and approached the General, his left hand out-
stretched. The General was angry and rode off.11
General Dufieux became increasingly anxious over the fate of Major
Corneloup and his men, who had departed for Marash on 2 January.
When a week passed with no news, he decided to send more powerful
forces to rescue the missing detachment and to strengthen the Marash
garrison. For this purpose he ordered two separate forces to converge
on Bel Pounar—one moving west from Aintab, the other north from
Islahiye". Lieutenant Colonel Thibault assembled four companies of
his own veterans of Verdun, the 4iath Regiment, also the Second
Battalion of the Armenian Legion, and half a squadron of African
Scouts. These had already reached Islahiye" when word came that
Corneloup had finally reached Marash, but the mission was ordered
to proceed.
At the same time in Aintab Major Marty was preparing his force:
the Third battalion of the Eighteenth Algerian Sharpshooters, a
82 : THE MARASH R E B E L L I O N

squadron of Spahi cavalry, a section of 65 mm. mountain guns, and

an Alpine ambulance unit—altogether over fourteen hundred men.
They set out on 13 January for Bel Pounar. At Sakjagoz, only ten
miles from Aintab, they were ambushed by chete concealed among
the rocks. During a clash lasting more than three hours the French
losses were two killed and twenty-three wounded, but they were able
to reach Bel Pounar, where they waited for Thibault's column. This
attack was made by a detachment from Pazarjik commanded by Ka-
rayilanoghlou. Members of the Yamak tribe near Aintab had reported
the movement of the French troops to the headquarters of Captain
Kuluj Ali.
Major Marty's force stopped overnight (13 January) at Araplar, req-
uisitioning shelter and food. The Muslim inhabitants complained
of insolence shown them by the Armenian legionnaires which caused
them to flee to a nearby village.
The next day the French were attacked at Sarilar by two Nationalist
bands who dispersed the supply column and captured the provisions
and munitions. Captain Kuluj Ali's report of 16 January stated that
the French losses were fifty killed, including an officer, and about the
same number wounded.12
Colonel Thibault and Major Marty joined their forces and pro-
ceeded to El Oghlou, finding the village completely empty. The vil-
lagers, having just experienced the visit of Corneloup's men, feared
this powerful body of troops because Major Corneloup had punished
them for allowing the chete full reign in attacking the French column.
The French signaled the village chief with a white flag, and he and a
few of his men were persuaded to come out of the hills and talk with
the French commander. After assurances for peaceful conduct were
given by both parties, the French purchased cattle and proceeded to
Marash, reaching the city without further incident on 17 January.13
The need to shelter the troops from the severe winter weather took
precedence over strategic considerations, and the French command
requisitioned schools and churches in various quarters of the city.
General Qu^rette invited Lieutenant Colonel Thibault to join him
in the seminary building of the American Mission, which had ample
space for living quarters as well as offices.
A short time before the arrival of the reinforcements, General
Querette had summoned to his office Raphael Efendi Kherlakian a
counselor to the French commander in Aintab. Raphael Efendi had
come to Marash to marry Helene Kherlakian, his cousin, and Lieu-
tenant Colonel Flye Sainte-Marie had promised to attend and serve as
 HARASSMENT OF THE F R E N C H : 83

best man. General Que"rette had learned from the colonel that Raphael
Efendi had reversed the relationships between French and Turkish
officials in Aintab from outright animosity to cordiality, hence when
Flye Sainte-Marie suggested that Kherlakian attempt to reconcile the
conflicting interests of the Turks, French, and Armenians in Marash,
the general gave his consent.
When he arrived at Marash, Raphael Efendi went to the important
Imam Bayi Zade, carrying letters of introduction from Bulbul Hodja,
the Imam of Aintab, and from the Committee for the Defense of
Rights which urged peaceful cooperation with the French. The Marash
Imam rejected the appeal for peaceful cooperation, stating that the
Armenians should join the Turks to fight the French. Kherlakian ex-
plained to the Imam why this was impossible and suggested that ten-
sion between the Christians and Muslims could be reduced if a commis-
sion were created with representatives from the two groups. The Imam
appeared to accept this suggestion.
Meanwhile General Querette became angered over the attacks on
French forces and concerned about the loss of supplies needed in
Marash. He knew that the irregular Turkish forces were led by Cap
tain Kuluj Ali but suspected that the Turkish leaders in Marash were
supporting if not actually directing the attacks. Should he take action
against Kuluj Ali, or against the Nationalist leaders in Marash? It was
for advice on this question that he sought an interview with Raphael
Kherlakian.
Kherlakian went to the seminary and found the general waiting for
him with Major Roze des Ordons, his second in command. "My im-
pressions of the general," noted Raphael Efendi later, "were never
good: silent, taciturn, melancholy, a black sadness gnawed at him. It
is said that during the first days of the Great War he had fallen
prisoner of the Germans. Most striking of all, together with the sudden
exhibition of his will, was the subsequent paralyzing hesitation." He
continued his report on the interview and described how the general,
with hands in his pockets, walking up and down the salon, declared
that he had received orders to liquidate the Marash affair by taking
into his own hands the government of the province. When he asked
Major Roze des Ordons what he thought of this, the major replied
that if he were ordered to do so, he could have control of the city
within a quarter of an hour. The general considered while continuing
his promenade and then turned to Kherlakian, asking his opinion.
Raphael Efendi remarked that all of the Turks in the city and province
as well as the chete had been trained in the art of war by four years of
84 .' THE M A R A S H R E B E L L I O N

military service; that they were well armed and even prepared in every
detail for a military operation. Hence under these conditions it would
be wiser to wait for the arrival of the French columns en route to
Marash before giving the signal to take over the city. The general
accepted this suggestion. Kherlakian then urged him to arm the Ar-
menians against the probability of an attack on them by the Turks.
General Querette rejected this, as had Lieutenant Colonel Flye Sainte-
Marie in Aintab, on the grounds that it was the function of the French,
and theirs alone, to maintain order, and to assure the security of the
Armenians.14
Raphael Kherlakian reported also the story of negotiations with a
Kurdish chieftain, which demonstrates the loss of substantial help from
the Kurds because of the failure of the French high command in Beirut
to supply the forces in Cilicia with motor transport.
Near the village of Pazarjik, the base from which the chete attacked
French convoys between Aintab and Marash, lived a powerful Kurdish
chieftain, Tapou Agha, with whom the Kherlakian family were on
good terms. Knowing that the Kurds harbored some resentment at
being treated as a minority group by the Turks, Raphael Efendi sent
a trusted messenger secretly to Tapou Agha with the suggestion that
he might find it to his advantage to support the French rather than
the Turks. Kherlakian knew that the Kurd could easily supply three
to four thousand warriors, and that these could neutralize the Turkish
Nationalist bands, not only at Pazarjik, but also in the entire Marash
area.
Tapou Agha agreed to collaborate with the French provided that he
be given the French medal of honor, recognition of his supremacy over
all Kurdish tribes in the province of Marash, and the necessary arms.
Finally he insisted on going to Aintab incognito in order to arrange all
details of collaboration with the French commander personally. He
could not do this immediately, however, because of severe rheumatism
and the very cold weather.
Colonel Flye Sainte-Marie realized the importance of this alliance
and sent word to the chieftain that an automobile would be waiting
for him at a secluded spot near Pazarjik at a definite hour in three
days. However, only one automobile was available to the commander at
Aintab, and it had been sent to Adana for gold, to return within two
days. On the morning scheduled for the meeting with Tapou Agha,
Aintab headquarters received word that the car had been irreparably
damaged. Tapou Agha waited in vain at the appointed hour. A
messenger conveyed the colonel's apologies and explanation and
 H A R A S S M E N T OF THE F R E N C H : 85

promised that a new appointment would be made soon. The colonel

hoped to secure a car from NER, but the director was unwilling to be-
come involved in the affair.
Kherlakian notes bitterly that in Beirut each junior officer had an
automobile at his disposal, but none could be spared for the outlying
stations. Colonel Flye Sainte-Marie also had telegraphed Beirut asking
that the wireless equipment belonging to the 412th Regiment be for-
warded, but the general staff in Beirut ignored the requests.15
 CHAPTER THIRTEEN

DISASTER AT CHRISTMAS

Armenian Christmas
Throughout January the villagers, both Armenian and Turkish, had
suffered harassment by the chete who demanded food and animals.
Armenian villagers were being killed a few at a time when they ven-
tured outside the protection of the community. By mid-January entire
villages were being sacked and the Christians massacred. Don-KaM, a
six-hour journey on foot north of Marash, was one of these villages.
Nineteen of the four hundred inhabitants of Don-Kate came to Marash
for marketing, 'walking together for the sake of mutual protection.
Among these was Garabed Akullian, who operated a small grocery
store in the village with the help of one of his eleven boys, seventeen-
year-old son Daniel. Daniel raised sheep and goats and was bringing
some of each to Marash for sale. His father wished to replenish his
stock of goods for sale in the village. While they were still in Marash
news reached them that on 6 January all of the villagers had been mas-
sacred by the chete. Only the nineteen who had come to Marash had
survived.1
The Armenians celebrate the birth of Christ on 19 January.2 Dr.
Wilson suggested that we should assist by means of an outdoor party
for the refugee villagers such as those from Don-Kate who were then
camping in the Marash churchyards. Our household staff was con-
sulted about suitable food, and Samuel, the general handyman, was
commissioned to do the marketing. Dr. Wilson personally carried to
the various refugee groups invitation cards which Paul and I had
typed. Huge copper kettles were borrowed from the orphanage kitchens
and set up in the yard beside our residence in the mission compound.
Samuel returned with a donkey loaded with squash, a sack of
 D I S A S T E R AT C H R I S T M A S : 87

bulghur (parboiled wheat), half a beef carcass, sumac (a substitue

for lemon), fat, and a string of dried figs. The Ebenezer bakery sent
over three hundred loaves of bread. Dr. Wilson brought back with
him a number of village women who set to work preparing the meal,
and by noon the kettles were boiling. First the meat was stewed, then
chopped squash, sumac and salt were added and cooked, thus pro-
ducing a dish known as kabakli. In other kettles the bulghur was
cooked, then transferred to copper trays four feet in diameter, and over
the bulghur was poured the melted fat. Each of the trays was ringed
by six or eight persons seated on the ground. The villagers were expert
at using the native bread as scoops for the stew. Enough food remained
after satisfying the 275 guests to permit each one to carry back to his
camp something for others.
At the special Christmas services held in each of the churches, the
usual joyous mood was replaced by one of gloom and foreboding. The
worshippers feared that the massacres in Don-Kale' and other villages
presaged a repetition of the terrible events of 1895 anc* 1915-
Among the worshippers were Armenian legionnaires who had
reached Marash only two days earlier after escorting Lieutenant
Colonel Thibault's supply wagons from Islahiye". One of these, Ser-
geant Krikor Ajemian, recorded in his diary his impressions of the
service in the church where his battalion had been quartered.

Many of our family have been priests, and since childhood I

have attended and taken part in church services many times, but
the service at the Church of Asdvadsadsin on so January is un-
precedented in my memory. The churchyard, the garden, and the
school were packed with worshippers. The priest who conducted
the mass was obviously moved, and his speech was touching—as
though it was to be his last—so that he stirred the emotions of the
worshippers. When the people sang it was with extraordinary feel-
ing. The guns [of the troops quartered in the church] were lined
up behind the altar. The priest was trying to encourage the people
to be brave and alert.3

Attacks on Convoys
Following his conference with Raphael Kherlakian and Major Roze
des Ordons, General Que"rette summoned the Turkish notables to meet
88 : THE MARASH REBELLION

with him at the konak. According to the Turkish report, the general
announced that he was assuming responsibility for defense of the
country; that Kuluj Ali and other brigands like him were destroying
the peace. Rifat Hoja replied, complaining that the French were doing
nothing to stop assaults by Armenians on the Muslims and asking that
if the French were so strong, why did they not punish Kuluj Ali? *
With this taunt in his memory, news of the clashes at El Oghlou and
on the Aintab road aroused the general's anger. He would, indeed,
punish Kuluj Alii On 18 January he instructed Lieutenant Colonel
Thibault, who had reached Marash only a day earlier, to list the troops
and supplies needed for a ten-day campaign against Kuluj Ali's forces
at Pazarjik. He specified that Armenian troops should not be used for
combat but rather for the protection of convoys and for guard duty in
order to avoid further friction between Armenians and Muslims. The
Senegalese, unused to the severe cold of Marash, would remain in the
city to protect the garrison. This left Thibault with his experienced
veterans of the 4i2th Regiment and the Algerian cavalry. The force
finally selected for the mission, scheduled to start moving on 21 Janu-
ary, totaled over two thousand men and 650 animals.6
An inventory of the provisions and munitions available in Marash
showed these to be insufficient for both the garrison and a ten-day
campaign at Pazarjik, hence it was imperative first to draw on the
depots at Aintab and at Bel Pounar. At General Que>ette's request,
the Aintab commander sent out a convoy of supplies for Marash on 19
January, the Armenian Christmas, with an escort of thirty recruits
just arrived from France under the command of three sergeants. Six of
these men had no rifles, and the others were supplied with only two
packages of cartridges each. A day earlier General Querette sent from
Marash a convoy of eighteen empty wagons headed for Aintab to
bring back additional supplies. The two convoys would meet and
pass each other between the Ak Su and Aintab. Obviously the nature
of the guerrilla warfare being conducted against them had not yet
penetrated the minds of the French commanders.
At Pazarjik Kuluj Ali learned through his intelligence service of
the movement of the two French convoys and set up ambushes for
each of them. And so on the morning of the nineteenth the train of
empty wagons and its insignificant escort were caught in a surprise
attack by the chete concealed among rocks in the Gavur Pass beyond
the Ak Su. The muleteers and escort retired to Marash, abandoning
their vehicles.
On hearing of this loss that afternoon, General Querette was greatly
 D I S A S T E R AT C H R I S T M A S : 89

disturbed, for he knew that the other convoy bringing munitions and
food supplies from Aintab was on its way towards the same danger
zone. At once he ordered Lieutenant Finch to select a squadron of forty
Spahis, ride toward the convoy, and escort it back to Marash. Since it
was already late in the day, they were to spend the night at the
Ak Su bridge, where there was a French outpost, and proceed towards
Aintab the next morning.6
The Americans were not aware of these events and prepared for a
trip to Aintab. That morning, 20 January, Paul Snyder drove out of
Marash at the wheel of his light Reo truck. Sharing the driver's seat
with him was Dr. Crathern, who expected to bring back his colleague
Frank Johnson to head the YMCA program in Marash. Other passengers
were Lieutenant Counarai, a demobilized French officer; his orderly;
the NER nurse, Helen Shultz; and Garabed Kouyoumjian, an Armenian
merchant carrying a draft for two hundred thousand francs and a fat
order for army supplies.
It is curious that the French commander could have permitted one
of his own officers, to say nothing of the Americans, to set out on that
road where his convoy had just suffered destruction. Perhaps he felt
that Lieutenant Finch and his Spahis insured their safety.
On the plain of Pazarjik Snyder passed six wagons abandoned along
the roadside and stopped to retrieve a twenty-foot length of rope which
would be useful as a towline. His own account follows.
A mile further on more French wagons were seen. Beside one
lay a dead mule in a pool of blood. Nearby was a soldier's helmet,
and on the road a pile of spilled onions. Rifle shots could be heard
on the mountain ahead, and as the car mounted the steep slope
the shots became alarmingly loud. No one suggested turning back.
The road began to turn in a gigantic half-circle around the cliffs
a thousand feet above them on the left side. On the other side
was a deep gorge. The firing came from the top center of the ridge.
Suddenly the targets came into view—Lt. Finch's Algerian Spahis
—wearing flaming red cloaks and mounted on white horses.7
The horsemen were returning the fire of chete concealed among the
rocks and bushes on the ridge. Nothing less than mountain guns
could have dislodged them. The Spahis were coming downhill, ap-
proaching the car. When Snyder attempted to turn the truck on the
narrow road, the rear end came into view and the Turks could see the
French officer and his orderly, both in uniform, seated inside. Immedi-
ately the rifle fire was aimed at the car, some of it at close range. The
90 : THE M A R A S H R E B E L L I O N

truck remained at the same distance while it circled the hill, but the
Turkish marksmen were not used to targets moving at forty miles per
hour. One bullet broke two leaves of a front spring. Lieutenant
Counarai threw Helen Shultz to the floor and covered her with his
blanket roll. A bullet crashed through the steering wheel, destroying
one of the spokes, and metal fragments drew blood from the faces of
Snyder and Crathern. Miraculously they passed out of range into the
Pazarjik plain with no one seriously wounded.
All but four of the Turkish villagers had fled from Pazarjik, fearing
reprisals from the French, and these four begged to be taken away, but
the car was already overloaded and the road was in bad condition. At
certain stretches the passengers got out and helped pull the truck out
of the mud, making use of the rope which Snyder had salvaged from
the pillaged French wagons.8
That same afternoon Raphael Kherlakian was married to his cousin
Helene, daughter of Hovsep Agha Kherlakian. A big church wedding
had been scheduled, but the archbishop of the Armenian Catholic
Church, Msgr. Avedis Arpiarian, feared that a large gathering of
Armenians might offer to the Turks an opportunity to attack the
Christian homes while the owners were absent. Such was the state of
fear in the city! Hence it was agreed that the ceremony should be
held as a family affair in the Kherlakian residence on the Boulgourjian
Hill.
Lieutenant Colonel Flye Sainte-Marie had promised to assist at the
wedding of his friend Raphael Efendi but found it necessary to tele-
graph General Que*rette, explaining his inability to leave Aintab and
asking the general to serve in his place. Shortly before the wedding
a courier from Adana brought special orders from the divisional
commander, General Dufieux, that the Pazarjik and Marash affairs be
resolved as quickly as possible, for all of Thibault's 412 Regiment
were needed to quell disorder in Urfa and other areas!
The general went to the Kherlakian residence for the wedding. After
the ceremony he returned on foot to his headquarters without an
escort, and of course unaware of the Nationalist plan to strike within
a few hours and to kill every Frenchman in sight.9 At his office in the
seminary he found Lieutenant Counarai, one of Snyder's passengers,
waiting to tell him of the encounter on the road to Aintab. And while
they were talking, a courier arrived from Lieutenant Finch's squadron.
The cavalry unit had indeed met the convoy, he reported, and was
escorting it to the bridge when it was attacked by some two hundred
chete in the mountain pass. It was, of course, the encounter which
Lieutenant Counarai had just reported.
 DISASTER AT CHRISTMAS : Ql

The general immediately ordered that all available cavalry units

should move toward the convoy, and that a strong infantry detachment
should follow for support at the bridge. After dark that evening
Lieutenant Lager led a squadron of African Scouts and what remained
of the Spahis out of the city. And at 5:30 the next morning, 21 January,
the Eleventh Company of the 412th Infantry left to strengthen the
post at the bridge. At midnight also Captain Fontaine had left Marash
with his battalion of Armenian legionnaires to serve as escort for a
convoy headed for Bel Pounar—a mission to be described in detail
later. Thus by the morning of 21 January important units of the
Marash garrison were no longer in the city.
The next morning at 11:25 one °f Lieutenant Lager's Spahis re-
turned with a report for General Que"rette. The cavalry unit had
reached the bridge at 3:30 A.M. and there found their comrades of the
Third Spahis who had suffered the attack witnessed by Snyder. Lieu-
tenant Finch had been killed, together with seven of his cavalrymen
and five of the new French recruits sent out from Aintab. The convoy
was a total loss. The chete had pillaged it of the supplies so badly
needed by the Marash garrison.10
While the Kherlakian family were celebrating the marriage of
Raphael and Helene, Mrs. Wilson was busy preparing for a dinner
to which she had invited the mission personnel as well as her NER
colleagues. It was the third anniversary of her marriage to Dr. Marion
Wilson.
The Turkish bey who so frequently visited the Wilsons in gratitude
for the surgery which had saved his life, called once again that after-
noon. "Tomorrow I'm going hunting with some friends. We hope to
get some wild boar. May I borrow your rifles?" he asked.
"I'm sorry," replied Dr. Wilson. "Some of us hope to get out for
hunting, too, and we may need them."
The significance of this request became apparent the next day, when
the battle began—a battle in which the Christian population was to
be exterminated.
In the evening we sat down to feast on roast goose. Everyone was
excited over the adventure of Paul, Helen Shultz, and Dr. Crathern,
who had so narrowly escaped death on the Aintab road. Had we known
of the wounded suffering on the mountain pass beyond the Ak Su, or
of the storm about to break in the city itself, it would not have been
possible to celebrate anything at all.
Q2 : THE MARASH REBELLION

The Bel Pounar Convoy

General Dufieux, area commander at Adana, had planned to use Lieu-
tenant Colonel Thibault's column first for the pacification of Marash
and later of Urfa.11 With this in mind he had established a munitions
depot at the village of Bel Pounar from which roads led both north-
ward to Marash and eastward to Urfa. A large convoy of camels and
wagons loaded with munitions and other military stores had moved
from Adana to Bel Pounar under guard of Armenian legionnaires,
who had remained at the village to protect the stores.
When General Querette learned that his military stores in Marash
were insufficient for a campaign against Kuluj Ali, he had attempted
to correct this by drawing on the stores at Aintab (with disastrous re-
sults, as we have seen) and at Bel Pounar. The story of this hazardous
mission and the ordeal of hardship and suffering endured by the brave
legionnaires assigned as escort has been recorded by Sergeant Krikor
Ajemian. The legionnaires were part of Thibault's column which had
reached Marash on the eve of Armenian Christmas and had rested
only one day.
At midnight, 20 January, Captain Fontaine assembled one battalion
of Armenian legionnaires near the Church of the Forty Sainted
Youths.* On the outskirts of the city thirty-one wagons with their
mules and drivers were waiting for the escort. On the two-day trip to
Bel Pounar the convoy encountered no resistance. Undoubtedly they

* Sourp Karasoun Mangantz, or "the Forty Sainted Youths," is the oldest of

the Apostolic Armenian churches in Marash. It dates from about 1850. In
Aleppo a church with the same name is said to have been established about
1770. According to tradition, in the late third or fourth century after Christ a
group of Armenians were fleeing from ancient Armenia toward Sivas because
of a conflict with their pagan ruler. They were pursued and caught, and
forty young men who refused to renounce Christianity were thrown into a
river and drowned. The mother of one youth succeeded in pulling her son
from the water and carried him to a Turkish bath, but she was too late to re-
vive him. On returning to the river she saw the bodies of the other youths
floating, each with a halo; the fortieth halo was unclaimed. Here the legend
diverges. In one version the guard's commander, observing the miracle of the
halos, renounced his pagan belief and sacrificed himself in the icy water, thus
acquiring the fortieth halo.
 D I S A S T E R AT C H R I S T M A S : 93

were observed by the enemy concealed on the crests of ridges, and

their mission was understood. It was better for the Turks to wait for
the convoy to return with loaded wagons and meanwhile to assemble
strong forces for the attack.
On the return trip the column was well guarded. Two platoons
formed the advance guard, and two others served as scouts on the
flanks. Fifty soldiers marched beside the wagons, and another fifty
followed as rear guard. As far as El Oghlou, where they camped, there
was no sign of the enemy.
On the last leg of the journey the convoy had moved a little more
than a mile toward the Ak Su when it was suddenly subjected to
machine-gun fire from an unseen enemy. Among the casualties was
one of the officers, Lieutenant Marshall, who was wounded but con-
tinued in command of his detachment. The troops returned fire in the
general direction of the concealed enemy. Four more of Ajemian's
comrades fell. The wounded lieutenant ordered the wagon train to
keep moving across the Ak Su and on to Marash. While a machine
gunner, already wounded in both knees, held off the enemy fire, Ser-
geant Krikor led his men on the run to the top of a hill from which
they could better protect the convoy, but the machine gunner and
eleven others were killed.
From the hilltop they could see the Turkish forces assembling on the
foothills north of the Ak Su. When this force, led by officers in the
uniform of the regular Turkish army, began to advance with drums
beating, the legion's machine gunners opened fire. Most of the enemy
was destroyed, and the remainder fled.
Fighting continued until evening. After dark the legionnaires buried
their dead, loaded the wounded on mules, and crossed the river. The
first mule lost its footing and was carried away downstream. By joining
hands to form a chain the troops were able to cross. It was very cold,
but the men were obliged to keep moving in their wet clothing.
In the distance Marash could be seen with fires blazing all over the
city. Without doubt there was fighting, so the convoy decided to take
shelter in buildings of a farm called Atilar. As they approached the
farm they were attacked by guerrillas, two of whom they captured. The
next morning the legionnaires found themselves encircled and under
heavy attack by Turkish infantry and cavalry. Fighting continued all
day, and twelve legionnaires were killed. One group led by Lieutenant
Marshall broke through the ring of Turkish fighters and attempted to
enter the city only to come under fire as they reached it, losing all of
their wagons.
94 : THE MARASH R E B E L L I O N

Those remaining at the farm waited for night, and under cover of
darkness an advance guard probed the entrances to the city. Attacked
at one point they withdrew and found a safe path to the Tash Khan
("Stone Warehouse") where they deposited their wounded and settled
their mules.12 Only a small fraction of the convoy's escort was ac-
counted for, and Captain Fontaine, the commander himself, was
among the missing. A week later, according to my diary, the sound of
fighting on the plain below the city could be heard. One of the French
officers at the seminary told me that they suspected Captain Fontaine
was fighting his way into the city. On 3 February a messenger reached
French headquarters with news that the captain and three hundred of
his men were on the outskirts of Marash. Later we learned that Cap-
tain Fontaine and the major part of his forces had taken possession of
a Turkish village where they defended themselves. In it they found
many of the captured French wagons with large supplies of food. Be-
fore leaving the village they destroyed what they could not carry and
fought their way back to the city.
Thus the expedition to Bel Pounar proved to be a disaster. Only a
few wagons reached the city safely. The Turks were so elated over
the capture of nearly thirty wagonloads of munitions and food that
they had the audacity, as Colonel Thibault phrases it, to send General
Querette an ultimatum demanding the surrender of all troops with
their arms and baggage within forty-eight hours.13
During the days in which Captain Fontaine's battalion of legion-
naires were fighting their way back from Bel Pounar, dramatic events
were taking place in Marash.
 CHAPTER FOURTEEN

THE MARASH REBELLION

On the morning of a i January General Que"rette took stock of his po-

sition. He was short of ammunition, but he expected that this defect
would be corrected when the large convoy which he had just sent to
Bel Pounar returned with its wagonloads of supplies. He knew that
another convoy already en route from Aintab would almost certainly
suffer an attack by Kuluj Ali's guerrillas, for Lieutenant Counarai
and Snyder had reported the engagement with the Spahis on the road
beyond Pazarjik, but he had not yet learned the convoy's fate. The
time had come, he decided, to break any links existing between the
local officials and the guerrilla forces outside the city.
The general summoned the officials and leaders of the Muslim com-
munity to his headquarters. Before they arrived he assembled his bat-
talion commanders, informed them of the tense situation, and ordered
that all troops be prepared for action immediately after their morning
meal. He assigned strategic points which were to be seized, but only
after he had given the signal.
At 11:25 A.M. news of the total destruction of the Aintab convoy
reached him. Half an hour later the Turkish notables arrived. One
can imagine the general's mood.
The Turkish representatives included the deputy mutasarrif Jevdet
Bey, Chief of Police Arslan Bey, the president of the municipal council
Haji Bey, Gendarme Commander Ismail Hakki, and the president of
the chamber of commerce and several of the Muslim religious leaders.
Among the latter were Shishman-oghlou Arif, Kojabash-oghlou Haji
Bey, and Rifat Hoja. According to the French intelligence agents,
each of these men was involved in agitation against the French. As
soon as the group had gathered, General Qudrette sent his messenger
96 : T H E M A R A S H R E B E L L I O N

to the battalion commanders, giving the signal for seizure of the

specified dominant posts.
General Querette then charged the Marash officials with complicity
in the attacks on the convoys. The Turks admitted no responsibility
and blamed these events on outlaws. They consented, however, that
the city should pay an indemnity to the French in the form of supplies.
The Turks complained again that the French had violated the terms
of the Mudros armistice, and that the Armenian troops were taking
advantage of their French uniforms to molest the Muslim population.
They were angered when the general announced that he would take
over the civil administration.
At the close of the conference Querette announced that six of the
group were to be detained, partly as hostages but also for further dis-
cussion of means for reconciliation, and that the others could leave.
Those detained included the deputy mutasarrif, the gendarme com-
mander, and the president of the municipality. They were placed
under guard in one of the rooms of the seminary, in the central com-
pound of the American Mission.
The Turkish notables had scarcely left the mission premises when
the sharp report of rifle fire was heard, followed immediately by firing
from every quarter of the city. The insurrection had begun.1
That morning I had been reminded that wheat was needed urgently*
by Ebenezer Orphanage, and that for several days our buyers had re-
fused to enter the market place, fearing disorder. I decided to purchase
the wheat myself, and set out for the arasa ("grain market") with Peter
Jernazian as interpreter. He was a New York jeweler who had re-
cently returned to the city of his birth for a visit. Dr. Crathern joined
us, for he wished to telegraph the American consul in Aleppo, com-
plaining that on the previous day he had been fired on, even while
waving the American flag. First we went to the telegraph office, and
then through the covered bazaar to the arasa, which we found closed.
The city was deserted except for groups of heavily armed Turks who
were all headed in one direction. On our return through the bazaar,
as we approached the Ulu Jami, or "Great Mosque," where one path
led to the citadel and the other to the American Mission, we noticed
that the armed Turkish civilians were taking the steep path to the
fortress. Jernazian, better informed than his American companions as
to the significance of the silent city and the movement of the armed
Muslims, suggested that we get back quickly to our own quarters. We
crossed the bridge over the Kanli De're-, then on to the German Hos-
pital where we greeted the French sentry who guarded the entrance,
 THE M A R A S H R E B E L L I O N : 97

and up the hill to the American Mission compound, just in time for
our noon meal. As we seated ourselves we heard a shot fired in the
region of the hospital. Within seconds rifle fire broke out over the en-
tire city. The siege of Marash, the first major battle in the Turkish
War of Independence, had begun.
It was apparent that the insurrection had been carefully planned.
Groups of armed men occupied houses at street intersections and shot
down French soldiers on the street and sentries at their posts, making
use of loopholes prepared in advance. Anyone seen moving was shot,
for it was only the Christians who knew nothing of the plan. In the
patrols used for policing the city composed of both Turkish gendarmes
and French soldiers, the gendarmes turned suddenly on their French
companions and killed them.
The orders given by the general for the seizure of certain strategic
positions could not be carried out, for the Turks themselves performed
that maneuver only half an hour before the French zero hour.
When the French cannon came into action, shelling certain houses
in the city, I photographed the shell bursts and the resulting conflagra-
tion from the upper balcony of the Wilson house. A quarter of a mile
below me was the German Hospital, where Dr. Wilson had been
operating since early morning. Mrs. Wilson was concerned for his
safety., so Paul Snyder volunteered to run down and bring back a
report. He also wanted to borrow a pair of field glasses. A French of-
ficer whom he met in the seminary compound expressed the opinion
that there was no danger! As Paul proceeded down the hill a soldier
sheltered in an adobe hut called to warn him, but Paul did not under-
stand the French and continued toward the hospital. Rather than walk
through a plowed field he took the longer route to the rear corner of
the hospital compound—a move which undoubtedly saved his life, for
he had unknowingly avoided the area covered by Turkish snipers. As
Snyder turned the corner and approached the front gate, a sniper fired
twice but missed as his target began to move fast. The gate stood open,
for the French sentry lay dead in such a position that it could not be
closed. Dashing through the opening Paul confronted seven Senegalese
soldiers raising their guns against the unexpected visitor.
The hospital had been under fire for an hour. Dr. Elliott and
Mrs. Power began moving their patients to the floor for greater pro-
tection from the stream of bullets fired from across the street. One of
the soldiers stationed at the hospital, ignoring the protests of Dr. El-
liott, placed a machine gun on the upper balcony, but the moment he
opened fire he was felled by a bullet which passed through his chest
98 : THE MARASH R E B E L L I O N

without striking a major artery. Snyder waited for darkness before

climbing over the rear wall to report to Mrs. Wilson that her husband
planned to remain at the hospital in view of the emergency need.
Additional information about the first shots fired in this insurrection
came from the head nurse at the hospital, Miss Osanna Maksudian.
At midday she left the hospital and had gone only a short distance
when she noted a Turkish gendarme escorting four Muslim women to
a house. When they were safely inside he turned and fired his rifle into
the air three times. Immediately fire replied from every quarter. This
story is consistent with that given by Hovsep Der Vartanian, who
states that it was the police commissioner himself who gave the signal.
Immediately after his return from the conference with General
Querette, he fired his rifle beside the house of Jeilan-oghlou in Bek-
toutiye" Street.2
The Reverend Materne Mure", a Belgian priest of the Franciscan
order who had served in Marash for thirty-five years records in his
account of the Marash war that immediately after hearing shots in the
street near the monastery (Bektoutiye" Street) he went to the window
which faced the citadel. There he saw "men falling into military for-
mation on the parade ground. It was the band of insurgents. On com-
mand of the gendarme sergeants they carried out some exercises, bran-
dishing their rifles; then like madmen they rushed into the city to
attack the gavurs." 3
The Turkish military historian gives the following account of the
beginning of hostilities.

On that day French soldiers had been stationed on the roads

and in front of the government buildings in readiness for battle.
Those [the Turkish representatives] returning from the assembly
were met on the streets by groups waiting for the meeting to end.
The crowd was excited. The rage which arose from General
Que'rette's arrest of the mutasarrif and the Marash notables—
capricious and without reason—reached a climax on ai January.
At this moment the sound of a rifle shot was heard. A bullet fired
by a Frenchman or an Armenian wounded a Turkish gendarme.
A large detachment of French troops marched in the direction of
the konak in order to occupy it. These were met by the fire of the
Turkish National forces who were in trenches at Kizilkirlik and
were repulsed and scattered. All over Marash the sound of rifle
fire was heard, and the French began raining down cannon and
machine-gun fire on every side.
At this moment Police Chief Arslan Bey, chairman of the Com-
 THE M A R A S H R E B E L L I O N : 99

mittee for the Defense of Rights, encouraged by orders of Mustafa

Kemal Pasha, made the following proclamation to the people of
Marash, "Comrades, war has begun. With the grace of God, in the
spirit of the Prophet, and with the self-sacrifice of believers, be
resigned to everything! Our country shall not be surrendered to
the foe as long as a single person survives. From us, perseverance;
from God, help!"
In this manner the national struggle began in Marash.4

Lieutenant Colonel Thibault records that after 22 January his abil-

ity to take action was very limited, for General Querette himself
directed all operations and gave orders directly to the commanders of
detachments, bypassing the colonel.5 Thibault had commanded a regi-
ment at Verdun, while the general had spent the war years in a Ger-
man prison camp. The strategy adopted by the general required each
detachment to enlarge its area of control by expelling the enemy from
the houses occupied nearby. The implication in Thibault's comment
is that he would have adopted a more aggressive policy had he been
given some freedom of action.
Actually the Turks themselves were following the same strategy
more successfully than the French. Thibault speaks of "the vigilance
and boldness of the rebels, who seemed to be animated by an ardent
offensive spirit." 6 They set fire to large sections of the city in order
to approach the buildings occupied by the foreign troops. In this
process most of the Christians remaining in their homes were mas-
sacred. Those who fled to their churches or to schools came under the
protection of the French troops quartered in those buildings, and of
the few Armenians possessing arms. It has been estimated that ap-
proximately three thousand Armenians were killed during the first few
days of the battle.7 Those who survived had gained the security of a
church, or the Beitshalom Orphanage, or the American Mission com-
pound. Later we learned of a few isolated groups who defended their
homes successfully until the end of the conflict.
From the moment the battle began, communications were cut be-
tween the commander and the posts at which his troops were estab-
lished in various parts of the city. Not a single item of equipment for
communication was available. The wireless sets belonging to the 4iath
Regiment had been retained in Beirut for the security of General
Gouraud. Not even carrier pigeons were available. Hence the only
means of communication was by courier, and a number of these died
performing their duties.
The telegraph wires to Aintab and Adana were cut, but not before
100 : THE M A R A S H REBELLION

General Que"rette had alerted Colonel Flye Sainte-Marie in Aintab,

and the latter had passed his message on to General Dufieux in
Adana.8 Other messages sent by courier failed to reach General Du-
fieux except for one received on 12 February when the whole affair was
over.
The Turkish historian describes their operations during the first
days of battle.
From the very first days fires began in the city. On the second
day of the war the French subjected the city to a more violent
form of fire. With artillery they set fire to and demolished the
Turkish houses in front of the barracks and those at Punarbashi.
Near this section some Armenians of the Tekke church were in a
position where they could fire with ease in several directions. For
this reason on 23 January the fighters under orders of Evliye
Efendi proceeded to annihilate those in the church.
The bloody fighting which continued in Marash never fright-
ened the Turks. A hero named Mulhush Nuri volunteered to
burn a house which the Armenians had turned into a fortress and
to annihilate those within it. While doing this he himself was
killed. The joining of the defense lines was achieved by the de-
struction of the Armenian house, which had been an important
obstacle between areas where the fighters of Marash were sta-
tioned.9

It was Saint George's Church, one of the Armenian Apostolic

churches which Evliye" Efendi had attacked. Fifty soldiers, including
twenty Armenian legionnaires, had been quartered there. Father Mure"
records the following.

The first massacre took place in the Christian quarter called

Sheker Dere", situated in a small valley behind the citadel held by
the Turks. The Armenian Church of Saint George and all houses
in that quarter were set on fire. One company of the French, aided
by courageous Armenians, was able to take refuge in another quar-
ter. The women, children, and old men—obliged to remain—fell
under the cutlass of the Turk. And to avoid the trouble by bury-
ing the dead, they dragged the bodies to a lime kiln which was in
operation and threw them in.10

Why did the troops abandon the helpless Armenians to their fate?
Were they quartered in the church merely for their comfort, or for the
 THE MARASH R E B E L L I O N : 1O1

purpose of protecting the community? Other churches were burned

under similar circumstances.
From our position in the mission compound we witnessed this con-
flagration but were ignorant of the fact that Saint George's had become
the funeral pyre of some thousand Armenians. Along with Saint
George's Church went the destruction of the Armenian houses in that
area. One resident who surrendered to the Turks and survived, Leah
Maraslian, told me of her experiences.
At noon on 21 January Leah, a young widow, left her classroom at
the Central School and walked home through the deserted streets. Her
thoughts were on her three-year-old son Edward. Two days earlier she
had asked him, "Edward, what would you like to have for Christmas?"
"A Daddy and a dogl"
The boy's father, a student at the Marash Theological Seminary, had
been drafted into the labor corps of the Turkish army early in the
Great War and marched off to Aintab where he was last seen. One
member of that detachment had reported that they were marched to
the bank of a river and lined up to be shot. Wounded, he fell, feigning
death, and thus escaped.
Leah noted that no shops were open. At home she sat down to lunch
with her father, an uncle, her sister Araxie, and Edward. While they
were eating, rifle fire broke out all over the city. Several neighbors ran
to Leah's house seeking greater security. The house was in the Bayizitli
quarter, which first came under heavy attack by Turkish insurgents led
by Evliye Efendi, and within a few days Leah, her family, and her
neighbors found themselves encircled. A Turkish neighbor called to
them, "Give yourselves up and we will protect you!" They had no
arms for defense and therefore no choice but to surrender. The Turks
ushered them down the street toward the Ulu Jami. Rounding a cor-
ner they found a large group of armed Turks in the area facing the
mosque. Suddenly there was firing, and Leah, dazed with disbelief, saw
her companions falling.
"Are they going to kill us?" cried little Edward. Leah recalls no fear,
only shock and disbelief. A gendarme pushed her toward the gate of
the mosque, urging, "Get inside—quicklyl"
Leah, her father, uncle, sister, and son were among the few who got
inside and survived the chete fire. Later, under escort of gendarmes,
they were transferred to the municipal prison at the konak, there to
remain for the duration of the siege. Each day a few more were pushed
through the prison door until the bare, windowless room could hold
no more. In this way approximately one hundred Armenians were
102 : THE MARASH REBELLION

saved by the local government, while others were slaughtered or

burned to death in their houses. Estimates of the number killed in this
manner vary from two to four thousand.
Those sheltered in the prison slept on the cold concrete floor with-
out bedding or cover. They were offered one meal each day but had
no utensils with which to eat. The food was dumped into their hands
or laps. An old Turkish guard in compassion offered Leah some onion
shells for use as dishes. For two days she ate nothing, having seen
mouse droppings in the food. Twice guards came to take away several
of the younger women. A corner of the prison yard represented the
toilet "facilities." The less one ate, the fewer the visits to this loath-
some corner. Leah lost forty pounds.
"Do you know what hunger is?" she asked me. "It is when you want
to grab a crust of bread from your dying childl"
No change of clothing, no opportunity to bathe, and lice multiplied.
Edward developed a fever and died.11
Why had the Turks protected this small group? Was it out of com-
passion on the part of a few? Later the mutasarrif claimed that the
insurgents had taken things into their own hands, and that the gov-
ernment was powerless to stop the fighting and the massacres but saved
as many as possible.
As the bands of irregular fighters continued their mopping-up opera-
tions, the Armenian families realized that this was a time for collective
security and made preparations to move to one of the churches in
their quarter, Saint Stephen's, or the Church of Asdvadsadsin.* Saint
George's was already in ashes. Neighbors cut holes in their garden
walls and dug trenches in order to move freely from house to house
without exposure. Abandoning their household possessions, they crept
under cover of darkness to one of the churches, or to a neighborhood
stronghold such as the house of Dr. Khatcher.
Each of the churches, and in fact every home, wass surrounded by
a high wall built of mud bricks. Our orphanages, too, were located
within walled compounds, hence each of these became a place of
refuge. Since Beitshalom Boys' Orphanage was located on a hill domi-
nating the eastern quarters of the city, the French commander had
quartered three sections of machine-gunners there—in all some eighty
soldiers of the 412th Regiment. When the fighting ended three weeks

* Sourp Asdvadsadzin, or "Holy Mother of God," is known to scholars as the

Church of the Pancreator. Hereafter it will be designated the Church of
Asdvadsadzin.
 T H E M A R A S H R E B E L L I O N : 10g

later, survivors of the Christian population were found in only four

such compounds. All others had been killed or had fled to Islahiye".
The story of the Marash battle thus becomes the separate stories of
the various strongholds as told by individual survivors. With rare ex-
ceptions those who remained to defend their homes did not live to
recount their experiences.
 CHAPTERFIFTEEN

EVENTS IN THE MISSION COMPOUND

The Franciscan order of Terre Sainte had established churches in a

number of the villages near Marash which were populated almost
exclusively by Armenians. The village priests were supported by the
mother church in the city and considered themselves prote'ge's of the
Belgian father Materne Mure", who resided in the monastery. He tells
of the fate of the priests and their flocks in the villages.
The columns of smoke and the sinister light from the first con-
flagration [Saint George's Church] gave notice to the Turks of the
villages where our Fathers lived that the Holy War had begun.
It was the twenty-third of January. The Turks, giving free rein
to the sentiments dictated by their beliefs, lashed out against our
chapels, our hospices, and against the Christians who had gathered
together at the foot of the altar, praying and listening to the last
words of comfort from their pastors—our unfortunate brothers!
Three of them were killed by revolver shot; two others were
burned alive, their flocks perishing with them in the flames. In a
short time our missions at Yenije-Kale", Don-Kale", and at Moujouk-
Derese1 were destroyed. The dead in our villages numbered about
a thousand.1
Sergeant Krikor Ajemian wrote in his diary on 19 January, "The
Armenians of Fundijak were massacred, and a few survivors took
refuge in the school buildings next to the Church of Asdvadsadsin [in
Marash]. They are cooking in large pots." 2 Fundijak had a population
of about fifteen hundred.
A Boston paper dated 5 June 1920 reported information sent by
Dr. Haroutune Der Ghazarian, surgeon in the German Hospital of
 EVENTS IN THE MISSION C O M P O U N D : 105

Marash: "The first village to be attacked was Jamstel, six being killed,
while two hundred and fifty fled."3
Christians living near Zeitun fled to that town, whose Armenian
population had such a reputation for daring and readiness to fight
that the Turks hesitated to attack them. For the moment they were
spared.
Once the insurrection had started, few individuals in the city could
know more than what happened in his immediate vicinity, for there
was no city-wide system of communication. Refugees who reached our
compound brought news of the areas from which they escaped. We in
the walled enclosures of the American Mission were fortunate in
having contact with the French commander and his staff. Major Roze
des Ordons, commander of the garrison before the arrival of General
Que"rette, had been a frequent visitor at the Wilson home. He had
been our guest also at the Christmas dinner in the hospital, hence it
was possible for even the youngest members of the NER—Paul and my-
self—to chat with the officers on duty in the seminary headquarters.
From them we learned some of the news which came from their posts
in the city.
On the afternoon the fighting began, 21 January, I was with Major
Roze des Ordons in the seminary when a Turk entered the room.
"Look!" said the Major, "there is the governor of Marash." It was
Jevdet Bey, the deputy mutasarrif and one of the hostages held by the
general. It seemed that he had some freedom of movement in the semi-
nary building. After three days the general released him, hoping that
he could arrange a cease-fire, but Jevdet Bey telephoned from the
konak that matters had gone far beyond his control, and unhappily
he could do nothing. In a report to Staff Colonel Salaheddin, com-
mander of the Turkish Third Army Corps, Jevdet Bey complained
that during his imprisonment he had been left to sleep on dry boards
with no mattress.
Artillery and machine-gun fire woke me the next morning. A few
hundred yards west of the Girls' College, French cannon were shelling
forces in the hills north of our compound—our favorite hunting
ground for partridge. Now the figures seen moving on the snow-
covered hills were birds of a different feather! The Turkish military
historian reports this engagement as the attack by the Bertiz National-
ist Forces. This official account reveals the fact that from the beginning
the fighting was not merely a local rebellion undertaken by the Turks
of Marash but represented the opening of the Nationalist movement,
the goal of which was to drive the French armies from Anatolia. Men-
106 : T H E M A R A S H R E B E L L I O N

tion is made of the Marash leaders Dr. Mustafa and his brother Lutfi,
a pharmacist accompanying the commander of the Bertiz detachment.4
This attack drove the French from their outposts in the hills
north of Marash and from Merjimek Tepe" ("Lentil Hill") on the
western side. The Turkish account notes the capture of the French
troops on this hill, but two years later, when an agreement for the
exchange of prisoners was made, no French soldiers were yielded. The
Turkish attack could not reach the barracks or the mission compound
in the face of intense machine-gun fire, but the French transport
animals quartered outside the walls suffered heavily. The Turks had
effectively closed the roads to the north.5
Colonel Thibault makes no mention of the loss of the important
hill which dominated the city from the west. It is probable that the
French commander considered it impractical to station troops there
during the severe winter weather. Three weeks later French forces
were to battle for possession of this strategic position—known to the
Armenians as Saint Toros Hill—in weather even more severe than
that of 22 January.
From the balcony of my residence we sighted a body of armed men
moving in formation on the crest of a hill east of the city above the
German Farm. Undoubtedly it was the vineyard south of the Dedi
Pasha house mentioned in the Turkish account. I reported our ob-
servation to the French headquarters. Immediately General Que"rette,
Lieutenant Colonel Thibault, and three other officers came with me
to the balcony to identify the position, for it dominated the eastern
flank of their headquarters, and no French troops had been stationed
there. The general ordered a mountain gun to be set up in the shelter
of the seminary wall. The small mountain gun arrived on muleback,
and while Dr. Crathern, Paul, and I stood by, excited by this develop-
ment, the first shot was fired. The chete disappeared when the shell
sailed over their heads. After nine more shots the general, who per-
sonally directed the whole operation, decided that the enemy had
been destroyed.6 Three weeks later Paul and I inspected the position
and found carefully prepared trenches in which the Nationalist troops
had taken shelter.
From that position our compound was subjected to machine-gun fire
each time the French cannon went into action in front of the seminary,
for both the Wilson and Lyman houses were in the direct line of
fire.
Mrs. Wilson's concern over the safety of her husband ended when
he returned that night, having climbed over the rear wall of the
 EVENTS IN THE MISSION C O M P O U N D : 107

hospital compound. He announced that he had decided to convert

the Children's Hospital, located next to the seminary in the central
mission compound, into an emergency hospital for the wounded and
to do his surgery there. This arrangement would permit him to work
within one hundred yards of his home. After dinner he prepared a
list of surgical equipment and supplies and asked me to take this to
the hospital and send the supplies back with a soldier who would
accompany me. The implication that I should remain at the hospital
was confirmed when Dr. Wilson added that I could be of help to the
two American ladies there. As we left the security of the mission com-
pound to cross no man's land, my escort and I were equally nervous,
especially after he fell with a great clatter of helmet and rifle on the
wet stones. Since Snyder's narrow escape had shown that the gate to the
hospital compound was covered by snipers, we explored the rear wall
and found it possible to enter by climbing an overhanging tree and
dropping inside. We landed in the German missionary graveyard, en-
countering no challenge from the sentries. We found ten Senegalese
soldiers comfortably sheltered inside the hospital. The French corporal
who had accompanied me warned them that if we could enter so
easily, so could their enemies. From that time we were challenged on
entering by way of the wall.
The head nurse escorted me to the operating room to collect the
surgical supplies. We carried only a candle, but three shots, meant for
us, rang out from across the street. The nurse located the needed
articles in the dark, and I assisted the corporal over the wall with his
bundle. It was already late. A mattress had been placed on the floor
for me. It was obvious that the two ladies had no problems requiring
my help. After all, they had been running the hospital for months.7
The next morning I learned that Miss Ellen Blakely had been seen
at the window of a house facing the hospital, directly across Govern-
ment Avenue. Miss Blakely and Inez Lied of the American Mission
had been visiting friends when the fighting began and were among
those who had been reported missing. From a window old Melkon, the
orderly, pointed out this house as well as a square blockhouse
built of mud brick from which snipers fired at the hospital. It was
they who had killed the French sentry and an Armenian deacon who
had gone into the street to bring in his cow. His body still lay there.
I sketched the houses in that area from Melkon's window, noting the
position of Miss Blakely and that of the snipers. A few hours later
Melkon was killed at that window.
A sharp exchange of fire began behind the hospital. Melkon took
1O8 : THE MARASH R E B E L L I O N

me to a third-floor window and pointed out a group of Turkish houses

on the western edge of the plowed field. The occupants were firing on
the French in the Beula Orphanage opposite, below the seminary. As
we watched, the French launched rifle grenades through the windows
of the Turkish houses, and firing ceased.
I crossed the courtyard to the pharmacy. Near the gate lay the body
of the sentry, for his comrades refused to bury him without orders
from their commander. Unconsciously seeking an excuse to escape
from this place, where there seemed to be no need for me, I found
it urgent to get a burial permit for this poor soldier and to organize
an expedition to rescue Miss Blakely and Miss Lied. The danger of
crossing no man's land seemed lessened, thanks to the rifle grenades
launched into the Turkish position a little earlier.
I drew several shots making my two hundred twenty-yard dash to
the shelter of the mission compound's stone wall. The French officers
took my sketch showing Miss Blakely's location and that of the snipers.
Soon high-explosive shells struck the blockhouse.
Since there was no indication of an early end to the fighting and
considerable danger of an extension of fire and massacre, Paul and I
decided to go after Miss Blakely and Miss Lied as soon as it became
dark. Moreover, Dr. Wilson needed more supplies from the hospital,
and Dr. Elliott needed tinned milk. Major Roze des Ordons agreed to
provide an Algerian soldier as escort to answer any challenge from
French sentries. It was evident that the night would never become
dark while the city was on fire, but we set out with two sacks full of
condensed milk and entered the hospital by way of the tree over the
wall. Dr. Elliott and Mrs. Power seemed genuinely glad to see us. They
had been disturbed by the shelling of the blockhouse so near the
hospital and over the death of Melkon who had been curious to ob-
serve what damage had been done and had looked out of the window.
The snipers had not been annihilated by the high-explosive shells, and
he was the third casualty caused by snipers across the street.
Luther Orchanian, the pharmacist's assistant, led us through a hole
in the wall to the home of Levon Yenovkian next-door. He and his
family had moved to the basement and had barricaded all doors and
windows. We knocked lightly on his cellar door, but he feared
treachery and would not open until convinced of our identity and
mission. Finally he admitted us, placed a candle on the floor, and pre-
pared a map showing the course we should follow and which areas
must be crossed swiftly and quietly.
 E V E N T S I N T H E M I S S I O N C O M P O U N D : 1OQ

We passed down a narrow alley, then quickly across the main street
—the most dangerous area—to the house of Stepan the dyer. From
there we went through passages from cellar to cellar, through a French
first-aid post to the corner house opposite the snipers' post. There we
found the two American ladies comfortable among their Armenian
friends, but more than willing to return to the college. Miss Blakely
had misgivings about the dangers involved, but nevertheless returned
with us to the hospital.
We picked up Dr. Wilson's surgical supplies, then boosted the
ladies over the wall and into the arms of the Algerian escort while a
dog barked furiously, notifying the Turks in the neighborhood that
something unusual was taking place; but we encountered no fire.
Miss Blakely reported that the Reverend Asadour Solakian, pastor
of the Third Evangelical Church, was among those who had taken
refuge in the quarter we had just visited. He had been caught away
from home at the outbreak of rebellion, and was greatly concerned
about his wife and two children.8
Mr. Lyman was worried by the fact that the mission buildings had
become an objective for attack by the Turks, because the French had
taken the Theological Seminary for their headquarters. It was ap-
parent that the most vulnerable point was the eastern wall of the
compound in which the Wilson and Lyman houses stood. Below this
was a Turkish quarter, lying in a ravine. Lyman considered it ad-
visable to identify our houses as American, rather than French, by
hoisting the Stars and Stripes. He invited me to help, and together
we nailed the flag to a pole, climbed to the roof, and began nailing the
pole to a dormer window. Immediately Turkish bullets struck the
tiles around us, scattering fragments in our faces; but we hammered
away, bending the nails in our haste, until the flag was secure. Mr.
Lyman recalled the uproar caused by Captain Andre's raising of the
French flag on the citadel tower, but how could we know that the
insurrection in Marash was the first step of a national movement to
oust all foreign powers?
Later that afternoon I discovered that again I was being studied in
the sights of a Turkish rifle. I stood beside a French sentry on the
northern side of the Lyman house, looking towards the hills where
the chete must have been concealed but seeing none. Suddenly I was
startled by the zing of a bullet as it ricocheted off a rock directly in
front of me. Without taking a step I picked up the hot bullet. The
sharpshooter had aimed a trifle too low. I took my souvenir into the
11O : THE MARASH REBELLION

house to brag about my narrow escape, then I returned to join the

sentry but found him being carried away on a stretcher. The next
bullet had passed through his knee.
That afternoon the French, for the sake of better defense, decided
to destroy an Armenian quarter which was threatened by the Turks.
At dusk Lieutenant Counarai led the Armenians from that area to
the college yard then set fire to the vacated houses. The new refugees,
one hundred fifty of them, raised the total in the college compound to
about one thousand, and these had to be fed.9 The French took no
responsibility for this task other than to supply a horse or mule to
be slaughtered each day. In fact, the French had no food for these
animals which had been brought into the compound for safety, for
those left outside were being shot by the Turks. Inside the compound
they chewed the bark off the trees and slowly starved. From minarets
Turkish snipers fired into the compound, wounding both the animals
and the crowded refugees.
On the sixth day of fighting, Paul and I were approached by several
men in the college compound. When Saint George's Church was
burned, they had been among the few who succeeded in reaching the
college, while two hundred others were still defending themselves in
the house of Dr. Khatcher Keshishian. Was it not possible, they asked,
for the French to send soldiers at night to escort these refugees to the
barracks?
"Why don't you ask the commander?" we replied.
"He cares nothing for what we say—we are Armenians! But if you
speak, he will listen."
Snyder and I presented the problem to Major Roze des Ordons,
explaining that Dr. Khatcher's house lay only a few hundred yards
across the ravine below the barracks. After some hesitation the major
promised to consider the matter. Later in the evening he gave his
decision, "I can give you four men at midnight." We were surprised at
the implication that we should lead his men and suggested that he
send an officer.
"Impossible! We cannot spare any more," he exclaimed. We were
not aware of the losses that the French had already suffered: Lieuten-
ant Finch on the Aintab road, Second Lieutenant Boissy at Beitsha-
lom, Major Marty at the Church of the Forty Sainted Youths, and
Lieutenant Froideval at the Franciscan monastery.
Any attempt at rescue without a guide who knew the house and its
approaches would have been senseless, and in order to find one I went
to the basement of the Lyman house, where each evening a group of
 EVENTS IN THE MISSION C O M P O U N D : 111

Armenian men gathered. I found them seated on the floor around a

charcoal brazier and explained the situation, stating my own inten-
tion of going on this mission. Without hesitation one of the men
stated that he knew the area and was willing to serve as guide if he
could be given a rifle. There was a murmur of astonishment, for the
volunteer was a Turk known in the Muslim community as Patlak Zade1
Mohammed Efendi. He was one of the few Marash Turks who had
dared to become a Christian and had been baptized with the name of
the martyr Stephen. Knowing that his fellow Muslims considered him
a traitor, he had come to Mr. Lyman for protection when the fighting
began.
One of the Armenians also agreed to join us. I had rifles for the two
men, and my own Colt-gS. Unfortunately Dr. Wilson learned about
the expedition and spoke to me sharply, "As director of this outfit I
forbid you to go on this errand! What would happen to our work here
in Marash if the Turks should find an American engaged in combat?
Or if they find your body?"
I was not convinced whether my duty lay in obedience to my direc-
tor or in helping to save the two hundred Armenians, and so I went
looking for Mr. Lyman. On the way to the college I stopped at the
emergency hospital. In the operating room a nurse was preparing for
three operations. On the table lay a girl of striking beauty, her knee
shattered by a bullet. In a corner of the room was a little girl with
two bullet wounds. And on a stretcher lay a pregnant woman who
had been knifed in the abdomen. "Where were you when this hap-
pened?" I asked the older girl. Her name was Mariam Haydostian.
"I was in Dr. Khatcher's house!" At once I knew that our mission
was already too late. Although she was in great pain, the girl told me
how that afternoon the armed defenders of the house had used their
last cartridges. The Turks, noticing that their firing had ceased, called
to them to surrender, "We will not harm you. Our war is against the
French, not the Armenians. Give up your arms and we will protect
you." The Armenians expected nothing but treachery, but what choice
had they? They handed over their rifles and were ordered to leave the
house. As the men stepped outside their hands were tied and they were
led away and shot.
"Then," sobbed Mariam, "the Turks came into the house with
knives and axes to kill the women and children!" There is no need
to describe the shambles that followed. Only four escaped. Mariam
jumped through a window and was shot as she ran toward the ravine,
but in the darkness she crawled up to the French trenches where
118 I THE M A R A S H REBELLION

Armenian legionnaires found her. The little girl had been hit twice
as she ran after Mariam, once in the hand, the other bullet passing
through the flesh of her thigh.
"And this woman on the stretcher—was she too in Dr. Khatcher's
house?" I asked.
"Yes. She is the wife of Asadour Solakian, the pastor. She was there
with her two children and her sister." When the Turks came in to
slaughter, she had taken the baby in her arms while her sister took
the other child, and they tried to escape through the doorway. Mrs.
Solakian was stabbed repeatedly as she pushed through the crowd,
but she continued to run even after a bullet struck her. At the ravine
she fell in the stream and lay there. A Turk found her, saw that she
was dying, but stooped to slay the child in her arms. Her cries reached
the legionnaires in the trench at the crest of the ravine, and in the
darkness they crept down and carried her to the hospital. Her sister
and the five-year-old child were never seen again.
Dr. Wilson's examination of Mrs. Solakian revealed seven knife
wounds, one of which had cut into her liver. A single fragmented
bullet had come out in three different places. Her baby was stillborn
that night. Dr. Wilson considered it best to delay surgery until
morning.
Meanwhile Paul and I went down to the quarter below the German
Hospital to search for her husband, for Miss Blakely had reported
seeing him in one of the houses there. When we located him he sensed
immediately that we brought bad news. We told him merely that his
wife was wounded and that we had come to take him to her.
"And where are my children?" he demanded, almost hysterically.
Fortunately we did not know that both had been slain, but he ap-
praised our silence accurately. I have never seen a man so crazed with
grief. Others who knew him as their composed pastor now scarcely
recognized him.
The next morning Dr. Wilson did all that he could to patch up
Mrs. Solakian's knife wounds. Snyder gave the anesthetic, and I was
assigned some minor duties in the operating room. The patient died
that afternoon. Some of Solakian's congregation who had taken refuge
in the college compound prepared a grave on the slope in front of
the seminary building, only a few feet from the emplacement for a
75 mm. cannon. The burial was necessarily held in complete darkness.
The pastor was a broken man—his wife, two lovely children, and an
unborn child had all been destroyed in one tragedy, along with some
two hundred others who perished without burial services.10
 CHAPTER SIXTEEN

THE SHEIKH'S QUARTER

On the morning of 23 January Dr. Crathern and Mrs. Wilson surveyed

the city through field glasses. "I am worried about Frances Buckley,"
said Mrs. Wilson, "alone with four hundred boys! Do they have
enough food? And the Rescue Home—what has become of those
seventy-eight women with their babies?" While studying the city from
her balcony, Mrs. Wilson noticed a commotion in the area midway
between her and Beitshalom Orphanage called the Sheikh's Quarter.
Cries of "Aman! Aman!" could be heard—the cry of distress, a cry for
mercy. Massacre had begun in that quarter. Later we learned from one
of those who had escaped, a teacher in the orphanage, what had hap-
pened that morning. What we ourselves witnessed at close range
was the arrival of a few survivors behind the walls of Ebenezer
Orphanage, located only one or two hundred yards from us, across a
ravine in which were Turkish homes.
I joined a group of Armenians watching the drama. No one could
approach the orphanage gate, nor could it be opened, for it was
exposed to the fire of marksmen in the ravine. Armenians beside me,
unaware of this danger, called to the fugitives sheltered behind the
orphanage, "Come over to us!" As they came, the Turks opened fire.
Already exhausted by their long run, they came stumbling over the
exposed space, bullets striking all around them. The first two had a
good start before the Turks noticed them, and they got across safely.
Next came an old man who tried to dodge the bullets by stooping
over. He stumbled repeatedly and obviously was wounded, but he too
reached safety. Then followed an old woman and a boy, brother of
one who had already crossed safely. Hit in the leg, the boy dropped
into a ditch. The woman, halfway across, screamed as the bullets
114 : ™E M A R A S H R E B E L L I O N

struck the hillside around her then stopped, faced the marksmen, and
cried to them, "Stop it!" We kept yelling frantically for her to hurry
on. She reached the shelter of our wall, grazed by several bullets, and
collapsed exhausted.
The wounded boy waved a rag from the ditch, but no one dared
go to him. Finally he crawled unseen to the protection of the wall of
Ebenezer and knocked on the rear gate, but those inside could not
cross the exposed courtyard to open it. After lying against the wall
all day, his opportunity came. General Que'rette and Lieutenant
Colonel Thibault strode into our yard, leading half-a-dozen Senegalese
soldiers with several sacks of grenades. They climbed over the wall of
Mrs. Wilson's chicken yard to a position on the edge of the ravine
and began raining grenades on the Turkish positions, so close that
stones were hurled up on the balcony where I stood. During this at-
tack I saw that the wounded lad was taking advantage of the diversion,
for he was hopping on one leg along the orphanage wall to the lower
gate. Unfortunately it was locked. I rolled up an old newspaper to
form a megaphone and yelled across to the orphanage, calling for
Frere Alexis, the director. He answered me at once. "Kapuyu ag! Open
the gate!" I called. He ran to open the gate just in time to let the boy
in, but not before he came under fire again. After dark he was brought
to the emergency hospital, but a few days later he died of tetanus.
That same night one hundred twenty other Armenians reached
Ebenezer, all of them from the Sheikh's Quarter which had come
under attack of the chete. One of the five fugitives who had run the
gauntlet of fire above the ravine was a teacher at Beitshalom Orphan-
age. When the fighting began on 21 January he had been visiting in
the quarter attacked by the Turks. Only a few of the Armenians had
rifles, he said, and after the second day they were obliged to withdraw
as the chete pressed the attack. With his own eyes he had seen women
and children being slain with knives.1

Dicran Berberian's Story

Among the fortunate six thousand Marash Armenians exempted from
deportation in 1915 were the members of the Berberian family. In
general the Turkish officials did not deport physicians or artisans
needed for community services, while the intellectuals, especially those
capable of leadership, were deported. Abraham Hoja, head of the
 THE S H E I K H ' S Q U A R T E R : 115

family, was a prominent teacher. It seems probable that the American

or German missionaries had interceded on his behalf, for the family
moved with their five children to the security of the American Mission
compound. Miss Salmond employed the mother, Shamiram Hanum, as
matron of her Beula Girls' Orphanage.
When British forces occupied Marash at the close of the Great War,
the Berberian family returned to their own house. On two sides they
had Turkish neighbors, with whom they were on good terms. The
eldest son, seventeen-year-old Dicran, rented a shop in the Bedesten, or
"Covered Market," and began a career as grocer. On the morning of 21
January he went with his brother Haroutune to the market despite
the entreaties of his mother who understood the tense situation. Dicran
promised to return promptly if the shops were closed. Although none
of the stores had opened, and few customers had dared to come out,
the brothers opened their shuttered windows and prepared for busi-
ness. Two soldiers passed and warned them that it was not safe to be
in the streets. General Que"rette's order that all troops be prepared for
action had already been given. The brothers decided to go home by way
of the Franciscan monastery, for they were acquainted with one of the
French officers stationed there. Lieutenant van Coppanole gave them
the same advice, "Go on home! The situation is critical." But the path-
way home led them through the Sheikh's Quarter and past the house
of their uncle Hagop Shamlian the tanner, and they were invited to
stay for lunch. The aroma of freshly baked bread helped them forget
the promise made to their mother. Lunch was just over when they
heard a rifle shot, followed by a fusillade. It was already too late to
go home, and too late ever to see their parents, sisters, and little
brother. Their uncle's house had been built with unbaked bricks of
mud and straw, scarcely thick enough to stop a bullet, and the upper
bedrooms were constructed of wood; but in the basement there was a
large bath, and in this all nine of them took refuge.
Some seven hundred Armenians lived in the Sheikh's Quarter. An
organization for defense had already been formed, and at once the
members set to work breaking holes in walls and digging trenches
across the narrow alleys in order to communicate with each other.
Those having arms took the posts assigned to them by the district
leaders. Four soldiers had fallen in the streets with the first shots fired.
An Armenian dragged the wounded men into his house and sent word
to Dr. Vartan Poladian, who lived in that quarter. Just before the
call came for his aid to the wounded soldiers, his wife Leah had
ventured from the safety of her basement to bring cushions from the
I l 6 : THE MARASH REBELLION

living room above and was killed by a bullet from the citadel. In view
of this the doctor did not wish to leave his motherless children alone,
especially his two lovely daughters, one of whom Dicran was later to
marry. However, he agreed to attend the wounded if they could be
brought to him. Dicran and four companions decided to do this, but
the moment they entered the street they came under fire and had to
wait for darkness.
Within a few days the defenders had used up nearly all their am-
munition. Although everyone believed that the French would even-
tually dominate the situation, no one knew how soon peace would be
restored. The majority wished to take refuge in the monastery, but
some were unwilling to abandon their homes to be pillaged and
burned. Dicran was commissioned to write a letter to his friend Lieu-
tenant van Coppanole, asking for troops to defend them. A nine-year-
old boy volunteered to carry the letter by night to the monastery and
returned safely with the reply: the lieutenant could spare no troops!
On the eighth day of fighting Dicran was asked to write another
letter telling the officer that they could hold out no longer and were
coming to the monastery that very night. The brave boy risked his life
a second time to carry this message and returned with the reply that
the French would cover their move with fire. At eight o'clock the
French attacked the Turkish positions in that quarter with machine-
gun fire while the seven hundred Armenians hurried down the slope
of the Kanli Dere1, waded across the ice-cold stream, and climbed the
steep hill to the monastery. Finally they came to the exposed plaza and
raced across it to the gate which stood open for them.
The Franciscans, Father Mur£ among them, assigned them a portion
of the corridor in the school building. The number of refugees housed
in the compound had by this time reached nearly three thousand, and
more were still to come. Meanwhile Dicran and his brother knew
nothing of the fate of their parents, their two younger sisters, and
five-year-old Emmanuel.
Several months after the figting was over, Dicran was assigned to
assist the pharmacist at the German Hospital, at that time filled with
Turkish wounded. He quickly learned his duties and spent his spare
time studying the properties of drugs. After three months of employ-
ment his chief was hospitalized with typhoid fever, and Dicran was
left alone to operate the pharmacy for no graduate pharmacist was to
be found in the city.
One day a Turk came with a prescription for quinine capsules.
Dicran recognized him as a next-door neighbor from the Divanli
 THE S H E I K H ' S Q U A R T E R : 117

Quarter. After exchanging greetings, Dicran asked him, "Do you know
what happened to my parents? Did they remain at home during the
fighting?"
"They stayed in their house for three or four days," replied the
Turk, "then they went with other Armenians to a house near the
cemetery. We besieged the place and threatened to burn it if they did
not surrender, but we were afraid the house next to it—a Muslim's
home—would also burn."
"And then?" asked Dicran.
"We finally broke in. A group of people—fifty or more—were hud-
dled together in one room. Your father asked permission to read from
a book and to pray before surrendering. We let him do so. He stood
up, read and prayed, and then we slaughtered them all—men, women,
and children. We didn't waste any bullets on them! We killed them
with axes and picks."
"I don't believe you! You were our neighbor!" replied Dicran.
"You don't believe me? Whose watch is this?" He pulled a watch
from his pocket and held it up. Dicran recognized it as his father's.
"Your father also had a small Browning automatic, with six cartridges.
None of them had been fired!" said the Turk, astonished that Abraham
Hoja had made no attempt to defend himself.
"What did you do with the bodies?"
"We dumped them all in a ditch and covered them."
Greatly disturbed, Dicran turned away to fill the prescription. As he
weighed the quinine the thought came to him that he might mix a
little arsenious oxide with the quinine. It would be very simple. Then
came the picture of his father refusing to use his Browning even in
self-defense. "My father would never take revenge even against those
who slaughtered helpless women and children," he said to himself, and
he put the bottle of arsenious oxide back among the dangerous drugs.2

The German Farm and the Kouyoujak Quarter

Although the British commander General Crawford had warned the
Armenian leaders that between twenty and thirty thousand Turkish
irregulars were within striking distance of Marash,3 the Turkish mili-
tary historian places the number at about one-tenth of these figures.
Five or six detachments from Pazarjik, Albustan, Bertiz, and Marash
were posted on the roads leading to Marash, while in the city were
1 1 8 : THE M A R A S H R E B E L L I O N

between fifteen hundred and two thousand armed fighters.4 In order to

augment the fighting force, the authorities liberated the criminals held
in the Marash prison, explained the situation to them and the need for
their services, and gave them weapons.5
During the night of 24 January Turkish cavalry from Albustan at-
tacked the French positions at the barracks, but were driven off by
machine-gun fire.
With their batteries situated on the dominant ridges of Marash,
the French in the vicinity of the barracks kept the city and the
National forces under fire, causing serious losses to our fighting
men. The Nationalist forces were gradually strengthened. The
Representative Committee [in Ankara] was kept informed of the
situation, and contact was maintained with Mustafa Kemal. Dr.
Mustafa in particular performed this duty successfully through
the headquarters he had established in the place called Janjak,
west of Marash.6
On 25 January another detachment of four hundred men from
Pazarjik were posted in the region of the Arabkirli Farm east of
Marash, coming under the command of Captain Kuluj Ali. At the
German Farm in this area was a detachment of eighty [French]
troops. Attacked strenuously from several directions, the farm
changed hands and the French who survived were taken as pris-
oners of war. Captain Kuluj Ali pushed back all of the French and
Armenian detachments in the eastern section of the city, taking
some prisoners, and occupied the German Orphanage and the
Kouyoujak Quarter. In this area were stone houses belonging to
the wealthy Armenians which had been fortified by the French.
Consequently these houses were cleaned up.7
Actually the German Orphanage, Beitshalom, was never taken, al-
though it was attacked repeatedly. After the fighting was terminated we
found the farm buildings burned to the ground.
Captain Kuluj Ali's men had indeed destroyed the beautiful stone
houses of the Kouyoujak Quarter. These were the homes of the well-to-
do merchants, among whom the Kherlakians were prominent. When
the chete attacked the Kouyoujak Quarter they were unable to break
through the defense organized by Setrak Kherlakian and so adopted
their favorite alternative. They set fire to Turkish buildings when the
wind was favorable and succeeded in destroying the entire section.
 THE S H E I K H S Q U A R T E R : 1 ig

Raphael Kherlakian has given a vivid account of the events which

followed.
When the quarter in which we lived was burned, two thousand
Armenians followed us by night to the house of my father-in-law
[Hovsep Kherlakian] on the hill known as "the Boulgourjian's
"—a house which became famous for its heroic resistance. It was a
house of three floors, with an enclosed courtyard. Two thousand
Armenians took refuge there, all on the lower floor, for nearly a
month! No one dared go to the upper floors for provisions—not
even for a moment in the night—so intense was the Turkish fusil-
lade. Four Armenians fell under their fire, one of them my aunt,
for having gone upstairs.
Within a few days the food was exhausted. There was nothing
left to feed the two thousand! The last cat and the last horse had
been eaten. There was an icy wind, and snow claimed its victims.
Dysentery had started. Several assaults on the house by thousands
of chete were repulsed by the ten Armenians with rifles—the only
fighters—commanded by Setrak, my cousin.
The French soldiers quartered in the First Protestant Church
next door, not familiar with this kind of war, fell without firing a
shot. Among those poor young men some, gravely wounded, were
cared for in their last moments by my poor wife, who took the
place of their mothers in France. Some died of gangrene, for there
was neither a doctor nor any medication.8
 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

DEVASTATION AND MASSACRE

Koulaghi Kourtlou and Sheker Dere

From Saint Stephen's Church on 20 January a procession of mourners
went to the cemetery carrying on a bier the body of an Armenian
legionnaire who had been killed by a sniper firing from the minaret of
a mosque. The Turkish authorities had made no move to find the
culprit, nor did the French commander take any steps to force an in-
vestigation. This caused great resentment among the Armenians, who
felt that the Turks were testing the ability of the French to punish such
an incident.
On his return from the cemetery Khatchig Der Vartanian, who had
been one of the pall bearers, deposited the wooden framework on which
the body had been carried in the courtyard of Saint Stephen's Church,
not knowing that it would soon serve for the escape of his sister
Makrouhi—bride of a few months—and his mother. Aware of the ten-
sion in the city, Khatchig urged his sister to move to his home near the
Church of the Forty Sainted Youths where a large detachment of
Senegalese troops was quartered and where her brother Yervant served
as interpreter to the commander, Major Corneloup. Disregarding his
advice, Makrouhi was busy the next morning assisting her mother-in-
law in the preparation of a feast for her relatives and those of her
husband, Arsen Der Ohannesian, when shortly after the noon hour
the unusual quiet of the quarter was shattered by a fusillade of gun
fire. People caught in the streets were screaming and running for
shelter, many to the nearby Church of Saint Stephen. Arsen took his
bride and his mother across to the church compound without stopping
to carry food or bedding. That evening hundreds of Armenians from
the Bektoutiye Quarter came to the church. They barricaded the doors
 DEVASTATION AND MASSACRE : 121

and stretched out to sleep on the floor, using the church carpets for
mattresses. Only a few steps away there was food in abundance, the
banquet prepared for the family gathering, but no one dared move
outside the door.
A week passed. The Turks had begun a systematic campaign to clear
the quarter of Armenians, burning their homes and killing the in-
habitants. Finally they set fire to a group of houses close to the church,
and a few survivors escaped to Saint Stephen's. They were shocked and
exhausted but cried to those already in the church, "Runl Run! They
will burn you alive if you stay here!"
This created a panic among the five or six hundred refugees. It had
become dark. The great door was opened and many ran into the yard,
but to open the main gate would be suicide, for across the street
snipers were waiting in the Turkish reformatory. Could they climb the
high wall and escape into the side street?
While the crowd milled about, Arsen noticed the bier last used to
carry the dead legionnaire to the cemetery. It could serve as a ladder,
with the crossbars for steps! Placing it against the wall, he directed his
mother and wife to remove their shoes so they would make no noise
when they dropped over the wall to the stone paved street. Some
twenty-five other refugees followed, each one helping to boost the one
ahead over the wall. Outside the Turks were busy carrying water to
save their own houses from burning. In small groups the Armenians
slipped quietly down the alley to the street leading to the Church of
the Forty Sainted Youths.
Arsen discovered that his mother was missing and did not know
whether she had gone ahead or had been left behind. Reaching the
foot of the citadel and Cutthroat Lane, they decided to take shelter in
the house of Arsen's cousins—Der Sahag's house. They climbed a wall
in the rear and entered the house, finding only a small boy and his
grandfather who was unable either to walk or talk because of a stroke.
The others had fled to the Franciscan Monastery. For a week Arsen,
Makrouhi, and six others hid in the basement, going to the kitchen for
food only at night. An Armenian neighbor kept watch over them, as
well as over his own household, and finally persuaded them to join
his family for better protection and comfort. There, too, was an
Algerian soldier caught away from his base on 21 January.
At midnight a daring young Armenian came to them from the
Franciscan Monastery for his sister, knowing her to be there. As they
left together for the monastery, the others decided to risk the journey,
for it was even more dangerous to stay. Shortly after they set out in
122 : THE MARASH REBELLION

the darkness the one armed man in the party accidentally discharged
his rifle. All over the neighborhood Turks began shooting—their tech-
nique for scaring off would-be aggressors. Some of the group turned
back and were never seen again. Makrouhi hung on to her husband's
arm and ran on, passing a mill and the body of its Armenian owner in
the street which runs along the Kanli Dere". They climbed the forty or
fifty steps up the steep slope to the high-walled monastery, perched
like a castle on the ridge, and approached the main entrance with its
barricade. Would the defenders shoot, assuming them to be enemies?
"Armen! Armen!" they shouted to identify themselves as Armenians,
and a French soldier called back for them to approach and enter. Only
three of the group had reached the monastery: Makrouhi, Arsen, and
the son of Der Sahag's neighbor. In the monastery they found Der
Sahag's family, who had gone there on the first day of fighting. Father
Joseph assigned them to a room on the second floor, already occupied
by twenty-five others.1
Those who remained at Saint Stephen's—said to be about five
hundred—died in the flames as the church was burned on the follow-
ing day. Makrouhi's sister Nevart had fled with her two children to
Saint Sarkis Church in the Kumbet Quarter when fighting began. A
number of the men who took refuge there were armed, and under the
leadership of Sarkis Ghadeyan resisted the attacks of Turkish insur-
gents for some time. As the forces opposing them grew in number they
decided to abandon the church and move to the nearby orphanage,
Beitshalom, where eighty French soldiers were quartered. The move
was made successfully at night. In the orphanage Nevart found her
brother Hovsep among the three thousand Armenians who had sought
refuge there. Finding Saint Sarkis without defenders, the Turks looted
and burned it.
Safe in the monastery, Makrouhi knew nothing of what had hap-
pened to the other members of her large family. At that time her
mother-in-law, two sisters, and two brothers were among those who had
taken refuge in the Church of the Forty Sainted Youths. Her brother
Hovsep, a teacher, had gone to his classes at Beitshalom Orphanage
and was unable to return to his wife and three sons. In his history of
these events he states that he never saw them again.2 Another account
by Dr. Haroutune Der Ghazarian, surgeon at the German Hospital in
Marash, published in the Boston journal Bahag, records that the band
which slaughtered approximately three thousand Armenians in that
area was composed of Turkish, Kurdish, and Cherkez villagers led
by Bayazid Zade" Shukri and the sons of Kadir Pasha.3
 DEVASTATION AND MASSACRE : 123

Also members of Saint Stephen's Church were the Chorbajians.

Boghos, one of five brothers, lived with his wife and seven children in
the Divanli Quarter close to the home of Abraham Hoja Berberian. Of
these only the eldest son, Karekin, survived, for he was not at home
when the siege began. Hovsep, son of Baghdasar, who lived near the Bele-
diye ("Municipal Building") relates his experiences. At the outbreak of
hostilities he was in the home of an uncle at Boghaz Kesan and re-
mained there for eight days, helping in the defense. When it became
clear that greater security was to be found in the Franciscan Monastery
with its garrison of French troops, some of those in the Chorbajian resi-
dence agreed to attempt to reach that haven. Since success depended
upon moving quickly and silently at night, it was decided that the
elderly and the very young should remain in the residence. At nine
P.M. fifteen of them set out by way of the Turkish cemetery and reached
the Monastery safely.4 Two weeks later Hovsep was to witness an
episode of historic importance.

The Church of Asdvadsadzin

Shortly after the burning of the Church of Saint George and the
destruction of the Armenian community in the Sheker Der£ Quarter,
the chete turned their attention to the buildings in the Church of
Asdvadsadzin compound. The defenders there numbered only thirty-
one legionnaires, a strange distribution in view of the fact that half a
mile distant in the Church of the Forty Sainted Youths was a powerful
force of some eight hundred soldiers under the command of Major
Marty. Among the latter was Sergeant Krikor Ajemian, who faithfully
kept up his diary.

The burning of Sourp Asdvadsadzin was a horrible sight. Two

days ago the Turks set fire to the orphanage and burned the three
hundred fifty orphans in it. Their cries still pierce my heart. We
could not go to their aid because of the barbed wire and the enemy
machine-gun fire. It reminded me of the massacre of the two
thousand children by Herod. Fourteen of our legionnaires, led by
Stephan, and three hundred of the people were able to escape
and join us, leaving seventeen legionnaires still there. Sergeant
Baghdasar Odabashian, although wounded, decided to stay with
the people and kept his seventeen comrades with him even though
124 : THE MARASH REBELLION

all had the means to escape. For two days they waved flags signal-
ing for help. Together with other sergeants we asked Major Marty
for permission to go to the aid of these people but were refused.
This morning the Turks succeeded in opening two holes in the
roof of the church, poured kerosene inside, and set the church on
fire. Those who tried to escape were shot by the Turks. Poor
Ghazaros Adamianl He came out of the church, fired on the Turks,
and then turned back into the fire.6

From the Franciscan Monastery across the city, Father Mure" watched
the conflagration through his field glasses. First he noted the destruc-
tion of the presbytery, then on the following day the school, and on
the third day the church itself. "The Christians who ran out were
slaughtered, while those who stayed perished in the flames. Almost
no one of the fifty soldiers and two thousand Christians was saved." 6
Nishan Saatjian reports that a twelve-year-old girl had volunteered
to carry an appeal for help directly to General Que"rette and by a
miracle reached him safely, but without result. Likewise two legion-
naires from the besieged church succeeded in approaching Major
Marty to appeal for arms, but they were refused. Knowing that it
spelled their end, they returned to the church. One hundred civilians
who had taken refuge in the Church of the Forty Sainted Youths volun-
teered to rescue those in the besieged church if only they could be
armed, but Major Marty was unwilling to weaken his own force by
relinquishing so many rifles. The next night Major Marty met his
own death. While he walked in the courtyard of the Church of the
Forty Sainted Youths, a sniper's bullet struck his chest. He was buried
with military honors next to the tomb of Archbishop Mugerditch
Aghavnoun.7

The Soap Factory

On their way to the Christmas service at the Apostolic Church of
Saint George on 19 January, the family of Ohannes Kusajukian noted
that the Turks were digging trenches around the konak, the seat of
government for the district of Marash. Ohannes Efendi and his
brothers operated an establishment engaged in the production and
distribution of soap and of food products made from olive oil and
from grapes. The factory, warehouse and stables were located in the
 DEVASTATION AND MASSACRE : 125

Turkish quarter immediately south of the citadel. On one side rose

the minaret of Ulu Jami while on the other was a Turkish bath. The
buildings faced the Sheker Here" which assured a plentiful supply of
water. Across the stream was the Second Evangelical Church in the
Armenian quarter. The family residence had been constructed of wood
as a second story on the stone walls of the soap factory.
When the fighting began, many friends and relatives of the Kusajuk-
ian brothers came to the soap factory for refuge, and soon nearly eighty
persons had crowded into the spacious living quarters, where they were
assured of food sufficient for a long siege; for below them were the
storerooms filled with dried fruits, olive oil, and tarhana (a dried
product made from parboiled wheat and yogurt).
For nearly eight days they were not molested but were keenly aware
of the devastation across the Sheker Dere" where all homes in the
Armenian Quarters were burned. They must have witnessed also the
burning of the churches of Saint George and Asdvadsadzin, both
nearby. It is probable that the location of the soap factory in the heart
of the city close to the Ulu Jami and the covered market accounted for
the reprieve, for the Turks were busy cleaning up the Armenian resi-
dences and strongholds north and west of the citadel. But finally the
chete encircled the soap factory and in spite of its defenders broke into
a store room where they found kerosene. With this they set fire to the
wooden second floor, forcing a retreat to the ground floor with its
stone walls. The horses in the stable died in the fire, but two iron
doors prevented the fire from spreading to the factory area. Here the
men blocked the main outside door by rolling the huge cylindrical
stone used for pressing oil from olives against it. The women emptied
every available vessel, including jars of the precious oil, in order to
carry water and save the lower structure. The Turks, seeing that no
one ran from the burning building, concluded that all had perished,
and went on to new conquests.8

Avedis Seferian versus Evliye Efendi

The area assigned to the Armenian volunteers commanded by Avedis
Seferian lay between the konak and the citadel. The Seferian property,
enclosed by a wall of mud brick, was situated directly across a narrow
street from a similar walled compound owned by Evliye' Haji Evliye"
Efendi, the highest ranking of all Muslims in Turkey—the Sheikh-ul-
126 : THE MARASH REBELLION

Islam. His nephew, a lawyer also named Evliye', commanded a group

of Muslim fighters from this quarter. Although the two families had
maintained good relations as neighbors over a period of many years,
the political events in 1930 had placed them in opposing camps. About
one hundred fifty Armenian residents of the quarter had taken refuge
in the three Seferian buildings. After three days of fighting the Turkish
band commanded by Evliye" Efendi had encircled the Seferian com-
pound and demanded the surrender of its defenders. The Armenians
understood that surrender meant death, despite the promise of pro-
tection. Avedis Efendi took counsel with his group of fifteen fighters
and with the leaders of the unarmed refugees. He proposed that they
should create a diversion by setting fire to Evliye Efendi's house. The
Turkish fighters would certainly attempt to save the property of the
Sheikh-ul-Islam from burning, and this might provide an opportunity
for the Armenians to escape either to the Tash Khan in the covered
market, or possibly to the Church of Asdvadsadzin.
Avedis and his helpers made several bundles of clothing, each one
weighted with a stone, and soaked them in kerosene. One by one these
were set on fire and tossed across the street on to the house of Evliye1
and his uncle the Sheikh. The house caught fire. Shouting to each
other to help, the Turkish fighters set their rifles aside in order to
carry water. Evliye himself directed the fire fighters. One of the Ar-
menians spotted Evliye" and fired. Evliye" disappeared. The marksman
insisted that he had hit him.
While this action was taking place, refugees had been slipping out
of the Seferian compound to seek shelter elsewhere. Avedis and his
fighters remained until the last to cover their retreat. After dark they
divided into groups of three or four, altered their headgear to resemble
that of the Turks, and sauntered into the street talking like Turks in-
stead of using the somewhat simpler dialect used by the Armenians.
They found it impossible to reach any of the churches, which were
already under attack, but took shelter in an Armenian house near the
Bedesten. Within a few days this was besieged and set on fire. Those
who ran out were shot down, and only a dozen of the three hundred
in the buliding escaped. Avedis and two armed companions made a
dash for shelter. Two of them fell, but Avedis reached the Tash Khan
and only there discovered that his trousers were covered with blood
from a flesh wound in his thigh.9
The Turkish historian Saral records the following:

Muallim Evliye Efendi, who had been fighting since the begin-
ning of the Marash events, took with him enough fighters to clean
 DEVASTATION AND MASSACRE : 127

out the French from the Tash Khan and captured it. After this he
turned northward and continued the mopping up, one by one, of
the houses near the barracks where French and Armenians had
taken shelter, but an enemy bullet made this son of a Turk a
shehit ("fallen patriot").10

The historian was in error about the Tash Khan, which remained
in French hands throughout the siege.

Appeals for Help

By the fifth day of the rebellion, General Querette became concerned
over the fact that no help had been sent him by General Dufieux, the
divisional commander, in response to the message he had telegraphed
by way of Aintab on 21 January. He decided to send couriers to Adana,
these being his only means of communication, for the telegraph lines
had been cut. On that Sunday afternoon Lieutenant Colonel Thibault
and Major Roze des Ordons came to the Wilson house. Mrs. Wilson
served them with tea, assuming that they had come for a social call. It
had been a very noisy Sabbath with the French artillery in action. We
had seen the shelling of the Ulu Jami, pieces of masonry flying as high
as the minaret when high-explosive shells landed on the dome of the
mosque. The colonel explained that Turkish fighters had been firing
from the minaret.
The purpose of the visit was revealed when the colonel turned to
Paul, "Mr. Snyder, I understand that you have a German rifle—a
Mauser. We need one to complete the disguise of a courier to Islahiye.
Would you be willing to exchange it for one of our French rifles?"
Paul agreed to the exchange and brought his rifle. Five of the Turkish-
speaking legionnaires had volunteered to make the dangerous trip dis-
guised as Turkish gendarmes. Weeks later we learned that only one of
them reached Islahiye".
Our confidence in an ultimate victory for the French forces dimin-
ished day by day as we witnessed one Armenian center after another
go up in flames while the French commanders refused to engage their
troops in any effort to save the Christian population. American per-
sonnel and their relief work were also in danger of destruction, for the
French officers were occupying mission property. For some time Dr.
Wilson and Mr. Lyman had been searching for a courier willing to
carry a message destined for American diplomatic offices in Aleppo or
128 : THE MARASH R E B E L L I O N

Constantinople. An opportunity came unexpectedly from the most

unlikely quarter.
Early on 31 January a stalwart blond Armenian in the dress of a
Zeitun mountaineer came asking for Dr. Wilson. Nine of these famous
fighters had reached Marash, avoiding Turkish forces by using trails
across the mountains. They had had several skirmishes with chete dur-
ing the trip but had known nothing of the major conflict in Marash
until they came in sight of the burning city and heard the rifle fire.
They had come for rifles and ammunition so that their own people
could defend themselves; Zeitun was also surrounded by chete. Vil-
lagers around Zeitun had come into the town for protection.
While our visitor was talking with Dr. Wilson, the other Zeitunlis
were asking General Que"rette for arms which at first he refused but
consented to give when he learned of their fame as fighters. They
promised not only to defend Zeitun but to take the offensive and put
the chete to flight. In gratitude the nine Zeitunlis attacked a Turkish
position near the barracks, burned several houses, and claimed to have
shot nine of their enemies. Two of them were wounded, but they
promised to make another raid that night. Dr. Mabel Elliott recorded
in her diary on i February,
Yesterday two Zeitun men came through the trench from the
French barracks, both with flesh wounds. They are magnificent
men, mountaineers, tall, strong and very proud. They told me, as
I dressed their wounds, that the men of Zeitun are fighting again.
. . . They want to go back tonight. Zeitun can hold out forever,
they say, if only they have ammunition.11
Aram Hadidian, an employee of NER who knew that the Americans
were looking for a courier, suggested to me that the Zeitun men might
undertake such a mission. He brought two of them to me and we dis-
cussed the problem. I asked, "What city could be reached where there
is an American consul, or a missionary, with access to the telegraph
line?"
"Hadjin!" replied one of the Zeitunlis. "Your organization had a
station there. There is also a telegraph office."
Hadidian was incredulous. "Hadjin is more than one hundred
twenty-five miles from here, and there are several mountain ranges to
be crossed. Can you do that in the winter?"
"If we cannot do it, no one can. We can reach Hadjin within seven
days."
Together we went to consult Lyman and Wilson, who approved
 DEVASTATION AND MASSACRE : 12g

heartily and authorized me to reward the Zeitunlis. The message,

typed on thin paper which could be concealed in their clothing, read
as follows,
Situation in Marash desperate. Reign of terror in city since
January si. Hundreds of men, women and children massacred
daily. No power to stop this as French are distinctly on defensive,
forces and munitions inadequate. Americans have little hope if
French are overpowered, as soldiers defend from our property. No
assurance of help as large forces bar all roads. Leave nothing un-
done to relieve situation, as lives of all Christians are seriously
threatened. Our auto and flag fired on repeatedly January 20. Our
institutions under fire and many refugees and orphans wounded.
Food short. Notify Arnold and Bristol.12
Major Arnold, personnel director for NER throughout Anatolia, had
an office in Constantinople, and we felt that a telegram to that city
had a better chance of getting through than one to Aleppo. Further,
Arnold would undoubtedly pass the message on to Dr. Lambert in
Aleppo and to NER headquarters in New York.
I also prepared a draft, chargeable to the Marash station, authoriz-
ing payment of twenty Turkish gold lira to the courier on delivery of
message. As the Zeitunlis left they said, "Till death! If we cannot de-
liver the letter, no one can."
We learned later that they carried letters also from the Armenian
leaders of Marash and from General Que"rette, each appealing for help.
Of the five Zeitun men who set out for Hadjin, only two reached the
city, delivering the messages on 10 February.
On 13 February Dr. Peet in Constantinople had just put his signa-
ture to a letter addressed to Dr. Barton in Boston when a telegram was
handed to him, dated Hadjin, 11 February 1920. It had been trans-
mitted in English, identical to the message quoted above. Dr. Peet
added a handwritten postscript to his letter, enclosed a copy of the
telegram, and stated that copies were being sent to Admiral Bristol
and Major Arnold.13
At this stage of the siege the Armenian population was concentrated
in eight compounds, four of which formed a semicircle: Beitshalom
Orphanage to the southeast, The First Evangelical Church, the Fran-
ciscan Monastery, and the Armenian Catholic Church. These were
close enough to each other, it seems, to have enabled the French de-
tachments quartered in each of them to dominate the area between,
provided they could communicate and coordinate their attacks. How-
I g O : THE MARASH R E B E L L I O N

ever, the Kanli Dere which flowed across the city from its source—Kirk
Geuz—cut through the semicircle, passing under a bridge just south
of the monastery. The French had failed to secure control of this
bridge, over which passed the main street between the southern gate
of the city and the German Hospital. The Turks placed strong forces
in buildings commanding each approach to the bridge, thus cutting
communications north and south, and east and west. Major Corneloup
commanded large forces in the southern area, where the Church of
Forty Sainted Youths housed several thousand refugees.
The course of events at each of these defense posts, where records
were made by eyewitnesses, follow. The Armenians in Saint Sarkis
Church had already abandoned it, moving to Beitshalom Orphanage.
Those in Saint George's, Saint Stephen's, and Asdvadsadzin churches
had been killed as these buildings burned.
 CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

PLACES OF DEFENSE AND REFUGE

Beitshalom, "House of Peace"

The women employees at Beitshalom Orphanage were astonished and
disappointed by the announcement on 21 January that their weekly
visit to the Turkish bath in the Divanli Quarter was canceled. No
explanation was offered for the loss of this privilege. Without doubt,
Second Lieutenant Boissy, who commanded the detachment of ma-
chine gunners quartered in Beitshalom, had warned the orphanage
directress Frances Buckley that disorder was expected, for General
Que"rette had issued orders for the seizure of certain objectives in the
city on that very morning, and each detachment had been prepared for
action.
During the next three weeks Miss Buckley found a few moments
each day to make hurried notes in her diary recording the tragic
events.1 These notes form the basis for the account which follows. In
addition to her normal family of about three hundred fifty boys, more
than three thousand Armenian residents of that area had fled to Beit-
shalom when fighting began shortly after noon that day, bringing the
population within the orphanage walls to thirty-five hundred; soldiers,
orphan boys, staff, and refugees included. Assisting Miss Buckley were
the Hilfsbund nurse Maria Timm and Headmaster Ohannes Kazaro-
sian of the teaching staff.
A number of the refugees reached the shelter of the walled com-
pound already wounded. Every corner of the orphanage classrooms,
shops, and storerooms was filled with people. The high walls protected
those on the ground floor, but rooms on the upper stories, including
Miss Buckley's quarters, the infirmary, and an attic, were exposed to
rifle fire from the minaret of a nearby mosque and from a Muslim
 : THE MARASH REBELLION

cemetery which stood on a hill above the orphanage. Stairs to the in-
firmary rose unprotected from the central courtyard within the walls,
and Turkish sharpshooters kept this under observation. In these ex-
posed areas there were many casualties.
On 22 January a woman carrying her baby came running to the or-
phanage gate and was shot as she turned the corner of the building.
The baby, wrapped in a bundle, fell from her arms and rolled just
beyond the dead mother's feet. "We can hear her crying, but no one
can go to her. It is dreadfull French soldiers will try to bring her in
tonight," 2 wrote Miss Buckley. But it was not so simple. Turkish snip-
ers across the street kept a close watch and fired the moment the door
was opened. The baby's cries ceased after a few days. Later a little
girl and boy came to the orphanage for protection but both were
killed near the gate. These bodies were recovered only five days later.
On 24 January Miss Buckley and Miss Timm, both trained as nurses,
were caring for the wounded in the infirmary when a battle began for
control of the cemetery above the orphanage. Since the infirmary was
in the line of fire, only those lying on the floor were safe, so that the
dressing of wounds had to be postponed.
A number of French and Armenian soldiers were brought in
wounded, and among them was the commander, Lieutenant Boissy
who was dying. Command of the detachment passed to Adjutant
("Sergeant Major") Malboeuf, who was assisted by Aspirant ("Officer-
in-Training") Bernard.
The Turkish military historian states that on 25 January the Ger-
man Orphanage was taken by the Nationalist forces.3 It was indeed
attacked, but not taken, on that day. From across the city we in the
college compound could see chetd gathering in the Turkish graveyard
of the Kumbet Quarter, but when they moved against the orphanage,
the defenders drove them off with rifle and machine-gun fire. Miss
Buckley wrote in her diary that "this day has been what Sherman said
war is! ... The early morning was quiet, so two old women started
out for a walk! One was shot dead, and the other was brought to us,
seriously wounded. She cannot live the night through." 4
Miss Buckley had been too busy to note in her diary that repeated
attempts had been made by the Turks to burn the orphanage buildings
by throwing bundles of rags soaked in kerosene onto the roof. One
can imagine their amazement when a powerful stream of water from
the much admired but never used fire engine inside the walls put out
the flames. "Our big boys are keeping the orphanage from burning,"
wrote Miss Buckley. "Even the little boys beg to help with the pump-
 PLACES OF DEFENSE AND REFUGE : 133

ing." 5 Providentially one of the master workmen who had built the
orphanage, Kaspar Usta ("Master") was at this time a refugee within
its walls. He understood very well that the Turks would next cut the
orphanage's water supply. He knew also that water for the Turkish
quarter which lay on the slope below the orphanage passed underneath
the courtyard and could be tapped. Under his direction the boys dug
a trench across the courtyard until they came to the watercourse. From
this they filled every available vessel, as well as the fire engine's reserve
tank.
As anticipated, the water supply was cut off on the following day,
and burning rags were once more thrown upon the roof. When it
caught fire there was a great shout from the Turks. Then came the
stream of water from inside, where there should have been no water!
The Turkish cries of victory were hushed. We witnessed this drama
from across the city.
One day when there was a high wind the Turks were once more
attempting to set fire to the orphanage. The sergeant major thought
that they might well succeed and gave instructions to Miss Buckley
what to do in case they were burned out. The children were to go out
by one door, and the refugees by another with the soldiers. This
meant, wrote Miss Buckley, that thirty-five hundred people were to
be turned into the streets to become targets for the Turks. The at-
tempts at arson, however, ceased, and later a Turk told us that they
had given up because Allah had intervened and supplied water even
after die source had been cut.
On 29 January fighters in the orphanage observed a group of Turks
in the adjoining cemetery preparing to bury a prominent religious
leader and shot all of them. The sergeant major was angry and gave
strict orders that none but armed Turks were to be fired on.
On 4 February the refugees in Beitshalom were terrified by the
explosion of shells in the orphanage. The Turks had brought cannon
to the heights above the cemetery to subdue the Beitshalom defenders.
One shell landed in Miss Buckley's dressing room without exploding.
Another started a fire in the carpentry shop. Headmaster Ohannes was
wounded, but an exploding shell killed Aspirant Bernard, who had
survived four years of war in France, including the siege of Verdun,
only to die in Marash. After two days French artillery near the bar-
racks shelled the Turkish emplacement and silenced its fire.
134 : THE MARASH REBELLION

The First Evangelical Church

Of the three Protestant churches in Marash, the First Evangelical
Church was the largest. Its dynamic pastor, black-bearded Badveli
Abraham Hartunian, was no stranger to violence, for he had already
passed through several massacres, once being left for dead after falling
under the blow of a Turkish ax. The story of his deportation from
Marash and his experiences during exile have been reviewed in an
earlier chapter. Badveli Abraham was living with his family in one of
the five structures within the First Church compound under the same
roof as the grade school. Each of the Marash churches supported a
system of education for its members, and the First Church had an
extensive program beginning with a nursery school and culminating in
the Boys' Academy, from which the graduates could enter either Tar-
sus College or the Syrian Protestant College at Beirut. The great audi-
torium of the church seated one thousand persons.
During the first afternoon of the insurrection some two hundred Ar-
menians from neighboring houses took refuge in the First Church, and
approximately a thousand more were added when the Kouyoujak
Quarter was burned. The French commander had quartered about
three hundred soldiers in the compound.6 During the first evening of
battle Hartunian's confidence in the French was shaken when the offi-
cer in command ordered his men to prepare for transfer to the Ar-
menian Catholic Church, about two hundred yards distant. However,
when the troops began to march out of the compound, several were
wounded by Turkish fire, and the move was canceled. It was obvious
that the officer's concern was only for his own men.
On 26 January the officer commanding the French detachment de-
cided to burn the houses close to the wall of the compound in order
to prevent the enemy from occupying them. To the dismay of those
within the compound the wind changed, endangering the church
buildings. Fearing that the wooden bell tower would first catch fire,
they hurriedly cut the supporting pillars and pulled it down. That fire
was extinguished, but on 2 February the Turks succeeded in setting
fire to the school building. The French troops were drawn up in prepa-
ration for flight. In panic the pastor gathered his wife and children
and fled from the compound, fearing Turkish bullets less than the fire,
and miraculously reached the shelter of an abandoned house. Later
 P L A C E S OF D E F E N S E AND R E F U G E : 135

they were amazed to see that the other buildings remained intact and
after dark crept back to a structure in the center of the campus.
Again on 6 February a band of Turks, one of them bearing a long
pole tipped with a bundle of flaming rags, attacked the compound but
took to flight when a French bullet felled the pole carrier. On that
day two French airplanes flew over the city, and that night the 300
French soldiers were replaced by 100 Armenian legionnaires.
On the following day most of the Nationalist forces were engaged in
defending the western quarter of the city against the attacks of French
reinforcements led by Colonel Normand, but the Turks who had en-
circled the First Church made a final attempt to destroy it together
with the refugees inside. They set fire to a Turkish building close to
the wall. A strong wind carried the flames to the church, and despite
the fervent prayers of its pastor, it burned to the ground. The refugees
and legionnaires displaced by the fire crowded into the two remaining
buildings which were packed so tightly that no one could sit down.
The only food available was the meat of the French mules, which they
ate almost raw and without salt.7

The Rescue Home

Across the street from the First Evangelical Church compound was
the Rescue Home which housed the eighty young Armenian women
who had lived in Arab or Turkish homes during the period of exile.
Once the fighting began, no one of our personnel at the college, hos-
pital or Beitshalom could possibly reach it. Badveli Abraham begged
the French commander at the First Church to bring the women and
their six babies over to the church under cover of darkness, but the
officer ignored the request.
On 5 February a group of Turks knocked at the gate of the Rescue
Home, posing as Armenians who had come to help those inside. The
gatekeeper, Minas Bederian, admitted them, whereupon he was seized
and taken away to be killed. Others entered and killed the matron,
Mrs. Gohar Shamlian, in her room.
For the next two weeks Miss Buckley at Beitshalom, Badveli Abra-
ham, and all of us in the college compound understood that the women
had been killed, for the building had been seen burning. And so we
were astonished and relieved when one day the Turks returned the
girls to our care. They had been taken to a mosque, and then to a
136 : THE MARASH R E B E L L I O N

Turkish village, where one of the babies died of starvation, and all
suffered from hunger and cold. A few of the women had been molested
by the guards appointed to protect them. Three girls who had gone
into the city on 21 January before fighting began were never seen
again.8
We wondered why the Turks had departed from their usual custom
of killing the Armenians. In no other case was a building taken and
the inhabitants spared. Perhaps it was because no one had fired in
self-defense, or that each of these women had once accepted Islam
and lived in a Muslim home for several years.

The Franciscan Monastery

One of the few places of refuge which survived the onslaught of
Turkish Nationalists was the group of buildings belonging to the
Franciscan order. The architect who had planned these structures un-
doubtedly considered the need for security. The beautiful church,
monastery, and school built of stone were perched on the crest of a
steep ridge above the Kanli Dere" and could be attacked only from the
front. The gate to the walled enclosure opened on a broad plaza which
placed any aggressor at a disadvantage. During the French occupation
of Marash a strong detachment of troops was quartered here.9
Under the direction of Captain Benedetti the buildings were
strongly fortified. A barrier was set up on the plaza in front of the gate
in order to cover all approaches with machine-gun fire. The windows
were blocked with stone brought in at night by parties of the refugees.
The young men were eager to participate in such raids for stone, lum-
ber, and food. The need for food was imperative. One night an Ar-
menian who had ventured out to seek food in the abandoned Armenian
houses found a pail of pekmez ("grape molasses") and on his return
was wounded in the wrist. He never let go his prize, and later his
friends, while enjoying this delicacy, discovered that it was enriched
with blood.10
In order to open communications with their headquarters and to
have access to the stores at the military barracks, Captain Benedetti
ordered the construction of trenches to the German Hospital and be-
yond to the American College—a distance of about half a mile. This
task was accomplished at night by the troops and refugees. From the
trenches the French attempted to break through the Turkish positions.
 PLACES OF DEFENSE AND R E F U G E : 137

In one daring raid against what they called "the White House," Lieu-
tenant Froideval was killed. At the same time the French detachment
in the Bedesten attempted to open communications with the monas-
tery. Thanks to the initiative of the officers in the monastery, the de-
tachment maintained communications with General Quere'tte, and Dr.
Mabel Elliott in her book Beginning Again at Ararat records frequent
visits by Lieutenant van Coppanole.11
When fighting began, Armenians in the districts surrounding the
monastery nocked to it in such numbers that eventually thirty-seven
hundred were sheltered in the three buildings. The French captain
armed thirty of these to defend the monastery, since his own troops
were needed to protect the trenches. The civilian fighters performed
their task effectively, firing night and day to let the enemy know that
any attack would be costly. One day four French soldiers were seen ap-
proaching the bridge over the Kanle Dere" in broad daylight. General
Querette had sent them as couriers to the Armenian Catholic Church,
unaware of the fact that the Turks commanded both approaches to
the bridge. Sentries in the monastery saw them fall. That night Captain
Benedetti ordered his legionnaires to recover the bodies. Four young
Armenians brought them in, but one of them, Haroutune Deyermen-
jian, was fatally wounded.12
Among the Franciscans in the monastery were the father superior,
also Father Joseph and his colleague the Reverend Materne Mure",
who had come from Holland thirty-five years earlier. These priests
had extended the work of their order into a number of villages near
Marash. During the siege Father Joseph supervised the distribution
of food, one meal a day, to the refugees. Since this was barely enough
to sustain life, the officers contributed from their own rations enough
food to provide an afternoon snack for three hundred children.13
Among the refugees were a number mentioned earlier: Dicran and
Haroutune Berberian, Dr. Poladian and his family, part of the Chor-
bajian family, and Arsen and Makrouhi Der Ohanessian, who had
escaped from Saint Stephen's church before it was burned. Makrouhi
noted in her diary that one corner of the monastery yard was used for
the burial of those who were killed. Among these were Lieutenant
Froideval, the four couriers killed at the bridge, and the legionnaire
wounded while recovering their bodies.14
Father Materne Mure" recorded in his diary the dreadful scene when
the Church of Asdvadsadzin was burned, and later the burning of
the First Evangelical Church quite near the monastery. On i February
Lieutenant van Coppanole hoisted the French flag on the monastery
138 : THE MARASH R E B E L L I O N

tower. Father Materne, looking over the city with his field glasses,
counted fifteen French flags flying in various parts of Marash. This, he
judged, was intended to identify the French positions, and it raised
his hopes that reinforcements were expected.15 There were few in the
city who did not turn each morning toward the Islahiye' road, hoping
to see a relief column.

The Armenian Catholic Church

The Armenian Catholic Church—Sourp Purgitch, or "Church of
the Savior"—was the seat of the Catholic Patriarchate in the Diocese
of Marash. It had been built in 1857 when the need for a place of
refuge was not foreseen, hence the site selected was not one of the city's
seven hilltops but a space within a triangle of streets in the heart of
the city, near the bridge over the Kanli Dere". Four buildings, the
cathedral, the bishopric, a boys' school and a girls' school, formed a
solid square which enclosed an open court. The compound lay mid-
way between Ulu Jami and the First Evangelical Church. On each side
was a mosque, and from their minarets the Turks could look down into
the courtyard and into the windows of the bishopric and the school
buildings.
When the French first occupied Marash they placed one company of
the Armenian legion in the Catholic church, and later the Ninth
Company of Lieutenant Colonel Thibault's 412th Regiment was
added, all under the command of Captain Joly. The Reverend Pascal
Maljian generously turned over his own chamber to Captain Joly, with
the result that he was unable to change his clothing for the duration
of the siege and got little sleep.
At the outbreak of the insurrection, Armenians living in the central
quarters fled to Sourp Purgitch regardless of their faith. Even a num-
ber of Turks took shelter in this church, at least one of these being a
convert to Christianity. Others included Suleyman Efendi, formerly an
officer in the sultan's army; and the family of Tabak Zade Mehmet
Efendi. These were received by the Catholics and protected as guests.16
The total number of refugees was estimated by Father Pascal to be
about three thousand. The Archbishop set up a system of self-govern-
ment, selecting leaders among the refugees to head committees for
the distribution of food, and to maintain hygiene, discipline, and
defense. The winter supplies of food intended for the regular staff of
the church and schools were made available to all, and priority was
 P L A C E S OF D E F E N S E AND R E F U G E :

given to the children, the wounded, the women, and others, in that
order. Among the leading defenders were Stepan Aghazarian, Hagop
Ketenjian of Aintab, Krikor from Furnous, and, in the last days of the
siege, Setrak Kherlakian.
Turkish snipers poured rifle fire into the buildings from the minarets
of mosques which stood on all sides of the compound. In the spiral
stairways of the minarets narrow apertures had been left between the
stones to provide light and ventilation, and these were used by the
chete as loopholes for sharpshooters. The defense committee urged
Captain Joly to capture the mosques, but he rejected this proposition
on the grounds that religious institutions were not to be attacked.
After many had been wounded a daring courier, Stepan Aghazarian,
carried a request from the Armenians to General Querette that the
minarets be destroyed. A few high-explosive shells were fired at the
minaret of the Ulu Jami, but they exploded impotently against the
solid masonry of the tower as I could see from the shelter of the gun
emplacement in front of the seminary.
The defense committee also considered it advisable to tear down
the boys' school, for if the Turks should have succeeded in their efforts
to burn it, the cathedral itself would have been destroyed. The French
categorically refused to permit this defensive measure. When after
many attempts the Turks actually set fire to the school, there was a
panic. The priests and refugees threw themselves into the dangerous
task of fighting the conflagration while the Turks poured a fusillade
of bullets into the courtyard, killing a number and wounding many.
Garabed Kuskonian, who had spent fifty years in the service of the
church, died of his wounds. Father Pascal and one other priest suf-
fered flesh wounds. Providentially the wind changed and the fire
burned itself out.
It was fortunate for the wounded that young Dr. Parsegh Sevian had
also taken refuge in the Catholic church. The supply of disinfectants
and banadges had long since been exhausted, for the French had not
foreseen the conflict and had neglected to provide an adequate stock
of medical supplies. Under the direction of Archbishop Avedis the
nuns prepared bandages for Dr. Sevian's use.17

The Covered Bazaar

The French commander recognized the strategic importance of
Uzunoluk Street which connected the government buildings on the
140 : THE M A R A S H R E B E L L I O N

northern slope with the gateways to the Islahiye" and Aintab roads in
the southern Shahadiye Quarter. Near the Great Mosque it connects
with the Bedesten, a bazaar covered with a roof to protect the shop-
keepers and their customers in all kinds of weather. In this bazaar lay
the great stone warehouse—the Tash Khan—for the storage of grain
and merchandise, and a separate warehouse for inflammable materials.
Large bodies of Senegalese and Algerian soldiers were quartered in the
Church of the Forty Sainted Youths near the southern end of Uzuno-
luk Street and Armenian legionnaires were housed in the Tash Khan.
On the morning of 21 January, by order of General Querette, French
troops were to be posted at all important street intersections to insure
a safe line of communications between the staff headquarters at the
seminary and Major Corneloup, who commanded all troops in the
southern quarters. As noted earlier, the Turks forestalled the French
attempts to control the city streets with the result that General
Qu£rette was never able to communicate with Major Corneloup. The
battalion of legionnaires was assigned to the defense of the Bedesten,
and to the union of forces in the southern sector with those in the
Armenian Catholic Church and the First Evangelical Church. Success
in this endeavor would come close to restoration of communications
with the general, for the troops in the Franciscan Monastery had dug
trenches reaching as far as the seminary. Only the bridge over the
Kanli Der£ would then remain in Turkish hands.
Although the Bedesten was under control of the French forces, the
Turks never gave up efforts to capture or destroy it. They climbed to
the roof which covered the streets of the bazaar, poured kerosene
through holes and started fires—a strategy they had found so effective
in destroying various churches. They had a serious setback, however,
just at a time when they were preparing for a major assault. Sergeant
Ajemian, secluded in his favorite grotto, was writing in his diary when
two of his men came for him, greatly excited. From apertures in the
walls of the shops they had observed a sizeable body of Turkish Na-
tionalists assembling for a large-scale attack in a manner similar to
what the legionnaires had observed several weeks earlier between El
Oghlou and the Ak Su.

We ran through demolished buildings and burned shops until

we reached an open place where ten days earlier I had been
wounded. One or two hundred meters below us was a huge gather-
ing, including a group of horsemen, with drums, horns, flags, and
lots of noise, as though in preparation to attend a Turkish wed-
 PLACES OF DEFENSE AND REFUGE :

ding. This was their method for stirring up enthusiasm for an

attack.
Entrenched in our position, with bandoliers of cartridges beside
us, we were ready to open fire with our machine guns. Without
waiting for the enemy to strike first, we opened fire. The Turks
started shouting and crying as they had done at the battle near El
Oghlou. The flags, drums, and horns all went into confusion. The
first victims were the horsemen. Wounded horses were trying to
stand up. The enemy had no time to fire even one bullet. Those
who were preparing to exterminate us were lying on the ground.18
The scene of this drama, which occurred about 3 February, was
probabaly the open market which lay between the two arms of the
Bedesten north of the grain market. The legionnaires were jubilant
over this affair, which came soon after the shameful loss of the Church
of Asdvadsadzin, in which Major Marty had refused to intervene.
Just at the time French reinforcements were approaching the city,
the troops in the Bedesten were nearing their goal of forging a union
with those in the Armenian Catholic Church and the First Evangelical
Church.
Last night we reached a new position where misfortune was
awaiting us. A French battalion took over the defense of our posi-
tion at Bedesten. It was obvious that our displacement had not
gone unnoticed by the enemy, for they kept up a barrage of fire
until morning. Without suffering any losses we reached the big
French church (Sourp Purgitch) and from there the Protestants'
assembly hall. On the way we saw countless corpses.19
The Turks were concentrating their efforts on the destruction of the
First Church and its school buildings. The legionnaires who had re-
placed the French detachment on 8 February were quartered in the
great assembly hall along with a multitude of refugees when it caught
fire and burned to the ground, as I have already described. Ajemian
gives a vivid account of this event and the narrow margin by which
several thousand refugees were saved. The sergeant lost not only his
personal belongings but also his beard in this fire.
I Encouraged by their success, the Turks attempted to complete the
job, for two buildings remained intact, and there were the multitude
of Christians to be killed.
Machine guns in the minaret of the nearby mosque— the Gavlak
Minare", or Bare Minaret—were firing on us without pause. Officer
142 : THE MARASH REBELLION

Saillant ordered my detachment of twenty-five soldiers to occupy

the mosque. I prayed, then led the attack, knowing that if I could
reach the mosque alive, the others would follow. I made the sign
of the cross and dashed through a trench, trusting in God, and
reached the mosque unhurt, my coat torn by a bullet. I signaled to
my men, who dashed for the mosque and occupied it. In no time
the minaret was in our hands. Only Yeghia fell, wounded in the
head, but after first aid he regained consciousness and asked for
water.20
 CHAPTER NINETEEN

MEDIATION&r A MILITARY REVERSAL

An American Offer of Mediation

On the morning of 5 February, Mr. Lyman, Dr. Wilson, and Dr.
Crathern obtained General Querette's permission to interview the
Turkish hostages whom he was holding at the seminary. All of them
were government officials or religious leaders. As a result of this con-
ference a letter was addressed to the Turkish Nationalist leaders with
an offer of American mediation whenever the Turks were willing to
discuss terms. That evening after dark Paul Snyder and I went to the
German Hospital, each on a separate errand. Mine was to have the
offer of mediation forwarded to the Turkish mutasarrif by way of the
nearest Turkish house.
At the hospital I learned of a Turk, Hanifi Efendi, who could
be reached with the least exposure. There had been no firing from his
house, located across a narrow street from the Kiraat-hane, or "reading
room," where Nathan Koumrian and others lived close to the hospital.
One could easily call to Hanifi Efendi from an upper window of the
Kiraat-hane. Dr. Elliott asked one of her staff to deliver the message,
and one day later a courteous reply came from the mutasarrif stating
that the conflict was not an affair of the local government but a
national issue, hence any offer of peace must go to the national leaders.
This exchange of letters served to open a channel for communication.
Paul Snyder's errand was to assist one of the French officers to rig
up a device for optical signaling. He showed the officer the gasoline-
powered Delco generator and the storage batteries used for lighting
the hospital. The officer borrowed one four-cell battery and a tungsten
lamp. By linking these to a telegraph key he could send signals at
night. The next day he borrowed also a spark coil which Paul, hoping
144 : ™E M A R A S H R E B E L L I O N

to build a wireless set, had discovered among the instruments in the

college physics laboratory. It had taken fifteen days for these ideas to
germinatel
That night I made a second trip to the hospital, escorting three sick
Armenians from the college. One was an old woman wearing the
thinnest of rags. Since it was very cold I threw my overcoat over her as
she was being carried on the back of another Armenian. Later I found
that certain members of her little colony of lice had chosen to remain
in the warmth of my coat. Fortunately we had a supply of Keating's
powder with which I freed myself of these dreaded typhus-carrying
pests.
Early on the sixth of February the sound of an airplane overhead
woke me. A great shout arose from the refugees in the college com-
pound, for this suggested that help was at last on its way. Mrs. Wilson,
confined to her bed with a severe cold, heard the commotion and,
noting that everyone, including her husband, had rushed out of the
house, assumed that the chdte had finally overcome the French de-
fenders and were massacring the refugees. Her screams, muffled by
laryngitis, added to the excitement.
The biplane circled the city, dropping leaflets intended for the
French into Turkish quarters. A second airplane came during the
afternoon. Both were greeted by Turkish fusillades, and the pilots
reported that the Turks were good marksmen. Certainly they were
able to report that the French were besieged in a number of posts
marked by the tricolor.1
Sixteen days had passed since the siege had begun in Marash. We
wondered why it was taking so long for General Dufieux in Adana,
and the supreme commander in Beirut, General Gouraud, to provide
measures for relief.

General Gouraud's Ambassador

In Beirut General Gouraud first became aware on 8 January that the
French forces in Anatolia had not been welcomed by the Turks and
Kurds. The Turkish Nationalist leader in the area of Urfa, AH Saib,
sent an ultimatum to the commanders of French forces in the eastern
area notifying them that if they should not evacuate the territory they
had occupied contrary to the terms of armistice within a brief period,
they would be driven out by force of arms. Ali Saib, indeed, had
scheduled a revolt for 15 January.2
 MEDIATION & A MILITARY REVERSAL : 145

General Gouraud dismissed the threat as a bluff. In the belief that

calm could be restored by friendly conferences, he decided to send an
ambassador to the cities of the eastern area. For this mission he sum-
moned to Beirut from Adana an officer of the Engineering Corps,
Colonel Robert Normand, described as a small nervous man, hard on
his horse.3 The general instructed the colonel to go to Diarbekir, stop-
ping en route at Mardin and Urfa with a message of good will in
order to restore friendly relationships with the civil and military
authorities. He was to represent France as loyal and friendly to both
Muslim and Christian.
Thus, according to French historian Paul du V£ou, the general
thought that one officer could take the place of the artillery, Spahis,
and wireless equipment which had been provided by General Foch for
Cilicia and which he was hoarding in Beirut.4
For his escort Colonel Normand selected a French lieutenant as
secretary, a Turkish lieutenant colonel as interpreter, six Turkish and
one Circassian gendarmes, an old Kurdish brigand, and set out on
horseback for Urfa. En route he stopped overnight at Aintab as the
guest of Lieutenant Colonel Flye Sainte-Marie, whose civilian adviser,
Raphael Kherlakian, recorded the event. After an hour's conference
with Colonel Normand, his host appeared to be in a mood of great
anxiety. The Armenians would have to be very prudent, he told
Raphael Efendi, if they were to avoid massacre, for it was certain that
France would send no more troops to Cilicia.5
In view of the fact that the Nationalists were prepared to strike, it
is amazing that the colonel reached Urfa and Mardin (although not
Diarbekir) and returned to Beirut alive. At Mardin a crowd wished to
attack him, but the mutasarrif said to them, "If ten thousand French
should come, we would kill ten thousand; but it is not worth staining
our honor to kill two guests!" While Normand was asleep in Urfa, his
own small escort of gendarmes fought off assassins, but actually it was
his host who saved him by refusing to allow the killing of a guest. On
leaving Urfa he narrowly escaped a trap set for him in the very ravine
in which the entire Urfa garrison was slaughtered a month later.6
When he made his verbal report to General Gouraud, the latter
exclaimed, "What a silly idea of Caix's [Gen. Robert de Caix de
Sainte Aymour, secretary to General Gouraud] to send you to Diar-
bekir!" thus disclaiming his own responsibility.7
General Gouraud realized that the Urfa garrison was in a precarious
situation but was not yet aware of the crisis in Marash. Convinced of
the need for immediate action, he ordered the formation of a column
to make a show of force in the region of Urfa. From the troops at his
146 : THE MARASH R E B E L L I O N

disposal in Lebanon he assigned for this expedition a battalion of

Algerian infantry, a squadron of Spahi cavalrymen, a battery of moun-
tain guns, and a unit of wireless telegraphic equipment—possibly that
belonging to the 412th Regiment besieged in Marash but never sent to
it.
At this point the urgent need for use of the Beirut-Aleppo railway
was obvious, but the greater part of it, from Ryak on the Beka'a Plain
to Aleppo, lay in territory set apart for an independent Arab state
according to the Anglo-French-Russian agreement concluded in Lon-
don on 16 May 1916. Now, in January 1920, General Gouraud asked
the Emir Feisal for permission to move his troops northward on the
railway, but the Emir gave no answer, and after three days' delay they
were shipped by sea to Mersine1. How costly each day of delay was to
the French garrisons of Marash and Urfa can be seen in retrospect.
The expedition disembarked at Mersine" on 30 January and moved on
to Adana the same day.8
Meanwhile General Dufieux had learned of the gravity of the situa-
tion in Marash. One of the five Armenian couriers disguised as Turk-
ish gendarmes—possibly the one carrying Snyder's German rifle—had
survived the hazardous journey to deliver General Quere"tte's appeal
for reinforcements. Marash was in more urgent need than Urfa, and a
much larger force than that sent from Beirut was required. General
Gouraud gave his approval to General Dufieux's new plan.

A Relief Column for Marash

Colonel Robert Normand was placed in command of a column com-
posed of three battalions of Algerian infantry, four squadrons of
cavalry, two batteries of artillery, and an ambulance unit. But what
had become of the wireless equipment? Had General Gouraud's staff
in Beirut neglected to load this on the freighters carrying the expedi-
tion to Mersine? The fate of Marash was at stake.
The column was ordered to assemble at Islahiye' and start on the
three-day march northward on 2 February. Again precious time was
lost. The Turkish revolutionary movement was not confined to
Marash, for chete had begun harassment earlier by tearing up the rail-
way between Alexandretta and Islahiye. The artillery, which had dis-
embarked from Alexandretta, reached Islahiye' on 4 February, and an
infantry battalion from that port arrived on the fifth delayed by being
derailed on a bridge.
 MEDIATION & A MILITARY REVERSAL : 147

Still more disastrous was the loss of more than half of the transport
animals. Two hundred fifty camels had been herded together under
the guard of Turkish gendarmes to carry munitions and food supplies
for the Marash garrison as well as for the expeditionary force. General
Dufieux had ordered that top priority be given for eighty charges of
ammunition. On the morning of 5 February, when the main column
was to start marching northward, it was discovered that one hundred
thirty-five of the camels were missing. The gendarmes themselves must
have been responsible for this act of sabotage. Clearly they were col-
laborating with the Turkish Nationalist forces. Since munitions had
top priority, food supplies had to be sacrificed, and the column set off
with no food whatever for the animals. Both men and animals would
have to live off the land.
One battalion of Colonel Normand's column had started two days
earlier in order to relieve two companies of Armenian legionnaires be-
sieged at Bel Pounar, where they guarded a depot of military stores.
There they found the legionnaires encircled by two hundred Turks,
who formerly had been partisans of the French and had been armed
by them. Major Bouvet's battalion drove the chete into the hills and
sustained a loss of only one man wounded. The legionnaires joined
Normand's column and proceeded toward El Oghlou on 6 February.
During that march they encountered some resistance and pursued the
chete into the hills, searching at the same time for Captain Fontaine
who had been reported to be hiding there. Actually Fountaine had
found his way to Marash on 4 February. During this search the French
soldiers came upon looted French equipment. One item which cap-
tured Colonel Normand's attention was a drinking mug on which was
engraved the sad prophecy, This Quart Which Is Your Pride Shall
Become Your Coffin! 9
The villages of Sarilar and Baba-burunu were burning, set on fire by
the Turks as the French force approached. The herds of cattle found
at each village were confiscated to provide meat for the soldiers.
Two airplanes returning from Marash where they had been riddled
with bullets dropped instructions for sending coded communications.
That evening Colonel Normand ordered the firing of a salvo from his
75 mm. cannon to announce his approach. Hopes of reinforcements
had been raised by the airplanes circling over the city, and these hopes
were confirmed by the sound of distant cannon fire, which we heard in
Marash.
As the column proceeded toward the Ak Su on 7 February, the
advance guard was attacked by Turkish forces from the crests of moun-
tain ridges. These troops wore the regular Turkish army uniform. The
148 : THE MARASH REBELLION

Spahis charged toward them while machine gunners and infantry fol-
lowed. One soldier and a horse were killed, and an officer was
wounded. They were attacked again at the crossing of the river, but
the chdte were driven off by shellfire—an advantage which the Bel
Pounar convoy did not have on 24 January.10
By mid-afternoon the advance guard halted two miles from the
southern entrances to Marash, and there on the open plain the French
troops made their camp. That same evening, 7 February, a small de-
tachment led by Lieutenant Thuillier and armed only with hand
grenades reconnoitered the southern entrance to the city and found
their way to the commander of the French forces in the southern
sector. Lieutenant Thuillier gave Major Corneloup a verbal message
from Colonel Normand and then returned to his camp, accompanied
by Second Lieutenant Dumaine of Corneloup's battalion. Thus liaison
was established between the two forces. According to Normand the
message was an invitation to Corneloup that he join the camp outside
the city unless he had orders to the contrary.11

Normand Raises the Siege of Marash

Each morning the Reverend James Lyman started the day by inspect-
ing through his field glasses the road running south from the city to-
ward the ford over the Ak Su and beyond toward El Oghlou. On
7 February he noted a cloud of dust where the road winds around the
mountain beyond the river. Anxious to share the good news, he sum-
moned Paul and me to his balcony, where the beautiful vista was
seasoned with occasional snipers' bullets. At first I could see only the
cloud of dust, but then a brilliant flash appeared within the cloud,
and thirty seconds later came the report of a French gun and a puff
of smoke appeared high on the mountainside where shrapnel had
burst.
Two hours later the road from the Ak Su clear across the Att Ichi
Plain was filled with troops. By three o'clock in the afternoon we
could see the column deploying on each side of the road. There they
set up artillery and began to shell the Saint Toros Hill (known to the
Turks as Merjimek Tepe", or Lentil Hill). This dominated the citadel
and the entire city, and it was here that the Turks were entrenched in
a position secure from the fire of French cannon at the barracks. Now
shrapnel from the south bursting on the crest of the hill sent the
Turkish troops flying for shelter to the northern slope where they
 MEDIATION & A MILITARY REVERSAL : 149

came into full view of the Marash guns, which immediately came
into action.
From his encampment Colonel Normand noted the French flags
over the seminary of the American Mission, the Franciscan Monastery,
Beitshalom Orphanage, and two buildings in the southern quarter of
the city. The Turkish flag was flying on the citadel.
The need for a system of communications between General Que'rette
and the commander of the reinforcements was now urgent. The French
captain who had borrowed the Delco battery came again to Snyder for
a stronger lamp. Paul dismantled one of the headlamps from the Reo
truck and after dark helped set up the equipment on a hill north of
the barracks. The lamp was connected to the battery and a telegraph
,key in such a way that a message could be flashed in Morse code.
A cannon was fired to attract the attention of sentries in the camp,
and the lamp signaled until acknowledgment came in the form of an
answering flash. A message prepared by General Que'rette was then
transmitted to the commander of the relief column. Adjutant Movses
Der Kaloustian of the Armenian Legion assisted with the signaling.12
That night Colonel Normand issued orders for, the following day.
First of all Merjimek Tep£ was to be taken and the colonel's head-
quarters established there. His forces were then to clear the way to the
barracks in which part of the Marash garrison was quartered.
Early on Sunday 8 February, the Ninth Battalion of the twenty-
second Algerian Infantry, commanded by Major Bernard, moved di-
rectly against the hill, while Major Jozerau's Eleventh Battalion of the
twenty-first Algerian Infantry followed in support, covering the flanks.
Three squadrons of Spahi cavalry accompanied the two infantry bat-
talions, and every piece of artillery went into action.
The troops found the approach very difficult, for in that area there
were rice fields with irrigation ditches and marshes. Two hundred
fifty Turkish infantrymen were entrenched in the area, supported by
about one hundred cavalrymen and a number of machine guns. How-
ever, the French assault was made with such speed and decision that
the hill was in French hands by nine o'colck. A battery of 655 was
immediately placed on the hill, and at ten o'clock Colonel Normand
moved his command post there.
In the seminary compound, standing close to the cannon emplace-
ment, I watched this engagement with excitement but without under-
standing the objectives. Turkish rifle fire could be seen coming from
the minaret of the Ulu-Jami, and this again became a target for the
French gunners.
150 : THE MARASH REBELLION

The Turks still held a trench only half a mile distant from the
main French camp. This was captured in the afternoon by direct
assault after heavy shelling. Spahi cavalrymen pursued the Turks when
they fled from the trench. One of them surrendered while the others,
more lion hearted, chose to die. The prisoner complained bitterly that
the Marash notables had incited the population to rebel, and this had
caused the city's ruin. He volunteered the information that Turkish
reinforcements consisting of three battalions of infantry and a battery
of 105 mm. cannon were expected from Diarbekir.13
During that afternoon other detachments of the relief column
moved northward as far as the foothills of Akhyr Dagh, clearing the
area of the enemy. It was more difficult and costly to dislodge the
Turks from their positions in the Karamanli and Sheker Der^ ravines,
where it became necessary to bombard the houses from which the
Turks sought to defend the city.
The troops of the Marash garrison had also taken the offensive that
morning. A detachment of the Tenth Company led by Captain Bon-
nouvrier fought its way towards Merjimek Tepe1 and captured the
Turkish gendarme post. Late in the afternoon Major Bernard's as-
sault troops reached the same point, thus completing the union be-
tween Colonel Normand's forces and General Que'rette's headquarters.
At 8:50 P.M. the Colonel sent Lieutenant Thuillier, accompanied by
Second Lieutenant Doumain of Corneloup's Seventeenth Senegalese,
to General Querette. The General reciprocated by sending Captain
Vermillard to Normand's command post. Not knowing that this liaison
had been established, Captain Bonnouvrier on his own initiative made
his way to Colonel Normand at 11:00 P.M. On his return to General
Querette he confirmed the astonishing order which Lieutenant Thuil-
lier had already brought.14
In his own account of this operation Colonel Normand records,
"The colonel had already that evening [8 February] transmitted to
General Que'rette by optical signals the orders of General Dufieux and
advised the immediate evacuation of Marash if the latter could not be
pacified without delay." He defended this decision on grounds that
his troops had exhausted their food supplies, and that a restocking of
the Marash garrison could be accompanied only by a convoy moving
under strong escort for which the military resources were not available.
It would be just as easy, he continued, to evacuate the city and return
later with a force richly provided with munitions and rations and
strong enough to guarantee future security as it would be to send in
a convoy. For these reasons a decision had to be made not later than
9 February.15
 MEDIATION & A MILITARY REVERSAL : 151

At this point in his account, Colonel Normand writes, "Major

Corneloup, informed of the situation and invited to join the camp un-
less he had orders to the contrary, made his decision immediately and
arrived the same evening at the bivouac with all of his forces and
his wounded." 16
 CHAPTER TWENTY

CORNELOUP'S WITHDRAWAL

From the accounts given by individuals living in the various centers

of refuge it is obvious that orders had been issued for secrecy in the
withdrawal of Corneloup's forces and the abandonment of the
refugees.1
At the First Evangelical Church the French captain ordered his
sergeants to post sentries and attend a conference. During the day the
sound of heavy fighting west of the city had been heard, and the officer
explained that reinforcements had arrived. It was clear that victory
was at hand, but strange orders had come from Major Corneloup.
Sergeant Krikor Ajemian was unable to continue his diary that night
and made the next entries while sitting in a corner of the Church of
the Forty Sainted Youths.

I have neither the heart nor the energy to write anything. We

deserted the assembly hall [of the First Church] one day after
victory! . . . When night fell and we were resting, an officer called
me by name and ordered me to assemble my twenty-five soldiers
in the street and be prepared to move at midnight. When I asked
for the reason he replied, "You will be told later!" At midnight
I was ready with my men. I was overcome with a feeling of appre-
hension, that is obvious, but I hoped that it was not to be an
evacuation at the moment the Turks were defeated. . . . The
people were weeping and giving us their blessings. . . . The
wounded were being transported to the place where the new
column was camping.
Without any incident we reached the Bedesten and went on
to the Tash Khan. A white flag, large as a sheet, was waving on
 C O R N E L O U P S W I T H D R A W A L : 153

the citadel. We heard some sporadic cannon fire. The Turks were
resisting in only a few positions, and not wholeheartedly. They
were demoralized and in a mood for complete surrender.2

Some legionnaires, unhappy about the orders for secrecy, sent warn-
ing messages to places where groups of Armenians were known to be
defending themselves.3 Such a message reached the Second Evangelical
Church. After dark on the night of 8 February a brave orphan girl
crossed the Sheker Dere1 from the Second Church carrying an urgent
message for the refugees in the Kusajukian soap factory. She had been
instructed to swallow the note if caught by the Turks, for it stated
that the French troops were about to withdraw from the city. The
writer advised that women and children should move immediately to
the Church of the Forty Sainted Youths, while the men remain to
insure no attack from the rear. By moving silently in the darkness,
the band of some fifty women and children passed the area covered
by snipers in the minaret of Ulu Jami and turned into a street which
led to their haven. At this moment their pent-up emotions could no
longer be suppressed and the children ran screaming toward the gate-
way of the church which was guarded by a Senegalese sentry. He
opened fire with his machine gun. The women screamed "ArmenI" to
identify themselves, and a legionnaire at the gate silenced the gunner;
but a number of the Armenians had fallen, and one aged woman
turned and fled back to the soap factory, reporting that the French
were killing the Armenian women and children, hence the -men had
better stay where they were. By this time the Turks in the vicinity
had become aware of the fact that a number of Armenians had survived
the burning of the soap factory. On the next morning they attacked
in force. Seven of the thirty-two men attempted to escape by running
from the building, but only four reached safety, and all those who
remained in the factory died in the flames when the factory was
finally set on fire.4

The First Evangelical Church

Late in the night of 7 February someone shook the pastor. "Badveli!
The legionnaires and their French commander have gone! Who will
defend us?" The troops had, indeed, withdrawn secretly during the
night, leaving only their wounded behind. The refugees could now
154 : THE MARASH REBELLION

depend only on the few civilians who possessed outdated weapons.

These men took the positions abandoned by the troops.
When dawn came the pastor surveyed the smoldering ruins of his
beautiful church. That morning news came to him that the Turks
were sending their families out of the city to seek protection in nearby
villages. The decisive blows struck by Colonel Normand's forces had
already convinced them that the French were about to avenge the
losses suffered during the previous weeks.
The Armenians—learning that the city was now evacuated by
the Turks—rushed out from their imprisonment and began to
help themselves to everything they could carry out of the empty
Turkish houses. They soon reached our center with the news
and our people, too, ran for booty. In a few hours our two build-
ings were filled with food, clothes, house furnishings, etc. I was
displeased by all this. I did not like the conduct of my people,
but I could not have prevented it. At nightfall, as if to avenge the
deeds of the Turks, the Armenians set mosques and Turkish
houses on fire and killed a few Turks they found here and there.
The Armenians were rejoicing at the defeat of the Turks—not
knowing that the French were in the process of evacuating the
city.5
When Badveli Abraham was informed that the troops quartered
in the First Church had secretly withdrawn, news of this was imme-
diately passed on to the neighboring Boulgourjian house, where
Hagop Agha Kherlakian and his family had taken refuge and his
son Setrak commanded the defenders. It was decided that Hagop Agha,
his son Joseph, and Joseph's nephew Raphael should confer with their
Archbishop Avedis Arpiarian in the Armenian Catholic Church, Sourp
Purgitch. This they reached safely by using trenches which had been
dug on a pathway which was not exposed to the Turkish guards on
the Kanli Dere" bridge.
Events in this church on the preceding evening have been recorded
by the Reverend Pascal Maljian.6 Captain Joly had said to Father
Pascal, "Pascal, I pity you! You are tired. Take my chamber tonight
and have a good sleep!" Assured of safety by the presence of the mili-
tary force and being in great need of sleep because of the wound in
his thigh, the priest accepted the offer. After all, it was his own
chamber! At about three o'clock in the morning someone woke him
abruptly, "What have you done? We are abandoned—ruined by the
French!"
 C O R N E L O U P ' S W I T H D R A W A L : 155

"This is ridiculous!" retorted Father Pascal, but he went to the

garrison quarters to see for himself. Aside from the civilian defenders
there remained only a few wounded French soldiers. On the mess tables
were the officers' abandoned silver and table service. Munitions were
lying around, a little here and a little there. Father Pascal woke the
archbishop and the leaders among the Armenians, and together they
discussed the situation until dawn. Almost unanimously they accepted
the bishop's conclusion that this was part of a maneuver to end the
conflict. Doubting this, Father Pascal decided to go personally to the
camp of French reinforcements outside the city, no matter what the
risk, in order to learn the truth. He and three volunteers, armed to
the teeth, took the road "between water, fire and a fusillade".7 They
reached the camp safely, for this was the day after a great part of the
Turkish population had evacuated the city. Father Pascal found
Captain Joly and reproved him for his deception. The captain was
greatly embarrassed. He had been sworn not to let the Armenians
know of the withdrawal. The priest wrote a letter to Colonel Nor-
mand, commander of the relief column, asking for an explanation of
the French withdrawal. Was it for purposes of maneuver, or were the
French preparing to abandon the city? He wished to advise his bishop
and quiet the fears of the refugees. A reply came, written on the page
of a notebook by the colonel's clerk, and it was evasive. Father Pascal
found messengers among the refugees .who had already come out of
Marash with Major Corneloup's forces, but as they left the camp with
a message for the archbishop they were turned back by Senegalese
riflemen, who had been ordered to allow no one to return to the city.8
After Father Pascal's departure Hagop Agha Kherlakian, distin-
guished representative of the Armenians in parliament, discussed the
significance of the troop withdrawal with Archbishop Avedis Arpiarian
and some of his associates. The Kherlakians indignantly rejected the
rumor that the French were preparing to abandon Marash. It was an
insult to French honor. They believed that the French officers, whom
they had entertained lavishly, would have given them warning of such
a move. During this conversation Raphael noticed that the bishop was
greatly disturbed but unable to explain the cause. Later, reported
Raphael, "we learned that the French detachment in the Armenian
Catholic Church had informed our Archbishop of the evacuation
under the seal of secrecy, and had begged him to accompany them.
The worthy bishop had refused, preferring to die at the head of his
flock.9
During the next two days the Turks, aware of the withdrawal of the
156 : THE M A R A S H REBELLION

French detachment, attacked the church with increased fury. The

bishop and his counselors asked Setrak Kherlakian to assume command
of the civilian defenders, for they knew that he had served in the
Turkish army as a major.
Setrak Agha first took stock of the available arms and discovered
that although a number of the refugees possessed rifles, they had con-
cealed them in their bedding rather than participate in the fighting.
Altogether the new commander found that the armament with which
he had to confront the Turks included two machine guns and eighty
rifles, sixty of which were modern. Only ninety of the men volunteered
to serve as defenders of the mass of refugees, who by this time num-
bered nearly four thousand. Setrak Agha organized the defense of the
compound and took steps to prevent the Turks from using the nearby
Turkish bath, the Kelbeyi hamam, which had strategic importance.
When he learned that the sentry stationed in the bath had been
wounded, Setrak Agha himself dashed to the hamam, caught three
Turks preparing to set fire to the church, and killed all of them.10
The French troops quartered at Beitshalom Orphanage and those
in the Franciscan Monastery did not participate in the withdrawal on
the night of 8 February. Both detachments had maintained communi-
cations with General QueYette. Miss Buckley recorded in her diary that
each night a brave legionnaire crawled from the orphanage to the
seminary headquarters with a report.11 She had seen Colonel Nor-
mand's column as it approached the city and noted that as the Turkish
population was in flight the refugees went out foraging for food and
loot in the Turkish quarters. She was overjoyed at the arrival of Dr.
Haroutune Der Ghazaraian who had fled from the First Evangelical
Church when it burned.12
 CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

B E T R A Y A L OF A T R U S T

A delegation of Armenians came to Mr. Lyman's residence on the

morning of 9 February. "Is it true that the French are planning to
leave Marash?" they asked.
Dr. Crathern, Snyder, and I were with Mr. Lyman, and we laughed
together. "Why should they leave? They are winning the battlel" Our
visitors stated that the refugees in the college compound were in a
panic of fear because of this rumor. Shortly after this, refugees who
had come to the college from the German Hospital during the night
brought a message from Garabed Agha Bilezikjian stating that a letter
from the Turkish leaders was on its way to the Americans, whom they
were asking to serve as mediators between them and the French.
At noon Major Roze des Ordons, accompanied by an aide, came to
meet the American personnel of NER and the mission. Crathern, Sny-
der, and I went with him to the Emergency Hospital where we picked
up Dr. Wilson and proceeded to the college, for Mrs. Wilson, upset
by the rumors, was insisting on seeing her husband. Mr. Lyman then
arrived with Dr. Elliott, Mabel Power, Helen Shultz, and Evelyn
Trostle. We remained standing, sensing that the major brought bad
news. Someone asked whether there was any truth to.the rumor that
the French planned to withdraw.
"It is true that we have been ordered to leave Marash! It came as a
surprise to us. The general received the order only this morning. Our
troops at the other end of the city got the message yesterday and have
already gone." He explained that Colonel Normand had been in-
structed by General Dufieux that if order could not be restored by
9 February, all troops should return to Islahiye".
Mrs. Wilson noted in her diary that night, "We gave not a sign, but
158 : THE MARASH R E B E L L I O N

our hearts were cold, for we knew that this meant the massacre of the
remaining Armenians." 1
"Major! The Turks are ready to surrender!" exclaimed Mr. Lyman.
"They are asking that the Americans act as mediators." He proceeded
to tell about the letter from the Turkish leaders.
"If this is true, the general may reconsider evacuation. Where is the
letter?" After a moment of embarrassed silence, Mr. Lyman explained
that the letter had not yet arrived; that news of it had reached him
only that morning.
"Without the letter we cannot hope to change the plan. We have
been ordered to prepare for evacuation tonight. And we advise you
Americans to go out with us," the major stated.
"And what will become of the Armenians when you leave?" de-
manded one of the ladies.
"If they .should try to follow us, the Turks would understand that
the movement of troops is not a maneuver but an evacuation of the
city. Then no one would get out alive. You are not to tell the Armeni-
ans that we are leaving!" He added that the French commander would
turn over to the mission all of its stock of flour, together with eight
hundred fifty Turkish gold lira (equivalent to about thirty-seven hun-
dred dollars) to be used for feeding the refugees.
The missing letter had become of paramount importance—the only
means to persuade the French that a victory had been won. Someone
had to make the hazardous trip to the hospital in broad daylight to
trace the letter. Snyder and I had each made the trip in daylight dur-
ing the first two days of battle and had drawn fire from the Turkish
houses near the hospital. I volunteered and set off at once, encounter-
ing no fire, for the Turks were busy getting out of the city. At this
time the Nationalist troops were engaged in the heaviest fighting of
the entire siege, battling against Colonel Normand's forces in the
northwestern area.
Before leaving the college I learned from Dr. Elliott that on the
previous evening, 8 February, a letter had been thrown from the
house of Hanifi Efendi but had failed to clear the wall of the Kiraat-
hane and had fallen in the street. No one dared to go outside to re-
cover it. Dr. Elliott had been consulted and suggested that a second
letter should be written. This message was conveyed to the Turks, and
somewhat later a Turk called across to the Kiraat-hane "Don't shoot!"
"Pek eyi ("very well")—don't you shoot!"
"Give this letter to Garabed Agha Bilezikjian." A small packet came
hurtling over the wall. In it were two letters weighted with a stone,
 B E T R A Y A L OF A T R U S T : 159

all wrapped in a cloth. One letter was from a Turk who stated that
he had protected fifty Christians in his home, but that other Turks
had forced him to surrender them, and all had been killed in the street
outside his house. The other letter was addressed to Mr. Lyman, urging
that the Americans intervene and persuade the French not to kill the
Turkish women and children. Dr. Elliott was puzzled to learn that the
letter had not been delivered to Mr. Lyman, and yet the contents were
already known to the refugees in the college compound.2
At the hospital I found that Garabad Bilezikjian's house lay about
one hundred feet across the main street, facing the house of Levon
Yenovkian, which in turn adjoined the hospital. Evidence that this
was a dangerous crossing stared me in the face, for there lay the bodies
of the deacon and a number of others, unburied for nearly three
weeks. My successful dash across the street and later my safe return
were undoubtedly due to the fact that the Turkish fighters were all
engaged by Colonel Normand's Algerian infantrymen.
Garabed Agha stated that he did not have the letter, but suggested
that I ask Nazaret Bilezikjian who lived nearby. He showed me how to
reach his house by an underground passage without exposing myself
to fire.
Nazaret Bilezikjian denied a little too vehemently any knowledge of
the letter. Suspicious, I challenged him in Turkish, "Give me the
letter! I know that you have it!"
He hesitated, then turned to a table, withdrew the letter from a
drawer, and handed it to me with this statement, "You Americans keep
out of this! Let the Turks get the punishment that they deserve!"
I raced back to the college. Not a shot had been fired at me during
the entire excursion. A translation of the letter showed it to be an
appeal, signed by two of the Turkish leaders, that the Americans in-
tervene with the French to spare the Turkish women and children.
It indicated clearly that the Turks were ready to make peace.
The letter and its translation were taken to General Que>ette. The
general suggested that we invite the Turkish leaders to send repre-
sentatives to confer with him as soon as possible. This was done on
the afternoon of 9 February, through Hanifi Efendi, the Turk from
whose house the letter had been thrown.8
Early that morning Colonel Normand's troops attacked the Turkish
positions in the western and northern quarters of the city in order
to eliminate danger to the French forces scheduled to withdraw that
night. Major Bernard's battalion began the operation under cover of
fog, but this lifted suddenly, exposing the men to an intense fusillade
l6o : THE MARASH R E B E L L I O N

from the Turks. A French officer, Second Lieutenant Herviou, was

killed at the head of his platoon. The Algerian troops, aided by can-
non and machine-gun fire from General Querette's troops in the bar-
racks, finally broke the Turkish resistance, and the Nationalist forces
began to leave the city. Colonel Normand noted this exodus and how
easy it would be to slaughter the masses in flight but instructed his
artillery officers to lob a few shells over their heads as a gesture of
French generosity.4
We hoped that the Turkish representatives would appear that eve-
ning, or at the latest next morning, 10 February. It was not yet known,
of course, whether the evacuation could be postponed. Members of
the American Mission and NER met at the college that afternoon to
solve the problems facing us individually and as a group. First of all,
should we leave with the French as they advised? It was agreed that
each should make his own decision. The missionaries, Mr. Lyman and
the Misses Blakely, Hardy, Ainslie and Lied, one by one indicated
without hesitation that they intended to remain in Marash. Miss Sal-
mond, the English missionary, was crippled and had no choice. Dr.
Mabel Elliott, Mrs. Power, Miss Shultz, and Miss Dougherty of NER
wished to leave with the French. Miss Evelyn Trostle, Dr. Wilson,
Paul Snyder, and I decided to stay in Marash. Although Dr. Crathern
of the YMCA announced his intention to remain, Dr. Wilson insisted
that he should accompany the American ladies on the march and give
aid as far as possible to any refugees who might follow the French.
Mrs. Wilson writes of her own quandary.
I tried to get Wilse to escape with me, for I thought how terrible
it would be if the fetd came to our compound to massacre the
1,250 Armenians and we had to stand helpless and watch it go on.
He himself expected this, and that after the French left no more
relief work would be done, but he was determined to stick to his
job, and no amount of persuasion from me moved him one jot.
He felt, as Director of the NER and as a doctor—being the only
one left—that it was his duty to stay. He would lose all self-respect
and never be able to look himself in the face if he left his post.
I was having a hard time with myself.
Dr. Wilson tried to persuade his wife to leave under the protection of
Major Roze des Ordons, who guaranteed to see her safely to Islahiye".
"However," writes Mrs. Wilson, "I decided I may as well be killed in
Marash as to leave Wilse here, for I would have worried myself to
 BETRAYAL OF A T R U S T : l6l

death wondering if he were still alive. So I decided to share the same

fate, whatever it might be, with him." 5
Since Dr. Elliott and Mrs. Power intended to leave, Dr. Wilson
asked me to take charge of the German Hospital. I moved there after
dark and found the compound filled with frenzied Armenians. The
wards were in disorder as parents came for children, some of them very
ill. Captain Arlabose, the military surgeon to the Sengalese infantry-
men, was moving his wounded from the dressing station below the
hospital and carrying them through the German Hospital compound
to the barracks.
The nurses and orderlies came to Dr. Elliott to ask what they should
do. When they saw that she was packing a few belongings they needed
no further answer. The entire staff, with the exception of one faithful
servant, gathered warm clothing and some food in blanket rolls, pro-
viding themselves with the bare necessities for survival on a sixty-mile
journey on foot over mountains in the midst of a violent snow storm
and intense cold. Seeing this the patients rose from their beds and pre-
pared to leave, ignoring the prospects of death from exposure. Such
was their fear of what the Turks might do after the French, supposedly
their protectors, had departed.8
After darkness fell, this pathetic group moved quietly from the
hospital up the hill to the college, there to await the departure of the
troops. Dr. Elliott and Mrs. Power remained at the hospital, expecting
word from Captain Arlabose concerning departure time. Thirteen
patients remained where there had been more than one hundred
twenty five an hour earlier. The next morning we found one of these,
an elderly woman, sitting fro/en beside an open window. She had
taken off her clothing, choosing this easy way out. Burial was impossi-
ble, for the ground was frozen, so this poor woman became the first of
several to be laid out in the open near the wall of the compound.7
General Que"rette had expressed his intention to ask for a delay in
the evacuation in order to allow time for a meeting with the Turkish
leaders. Since he could not communicate with Colonel Normand, he
ordered that the wounded be moved out of the city to Normand's
camp under cover of darkness and that other troops should hold them-
selves in readiness, awaiting further orders.8
The general faced a dilemma. As senior officer and commander of
the Marash garrison it was his responsibility, not Colonel Normand's,
to decide whether or not Marash should be abandoned. On the other
hand the colonel, having overcome Turkish resistance in Marash, had
 : THE MARASH R E B E L L I O N

the right to return to Islahiye. Colonel Normand had explained why

he could not remain. His men were on half rations and were suffering
from the intense cold—eighteen degrees centigrade below zero—with
no shelter. His transport animals were starving, and he was obliged to
go to the relief of the Urfa garrison.
General Querette had to determine whether he could hold Marash
after the departure of Colonel Normand's column. His supply of mu-
nitions sufficed for only another four days of battle. Every attempt to
replenish his military stores from Bel Pounar and Aintab had been
thwarted. According to Normand, no convoy could be expected from
Islahiy£ in the near future because of lack of troops to protect it. Even
if peace could be established, there was danger that the Turks might
take heart and renew the fighting when they saw the departure of the
relief column. Further, Turkish reinforcements were said to be on
their way from Diarbekir.
Most damaging of all was the fact that Major Corneloup had already
withdrawn his forces, thirteen and a half companies, from the city
and had joined Colonel Normand's column without authorization
from his commander. Could these troops be ordered back? This
dilemma should have been solved by consultation with the area com-
mander in Adana, General Dufieux, but the wireless equipment had
not been included in Normand's convoy!
Undoubtedly the fate of the Armenians remaining in the city must
have weighed heavily on the general's conscience. At nine o'clock that
night he himself went on foot, with one aide as guide, to confer with
Colonel Normand on Saint Toros Hill, although he could have re-
quested the colonel to come to him. It was snowing heavily and ex-
tremely cold, and the journey required crossing the ravine which a
few hours earlier had been dominated by the Turks. Knowing that
the trip was hazardous, he turned over his command to Lieutenant
Colonel Thibault. At 11:00 P.M. he returned to his headquarters and
informed his staff, who had waited anxiously for him, that he and
Colonel Normand had agreed to delay the evacuation until noon the
next day in order to give the Turks an opportunity for surrender.
Failing this, the troops would leave the city that night, 10 February.
All equipment which could not be moved over the rough terrain was
to be destroyed. The wounded who could not be moved were to be
turned over to Dr. Wilson.9
That evening I went to the barracks in order to locate the stores of
flour which Major Roze des Ordons had given us. I followed the same
course which General Querette had taken from the seminary and came
 B E T R A Y A L OF A T R U S T : 163

to the conclusion that none of the refugees would agree to transport

the flour, for the path through the trenches was rough, and the weather
abominable. The flour could be moved later.
None of us in the hospital slept that night, for we expected orders
any moment for the troops to move. Also we hoped that a representa-
tive of the Turkish leaders might come in response to our invitation.
The next morning a new patient came to the hospital. An aged woman
had been shot through the abdomen while crossing no man's land
behind the hospital, thus demonstrating that it was still a dangerous
area. She had crawled in agony along the shallow trench to the hos-
pital, which was all but abandoned. Dr. Elliott could do no more than
ease her pain.10
 CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

VICTORY FOR THE NATIONALISTS

The Withdrawal of French Forces

The deadline for decision to withdraw, noon of 10 February, passed
with no response from the Turks. General Que'rette gave the order
to destroy equipment which would be useless in retreat. The refugees
in the compound were not surprised to see the troops burning or bury-
ing surplus equipment, for they had learned of the plan for with-
drawal even before the second in command, Lieutenant Colonel
Thibault, had.
At the Franciscan Monastery on the night of 9 February the French
officers were seated at the refectory table having their evening meal
when Father Mure' noticed that they were greatly disturbed and asked
what troubled them.
Captain Benedetti replied, "My Father, I have received orders to
evacuate the monastery, but I command you not to tell anyone!" He
explained the need for secrecy. The troops could withdraw safely only
if the Turks were ignorant of the purpose of the movement. If thou-
sands of refugees were to follow them, the Turks would understand
it to be withdrawal, and no one would get out alive. The captain
insisted that the Franciscans should accompany them and asked them
to be prepared when the final orders were given.1
Armenians who survived the destruction of the churches of Saint
George and Asdvadsadzin had joined many others in the Church of
the Forty Sainted Youths where a company of Major Corneloup's
Senegalese Seventeenth Regiment was quartered together with two
companies of Armenian legionnaires. Thanks to Sergeant Ajemian
and other legionnaires, these refugees were informed of the plan to
evacuate and attempted to follow the troops out of the city. When the
 VICTORY FOR THE N A T I O N A L I S T S : 165

colonial troops, on instructions from their French officers, attempted

to drive them back, certain Armenian officers intervened and secured
permission for them to follow at a distance of one kilometer.2 Nishan
Saatjian credits this intervention to an officer known to the legion-
naires as Colonel Simonoff, a Russian who had escaped from a German
prison camp to join the famous French 4iath Regiment.3
On 10 February at 6:00 P.M., three couriers crossed the city from
French headquarters to Beitshalom Orphanage with orders for im-
mediate evacuation. Sergeant Major Malboeuf of the detachment (the
higher ranking officer had been killed) called Miss Buckley to the pan-
try and gave her the bad news. Miss Buckley sent for her two most
trusted associates, Maria Timm and Headmaster Kazarosian, and asked
for their advice. Miss Timm thought they should follow the French,
and the officer stated that they could do so. Understanding that "they"
included not only the staff but also the orphans and the refugees, Miss
Buckley felt that "this would mean the death of hundreds of the un-
derfed and poorly clothed people—three and a half thousand of
them," for the temperature was far below freezing, and snow was
falling.4
Sergeant Malboeuf promised to send word back from the barracks
if he thought it best for Miss Buckley to join them and departed with
all of the troops. Civilian volunteers and the older orphans among
them took over the guard posts vacated by the French. The ladies
remained in the pantry throughout the night waiting for the message.
In reply to further suggestions that they should join the French, Miss
Buckley stated, "If the sergeant-major sends for us we will gol If not,
we can only continue to trust in the Good Lord." 5
In Bethel Girls' Orphanage there were a number of the older girls.
Fearful of what might happen to them at the hands of the undisci-
plined Turkish insurgents when the French withdrew, we decided to
send all girls over fourteen years of age together with some of their
teachers out with the French. Fifty-one girls were prepared for the
sixty-mile journey. Each one was given warm clothing, a blanket, and
a bundle of food containing bread, tarhanna (wheat boiled in yoghurt,
then dried in the sun), olives, nuts, and raisins.
Nevart Deyermenjian was one of these girls. Several years earlier
she had emigrated to the United States only to be rejected and sent
back from Ellis Island, although her mother had been admitted. The
girls were greatly excited over the prospects of their adventure and
waited impatiently for the order to move. Their first objective was the
military barracks, where they were to assemble. There the Armenian
l66 : THE MARASH REBELLION

Legion, also waiting for the order to march, were destroying ammuni-
tion. When the girls arrived, the legionnaires put them to work cutting
cartridges and dumping out the powder. Nevart recalls this with en-
joyment, and one can imagine what pleasure it gave to the soldiers,
who had been deprived of female companionship for months. One of
them rewarded Nevart with a cake of soap. At the barracks Nevart
found her uncle, the head baker at Ebenezer Orphanage, and placed
herself under his protection.6
The American missionaries insisted that all adult males among the
refugees should leave with the French, leaving only women and chil-
dren in the compound, thus giving the Turks no excuse to attack them.
The men accepted gladly, but many of the women planned to accom-
pany their men.
At 5:00 P.M. a Turkish youth bearing a white flag presented himself
at the college and asked for Mr. Lyman or Dr. Wilson. "We brought
him into the sitting room," wrote Mrs. Wilson, "and talked with him.
He was little more than a boy of nineteen or twenty." He brought
a note from the Turkish leaders asking the Americans to arrange for a
conference between the Turks and French at an American building;
also that a cease-fire be observed for two hours, or until the conference
was over. Mr. Lyman instructed the young man to have the Turkish
representatives come to the German Hospital within an hour.7 The
boy was known as Mustafa Balji, for he was a beekeeper and sold
honey.8
I knew nothing of these developments at the time, for I was busy
at the hospital, but the Americans at the college were elated; it seemed
certain that the Turks were ready to make peace. The question arose
whether or not it was still possible to reverse the process of evacuation.
Captain Arlabose had instructed Dr. Elliott and Mrs. Power to be
at the barracks at 6:00 P.M., but he himself was obliged to wait for
the final order to move the last of his wounded.
On contemplating my future responsibilities to the remaining pa-
tients with neither physician, nurse, nor orderly at hand, I came to
the conclusion that the patients would be better off in the poorly
equipped Emergency Hospital in the seminary compound under Dr.
Wilson's supervision. My problem was how I would move them.
When it became dark enough, the two American ladies departed
with considerable misgivings about what lay ahead. Dr. Elliott was
disappointed that her friend Lieutenant van Coppanole had not come
from the Franciscan Monastery to escort her to the barracks. A detach-
ment of soldiers came to the hospital and deposited the last of the
Jamal Pasha (center forefront), commander of the Turkish Fourth
Army in Syria, and Halide Edib (right forefront), Turkish feminist
leader, stand with other dignitaries on the steps of the French College
at Antoura, Lebanon. Jamal Pasha had established an orphanage for
Armenian children in the college building and had appointed Halide"
Edib to be its directress.
(Photo from the collection of Dr. Bayard Dodge)

Armenian villagers of Kishifli reaping grain (summer 1919)

French and British Officers, Turkish Officials, and American Near
East Relief Workers Review the Exchange of Troops at Aintab (4
November 1919). Left to right: unidentified NER worker; Sheikh
Mustafa of the Aintab Dervishes; unidentified French officer; Jellal-ed-
Din, mutasarrif of Aintab; Sabri Bey, deputy mutasarrif; Dr. Mabel
Elliott; Miss Morgan of the Marash NER; Lieutenant Colonel Flye
Sainte-Marie, commander of the French force; Brigadier General
Weir, commander of the British Force; and Louise Clark of NER.

The Exchange of French for British Troops at Aintab (4 November

1919). The Eighteenth Indian Lancers withdraw as French and
Armenian troops stand at the roadside.

•
The Third Battalion of Armenian Legionnaires of the French 156111
Infantry Division entering Aintab
 ftf *,

A section of Marash near the Citadel

A view of Marash from the American Mission. Center foreground:
German Hospital; extreme right: Franciscan Monastery; left, at edge
of city: Beitshalom Orphanage; center: a French shell exploding.

The American Mission Buildings in Marash

Kazim Efendi. The Turkish censor of Marash stands by the gate to the
citadel where the stone lion once stood.
 Raising the Turkish flag over the Citadel of Marash (October iqiq)
A painting by Capt. Hayrettin Muji

The Franciscan Monastery at Marash

 Marash burning

A French 75 mm. gun on the seminary grounds

r
 The Turkish victory parade

The Turkish victory parade

The Turkish victory parade
The ruins of the Kouyoujak quarter

•B
The remains of the Turkish military barracks
Armenians returning to their looted homes from places of refuge

Bodies of Armenian woman, Dr. Mustafa, and flag bearer on hospital

grounds
American Board of Missions and Near East Relief personnel remaining
in Marash after the battle (January 1920). Left to right: Rev. James K.
Lyman, Ellen Blakely, Kate Ainslie, Evelyn Trostle, Paul Snyder,
Bessie Hardy, Stanley E. Kerr, Mrs. Marion Wilson, and Dr. Marion
Wilson.

Near East Relief Personnel with Turkish Officials. Left to right:

Stanley E. Kerr; Mrs. Marion Wilson; Dr. Marion Wilson; Arslan Bey,
chairman of the Committee for the Defense of Rights; Capt. Yoriik
Selim Bey; and Deputy Mutasarrif Jevdet Bey.
The Deputy Commssioner of Police of Marash in Circassian uniform
Turkish artillery from Marash, led by Capt. Yoriik Selim Bey (on white
horse), moving to oppose the French at Aintab

Turkish chete stopping author's party en route from Marash to Aleppo

Dr. Ala-eddin Bey, Turkish Military Physician in Charge of the
German Hospital after the Battle Marash (January 1920)
 VICTORY FOR THE N A T I O N A L I S T S : 167

wounded from the French dressing station. With the idea that these
men might carry some of my patients to the college, I invited Captain
Arlabose to join me for a cold supper and told him of my plan to
vacate the hospital. At once he assigned men to move the patients, but
they had only two spare stretchers and after one trip failed to return.
In order to locate other bearers I went to the college, escorting sev-
eral of my charges who, fearful that they were to be abandoned, found
the strength to climb the hill with me. I returned with four young
Armenians who carried two patients and then disappeared. Again I
went looking for bearers but saw that all of the men were preparing
for their own escape from Marash, and I could not blame them for
wishing to conserve their strength. I met Paul, and together we re-
turned to the hospital to carry the patients ourselves. There we found
Dr. Wilson, Mr. Lyman, and Dr. Crathern. They had come to meet
Dr. Mustafa, the Turkish representative, who stood with them and
his young flag bearer in the corridor.
At this point the French troops from the Franciscan Monastery
entered the hospital to rest and warm themselves. Although they had
come only a short distance, they had been under heavy fire and had
been obliged to lie low in the trenches for an hour.9 Lyman explained
to Dr. Mustafa that the conference with General Querette was to be
held in the college, and they pushed their way through the French and
Armenian soldiers to the rear exit.
One of the five remaining patients was a wounded Turk, and we
decided that he might be an asset at the Emergency Hospital if the
Nationalist forces should take possession the following morning. Cap-
tain Arlabose was resting on my couch, and as I entered to speak with
him a soldier came with the order to depart. Perhaps Dr. Mustafa had
arrived too late to cancel the retreat. We let these troops move out and
then bore the Turkish patient up the hill, discovering why none of
the stretcher bearers had returned for a second load: by the time we
had deposited our burden in the Emergency Hospital we were ex-
hausted. Four wounded Armenian men now remained in the German
Hospital, immobilized by huge infected and stinking wounds. There
was also the woman dying from the wound in her abdomen. While
I was considering whether or not I should return and stay with them
that night, soldiers brought one of their Senegalese comrades into the
Emergency Hospital, his right forearm a mass of mangled flesh. A
grenade had exploded as he was about to throw it. Fragments had
penetrated both his legs. I searched for someone to help and dis-
covered that in this hospital, as in the other, there was neither doctor
l68 : THE MARASH REBELLION

nor nurse, although there was an able attendant. Of all the staff a
volunteer worker, Theodore Bulbulian, had chosen to stay where he
had been helping during the three weeks of fighting. "Theodore!" I
exclaimed, "the Armenian men have been told to leave with the
French. Why are you still here?"
"If I go, who will look after these patients?" he asked. Theodore
and I placed a tourniquet around the soldier's arm, trimmed off the
shredded flesh with scissors, and gave him a shot of morphine. The
poor fellow kept suggesting in French that he needed an operation.
Dr. Wilson was in conference with Dr. Mustafa and the French officers,
dealing with the fate of nearly ten thousand surviving Christians. Two
days were to pass before he was free to look at a patient, but this
soldier was the first to receive his attention.
Still uncertain as to whether or not I should return to the hospital,
I searched for Dr. Wilson. The compound was in a turmoil; groups
of refugees were pouring out of the gate to follow the French troops.
Miss Blakely was moving about with a flashlight insisting that the
men should all leave, but many of the wives insisted on going with
their husbands. I came across Badveli Asadour Solakian, the young pas-
tor whose wife and children had been slain. "Are you not going with
the French?" he asked me.
"No," I replied. "I don't like the idea of traveling to Islahiye' in
weather like this!"
"If I knew for certain that I would freeze to death, I would go rather
than stay here!" he answered.
I found Mr. Lyman talking with Major Roze des Ordons. The con-
versation indicated that Dr. Mustafa had left with his flag bearer some
twenty minutes earlier, and that he had refused an escort.
"One of you Americans should be at the hospital tomorrow morn-
ing," said the major, "The Turkish leaders expect us there at eight
o'clock! The general is writing a letter with his apologies for leaving
so abruptly, but he promises to return soon." It was now obvious that
I should go back to the hospital, since it would be dangerous to make
the trip after daylight.
"Should you not leave an officer here to deal with them? Then they
might believe that you expect to return!" replied Mr. Lyman.
"A good idea. I shall propose it to the general," said the major. "The
officer would be under your protection, of course?"
I walked with Major Roze des Ordons to the staff headquarters to
learn whether I might be needed to escort an officer to the hospital.
General Qu£rette reacted favorably to Mr. Lyman's suggestion. His
 VICTORY FOR THE N A T I O N A L I S T S : l6g

staff officers were standing there, waiting for the order to depart. When
the general explained the situation, a captain stepped forward and
volunteered to stay in Marash but expressed the wish to be quartered
at the college with Dr. and Mrs. Wilson. I walked back to the college
with this lionhearted captain, whose name I neglected to record.10
It was time for me to return to my post at the hospital. Hearing the
movement of horsemen coming across the seminary compound, I
paused to let them pass. General Querette and his staff, the last of
the garrison to leave, were starting out on the sixty-mile journey. They
stopped, and one of them, probably Lieutenant Colonel Thibault,
spoke to me in perfect English, "One of the Americans should be at the
hospital to express our regrets to the Turkish leaders. The general
gave Dr. Mustafa our terms for an armistice, but it was too late to
bring back our troops. We could not tell him that we were leaving
Marash!"
"I am going to the hospital now," I replied.
"Good! May we ask you to take this sergeant with you? He is too
weak to make the journey in this weather. Take good care of him!"
They bade us good-by and rode off toward the barracks.
The sergeant, whose arm had been amputated, had just been released
from the Emergency Hospital in order to go with his comrades. I sug-
gested that he go back to that hospital as a patient, but he feared that
the Turks might kill the French wounded. "Let me go with you!" he
begged. It was snowing heavily, and I felt some relief that I had a
companion and that we could sleep under shelter instead of marching
all night in the snow. We walked down to the hospital and passed
through a hole which had been breached in the wall to the rear door
which stood open, blocked with a mass of ice. In the darkness I stum-
bled over the feet of someone on the floor in the corner. I shook the
seated figure and realized that he was dead. His head was covered with
a bloodstained cloth. "It is probably a wounded Armenian," I said.
"He came to the hospital and died waiting for a doctor."
Inside a room protected from snipers' bullets by sandbags in the
windows, I lighted a lantern and went to see my patients. The old
woman with the abdominal wound was in great distress. All that I
could find to relieve her pain was chloral hydrate which as a chemist
I had learned was a pain killer, but I did not know the dosage. "Better
to give her too much rather than not enough—she is not likely to get
any surgery," I thought. She slept quietly.
Upstairs I found the four male patients beside themselves with fear.
They had pulled the bedclothes over their heads and were pretending
170 : THE MARASH R E B E L L I O N

to be dead. Uncovering one, I tried to reassure him; I was going to

stay with them. Still frightened, he drew his fingers across his throat
to indicate what each of them feared.
My French companion could not be persuaded to sleep in one of the
comfortable ward beds but insisted that he remain near me and not
with the Armenian patients. So we returned to my quarters. The food
cupboard had already been stripped of bread, fruit, and other items;
only a few tins of canned goods were to be found. We opened a tin of
pears for a midnight snack.
No sooner had we stretched out for sleep, fully dressed with our
mattresses on the floor, when we heard the tramp of feet in the yard
outside and a banging on the front door. Believing that the Turks had
come, I thought it best to invite them in and called to them to come to
the back door. There I met them with a lantern and found that they
were Armenians from the Franciscan Monastery who belatedly had
decided to follow the French. "Which way did they go?" they de-
manded.
"By way of the barracks," I replied, pointing up the hill. As I turned
back into the hallway I was shocked to find a second body sprawled on
the floor opposite the form still seated in the corner by the doorway.
In the darkness we had overlooked this one, concealed in an alcove at
the end of the hallway. Disturbed by the presence of the two corpses, I
covered them with sheets and weighted the edges to keep the icy wind
from blowing them away. Had I examined these bodies more carefully,
I would never have remained in the hospital that night!
About two hours after midnight the sergeant and I were awakened
by a furious succession of explosions which seemed to come from
every quarter of the city, accompanied by heavy rifle fire from the
region of the barracks. "Can it be that the Turks have discovered the
French evacuation and are attacking the column?" I asked the ser-
geant.
"More likely," he replied, "our forces are covering their withdrawal
by a last-minute bombardment." Later we learned from the account
given by Colonel Normand that the French had indeed delayed until
last of all the withdrawal of their artillery. In order to deceive any
Turkish troops remaining in the city, each battery fired a salvo of shells
with delayed-action fuses in order to create the effect of a continuous
bombardment.11
Added to this was a terrifying spectacle. The entire sky became red
from a great conflagration. The Turkish barracks, in which part of
the Armenian Legion had been quartered, was on fire. Although
 V I C T O R Y FOR THE NATIONALISTS : 1 7 1

Colonel Normand and General Querette had done everything possible

to conceal their withdrawal, the spectacular fire announced the retreat
to the entire city. In it the surplus ammunition, much of it left behind
by the Turks, began to explode, giving the impression of an intense
barrage of cannon and rifle fire.
At the college Dr. Wilson and his wife were awakened by the roar of
exploding ammunition. Believing that this needless piece of vandalism
would infuriate the Turks, they woke the French captain who had
volunteered to remain in Marash and advised him to leave in order to
escape Turkish wrath.
"This was not done by the French!" exclaimed the captain. "We
planned to move out as quietly as possible, without attracting any at-
tention."
"Could the legionnaires quartered in the barracks have done it?"
asked Dr. Wilson.
"Yes, so that the Turks would not have the use of the munitions
stored there," replied the officer. It seems more probable, however, that
the fire was set by civilians passing the barracks on their way to join
the French, for the legion was under orders to assemble at the camp
south of the city long before 2:00 A.M. when the fire was at its height.
Whatever the cause, the Armenians remaining in Marash were to pay
dearly for the destruction of the barracks.
The Wilsons provided the captain with extra warm clothing, a
blanket, and some chocolate and sent him out into the night four
hours after his comrades had started on the long march.12

The Flight of Refugees

When Captain Benedetti received the final order to withdraw, he
notified the Franciscans to assemble at the monastery gate at 6:00 P.M.
without informing any others. Under normal circumstances a trip to
the barracks required only twenty minutes, but on this occasion the
men had to crawl through the shallow trench past a mosque. The
Turks heard the movement and opened fire, forcing the soldiers to lie
low for nearly an hour.
"What would have happened if the thirty-seven hundred refugees
in the church had been allowed to accompany the troops?" asks Father
Mure". Once the detachment had passed the danger zone, the priest im-
plored the commander to permit the refugees to follow. The captain
172 : THE MARASH R E B E L L I O N

assented, and the priest hastily wrote a note and sent it back with a
brave legionnaire named Haig who later reported to the Franciscan
father that indescribable disorder reigned in the monastery. The gate-
way was so jammed that some two hundred fifty had climbed over the
walls to escape.13 In their fear many did not use the trenches. The
next morning I could see, across the street from the German Hospital,
what appeared to be a low, snow-covered wall near the French dressing
station, where no wall had existed. It was a windrow of bodies. Those
who fled the monastery and turned the corner had been mowed down
by Turkish fire as they approached the road leading to the barracks.
The accounts given me later by individuals who took part in this
flight illustrate best of all the experiences of the nameless thousands
who followed the French.
Avedis Inglizian, a master builder who supervised most of the new
NER construction, had rebuilt his home next to the Franciscan Monas-
tery after returning from exile. He never deserted this during the
fighting, but moved his family to the monastery and went back with
his cousin Aregh to defend it. On the night of the French withdrawal
he saw the movement of troops and understood its meaning. Deter-
mined to go with them he ran to the monastery to collect his wife and
ten-year-old son Haroutune. With the greatest difficulty he fought his
way through the mass struggling to come out and found pandemonium
inside among the refugees. Finally he was able to bring his family as
far as the German Hospital, together with many others. It was this
group which had entered the compound and demanded to know which
way the French had gone, and whom I had directed to the barracks.
Avedis left his wife and son at the college under the protection of
the missionaries, then he proceeded to the barracks and across the
ravine to the French camp.14
Dr. Vartan Poladian, whose wife had been shot during the first hours
of fighting, gathered his daughters Armenouhi and Zabel at the monas-
tery to seek refuge at the college, but in the darkness and confusion
Armenouhi became separated from her father and sister. Nearing the
hospital she heard a baby crying and wondered whether like herself
the baby had lost its mother.15 The next morning, while salvaging
food supplies in a house in that neighborhood, I found a well-nourished
baby on the porch, frozen and lifeless. Surely the mother must have
faced the terrible necessity of choosing which one of her children she
could carry!
Arsen Der Ohannesian and his wife Makrouhi decided to follow the
French. Since they had no blankets for protection in the subzero
 VICTORY FOR THE N A T I O N A L I S T S : 173

weather, Arsen pulled down one of the monastery drapes for a substi-
tute. It happened that Father Mure passed at that moment. Instead of
reprimanding Arsen he said, "Take all you want, my son!" He himself
was preparing to depart with the French and had promised not to
inform the refugees, but many of them understood what was taking
place. Shukri, a muleteer who occupied the same room, suggested that
Arsen should follow him, for he knew the road well, and so together
they passed through the trenches to the hospital and the college. There
Miss Blakely spotted her former pupil. "Makrouhi, I am glad to see
you, but I can keep only the women, much as I would like to keep all
of you."
"No," replied Arsen. "We go together. If we are to die, let us die
together." 16
The pastor of the First Evangelical Church had been misled into
believing that the secret withdrawal of the legionnaires from his com-
pound was merely the prelude to encirclement of the city by the French.
He understood that he had been deceived when the barracks went up
in flames—the French no longer had any need for theml It was already
too late to follow the troops and too dangerous to remain in the school
buildings of his own campus, and so he led his family and his flock of
nearly two thousand to the closest stronghold, the Armenian Catholic
Church. They reached it safely for the chete had fled from the city.17
At the Armenian Catholic Church Archbishop Avedis Arpiarian
waited in vain for a message from Father Pascal, who had risked his
life to confront the French officers and to learn their motive for with-
drawal. On the night of 10 February the burning of the barracks con-
firmed the fears of the Armenian defenders, and the next morning, a
bright sunny day, they could actually see the black line of troops
stretching from the Ak Su toward El Oghlou and knew that they had
been deceived and deserted. On the crests of the hills around Marash
they saw also groups of the Turkish Nationalists, already aware of the
French retreat, and wondered if it was too late to attempt escape. Most
of them believed that anyone who remained in the city would be mas-
sacred.
The Kherlakians went to the First Church to consult with the pastor
and with those who still defended the adjoining Boulgourjian house
about the wisdom of trying to reach the retreating French. Badveli
Abraham advised against it, for flight in broad daylight would mean
certain death. Others argued that during the past two days the Ar-
menians had been free to move and even to loot in the city. Hagop
Agha Kherlakian announced that he intended to try to reach the
174 : THE MARASH REBELLION

French column, and all who wished could follow him. It was ten
o'clock when they surged into the street and headed for the southern
exit to the Islahiye road. Dr. Haroutune Der Ghazarian divided his
money with his two sisters and together they ran through the streets.
Avedis Kherlakian was wounded almost immediately and limped back
to the church; others returned with him, frightened by the Turkish
fire. Hagop Agha, his wife, and his daughter were killed before they
could reach the outskirts of the city. Haigouhi Der Ghazarian ran
until exhausted, and was taken to the safety of the municipal prison
by Turks who recognized her. She and her sister survived. Their
brother Artin was one of the fortunate twenty-nine who reached the
French column out of an estimated eight hundred who had gambled
with fate for their lives, the odds being thirty to one against those who
ran the Turkish gauntlet.18
Setrak Agha's sister also fled with' her family, but when it became
evident that they could not get out of the city safely, they took refuge
in a vacant house and remained undisturbed for several days. Finally
their presence was revealed when a three-year-old daughter cried and
attracted the attention of Turkish neighbors, and they were all killed.
Those who had chosen to remain knew only that the fugitives had
come under attack. They abandoned the Boulgourjian house for the
greater security of the Armenian Catholic Church, swelling the number
there to about three thousand. At noon the refugees in the courtyard
heard the shouts of Turks passing the cathedral in procession. Curious
to know what they were celebrating, Victoire, nine-year-old daughter of
Setrak Agha, begged to be held high enough to look over the wall. At
the head of the procession a Turk was carrying a man's head on a pole.
Victoire recoiled in horror, recognizing that it was the head of her be-
loved grandfather. To the Turks Hagop Agha represented the hated
French invader, whom he had befriended, and he had also been a
member of parliament and loyal to the sultan, against whom the
Turkish Nationalists were revolting.19
 CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

A PRECARIOUS PEACE

Events of 11 February 1920

When the sergeant and I woke, the city was strangely silent and beauti-
ful in spite of tragedy, for the sun shone on snow which had fallen
during the night. I boiled a big pot of rice for my patients. To my sur-
prise the woman with the abdominal wound had not only survived but
was hungry. A liquid diet seemed to be more appropriate than rice,
so I opened a tin of tomato soup and divided it into three portions for
her, the sergeant, and myself.
Since we were expecting the Turkish representatives the sergeant
donned the white uniform of a hospital orderly as a disguise. Mean-
while at the college Mrs. Wilson was preparing a white flag and arm
bands with the large red label US for her husband and Mr. Lyman,
who had letters for the Turkish leaders.
Until the French retreat Dr. Wilson had devoted himself exclusively
to surgery. With the departure of all the NER medical personnel and the
French military surgeon as well, he was left with the tremendous bur-
den of the French wounded added to his own patients and many new
cases of frozen extremities to be amputated. But now he felt the
responsibility for positive action to save the thousands of Armenians
who were at the mercy of the Turks. He feared a general slaughter if
undisciplined bands should enter the places of refuge in the city, for
each time an Armenian stronghold had been overwhelmed the chetd
had annihilated everyone. It was therefore urgent to send an appeal to
the Turkish leaders asking for protection by the gendarmerie and
troops of the regular army. With this in mind he had prepared a
number of letters after the departure of Dr. Mustafa and had them
translated into Turkish. That night he enjoyed only half an hour's
176 : THE MARASH R E B E L L I O N

sleep, for shortly after he had gone to bed the barracks had erupted in
flames and he went out to direct the new flood of panic-stricken refu-
gees. At 5:30 A.M. he prepared still another letter to the mutasarrif.
Shortly after nine o'clock Dr. Wilson and Mr. Lyman started out for
the German Hospital, reluctantly wearing the arm bands and carrying
the white flag Mrs. Wilson had prepared. They wished to meet Dr.
Mustafa and to give him the letters Wilson had prepared as well as
one from General Que"rette to the Turkish leaders.
At the hospital the sergeant and I had just seated ourselves for
breakfast when we heard men approaching the rear entrance. The ser-
geant hid himself in bed, expecting the Turkish delegates, but it was
Dr. Wilson and Mr. Lyman, stamping their feet free of the freshly
fallen snow. They recounted the events of the night at the college, and
how they had sent the French captain off alone after the burning of
the barracks. "And what have you got under this sheet?" asked Dr.
Wilson, pointing to the shrouded figure in the doorway.
"Someone came here wounded, and there was no one to help him," I
replied.
Dr. Wilson removed the sheet and exclaimed in astonishment, "This
is the Turkish lad who carried the flag for Dr. Mustafa!" Indeed he was
still grasping the flagstaff, and the flag had fallen over his face. In the
darkness I had mistaken it for a bandage. There was a bullet hole in
the boy's forehead. We pulled the body away from the wall and noted
that the bullet had passed into the wall directly behind his head. He
had been shot while seated on the floor in the doorway. Horrified at
this discovery we looked at each other, the same thought in each of
our minds: "The Turkish leaders are expected at any moment. What
will they do when they see this lad, killed in the American hospital
with a flag of truce in his hands?"
"Get the body away from the door! Put him in a bed until we have
a chance to talk to Dr. Mustafa," exclaimed Mr. Lyman. He helped me
do this. There was a great pool of clotted blood on the floor which I
cleaned up. x
' This was scarcely completed when Dr. Wilson saw the second sheeted
form in the alcove, partially concealed by an overturned table. He
pulled the sheet away and stood in shocked silence. "It is Dr. Mustafa.
We are done forl" he exclaimed. There lay the Turk who had come at
our invitation, killed in our institution. What mercy could we expect
when the Turks discovered this? Dr. Mustafa, too, had been felled by a
rifle bullet through his skull. On the floor were two empty cartridge
casings, one French and one Turkish, which indicated that there were
two assassins.
 A PRECARIOUS PEACE : 177

"We must go to the Turkish leaders and tell them what has hap-
pened. We cannot wait for them to discover it," said Mr. Lyman.
Dr. Wilson agreed, but asked, "Was Dr. Mustafa killed on his way
back to the Turkish headquarters? Or had he already been there and
was returning with a message?" They searched the Turkish doctor's
pockets and found the notes he had taken of the conditions General
Que"rette had specified for a cease-fire. This indicated that he had been
assassinated on his way to the konak.
"He refused an escort!" interjected Mr. Lyman. 'He said he was
not returning by way of the hospital, but across the fields to the
konak."
Dr. Wilson turned to me. "Kerr, get out of here right away! Any
Turk who finds you here, with Dr. Mustafa lying there dead, will cut
your throat. Go to the college and tell my wife what has happened.
Lyman and I are going to find the Turkish leaders."
The two men opened the front gate of the compound, holding their
white flag, and stepped out into the street. I stood watching, fascinated
by their daring, for across the street was the blockhouse from which
snipers had killed the French sentry as well as two hospital employees
who had indiscreetly peered through windows above the gate. The
sound of firing could be heard in the city. Undoubtedly this was the
attack made on those who fled from the Boulgourjian house and the
Armenian Catholic Church in their attempt to escape from the city
and join the French. Were our two American leaders known well
enough in this quarter to walk down the street in safety?
Hastily I fed my patients, rice to the four men on the second floor
and a bowl of soup to the elderly woman. Then the sergeant and I
climbed the hill to the college, carrying the Turkish youth's blood-
stained flag of truce. At the college the Americans were busy caring for
the wounded and all were in good spirits except Mrs. Wilson, whose
helper Eliza had died during the night. This young woman and her
mother had been helping Mrs. Wilson with her housekeeping during
the siege in return for shelter, and they had become much-loved mem-
bers of our family. During a sharp attack on the mission compound
two days earlier, a bullet had struck the stones bordering the front door
of the Wilson house and ricocheted down the stairwell to the basement
where Eliza had taken refuge. The bullet struck her between her shoul-
ders. I had assisted Dr. Wilson in the operation and noted his sorrow
when he found the bullet embedded in the spinal cord. Now Snyder
and I carried her body out of the hospital and covered it with the
blanket which her mother insisted be placed over her daughter to
shield her from the icy wind.
178 : THE M A R A S H R E B E L L I O N

The news I brought of the death of Dr. Mustafa and Mustafa Balji,
his flag bearer, brought gloom to all. Everyone realized that a violent
reaction could be expected from the Turks. The gloom was dispelled
and gave way to relief when shortly before noon our two leaders re-
turned, accompanied by eight gendarmes.1
Then we heard the story of their adventures after leaving the hos-
pital. From an embankment beside the road not far from the hospital
a man waved and called to them, "Where is Dr. Mustafa?"
"I cannot tell you," replied Mr. Lyman. "Take us to your officials
and I shall tell them." The Turk joined them and soon a gendarme
also. By the time they reached the konak the size of their escort gave
them a sense of security, although each new addition demanded in-
formation about Dr. Mustafa.
At the government headquarters they found no officials but were
told to wait, the officials would be called. Later they understood that
not only much of the civil population and most of the Nationalist
forces, but also the government officials and the military commanders
had left the city, fearing encirclement by the French. After an hour
two of the military leaders, Kuluj Ali and Arslan Bey, together with
their aides, arrived from the village of Kerhan northeast of Marash.
Mr. Lyman first told them that the French had withdrawn. The
Turkish leaders replied that they were aware of the French maneuver
but had moved their own forces to the north to avoid being trapped.
With some difficulty Mr. Lyman persuaded them that the entire
French garrison was headed for Islahiye'. The Turks could not conceal
their astonishment and immense joy at this discovery that the vic-
torious French were retreating, and that defeat had turned to victory
for the Nationalist forces.
Mr. Lyman then announced, "I regret to tell you that Dr. Mustafa
was killed last night, by whom we do not know." This news had ap-
parently been anticipated, for they showed no surprise. In any case
the assurance of victory outweighed the unfortunate loss of the Marash
leader. At this point Mr. Lyman turned to the black bearded Kurdish
captain, Kuluj Ali Bey. "You have a custom that one who brings good
news has the right to ask a favor."
"Whatever you demand I shall grant it!" replied Kuluj Ali.
"I ask you to stop the killing of the Christiansl"
Kuluj Ali turned to the junior officers and commanded that the
order should be taken to all units: there was to be no more killing of
civilians. "Show us where the Armenians are, and we shall post guards
to protect them," he said and gave orders to place four squads of
gendarmes at the disposal of the Americans.
 A PRECARIOUS PEACE : 179

Dr. Wilson suggested that they first place sentries in the American
Mission compound and then proceed to other points. While waiting
for these detachments, he considered the need for a gesture of concilia-
tion to the Turks and announced through Mr. Lyman, "The German
Hospital is at your disposal. You may take your wounded there." 2
The arrival of the gendarmes with the two American leaders lifted
the spirits of the refugees as well as the American personnel, all of
whom had had the foreboding that doomsday was at hand. For three
weeks the Armenians had faced death, and now there was to be a
respite and perhaps security. Mrs. Wilson fell into the arms of her
husband, while Bessie Hardy suppressed any outward sign of the joy
she must have felt over the safe return of her James Lyman.
Gendarmes were stationed at each gate of the mission compound,
into which nearly a thousand Armenian women and children were
crowded. The remainder of the detachment then went on to the Ger-
man Hospital. Since that was to be in my special charge, I went with
them and showed them the bodies of Dr. Mustafa and his young flag
bearer. The Turkish officer volunteered the information that Lutfi
Efendi, a prominent pharmacist who was Dr. Mustafa's brother, would
be notified to claim the body.
We then proceeded to the Franciscan Monastery. In the streets we
passed the debris of a retreating army: scores of hand grenades, a
riding saddle, and anything that a soldier might discard when he
realizes that he is setting out on a long march in the worst winter
weather. Again I noticed the row of snow-covered bodies of those who
were shot as they fled to the barracks. Further on a dead horse ex-
plained the isolated saddle. Its owner had at first salvaged it, then
realized that if he had to walk, it would be of no value to him.
On the plaza in front of the monastery lay the body of a little girl,
perhaps the one of whom Badveli Abraham wrote, "A mother with
three of her children tried to escape. . . . One of the children was
shot and fell to the ground. The mother returned to our building with
the other two, while her wounded daughter, stretched out on the road
began to cry: 'Mother, I am shot and am dying. Why do you leave
me here?'" 3
The gendarme commander led his men by a detour to the eastern
side of the monastery, then turned to us. "Until now, anyone who
went beyond this corner was shotl One of you must go first and tell
the Armenians not to shoot." Perhaps too readily I stepped forward
into the open plaza. Rifle barrels projected from the barricade in
front of the main gate, but fortunately the Armenian defenders recog-
nized my uniform. Mr. Lyman and Dr. Wilson joined me, and the
l8o : THE MARASH R E B E L L I O N

Armenians shouted, "The Americans have come!" and rushed out to

embrace us.
Inside the monastery there were between twenty five hundred and
three thousand refugees. They knew that the French had deserted
them and now they were preparing themselves for death. Stepan
Chorbajian, our pharmacist, told me that he had already given his
wife tablets with which to poison herself and their children when the
Turks came to kill them.
Mr. Lyman explained to the leaders that the Turks had agreed to
protect them provided they gave up their arms. The Armenians
realized that with only twelve rifles they could resist for only a short
time. And yet all knew that there had been no survivors on other
occasions when weapons had been surrendered. They had no choice
but to trust that the American mediation might insure their safety.
When it became evident that no resistance would be offered, gen-
darmes were posted at the gate to guard the monastery from any attack
by the guerrillas among the Turkish population. The remainder of
the detachment went on with Mr. Lyman and Dr. Wilson to Beit-
shalom Orphanage. Frances Buckley and Maria Timm were overjoyed
to see the two Americans and to know that the danger of massacre had
passed. The four hundred boys looked hollow-eyed and under-
nourished but were proud of having endured the siege. The winter
supply of food supplies intended for the orphans had, of course, been
shared with the refugees, with the result that all had been on a diet
which was very low in calories.
When Dr. Wilson and Mr. Layman arrived at the Armenian Cath-
olic Church and proposed that the Armenians surrender their arms in
return for the promise of protection by the Turks, the archibishop
held a conference with the leaders. Setrak Agha Kherlakian has written
an account of the situation which I have used in the following descrip-
tion. The Armenians hesitated to surrender, fearing reprisals for their
successful defense, and were confident that for a limited period they
could continue to resist. The Americans replied that both Arslan Bey
and Kuluj Ali Bey had given them their assurance that there would be
no reprisals, and that a conference with representatives of the Arme-
nian communities would be held on the following day. Setrak Agha
insisted that his men should retain their arms until after the confer-
ence, but that a cease-fire should begin immediately. Kuluj Ali agreed
to this and issued orders that the chete were to cease their attacks.
After the departure of the gendarmes the day was comparatively
peaceful, with only sporadic fire, but at 9:00 P.M. a strong attack was
 A PRECARIOUS PEACE : l8l

made on the church. The defenders did not return the fire, but yelled
at the chete, demanding that they obey Kuluj Ali's order. After a few
hours the attack ceased. The next morning the guerrillas brought tins
of kerosene, obviously in preparation for an attempt to burn the
church, and savagely demanded surrender. They were in no mood to
heed Kuluj Ali's orders. Finally they demanded that the Armenian
leaders negotiate directly with them and asked that three representa-
tives come out. Only one person volunteered, a young physician, Dr.
Parsegh Sevian, who stepped outside and argued with the chete leaders
that since the French had departed both the Turks and the Armenians
should resume peaceful coexistence.
At this point Dr. Wilson and Mr. Lyman appeared with Badveli
Abraham. Then came delegates from Beitshalom and the Franciscan
monastery, and finally Kuluj Ali with an escort. The Kurdish captain
made a speech asking for resumption of the "traditional Turco-
Armenian friendship" and promised tolerance on the part of the
Turkish people. Setrak Agha had posted his armed guards so that
Kuluj Ali could see that the Armenians were able to continue defend-
ing themselves. The group of delegates then went to the government
buildings for the official conference, and Setrak Agha agreed to deliver
all weapons the following morning.4
After the surrender of arms Turkish guards entered the church,
pulled down the French flag, trampled on it, and threw the rags into
the filthy area which for three weeks had been used as an open toilet
by the thousands of refugees.5
In no other buildings of Marash were there any Christian survivors.
Altogether in the four compounds ninety-seven hundred Armenians
remained out of the twenty-two thousand in the city before the fighting
began. No one had counted the multitude who had fled with the
French forces, nor did we know at that time how many had reached
Islahiye.

The Assassination of Dr. Mustafa

On the afternoon of 11 February Lutfi the pharmacist came with a
few companions for the body of his brother Dr. Mustafa. He wept
and kissed him, then placed his hand on my chest and spoke earnestly
to me. Although I could not understand him, I assumed that he was
reminding me that his brother had come at our invitation and had
182 : THE MARASH R E B E L L I O N

been killed under our roof. The mourners carried away the bodies of
the doctor and his flag bearer.
Later that day we reviewed carefully the facts available concerning
the double assassination. As I mentioned earlier, two rifle cartridges,
one French and one Turkish, were found on the floor at the site of the
shooting, and we concluded from this evidence that there were two
assassins. It seemed unlikely that either a French soldier or an Ar-
menian legionnaire would be carrying a Turkish rifle, while Armenian
volunteers might carry any type, purchased prior to or captured during
the battle.
The bullet which had killed Dr. Mustafa had passed through his
forehead, then through a door which was spattered with brain tissue.
We found it embedded in a wall of the room beyond. Thus we could
trace the line of the bullet's flight accurately to its origin where the
assassin had stood in the corridor. In the corridor wall was a small
hole made by a pistol bullet, which indicated that Dr. Mustafa had
fired at his pursuer and missed. Immediately, we concluded, the
pursuer had fired and killed the doctor. Remembering the hysteria of
my patients when I had returned to the hospital late that night, I
asked them if they had heard any shooting.
"Yes indeed! There were three shots. And a man was crying 'Aman,
aman!'" This cry of terror and for mercy had undoubtedly come from
the young flag bearer. He had been armed with only the flag of truce,
and the second pursuer had blocked the doorway. The boy must have
kept crouching lower and lower to avoid the muzzle of the rifle
pointed at him until he was seated on the floor where we found him,
the white flag covering the bullet hole in his forehead. The bullet had
passed into the wall directly behind his head.
A number of Armenians have claimed credit for the assassination
in the belief that this deed saved several thousand Armenians from
ambush and slaughter. Three such braggarts embellished their stories
with incorrect details of place and circumstances which prove them
to be false. I had found the bodies within half an hour after the vic-
tims' deaths, just where they had been killed.
Over a period of fifty years the true details of this event came to
me in the most unexpected manner. I had returned to the University
of Pennsylvania in the summer of 1920 for graduate study, but nine
months later accepted an urgent request from Mr. Lyman that I
return to Marash. Hearing of this, a professor of physics, Arsen Lucian,
approached me with a request that I take some money to his mother
in Marash.
 A P R E C A R I O U S P E A C E : 183

"I shall do that gladly," I replied, "but do you not plan to visit her
yourself?"
"I can never return to that city!" replied Professor Lucian. "A rela-
tive of mine killed a prominent Turk there—a certain Dr. Mustafa."
He knew nothing of the details.
In 1924, shortly after my return from a second period of service with
NER in Marash and Lebanon, my wife and I were invited to the home
of an Armenian woman in Cincinnati. I had known her well in
Marash. Other Armenians were present, and the events of 10 February
1920 were discussed. I told of our dismay at the discovery of Dr.
Mustafa's body and of the danger of reprisals against those who
remained in Marash. "Why were they killed?" I asked.
Two of the men began whispering to each other, and then nodded
in agreement; they would explain. "We were following the French
from the Franciscan Monastery and we passed the two Turks with the
white flag. One of our group recognized Dr. Mustafa, well known as
a Young Turk leader. He was witnessing the French evacuation, and
we knew that when he reported this to the Turkish military com-
mander, they would prepare an ambush for us. And so we assigned two
men from our group to follow them and kill them. Otherwise all of us
would have been killed."
Levon Efendi Yenovkian, pharmacist at the German Hospital until
the departure of the Germans in 1918, was the last person to talk with
Dr. Mustafa. Because of their professional relationship he knew him
well. Levon had learned of the French withdrawal and moved his
family to the American Mission compound. There he saw Dr. Mustafa
and his flag bearer, escorted by Dr. Wilson and Mr. Lyman, enter the
college gate. They were followed shortly afterward by General Que-rette
and his staff. Levon waited at the gate, hoping to learn what was going
on.
Mrs. Wilson recorded in her diary that she received Dr. Mustafa in
the college.

Dr. Mustafa was a man of about forty years of age, and good
looking. He gave me a very polite bow as he passed. The General,
a Colonel [Thibault], two Majors [Bernard and Roze des Ordons],
and several other officers received them. They had a session which
lasted nearly three hours. Our men, as well as one of the French
officers, said afterward that he—the Turk—was equal to any
occasion that presented itself. Dr. Mustafa said that in his opinion
five thousand Armenians and Turks were dead in the city. Mr.
184 : THE MARASH R E B E L L I O N

Lyman and Dr. Wilson—judging by the way he talked—said they

knew the Turks were ready to surrender. The French did not tell
Dr. Mustafa that they were leaving at midnight, but left a letter
to be presented to him the next morning at the hospital. . . . Dr.
Mustafa and his flag bearer were allowed to go as soon as some
troops could be gotten out of sight.6

While Mr. Lyman explored outside to make sure that no troops were
moving within sight, Bessie Hardy sat and talked with Dr. Mustafa.7
Lyman then returned and escorted Dr. Mustafa to the college gate,
where Levon was waiting for him. As an old friend he greeted him in
a jocular maner, "Dr. Mustafa, what terrible things have you been up
to?" he asked, pointing to the burning city.
Dr. Mustafa embraced and kissed him, replying that he had just
come from Albustan to make peace, the truth of which Levon doubted.
"And our good friend Dr. Artin? [Dr. Haroutune Der Ghazarian] Is
he well?"
"He is fine!" replied Levon, although he knew merely that he had
taken refuge in the First Church. They embraced once more, and Dr.
Mustafa left the compound accompanied by the boy who carried the
white flag. Levon immediately sought out General Que'rette and asked
whether the French army, a great part of which had already departed,
was to return the next day.
"I don't even know whether the sun will shine tomorrow!" replied
the general. Levon understood that there was no more hope for the
Armenians. He feared, too, that Dr. Mustafa had seen enough to
understand that the French were withdrawing and would inform the
Turkish leaders. If this were the case, they would cut off every means
of escape, hence it was not safe to remain in Marash. Leaving his
family under the protection of the Americans, Levon joined the other
Armenian men who were following the French.8
During this period certain legionnaires took steps to warn their
compatriots in the city that they were being abandoned. Garabed
Gabalian, who served as a courier between General Querette's head-
quarters and the Franciscan Monastery sent a note to his friend
Hovsep Chorbajian revealing the secret that the French were pre-
paring to leave that night. After dark Hovsep and fourteen other
young men climbed over the monastery wall and collected food and
warm clothing in the nearby Chorbajian residence, then they waited
for the expected withdrawal of the troops and followed them through
the trenches to the German Hospital. Two of them fell under the
 A PRECARIOUS PEACE : 185

Turkish fire. Hovsep and one of his cousins were climbing the hill
between the hospital and the Girls' College when Dr. Mustafa and his
flag bearer passed them, descending the hill. A few minutes later they
were alarmed by the sound of rifle shots below them in the area of the
hospital. Soon others of their group came running up the hill toward
them. "We have just killed Dr. Mustafal" exclaimed one of them as he
paused for breath. "We were afraid that he would spread the news
that the French are leaving the city." 9
It was Dr. Mustafa's misfortune to have come to the American Mis-
sion on the very night that thousands of Armenians were moving on
the same pathway to follow the French. Had the Turkish letter
requesting a conference not been maliciously delayed, he could have
come on the previous evening and returned to his base in safety. More-
over the French commander had already shown his desire to reach a
settlement with the Turks rather than to withdraw. Thus the tragic
journey to Islahiye might have been avoided.
It was an ironical twist of fate that the courageous Dr. Mustafa's
suit for peace was regarded as a wrong in the eyes of those who had
argued for continued resistance, for the French withdrawal turned
defeat into victory for the Turks. Hence Dr. Mustafa came to be
regarded as the leader who would have yielded to the French and was
denied his rightful place among the Turkish Lions. His widow was
left to care for a daughter and two sons.
 CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

THE RETREAT TO ISLAHIYfi

General Que'rette and his staff reached the camp at two o'clock on
the morning of 11 February. Only the artillery remained, posted on
the ridges west of Marash to fire farewell salvos at the city. The Ulu
Jami was burning, and at 2:00 A.M. the barracks burst into flames,
"set on fire by the Armenians without the knowledge or order of the
French," wrote Colonel Normand.1
Dr. Elliott wrote about the beauty of the night. "A turquoise sky,
flooded with moonlight over a white world, and across the snow—
stretching as far as the eye could see—a line of camp fires, horses,
wagons, soldiers, refugees . . . camels, donkeys, carts, all a mixture
and confusion of sound and sight." 2
Those who were assured of security, like Dr. Elliott, could afford to
contemplate the beauty of the night, but for the refugees, some three
to five thousand, it was a night of terror, anxiety over missing members
of families, fear of death from cold and exhaustion and hunger, and
uncertainty about what future they could expect at the end of the
journey.
Some who had started to follow the French never reached even the
assembly area. Several of the girls from Bethel Orphanage disappeared
between the barracks and the camp. Mrs. Wilson reports that "a little
girl of seven years was found on the plain by a gendarme. She had
been out there two days and two nights. How she lived is the marvel
of us all. She said: 'I played in the snow, I slept in the snow, and I
ate the snow!' "3
At 3:15 A.M. the signal was given for the column to move from the
camp. Major Bernard's battalion again took its place in the most
dangerous position, this time in the rear in case of pursuit by the
 THE R E T R E A T TO I S L A H I Y E : 187

Turks. The column moved without any attack as far as the Ak Su,
where the chete fired on it, wounding two soldiers and one civilian.
The bridge proved to be a bottleneck, causing delay and confusion. It
was 3:00 P.M. before they reached the deserted village of El Oghlou,
where they camped for the night.4
Some of the legionnaires had picked up a calf along the way and
led it as far as El Oghlou. There they argued over the technique for
converting it into something more edible than the mule meat which
for some time had been their only source of protein. Daniel Akullian,
the boy who had come from Don-Kale to sell his goats and sheep in
Marash, approached the legionnaires. "1 know how to do it! I've
butchered cattle many times." The soldiers laughed, thinking the lad
too small for such a task. Daniel thrust his fingers into the calf's nostrils
and turned its head until the animal fell, then drew his knife and
slaughtered it. The soldiers applauded, while Daniel dressed the
carcass, handed out meat for roasting, and of course kept a portion
for his share.5 Dr. Elliott recorded her surprise and delight when
offered some delicious chunks of beef broiled over coals that night at
El Oghlou.6
Many of the refugees fell from exhaustion and died between Marash
and El Oghlou. Certainly among these were a number of the ninety
patients who had risen from their beds at the German Hospital; also
the elderly and infirm who for three weeks had survived in the
churches with very little to eat.
The Bethel Orphanage girls found it impossible to stay together, for
they were stumbling along in the dark with several thousand others
fleeing from the city. Nevart Deyermenjian had become separated from
the other girls during the trip to the assembly area but kept close to
her uncle. When the army began moving toward the Ak Su she was
thoroughly chilled and exhausted. Her uncle hailed a Senegalese
soldier who drove an army wagon and asked him to give Nevart a lift.
This he did gladly, although it was against orders. He covered her
with a blanket and she slept so soundly that she does not remember
the halt at El Ogholu.
At Bel Pounar she found herself "the loneliest person on earth!
Everyone yelling for lost relatives!" She approached a group seated on
the ground and asked if she might join them. She shared her tarhanna
with them, then went to sleep in the open, and woke to find her
blanket covered with several inches of snow. That was the day of the
great storm. Her breath froze on her woolen scarf. As the refugees
tired and stopped to rest, soldiers were slapping them and admonish-
l88 : THE MARASH REBELLION

ing, "Come on! Don't sit down!" Nevart's uncle found her again and
kept her moving. "It was terrible to see grown men too weak to walk,
and yet girls could keep going!" Fortunately she had been well
nourished, while most of the refugees had been close to starvation for
three weeks.
At Sinjirli, an ancient Hittite settlement, they were encouraged by
Armenian legionnaires to go no further. "Stay here! If you go on you
will die!" There they spent the night in one of the crude huts. The
legionnaires slaughtered some cattle whose stall the refugees had
usurped, and the meat was shared.
The next day the sun was shining. "We went on to Islahiye' walking
between two rows of dead bodies, many of them black. I tried not to
look at them." At Islahiye" the Armenians were breaking open the
stores in the bazaar, but not for loot as Colonel Normand noted,7 it
was a matter of life or death to find food and shelter! Of the fifty-one
girls who had left Bethel Orphanage, only forty reached Islahiye. The
others had perished in the snow.8
Arsen and Makrouhi Der Ohannesian had been separated from
other members of their families since their flight from Saint Stephen's
Church during the early days of the siege but, while following the
retreating French troops, they exchanged information with others, and
by the time the army halted at El Oghlou eleven of the family group
were reunited, although some remained unaccounted for.
Few of the refugees had shoes which were suitable for the long
march over difficult terrain. Arsen tore up the drape which he had
confiscated at the monastery and wrapped strips of it around his wife's
feet. While they were resting, an Armenian passed selling shoes! This
shrewd pedlar, who had been a refugee in the Church of the Forty
Sainted Youths, had participated in the general looting which took
place on 9 February and had appropriated a stock of soft slippers
from the bazaar, and here he was selling them. Arsen bought a pair
each for his mother and for Makrouhi.
The next morning at five o'clock the column started on the second
stage of the march. It was a beautiful day, clear and cold, but there
were hundreds weak from scant nourishment during the siege who
wondered if they had the strength to walk even the next twenty miles
to Bel Pounar.
Like El Oghlou, Bel Pounar was deserted. Here a company of
legionnaires had guarded the depot of munitions and food, none of
which ever reached Marash. The houses had not been destroyed, but
Colonel Normand gave orders that the refugees should not enter the
town, for they had burned some houses at El Oghlou.
 THE RETREAT TO ISLAHIYE : 189

The refugees woke to find themselves covered with snow. It was

Friday 13 February. Father Mur£ wrote that he was covered to a
depth of fifteen centimeters,9 and it was only the beginning of a bliz-
zard, the worst in the memory of the oldest people. The French began
the final stage of their march at six o'clock. Ordinarily they could have
reached Islahiye within five hours.
The soldiers came through the snow holding their rifles in front of
them, pushing the straggling civilians aside. The army and the caravan
of carts and camels went ahead, breaking a trail. The refugees fol-
lowed in single file, between the walls of snow on either side. An icy
wind drove the snow in their faces, blinding their vision. It froze on
the manes of horses, and many of them fell and died.10 The Senegalese
soldiers, unused to such winters, suffered terribly from frozen hands
and feet. After reaching Islahiy£ one hundred fifty of them had frozen
limbs amputated.11 Soldiers and refugees alike stopped to rest, fell
asleep, and froze to death.
Lieutenant Colonel Thibault was moved with pity. "These unhappy
people, worn out by the first two stages of the journey and numbed
with cold, sank down prey to an irresistible desire to sleep and never
stirred again. The snow formed their shroud. It was truly a hecatomb!
The road from Bel Pounar to Islahiyd was staked out by clusters of
corpses." 12
Dr. Elliott, who walked among the Armenians the whole way,
noticed the manner in which mothers carried their small children, the
child on the mother's back with hands clutched against her breast.
The doctor kept covering the children's exposed feet while checking
their overall condition. It was difficult to convince a mother that she
was carrying a dead baby, but finally she would let go the hands
and trudge on mechanically. Dr. Elliott encountered some fifty such
cases.13 Nearly all children carried in this manner died. Children who
walked most of the way survived; those whom soldiers out of compas-
sion placed on carts or on animals froze to death.
By late afternoon they had reached the hamlet of Sinjirli, little more
than halfway to Islahiye". In ten hours they had covered less than ten
miles. Arsen offered money to a French soldier driving a cart, asking
that Makrouhi be allowed to ride.
"I don't want your money," replied the soldier, "and I cannot take
your wife. She would freeze to death riding. Why don't you stop here
in one of these huts? The rear guard is to spend the night here." He
gave Arsen some biscuits.
There were only seven or eight huts, each of them already crowded.
No villagers were in sight. Arsen and Makrouhi pushed their way
1QO : THE MARASH R E B E L L I O N

into one of the windowless thatched roof dwellings. A partition sepa-

rated the single room into quarters for the family and shelter for the
cattle, but the cattle found their places already crowded by the
Armenians. The room was filled with smoke from a wood fire burning
in the center, for there was no chimney. Someone climbed to the roof
and opened a hole for the smoke to escape, and the legionnaires
slaughtered a cow to provide meat which they cooked over the coals.
The next morning, footsore but rested, they resumed the journey to
Islahiye". The snow was twenty inches deep, but the storm was over
and the sun was shining. The beauty of the landscape was marred by
the hundreds of bodies lying beside the path opened through the deep
snow by the passage of the French army. The storm had taken its
heaviest toll in this last stage of the journey. Some of the villagers had
returned and were robbing the dead of clothing.
They reached Islahiy^ after walking about four hours. At the station
crowds of refugees were milling around, each one searching for missing
relatives. There Makrouhi found her brothers and her sister Marenne
and learned that five of the eleven in the family had died during the
march to Islahiye'.14
The Reverend Pascal Maljian gives a moving account of the last
day of this epic journey.

We marched for three days, having nothing to eat or drink but

snow. We climbed the mountains, descended, only to climb again
and descend. It was a new Israel searching for the Promised Land
of Cilicia. To lose one's mind would be the least of mortal agony.
We had been famished, fatigued, and without sleep for three
weeks [and were] grieved to have our native city in flames and at
the mercy of the Turks who would have returned to it triumphant
after having seen the famous 412th Regiment moving away from it
in the distance; grieved with a hopelessness of soul because we
knew not what destiny waited for us at each step. We marched in
order not to freeze nor to become prey to the wolves or the Turks,
and we marched looking for a light or to hear the whistle of a
train.
When I found myself at the point of yielding to fatigue and
dying for sleep, I recall falling, half dead, against my will, like
hundreds of the Senegalese and Algerian soldiers who sat leaning
against a tree or a rock, embracing their rifles. There they re-
mained, eternal sentinels of the passage of this new Red Sea of
Armenian blood. Oh! There never lived an orator so scholarly,
 THE R E T R E A T TO I S L A H I Y E : 1Q1

a poet so sublime who could narrate the scene of the victims of the
passage over this sea, or over this ocean of snow. At every meter
one saw a woman, a mother with her babe at her bosom, an aged
man, someone wounded, sleeping beside the path opened by those
still able to march.
I had fallen like so many others for the eternal sleep but I felt
someone slapping my cheeks to wake me from this fatal sleep. It
was the Armenian legionnaire who had offered me his tent, his
blanket, and—for a mattress—some copies of the Armenian jour-
' nal Hairenik when I came to the camp of the column near Ma-
rash. He scolded me tenderly, lifted me, and helped me resume
the forced march. He opened his bag and told me a secret: "It is
forbidden to give away this loaf of bread without permission, for
it is the last ration! But take it, eat it!" It was hard and white like
the trampled snow. What bread! "Bread of life." I almost said. I
gnawed it little by little, enough to nourish me and to enable me
to forget, if it were possible, the length of this tragic crossing.16

Dr. Elliott had walked for three days, although the French officers
had offered her a seat in a wagon. After they had passed Sinjirli and
had no idea where the road lay under the deep snow, some officers
suggested that they should camp for the night. Lieutenant van Cop-
panole dismissed this with laughter, knowing that to camp meant
death. An hour later, however, he suggested in a casual manner that
perhaps after all it was best to camp, for they were lost. At that mo-
ment, about 7:00 P.M., a long, high-pitched whistle was heard: the
whistle of a locomotive on the Baghdad Railway. Soldiers and refugees
alike broke into a run, stumbling through the deep snow and over the
rails at Islahiye\y had marched for fourteen hours without a pause
for food or rest.
Only the rear guard—Major Bernard's battalion—had camped at
Sinjirli in order to protect the straggling refugees and some of the
supply wagons. At 10:00 A.M. the next day, 14 February, the battalion
marched into Islahiye1. On learning that the commander in chief of
the French forces in Cilicia had come from Adana, the major drew up
his troops in formation and paraded them proudly before General
Dufieux. General Que"rette, accompanied by Lieutenant Colonel Thi-
bault, mounted a freight car filled with troops of all ranks and pro-
ceeded to report to the commander in chief.16
Dr. Crathern, although past seventy, walked the entire distance
from Marash and reported that he felt better at the end of the journey
1Q2 : THE MARASH REBELLION

than at the beginning. On reaching Islahiy£ he moved energetically

to alleviate the distress of the refugees. First he commandeered the
entire output of a bakery for the exclusive benefit of the Armenians.
Then he went to Adana to secure the cooperation of the French civil
administrator, Colonel Br^mond, and of the NER office. Dr. William
Dodd immediately sent blankets and medical supplies to Islahiye, and
Colonel Bremond arranged to have the refugees moved by rail to
Adana and to house them in the camp which had been constructed in
1918 for the Armenians as they were being repatriated.17
Dr. Haroutune Der Ghazarian, who had been surgeon at the Ger-
man Hospital in Marash, met his colleague Dr. Elliott in Adana for the
first time since the outbreak of the rebellion in January. He was one
of the very few who had succeeded in escaping from Marash on the
day after the French retreat. Now he was asking whether he could be
used at the NER hospital in Adana in any capacity—even as an orderly!
Dr. Elliott had come to admire Dr. Artin, as he was known to his
friends, not only as a skilled surgeon, but as a gentle, intelligent, and
gallant man who was a leader in his community. Within a month Dr.
Artin was serving as manager of the American hospital in Adana.18
 CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

THE FRENCH EVACUATION

The retreat from Marash dealt a severe blow to French prestige and
gave a corresponding impetus to the Turkish Nationalist cause just at
the moment it had suffered a reversal. General Dufieux, amazed to find
the Marash garrison on his doorstep, felt it necessary to file an official
report on the disaster, and General Que'rette was called before a
tribunal in France. The results were never made public, but General
Querette went into retirement.
Since the French officers in Marash were told that Colonel Normand
had brought orders for the evacuation presumably from General
Dufieux or from General Gouraud in Beirut, it is worth noting Colo-
nel Bre"mond's remarks:
The decision for the retreat remains a mystery. It was not made
in Beirut, nor in Adana, but at Marash. There seems to be no
doubt that the order to leave would not have been given if a wire-
less outfit had been available in Marash permitting unbroken
communication with Adana.1
Eight years later Bremond, then a general, stated flatly, "Colonel Nor-
mand did not bring an order for the evacuation; he gave it!" 2
It is clear that Colonel Normand himself decided that Marash
should be evacuated, for on reaching the city he invited Major Corne-
loup to abandon his positions and to join his column without waiting
to consult General Querette.3 The effect of this action was to emascu-
late the Marash garrison, as Lieutenant Thibault noted.
This was to have the most unexpected consequences. Granted,
as subsequent events showed to be the case, that order could be
 : THE MARASH REBELLION

restored in Marash within a short period, it was indispensable that

the forces in the city should not appear inferior to those under
General Que'rette's command. Consequently the loss of Major
Corneloup's thirteen and a half companies led the general to con-
sider the immediate evacuation inevitable.4

During the three-day retreat to Islahiye Colonel Thibault had ample

opportunity to question Major Corneloup about his desertion of the
southern quarter and has thrown light on this critical episode. When
Colonel Normand first established liaison with the troops in the
southern quarter of Marash, his representative conveyed a verbal order
to Corneloup to transfer his troops to the relief column in order to
form a reserve for maneuvers. The major hesitated to execute this
order, but when it was confirmed in writing his scruples were over-
come. "Since he could not communicate with his own commander,
General Querette, he felt that he had to obey Colonel Normand and
ordered the troops in the Armenian Catholic Catholic Church, The
First Evangelical Church, the Bedesten, and the Church of the Forty
Sainted Youths to withdraw from the city." 5
Thus General Querette was caught in a most difficult position which
was chiefly the result of the failure of others: failure on the part of
officials in France to send forces adequate for the task; failure by mem-
bers of General Gouraud's staff to supply such essential equipment as
heavy artillery, wireless apparatus, and motorized patrol cars; failure
of French military intelligence to appraise the strength of the guer-
rilla forces which blocked every attempt to supply the Marash garrison
with munitions. Although Colonel Normand witnessed the flight of
the Nationalist forces from the city, he insisted that he could not
remain in Marash because his food supplies were exhausted, his men
had no shelter from the arctic winter, and he was obliged to go to
the relief of the Urfa garrison. Hence General Querette had to ap-
praise the prospects of establishing order with his own troops. His
munitions sufficed for only four days of battle, and no convoy could
be expected from Adana. Corneloup's forces, more than thirteen com-
panies, had abandoned the entire southern half of the city by order
of Colonel Normand. And even if the Turks had surrendered, was it
not probable that they would have resumed the battle when Nor-
rnand's troops were seen departing, and when Turkish reinforcements
came from the north?
It would be interesting to know what consideration was given to
 THE F R E N C H E V A C U A T I O N : 195

France's responsibility for the protection of the Christian population

when the two officers debated the question of withdrawal.
Mr. Lyman reported to his American colleagues in Marash that
Kuluj Ali had stated to him that he viewed the conflict in Marash as
a first test of strength in a program for expelling all foreign armies
from Anatolia. However, the uprising at Urfa began on 9 February,
the day on which the Turkish leaders at Marash began negotiations
for surrender. It is difficult to believe that a defeat at Marash would
have deterred for long such a tenacious and able commander as Mus-
tafa Kemal Pasha from further attempts to drive out the French, whose
forces were inadequate to hold back the Nationalist movement.

A Summary of Losses
Colonel Br&nond estimated the French casualties in the Marash con-
flict to be twelve hundred.6 Lieutenant Colonel Thibault states that
his own 4i2th Regiment suffered two hundred twenty-three casualties,
of whom one hundred one were wounded.7 Colonel Normand reported
only eleven of his troops killed and thirty-five wounded, but one hun-
dred fifty had frozen feet or hands amputated.8 According to Ajemian,
the Armenian Legion lost fifty dead and one hundred wounded.9 Some
six hundred thirty remain unaccounted for, and these possibly repre-
sent the casualties among the Algerian and Senegalese battalions.
The Turkish losses, according to the general staff report, were two
hundred killed and five hundred wounded; but it is possible that these
figures refer only to casualties in the regular army units Third Bat-
talion of the Ninth Caucasian Infantry and two squadrons of cav-
alry).10 Dr. Robert Lambert, who with Dr. Shepard visited the muta-
sarrif of Aintab on 29 February 1920 states that "he [the mutasarrif]
estimates the number of dead in Marash as six to seven thousand, of
which four thousand were Armenians (latest estimates are 8,000 Ar-
menians and 4,500 Turks killed)." u
The death toll among the Armenian civilians was nearly ten times
the total casualties of the troops fighting under the French banner.
The number of Armenians who followed the retreating French army
will never be known, for who was there to count the panic-stricken
groups that fled in the night? A telegram sent to us by Dr. William
Dodd of the NER office in Adana stated that twenty-four hundred of
i g 6 : THE MARASH REBELLION

the refugees from Marash had reached Islahiye or Adana safely.12 The
Turks reported that about one thousand bodies had been counted on
the road between Marash and Islahiye, and this figure lies close to
the twelve hundred reported by the Reverend Materne Murd.13 Thus
one may conclude that at least thirty-four hundred left Marash.14
From the careful census made by the various churches, the Armenian
population of the district of Marash before the siege is known to have
been close to twenty-four thousand, of which between fourteen hun-
dred and two thousand lived in the villages.15 Surviving in Marash on
11 February were ninety-seven hundred, counted with some accuracy,
for they were all confined within four compounds. I had been com-
missioned to provide them with food and therefore had an interest in
knowing their number. None remained in the villages.
The ninety-seven hundred remaining in Marash together with the
twenty-four hundred who reached Islahiye account for twelve thou-
sand one hundred of the original twenty-four thousand. Hence eleven
thousand nine hundred died either in the city and villages or on the
road to Islahiye. The Armenian population of the district had been
reduced by fifty percent.
PART THREE

THE EXODUS
 CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

RESTORATION OF ORDER

On the morning after the French withdrawal, when the American

leaders Wilson and Lyman secured the Turkish promise for an end
to the killing of civilians, Arslan Bey asked that representatives of the
three Armenian communities be brought to the government house
for a conference. On the following day the Catholic archbishop Avedis
Arpiarian, Der Sahag of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and Badveli
Abraham Hartunian of the First Evangelical Church met at the Catho-
lic Church and were escorted by Turkish gendarmes to the konak.
By virtues of his position as president of the Committee for the
Defense of Rights, Arslan Bey acted as spokesman for the Nationalist
Turks rather than the mutasarrif who officially represented the sultan
against whom Mustafa Kemal was in revolt. Arslan Bey explained to
the Armenian leaders that the government had had no part in the
insurrection; it was the Nationalists led by Mustafa Kemal Pasha
who had fought the French. Now that the French troops had been
driven out, the city would again be governed by the duly appointed
representatives. No one dared ask where the ultimate authority lay,
with the mutasarrif or with Arslan Bey, but it was obvious that the
Kemalists were in power, for beside Arslan Bey stood Captain Kuluj
Ali, Mustafa Kemal's representative who had commanded the Nation-
alist forces during the three-week siege.
The condition demanded of the Armenians by the Turkish leaders
was merely the surrender of all arms. At the Franciscan Monastery
the defenders gave up twelve rifles. The officer in charge of the col-
lection could not believe that these few weapons represented the entire
stock. How could the Armenians have defended themselves with so
few arms? Many of those who had possessed weapons had departed
2 OO : THE E X O D U S

with the French troops. According to Setrak Agha Kherlakian, his

volunteers in the Armenian Catholic Church possessed two machine
guns and some eighty rifles, of which twenty were antique weapons.
For several months the Turks kept digging up the courtyards of the
two churches, searching for hidden arms.
Dr. Wilson obtained permission to move wounded Armenians to the
hospital in the seminary compound. Mr. Lyman and I stood outside
the gate of the Catholic Church watching the Turkish sentries check
the wounded as they filed out. Suddenly one of them, his head and one
arm swathed in bandages, was pulled out of line and taken away as a
prisoner. Mr. Lyman recognized him as one of the Turks who had
been converted to Christianity. He had taken refuge with the Armeni-
ans, fearing that his fellow Muslims would regard him as a traitor.
All of the converted Turks disappeared, and we heard that they had
been executed.
A number of prominent Armenians were also taken into custody for
questioning. These included Setrak Agah Kherlakian and his relatives
Hovsep Agha, Vincent, Benjamin, and several others. Of these only
Setrak Agha survived. The others, according to prison officials, had
died of heart attacks. Since Setrak Agha had actually led the fighters,
first at the Boulgourjian house and later at the Catholic Church, it
was feared that he would be executed; but the Marash court declared
him not guilty of treason. Certain of the Nationalists, angry at this
decision, insisted that he be sent to Caesarea for retrial. Later, when
the accord was signed between the Turkish Nationalists and France at
Ankara, he was released. He moved to Aleppo and there wrote the
manuscript on which these comments are based.1
Shortly after the French withdrawal, the Turkish government in
Constantinople appointed Urfan Bey, an army colonel stationed in
Aintab, to be the mutasarrif of Marash. Raphael Kherlakian, who had
served in Aintab as counselor to the French administration, had come
to know him well and a friendly relationship had developed between
them. On learning that Urfan Bey had become the governor of Ma-
rash, Raphael obtained permission to call on him and was provided
with an escort of soldiers without which he might well have fallen
into the clutches of his enemies. Urfan Bey received him cordially and
asked that he persuade the Armenians to be patient in the face of
hardships that they were enduring, for he did not have gendarmes
enough to oppose the Muslim population who remained incensed
against the Armenians.2
A dispatch dated 16 February 1920 from the commander of the
 R E S T O R A T I O N OF ORDER : 2O1

Turkish Third Army Corps to the minister of interior stated that con-
ditions in Marash under the administration of Urfan Bey had returned
to normal, and that the Armenians had reopened their shops.3 Anyone
living in Marash at that time could testify that all Armenians were
confined within the walls of their churches until the end of February,
and for months none of them dared open their shops in the market
place. During that period the Turkish population looted the homes
of the Armenians. One day when I was delivering food supplies to
the churches an Armenian woman asked that I serve as escort to her
home so that she might secure certain needed items. The sentry agreed
to this on condition that I accept responsibility for her return. We
found her home, which had been beautifully furnished, stripped bare.
Only a fragment of a curtain remained. She wept, saying, "Now I have
nothing! Neither a husband nor a home!"
After the French retreat most of the Armenians were weak from
hunger. Even the boys in Beitshalom Orphanage were emaciated, for
the winter stores of food had been shared with some three thousand
refugees. Since none of the Armenians in the orphanages and churches
was allowed in the streets, they were doomed to starve unless NER
undertook to feed them. Dr. Wilson assigned this task to me. I sought
out one of our buyers in the mission compound and asked him to go
to the market with me, but he refused, fearing the undisciplined Turk-
ish fighters who paraded daily in the streets. He suggested that Peter
Jernazian, the jeweler who had emigrated to New York, might ac-
company me, for he was an American citizen. As we walked together
through the Bedesten toward the grain market, a Turk rushed out
from his shop and embraced Peter, exclaiming, "My friend, how for-
tunate that you did not come to me for protection! I would have had
to kill you!" thus revealing the nature of the oath taken by the Mus-
lims to kill any Christians who came into their power. - .,
We found no one willing to sell us grain, or anything else. The
Turks, thwarted in their attempt to exterminate the Armenians, now
hoped to starve them. On learning of this development, Dr. Wilson
put aside his surgical instruments and went with me to the home of
the mutasarrif. Urfan Bey asked for a list of the supplies we needed
and promised to arrange for the purchase. We were to place our orders
through him and to make payment to him, for he knew merchants
who would not refuse his command to sell. Thus the boycott was
broken.
Each day we distributed 1.5 tons of rice and 10,000 loaves of bread.
The daily ration was approximately 5.5 ounces of rice per person, sub-
2O2 : THE E X O D U S

stituted occasionally with dried peas or lentils. This provided barely

enough calories for an adult at rest. Dr. Vartan Poladian urged me to
provide also green vegetables or fruit in order to avoid scurvy. I was
obliged to reject the request, for we were short of funds.
Because of the fighting there was no commerce with Aleppo, hence
the Marash merchants purchased no drafts, and our supply of cash
dwindled rapidly. In order to conserve our resources we declared a
moratorium on salaries, and each one of the mission and NER personnel
loaned to the treasury whatever cash he possessed. The day came when
the cash on hand was three Turkish gold lira—less than fifteen dollars.

A Visit by Dr. Lambert and Dr. Shepard

In Aleppo the area director of NER, Dr. Robert Lambert, became con-
cerned about the'situation in Marash. Inquiries about the safety of
American personnel resulting from dispatches published about the
fighting were coming from abroad. Although the French commander
told him that a relief column had been sent to Marash and that the
situation was well in hand, the message we had sent with the Zeitunlis
by way of Hadjin convinced him that he should go in person to
Marash, taking gold, medical supplies, and food. At this point Dr. Lor-
rin Shepard came to him from Aintab bearing a message from Mr. Ly-
man telling of the desperate conditions in Marash. Dr. Shepard also
brought news of the murder of two Americans, the YMCA representative
assigned to Marash and the general secretary of YMCA International.
Dr. Lambert's quartermaster hired fourteen wagons to transport
supplies to Marash. Lambert and Shepard started out in two Reo
trucks—a precaution necessitated by the possibility of a breakdown
on the rough road—and followed the wagon train. Four weeks earlier
the two YMCA men had been killed on the road they were to take,
hence a gendarme was assigned to each truck, and two others rode
beside the caravan of carts.
At the town of Killis, where they were to spend the first night, they
transferred to the commander of gendarmes the responsibility for
protection of the wagon train as far as Aintab. The two doctors then
rented horses for the remainder of the journey and sent the automo-
biles back to Aleppo. Neither of them knew that the road ahead was
under the control of Turkish guerrilla bands who had prevented the
passage of military supplies under the escort of French troops.
 RESTORATION OF ORDER : 2Og

At Aintab they called on the mutasarrif, who suggested that they

delay the next phase of their journey so that he could send couriers
ahead to insure a safe passage. A day later they set out with four
gendarmes. A mule carried medical supplies and their bedding.
Near the village of Karabiyikli they met a band of armed Turks on
horseback. Dr. Shepard paused to speak with them, but his gendarmes
urged him to move on, for they feared these fighters. The leader of the
band shouted across to the village, "Do not let these men enter your
village I" The village chieftain, however, recognized Dr. Shepard as the
surgeon who had recently operated on his wife at the Aintab hospital
and took the travelers into his home. Shepard examined and treated
a number of the sick villagers, and finally their host locked them in
their room for the night. They were thankful for this precaution, for
each of them carried 1,500 Turkish gold lira. Had this been known to
the chete whom they had met, or to the villagers, it is unlikely that
they would have lived to reach Marash. They had been careful to con-
ceal their vests, in which the rolls of coins were sewn, and did not re-
move them even at night.4
Late the next morning the two horsemen rode into the yard of the
mission compound in Marash and halted in front of my office, the NER
headquarters. Dr. Wilson was ill with malaria, but we gave the visitors
a warm welcome. Lambert and Shepard removed their coats, dis-
closing the vests which we thought to be hunting jackets with band
after band of cartridge pockets. Before dismounting from their horses
they handed the vests down to me, and I was astonished at their weight.
I could hardly lift them, for each contained seventy-five "cartridges" of
twenty gold coins. Only that morning I had instructed each of the
orphanage directors to purchase nothing whatever, for our funds were
exhausted. Dr. Lambert laughed with happiness to know that the
hazardous journey he had undertaken with Dr. Shepard had indeed
been necessary.
In spite of his illness, Dr. Wilson joined the group at his house to
hear from the travelers how they could have survived for four days on
a route infested with undisciplined guerrilla fighters. Mr. Lyman, eager
to see the Marash branch of the YMGA opened, asked about Frank
Johnson, whom Dr. Crathern had attempted to meet in Aintab on
20 January.
"He was killed near Aintab!" replied Dr. Shepard, who proceeded
to recount the tragedy.
James Perry, general secretary of the Young Men's Christian Associa-
tion International, had come from the United States to supervise the
2 04 '• THE EXODUS

establishment of several branches of the YMCA in Anatolia. His brother

George already headed a branch at Konia, and Colonel Archer another
in Aleppo. Dr. C. F. H. Crathern had been assigned to Aintab, and
Frank Johnson to Marash. Perry was bringing equipment for these
new stations by freight from Constantinople and had halted at Katma,
hoping to transfer the equipment from that point to Aintab and
Marash by caravan. The French commander at Katma warned Perry
that some thirty French soldiers had been killed on the road between
Aintab and Marash. Perry proceeded to Aleppo where he learned that
Johnson and his wife Esther had already made two attempts to reach
Airitab but each time had been obliged to turn back.
After discussing the problem with the American consul, Mr. J. B.
Jackson, they decided to make use of transport offered by NER and to fly
their own colors rather than those of the French troops. On Sunday i
February Perry shaved off his moustache in order that he might not be
mistaken for a native of the country and joined Frank Johnson for
the journey. Mrs. Johnson was to remain in Aleppo until her husband
prepared accommodations for them in Marash.5
Perry and Johnson set out on their journey in one of the NER Reo
trucks driven by Zeki, a Christian Arab with whom I had traveled a
number of times, and his young brother as mechanic. About seventeen
miles south of Aintab they passed the village of Besh Goz and came to
the Al-Mali Bridge, where they halted in order to cool the truck's
radiator with water from the stream. Just as they were dismounting
from the car, brigands concealed nearby opened fire without warning.
Zeki shouted at them, "These are Americans—not French!" Frank
Johnson was killed instantly by a bullet in his head, and then his face
was slashed. Perry was struck twice in the body, and his spinal cord was
severed by a sabre blow on the neck. Zeki, wounded by a pistol shot,
had his throat cut. Two of his fingers were severed, either because he
tried to hold off the knife or for the sake of a ring. The four bodies
were left lying on the roadside while the brigands looted the cars.
At this time four wagons carrying supplies to the NER station at
Aintab were approaching the bridge. A group of gendarmes passing
the carts warned the drivers, "There are bandits ahead of you!"
"They would not harm us," replied one of the drivers, who was an
Armenian posing as a Turk.
"No? They have just killed some foreigners in that automobile.
Look! You can see them carrying their loot up the hill ahead."
The drivers lost no time turning their carts about and returned to
Besh Goz where they put up for the night in the village khan. Later a
 R E S T O R A T I O N OF ORDER : 205

group of armed villagers entered, and the Armenian drivers soon

learned from the conversation that these were the killers from whom
they had fled. The innkeeper whispered to one of the drivers, whom
he thought to be a Turk, that the new arrivals were going into the
village for a drink but planned to return, kill the drivers, and rob the
wagons. The four men mounted the best of their horses and rode off
to Killis, abandoning their vehicles.
News of the assassination first reached the Americans in Aintab
from the French commander who had learned of it from the Turkish
commander of gendarmes, but the identity of the victims was unknown
until the bodies were brought into Aintab several days later. News of
the incident was telegraphed to the American consul in Aleppo. The
next day Colonel Archer and Mr. Bryan of NER started for Aintab by
automobile in a convoy of camels bringing military supplies for the
French garrison in Aintab. They were escorted by a detachment of one
hundred fifty French troops. Beyond Killis they came under such heavy
fire by chete hiding in the hills that they were obliged to turn back.
Later we learned that three thousand of the guerrilla fighters had
gathered to bar the convoy's passage.
On 4 February gendarmes brought the four bodies to the police
station in Aintab where a formal examination was conducted in the
presence of Dr. Shepard, Mr. Boyd of NER, two French officers, and the
Turkish officials. Dr. Shepard then prepared the bodies for burial. Mr.
Boyd described the burial in the American cemetery behind Dr.
Shepard's house. "A guard of honor composed of perhaps one hundred
soldiers led the procession, and this was followed by the four coffins, the
American personnel of Aintab, and some seventy five French officers.
. . . The ceremonies were carried out in the most impressive military
style. Colonel Flye Sainte-Marie made a short talk, followed by a
prayer by Dr. Shepard." 6
This was appropriate, I thought, as Dr. Shepard paused, but what a
contrast to the fact that eight or nine thousand Christians had per-
ished in Marash, thousands at a time in the flames of their churches,
without benefit of religious rite or burial! I knew of only one, Badveli
Asadour Solakian's wife, who had been buried with any ceremony at
all, and that at night.
Dr. Shepard concluded his account by stating that he had learned
from reliable sources that the chete in the Killis-Aintab area had re-
ceived orders to kill any Christians found on the road. Thus the pas-
sage of Dr. Lambert and Dr. Shepard over the same danger zone twice
in the next few weeks without harm was miraculous.
206 : THE E X O D U S

Dr. Shepard and Dr. Lambert Inspect Marash

Dr. Lambert expressed the wish to make a tour of Marash in order to
inspect the orphanages and the churches in which the Armenian popu-
lation had taken refuge. Dr. Wilson, still weak from malaria, asked
young Dicran Berberian to act as guide. At that time no Armenian
dared to move in the streets, but Dicran felt secure in the company
of the distinguished visitors wearing the American uniform. Dr.
Shepard spoke Turkish fluently, and his name was revered throughout
Cilicia, for his father, Dr. Frederick Shepard, had served Turks, Kurds,
and Armenians as a surgeon. Dicran's own account of the tour follows.

We started the tour from the American Mission compound. On

our way we stopped at my home, which lay halfway between the
mission and Beitshalom Boys' Orphanage. Although I had sus-
pected that my parents, my two sisters, and my youngest brother
had been killed, I still hoped that they could be alive, hiding some-
where. The gate to our home stood wide open, and our household
effects had been carried away. The only things remaining were
some of my father's books and writings which had been scattered
in the mud in the yard. I salvaged our family Bible and a few
photographs.
We then proceeded to the boys' orphanage, where the two doctors
greeted Miss Buckley and listened to her account of the attacks
made on the orphanage and the attempts to burn it. Next we went
to the First Evangelical Church, which had been burned to the
ground together with its four adjacent buildings, the grade school,
kindergarten and nursery, the middle school and the boys'
Academy. We saw no dead bodies in this church. Those who had
sought refuge there had fled to the bottom of the hill to the
Armenian Catholic Church where French troops were stationed.
We then proceeded toward the market place. All of the shops be-
longing to Armenian merchants had been broken open and plun-
dered, including my own grocery store.
We walked the length of the bedesten to the Armenian Apostolic
Church of the Forty Sainted Youths at the southern end of the
city. This, too, had been burned to the ground, and here and there
we saw charred bodies. Then we proceeded westward toward the
 R E S T O R A T I O N OF O R D E R I 207

Apostolic Church known as Sourp Asdvadsadzin, which also had

been burned. Two of the outer walls of this church were contigu-
ous with adobe and frame houses with flat roofs. Many homes in
this district constituted a conglomerate of homes with common
walls. These were inhabited exclusively by Armenians and had
been burned by Turks who threw flaming rags soaked in kerosene
on them. The inhabitants of these homes must have flocked into
the adjoining church for protection, but the conflagration reached
the church and set it on fire. When we entered the church the
stench of charred bodies nauseated us. Naked corpses were every-
where, but hundreds were piled at the ^Itar. Since none of the
bodies had rings on the fingers, or jewelry of any kind, it seemed
likely that the Turks had robbed the corpses and piled them on
top of one another at the altar.
From Sourp Asdvadsadzin we went to the Second Evangelical
Church which also had been burned. We walked on toward the
government buildings but decided not to enter. Finally we came
to the Third Evangelical Church—also in ashes—and returned to
the American Mission, having concluded a circular tour of the
city.7

According to our count, six churches and seven mosques had been
burned. The Armenian Catholic Church and the Franciscan Monastery
remained standing, although their schools were destroyed. The number
of demolished homes could not be estimated accurately, but Dr. Lam-
bert ventured a guess of forty percent. In the bazaars nearly all the
shops had been looted, whether Turkish or Armenian, for a great deal
of fighting had taken place there.
On the second day of their visit the two American doctors called on
Urfan Bey. The mutasarrif was delayed in reaching his office because
of a parade during which there had been considerable gunfire, and
he expressed annoyance to his visitors at this display knowing that
while the Armenians had been completely disarmed, every Turk pos-
sessed a rifle. When Dr. Lambert suggested that the Muslim as well as
the Christian population should be disarmed, Urfan Bey replied that
if he were to attempt such a measure, he himself would be the first one
shot! He expressed his desire to stop further injustice to the Armenians
and to restore peace but claimed his control of the Nationalists was
limited, having only one hundred gendarmes under his command.
The American doctors discussed with Urfan Bey, and later with
NER and mission personnel, the possibility that the French might re-
2O8 : THE E X O D U S

turn and the probable consequences. All were agreed that this would
precipitate renewed conflict, and that before the French could take the
city all of the Christians would be slaughtered. Dr. Lambert and Dr.
Shepard then composed a telegram to the American high commis-
sioner in Constantinople, Rear Admiral Mark L. Bristol, stating that
"return of the French military forces at the present time would greatly
endanger the lives of remaining population; urge sending American
commission approved by Sublime Porte to aid in restoring normal
conditions." 8
On 5 March our visitors departed on horseback with an escort of
gendarmes and spent the night at Pazarjik as guests of a Kurdish chief-
tain who had been a patient of Dr. Shepard's father. The Kurds com-
plained that the chete blackmailed them for gold and supplies; con-
sequently they were not in sympathy with the Nationalist movement.
Although they were advised to follow behind their gendarmes, the
two doctors took little account of the dangers. On approaching the
area where Perry and Johnson had been murdered, they forged ahead
in order to contact the chete chieftain Shahin Bey. Thousands of the
guerrilla fighters were concealed along the road, each group indepen-
dent of the others, hence Lambert and Shepard found themselves
allowed neither to advance toward Aleppo nor to retreat to Aintab.
They sensed the danger from these undisciplined and leaderless men
and were relieved when a squadron of twenty gendarmes under the
command of Essad Bey, leader of the chete north of Aintab, came to
their rescue and escorted them to Shahin Bey, who offered them the
hospitality of his camp for the night. When they explained their need
to reach Killis that night, he accompanied them close to the French
outpost.
Between the lines of Dr. Lambert's account of this journey, one
finds abundant evidence of a fearless spirit. Both he and Dr. Shepard
were lionhearted men.9
 CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

MEDICAL AFFAIRS

When Dr. Wilson offered the German Hospital to the Turks as a

gesture of good will in the restoration of peace, he wished to demon-
strate that it remained the property of the Americans and therefore
asked me to make the hospital my residence and to supervise prepara-
tions for the Turkish patients. First of all I had the four wounded
Armenians transferred to the seminary, which was to become a hospital
for the Armenian and French wounded under Dr. Wilson's direction.
The Turks assigned a squad of four armed guerrillas to guard the
German Hospital. Doubtful as to the Turkish feelings toward any of
the Americans, I was relieved to find the guards saluting and addressing
me in a friendly manner as Beyim or, literally, "my sir." Three
Armenian women, refugees at the college, were employed to clean up
the hospital, which was in great disorder, and to cook temporarily for
the Turkish patients. The bodies of Dr. Mustafa and his flag bearer as
well as the woman shot through the abdomen lay on the frozen ground
near the rear door. The women were fearful and agreed to stay on
duty overnight only when I promised not to leave them unprotected. I
brought a mattress from one of the wards and placed it on the floor
of the room adjacent to their quarters, indicating that this was to be
my place.
That night a building in the seminary compound burned to the
ground, and the conflagration alarmed everyone in the quarter. Fear-
ful of its significance, Turks in the neighborhood began shooting. In
the midst of this someone crept into my bed, shaking with terror. I
never knew which of the three women it was. We heard later that an
Armenian family, Anna Dingilian and her children, had taken shelter
in the building the night the French withdrew, and their charred
bodies were found in the ashes.
210 .' T H E E X O D U S

The next morning, when everyone knew that the French had
abandoned the city, general looting began. An Armenian woman whose
home was near the hospital suggested that we should ask permission
from the government to have her food supplies and equipment trans-
ferred to the hospital rather than to lose everything to the looters.
Our chete guard joyfully asserted that they could take care of this and
posted a sentry at the Armenian house until porters could be located.
I took them to the building. The rest of the morning was spent trans-
ferring bedding, rugs, and sacks of food supplies to the hospital.
That morning someone came running to me in great excitement.
"The Turks are setting fire to the Kiraat-hanel" This building lay
only two doors from the hospital, and its burning would endanger the
hospital. I ran through the breach in the walls and entered the Kiraat-
hane, catching several Turkish youths in the process of setting fire to
a mass of paper in the stairwell. I shouted angrily at them. Not know-
ing what little authority I had, they hurriedly trampled out the fire
and disappeared. This was an example of arson carried out by fanati-
cal elements among the Muslim population which was the cause of the
burning of a number of churches and many houses after the French
withdrawal.
Among the wounded brought to the German Hospital by the Turks
was a French soldier, one of the few to survive after capture. Two mili-
tary physicians took up their residence in the hospital, Dr. Ala'eddin
Bey, a handsome Circassian; and Dr. Hilmi Bey, a Turk. With them
came Ebber Hanum, a Turkish nurse. The Circassian doctor's skill
in the care of his patients and his courtesy to all employees, whether
Turk or Armenian, soon gained the admiration of all. Some of the
Turkish patients, however, were annoyed because he gave the same
attention to the French youth as to the Turkish wounded. Miss Marie
Timm was asked to serve as matron of the hospital.
The German Hospital's pharmacist had followed the French troops
to Islahiye, but a replacement became available in the person of
Stepan Chorbajian, a graduate of the Syrian Protestant College
School of Pharmacy in Beirut. On the morning after the French retreat
I had found him at the Franciscan Monastery where he had prepared
his wife and children for death by poison. Although the refugees were
held under guard and not allowed to return to their homes, the Turks
granted permission for the release of Stepan in order that he might
serve the hospital now reserved for the Turkish wounded. Later he
suggested that Dicran Berberian be assigned to assist him. Under my
 MEDICAL A F F A I R S : 211

instruction Dicran learned the techniques required for the routine

examination of urine, and he made good use of the books on clinical
laboratory techniques and Materia Medica.
An unusual tragedy was brought to my attention. All five members
of a Turkish family had died soon after eating a single dish. This, to-
gether with a bag of white crystals, supposedly salt used in the prepara-
tion of the food, were given to me for examination. Was it the salt
or some other component of the food which had caused this tragedy?
I placed some of the crystals in a saucer on the floor of the pharmacy
and then poured some concentrated sulphuric acid over it. Immediately
a cloud of brown fumes arose which I recognized as oxides of nitrogen.
The salt was a nitrite, and a flame test showed it to be the sodium
compound. Neither the doctors nor Stepan could believe that an un-
known substance might be identified so quickly, but on reading the
symptoms of nitrite poisoning they agreed that my diagnosis was cor-
rect, and my reputation as a chemist soared. I did not confess that no
other compound would have yielded its identity with so little effort
and equipment. The "salt" had been looted from a dyer's establishment
and sold to a grocer.
The medical services suffered greatly from the loss of Dr. Mabel
Elliott, two American nurses, and the entire staff of Armenian nurses
who had joined the French troops in their flight from Marash. The
only trained nurses available were Mrs. Wilson and Miss Osanna
Maksudian, a graduate of the Nurses' Training School at the Syrian
Protestant College. She was assigned to work with the Turkish doctors
along with Ebber Hanum, and inevitably a conflict arose between these
two women, the one Armenian and the other Turkish. Two well-
trained and able physicians, Dr. Vartan Poladian and Dr. Parsegh
Sevian, joined Dr. Wilson in the care of Armenian and French
wounded in a new hospital, the seminary building which the French
had commandeered for their headquarters. The former children's in-
firmary became a hospital for infectious diseases and dysentery, both
of which were rife. There was also an epidemic of Spanish influenza to
which I fell a victim, and for two weeks I joined the Turkish wounded
in the German Hospital.
Dr. Wilson was overwhelmed by the amount of surgery he had to
perform on the French and African soldiers whose limbs had frozen
during the last days of the siege. Unused to temperatures as low as
sixteen degrees below zero centigrade, the African troops had suffered
terribly, and some lost all four limbs. I asked to see the Senegalese
2 1 2 : T H EE X O D U S

soldier to whom I had given first aid after a hand grenade had ex-
ploded in his hand. Although the tourniquet which I had placed on his
arm had remained there for more than a day before Dr. Wilson was
free to operate, he had recovered from the amputation but was suc-
cumbing to septicemia from wounds in his legs by grenade fragments,
and he died a few days later.
Dr. Wilson's appeal for help in his medical work was finally heeded,
for word came that Dr. H. W. Bell had reached Islahiye" but was un-
able to proceed further. The Reverend James Lyman was indignant
and telegraphed that he would come to Islahiy£ and thus prove that
the road was open. He rode off with six gendarmes and a Turkish
officer. Six days passed with no word from him, and his fiance'e, Bessie
Hardy, began to worry, knowing that he would have to cross the
French lines alone.
That evening I was a guest of the Wilsons. After dinner two dis-
tinguished Turks came to call. The mutasarrif had brought the newly
appointed military commander to meet Dr. Wilson. Soon the question
was asked, "Do you have any news about Mr. Lyman?"
"Yes, indeedl" replied the officer. "Our gendarmes halted within
two hours' ride of the French outposts, and Mr. Lyman went on with
two Turkish civilians. Although he carried a white flag, the French
sentries opened fire with a machine gun. Lyman and his companions
threw themselves to the ground, and none too soon! Two of the
horses were killed, and Lyman's horse was shot through the ear. About
thirty French soldiers then came and captured the three unarmed men,
bound them, and marched them off to the command post. Mr. Lyman
was taken through an opening in the barbed wire enclosure, while the
two Turks were left outside under the guard of a single French sentry.
After a long delay the Turks became impatient, jumped on the sentry
when he was off guard, bound him, and returned to the six gendarmes
and their officer. Now this officer had been ordered to bring back Mr.
Lyman and Dr. Bell and was obliged to go to the French lines and
ask for them. He was told that they had gone to Adana, and so the
officer returned to Marash with his men."
A few days later I heard the clatter of horsemen passing the hospital.
Ten mounted gendarmes, Mr. Lyman, and Dr. Bell were riding toward
the college. I ran after them in the rain, eager to learn of Mr. Lyman's
experiences. They confirmed every detail of the story told us by the
military commander.
Dr. Bell brought with him 2,000 Turkish gold lira (about ten thou-
 MEDICAL AFFAIRS 8 13

sand dollars) which was more than welcome, for we were again using
borrowed money to supply food to the ten thousand refugees and
orphans. Dr. Bell reported that a stranger could easily find his way
from Islahiy£ to Marash by following the line of skeletons. The Turks
reported about a thousand dead in the path of the French retreat.
 CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

THE CONFLICTS AT URFA AND AINTAB

Even before the Turks of Marash rose in revolt against the occupation
forces of France, plans had been made by the supporters of Mustafa
Kemal for a concerted attack on the French military outposts along
the Baghdad Railway, and at Urfa and Aintab. On 7 January 1920
Ali Saib, deputy from Urfa to the National Congress, addressed a
proclamation to the chiefs of the Kurdish tribes, calling them to unite
against the French at Urfa. The Anez£ tribe of Arabs led by Hatchem
Bey, he said, were preparing to help the Turks oust the French from
Aintab.1 Four days later Kuluj Ali sent a communication to Ali Saib,
identifying himself as Emdoullah Zad£ Bey Kelendje Ali (the French
rendition of the Turkish). He asked that details concerning organiza-
tion of the Nationalist forces at Urfa be sent to him in care of the
Representative Council at Aintab.2
Thus it is evident that the uprisings in Urfa and Aintab as well as
in Marash were part of a national movement, although the timing of
the revolts suggests independent action. The attack at Urfa began on
9 February, when the Turks of Marash had despaired of victory and
were vacating the city. At Aintab the insurrection started on i April,
ten days before the French evacuation of Urfa. Without question the
Nationalist leaders in each of these cities were in constant touch with
Mustafa Kemal, and Colonel Normand's short-lived conquest of
Marash did not deter the Turkish leaders from pursuing their objec-
tives at Aintab and Urfa.
The urgent need for relief of the Urfa garrison was quoted by
Colonel Normand as one reason for his refusal to remain at Marash
long enough to insure firm control of the city by General Querette's
forces. Was the sacrifice of Marash, then, compensated by the salva-
 THE C O N F L I C T S AT URFA AND AINTAB : 215

tion of Urfa? The epic story of the brave Urfa garrison and the in-
famous act of treachery which destroyed it is told by the French his-
torian Paul du Ve"ou, a story withheld for years from the citizens of
France and even from their minister of war, General Mollet.3
As noted earlier, the French commander-in-chief, General Gouraud,
had commissioned Colonel Normand to strengthen the French outposts
along the Baghdad Railway but had agreed to General Dufieux's re-
quest that priority be given to relief of the Marash garrison. At that
time General Gouraud transferred the Second Syrian Division from
Lebanon to the area lying between Syria and southern Anatolia in
order to block any attempt by Emir Feisal's Arab tribes to unite with
the Turkish Nationalists. Thus Colonel Normand, after his withdrawal
to Islahiye1, came under the command of General de Lamothe, com-
mander of the Second Division, whose headquarters were at Killis.4
Again he was ordered to strengthen the French outposts which ex-
tended eastward to Tell-Abiad on the Baghdad Railway some forty
miles south of Urfa. Included in this mission were the posts at Birejik
on the Euphrates River north of Jerablus, and finally Urfa (ancient
Edessa) if means for transport overland could be obtained at Tell-
Abiad.
Within two weeks after his return from the Marash campaign, his
troops had recovered from their ordeal in the blizzard, and he had
secured the reinforcements and war materials for the new tasks.
Colonel Normand recorded the events which occurred on this expedi-
tion.5 With three trainloads of food, munitions, and material for
reconstruction of the railway, he set out for Jerablus on the Euphrates.
Ordinarily a journey of a few hours, three days were required for repair
of bridges and replacement of rails torn up by the Nationalists. The
trains were continuously under fire, and Normand was reminded of a
Wild West scenario. The expedition up the Euphrates to Birejik in-
volved sharp clashes with Turkish forces. Rather than see the city
destroyed by French artillery, the governor of Birejik surrendered, not
knowing that Normand had only one cannon; and that one too light
for his purpose.
Normand returned to the railway, crossed the Euphrates (a monu-
mental task), and proceeded to Tell-Abiad leaving reinforcements and
food supplies at each of the French stations en route. Urfa now lay two
days' march to the north, but transport animals were required. A herd
of camels was reported seen at the neighboring village of Ain Arous
("Brides' Fountain"), residence of Hatchem Bey, chief of the Ane"ze"
Arabs and one of the most important opponents of the French occupa-
2 1 6 : THE E X O D U S

tion. In order to secure the camels, and possibly to face Hatchem Bey,
Colonel Normand himself led a battalion of his infantrymen, sup-
ported by a Spahi patrol, against the village. The camels had disap-
peared, but a large band of about a thousand armed men was seen
maneuvering to attack the French. After a sharp clash in which the
French cavalrymen were almost encircled by Arab horsemen, Nor-
mand's force withdrew under cover of machine-gun fire.
Considering the strength of enemy forces which he had encountered
at Birejik, those facing him, and the thousands known to be at Urfa,
Colonel Normand concluded that an attempt to reach Urfa with his
remaining 600 rifles involved too great a risk. Late that day, 10 March,
his troops boarded the trains and returned to Killis. The colonel esti-
mated that Urfa could be reached only if his detachment were to be
reinforced by the addition of three battalions of infantry, one or two
squadrons of cavalry, and two batteries of artillery.
Four precious weeks passed before his needs were met. "It was ex-
tremely urgent to go to Urfa," he wrote.6 Paul du Veou complains of
the inefficient delivery of war materials from Beirut and at Killis.7
Finally, on 9 April, the powerful force demanded by Colonel Normand
set out on foot from Killis for Jerablus, followed two days later by
three trainloads of supplies and equipment. On reaching Jerablus at
noon on 13 April, Colonel Normand was handed a dispatch just
delivered by airplane. It was an order from General de Lamothe for
the entire column to march to Aintab, which lay almost directly north
of Killis, their starting point, only half the distance from Killis to
Jerablus. It seemed incredible. Lieutenant Colonel Andrea, com-
mander of one of the regiments, demanded confirmation, for he had
received information that the Urfa garrison had left the city and was
in danger of encirclement. That evening new orders came. Colonel
Normand was to march with his troops to Aintab, while Andr£ was
to proceed to Arab Punar, southwest of Urfa, with a battalion of in-
fantry, a squadron of cavalry, and a battery of 65 mm. guns, to search
for survivors of the garrison from Urfa.8
Three soldiers of the French detachment at Urfa had found their
way to the railway. They alone of the entire garrison had reached the
protection of Andrea's force to tell of the tragedy that had befallen
their comrades. On 7 April the 300 French, Algerian, Senegalese, and
Armenian troops stationed at Urfa had eaten their last transport ani-
mals. For two months they had fought off thousands of Turkish and
Kurdish Nationalists, and their supply of ammunition was nearly ex-
hausted. They were unable to communicate with their headquarters
 THE CONFLICTS AT U R F A AND A I N T A B :

and had received no word whatever since the visit made by Colonel
Normand nearly three months earlier. Major Hauger, the commander,
sent a message to the Turkish chief Ali Saib, stating that he was willing
to withdraw his detachment from Urfa for the sake of restoring peace
to the beleaguered city provided that assurances of safe conduct were
given, and that the Christian population which had remained neutral
were promised protection. Ali Saib agreed to meet Hauger on a bridge
facing the American Mission hospital, and there in the presence of the
French Captain Sajous and the Armenian physician Dr. Bechlian the
details of procedure were agreed upon. The French were to march out
with their arms, and camels were to be provided for their baggage. Safe
conduct was assured as far as Arab Punar on the railway. Ali Saib re-
jected Major Hauger's request that ten of the city's Turkish notables
accompany his troops as hostages to insure no treachery but offered ten
gendarmes in their place, arguing that they would know the way better.
The column left Urfa an hour after midnight or April. With the
French went Mr. Woodward, an American from the Aleppo NER office
who had been auditing the accounts of the Urfa station. Before dawn,
when the French column was well within a defile known as the Ferish
Pasha Ravine, there was a terrible fusillade, and a horde of Kurds on
the ridges above fell upon the soldiers. Lt. Eumer Izzet, who com-
manded the gendarmes provided by Ali Saib as "guides" for the French,
was brought before Major Hauger who stood under the protection
of a bridge with two of his officers, Mr. Woodward, and the Imam of
the Algerian soldiers. Weeping, he swore that he had no knowledge
that an ambush had been planned.9 Hauger made a flag of truce from
his cane and the Imam's white turban, gave it to Woodward, and
asked him to inform Ali Saib that he surrendered, for he had no more
ammunition. But Woodward could find no one with authority to
accept a surrender.10
Three groups, twenty-four men in all, fought their way separately
out of the ravine. One of these met villagers the next day who stripped
them and turned them over to the Turks in Urfa to become prisoners
of war. Nothing was ever heard of the second group. Of the entire
garrison, originally twelve officers and four hundred and sixty one men,
only three reached freedom at Arab Punar. All but these and about
twenty prisoners had been slain.11
Ali Saib reported to Mustafa Kemal that "the French, who had
evacuated Urfa with their arms and baggage and with means of trans-
port provided by us, during their retreat to Jerablus had attacked the
villages and tribes which they met; whereupon the tribes engaged them
2, 1 8 : THE E X O D U S

in battle for three hours, the greater part of the French force being
killed, including the commander and his officers. About one hundred
were made prisoner and taken to Urfa." 12
Dr. Robert A. Lambert, director of the NER office in Aleppo which
served as the base for the stations of Marash, Aintab, and Urfa, was
concerned over the absence of any communication in two months from
the NER workers in Urfa. Moreover, no drafts on the Aleppo office had
been cashed, hence the Urfa station must be in need of cash. Although
the three survivors of the massacre in the Ferish Pasha Ravine had
joined Colonel AndreVs column a week earlier, the French authorities
in Aleppo gave Dr. Lambert no information concerning Urfa. He de-
cided to go there in person and to carry one thousand Turkish gold
lira (about $5,000) for the needs of the Urfa station. For protection he
carried letters from Arab officials in Aleppo and from a prominent
Turk addressed to Turkish officials across the frontier.
With Benjamin Franklin Stolzfus at the wheel of the Reo truck, and
accompanied by a native interpreter and two Arab gendarmes, Lambert
set off through Bab on the ancient caravan route between Aleppo and
Arab Punar, some twenty miles east of Harran, the home of Abraham.
At Membij, where he had planned to transfer from the truck to horses,
he was advised by the governor to avoid the usual direct route because
of fighting between the Turkish Nationalists and the French at Arab
Punar. His Arab gendarmes were exchanged for Kurdish chiefs and
he continued with the Reo northward toward Jerablus, spending the
night in a village as guest of a Turk. Here he was asked to dress the
wounds of several Nationalist soldiers who had been wounded while
fighting the French.
At Jerablus, the ancient Hittite Carchemish, he conferred with his
friend the archeologist Major Leonard Woolley who at that time was
excavating the Hittite ruins and at the same time serving Great Britain
as political officer. Continuing his journey, Dr. Lambert reached the
Turkish town of Seruj, where the Kurdish chieftains were replaced by
Turkish gendarmes, one of whom carried a large Turkish flag. On the
plain between Seruj and Urfa they passed an estimated one thousand
armed men in peasant costume all going toward Seruj. One of them
wore a French overcoat. About ten miles southwest of Urfa, where the
road passed through the Ferish Pasha ravine, Lambert saw near the
roadside about a dozen dead horses, a number of French helmets and
many newly made graves.13
In Urfa, which was quiet on his arrival, Dr. Lambert learned from
the American Mission and NER personnel the terms agreed upon be-
 THE CONFLICTS AT URFA AND A I N T A B : 2 1 Q

tween Ali Saib and Major Hauger. Undoubtedly this information

came through Dr. Bechlian, a witness to the agreement. These terms,
quoted in a report by Dr. Lambert made on 21 April 1920, are those
quoted by Paul du Ve"ou.14 This historian was in error concerning the
fate of Mr. Woodward of the NER staff, whom he reported killed during
the massacre of the French troops. Dr. Lambert took Woodward and
three other NER workers with him on his return to Aleppo.

Aintab
While Colonel Andrea searched for survivors of the Urfa massacre,
Colonel Normand marched toward Aintab, where an insurrection had
begun in much the same manner as at Marash, preceded by attacks on
the French supply columns, grave incidents within the city, and ulti-
matums issued by the Turkish leaders demanding withdrawal of the
French forces. Both Armenians and Turks had learned much from the
Marash affair. The Armenians withdrew to an area which was already
predominantly a Christian quarter which the Muslims left to congre-
gate with others of their own faith. The Armenians barricaded their
sector and allowed no French troops to be quartered with them as
protectors. Tension reached a crisis when a large convoy of supplies
reached Aintab under the escort of a powerful force commanded by
Colonel Andrea despite heavy attacks by Shahin Bey's army of chete.
Three days later, i April 1920, Andrea and his troops returned to
Killis. Two hours later the Turkish Nationalists began their siege
with a fusillade, as they had done in Marash two months earlier.15
The mutasarrif of Aintab, it seems, did not approve of the attack on
the French garrison, for he feared the same destruction that Marash
had suffered and a similar heavy loss of life. He wrote to his Marash
colleague Urfan Bey asking that he send a neutral delegation to
negotiate peace at Aintab. Urfan Bey sent the three leaders of the
Armenian communities on this mission, together with an imposing
escort. At Aintab the governor urged the peace commissioners, as they
were called, to persuade the Armenians to join with the Muslims in
requesting the French to withdraw. He promised security for the
Christians, but the Aintab Armenians had little faith in these assur-
ances and rejected the proposal. Further negotiations, however,
brought agreement between the French and Turkish representatives
that their political differences should be settled by direct negotiation
2 2 O : THE E X O D U S

between Mustafa Kemal in Ankara and General Gouraud in Beirut. It

was agreed that a cease-fire should go into effect at 9:00 P.M. that same
day. At that very hour the desultory fire suddenly reached a crescendo,
for the Nationalists did not want peace. They preferred to drive the
French from the city. Thus the first of four sieges began at Aintab.
Badveli Abraham Hartunian, one of the peace commissioners, gave
us a detailed report of the negotiations on his return to Marash.16
On 23 April Urfan Bey requested that our Reo truck be placed at
his disposal, for he wished to review a detachment of Turkish troops
moving from Marash against Aintab. This request could hardly be
denied, but Dr. Wilson decided that a group of Americans should go
with the car as a reminder that it was, after all, ours. And so Dr.
Wilson, Mr. Lyman, Paul Snyder, and I drove to the konak where we
picked up Urfan Bey, the Nationalist leader Arslan Bey, and two
gendarmes. Sixteen miles from Marash we caught up with a detach-
ment of Turkish regulars headed for Aintab. These were cavalrymen
under the command of Captain Yoriik Selim Bey serving as escort for
two pieces of artillery.
 CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN ENCOUNTERS

Although the Turkish Nationalists began their attack on the French

garrison of Aintab on i April, Captain Kuluj Ali, presumed to be the
commander of the Kemalist forces in that area, appeared in Marash
with a group of his officers on 13 May. That morning he came un-
announced to the German Hospital. He shook hands with me as
though I were an old friend then asked for Dr. Wilson. I escorted him
to the Wilson residence. According to him, five hundred French troops
in Aintab were surrounded by ten thousand Turkish volunteers (the
chete). A regiment of French reinforcements had tried to relieve the
siege, but the Nationalist guerrilla fighters had repulsed them with
heavy losses.1 Kuluj Ali informed Dr. Wilson that his work in Aintab
was finished, and that he was on his way to Ankara for a conference
with Mustafa Kemal Pasha. He would not allow me to photograph
him.
After leaving Dr. Wilson he returned to the German Hospital to
visit the Turkish wounded. As he went to the second floor one of the
young Armenian nurses' helpers exclaimed, "That is the man who
saved me, and he knows where my father is!" She explained to Miss
Timm that her father had been employed at the German Farm, and
when the Turkish forces captured it they started to kill the employees,
but this man, Kuluj Ali, had stopped them. The children had been
taken to a village, the one to which girls from the Rescue Home had
also been moved for protection. Her father had been taken away, she
did not know where. The girl pleaded with Miss Timm to ask Kuluj
Ali about her father.
When the captain came down the stairs, Miss Timm invited him
into the reception room and said, "This girl wants to ask you about
her father!"
2 2 2 : THE E X O D U S

Kuluj Ali stooped and listened as the girl told her story and almost
immediately indicated that he remembered the incident. "I saved
you and your sister, so do you think I would kill your father? He is
alive, and I shall send him to you!" He was obviously touched, and for
several minutes talked with the girl, assuring her that he would restore
her father to her. She thanked him and he departed. Other Turks con-
firmed the' story and insisted that her father was alive, but two months
passed and he had not appeared.2 This incident revealed an aspect
of Kuluj Ali's character which was gentler than that portrayed by
Lord Kinross: "Kuluj, or Sword Ali—Kemal's most ruthless hench-
man, a man who disarmed by his bonhomie, knew his master's
mind, and stopped at nothing to do his bidding." 8

The Turkish Mood in Marash

The mood of the Turks in Marash fluctuated with the news of events
in Aintab. When the Turkish forces were repulsed, rumors spread
that the French were planning to return to Marash, and the Muslims
displayed their resentment towards the Armenians and the Americans
as well. It was quite evident that the mutasarrif, Urfan Bey, was anx-
ious to prevent any attack on the Christians. On 18 April he inquired
whether we could accommodate all Armenians of the city within the
American Mission compounds. A force of 15,000 French troops was
said to be fighting its way toward Aintab from Nizib. Later we under-
stood this to be the column commanded by Colonel Normand, sent
to support Lieutenant Colonel Flye Sainte-Marie at Aintab.4
The rumors of a possible French return were not without founda-
tion, for General Dufieux had indeed requested reinforcements for
the reoccupation of Marash, and eight battalions designated for this
purpose had disembarked at Beirut.5 However, the insurrection at
Aintab and increased pressure by the chete along the railway between
Bozanti and Arab Punar contributed to the necessity of meeting the
new threats which meant abandoning a campaign against Marash.
As noted earlier Dr. Lambert and Dr. Shepard had reported to the
United States High Commissioner in Constantinople that a return
of French military forces would probably precipitate a massacre. Ac-
cording to Doctor Lambert, Lieutenant Colonel Flye Sainte-Marie, the
French commander at Aintab, had advised his superiors against any
attempt to reoccupy Marash.6
 MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN ENCOUNTERS : 223

Evidence of the Muslim antagonism came individually to the mem-

bers of the American Mission. A veiled Turkish woman encountered
Miss Buckley on the street and said to her, "You have two days to
live!"
Kate Ainslie and Bessie Hardy were jostled by a group of armed
Turks on the street. Miss Ainslie grabbed one of the men by the collar
and cried, "Wait until I find a gendarme to arrest you!" whereupon
one of the group raised his rifle. "You don't dare to shoot an Ameri-
can!" cried Miss Ainslie, defying him. It was she who had disarmed
the Armenian refugees when they sought shelter in the American Mis-
sion compound during the siege of Marash, in order that the mission-
aries might truthfully claim that no attacks against the Turks could
possibly have come from the college yard.)
Arslan Bey confided to Dr. Wilson that the Americans, indeed, had
been in danger, for certain Nationalist leaders wished to exterminate
the Armenians and had decided to kill first of all Mr. Lyman and
Dr. Wilson, who had too much influence on the government officials,
and then the other Americans and all of the Armenians. It was only his
intervention, he claimed, that had saved us.7
This disclosure came at the time the Turks turned against their
mutasarrif Urfan Bey. On 20 April the Nationalists demonstrated
against him, shouting the epithet gavur, ordinarily reserved as an in-
sult for Christians, and threatened to kill him if he should attempt
to enter his office. They charged him with being friendly to the Chris-
tians, both Armenian and American, and with riding in the American
automobile. Further, he had protested when the Turks burned or
looted Armenian houses. Urfan Bey resigned his post but remained in
Marash under the protection of his friend Arslan Bey.
The markets were closed on Friday 23 April, and as the Muslims
assembled for prayer they learned of the historic events in Ankara
when Mustafa Kemal Pasha met with the First Nationalist Assembly.
In midafternoon I heard a great commotion on the street known as
Government Avenue in front of the hospital. A crowd of Turks was
grouped around their banners, and a Dervish was crying, "Mustafa
Kemal yashasin!" ("Long live Mustafa Kemal!"). The throng re-
sponded with "Amin!" and paraded down the street. Cannon on the
citadel were fired, and the Turkish population celebrated with picnics
in gardens outside the city.
That night a tremendous blast shook the hospital. Windows in the
college were broken and shells began exploding in the city—one of
them in the hospital grounds. The building in which ammunition was
2 24 : THEE X O D U S

stored, a few hundred yards northwest of the college, had been oblit-
erated. Armenians ran for protection to the American Mission and
the German Hospital, fearing reprisals, but for once no one blamed
the Armenians.
A few nights later there was another panic when rifle fire broke out
all over the city. Awakened by this, I first suspected that the French
had returned to Marash. In the hallway of the hospital one of the
Turkish patients, a young lieutenant, noticed my alarm and explained
to me in German, "No light is coming from the heavens! The Turks
are shooting so that Allah may restore the light."
I went to the balcony and saw that the moon was totally eclipsed.
According to the Turkish myth, a bear had come between the moon
and the earth, and must be driven off by noise—rifle fire or the beating
of metal pans. This was taking place in every village. The Armenians
panicked momentarily. They had good cause to fear, for almost daily
some of them met sudden death.
By the middle of May our cash reserves had again diminished almost
to zero. I contemplated traveling to Aleppo to solve this problem and
was told by the acting mutasarrif that he could give me the permit to
travel, but that it would not be wise for me to go. Not more than a
week later there was a great demand for drafts on Aleppo, and within
three days some $40,000 in the form of Turkish gold lira were in
my safe. The Turkish merchants, their shelves almost bare, had de-
cided to form a great convoy and travel together, avoiding the chete on
the main roads. It was significant that these merchants feared the chetd,
although the Turkish leaders had always become indignant when the
French commanders called them brigands. Thus our need for funds
was met for another few months, and I was able to communicate with
Dr. Lambert, for on each draft I wrote a short note. When the mer-
chants returned one of them brought me a letter from Dr. Lambert
stating that he was unable to reach Marash because of the fighting at
Aintab and on the roads between Killis and Aintab. He had just re-
turned from Urfa, where he learned of the French disaster and had
taken five of the Americans out from Urfa with him.
By the end of May we learned that fighting at Aintab had ceased
while negotiations for peace were being made, and this opened the
way for several of the NER personnel to return to the United States.
Dr. and Mrs. Wilson, Miss Evelyn Trostle, and Paul Snyder departed
on horseback with an escort of gendarmes. Dr. Bell took over the re-
sponsibility for medical affairs, and I inherited the role of director.
Ramadan, the month of fasting required of Muslims, ended with the
 MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN ENCOUNTERS : 225

booming of cannon at the citadel on 18 June. This signaled the be-

ginning of the joyful feast of Bayram. Any hopes that this might
initiate a happier relationship between Turk and Armenian were soon
dispelled. On 22 June the Dervish Ali Cesar addressed the worshippers
in the great mosque Ulu-Jami, telling them that French troops were
approaching Marash, and it was necessary to fight them; but first they
should destroy the enemies within the city. As news of this spread
throughout Marash the Armenians once more fled to their places of
refuge—their few remaining churches, the American Mission, and the
German Hospital. One Armenian reported that his friendly Turkish
neighbor had warned him of the impending massacre, advising that he
run to the mission compound. On learning that one member of the
family was too ill to walk, the Turk paid a porter to carry the patient
to the protection of the Americans.8
The mutasarrif and Chuhadare Zade Mohammed, an influential
Muslim, immediately called the Turks back to the mosque and cau-
tioned them to avoid violence. At the same time the mutasarrif or-
dered the gendarmes to suppress any disorder. Our Turkish friends
informed us that another great massacre was barely averted.
The Armenians' situation changed very little in the months follow-
ing their release from the churches. They were unable to cultivate
their fields and vineyards or to engage in commerce. They were given
to understand that they were barely tolerated by the Turks. For these
reasons the major part of the Christian population remained depen-
dent on NER.
 CHAPTER THIRTY

THE HAZARDS OF TRAVEL IN TURKEY

Trip to Goksun
In the mountain towns of Goksun and Albustan north of Marash two
orphanages were supported by NER, but for several months we had been
unable to communicate with them and knew that they were in des-
perate need of funds. Mr. Lyman decided to visit them, taking 100
Turkish gold pounds. With him went Theodore Buobulian, the young
man who had insisted on remaining to help the wounded when all
Armenian men had been urged to leave with the French. Two gen-
darmes were assigned to protect them. The road to Goksun was that
which the crusaders in 1097 had followed across Anatolia to Marash
and south to Antioch. After traveling nearly one hundred miles across
the Anti-Taurus Range they were within three hours' ride of Goksun
when they met a Circassian horseman. He paused to inquire where
they were going and what business an American could have in that
area. The gendarmes were alarmed, for they recognized him as a no-
torious brigand. Further on they passed three Kurds on foot. It was
noon, and the travelers stopped at a spring to water their horses and
to refresh themselves with food.
They resumed their journey and were passing through a wooded
defile when a voice from the scrub oak on the roadside commanded
them to halt. Three rifle barrels protruded from the branches. The
gendarmes immediately shouted, "We surrender!" Two shots rang
out and the gendarmes fell from their horses, one with a bullet through
his brain, the other with a broken leg. The Kurds sprang out and at
the direction of the Circassian blindfolded Lyman and Theodore, took
their coats, and searched their pockets. They took a camera which I
had loaned to Mr. Lyman, and 110 gold lira. They overlooked a watch
 THE HAZARDS OF T R A V E L IN T U R K E Y : 287

and a pistol, but Lyman thought it wise to give up the pistol. The
Circassian shared the loot, giving the Kurds the four horses and one
third of the gold.
As soon as the brigands departed Theodore and Mr. Lyman gave
first aid to the wounded gendarme and carried him to a nearby village.
There the police showed no interest in tracking the brigands. The
travelers proceeded to Goksun on foot and reported the incident by
telegraph to Mustafa Kemal in Ankara. Orders came from him to the
local gendarme commander to catch the culprits and have the stolen
property restored. The Kurds were caught and 36 lira recovered, but
no one wished to search for the Circassian. A month passed before the
travelers were able to return to Marash.1

The Road to Aleppo

A twenty-day truce between the French and Turks at Aintab opened
the road to Aleppo, permitting the arrival of a caravan of camels and
mules loaded with supplies for the destitute Armenians and raw cotton
for our weaving industry. A day later Dr. Lambert appeared on horse-
back. Unable to secure replacements for the NER personnel who had
already departed, he had risked his life on the dangerous road to urge
me to remain in Marash for another year. He had come as far as the
Ak Su by car but found it so swollen by rain that he had been obliged
to return to Aintab where he exchanged his car for a horse and trav-
eled by night to Marash. While others met disaster on this road, he
had negotiated it three times without harm.
Dr. Lambert told us how John Knudsen, treasurer of the Aleppo
station, and two Armenian companions had been caught on the road
between Killis and Aintab and held prisoner by the chete for several
days. One of them had unwittingly revealed his identity as an Ar-
menian by responding to questions in Turkish and Armenian and
was killed. Knudsen, a New Zealander, knew only English, The second
Armenian, blue eyed and fair haired, posed successfully as an Ameri-
can, and the two were finally released.
Miss Frances Buckley, who had endured the siege of Beitshalom
Orphanage, and Miss Ellen Blakely, president of Marash Girls' Col-
lege, took advantage of Dr. Lambert's transport and escort and joined
him for the journey to Aleppo. I drove them to the Ak Su, which they
had to ford. By previous arrangement the Aintab car was waiting on
2 2 8 : THE EXODUS

the far bank of the river to carry them to Aleppo. Chris Augsburger
of the Aleppo transport department forded the river on foot to return
with me to Marash, a welcome addition to our staff.2

My Return to Aleppo
Unwilling to lose a fellowship for graduate study at the University of
Pennsylvania, I had rejected Dr. Lambert's request that I remain in
Marash as director of the NER work. The administration of relief for
the Armenian community was already governed by a capable commit-
tee composed of representatives from each of the religious faiths.
Among these Badveli Abraham Hartunian was a leader. Since the
presence of American personnel offered some protection to the Ar-
menians, Mr. Lyman agreed to remain in Marash for a few weeks
until a substitute came to take over my duties, and in turn he assigned
to me the responsibility for escorting his fiancee to Beirut.
Miss Hardy and I went to the office of the mutasarrif for travel per-
mits, and without much delay we were handed a single document. We
had mentioned that we were to leave Marash together, and accordingly
they had prepared one passport for the two of us.
Unaware of French plans to oust the forces of Emir Feisal from
Aleppo on that very day—16 July 1920—our party left the college at
4:00 A.M. with Chris Augsburger at the wheel of the Reo truck. The
other members of our group were Peter Jernazian, Bessie Hardy, Lucy
Mikhaelian, and two gendarmes. Concealed under Miss Hardy's skirts
was a sack containing some five hundred letters to be posted in Aleppo.
At the outskirts of the city a police officer signaled us to stop and
began to search for mail, since Mustafa Kemal had forbidden any un-
censored communications with the outside world. Alarmed at the
consequences of discovery of letters given me by some of the French
prisoners for their families, I reached in my pocket for letters given
to me at the last minute and handed them over to the officer with a
show of reluctance. He took them and waved to us to proceed.
At Aintab we considered it wise to consult Dr. Shepard about con-
ditions on the road ahead, for it was between Aintab and Killis that
the two YMCA men had been killed and John Knudsen and his com-
panions taken prisoner by the chete. However, we could not drive into
Aintab for a trench had been dug across the road, and in it were
French soldiers. Under the terms of truce the French had left the city
 THE H A Z A R D S OF T R A V E L IN T U R K E Y : 2 2 9

but were encamped on its edge. There was no firing, and so I jumped
over the trench and went on foot to find Dr. Shepard. None of the
French soldiers warned me that I was crossing no man's land.
As I approached a stone building which was the Turkish military
hospital, the cry of "Dur!" brought me to a sudden halt and I looked
up into the muzzle of a Turkish rifle. The sentry motioned me to
approach, and I explained in Turkish that I wished to see Dr. Shepard
but neglected to add that I was an American, not a Frenchman. Finally
I was brought before the commander, and when he learned that I was
an American an orderly was sent for Dr. Shepard.
It was fortunate that we had stopped to consult Dr. Shepard, for we
learned that we would have been turned back at a roadblock several
miles south of Aintab. Dr. Shepard proposed to negotiate with the
guerrilla band at that point for our safe passage. He packed a carton
of cigarettes and food supplies as gifts for the chete and went ahead
in his own car. By the time we reached the checkpoint the Turkish
fighters were in good spirits and seemed pleased to have me photo-
graph them. Soon we were able to proceed. We passed the dangerous
area near Besh Goz safely, but at Killis a French sentry barred the
way. "It is not safe for you to travel on this road!" he warned.
"We know that, but we have come all the way from Marash. Is it any
worse ahead?"
He shrugged his shoulders, unable to disclose the reason for danger
ahead, and we drove on. Three miles north of Aleppo we came in sight
of the monument erected by the British with the inscription, Here Was
Fought the Last Battle of the Great War in the Near East. Along the
ridge soldiers were digging trenches, and suddenly an Arab officer
rushed into the road brandishing his sword. As we slowed to a halt
others ran toward us with their bayonets drawn, while Peter Jernazian
shouted, "We are Americans!" Chris Augsburger descended from the
driver's seat and began to tinker casually with the engine, ignoring
the brandished knives. We had been mistaken for the advance guard
of the French forces who were marching on Aleppo with the intention
of displacing Emir Feisal. The warning given us by the sentry at Killis
was now understood.
Our Turkish gendarmes were disarmed, and we were permitted to
proceed into Aleppo with Arab guards. The next morning the Ameri-
can consul Mr. Jackson told me of the French ultimatum sent to the
emir. They demanded Aleppo as a base for operations against the
Turks, control of the railway from Beirut (a step which Georges-Picot
and General Dufieux had wished to take late in November 1918),
230 : THE E X O D U S

French control over all Syria and Lebanon, no further conscription to

raise an Arab army, and punishment for those who were helping the
Turks. The Arabs, said Mr. Jackson, planned to destroy sections of the
railway to the south that same night after the departure of the evening
train to Damascus and Beirut, hence we should take that train if we
wished to avoid a long stay in Aleppo and the battle for possession of
the city.
That morning thousands of Feisal's Desert Mounted Corps poured
into the city on camels and horses, brandishing their swords and shout-
ing. One Bedouin warrior, seeing me—a foreigner in uniform—bared
his teeth and showed me what he would like to do with his sword! 3
We got out that night, missing the opportunity to witness the first en-
gagement in France's seizure of Syria from Emir Feisal.4
In Beirut I called on Major James Nicol of the American Red Cross.
At that time he had the responsibility for placement of personnel in
the outlying stations of the NER, and I told him of the need to send
someone to relieve Mr. Lyman, who had accepted the directorship of
the Marash branch of NER on a temporary basis. His furlough was
long overdue, I added, and his fiancee was waiting for him in Beirut.
"It will be time enough to replace him when he comes out!" replied
Major Nicol. I fear that my response did not help matters. Nearly a
year later I received a letter from Mr. Lyman urging me to return to
Marash so that he could join Miss Hardy and get married. The NER
headquarters in New York confirmed my appointment as director of
the Marash station, and early in the summer of 1921 I sailed from
New York together with my sister Marion. Meanwhile events of great
importance had taken place in Cilicia.
 CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

THE END OF ZEITUN

Of the eight thousand citizens of Zeitun deported in 1915, only one

thousand survived to return when British forces occupied Marash in
1918. Since their homes were in ruins, they took possession of the
Turkish military barracks, and this became a village dormitory while
they worked on the restoration of their houses. They were careful to
establish a good relationship with their Turkish neighbors and felt
secure under the leadership of Aram Bey Cholakian, one of the famous
brothers who had resisted deportation and later fought the Turkish
forces at Fundijak.1
The very existence of this small group of independent Armenians
"squeezed the soul" (a Turkish expression) of Kadi Zadd Haji Effendi,
one of the Turks who was responsible for organization of the guerrilla
bands. Determined to complete the annihilation of the Zeitunlis, he
took advantage of the threat posed by the advance of the Greek armies
on Eskishehir. He feared that the 10,000 Turkish regulars stationed in
Cilicia might be transferred to the Greek front and began to insist
that first any danger of an uprising by the Zeitunlis be eliminated,
whereas all that these brave people desired was to be left alone, in
peace with their neighbors.2
The first move was made by the mutasarrif of Marash, for Zeitun
came under his jurisdiction. On 18 June 1921 he ordered that the
Zeitunlis surrender their arms, and that all men of military age enlist
in the army. Also that the villagers were to evacuate the Turkish bar-
racks. The Zeitunlis knew from their experiences in 1895 and 1915 that
to be disarmed meant annihilation and rejected these proposals. When
further negotiations between the Marash officials and a delegation of
Zeitun notables failed, the commander of Turkish forces in Cilicia,
Salaheddin Pasha, was ordered to compel submission.
 : THE E X O D U S

The Turkish general had learned of Raphael Kherlakian's reputa-

tion as a diplomat during the period he served as counselor to the
French commander at Aintab and invited him to attempt a settlement
of the Zeitun problem without bloodshed. In his own report on this
affair Raphael pictures the general as an intelligent and cultivated
man who had considerable admiration for the bravery of the Armeni-
ans, for he had fought them at Hadjin. He asked Kherlakian to ac-
company the battalion of troops which was to move against Zeitun
and to attempt to persuade the Zeitunlis to yield rather than be de-
stroyed.
After a forced march across the mountains the Turkish detachment
camped within two hours' journey by horse from Zeitun. Later that
evening the commander summoned Raphael, who had politely ex-
cused himself when invited to dine with the officers, and gave him
orders for the morning. The troops were to move toward Zeitun before
dawn. At five o'clock Raphael was to ride to the town bearing a red
flag for identification and to offer safe conduct for the villagers in
return for the surrender of their arms. He was to come out of the
barracks carrying his flag, followed by mules loaded with the sur-
rendered arms and then by the population. If by eleven o'clock the
Zeitun fighters had not surrendered, the barracks would be bom-
barded.
After a sleepless night during which he contemplated the Golgotha
which was to follow, Raphael crossed himself, entrusted himself to
his patron saint Raphael, and rode swiftly to Zeitun, warning peasants
in their fields to return at once to the town. At the barracks an alarm
was sounded to summon all of the population. To their leader, Aram
Bey Cholakian, Kherlakian explained the terms demanded by the
Turkish commander and the promise of security in Marash made by
Salaheddin Pasha.
"I accept your word that Salaheddin Pasha is sincere, but what will
happen to us if he is ordered to the front? His successor in Marash
will pay no attention to such promises!" Having made this reply Aram
Bey called a meeting of his 200 fighters—only half of them armed—
and asked them to vote whether to fight or to surrender.
"Death, Yes I Surrender, Nol" they shouted.
Members of the town's governing body, the National Union Com-
mittee, voted to leave the choice to each individual family, and Aram
Bey announced the decision. Those who wished to go with Raphael
to Marash, including any of the fighters who wished to surrender,
were to follow him when he rode out of the barracks.
 THE END OF Z E I T U N : 233

Aram Bey took Raphael aside and asked him to grant two favors:
first, to take under his protection his young sister; and second, to sell
his white horse in Marash and use the proceeds for the benefit of the
destitute villagers.
Already the Zeitunlis could see the Turkish troops taking positions
on the ridges around the town, and they began to panic. The fighters
took their places. Raphael mounted his horse and with his red flag
rode out toward the Turkish commander. Seven hundred forty-one
citizens followed him on foot. Through his field glasses the Turkish
officer could see no mules carrying the arms that were to be sur-
rendered and shouted, "Let the people go back!" But it was too late.
Vexed at the refusal to surrender, the officer ordered that only those
who had no relatives among the fighters could go to Marash. Raphael,
also angry, reminded the officer of the laws of warfare and of a soldier's
honor which required him to protect those who surrender; but the
commander would not yield. The Zeitunli elders separated about one
hundred who were related closely to the fighters and sent them back.
Among these was Aram Bey's sister.
As Raphael led the procession of old men, women, and children
away from Zeitun down the mountain toward the bridge over the
Djihan River, the sound of cannon and rifle fire reverberated in the
hills. That night they camped near a gendarme station, guarded
against marauders. After dark four mules came from Zeitun loaded
with rifles. These were the arms of Turkish soldiers already killed in
the battle. Raphael telephoned to Salaheddin Pasha asking him to
order a cease-fire so that negotiations could be resumed, for the time
allowed had been too short. This request was granted, and an old
veteran of the 1895 battle Archimandrake Bartholomeu was sent back
to help in the negotiations. But the fighters rejected any suggestion of
surrender. On the following night firing from the barracks ceased. The
Armenian defenders had broken through the Turkish lines into the
mountains, accompanied by all but the sick and wounded and some
children who remained in the barracks. The Turks broke down the
great door and put to the sword the fifty victims, who offered no re-
sistance.
Led by Kherlakian the refugees camped for the second night on
Akhyr Dagh without food or shelter. Raphael sent riders to Marash
with a request that Salaheddin Pasha send food, and shortly after
midnight the campers were given bread. The next morning they
reached Marash and camped in the American Mission compound.
Salaheddin Pasha sent liberal quantities of food to them daily until
234 : THE EXODUS

he was transferred from Marash to help fight the Greek armies in

Anatolia.3
A few days later Badveli Abraham Hartunian was called to the gov-
ernment house. There he found a new military commander, Kemal
Bey, in conference with the mutasarrif.
"The Zeitunlis are not comfortable living out of doors at the college.
I have found a building for them," said the governor. Hartunian was
surprised at their concern but inspected the building, had it cleaned,
and moved the Zeitunlis into it. The next day gendarmes came to
make a census, and a few days later all of the refugees were herded
out of Marash on the road to Diarbekir, never to be heard of again.
The transfer to the building had been a device for collecting all of the
Zeitunlis and for removing them from the protection of the Americans.
Aram Bey had been right in predicting that the promise made by
Salaheddin Pasha would become a dead letter if he should depart.4
Those who escaped to the mountains around Zeitun were hunted
down by the Turkish troops and villagers. Aram Bey and his sister
were killed in one of these skirmishes, but a number of the fighters
reached safety in Aleppo.5 The community of Zeitun Armenians ceased
to exist, and even the name disappeared from the map of Turkey, re-
placed by Suleymaniyeh.6
 CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

THE ACCORDS OF LONDON AND A N K A R A

The Western Allies, concerned over the conflicts in Anatolia, held

a conference in London in February 1921 to consider revisions of the
Treaty of Sevres which had been signed by the sultan's government
only six months earlier. There was much to discuss, for a Greek army
had advanced into Anatolia, and the Turkish Nationalists had ousted
the French from Marash and Urfa and were fighting them at Aintab.
With hopes of ending the conflict between the Turkish Nationalists
and the sultan's government, the conference leaders invited representa-
tives from both parties, but Kemal Pasha's delegates made demands
that amounted to cancellation of the terms agreed to at Sevres. The
Greek delegation refused to sit with the Kemalists, preferring to make
war on them, for they supposed that they, the Greeks, had the support
of Lloyd George. The conference ended with agreement among the
British, French, and Italians that hostilities should cease and that the
regions occupied by foreign powers should gradually be evacuated. In
return for certain concessions for the development of natural resources
in Anatolia and the protection of French cultural interests, the French
offered to withdraw their troops south of the Baghdad Railway line.
The Armenian Catholic patriarch wrote to the French premier Briand
that rumors of these proposals had created panic among the Christians
of Cilicia, who considered the presence of French troops their only
effective guaranty of security. If, he concluded, the French should
decide to leave Cilicia, he begged that they might "have the grace to
anticipate measures for the transport of the Armenian population into
a zone that is more secure." 1
The Grand National Assembly at Ankara refused to ratify the pro-
posals made at London. They would not allow the Turkish population
236 : THE E X O D U S

to be disarmed, nor would they exchange prisoners, offer amnesty to

Christians, or protect French institutions. Unless the French were to
evacuate Cilicia within eight days they would resume hostilities. The
French Commission for Foreign Affairs believed that the French public
would not accept such demands; that France could not abandon to
the Kemalists the Armenians repatriated under assurances of protec-
tion nor allow the French regiments which had held Aintab under
repeated assaults to suffer once more the humiliation of withdrawal.
The commission persuaded Briand that he should not even reply to
the proposals made by the Ankara assembly.2
From that time Briand began secret negotiations with the Kemalists,
in violation of Clause 9 of the Sykes-Picot Agreement between Great
Britain and France, signed in April and May 1916. The French gov-
ernment had agreed never to enter into any negotiations for the cession
of its rights nor to cede its rights in the "Blue Area" to any third
power other than the Arab State or Confederation of Arab States
without the previous consent of the British government, which in turn
gave similar assurances to the French government with respect to the
"Red Area." 3
Briand was in an awkward position, for the socialists in parliament
refused him the financial credits needed for support of the troops al-
ready in Anatolia, let alone the possibility of strengthening the French
position. In spite of the recommendations of his Commission for
Foreign Affairs, and in violation of the agreement with Great Britain,
he appointed a special commission headed by a former undersecretary
of state, Henri Franklin-Bouillon, to negotiate with the Kemalist re-
gime in Ankara.
The shameful proceedings and their consequences are described by
Paul du Veou in bitter passages of his history, La Passion de la Cilicie.
Franklin-Bouillon signed the agreement reached with the Kemalist
commissioner for foreign affairs, Yousuf Kemal, on 20 October 1921.
The Accord of Ankara required withdrawal of all French troops from
Cilicia to a line south of the Baghdad Railway within two months of
ratification. This would leave the railway—of importance to the Brit-
ish and Italians as well as to the French—entirely under Turkish con-
trol. It would also make the cities of Aleppo and Alexandretta vul-
nerable to possible attack by the Turks, as General Dufieux pointed
out in a memorandum to General Gouraud. In return the Kemalists
gave assurances of security for the Christian minorities. Even the
Turkish notables in Adana advised Genetral Dufieux that these assur-
 THE ACCORDS OF LONDON AND ANKARA 237

ances were not to be trusted, and the Armenians knew this from their
own experiences at Marash and elsewhere.4
When the text of the accord was communicated to the British am-
bassador in Paris, Lord Hardinge called on Briand and expressed the
astonishment and anxiety of his government for France's action in
dealing with the regime at Ankara while all nations still recognized
the sultan; also that she should make a separate peace settlement in
violation of the tripartite pact made in London in 1916. Further, he
noted that the minority populations in Turkey were no longer assured
the protection required under the mandate given to France.5 The
Grand National Assembly at Ankara approved the accord, as did also
the French cabinet on i November.
When the Armenians learned that by 4 January 1922 not one French
soldier would remain in Cilicia, there was a panic. Where could they
go to find security? General Gouraud issued a proclamation on 12 No-
vember 1921 assuring "the inhabitants of Cilicia, Aintab, and Killis
that the French government had done what was necessary for the pro-
tection of the rights of minorities; that they should remain in their
homes; and that to leave was to court disaster." He gave orders that
nothing should be done to facilitate the evacuation of the Armenians
—no special trains, no boats, and no refugee camps in Syria.6 The
British closed the doors to Palestine and Egypt and gave visas for
Cyprus only to those affluent enough to travel first or second class.
An Italian ship at Mersine' took on board 3,000 orphans who had been
under the care of NER, and Greek ships transported thousands of refu-
gees. Only Lebanon granted asylum to the Armenians fleeing once
more from their homeland.
Were the Armenians justified in their distrust of the promises made
at Ankara? In Marash there were 9,700 who until then had been
denied permission to emigrate. The question of reliability of the of-
ficial Turkish promises is answered in the experiences of these Ma-
rashlis, as we shall see.
 CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

LIFE U N D E R T H E N A T I O N A L I S T R E G I M E

Return to Marash
At the time the Ankara accord was signed I was in Aintab on my way
back to Marash after a year of absence. With me were my sister Marion
and three members of the American Board of Foreign Missions, Edith
Cold (who had witnessed the harrowing events at Hadjin in 1915 1),
and Elsa Reckman and Pauline Rehder, two young women who had
just completed a year in the study of Turkish at Constantinople. We
had reached Aintab in mid-August traveling from Killis under the pro-
tection of a large French military convoy. There we began negotiations
for permission to enter Marash, applying to Ankara through our
offices in Constantinople. On hearing from Mr. Lyman in Marash that
Ankara had authorized our entry, we proceeded immediately by car
under the escort of four mounted gendarmes who were instructed by
the French to transfer us to the Turkish authorities at the village of
Jadi, recognized as the temporary frontier. We were received politely
there but turned back after several hours with the explanation that
the Marash authorities would send word when we were authorized to
come.
Weeks passed with no word from Marash, and we made a second
attempt. This time we were blindfolded by the Turkish frontier guards
and marched over the fields to a command post where a Turkish of-
ficer informed us coldly that we could not pass and added that we
should not return unless sent for. We concluded that it was the
Marash authorities who refused permission, for a telegram from An-
kara had informed us that our entry had been authorized.
On a very cold morning in November we speculated that the sentries
at the frontier would be warming themselves in the guardhouse on a
 LIFE UNDER THE N A T I O N A L I S T REGIME : 239

hill nearly a quarter of a mile from the road, and that we might be
able to pass without waiting for permission. Because of the risks in-
volved, we left the two youngest girls, my sister and Miss Reckman,
in Aintab.
We came around the last hill as quietly as possible and saw two sen-
tries at the spring. One of them ran up the steep hill to alert his com-
mander in the guardhouse. Miss Cold, who spoke Turkish fluently,
conversed with the other sentry, a mere boy, while our chauffeur
Martin Weaver kept the car moving slowly, Miss Cold explained that
if the engine got cold it might not start again. Weaver increased his
speed, leaving the bewildered sentry behind uncertain whether or not
he should shoot us. The village of Jadi lay a mile ahead and a quar-
ter of a mile off the road, and we feared trouble there where we had
been turned back twice before. Now we saw that it had become an
important military camp. As we raced past it we felt a jolt and our
two flags—one a Red Cross flag, the other Turkish—fell. They had
struck telephone wires strung low across the road. Had the flagstaffs
broken the wires? If not, we would be arrested at Karabiyikli.
An hour later this village came into view across a valley, and as we
approached it the villagers came running to the roadside. We ap-
proached slowly, expecting arrest, but to our astonishment the crowd
parted to let us pass, and an officer saluted.
The marvelous panorama of the Anti-Taurus Range opened be-
fore us. We descended toward the Pazarjik plain, circling the hill
where Paul Snyder and his passengers had narrowly escaped death as
it they ran into a skirmish between Turkish chete and a Spahi patrol
, the day before the siege of Marash began. The bridge over the Ak Su
had been destroyed, but we were able to cross the river bed, and Ma-
rash lay ahead of us.
; At the control post on the edge of the city, the police were puzzled
• to find that we had no entry permits. They passed us on to the custom
house and undoubtedly telephoned to the konak for instructions
i while our baggage was being unloaded, but they allowed us to proceed
| to the college.
5. Later we learned that the mutasarrif had summoned the police com-
• missioner and other officials to consider what action to take against us.
. While they were debating whether to imprison us or to send us back
I to Aintab, a messenger brought a telegram in cipher for the muta-
{ sarrif. He handed it back and asked that it be decoded. A few minutes
\r he read it aloud: "The Americans waiting in Aintab are allowed
I to enter Marash." This message had come nearly two months earlier,
24° : THEE X O D U S

as we suspected, but had been pigeonholed by the mutasarrif, who did

not want more Americans in Marash, but now he did not dare to
punish or banish us, in view of the permit from Ankara.
Several months later a young Turkish officer came to call on us. He
told us in English that he had been in command of the frontier post
near Aintab and had been punished for allowing us to pass. He added
good-humouredly that he would forgive us in return for a Turkish-
English dictionary. We offered him refreshments and promised to
order the dictionary, which a few months later we were able to deliver
to him.
Weaver drove back to Aintab for the rest of our party, and a week
later returned not only with the two young ladies but also with an
American physician, Dr. Charles Gannaway, and his wife and son
Theodore. Thus both the mission and the NER staffs were reinforced.2
Immediately after my return to Marash Mr. Lyman advised me to
place both the mutasarrif and the police commissioner on the NER
payroll, for these men received such low salaries that they were obliged
to supplement their incomes by accepting bribes. I refused to do this,
but I eventually learned that payment had to be made—not always in
cash—for services rendered. "As director of the Near East Relief you
should at least make a courtesy call on each of the officials," Mr. Ly-
man continued. Having crossed the Turkish frontier against the wishes
of the mutasarrif, 1 was prepared for a hostile reception but was re-
ceived politely.
After the customary exchange of greetings and queries as to each
other's health, he remarked, "Your predecessor Mr. Christensen was
an impolite fellow! He sat in my office, right where you are, with his
legs crossed, showing me the sole of his shoe." Fortunately I had my
feet together on the floor, having learned to avoid this insult. I heard,
too, that Albert Christensen had spent his first three days in the Ma-
rash prison for entering without a permit, as my party had done.
Within a few months I was to have my own conflict with the mutasar-
rif over an offense far more serious than showing the soles of my shoes.
Mr. Lyman briefed us on the events of the past year and joyfully pre-
pared for his journey to the United States and his marriage to Bessie
Hardy. A young missionary, the Reverend William Sage Woolworth,
had already come to take over Mr. Lyman's responsibilities in the
mission. His excellent command of the Turkish language enabled him
to deal directly with the Turkish officials, especially on behalf of Ar-
menians with problems such as property rights.
 LIFE UNDER THE N A T I O N A L I S T REGIME : 241

Armenian Rights in Marash

It soon became clear why our attempts to reach Marash had been op-
posed. The friendly relationship established when Urfan Bey was
governor had changed to one of such antagonism that the Turkish
leaders called the Armenian Apostolic priest Der Ghazarian and the
Evangelical pastor Hartunian to the konak and asked them to sign a
petition requesting the Ankara government to expel the Americans
from Marash. They bravely rejected the demand, willing to suffer the
wrath of the Turkish officials. The police commissar had been "a
veritable Pharaoh," forcing the Armenians to construct two new build-
ings for the police and gendarmerie without pay or food. Not content
with this slave labor, he imposed taxes on the Armenian community
to pay for the lumber and other materials used in construction.3
Informed that the government wished to have the stones from ruins
of the Kherlakian residence, Raphael offered them as a gift, but the
commissar insisted on payment and set the price himself at fifty francs.4
Stones for reconstruction of the military barracks burned on the night
of the French withdrawal were confiscated from graves in the Ar-
menian cemeteries.
The elected representatives of the Armenian National Union were
in prison, charged with treason. The largest of the NER orphanages,
Beitshalom, had been requisitioned for the use of Turkish troops; and
its 500 boys had to be squeezed into other buildings.5 The Turks also
took the attitude that the German Hospital, which Dr. Wilson had of-
fered for the Turkish wounded, belonged to them.
The superintendent of schools Issa Haj Nouri, a graduate of the
American College at Aintab, ordered that no teaching was to be con-
ducted in the orphanages, and that the American College for Girls
might admit as students only the children of the Americans, but no
Turkish subjects, either Muslim or Christian. The mission was obliged
to close the doors of the Girls' College, but the orphanage directors
established an ingenious system for signaling unexpected inspections
by the superintendent. His arrival magically transformed classes into
groups of children listening informally to stories told them by their
teachers.
Unable to tolerate the oppression of their people any longer, the
242 : THE E X O D U S

three religious leaders petitioned the mutasarrif to intervene and order

the police commissar to cease his abuses against the Armenians. The
next day the Apostolic, Catholic, and Evangelical leaders were sum-
moned to the konak, but instead of meeting the governor they were
ushered into the office of the commissar against whom they had com-
plained. When he began to curse and insult them, Badveli Abraham
protested that they were the legal heads of their communities, recog-
nized by the government, whereupon the commissar angrily jabbed
his thumb into the pastor's eye and was about to strike the other
when an officer intervened. This confrontation resulted in a doubling
of the labor and tax required from the Armenian community, and
Hartunian narrowly escaped being blinded.
A few days later a Turkish official spoke confidentially to the Evan-
gelical pastor, stating frankly that there was no longer any hope for
the Armenians and Turks to live together, and that the wisest course
for the Armenians would be to leave the country. Hope for a recon-
ciliation with the Turks was abandoned after a conference with Dayi-
zade Hoja, who was regarded by the followers of Mohammed almost as
a prophet. The Apostolic priest Der Sahag Der Bedrossian and Badveli
Abraham came by appointment to the Ulu-Jami and asked the Hoja
to use his influence for the easing of tension between the Christian
and Muslim communities. He responded by berating the Christians
and asked them to agree that their religion was inferior to his. When
Hartunian protested politely that this was a matter of conscience, the
Hoja angrily dismissed them, saying to the pastor, "Never let me see
you again I" His wish was fulfilled, for within a few days the Hoja
died.6
Only the presence of Salaheddin Pasha prevented the annihilation
which continued to threaten the Armenian community. According to
Raphael Kherlakian, this officer expressed his abhorrence at the fanati-
cism of the Marash Turks.7
Many of the Armenians decided to emigrate but were refused per-
mission to travel. New regulations were being prepared for the con-
fiscation of their property.
Teachers in the orphanage schools began to ask what fate lay in
store for the children as they matured. The young men would most
certainly be drafted into military service, and the opportunities for
the girls seemed to be few. If Armenian youth were to be denied an
education in Marash, would it not be better to move them out of the
country? I passed this question on to the area directors of the NER in
Aleppo and Beirut.
 LIFE UNDER THE N A T I O N A L I S T REGIME : 243

Conflict with the Mutasarrif

Beitshalom Orphanage had been requisitioned for the use of Turkish
troops. Months later our pharmacist, Stepan Chorbajian, brought me
a message from the mutasarrif, Mustafa Remzi, stating that the or-
phanage would be restored to us if I should make him a gift of fifty
Turkish gold lira.
"Tell him to go to Hell!" I replied angrily.
"Do you really want me to tell him that?" asked Stepan.
"Yes!" I replied, assuming that he would phrase it in diplomatic
Turkish. What he told him I never learned, but the next morning re-
percussions of the explosion at the konak reverberated in our area.
Officers from the customs house seized our Reo truck for nonpayment
of the import tax. Construction was halted on the mission building
destroyed by fire after the French withdrawal, for we had not obtained
a building permit. Finally I was placed under arrest on the charge of
sending out uncensored mail. The deputy police commissioner kindly
set me free pending trial, for I had made portraits of him in two
different uniforms and in civil dress with his daughter.
We paid the import tax for the automobile. Construction on the
mission building, undertaken for the sake of employing a group of
Zeitunli carpenters and masons, was never resumed. As for the charge
against me, the governor had made a mistake; each time letters were to
be sent to Aleppo I had informed the police commissioner, and he had
sent the censor, a young Turk named Kazim Bey with whom we were
on the best terms, to my office. Kazim Bey's proficiency in English
did not extend to American slang, which we used frequently to evade
the censor's black ink. He came often just to chat, sip coffee, and
smoke. Theodore Bulbulian, then employed as a clerk in my office,
refused to accomodate him in any way concerned with smoking, for
to Theodore this was sinful.
I consulted the deputy police commissioner about the charge against
me, and he agreed readily to testify on my behalf in the court. At the
appointed time I came before the court with Badveli Abraham as in-
terpreter. The commissar testified that he had regularly sent the censor
to my office, and the judge declared me innocent.
On learning of his error, the mutasarrif charged me with failure to
use the Turkish post, for our mail had been sent by automobile to
244 : THE EXODUS

Aleppo to be forwarded through the Syrian post office. For this offense
a fine was imposed and paid to the Turkish post office. I remembered
that I had been advised to place the governor on my payroll!
Some weeks after these incidents I was called to the konak and
quizzed by an inspector from Ankara. He wished to know whether I
had any complaints to make against the mutasarrif, and I told him
about the request for a bribe. Many complaints, it seems, had been
made against the governor, and in a short time he was removed from
office and left Marash.

Bureaucratic Games
Miss Ann Mclntyre of the NER staff, having completed her term of
service, feared the prospects of traveling alone, and begged her friend
Leah Marashlian to accompany her to the United States. At that
time Leah, a survivor of the 1920 siege, was employed in the NER office.
When the two young women applied to the police commissioner for
travel permits they were told that for Miss Mclntyre there was no
difficulty, but that an Armenian could leave only by special permission
from Ankara. For this they were referred to the mutasarrif Mustafa
Remzi Bey, who agreed to pass the request on to Ankara. Two weeks
later he called Leah to his office and told her, "The authorities in
Ankara want to know why you wish to go to the United States."
"My brothers live there and I want to join them."
"No!" he replied angrily. "You are a Huntchakist [a member of the
Hunchak Revolutionary Society]! Armenians have told me this. You
cannot go."
It was shortly after this that Mustafa Rem/i was dismissed from his
office. A member of the police force, Hamdi Efendi, with whom Leah
had become acquainted while imprisoned during the siege, sought to
intervene on her behalf and gain a reward from her, because he
thought her to be wealthy. He advised her that since the new mutasarrif
knew nothing of the earlier refusal, she should apply once more for
permission to travel. "My brother-in-law works in the telegraph office,
and if the reply from Ankara should be 'No!' he will change it to 'Yes!'
But you will have to pay me thirty gold lira. There are five clerks in
the office beside my brother-in-law, and all of them have to be paid."
Although Leah had no idea where she could find such a sum, she
 LIFE U N D E R THE NATIONALIST REGIME : 245

agreed to the deal, and the two ladies begged the mutasarrif to wire
Ankara.
A few days later Hamdi Efendi brought the news to Leah. "The
reply came from Ankara, and it was 'No,' but my brother-in-law
changed it to 'Yes.' Go to the mutasarrif and ask whether an answer has
come."
Leah called on the governor. "Ankara has refused permission for
you to leave Marash," he told her.
Hamdi was terrified when he heard this. "The mutasarrif must
know what we have done. Someone has betrayed us!" This surmise was
confirmed when all six men in the telegraph office were dismissed.
Hamdi demanded payment of the thirty pieces of gold from Leah,
arguing that six families now had no income, but she was unable to
pay him.
A Turkish merchant, Mustafa Efendi, came to the NER office to
purchase a draft, but he was refused by Miss Mather, the treasurer.
Leah, who acted as interpreter, knew the merchant well enough to tell
him of her own desire to reach Aleppo.
"That can be arranged. You get permission for me to buy a draft
for 100 gold lira, and I'll get you out of Marash!"
"How do you propose to do that?" asked Leah.
"I shall present the mutasarrif with a nice rug, and he will ask what
he can do for me. Can you get me that draft?" Leah Hanum risked
Miss Mather's displeasure by going over her head to the director, and
laid the details of the plot before me. Enjoying the play, I readily
assented to the sale. A few days later the mutasarrif sent for Leah, but
she feared a trap and consulted the merchant.
"Don't go!" advised Mustafa. "Send word that you are ill. Let me
handle this." The mutasarrif explained to Mustafa that he could not
legally issue a travel permit but would see that the police did not stop
Leah if she should leave Marash in the company of the American lady.
Miss Mclntyre and Leah left Marash in a carriage, taking with them
the elderly Miss Salmond, who was suffering from chronic dysentery
and wished to return to England. The Marash police politely waved
them past the checkpoint, but at the village of Karabiyikli the authori-
ties, who knew the restrictions against travel for Armenians, telephoned
to the Marash police headquarters for instructions. There, by an un-
fortunate turn of fate, the call was received by Hamdi, still angry over
his failure to collect his fee of thirty gold lira. "Send them back to
Marash!" he roared.
246 : THE EXODUS

The ladies returned to Marash and deposited Miss Salmond in the

hospital, ill from her journey and disappointment. Miss Mclntyre
called personally on the mutasarrif. "Go again tomorrow," said the
governor. "I shall send eight gendarmes to escort you past Kara-
biyilkli."
This time there was no interference either at the exit from Marash or
at Karabiyikli. The gendarmes refused to enter the zone occupied by
the French which was an hour's ride from Aintab. Miss Mclntyre pre-
sented each one with a gold lira and prepared to photograph the
group, although there was no film in her camera. The gendarmes
curled their moustaches and posed proudly while Miss Mclntyre
clicked the shutter of her empty camera and assured them that she
would send copies for each back to Marash.8
 CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

THE FINAL EXODUS

The Transfer of Orphans to Lebanon

At the time of my return to Marash in mid-November, news of the
accord negotiated between the French emissary Franklin-Bouillon and
the Ankara government had not reached my Marash colleagues, for
newspapers were nonexistent and mail from abroad required months
for delivery. For weeks, therefore, we were not aware of the fact that
the harassment of the Armenian population by the Marash officials
was in violation of the Ankara accord both in letter and in spirit. Full
amnesty had been declared and assurance given that all rights of
minority groups were recognized.1 Had we known of this and of the
official proclamation made jointly by the Turkish undersecretary of
state and of interior Hamid Bey, General Mouheddine Pasha, and
Henri Franklin-Bouillon on 23 November 1921, and another by
Mustafa Kemal himself on 13 December,2 we could have protested to
Ankara such injustices as the closing of the orphanage schools. Instead
we had suggested to the NER headquarters in Aleppo that the orphan-
age children be moved out of Turkish territory.
Our officers in Beirut and Aleppo, aware of the political changes, had
already witnessed the beginning of flight of Armenians from Cilicia in
spite of General Gouraud's proclamation.8 It was Bayard Dodge who
negotiated with Gen. Robert de Caix de Sainte Aymour of the high
commissioner's office in Beirut for admission of the orphans of Marash
and also those from Mardin and Urfa.4 The Aintab children had
already been transferred to Aleppo during the conflict between the
French and Turks.
When we requested exit permits for the children, we were informed
that birth certificates were required for each of them. What orphan
248 : THE E X O D U S

could possess such a document, or one of any kind? From Armenians

who were securing their travel documents we learned that a bribe was
required for each step. While we contemplated this problem, a messen-
ger from the konak informed me that the governor wished to see me
at his home. Only then did we understand that Mustafa Remzi Pasha,
against whom I had complained for his request of a bribe, had been
reinstated as mutasarrif.
I took no interpreter, wishing no one to witness my humiliation.
The governor received me with courtesy, offered me refreshments,
and asked if there was anything he could do for me. The hatchets were
buried! I mentioned the difficulty facing us in connection with exit
permits for the orphans, and he replied that he would look into the
matter. Within two days he sent word that we should list the children
in groups of ten, and that permits would be issued accordingly in
batches. Birth certificates were not needed.
When the lists were completed my messenger took them to the office
of the police commissioner with assurances that if the permits were
prepared promptly we expected to reward the clerks for their con-
siderable overtime duties. In this way the problem of travel permits
was solved, and a satisfactory relationship was established with the
governor and the police. Of course they were pleased to have the 1,400
orphans and their teachers leave Marash.
Miss Mather, who had served as NER treasurer during my absence,
had been waiting for an opportunity to return to Aleppo and chose
to ride with the first caravan of orphanage children and their escort of
gendarmes. She owned two fine horses and offered one of them as a
mount for H. Agha, a somewhat pompous gentleman who translated
into flowery Turkish all of our communications with the government
officials. A number of Armenians who had already secured travel per-
mits took advantage of this opportunity to travel under the protection
of the government. Among these were several who later recounted their
experiences to me: Setrak Agha Kherlakian's wife Clementine and
daughter Victoire, Haigouhi Magarian, and Dr. Vartan Poladian's
daughter Sirvart.
Four hundred of the orphans were marshaled in squads of ten, each
commanded by an older child as "sergeant." Several teachers directed
the movements of the battalion of youngsters and they went off gaily
through the city to the road leading to Aintab. Miss Mather and her
companion H. Agha rode at the head of the column with the gen-
darmes. A large number of Armenian families trailed behind.
Later that morning I was called to the gate of the mission compound
 THE F I N A L E X O D U S : 249

where an elderly Turk waited to speak with me but did not wish to
come inside. "The children whom you sent out this morning are going
to be attacked. Bring them back!" he warned me.
"The government has sent gendarmes to protect them," I replied.
"How can we bring them back now?"
"I know that many Turks left the city this morning to attack and
rob them," he insisted.
I thanked him for his concern and promised to consider what action
we could take. Those with whom I consulted agreed with me that the
evidence of danger ahead was hardly sufficient to balance the promise
of protection by the government, and so we made no move to recall
the orphans and thus bring to naught all of our efforts to prepare this
expedition.
News of what happened reached us only days later in letters from
Miss Mather. More information came from interviews which I con-
ducted many years later. The column had crossed the Ak Su and was
traversing the Pazarjik plain when a large band of masked horsemen
which had been concealed until then behind a hillock came riding
swiftly toward it. At the head of the orphan column the Agha put
spurs to his horse and galloped off to safety, explaining later that this
desertion was not to save his own skin but to save Miss Mather's horse.
According to Paul du V£ou, two of the gendarmes were killed by the
band of sixty horsemen who then rounded up the Armenians to rob
them.5 The children were ordered to file past a blanket and to throw
into it any jewelry they carried. Sirvart Poladian recalls being pulled
to the side of the road and lined up alongside a group of Armenian
men who had already been stripped of their outer clothing. With the
brigands' guns pointed at them, the victims were ordered to hold their
hands high, and Sirvart felt her wrist watch slide down her arm to
the shoulder under the sleeve of her dress. Each one threw to the
ground whatever valuables he possessed.6
Haigouhi Magarian recalls how an employee of Bethel Orphanage,
Ferida Masmanian, saved the thirty gold lira which she had concealed
around her waist. Ferida threw herself to the ground, feigning severe
pain in her abdomen, which indeed was distended (possibly from mal-
nutrition during exile). The bandits left her alone, undoubtedly be-
lieving that she was in labor.7
One of the masked Turks approached Clementine Kherlakian, whom
he obviously knew. "Who is this girl with you," he asked, "is it not
your daughter Victoire?"
In sudden alarm she recalled that only recently a prominent Turk
250 : THE E X O D U S

had asked for Victoire in marriage and had been rejected. "No," she
replied, "it is my servant." Then the brigand threatened the lady,
knowing the Kherlakian family to be wealthy. Clementine brought out
of its hiding place a small box of jewels and gave it to the brigand,
whom she thought to be acting on behalf of the man who wanted to
marry her daughter.8
All baggage was confiscated, and Miss Mather recalled that among
the items she lost was a rug given her by a Turkish merchant. Was he
too among the bandits? Finally the bewildered and frightened children
and adults were allowed to resume their journey.
That morning a group of about fifteen Armenians left Marash some-
what later than the large column. They were attacked at the same
place and all but two were killed. The warning that I had received
that morning made it clear that the band of robbers were citizens of the
city of Marash, not villagers. Why had they concealed their identity
by using masks? The Turk who had warned me, indignant over the
plans of his compatriots, could have predicted the attack only if the
participants were Marashlis.
Because of this grave incident we hesitated to carry out our plan
for moving all of the orphans to Lebanon, but one of the headmasters,
Ohannes Kazarosian, came to me with a novel suggestion. "Why not
employ a powerful village chieftain to escort the children to Aleppo?
He could supply his own animals for transport and his men to fight off
any brigands."
"Could you find a chete chieftain on whom we could rely?"
"I'll try to do so," he replied.
A few days later Ohannes came to me with a handsome villager, a
powerful man in his thirties. The headmaster had already explained
to the Turk our problem of moving over a thousand children to
Aleppo. The chete leader stated that he could secure any number of
mules and would be able to provide protection not by gendarmes but
by fellow villagers who had fought under his command. When asked if
he would agree to payment after safe delivery of the children entrusted
to him, he accepted without hesitation. We then settled on a price per
child with food to be provided by NER and transport by him.
When this program was presented to the NER staff, the missionaries,
and the orphanage teachers, there was general agreement that we
should accept it but first test the project by sending a relatively small
group.
On the day the caravan was prepared to depart, I handed the
Turkish chieftain a draft which stated the sum to be paid only after
 THE F I N A L E X O D U S : 251

safe delivery of all the children, their number being specified. About
ten days later the caravan commander returned proudly bearing a
letter from the director of the Aleppo office stating that the children
had arrived safely, and that their teachers praised the Turkish chief-
tain for his constant care of the children.
This intelligent villager suggested changes for the transport of the
children. "Each of my mules could carry four, even five, children if we
put them in boxes hung on the sides of the animal. Then the bedding
could be placed between the boxes, and another child could ride on
that! Without the boxes only two or three can ride on one mule."
Under his direction our carpenter prepared 200 boxes and also the
harness required to support them in pairs on the back of a mule. A
new caravan of 100 mules was planned. Most of the animals were to
carry at least four children, others food supplies and cooking equip-
ment, and still others the teachers needed to supervise the meals and
camping at night. The expedition set off in high spirits. The chieftain,
proud of his responsibility, was as happy as the children.
All of the children under our care were moved to Aleppo in this
manner without mishap. From Aleppo they were transported by rail
to Beirut and accommodated in orphanages along the Mediterranean
coast.

The Last Armenians from Marash

On 28 September 1921 the Marash authorities set up harsh laws
dealing with Armenian real property.9 As later events were to show,
their intention was to dispossess the Armenians of their land and
homes. Property belonging to an Armenian migrating from Turkish
territory was to be turned over to the government without compen-
sation. The owner could neither rent nor sell such property. These
measures seemed to be academic, for at that time no Armenians were
allowed to cross the frontier, and those who had returned only recently
from exile to the homes of their ancestors had no intention of abandon-
ing them. The Turks had been unable to drive the French troops from
Aintab, and the prospects seemed fair that peace would soon be re-
stored.
After the Accord of Ankara was ratified, Armenians were permitted
to leave the country, although General Gouraud and Franklin-Bouillon
advised them strongly to remain. When details of the accord became
2 5 2 : THE E X O D U S

known, and the Armenians came to realize that after 4 January 1922 no
French troops whatever would remain north of the Baghdad Railway,
the significance of the regulations concerning property became clear.
Nevertheless, thousands of Armenians, distrusting the Turkish assur-
ances concerning the rights of minorities, decided that it would be
better to migrate once more rather than to live in fear without the
protection promised them by the British and French governments.
The Marash authorities, it seems, paid no attention to the promises
made by their government at Ankara and elsewhere. At Adana on 23
November 1921 a proclamation was made by the French envoy Frank-
lin-Bouillon, the Turkish general Mouheddine Pasha, and Hamid Bey,
assistant secretary of state in charge of direct administration of the
territories evacuated by the French.
Christians of Cilicia! You are being told that the promised am-
nesty will not be observed. This is false! The accord assures com-
plete liberty for your person as well as your possessions. . . . You
are told that the law will take forty percent of your possessions by
requisition. This is false. . . . Effective immediately, a French-
Turkish Commission representing all of your communities has
been named to guard abandoned property. . . .10
No such commission ever operated at Marash. If the above-men-
tioned tax of forty percent on property was abolished, it was replaced,
at least in Marash, by confiscation of all of the property.
News of the attack on the orphan column caused a sudden stop to
the demand for travel permits, and the Turkish leaders saw that their
desire for a purely Turkish city could be realized only if the Armenians
could travel in safety. Measures were taken to prevent a recurrence of
such attacks, and in the next few months more than six thousand
Armenians emigrated across the southern frontier of Turkey into Syria
and Lebanon.
The Turks noted, however, that some 3,000 were making no prepara-
tions to leave. Many of these were the families of men drafted into
military service. Others owned property and had decided not to
abandon it. One morning notices bearing the title Friendly Advice to
Armenians! were found posted on walls in the Armenian quarters. A
copy of this bulletin was taken to Archbishop Avedis Arpiarian. It
stated that because their leaders at the peace conference asked for an
independent Armenian state, the Armenians ought to realize that they
could no longer remain in Marash; that they should leave the city
within ten days if they wished to avoid harm.
 THE F I N A L E X O D U S : 253

The government officials denied any knowledge of this threat, but a

short time later, 7 January 1922, a retired police officer known to be
friendly to the Armenians came to the archbishop with a verbal mes-
sage on behalf of the municipality, the Committee for the Defense of
Rights, and the entire Muslim population—everyone in authority ex-
cept the mutasarrif and the gendarme commander. The message ad-
vised the various Christian leaders that their people should leave
Marash within three days in order to avoid serious harm. The messen-
ger was Aintabli-oghlou Ahmed, whom Raphael Kherlakian credits
with having protected certain Armenian families in Aleppo during the
period of deportation.11
After consulting with his associates the archbishop replied that it
would be impossible for 3,000 persons to secure travel permits within
three days. Further, the Armenians remaining in the city were too poor
to hire transport for the journey. He asked that the government rescind
its order prohibiting the sale or rental of property, so that families
could raise the funds needed for travel; also that the government dis-
charge Armenian husbands from the army so that they could share the
burden of moving their families. Finally the archbishop asked Aintabli-
oghlou Ahmed, "What does our mutasarrif have to say about this? His
name is not among those who are asking us to leave Marash!"
The officer replied that the questions raised were fair, and that he
would present them to the authorities. He then added the comment,
"You have the right to appeal to the mutasarrif."
The next day he returned. "You have eight days—not three—to
secure travel permits. The issue of passports will be facilitated. Prop-
erty can neither be sold nor rented, but nevertheless taxes must be paid
up to the time of departure. Soldiers cannot be discharged, but their
families must go. And it is better that you get out a day earlier than on
the eighth in order to avoid risks." Undoubtedly he had in mind the
massacre of thirteen who had been late in joining the first caravan of
emigrants in November.
The Archbishop then asked about the governor's attitude.
"I consulted with the members of the Committee for Defense of
Rights and they say that they are willing to accept whatever penalties
the mutasarrif may impose on them, but they can no longer tolerate
the presence of the Armenians who are asking for an autonomous state
which would include Marash." This reply indicated that the mutasar-
rif did not wish to bear official responsibility, and that he would not
intervene in the cruel measure being taken to dispossess the Armenian
population.
254 •' THE EXODUS

The archbishop sold drafts to Turkish merchants, paying them a

ten percent commission, in order to provide financial help to his 1,500
Catholic parishioners for travel expenses. Whatever church furniture
could be sold he disposed of in the market but loaded the most
precious items on camels to take with him to Aleppo. As he and his
staff passed through the covered bazaar on their exodus from Marash,
stones were cast at them as a final insult.12
When I left Marash on 29 July 1922 with the remaining members
of the NER staff and one young lady whom I was abducting from the
mission to be my bride, we were told that not more than ten Armenian
families remained in the city. Of the eighty-six thousand Armenians
living in the district of Marash in 1914, only twelve thousand
were known to have survived. The fate of the few hundred Zeitunlis
deported to the north in 1920 was never learned. Undoubtedly some of
the sixty-two thousand who disappeared during the 1915 through 1918
period of exile may have survived and remained in villages of Syria
and Palestine, but certainly most of them died. Of those who fled with
the French army, twenty-four hundred reached Islahiy£ in February
1920. During the two years that followed the 1920 insurrection the
ninety-seven hundred survivors in the city of Marash abandoned their
homes, fearing to remain after being deserted by France. Of these the
last three thousand willing to live under Turkish rule had finally been
forced to yield to Turkish threats of immediate harm and migrated
to Lebanon, dispossessed in spite of assurances given in the Accord of
Ankara.
The twelve thousand survivors were scattered to areas of security
in Lebanon, South America, the Soviet Armenian State, and the United
States of America. The ancient city of Marash, with a history extending
far into the dim past beyond the Hittite period and once largely popu-
lated by the Armenians, had finally become purely Turkish.
 APPENDIX A

Memorandum of W. Nesbitt Chambers of Near East Relief relating to

the Marash Disturbances of January 21 to February 10, 1920.

I HEREWITH hand you the following, as embodying information

obtained from sources, which appeared to be quite reliable, concern-
ing the situation which developed into the sad tragedy of Marash, of
the 2ist January to the loth February of the current year.
When the British gave place to French occupation on the 2gth
November, 1919, the situation was tranquil and the transfer was made
without any untoward incident, with the exception of the shooting
in the city of an Armenian in the French military service, from which,
however, no serious results developed. The relationships between the
Turks and Armenians were not marked by any hostile demonstration,
although a considerable quantity of property had been and was being
restored to the Armenians lately returned from exile. This seemed to
cause some annoyance to the Turks. The return of these properties was
carried out by the Turks under British auspices.
My informant declares that when the Turks heard that the British
were to withdraw they were greatly elated. When it was declared that
the French would take the place of the British, a pharmacist named
Loutfi Effendi, a leader of the Marash Nationalist movement, declared
that Marash "would become another Smyrna."
The French forces which occupied Marash were constituted of about
300 Armenians in the French military service, together with about go
Algerian cavalry and 80 Frenchmen, all under French officers. These
were later increased to about 700 Armenians and a number of other
troops in the French service, bringing, the total number in the occupa-
tion of Marash to over 3,000.
About the middle of December, M. Andre"e, Governor of Osmanieh,
came to Marash, having with him a force of mounted gendarmes, made
256 : APPENDIX A

up of Turks, Kurds, Circassians and Armenians, the latter numbering

about a dozen. It was understood he came as the Governor of Marash,
and he was received by the leading Turkish officials and other notables
of the city.
It was the custom for the Turks to fly the Turkish flag over the
citadel every Friday. On the Friday preceding M. Andre'e's entrance an
order had been issued that the flag was no longer to be flown. This
order reached the Turks late that day and the flag was not removed.
On the following Friday, however, there was much discussion amongst
the Turks, and many were unwilling to go to the mosque until the flag
was unfurled. Although the gendarmes who had accompanied M.
Andre"e were in the citadel at the time, they apparently made no ob-
jection to the raising of the flag, which was done. This all resulted in
great excitement and apprehension in the city, during which a patrol
of Algerian cavalry was sent through the city to keep order. Some
Turks were arrested and later released. Nothing further resulted from
this incident and the flag continued to fly. M. Andre'e and his gen-
darmes left the day after and things were apparently quiet until the
middle of January.
Along in January a few murders occurred in the neighborhood. The
French sent out troops to punish Turkish villagers who had attacked
French troops. These destroyed some houses, but burnt no villages.
About the middle of January it was noticed that the Turks were
repairing walls, and making other changes in their streets, causing
anxiety to the Armenians, who feared that something serious was in-
tended.
At this time the French began more seriously to interfere with the
civil administration, and on Sunday, the i8th January, the Turks sent
a communication to the French in which they demanded that there
should be no interference with the civil administration on the part of
the French, that no objection should be made to the flying of the
Turkish flag, and that the Armenian volunteers in the French army
should be sent away. Following this about 500 of the Armenian volun-
teers were sent away, leaving between aoo and 300 still in the service in
Marash. At the same time, the Turks made a proposition to the Ar-
menians, to come to an understanding with them, to which the
Armenians gave an indefinite answer, and asked advice of the French.
A second Conference of the Armenians and Turks was to have been
held on the aoth January, but on that day the chief hodja of Marash,
Dai-zade, sent word to the Armenians that they need not come, as an
understanding was no longer possible. The French military officer in
 APPENDIX A : 257

command at Marash at this time was General Querette, who was in

Marash about fifteen days. Since the i8th, the day of the Turkish com-
munication with the French, no Turks had opened their shops. The
Armenians also kept their shops closed, and the market was empty. The
Armenians had begun to crowd in the churches, for there was great
apprehension, since armed Turks from outside the city had come in
considerable numbers.
On the morning of the aist, the French called to headquarters a
number of leading Turks, officials, and civilians, including the Mutes-
sarif, the Chief of Police and the Gendarmerie Commandant. The
last two returned shortly to their duties for the preservation of order
in the city. The others remained at French headquarters. Later, the
Mutessarif was also allowed to return. Later, in the forenoon, my in-
formant saw a large number of Turkish civilians massed at the citadel
along with the gendarmes. The civilians soon scattered to different
quarters of the city. Then he saw the gendarmes issue from the build-
ing of the citadel and crouch behind ramparts. In a short while shots
were fired from that point. At this signal thousands of rifles rang out
from all over the city. A French guard at the entrance to the American
hospital was among the first to be killed. The Turks were very well
armed and used machine-guns and also dum-dum bullets. They prob-
ably secured their arms from Albustan and Basarjik, and military
depots and other places. The Armenians had comparatively few arms,
and seldom fired unless their houses were attacked.
The fighting continued for twenty-one days; the first day the French
did not reply. Many of the inhabitants were killed by the rifle-fire; but
the Turks also set fire to the various buildings, where Armenians had
taken refuge, and in one place about 800 were burned. They likewise
carried out massacres in isolated and defenceless quarters. It is esti-
mated that during the days from the aist January to the loth February,
between 3,500 and 4,000 Armenians were killed, about half the city
ruined. It is impossible to give any estimate of Turkish casualties.
On the evening of the loth the French evacuated the town.
They had their headquarters in one of the American buildings, and
French soldiers were quartered in various parts of the city. On the 7th
February the advance guard of a relieving column was seen approach-
ing the city. It bombarded the Turkish positions, causing evident con-
sternation amongst them. The Turks were seen to be withdrawing
across the hills, and on the loth Dr. Mustafa got into communication
with the Americans with a view to coming through them to an under-
standing with the French. Unfortunately, during an attempt at a
258 : APPENDIX A

second interview, Dr. Mustafa was shot. There is ground for believing
that the Turks were anxious for cessation of hostilities at the time
when the French abandoned the city on the night of the loth. Their
withdrawal was evidently intended to be secret, since no information
was given to the Armenians, and the Americans were informed of it al-
most at the last moment.
About 2,000 Armenians in the immediate vicinty of the French head-
quarters learning of the withdrawal were able to come away with the
French. Of these about 1,800 reached the railroad at Islahieh in a
condition of destitution. Another party, estimated to be about 2,000, a
few hours later, attempted to follow, but were cut to pieces before they
could get out of the city. Only about 200 got away, and of these only
about a score succeeded in getting through to safety.
It is estimated that there were about 4,000 troops in the French re-
lieving column, and that during the trouble the French had about
3,000 troops in the city, of whom it is said they lost about 800. Food
had become very scarce.
It is estimated that there were 22,000 Armenians in Marash when
this began. Of these 3,000 to 4,000 perished at the time of the French
withdrawal; 2,000 were killed in an attempt to leave the city im-
mediately after the French withdrawal, and about 1,000 perished on
the trek with the French forces between Marash and Islahieh, consti-
tuting a loss of 6,000 or 7,000 Armenians up to the 13th February.
Since that date we have no definite information as to the condition of
the Armenians in the city. There should be between 15,000 and 16,000
but a late telegram received from the Americans in Marash speaks of
10,000 destitute people. The Americans seem to be safe.
W. NESBITT CHAMBERS.
 APPENDIX B

Extracts from the Diary of YMCA Secretary Crathern concerning the

Siege and War in Marash, January 20 to February 11, 1920.
SECRETARY CRATHERN had been in Marash for the purpose of
organising a Y.M.C.A. On the 2oth January he attempted to return to
Aintab in an A.C.R.N.E. auto, with Paul Snyder as chauffeur and Miss
Schultz and Lieutenant Czoonery of the French army and three Ar-
menians as passengers. On reaching the hill leading to the summit of
the mountain we ran into a pitched battle between the Algerian cavalry
and Turkish bandits. We deemed it advisable to turn back, and on
doing so a hundred or more shots were fired at us by the bandits on
the mountain. Several bullets penetrated the car and one hit and
splintered the cross-section of the steering wheel, fragments of which
flew into the faces of the chauffeur and Secretary Crathern. Mr.
Crathern waved an American flag from the car, hoping that the firing
would cease, but it had no effect on the Turks. By a miracle the car
escaped, being negotiated down the hill at 40 miles an hour which was
the only thing that saved the party. We returned to Marash without
further incident and reported the matter to the General Staff.
January 21.
On the aist January Secretary Crathern sent the following telegram
to Consul Jackson at Aleppo, Admiral Bristol, of Constantinople:—
"American flag fired on repeatedly and the lives of American citizens
threatened and imperilled in Marash and Aintab.
"Inform Major Arnold of the Relief Commission and Y.M.C.A.
Headquarters. —C. F. H. Crathern, Secretary."
These telegrams were O.K'd by General Querette, of the French
Staff, and I was assured by Turkish and French officials at the telegraph
office that the telegram would be sent without fail within half-an-hour.
26o : APPENDIX B

After sending this telegram I walked through the city with Mr. Kerr
and an interpreter. The bazaars and the shops were all closed and the
Turks were getting together in little groups all over the city; only a
few Armenians were to be seen in the thoroughfares. About i o'clock,
while at the dinner table, we heard the crash of guns, and knew that
the conflict that had been threatening so long had now broken out.
Before the first shot was fired I found, on reaching the missionary
compound, a company of Turkish officials including the Mutessarif, a
Turkish hodja and other notables. These, I understood from Mr.
Lyman, had come to interview me for a purpose which I did not learn.
As I found later that they had been detained by the French officials and
placed under arrest. This, I presume, was the cause of the first shot
being fired by the Turks. The French commandant had informed us
earlier in the day that they had determined to strike and to strike hard.
After the first shot was fired we ran to the front balcony where we
had a commanding view of the whole city. There was quite a long can-
nonading and many of the houses of the city were turned into small
forts from which the sound of shooting would issue every few minutes,
answered by the machine-guns of the French. The Armenians were very
much alarmed and are in fear of their lives. Hundreds of the poor have
been caught in one of our compounds where they came to receive old
clothes, and will have to stay all night as it will be unsafe for them to
go home. The fighting and firing have been going on all the afternoon
and now it is nearly midnight and there is no cessation. A French
sentinel guarding the entrance to the American hospital was shot dead
and another wounded. Bullets also passed through two of the nurses'
rooms and wounded an Armenian girl. What the morning will bring
forth we do not know. I fear that the worst is not over.

January 22.
We were awakened this morning by the boom of guns, and saw quite
early the flash of exploding shells. The Turks are firing from a number
of houses, and as they are using smokeless powder it is impossible to
see where the bullets come from. The French soldiers have suffered
seriously, and many of them, we hear, are now lying dead and wounded
in the streets, and their companions are unable to render them any
assistance until night because of the danger arsing from the sharp-
shooters. The American hospital has again been attacked, and doctors
and nurses have had very narrow escapes. The mission buildings have
as yet escaped damage, and we do not anticipate any assault as the
Turks are not prepared for aggressive warfare. The French general
 APPENDIX B : 2 6 l

with his staff officers was on our balcony this afternoon to sight ap-
proaching Turks who were coining over the mountains on their way to
the city. The general gave orders for a gun to be fired with sixty-five
mm. shells, which soon scattered them in all directions.
January 23.
The battle is still on, but there is no way of getting now into or out
of the city. Everything is at a standstill. To-day we have been watching
the bombarding of the city by the French. In some sections it is very
severe, and created great consternation. It gave many opportunities
for looting and pillage, and I fear, massacre. Through our glasses we
could see Armenians escaping from their houses arid iieeing^TSefolt.
the Turks, who were shooting them down like jack-rabbits. Other
Turks were hiding in the fields behind rocks, trees and manure heaps,
and shooting at those who had escaped the Turks in the city. It was
pitiful to see them throw up their hands and scream, while attempting
to escape. We watched them fleeing over the hills until they reached
our compound, some dropping wounded by the way, and others stag-
gering into the mission grounds with wild eyes and purple faces, telling
of an awful massacre just beginning.
January 24.
This is the fourth day of the battle of Marash, and every day becomes
more pathetic and tragic as time wears on. This morning we held a
consultation and decided to interview the French general to learn the
plan of campaign and to lay before him some facts that had come to
our knowledge regarding the massacre of the Armenians in the Cuimed
quarter of Marash. This was the region from which he had seen the
Armenians running for their lives across the fields. In order to be
fortified with the actual facts, as coming from the mouths of eye-wit-
nesses, we interviewed the people who had escaped this massacre. They
told most harrowing stories. One woman saw seven killed before her
eyes. Mothers had children taken out of their arms and ripped up with
knives. One man said two hundred perished in one street. The shrieks
of the tortured we could hear a mile across the ravine, which they had
to cross to reach our compound. Others gave similar accounts of aw-
ful experiences. We laid these facts before the general and his staff,
who listened very respectfully, and said the situation was very grave,
and that they would take strenuous efforts to cope with it. Wounded
soldiers are being brought in to our hospital and several operations
have been performed. Yesterday the Mutessarif was released from
French custody for the purpose of interviewing the leaders and bring-
2 6 2 : APPENDIX B

ing about a cessation of hostilities. He went back to the Government

building under the protection of a white flag with an ultimatum from
the general that if the Turks did not surrender in twenty-four hours
he would bombard the city. To-day the Mutessarif telephones to
headquarters that it was impossible for him to prevail with the leaders
to cease operations, as he had no control over them, and was even in
danger of his own life. At 3 o'clock, when the time of the ultimatum
had expired, we heard the booms of guns, and knew that the bombard-
ment of the city had commenced. The guns were kept busy for two
hours. At 5 o'clock the colonel came to the house and said they had
decided to burn certain sections of the city from which the Turks were
sniping Armenians and soldiers whenever they appeared. At night the
city is in total darkness.
Whenever we go from one compound to another we have to creep
Under the walls in order to escape shot and shell. There is the most
intense excitement every minute of the day, and every compound is
thronged with frightened refugees who have escaped during the night,
and are alarmed lest their people, whom they have left behind should
become the victims of massacre, or fire, or starvation. Women are giving
premature birth to children, and women are going crazy with fear. The
A.C.R.N.E. are feeding nearly 2,000 orphans and refugees, and with
only a few days' supply of bread the problem is a grave one. To-day we
raised the American flag, but no sooner had we raised it to the mast
than the salute of a dozen guns sent us scampering to cover. I have just
timed by my wrist-watch thirty-three shots in one minute. The machine-
guns are picking away like so many giant woodpeckers, and the sharp
crack of the rifle is continuous. Last night five Armenian soldiers were
sent out by the French disguised as Turkish gendarmes to reach the
nearest telegraph station in Islahie, 75 miles away. Each was the bearer
of a long telegram in cipher from the general asking that supplies and
reinforcements be sent immediately. Whether they will reach their
destination or not we do not know. It is risky business, as the whole
country is in a flame of revolt. How soon the issue will be decided it is
hard to determine. The capture of the last two caravans of munitions
and foodstuffs by bandits between Marash and Aintab make that way
of escape or relief impossible. But while the days are exciting the nights
are increasingly so. For while the great guns are booming, soldiers are
creeping stealthily forth with benzine torches and hand-grenades to
set fire to different parts of the city. It is sometimes like Dante's In-
ferno. I have had to move my bed back into a safer quarter of the
 APPENDIX 8 : 2 6 3

room, as a bullet came through the window into the hallway and nearly
passed through the door.
January 25.
The situation here is unique. We are besieged by an invisible army.
There are few enemy soldiers in sight, and these are seen only through
our glasses, running for cover, or hurrying out of their trenches, or
stealing over the mountains in little groups to reach the city. We have
not been out of our own compounds for seven days, and even behind
our own walls we are not safe against attack. The French have no
wireless, no aeroplanes, no telegraph, no armoured cars, and, to make
the situation worse, neither food nor ammunition for an extended
siege. They have to conserve their supplies, not knowing how long
the siege may last or whether the rest of Turkey is in the same state
of war or not. They are doing all they can under the circumstances,
but with the small force of troops under their command they cannot
make any attack on the city with the certainty of making it surrender.
Hundreds of Armenians are trying to reach our compounds from many
parts of the city, but are failing in the attempt, and the light of the
fires that the Turks are making in Armenian quarters render escape
impossible, and those who flee from smoke and flames fall victims to
the sword or the axe. News came to day that scores of women and
children huddled in one house were butchered with knives and hatch-
ets after the men had been taken out and shot. They surrendered on
the promise of protection, but were cruelly betrayed. To-day in one of
our orphanages a woman was killed while standing in the doorway,
and others were shot and wounded in the college compound.
January 26.
We are still in the throes of most terrible war that involves not only
the armed forces of the opposing armies, but also the unfortunate Ar-
menians who are the victims of the most hellish cruelty imaginable.
The crescent moon, the cold-blooded symbol of Moslem fanaticism,
is rising tonight on a city in whose streets to-day have been enacted
tragedies that ought to stagger humanity, and send a shudder of pro-
test to the Throne of God. I have read much, and heard more, of the
atrocities the Armenians have suffered in the past, but I never ex-
pected to witness first hand the barbarities that are a disgrace to civili-
sation and a stain on the escutcheons of the Great Powers that can
permit such a Government to exist. And yet what I have seen and heard
during the last two days is but a small part of the horrors that are
264 •' A P P E N D I X B

registered for ever upon the brains of those who have escaped bleeding
and wounded, to tell their tale upon the operation table in the hos-
pital, or to babble in an incoherent way from their sick beds of the
inferno from which they have escaped. Some of the most revolting
stories ever heard have been told us to-day by those who have come
limping into our compounds from different parts of the city. Little
girls, 8 and 10 years old, and wrinkled women of 70 years were agonis-
ing with pain from dum-dum bullet wounds which tore great pieces
of flesh from arms and legs, while soldiers have had to have limbs am-
putated or to pay the supreme sacrifice. Children have been brought to
the hospital with their brains oozing from jagged holes in the head,
and elderly people while sitting in their own homes have received shots
which have shattered both mind and body.
January 27.
This morning one of the natives helpers of the A.C.R.N.E. came to
tell us of his escape. He had been waiting for several days for a favour-
able opportunity to flee. It came about 3 o'clock this morning. He tells
us that the Turks are killing hundreds of people in the city, and that
they are not content with using such weapons as shot and shell, but re-
sort to the brutal use of the axe and knife. At this very moment, there
is in our own house a young woman who tells us that with a hundred
other persons in a cellar she prayed for five days and nights for help,
but no help came. Then the Turks asked them to surrender, promising
to give them protection if they would. Being desperate, they threw
themselves on the mercy of the enemy. The men were told to come out
of the house and her own husband was the first to leave. He was shot
immediately in the doorway by one of their own Turkish neighbours
whom she knew, and who was a gendarme in the service of the Govern-
ment. After the men had been taken out there was a scene of indescrib-
able horror as the Turks came in with axes and knives and began their
murderous work. In the general melee she with one of her children
escaped. One child was killed. Two young women teachers from the
college were killed in this way. Another escaped and stood in water for
eight hours hoping to elude the Turks, but in a fatal moment she ran
for her life and was killed by a bullet. The Turks have sent an ulti-
matum to the French demanding their surrender, or they will attack
them to morrow morning at 4 o'clock. The French hope they will.
January 28,
Rumours are flying wild and fast. This morning the startling news
was spread abroad that Captain Fontaine and 700 men coming to the
 A P P E N D I X B : 265

relief of Marash had been killed and only one man escaped. We learn
this evening that he is still fighting his way to the city, and that a
supply train of wagons was captured in the morning and many of the
convoy killed. We had a pitiful case this morning in the hospital. It
was the Rev. Solakian's wife, pastor of the third church. When she
reached the hospital she was suffering and bleeding from three bullet
and three dagger or knife wounds, while a child of 18 months had been
taken from her breast and slain with a knife, and an older girl killed
with an axe. To add to the sorrow of it the woman was pregnant and
had a miscarriage as soon as she reached the hospital. The poor woman
is lying in a precarious condition and she will not recover. Several new
cases came in to-day and we are troubled to find room for them. The
crowded compounds are also a grave problem. In one of them we have
over a thousand refugees and we can give them but one meal a day, as
the food supply is nearly exhausted. Many are poorly clad and many
are weak. Several soldiers are going out to-night to try to take into one
of the compounds a thousand Armenians who are finding refuge in a
church and fear that the Turks will set fire to it.
January 29.
It is nearly midnight and I have just come in from a service of sor-
row. The pastor's wife of whom I wrote you yesterday, died to-day and
was laid to rest in the seminary compound. This afternoon we had a
conference of all American workers to decide what to do in case of
emergency. We shall all gather in the college compound and await the
final issue. What that will be we do not know. Graves are multiplying
in our midst and tales of horror come to us nightly from those who
escape from house or cellar. The soldiers who went last night to rescue
a thousand Armenians were not able to pass the Turkish trenches.
Another orphanage was attacked, but the assault was not successful.
Several soldiers came down from the mountains to-day with frozen
hands and feet, some of which must be amputated.
January 30.
As yet no news of reilef from the French authorities. Yesterday was
rather quiet from the military point of view. There was only a little
cannonading and only a few soldiers killed and wounded. The uncer-
tainty of the situation is a great strain on the nerves of the ladies of our
party, but they are brave and cheerful and busy all day minstering to
the needs of the unfortunate. Dr. and Mrs. Wilson have moved over to
the college compound to live as they think it a little safer there in case
of attack. They invited me to go with them, but I feel there is no imme-
266 : APPENDIX B

diate danger and prefer to wait a few days to watch developments. We

have all decided to hang together rather than take our chances on
hanging separately.
January 31.
War still holds on and no relief in sight. Men, women, and children,
about nine of them, were shot in the college grounds to-day and some
of them quite seriously wounded. Fortunately, we have plenty of wheat
now, and by keeping the women grinding from sunrise to sunset we
can feed the people for quite a while. We are obliged to keep the
people under cover as walking in the open is too dangerous, and our
hospitals are already full.
February i.
The weather has been very cold and we have had several cases of
severe frost-bite among the soldiers. More children have been shot in
the orphanages. The refugees are much alarmed at the success of the
Turks. Several houses have been burned in the city. The hospital still
continues to be attacked.
February 2.
The war is coming a little closer, for to-day a shell fell on the hos-
pital roof and burst in the attic just above the floor where we had a
great many patients. The rifle shots have also been a little more per-
sonal as one plunged into a wall a few feet ahead of me, and the second
hit a tree as I was creeping along a wall to my room. The Turks tried
to set the Bartell [Beitel] orphanage on fire to-day, and the French
retaliated by burning the would-be incendiaries houses. There was con-
siderable bombarding to-day but not many wounded. There is no news
of reinforcements and we fear that other cities and towns may be be-
sieged as we are and help may not reach us for some time. Last night
we sent a message to the A.C.R.N.E. and to have it telegraphed to
Adana and Constantinople It will probably be seven days before it can
reach its destination.
February 3.
I suppose no one in the outside world realises the seriousness of our
situation or surely an aeroplane from Beirut would drop a message of
cheer. This is the telegraph that we sent to Consul Jackson to Adana
and Constantinople:
"Situation in Marash extremely desperate, reign of terror in city
since the aist January, hundreds of men, women, and children mas-
sacred daily no power to stop it as French are on the defensive forces,
 APPENDIX 6 : 2 6 7

ammunition and food insufficient. Americans have little hope in case

French are overpowered, no assurance of help as large forces of bandits
bar all roads. Leave nothing undone to relieve situation as lives of all
Christians are seriously threatened, our auto and flag fired on re-
peatedly aoth January our institutions under fire and many orphans
and refugees wounded on American property."
Bullets still continue to enter American buildings. We have all had
very narrow escapes. The French horses and mules are slowly starving
and they will have to kill them and feed them to the hungry multi-
tudes. The French are living in hope that help will come sooon.
February 4.
This has been a tragic day. New stories of fresh massacres reached
us this morning. In one case nearly 200 surrendered to the Turks under
promise of protection, but nearly all of them were butchered. One
man who escaped by stabbing a Turk told this gruesome story. Deep
pits were dug, and men tied in bunches of three and led to the edge of
it, and then shot and dumped into it dead or alive. One young girl of
19 was shot in the abdomen while getting a bit of wood. No news yet of
help but we shall not give up. We are resolved to stay here at all haz-
ards. God help the Armenians if the Americans leave them, and God
help us all if the French leave.
February 5.
This morning, Dr. Wilson and Reverend Lyman and I, interviewed
the French General and his Staff. Word reached us that Turks were
encroaching on Armenian homes and might soon attack the hospital.
While we were on our way to headquarters the Turkish officials, who
were prisoners in the buildings, asked to see us. The General gave
permission, and we had an interview with them. They pleaded with us
as Americans to persuade the French officers to stop the war. They
promised that if they were released that they would do all they could
to bring the Turks to terms. The General would not release them. I
proposed that they should write a letter to the Mutessarif and ask him
to persuade the leaders to request a conference. This evening the letter
from the Turks came and will be sent as soon as possible to the Turk-
ish Government. The French to-day have decided to kill the horses and
mules, as there is no food for them. We had a mule roast to-day and
we like it fine. We like it better than horse-meat. A fierce bombard-
ment took place this evening. A perfect hailstorm of bullets rained
through our compound. A young woman in the basement of the house
was mortally wounded. This has brought the war to our very doors.
2 6 8 : APPENDIX B

February 6.
This is the eighth day of the siege of Marash, and this morning we
had a joyful surprise. An aeroplane flew over the city and dropped
several messages. Unfortunately the wind was very high and carried
the messages into the Turkish part of the city, but we know now that
help is near and that we are not forgotten. More victims for the operat-
ing table and more graves in the cemetery. This afternoon we had
another glimpse of an aeroplane, and the French headquarters sent up
signals so that they might know where to land if they wished. Every-
body is elated to think that communication with the outside world has
again been established. We had an answer to-day from the Mutessarif,
in reply to our letter which accompanied the communication sent by
the Turkish officials. He regretted that he could do nothing without con-
sulting the commander of the forces, but appreciated our interest and
thanked us for our kind offer of mediation. I hope help will come
before all the Armenians have to pay the awful price of this needless
war.
February 7.
At last reinforcements are in sight and are already fighting their way
into the city. The guns in the plain are shelling the hills over which
the scouts expect to reach the barracks. We heard to-day that all the
girls in the rescue home have been killed. There were about eighty of
them. To add to the horror of the crime the Turks this afternoon set
fire to the building and we had the gruesome necessity to witness the
scene without being able to lift a hand to save them. The first church
is also on fire.
February 8.
The French troops are in the valley and their guns are shelling the
hills, but it may be some days yet before they can encircle the city and
close in on the enemy. The wounded continue to come, and new deaths
take place daily. This afternoon we spent with the French General and
his Staff, in the upper storey of the college building, watching the
battle in the plain and the attempt of the French relieving troops to
make connection with the soldiers in the barracks. This they did later
in the day. In the evening we had a thanksgiving service in the college.
February 9.
General Querette informed us to-day that he has received orders to
evacuate the city at midnight on the gth. This news caused alarm all
through the compounds. Everybody is terribly excited. Women and
 APPENDIX B : 269

children are crazed with fear. We have urged him to delay their depar-
ture, as the Turks are on the point of surrender. He said his orders
were imperative, but he would try to secure a delay of twenty-four
hours. If they evacuate the city we are not sure what treatment we will
receive at the hands of the Turks. We shall remain, however, at our
posts of duty, to do what we can to shield the Armenians and protect
American interests. We hope for the best but fear the worst. Our hope
is in God. We trust Him where we cannot trace Him, and believe that
in some divine way our lives will be spared, but if not, God be with
you all until we meet again. I thank my God upon every remembrance
of you.

February 10.
The French General, in response to our earnest entreaties, has
granted a delay of twenty-four hours before leaving the city. We are
hoping to bring about an understanding with the Turks that will pre-
vent further massacres. The French took most of their wounded out of
the city last night, but left twenty in the emergency hospital. The
Armenians in the compounds are frantic and desperate. They are de-
termined to leave the city with the French, as they fear massacre if they
remain. The scenes are indescribably pathetic and tragic. Our greatest
concern is for Miss Buckley, in Bathshalon Orphanage. We fear the
Armenians in other compounds have not been notified of the French
withdrawal. We have been fitting out the refugees for the journey,
giving them food and clothes to the extent of our supplies. Many of the
elder orphan boys and girls will leave with the exiles. Dr. and Mrs.
Wilson will remain and all the missionaries. Dr. Elliott, Miss Schultz,
Miss Powers, and Miss Doherty will leave with the troops. I had de-
cided to stay but as two or three thousand are going without a shep-
herd Dr. Wilson thinks I had better go to take charge of them and find
for them food and shelter at their destination. It is a long hard trek of
nearly 75 miles through mountain and plain, and I fear many of them
will not be equal to it. It is winter and God help them if the weather
should be severe. We are trying to arrange terms of peace, and if the
French forces would remain only a few more days in the city I believe
the Turks would lift their hands in abject surrender. We have just had
an interview with Dr. Moustafa, the leader of the Turkish forces, and
he has agreed to call the notables of the city toegther to-morrow, for
the purpose of considering terms of surrender. But the fact is he is
unaware of the positive withdrawal of the French troops to-night. The
troops and refugees left the city about the hours of 6 and 9. The French
270 : APPENDIX B

General and his Staff left about 10:30. I accompanied them. It was a
bitterly cold night. The city was in flames. Guns were booming from
the hills covering our retreat. After three or four hours we arrived at
the camp on the plain, and at 2 o'clock on Wednesday morning the
long column moved out of Marash on its three days' journey to Isla-
hiyeh.
February 11.
As the column moved away from the city it was a blaze of splendour.
The great barracks just evacuated by the French was on fire, sil-
houetted against the sky. Through the long moonlight night the
column marched untill noon, when it reached the village of E^loglou
and rested for the remainder of the day.
February 12.
At 6 o'clock a.m. the column started on its long march to Bell
Pounar. The weather was severely cold and many of the weak ones
dropped by the wayside to freeze or to starve. At noon the column
rested for two hours and reached Bell Pounar about 5 p.m. Turkish
villages were burnt by the soldiers after the column has passed through.
There were very meagre accommodations in the village, and multitudes
were encamped in the open to suffer seriously from hunger and expo-
sure.
February 13.
During the night a snowstorm raged and at 6 o'clock the column
prepared to move forward while it was yet dark. The snowstorm in-
creased during the early morning hours to a blizzard and continued all
through the long dreary march. From twelve to eighteen hours the
soldiers and civilians plodded their way through the storm and snow-
drifts. All along the line the weak and the infirm dropped out from
sheer exhaustion. It is estimated that before the column reached Is-
layieh more than a thousand of the refugees had perished in the snow,
besides many of the soldiers. It was a tragic ending of a tragic exodus.
February 14.
We did our best to care for the refugees in Islayieh. Many died after
reaching their destination. No accommodations were available in the
village and very little food. I interviewed the Turkish Governor and
the French Commandant, and secured their co-operation in doing
something for the refugees. A bakery was secured to furnish bread and
a mill to grind flour. I left with the French wounded on the evening
train for Adana to confer with Dr. Dodd of the A.C.R.N.E. and Dr.
 APPENDIX

Chambers of the American Mission, to see what could be done to help

these unfortunates in their distress. Milk and blankets were despatched
immediately and further supplies prepared to meet the urgent necessity
of the situation. All the American forces in the city have put them-
selves at the service of these stranded Armenians. It is hoped that
eventually they will be brought to Adana, where the pastors of the city
are preparing to receive them and house them in their churches and
other institutions in the city. I am now trying to return to my station
at Aintab by way of Beirut and Aleppo. Dr. Chambers, who is on his
way to Constantinople to plead the cause of the Armenians before the
representatives of the Entente Powers, will carry this message with him
as a record of the events that transpired in Marash during those crucial
weeks.
 APPENDIX C

Portions of the Report of Auguste Bernau, Aleppo agent for the

Vacuum Oil Company of New York, to the American Consul J. B.
Jackson, on the condition of the Armenians deported along the Eu-
phrates River, 21 September 1916.*

It is impossible to give an account of the impression of horror which

my journey across the Armenian encampments scattered all along the
Euphrates has given me; especially those on the right bank between
Meskene and Deir-ez-Zor. These can hardly be called encampments
because of the fact that the majority of these unfortunate people,
brutally dragged out of their native land, of their homes and of their
families, robbed of their effects, upon their departure or enroute, are
penned up in the open like cattle, without shelter, almost no clothing,
fed barely by food altogether insufficient. Exposed to all the inclemen-
cies of the weather—in summer to the torrid sun of the desert, in
winter to the rain and cold, enfeebled already by privations and the
long marches, the bad treatment, the most severe tortures and the
daily pangs of death—the less feeble have succeeded in digging holes
for them on the banks of the river. . . .
The management which has been entrusted to transport these peo-
ple through the desert has no intention to feed them. Even it appears
that it is a government principle to allow them to die of hunger. An
organized massacre, even in the times when liberty, equality and fra-
ternity were not proclaimed by the Constitution, would have been
more humane. . . .
All that I have seen and heard surpasses all imagination. . . . As
on the gate of Hell of Dante, the following should be written at the
entrance to these accursed encampments: "You who enter, leave all
* Records of the Department of State Relating to Internal Affairs of Turkey,
1910-1929. Microfilm Publications no. 353, Roll 45.
* APPENDIXC 1 2 7 3
t
1
I hopes." Mounted gendarmes make the rounds with orders to arrest and
1 flog fugitives. The roads are well guarded. And what roadsl They lead
I to the desert where death is as sure as under the bastinado of the Otto-
I man convict gangs. I have met in the desert at different places six of
£ these fugitives, abandoned dying by the gendarmes and surrounded by
t hungry dogs waiting for their last hiccups of agony to jump on and
* feast on them. . . .
f Prevented on one side from going away from the encampments to
jr find means of sustenance, the deported Armenians cannot on the other
*•-'- hand exercise their faculty—so natural to men and especially in the
j Armenian race—to adapt itself to misfortune and to apply its in-
t genuity to diminish the amount of its hardships. . . .
Meskene, through its geographical position on the border between
Syria and Mesopotamia, is the natural point of concentration of the
' deported Armenians coming from the vilayets of Anatolia and sent
; afterwards all along the Euphrates. They arrive there by the thou-
* sands, but the majority leave there their bones. The impression which
"I this immense and dismal plain of Meskene leaves is sad and pitiable.
j Information obtained on the spot permits me to state that nearly
i 60,000 Armenians are buried there, carried off by hunger, by privations
I of all sorts, by intestinal diseases and typhus which is the result. As
'" far as the eye can reach, mounds are seen containing 200 to 300 corpses
buried in the ground pele mele, women, children and old people be-
longing to different families.
j At present nearly 6,500 Armenians are kept between the town of
j. Meskene and the Euphrates. These are but living phantoms. Their
^ superintendents distribute them sparingly and very irregularly a piece
t of bread. Sometimes three or four days pass when these famished
j people who have nothing to eat but this piece of bread, receive abso-
lutely nothing. A dreadful dysentery makes numerous victims among
S [
:; them, especially among the children. These latter fall ravenously upon
all that comes under their hands: they eat herbs, earth and even their
f excrement.
1 [In his report Bernau continues with a description of conditions at
j Abou Herrera, Hammam, Rekka, Zierrat, Sebga, and Deir-ez-Zor. The
| last one is reproduced here.]
\ . . . Some months ago 30,000 Armenians were installed
| in encampments on the outskirts of the city under the protection of
! the Governor, AH Souad Bey. Although I do not want to make per-
-\l remarks, I would not want to pass silently the name of this man
f of heart, of whom the immigrants had to congratulate themselves and
274-' APPENDIX G

who tried to alleviate their misfortunes. A certain number o£ them

had even begun a small commerce and were feeling happy to remain
there. This proves very well that if reasons of State demanded—let
us suppose—the deportation in mass of Armenians for the preventive
settlement of the Armenian question (?) at least the authorities could
have acted humanely and also in the interests of the Ottoman Empire,
in transporting the Armenians in cities where they could give them-
selves to commerce or exercise their professions, or by removing them
to lands which can be cultivated, as the necessity of labor is felt so
keenly at the present moment. But if it was intended to suppress the
race in order to eliminate at the same time the Armenian question,
the aim would doubtless not have been attained.
Again the comparative favor (?) that the Armenians were enjoying
at Deir-ez-Zor was denounced to higher authorities, and the guilty—
Ali Souad Bey—was transferred to Bagdad and replaced by Zekki Bey,
notorious for inhuman acts and barbarism. They have related to me
appalling things about this new Mutessarif at Deir-ez-Zor. The prison,
tortures, bastinado and hanging were at one time the daily bread of
this small town. The girls were violated and given to the neighboring
Arabs for their pleasure or domestic use, the children drowned in the
river; neither weakness nor innocence were spared.
The distinguished Ali Souad Bey had gathered about one thousand
orphans in a large house and was looking after their subsistence at the
expense of the town. His successor threw them out of the house; the
majority of them died in the streets like dogs of hunger, of all sorts
of privations and from assaults.
Furthermore the 30,000 Armenians who were at Deir-ez-Zor were
cruelly expulsed all along the Chabour, flowing into the Euphrates;
that is, to the most desert-like region of the country, where it is abso-
lutely impossible for them to find anything for their subsistence. Ac-
cording to information obtained by me at Deir-ez-Zor, a great number
of these are already dead and the rest will soon follow them.
Conclusion: I believe there are some 15,000 Armenians scattered
about all along the Euphrates between Meskend and Deir-ez-Zor, pass-
ing through Rekka. As I have already said, these unfortunate people,
abandoned, ill-treated by the authorities, put in an impossible posi-
tion to provide for their food, are gradually dying of hunger. Winter
is approaching; cold and dampness will add their ravages to that of
famine. They can always find something to eat—although very dear—
if they have the money to pay for it. ... If these funds are not sent,
these unfortunate people are doomed. . . .
 NOTES

i. Marash on 20 January 1920

i.Robert A. Lambert (quoting the mutasarrif of Marash) to Major Nicol,
19 May 1920, in "Western Turkey igao-August 1924," American Board of
Commissioner for Foreign Missions, vol. 4, Document 91, Houghton Library,
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
2. Arnold J. Toynbee, "A Summary of Armenian History up to and in-
cluding the Year 1915," in The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Em-
pire, igi^-igi6. Documents Presented to Viscount Grey of Fallodon, Secre-
tary of State for Foreign Affairs by Viscount Bryce, pp. 623-24 (cited hereafter
as Bryce, The Treatment of Armenians).
3. Ibid., p. 624.
4. Edwin Munsell Bliss, Turkey and the Armenian Atrocities: A Reign of
Terror (Edgewood Publishing Co., 1896), pp. 457-59.
5. Aharon Shirajian, "Pandargowt can Howsher—1895" [Memories of Im-
prisonment], Chanaser 27, no. 19 ( i October 1964), p. 408. This short, dy-
namic pastor, then only twenty-eight years of age, was brought before the
chief of police on grounds that he was one of the dangerous leaders of the
Armenians. He was asked to name the local revolutionary chiefs, to state
which foreign government had stimulated the Armenians to revolt, and finally
to sign a document admitting that his own people bore the responsibility for
the uprising. When the young pastor refused to give the information and sign
these false charges, the police chief struck him with a club and was infuriated
when he grabbed the weapon in self-defense. Shirajian was tied hand and
foot and beaten until unconscious, then he was thrown into prison. On the
following day this treatment was repeated, but on the third day he was taken
to a doctor. The explanation for this change of attitude came later: others,
under torture, had signed the confession and had named the leaders of the
Armenian societies.
276 : N O T E S

6. William L. Langer, The Diplomacy of Imperialism, 1890-1902, zd ed.

(New York and London: Knopf, 1951), pp. 156-57.
7. Ernest E. Ramsaur, Jr., The Young Turks, pp. 124-29.
8. Ibid., pp. 130-35.
9. Edwin Pears, Forty Years in Constantinople, p. 237.
10. Jamal Pasha, Memories of a Turkish Statesman, p. 261.
11. Andr£ Mandelstam, Le sort de I'Empire Ottoman, pp. 203-6.
12. Henry Adams Gibbons, The Blackest Page of Modern History, pp.
34-36.
13. Ibid., pp. 46-47.
14. Mevlan Zade1 Rifat, Tiirkiye inkildbmin if yiizu [The inner aspects of the
Ottoman Revolution]; the source to which this note refers is the Armenian
translation from the original Turkish (ad ed. rev. [Beirut: G. Donikian &
Sons, 1968], pp. 101-6).
In view of the fact that Mevlan Zad^ Rifat does not state the sources for
his incriminating accusations, I sought information about him from indi-
viduals who had resided in Constantinople during World War I. My best in-
formant, who is unwilling to have his name disclosed, states that Mevlan Zad6
was a member of the Young Turk Ittihad party until it repudiated its initial
liberal attitude of fraternity and justice for all, between 1909 and 1913. He
became a member of the opposing Hurriyet ve Itilaf, or "Liberty and Friend-
ship" party, and he edited a journal regarded as the Itilaf mouthpiece in
Constantinople. A cabinet of Itilaf ministers came into power when the
Balkan Wars began in 1912 with disastrous results for Turkey. On 23
January 1913 Enver Pasha with a few associates assassinated Nazim Pasha, the
minister of war, at the doors of the cabinet room and seized power. Itilaf
members took revenge by assassinating the new war minister, Shevket Pasha,
on 10 June, The Ittihad leaders, suspecting a plot to overthrow their govern-
ment, hanged twenty-six of the Itilaf leaders and banished twelve hundred
others, among them Mevlan Zad£, to the interior of Anatolia. There, during
the war, he made a living by serving as scribe to the illiterate villagers. After
the armistice he moved to Aleppo where he wrote his book. Since the Itilaf
party members were banished in 1913, the Ittihad decision to solve the Ar-
menian question in the manner quoted by Mevlan Zad6 must have been
made at the Young Turk meeting which was held in Salonika in 1912.
15. Jamal Pasha, Memories of a Turkish Statesman, p. 264.
16. Ibid., pp. 266-71.
17. Richard G. Hovannisian, Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918,
PP- 38-39-
18. Jamal Pasha, Memories of a Turkish Statesman, p. 276.
19. Harry N. Howard, The Partition of Turkey, p. 87.
 NOTES : 277

2. War on the Eastern Front

1. A. B. Baghdassarian et al, eds., Haygagan Sovedagan Sotzialisdagan Res-
publikayi T. Atlas [Atlas of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic], pp.
58-59-
2. Richard G. Hovannisian, Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918,
PP 41-42-
3. Ibid., 58.
4. Ahmed Emin Yalman, Turkey in the World War, p. 215.
5. Gabriel Korganoff, La participation des Armeniens a la guerre mondiale
sur le front du Caucase, iqij-iyiS, pp. 1-36.
6. Ibid., p. 10.
7. Hovannisian, Armenia on the Road to Independence, p. 44.
8. Jamal Pasha, Memories of a Turkish Statesman, p. 300.
9. Hovannisian, Armenia on the Road to Independence, p. 43.
10. Korganoff, La participation des Armeniens, p. 13.
n. Yalman, Turkey in the World War, pp. 218-19.
12. Hovannisian, Armenia on the Road to Independence, pp. 45-46.
13. Clarence D. Ussher, An American Physician in Turkey.
14. Johannes Lepsius, Le rapport secret du Dr. Johannes Lepsius sur les
massacres d'Armenie, pp. 94-114.
15. Korganoff, La participation des Armeniens, p. 21.
16. Ibid., pp. 26-27.
17. In the summer of 1916 Colonel Mustafa Kemal, in command of the
Sixteenth Corps of the Second Army, was sent into eastern Anatolia to
strengthen the Third Army which had met disaster at Sarikamish and sub-
sequently had engaged in a series of battles with the Russians. That winter
Kemal found his troops in a miserable condition "for the ironical reason that
in the early stages of the campaign the Armenians had been massacred or de-
ported en masse, leaving the land a virtual desert, without peasants to grow
food, or artisans to provide services" (Lord Kinross, Ataturk, p. 118.
18. Mevlan Zadd Rifat, Tiirkiye inkilabmin if yiizu (Armenian translation,
2d ed.) pp. 92-118.

3. Resistance at Zeitun and Fundijak

1. The Turkish text is dated 13 May 1331. Owing to a difference of thirteen
days between the old and new calendars, this document is given the date 26
May 1915 in various texts.
2. Yusuf Hikmet Bayur, Turk Inktldbi Tarihi [History of the Turkish Rev-
?y8 : NOTES

olution], vol. 3, 1914-1918 genel savaji [The, 1914-1918 World War], pp. 37-
38. A translation of this document may be found in Hovannisian, Armenia
on the Road to Independence, 1918, p. 50. Another English translation of this
document was published in Hairenik Weekly (Boston) on 20 August 1964.
The editor, Haigaz Ghazarian, explains that he was employed as an inter-
preter by the British forces which occupied Constantinople after the defeat of
the Turkish armies during World War I. There he was given access to the
Turkish government archives where he found the documents published re-
cently in Haigaz K. Ghazarian, Ts'eghespan Tlurkll [The genocidal Turk]
(Beirut, 1968).
3. Jamal Pasha, Memories of a Turkish Statesman, p. 277.
4. Mevlan Zad£ Rifat, Tiirkiye inkildbtnin if yilzu, passim.
5. Nairn Bey, The Memoirs of Nairn Bey, pp. 49-50.
6. Henry Morgenthau, Ambassador Morgenthau's Story, pp. 334-59.
7. Among the judgments rendered by Turkish courts-martial are (a) those of
27 April and 10 July 1919 in which Talaat, Enver, and Jamal Pashas were
found guilty and condemned to death for deporting and massacring the Ai1-
menian people (published in Tekvimi Vekayi [Calendar of historic Events],
nos. 3543 and 3604 [1919]); and (b) the judgment of 20 July 1919 against the
authors of the massacre of Bayburt in the vilayet of Erzerum (published in
Tercilmani Hakikat [Interpreter of Truth] [Constantinople], 5 August 1920).
I have not myself seen either of these two newspapers.
8. Haigaz Ghazarian, trans., Document 280, Hairenik Weekly (Boston), 20
August 1964 (see note 2, above).
9. Bryce, The Treatment of Armenians; in this volume the names of au-
thors, individuals concerned, and places were coded for their protection. The
key to this code was held in the archives of the United States Department of
State and is now declassified. A microfilm copy of the book and its key may be
obtained from the United States General Services Administration, National
Archives and Records Service, Washington, D.C. (no. 353, roll 45). The key is
available also in the libraries of Princeton University and the Hoover In-
stitute, Stanford, California.
10. Talaat Pasha, Taldt Pasa'nin Hdtiralari [Talaat Pasha's Memoirs],
PP- 38-73;
11. "Zeitoun Antecedents of the Deportation, recorded by the Rev. Stephen
Trowbridge, secretary of the Cairo committee of the American Red Cross,
from an oral statement by the Rev. Dikran Andreasian, Pastor of the Ar-
menian Protestant Church of Zeitoun, communicated by Mr. Trowbridge,
and supplemented by extracts from the (fuller) Armenian document 130,
translated for editor by Mr. G. H. Paelian" (note concerning Document
122 in Key to British Parliamentary Paper Miscellaneous No. 31, p. 23).
12. Dikran Andreasian in Bryce, The Treatment of Armenians, Document
122.
13. Ainslie to Barton, 6 July 1915, ibid., Document 121.
14. Pierre Briquet, ibid., Documents 123 and 124.
 NOTES : 279

15. William S. Dodd, ibid., Document 125.

16. Pascal Maljian in Jean Naslian, ed., Lei memoires de Mgr. Jean Nas-
Han, 1:387-93; also an interview with Rt. Rev. Msgr. Pascal Archpriest Mal-
jian, New York City, 10 February 1970.
17. Yeremia S. Kehyayan (a teacher from Dere Keoy) in Krikor H. Kalous-
tian, ed., Marash Gam Kermanig ew Heros Zeoyt'own [Marash or Gennanica
and Heroic Zeitun], pp. 45-55 (cited hereafter as Marash).
18. Ibid.
19. Ibid.
20. Abraham Hartunian, Neither to Laugh Nor to Weep, p. 60.
21. Kehyayan, in Kaloustain, Marash, pp. 45-55.
22. Hartunian, Neither to Laugh Nor to Weep, p. 64.
23. The German director of an orphanage in Harounie, in Naslian, ed., Les
me1 moires de Mgr. Jean Naslian, 1:383, fn.
24. Krikor H. Kaloustian, in Kaloustian ed., Marash, pp. 827-29.
25. Haroutune der Ghazarian, "Anhahd Gakhaghanner" [Unknown scaf-
folds], in Nairi (Beirut), 27 July 1969, p. 5.
26. Ibid.

4. Deportation from Marash

1. Abraham Hartunian, Neither to Laugh Nor to Weep, p. 63.
2. Jean Naslian, in Jean Naslian, ed., Les memoires de Mgr. Jean Naslian,
1:384-85; 147 fn.; 384.
3. Hartunian, Neither to Laugh Nor to Weep, pp. 66-68; 70-80.
4. Ainslie to Barton, 6 July 1915, in Bryce, The Treatment of Armenians,
Document 121.
5. Diary of Mrs. Thomas Davidson Christie (of Tarsus), 14 August 1915,
ibid., Document 114.
6. Paula Schafer, ibid., Document 117.
7. William S. Dodd, ibid., Document 109.
S.Paula Schafer, ibid., Document 117.
9. L. Mohring, 12 July 1915, ibid., Document 145.
10. Hartunian, Neither to Laugh Nor to Weep, pp. 85-96.
n.Mevlan Zadd Rifat, Tiirkiye inkildbinin if yuzii (Armenian Trans., zd
ed.), p. 116.
12. Hartunian, Neither to Laugh Nor to Weep, pp. 85-96; Avedis Seferian
(who also experienced the Ayran Intilli deportation) to Kerr, 30 September,
17 October, and 4 November 1968; also an interview with Mr. Seferian, 19
September 1968.
13. Krikor H. Kaloustian, in Kaloustian, ed., Marash, pp. 827-28.
14. J. B. Jackson (American Consul in Aleppo) to Hoffman Philip (Charge1
d'Affaires, American Embassy, Constantinople), 21 September 1916, with a
28o : N O T E S

report dated 10 September 1916 from Auguste Bernau. The letter (no. 754)
and report were forwarded as Dispatch 2085 to the secretary of state in Wash-
ington D.C. and filed as Index Bureau 867, 4016/302. These, together with
other correspondence between Washington and Constantinople, were repro-
duced on Microfilm Publications 353, Records of the Department of State re-
lating to Internal Affairs of Turkey, i<)io-ic)2<) Roll 45.
15. Ibid.
16. Walter M. Geddes, in Bryce, The Treatment of Armenians, Document
118.
17. Jamal Pasha, Memories of a Turkish Statesman, pp. 277-79.
18. Nairn Bey, The Memoirs of Nairn Bey, p. 61.
19. Dodge to Kerr; see also the Foreword.
20. Harry Serian, The Life and Experiences of Reverend Harry Serian
(Haroutune Nokhoudian): An Autobiography. Nokhoudian changed his name
after emigrating to the United States. Contrary to the account given by Franz
Werfel in his book Die vierzig Tage des Musa Daghs [The forty days of Musa
Dagh] ([Berlin, Vienna, and Leipzig: Paul Zsolnay Verlag, 1933]; also trans.
Geoffrey Dunlop [New York: Viking Press, 1934]), Nokhoudian and his wife
survived exile.
21. Ohannes Tilkian, "Ayt Tzhowar ew Dkhowr Darinere" [Those difficult
and sad years], Chanaser 32, no. 16 (15 August 1969): 361-62; no. 17-18 (i
and 15 September 1969): 408.

5. Wartime Relief Work in Aleppo

1. Henry Morgenthau, Ambassador Morgenthau's Story, pp. 332-33.
2. Ibid., pp. 347-50.
3. Mrs. Thomas Davidson Christie, in Bryce, The Treatment of Armenians,
Document 114.
4. Paula Schafer, ibid., Document 117.
5. Walter M. Geddes, ibid., Document 118.
6. Sisag S. Manoogian, A Valiant Servant of Christ, passim.
7. Chanaser 27, no. 19 (i October 1964); the entire issue was devoted to a
series of articles on the life of Shirajian.
8. Talaat Bey learned from the deportation office in Aleppo that orphans
had been collected. He sent at least three telegrams concerning them. Ab-
dulahad Nouri of this office had informed him that more than four hundred
children were to be found in the orphanage, and that they would be added
to the caravans to be exiled. The governor of Aleppo, Abdulhalik Bey, then
received this message dated 15 January 1916 and signed by the minister of the
interior Talaat Bey: "We hear that certain orphanages which have been
opened receive also the children of the Armenians. Whether this is done
through ignorance of our real purpose, or through contempt of it, the Gov-
 NOTES : 28i

ernment will regard the feeding of such children as an act entirely opposed to
its purpose, since it considers the survival of these children as detrimental. I
recommend that such children shall not be received into the orphanages, and
no attempts are to be made to establish special orphanages for them" (Nairn
Bey, The Memoirs of Nairn Bey, p. 61).
9. Aram Tourabian, "La Legion arme'nienne et la France," in Massacres
Varia (Marseilles: Imprimerie Nouvelle, 1929), 6:62.
10. Paul du Vdou, La passion de la Cicilie, pp. 59-60.
11. Ibid., p. 60; Gustave Gautherot, La France en Syrie et en Cilicie, pp.
138-39-
12. The Turkish movements in this battle are described by Lord Kinross in
Ataturk, pp. 138-40. A dramatic picture of the part played by the French and
Armenian contingents is given in Paul du Vdou's La Passion de la Cilicie,
pp. 60-62.
14. Pierre Redan, La Cilicie et le probleme Ottoman, pp. 120-23. Annexes
2 and 3.

6. The Occupation of Cilicia

1. Paul du Veou, La Passion de la Cilicie, pp. 70-72.
2. Ibid., p. 70; Gustave Gautherot, La France en Syrie et en Cilicie, pp.
186-87.
3. du V^ou, La Passion de la Cilicie, p. 73.
4. Pierre Redan, La Cilicie et le probeme Ottoman, pp. 76-77; 81.
5. Gautherot, La France en Syrie et en Cilicie, p. 186.
6. Lord Kinross, Ataturk, pp. 152-53; Gautherot, La France en Syrie et en
Cilicie, p. 186.
7. Pierre Redan, La Cilicie et le probleme Ottoman, p. 78; du Vdou, La
Passion de la Cilicie, pp. 73-74.
8. Ahmet Hulki Saral, Turk Istikldl Harbi [Turkish War of Independence],
vol. 4, Guney Cephesi [Southern Front], p. 50.
9. du Veou, La Passion de la Cilicie, pp. 90-91.
10. R. S. Baker and W. E. Dodd, The Public Papers of Woodrow Wilson
(New York and London: Harpers, 1927), 3:160-161.
11. du V£ou, La Passion de la Cilicie, p. 59.
12. Harry N. Howard, The Partition of Turkey, p. 198.
13. Ibid., pp. 225-26.
14. Harry N. Howard, An American Inquiry, p. 27.
15. Ibid., p. 32. Professor Howard credits Howard Bliss of the Syrian
Protestant College (which is now American University of Beirut) with sowing
the seed from which the King-Crane Commission grew. President Bliss had ap-
peared before the Council of Four on 13 February 1919 to ask that Wilson's
proclamation of the right of self-determination be applied to Syria and had
282 ! N O T E S

suggested that a commission of inquiry be sent for this purpose (pp. 85-26).
16. Ibid., pp. 33; 46.
17. Aram Baghdikian, in Krikor H. Kaloustian, ed., Marash, p. 792.
18. Howard, An American Inquiry, pp. 165-66.
19. Ibid., p. 188.
20. Ibid., pp. 184-85.
21. Ibid., pp. 191-95.
22. Ibid., pp. 188-89.
23. Ibid., p. 235.
24. Ibid., p. 311.

7. Rehabilitation
i.Jacob Kunzler, Im Lande des Blutes und der Tranen: Erlebnisse in
Mesopotamien wahrend des Weltkrieges (Potsdam: Tempel Verlag, 1921),
pp. 17-22, 49, 50.
2. E. K. Sarkisian and E. G. Sahakian, Vital Issues in Modern Armenian
History: A Documented Expose of Misrepresentations in Turkish Historiog-
raphy, trans, by E. B. Chrakian (Watertown, Mass.: Armenian Studies, 1965),
pp. 23-31.
3. Yusuf Hikmet Bayur, Turk inktldbt tarihi, vol. 3, 1914-1918 genel savafi.
pt. 3. J9/5-/5»/7 vurusmalan ve bunlarm siyasal tepkileri [History of the Tur-
kish Revolution. The 1914-1918 World War. The Battles of 1915-1917 and
their Political Effects]. (Ankara: Turk Tarih Kurumu Basimevi, 1957), p. 8.
4. Andre1 Mandelstam, Le sort de I'Empire Ottoman (Paris and Lausanne:
Payot, 1917), p. 408.
5. Dr. Johannes Lepsius, Deutschland und Armenien (Potsdam: Tempel
Verlag, 1919), p. 65.
6. A. B. Baghdassarian, et al. Haygagan Sovedagan Sotzialisdagan Respubli-
kayi T Atlas [Atlas of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic] (Erivan and
Moscow: Cartographic Service of the Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1961),
PP- 58-59-
7. Dr. Sarkis J. Karayan, "An Inquiry into the Statistics of the Turkish
Genocide of the Armenians," The Armenian Review (Boston), vol. 25, no. 4
(Winter 1972): 3-44.
8. Krikor H. Kaloustian, ed. Marash gam Kermanig ev Heros Zeytfown.
Hradaragowtciwn Marashi Hayrenagtsfagan Miyowtlean Getr. Varch^owt^eab
Miatsceal Nahankner Ameriga. (New York: Goch£nag Dbaran, 1934), pp.
827-29.
 N O T E S : 283

8. Unrest in Syria
i. The correspondence between Sir Henry McMahon and the sherif Hus-
sein of Mecca was printed in English translation in the Congressional Record
(Proceedings and Debates of the gist Congress, Second Session [Washington]:
16 January 1970, vol. 116, no. 99, pp. 89022-27).
g. Paul du Ve'ou, La Passion de la Cilicie, p. 78.
3. Harry N. Howard, An Inquiry in the Middle East, p. 83.
4. du Ve'ou, La Passion de la Cilicie, pp. 78-79.
5. Ibid., pp. 80-81.
6. Ibid., p. 87.
7. M. Abadie, Operations au Levant, p. 30.
8. Ibid., p. 30.
9. Ibid., pp. 122-23, Annex 3. The terms of the Mudros Armistice may be
found in Eliot Grinnel Mears, ed., Modern Turkey, p. 624.
10. Mabel Evelyn Elliott, Beginning Again at Ararat, p. 84.

9. The French Occupation of Marash

1. Aram Baghdikian, in Krikor H. Kaloustian, ed., Marash, pp. 792-93.
2. Pascal Maljian, in Jean Naslian, ed., Les memoires de Mgr. Jean Naslian,
2:275.
3. Edouard Bre'mond, La Cilicie en 1919-1920, p. 328. In a later passage
Bre'mond notes that when Captain Andre1 came to Marash as civil governor, a
tea was given in his honor by the military commander, Captain Fontaine (p.
332)-
4. M. Abadie, Operations au Levant, p. 28.
5. Ahmet Hulki Saral, Turk Istikldl Harbi, 4:58.
6. Nishan Saatjian, in Kersam Aharonian, ed., Hushamadian medz egherhni
[Memorial book of Armenian Martyrdom], pp. 830-45.
7. Saral, Turk Istikldl Harbi, 4:58.
8. M. Abadie, Operations au Levant, pp. 124-26, Annex 4.
9. Pierre Redan, La Cilicie et le probleme Ottoman, p. 90.
10. Gustave Gautherot, La France en Syrie et en Cilicie, p. 135.
11. Saral, Turk Istikldl Harbi, 4:58.
12. Interview with Mr. Nathan Koumrian, summer 1969, in Watertown,
Massachusetts.
13. Pascal Maljian, in Naslian, ed., Les memoires de Mgr. Jean Naslian,
2:276-77.
2 84 : NOTES

10. Preparations for Conflict

1. Lord Kinross, Ataturk, pp. 176-80.
2. Ibid., pp. 193-96.
3. Ibid., pp. 202-12 (an English translation of the National Pact adopted at
the Erzerum Conference may be found in the Appendix, pp. 571-72).
4. Ibid., p. 210.
5. Ibid., pp. 212-19.
6. Ibid., pp. 220-26.
7. M. Abadie, Operations au Levant, pp. 126-27, Annex 5.
8. Ahmet Hulki Saral, Turk Istikldl Harbi, 4:75.
9. Ibid., 4:82.
10. Krikor H. Kaloustian, in Kaloustian, ed., Marash, pp. 827-29.
11. Saral, Turk Istikldl Harbi, 4:75.
12. Pascal Maljian, in Jean Naslian, Les Memoires de Mgr. Jean Naslian,
2:276.
13. Avedis Seferian to Kerr, 30 September, 17 October, and 4 November
1968; also an interview with Mr. Seferian, 19 September 1968, in Watertown,
Massachusetts.
14. Edouard Brdmond, La Cilicie en ipip-ipso. p. 330.
15. Ibid., p. 331.
16. Ibid., p. 332.
17. Saral, Turk Istikldl Harbi, 4:59.
18. Pierre Redan, La Cilicie et le probleme Ottoman, p. 93 fn.
19. Ibid., pp. 92-93.

11. Assignment to Marash

i.See Charles Leonard Woolley, The Art of the Middle East, Including
Persia. Mesopotamia, and Palestine, p. 143.
2. Mabel Evelyn Elliott, Beginning Again at Ararat.

12. Harassment of the French

1. Edouard Bre'mond, La Cilicie en 191^-1920, p. 330.
2. C. Thibault, Historique du 412* regiment d'infanterie, p. 229.
3. Ibid., p. 241; Br&nond, La Cilicie en 1919-1920, p. 339.
4. Raphael Kherlakian, in Jean Naslian, ed., Les memoires de Mgr. Jean
Naslian, 2:284.
5. Paul du Vdou, La Passion de la Cilicie, p. 122.
 NOTES : 285

6. Thibault, Historique du 412* regiment d'infanterie, p. 229.

7. M. Abadie, Operations au Levant, p. 39.
8. Thibault, Historique du 412* regiment d'infanterie, p. 229.
9. Ahmet Hulki Saral, Turk Istikldl Harbi, 4:82-83.
10. du Ve'on, La Passion de la Cilicie, p. 122; Abadie, Operations au Le-
vant, p. 40.
11. Ahmad Yoriir to Kerr, 19 October 1968.
12. Saral, Turk Istikldl Harbi, 4:84.
13. Thibault, Historique du 412" regiment d'infanterie, pp. 230-235.
14. Raphael Kherlakian, in Jean Naslian, ed., Les memoires de Mgr. Jean
Naslian, 2:281-84.
15. Ibid., 2:285-86.

13. Disaster at Christmas

1. Interview with Mr. Daniel Akullian, 12 May 1968, in Loudonville, New
York.
2. According to the Turkish calendar used by die Armenians in 1920,
Christmas was celebrated on 6 January. The difference of thirteen days from
the Western calendar explains occasional discrepancies in the dates quoted
from various sources.
3. Khoren A. Ajemian, Echer Gamawori Orahres [Pages from a volunteer's
diary], p. 265. The author, upon entering the priesthood, changed his name
from Krikor to Khoren.
4. Ahmet Hulki Saral, Turk Istikldl Harbi, 4:81.
5. C. Thibault, Historique du 412* regiment d'infanterie, p. 236.
6. Ibid., p. 237; Paul du Ve'ou, La Passion de la Cilicie, p. 124.
7. Snyder to his family, 20 January 1920.
8. Ibid.
9. Raphael Kherlakian, in Jean Naslian, ed., Les memoires de Mgr. Jean
Naslian, 2:288.
10. Thibault, Historique du 412* regiment d'infanterie, p. 238; Snyder to
his sister, 23 January 1920.
11. Thibault, Historique du <fi2e regiment d'infanterie, p. 237.
12. Ajemian, Echer Gamawori Orakres, pp. 268-276.
13. Thibault, Historique du 412" regiment d'infanterie, pp. 236; 244-45.

14. The Marash Rebellion

1. C. Thibault, Historique du 412* regiment d'infanterie, pp. 239-40.
2. Hovsep Der Vartanian, Marashi Charte lyzo-in ew Badmagar Hamarhod
Agnarn me ir Antsfealin Vray [The massacre of Marash in 1920 and a brief
286 : N O T E S

historical glance at its Past], (Jerusalem: Arakcs-Topalian Dbakr, 1927),

quoted in Krikor H. Kaloustian, ed., Marash, pp. 827-29.
3. Materne Murd, "Le massacre de Marache (FeVrier 1920): Un Episode de
la Trag^die Arme'nienne," (in Les Massacres Arminiens [Brussels: Socie'te'
Beige de Libraire]), Flambeau, pp. 7-8.
4. Ahmet Hulki Saral, Turk Istiklal Harbi, 4:89.
5. Thibault, Historique du 412* regiment d'injanterie, p. 242.
6. Ibid.
7. Haroutune Der Ghazarian, "Giligean Namagani. Giligean Tepk'erS
Garewor Vawerkrowt'iwn M£" [Mail from Cilicia: the Cilician events, an
important Document], Bahag (Boston), 5 June 1920, pp. 2-3; 8 June 1920,
p. 3; also reprinted in Krikor H. Kaloustian, ed., Marash, pp. 813-15.
8. Paul du Vdou, La Passion de la Cilicie, p. 126.
9. Saral, Turk Istiklal Harbi, 4:90-91.
10. Mur6, "Le massacre de Marache," p. 9.
11. Interview with (Mrs.) Leah Asbed (ne'e Marashlian), 16 September 1969,
Bedford, Massachusetts.

15. Events in the Mission Compound

1. Materne Mure1, "Le massacre de Marache (Fe'vrier 1920): Un Episode de
la Trage'die Arme'nienne," Flambeau, p. 10.
2. Khoren A. Ajemian, Echer Gamawori Orakres [Pages from a volunteer's
diary], p. 265.
3. Haroutune Der Ghazarian, "Giligean Namagani. Giligean Tepk'erfi
Garewor Vawerkrowt'iwn MS," [Mail from Cilicia: the Cilician events. An
important document], Bahag (Boston), 5 June 1920, pp. 2-3; 8 June 1920,
p. 3; also reprinted in Krikor H. Kaloustian, ed., Marash, pp. 813-15.
4. Ahmet Hulki Saral, Turk Istiklal Harbi, 4:86.
5. Ibid.
6. Kerr to his parents, 22 January 1920.
7. Ibid., 23 January 1920.
8. Ibid., 23 and 25 January 1920.
9. Ibid., 25 January 1920.
10. Ibid., 28 and 29 January 1920. The Reverend Mr. Solakian left Marash
with the French troops. He emigrated to the United States where some years
later he became engaged to be married. He disappeared on the eve of his
wedding, and his body was found in the Charles River near Cambridge.

16. The Sheikh's Quarter

i. Kerr to his parents, 23 January 1920; diary of C. F. H. Crathern, 24 Jan-
uary 1920.
 N O T E S : 287

2. Dicran A. Berberian to Kerr, a July 1969.

3. Aram Baghdikian, in Krikor H. Kaloustian, ed., Marash, p. 792.
4. Ahmet Hulki Saral, Turk Istikldl Harbi, 4:487.
5. Ibid., 4:89.
6. Ibid., 4:91.
7. Ibid., 4:91.
8. Raphael Kherlakian, in Jean Naslian, ed., Les Mdmoires de Mgr. Jean
Naslian, 2:290.

17. Devastation and Massacre

1. From an unpublished manuscript by (Mrs.) Makrouhi Der Ohannesian
(ne'e Der Vartanian); also an interview with Mrs. Der Ohannesian, 19 June
1970, in Albany, New York.
2. Hovsep Der Vartanian, Marashi Charte lyzo-in eia Badmagar Hamarhod
Agnarn me ir Ants^ealin Vray [The massacre of Marash in 1920 and a brief
historical glance at its Past] (Jerusalem: Araks-Topalian Dbakr, 1927), quoted
in Krikor H. Kaloustian, ed., Marash, pp. 827—29.
3. Haroutune Der Ghazarian, "Giligean Namagani. Giligean Tepk'ere
Garewor Vawerkrout'iwn Me" [Mail from Cilicia: the Cilician events, an
important document], Bahag (Boston), 5 June 1920, pp. 2-3; 8 June 1920,
p. 3; also reprinted in Krikor H. Kaloustian, ed., Marash, pp. 813-18.
4. An interview with Mr. Joseph (Hovsep) Chorbajian, March 1970 and
April 1972, in New York City.
5. Khoren A. Ajemian, Echer Gamawori Orakres [Pages from a volunteer's
diary], p. 274.
6. Materne Mure1, "Le massacre de Marache (FeVrier 1920): Un Episode de
la Trage'die Arme'nienne," Flambeau, pp. 7-8.
7. Nisten Saatjian, in Kersam Aharonian, ed., Mushamadian Medz Egherhni
[Memorial book of Armenian Martyrdom], pp. 830-45.
S.Nancy Virginia Austin, "Survival of the Fittest" (Unpublished manu-
script written in 1925). This manuscript is the story of Anna Kusajukian,
made available to me by (Mrs.) Anna Abajian (ne'e Kusajukian) of Water-
town, Massachusetts. Also, an interview with Mrs. Lousaper Sarmanian (n6e
Kousajukian), 20 November 1972, in Watertown, Massachusetts.
9. Avedis Seferian to Kerr, 30 September, 17 October, 4 November 1968;
also an interview widi Mr. Seferian, 19 September 1968, in Watertown, Mas-
sachusetts.
10. Ahmet Hulki Saral, Turk Istikldl Harbi, 4:93.
11. Mabel Evelyn Elliott, Beginning Again at Ararat, p. 108.
12. Kerr to his parents, 4 February 1920.
13. Correspondence of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions, "Western Turkey: ig2O-August 1924," vol. 4, Documents 18 and 21,
Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
288 : N O T E S

18. Places of Defense and Refuge

1. Diary of Frances Buckley.
2. Ibid.
3. Ahmet Hulki Saral, Turk Istikldl Harbi, 4:91.
4. Diary of Frances Buckley.
5. Ibid.
6. C. Thibault, Historique du 412" regiment d'infanterie, p. 145. Thibault
states that the First Company (Captain Kalb) and the Sixth Company (Cap-
tain Martinet) of the 4i2th Regiment were quartered in the First Church.
7. Abraham Hartunian, Neither to Laugh Nor to Weep, p. 144.
8. Diary of Frances Buckley.
9. Thibault states that the troops quartered in the Franciscan Monastery
included the Second Company of the 4i2th Regiment, a company of Algerian
sharpshooters, and a company of Armenian legionnaires. These were com-
manded by Captain Benedetti, Lieutenant van Coppanole, and Second
Lieutenant Froiedeval of the First Machine Gun Company, 412th Regiment
(Historique du <fi2e regiment d'infanterie, pp. 235; 245).
10. Makrouhi Der Ohannesian (nde Der Vartanian), unpublished manu-
script, p. 14.
11. Mabel Evelyn Elliott, Beginning Again at Ararat, passim.
12. Materne Mur£, "Le massacre de Marache (FeVrier 1920): Un Episode
de la Trage'die Arm^nienne," Flambeau, pp. 14-15; Der Ohannesian, un-
published manuscript, p. 15.
13. Mur£, "Le massacre de Marache (Fevrier 1920)," p. 14.
14. Der Ohannesian, unpublished manuscript, p. 15.
15. Mur6, "Le Massacre de Marache (FeVrier 1920)," pp. 14-15.
16. Setrak Kherlakian, unpublished manuscript written in Aleppo, 1921.
Pages 52-57 of an English translation were made available to me by (Mrs.)
Victoire Souadjian (n£e Kherlakian, Setrak's daughter); also an interview
with Mrs. Souadjian and her mother, Mrs. Setrak Kherlakian, 12 March 1969,
in Los Angeles, California.
17. Avedis Arpiarian, in Jean Naslian, ed., Les memoires de Mgr. Jean
Naslian, 2:259-61; Pascal Maljian, ibid., 2:277-78; also an interview with
Rev. Pascal Maljian, 10 February 1970, in New York City.
18. Khoren A. Ajemian, Echer Gamawori Orakres [Pages from a volunteer's
diary], pp. 284-85.
19. Ibid., p. 288.
20. Ibid., p. 289.
 NOTES : 289

19. Mediation 8c a Military Reversal

1. C. Thibault, Historique du 412* regiment d'infanterie, p. 246.
2. du V£ou, La Passion de la Cilicie, p. 116.
3. Ibid., 119.
4. Ibid., p. 117.
5. Raphael Kherlakian, in Jean Naslian, ed., Les mSmoires de Mgr. Jean
Naslian, 2:282.
6. Robert Normand, Colonnes dans le Levant, pp. 7-27.
7. du V^ou, La Passion de la Cilicie, p. 120.
8. Normand, Colonnes dan le Levant, p. 29.
g. Ibid., p. 32 fn.
10. Ibid., pp. 30-35.
11. Ibid., p. 39.
12. Interview with Movses Der Kaloustian, May 1964, in Beirut, Lebanon.
13. Normand, Colonnes dans le Levant, pp. 35-38.
14. Thibault, Historique du ^fi2e regiment d'infanterie, p. 247.
15. Normand, Colonnes dans le Levant, p. 39.
16. Ibid., p. 39.

20. Corneloup's Withdrawal

1. The date of this evacuation is not clear. Colonel Normand's statement
that Corneloup complied with his invitation that same night (Colonnes dans
le Levant, p. 39) could imply that it was on the seventh (the night he first
communicated with Corneloup) or on the eighth (the night he was presenting
a similar request to General Querette). The Reverend Abraham Hartunian
records that he was told of the withdrawal during the night following the
events of 8 February. Lieutenant Colonel Thibault received reports from
excited Armenians on the morning of the ninth but curiously concluded that
the evacuation took place on the night of 9-10! Since news of such import
would travel fast, Thibault's statement confirms that of Hartunian. However,
Normand needed Corneloup's troops to guard his camp and thus liberate all
of his own forces for the offensive which he carried out on the eighth, which
suggests that the evacuation took place on the night of 7-8.
2. Khoren A. Ajemian, Echer Gamawori Orakres [Pages from a volunteer's
diary], 290-92.
3. Ibid., p. 298.
4. Nancy Virginia Austin, "Survival of the Fittest," passim.
5. Abraham Hartunian, Neither to Laugh Nor to Weep, pp. 145-46.
290 : N O T E S

6. Pascal Maljian, in Jean Naslian, ed., Les m&moires de Mgr. Jean Naslian,
2:290.
7. Ibid., p. 278.
8. Ibid.
9. Raphael Kherlakian, in Jean Naslian, ed., Les memoires de Mgr. Jean
Naslian, 2:290.
10. Setrak Kherlakian, unpublished manuscript.
11. Diary of Frances Buckley.
12. Ibid.

21. Betrayal of a Trust

1. Diary of Mrs. Marion Wilson.
2. Mabel Evelyn Elliott, Beginning Again at Ararat, pp. 113-14; Mrs. James
Lyman (ne'e Bessy Hardy) to Kerr, 14 January 1968.
3. Kerr to his parents, 12 February 1920.
4. Robert Normand, Colonnes dans le Levant, p. 40.
5. Diary of Mrs. Marion Wilson.
G.Elliott, Beginning Again at Ararat, p. 116.
7. Ibid., p. 117.
8. C. Thibault, Historique du 4130 regiment d'infanterie, p. 248; Normand,
Colonnes dans le Levant, p. 41.
9. Thibault, Historique du 412* regiment d'infanterie, p. 41.
10. Kerr to his parents, 12 February 1920.

22. Victory for the Nationalists

1. Materne Mure1, "Le massacre de Marache (FeVrier 1920): Un Episode de
la Trage'die Arme'nienne, Flambeau, p. 15.
2. Khoren A. Ajemian, Echer Gamawori Orakres [Pages from a volunteer's
diary], p. 298.
3. Nishan Saatjian, in Kersam Aharonian, ed., Hushamadian Medz Egherni
[Memorial Book of Armenian Martyrdom], pp. 830-40.
4. Diary of Miss Frances Buckley.
5. Ibid.
6. Interview with (Mrs.) Nevart Haydostian (ne'e De'yermenjian), 16 Sep-
tember 1969, in Belmont, Massachusetts.
7. Diary of Mrs. Marion C. Wilson.
8. Ahmed Yoriir (of Marash) to Kerr, 18 October 1968.
9. Mur£, "Le massacre de Marache," pp. 17-18.
10. Of the captains mentioned by Thibault in various parts of his Histo-
 NOTES : 29i

rique du 412* regiment d'infanterie, only four remained: Fontaine, Bon-

nouvrier, Delmas, and Benedetti.
11. Robert Normand, Colonnes dans le Levant, p. 42.
12. Diary of Mrs. Marion C. Wilson.
13. Mur£, "Le massacre de Marache," pp. 18-19.
14. Interview with Dr. Artin Inglizian, 12 March 1969, in Hollywood,
California.
15. Interview with (Mrs.) Armine-Berberian (nde Armenovhi Poladian),
18 June 1970, in Loudonville, New York.
16. Makrouhi Der Ohannesian (nee Der Vartarian), unpublished manu-
script; also an interview with Mrs. Der Ohannesian, 19 June 1970, in Albany,
New York.
17. Abraham Hartunian, Neither to Laugh Nor to Weep, p. 144.
18. The story of this final slaughter has been pieced together from the
fragments available in the following: Hartunian, Neither to Laugh Nor to
Weep, p. 147; Raphael Kherlakian, in Jean Naslian, ed., Les memoires de
Mgr. Jean Naslian, 2:292; Mure1, "Le massacre de Marache," p. 17; Haroutune
Der Ghazarian, "Giligean Namagani. Giligean Tepk'erS Garewor Vawer-
krowtciwn Me" [Mail from Cilicia: the Cilician events, an important Docu-
ment] Bahag (Boston), 5 and 12 June 1920 (reprinted in Krikor H. Ka-
loustian, ed., Marash, pp. 813-18); also a verbal account given to me by (Mrs.)
Leah Asbed (ne'e Marashlian) who was imprisoned with Haigouhi Der Gha-
zarian, the sister of Dr. Haroutune Der Ghazarian.
19. Interview with (Mrs.) Victoire Souadjian (n£e Kherlakian) and her
mother, Mrs. Setrak Kherlakian, 12 March 1969, in Los Angeles, California.

23. A Precarious Peace

1. Kerr to his parents, 12 February 1920.
2. Diary of Mrs. Marion C. Wilson; Mrs. James Lyman (ne'e Bessie Hardy)
to Kerr, 14 January 1968; also an interview with Mrs. Lyman, September
1969, in Munsonville, New Hampshire.
3. Abraham Hartunian, Neither to Laugh Nor to Weep, p. 138.
4. Setrak Kherlakian, unpublished manuscript.
5. Raphael Kherlakian, in Jean Naslian, ed., Les memoires de Mgr. Jean
Naslian, 2:293.
6. Diary of Mrs. Marion C. Wilson.
7. Mrs. James Lyman to Kerr, 14 January 1968.
8. Levon Yenovkian to Kerr, 28 February and 4 October 1969.
9. Interview with Mr. Joseph (Hovsep) Chorbajian, March and 27 April
1970, in New York City.
 : NOTES

24. The Retreat to Islahiye

1. Robert Normand, Colonnes dans le Levant, p. 43.
2. Mabel Evelyn Elliott, Beginning Again at Ararat, pp. 118-19.
3. Diary of Marion C. Wilson.
4. Normand, Colonnes dans le Levant, pp. 43-44.
5. Interview with Mr. Daniel Akullian, 12 May 1969, in Albany, New York.
6. Elliott, Beginning Again at Ararat, p. isi.
7. Normand, Colonnes dans le Levant, p. 46.
8. Interview with (Mrs.) Nevart Haydostian (n£e Deyermenjian), 16 Sep-
tember 1969, in Bedford, Massachusetts.
9. Materne Mur6, "Le massacre de Marache (FeVrier 1920): Un Episode
de la Tragddie Arme'nienne," Flambeau, p. 15.
10. Makrouhi Der Ohannesian, unpublished manuscript; also an interview
with Mrs. Der Ohannesian, 19 June 1970, in Albany, New York.
11. Normand, Colonnes dans le Levant, p. 48.
12. C. Thibault, Historique du 412" regiment d'infanterie, pp. 250-51.
13. Elliott, Beginning Again at Ararat, p. 123.
14. Der Ohannesian, unpublished manuscript.
15. Jean Naslian, in Jean Naslian, ed., Les memoires de Mgr. Jean Naslian,
2:273-80.
16. Paul du Ve'ou, La Passion de la Cilicie, p. 138.
17. C. F. H. Crathern to Major Arnold, 12 February 1920, "Reports from
Personnel in the Near East," YMCA Headquarters, New York City.
18. Elliott, Beginning Again at Ararat, p. 136.

25. The French Evacuation

1. Edouard Br&nond, La Cilicie en 1919-1920, p. 340.
2. Aram Tourabian, ed., "La lettre du General Bre'mond au sujet de 'L'eter-
nelle victime de la diplomatic Europe"ene,'" in Massacres Varia (Marseilles:
Imprimerie Nouvelle, 1929), booklet 4, pp. 1-4.
3. Robert Normand, Colonnes dans le Levant, p. 39.
4. C. Thibault, Historique du 412* regiment d'infanterie, p. 248.
5. Ibid., pp. 247-48.
6. Bre'mond, La Cilicie en 1919-1920, p. 341.
7. Thibault, Historique du jitf regiment d'infanterie, p. 252.
8. Normand, Colonnes dans le Levant, p. 48.
9. Krikor Ajemian, in Krikor H. Kaloustian, ed., Marash, pp. 818-22.
10. Ahmet Hulki Saral, Turk Istikldl Harbi, 4:97.
 N O T E S : 293

11. Robert A. Lambert to Major Nicol, 11 March 1920, "Western Turkey,

igzo-August 1924," American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions,
vol. 4, Document 91, Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
iz. Diary of Mrs. Marion Wilson.
13. Materne Mure1, "Le massacre de Marache (Fdvrier 1920): Un Episode
de la Trage'die Arme'nienne," Flambeau, p. 15.
14. Kerr to his parents, 7 March 1920.
15. Krikor H. Kaloustian, in Kaloustian, ed., Marash, pp. 773-80; 813-18.

26. Restoration of Order

1. Setrak Kherlakian, unpublished manuscript.
2. Raphael Kherlakian, in Jean Naslian, ed., Les mSmoires de Mgr. Jean
Naslian, 2:295.
3. Ahmet Hulki Saral, Turk Istikldl Harbi, 4:97.
4. Robert A. Lambert to Major Nicol, 11 March 1920, "Western Turkey,
1920-August 1924," American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions,
vol. 4, Document 91, Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
5. James Perry to his mother and wife, "Reports from Personnel in the
Near East," YMCA Headquarters, New York City.
6. John H. Boyd (of Aintab) to Robert A. Lambert, ibid.
7. Dicran A. Berberian to Kerr, 28 July 1969.
S.Robert A. Lambert to Major Nicol, 11 March 1920, "Western Turkey,
i92o-August 1924," American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions,
vol. 4, Document 91, Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
9. Ibid.

28. The Conflicts at Urfa and Aintab

1. Paul du V6ou, La Passion de la Cilicie, p. 351, Annex 2.
2. Ibid., p. 353, Annex 2. This suggests that he had already established his
base at Pazarjik between Aintab and Marash. On 24 December 1919 the com-
mander of the Third Army Corps requested the transfer of certain officers
from the Fifth and Fifteenth Divisions to assist the Turkish volunteers of
Marash in {heir organization. Undoubtedly Kuluj Ali was one of these
(Ahmet Hulki Saral, Turk Istikldl Harbi, 4:77).
3. du Vtou, La Passion de la Cilicie, pp. 179-87.
4. Ibid., p. 121.
2 Q 4 •' N O T E S

5. Robert Normand, Colonnes dans le Levant, pp. 49-81.

6. Ibid., p. 8a.
7. du Vdou, La Passion de la Cilicie, pp. 121; 192.
8. Normand, Colonnes dans le Levant, pp. 83-84.
9. du Ve"ou, La Passion de la Cilicie, p. 185. It is unlikely that AH Saib
would have informed the gendarme commander that he and his men rather
than the Turkish notables were to be sacrificed, if indeed he had planned to
destroy the French. Lt. Eumer Izzet was later transferred to Marash, where he
commanded the guard at the Armenian Catholic Church. His handling of this
assignment earned the commendation of Raphael Kherlakian (in Jean Nas-
lian, ed., Les memoires de Mgr. Jean Naslian, 2:293-94).
10. du Vtou, La Passion de la Cilicie, p. 185.
11. Ibid., pp. 185-87.
12. Ali Saib to Mustafa Kemal Pasha, in du Ve"ou, La Passion de la Cilicie,
p. 379, Annex 4, Document 52.
13. Robert A. Lambert, "In Urfa," in The New Near East (New York: Near
East Relief), 5:9-11.
14. Robert A. Lambert to Major J. Nicol, 21 April 1920, in "Western
Turkey, ig2o-August 1924," American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions, vol. 4, Document 81, Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cam-
bridge, Massachusetts.
15. M. Abadie, Operations au Levant, pp. 45-46.
16. Abraham Hartunian, Neither to Laugh Nor to Weep, 153-57; Kerr to
his parents, 18 April 1920.

29. Muslim-Christian Encounters

1. This may have been Kuluj Ali's interpretation of the withdrawal of
Colonel Normand's regiment which had reached Aintab on 17 April and,
after twelve days of ordinary blockade duty, had departed not because of de-
feat but under orders to move toward Urfa (Robert Normand, Colonnes dans
le Levant, p. 94).
2. Kerr to his parents, 13 May 1920.
3. Lord Kinross, Ataturk, p. 487.
4. Kerr to his parents, 18 April 1920.
5. Paul du Ve"ou, La Passion de la Cilicie, pp. 142-43.
6. Robert A. Lambert to Major Nicol, 9 March 1920, in "Western Turkey,
ig2o-August 1924," American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions,
vol. 4., Document 91, Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
7. Kerr to his parents, 23 April 1920.
8. Ibid.
 N O T E S : 295

30. The Hazards of Travel in Turkey

1. Kerr to his parents, 25 June 1920.
2. Ibid., 18 June 1920.
3. Nearly all NER personnel who had been recruited from the United States
Army continued to wear their uniforms. The army insignia were replaced by
the shoulder emblem of our organization, a white star encircled by the letters
ACRNE, which represented the American Committee for Relief in the Near
East. On the eve of embarkation from New York, an order was issued that we
should change to civilian clothes; but this was ignored, because the time for
compliance was too short.
4. Kerr to his parents, 21 July 1920.

31. The End of Zeitun

1. Abraham Hartunian, Neither to Laugh Nor to Weep, pp. 151-52.
2. Raphael Kherlakian, in Jean Naslian, ed., Les mdmoires de Mgr. Jean
Naslian, 2:298.
3. Ibid., pp. 299-307.
4. Hartunian, Neither to Laugh Nor to Weep, p. 174.
5. Ibid., pp. 169-71.
G.Ahmed Hulki Saral, Turk Istikldl Harbi, 4:99-101 (this section presents
the official Turkish account of the events at Zeitun).

32. The Accords of London and Ankara

1. Paul du Ve'ou, La Passion de La Cilicie, pp. 287-89.
2. Ibid., 294.
3. Eliot Grinnel Mears, ed., Modern Turkey, pp. 615-16.
4. du Ve'ou, La Passion de la Cilicie, pp. 303-19.
5. Ibid., p. 310.
6. Ibid., p. 312.

33. Life under the Nationalist Regime

1. Edith Cold, in Bryce, The Treatment of Armenians, Document 127.
2. Edith Cold, from a report sent to various friends, 3 September 1921;
Kerr to his parents, 13 November 1921.
296 : NOTES

3. Abraham Hartunian, Neither to Laugh Nor to Weep, pp. 159-62.

4. Raphael Kherlakian, in Jean Naslian, ed., Les memoires de Mgr. Jean
Naslian, 2:396-97.
5. Hartunian, Neither to Laugh Nor to Weep, p. 162.
6. Ibid., pp. 163-66.
7. Kherlakian, in Naslian, ed., Les memoires de Mgr. Jean Naslian, 2:297.
8. Interview with (Mrs.) Leah Asbed (ne'e Marashlian), 16 September 1969,
in Bedford, Massachusetts.

34. The Final Exodus

1. Paul du V6ou, La Passion de la Cilicie, Annex 10, Articles 5 and 6.
2. Ibid., Annexes 18 and 20.
3. Ibid., Annex 13.
4. Bayard Dodge to Kerr, 18 January 1972.
5. du V£ou, p. 327.
6. Sirvart Poladian to Dicran Berberian (her brother-in-law), 8 May 1970.
7. Interview with (Mrs.) Haigouhi Boole (ne'e Magarian), 21 November
1971, Waltham, Massachusetts.
8. Interview with (Mrs.) Victoire Souadjian (ne'e Kherlakian) and her
mother, Mrs. Setrak Kherlakian, 12 March 1969, in Los Angeles, California.
9. Avedis Arpiarian, in Jean Naslian, ed., Les memoires de Mgr. Jean
Naslian, 2:268-69.
10. du Ve"ou, La Passion de la Cilicie, Annex 18.
11. Raphael Kherlakian, in Jean Naslian, ed., Les memoires de Mgr. Jean
Naslian, 2:262-73.
12. Avedis Arpiarian, ibid., 2:267-72.
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 INDEX

Abadie, Lt. Col. M., commander at 238; visited by Dr. Lambert, 227
Aintab, 62 Aintabli-oghlou Ahmed, intermediary
Abdul Hamid II, sultan of Ottoman for Armenians of Marash, 253;
Empire: exiled, 8; treatment of protects exiles in Aleppo, 253
minorities, 4; yields to Young Ajemian, Krikor (later Reverend
Turks, 7 Khoren), sergeant of Armenian
Accord: Ankara, 235, 236, 237, 247, legionnaires at First Evangelical
254 Church, 141, 152; in Bedesten,
London, 235 140, 164; on the burning of
Sykes-Picot, 30, 37, 236 Church of Asdvadsadzin, 123; on
Acorne orphanage, Marash, 75 events at Fundijak, 104
Adamian, Ghazaros, 124 Akhyr Dagh, mountain north of Ma-
Adana, capital of province, 19; mas- rash, 73, 76, 150; Zeitunlis camp
sacre of 1909, 7; NER station, 18, on, 233
192, 195; under administration of Ak Su (White River), tributary of
Bremond, 34 Djihan river, 35, 72, 89, 93, 140,
Aghazarian, Stepan, defender of Ar- 147, 173, 187, 227, 239
menian Catholic Church, 139 Akullian, Daniel (son of Garabed of
Ain Arous (Bride's Fountain), resi- Don Kale"), 86, 187
dence of Hatchem Bey, 215 Ala-eddin Bey, Circassian physician at
Ainslie, Kate, American missionary in German Hospital, 211
Marash, 76, 160, 223 Alashkert-Bayazid, plain of, massacre
Aintab, British occupation of, 35, of Muslims, 12
73; conflict with French, 219-20, Albustan, town in Marash district, 67,
224; occupation by French, 54; 117-18
passim, 81, 88, 140, 162, 202, Aleppo, demonstrations for self-rule,
203; peace commission from Ma- 52; deportation center at, 15;
rash, 219-20; visited by author, French forces attack, 228; NER
302 INDEX

Aleppo (continued) Andrea, Lt. Col., on mission to Urfa,

headquarters for Cilicia, 38, 41- 216, 218, 219
43; relief work in, 28-29, 48'43' Andreasian, Rev. Dikran, pastor at
48-49 Zeitun, 16
Ali Cesar, Dervish leader, Marash, An£z6 tribe of Arabs. 214, 215
suggests massacre, 225 Anglo-French-Russian agreement,
Ali Saib, deputy from Urfa to Na- London 1916. See Sykes-Picot Ac-
tional Congress, 144, 214, 217, cord.
219 Ankara Accord: British protest viola-
Allenby, Gen. Sir Edmund, defeats tions of Sykes-Picot Accord, 237;
Turks in Palestine, 31; military distrust of by Armenians of Cili-
governor, 33; passim, 53, 54 cia, 238; France negotiates se-
Al Mali bridge, scene of killing of cretly with Kemalists, 236; Ma-
YMCA men, 204 rash Turks violate the Accord,
Altounian, Dr. Aram Asadour, physi- 247; Nationalist Assembly rejects
cian in Aleppo, 29 proposals made at London, 235
Altounian, Nora, 29 Arab Punar, station on railway south
Ambush of French supply columns, of Urfa, 216, 217, 218
82, 88-91, 92-94 Araplar, village near Bel Pounar, 82
American Board of Foreign Missions, Arara, Heights of, near Nablus, en-
18, 28, 73. See also American gagement of Legion d'Orient
Mission, Marash against Ottoman forces, 31
American Committee for Relief in Archer, Col. W. G., acting secretary
the Near East (ACRNE), later of YMCA, Aleppo, with Bryan
known as Near East Relief of NER attempts recovery of
(NER), 75 bodies of Perry and Johnson, 205
American Mission, Marash (Ameri- Arlabose, Capt., French military sur-
can Board of Foreign Missions); geon for Senegalese infantrymen,
infirmary for orphans, see Chil- 161, 166, 127
drens' Hospital; Marash College Armenagon, See Armenian political
for Girls, see Girls' College; Ma- organizations
rash Theological Seminary, see Armenians: Christmas, 86-87, 86 n.2;
Theological Seminary; personnel, deportation plans for, 15, 30;
73, 76, 160, 223, 238; place of ref- independence of, 37, 39, 252;
uge, 90, 114, 157, 225, 233; prop- massacres of, see Massacre; popu-
erty, 73, 76; protected by Nation- lation statistics, 48-51, 195-96,
alists, 199; under attack, 109-63 258; property, confiscation of,
American Red Cross, in Aleppo, 42; 251; repatriation of, 36; women
in Beirut, xi and children, recovery of, 43-48
Andonian, Aram, co-publisher with Armenian Academy of Sciences, in
Nairn Sefa Bey of official orders Erivan, 50
for deportation, 15 Armenian Legion: assignments in
Andr6, Capt., governor of Jebel Bere- Cilicia, 33; conflict with Turks at
ket, 34, 255; in Marash, 70, 72, Sarilar, 80; enters Marash, 62; in
78, 109 Bedesten, 143; in Bel Pounar
 INDEX : oao

convoy, 19-94, 147; in defense ofBarracks, Turkish military, in Ma-

Marash barracks, 111-12, 170; in rash, 149, 161, 162, 165, 170;
First Evangelical Church, 135; in burning of, 171, 176
Karasoun Mangantz, 164; in re- Bartholomeu, Archimandrake of Zei-
treat to Islahiye1, 165-66; in Thi- tun, veteran of 1895 battle with
bault's column, 81; losses in Ma- Turks, 333
rash campaign, 195; separation Barton, Dr. James L., foreign secre-
from Legion d'Orient, 33; wor- tary, American Board of Commis-
ship in Marash, 87. See also Le- sioners for Foreign Missions, 129
gion d'Orient. Bayazid Sade Shukri, Kurdish leader
Armenian National Union, members in Marash, 70, 71, 122
imprisoned, 241, 242 Bayi Zadi, Imam of Marash, 83
Armenian political organizations: Ar-Bayur, Yusuf Hikmet, Turkish his-
menagon, 6; Dashnaktsutiun, 6, torian, Armenian losses, 50-51
7, 10; Hunchak, 6, 69; Ramkavar, Bechlian, Dr., Armenian physician at
6; Reformed Hunchak, 6 Urfa, 217, 219
Arnold, Maj. Davis G., NER person- Bederian, Minos, Marash Rescue
nel director in Anatolia, 129 Home employee, 135
Arpiarian, Bishop Avedis, head of Bedesten, covered market in Marash,
Armenian Catholics in Marash, i*5' l$1> ! 39-42. 152, 194
61, 90, 139, 154, 172, 199 Beirut, French entry in 1918, 31
Arslan Bey, Marash chief of police, Beitshalom, Boys' Orphanage, in Ma-
95; chairman of Committee for rash: built by German Hilfs-
Defense of Rights, 98-99; leader bund, 74; events at end of siege,
of Marash Nationalists, 178, 180, 180, 181, 201, 206; French troops
199, 220, 223 quartered in, 102, 149, 156; pas-
Asdvadsadzin, Apostolic Church. See sim, 114, 122, 227; refuge for Ar-
Church of Asdvadsadzin menians, 97, 129, 131-33; requisi-
Ashirets, Kurdish, 4 tioned by Turks, 243
Ata Bey, mutasarrif of Marash, 71 Beka's Plain, Syria, 146
Alt Ichi Plain, below Marash, 148 Bektoutiy£ Quarter, Marash, 98, 120
Augsburger, Chris, NER transport Bell, Dr. H. W., NER physician, 212,
officer, 228, 229 213, 224
Bel Pounar, French supply base:
Bab, Arab town north-east of Aleppo, Dufieux establishes depot at, 92;
218; Armenian exiles in, 24; re- Fontaine loads munitions for
covery of Armenian women and Marash, 88; French columns con-
children at, 44, 45, 47-48 verge on, 81-82; Gen. Querette
Bababurunu, Turkish village between attempts to draw on, 92-94; Ma-
Islahiyd and Marash, 147 rash refugees camp at, 187-89;
Badveli Abraham. See Hartunian, Normand at, searches for Fon-
Rev. Abraham taine, 147
Baghdikian, Rev. Aram, chairman of Benedetti, Capt., commander of
Armenian National Union in French detachment in Francis-
Marash, 38, 61 can Monastery, 136, 137, 164, 171
 : INDEX

Berberian, Abraham Hoja, 114-15, marriage of Helene and Raphael

123; Dicran, son of Abraham Kherlakian in, go; vacated for
Hoja, 114-17, 206, 210-11; Har- safer refuge, 173-74
outune, son of Abraham Hoja, Bouvet, Maj., in French force for re-
US- 137 lief of Marash, 147
Bernard, Aspirant, 132; killed at Boycott, by Turkish merchants, 201
Beitshalom, 133 Bremond, Col. Edouard, administra-
Bernard, Maj., commander of Ninth tive head for the North Zone, 34,
battalion of 22nd Algerian In- 35, 36, 61, 70, 78, 192, 193, 195
fantry, 149, 159, 183, 186, 191 Briand, Aristide, French Foreign
Bernau, Auguste, German employee Minister: accepts offer of Ar-
of Consul J. B. Jackson, report menian troops, 30, 37; cedes ter-
on condition of exiles along Eu- ritory to British, 53; negotiates
phrates River, 26, 272-74 secretly with Kemalists, 236; re-
Bertiz, village in District of Marash, ceives Armenian patriarch's pro-
117 tests of French withdrawal, 235;
Besh Goz ("Five Springs"), village violates the Sykes-Picot Accord,
south of Aintab, 204-5, 229 237
Bethel Girls' Orphanage in Marash, Bristol, Rear Admiral Mark L., Amer-
74, 165, 186, 187 ican High Commissioner in Con-
Beulah Girls' Orphanage, Marash, stantinople, 129, 208
107,115 British occupation of Marash, 35
Bilezikjian, Garabed Agha, 157, 158, Buckley, Frances, American Red
159 Cross nurse, directress of Beit-
Bilezikjian, Nazaret, 159 shalom Orphanage, 74, 113, 131-
Birejik, city on the Euphrates River 33, 156, 165, 180, 206, 223; leaves
north of Jerablus, 215, 216 Marash, 227
Blakely, Ellen, head of Marash Girls' Bulbulian, Theodore, volunteer in
College, 76, 107-9, 112, 160, 168, hospital, 168; trip to Goksun,
172; leaves Marash, 237 226-27; passim, 243
Bliss, Howard, President of Syrian
Protestant College, suggests for- Caix, See Sainte-Aymour, Gen.
mation of the King-Crane Com- Carchemish, ancient Hittite capital,
mission, 37 n.i5 218
Boghaz Kesan (throat cutting) a street Chambers, Rev. W. Nesbitt, mission-
in Marash, 121, 123 ary in Adana, 38; memorandum
Boissy, 2nd Lt., commander of ma- on Marash disturbances, 255-58
chine gun sections at Beitshalom, Cholakian, Aram and brother, leaders
no, 131-32 of Zeitunlis in events of 1915, 18,
Bonnouvrier, captain of tenth com- 20; in last days of Zeitun, 231-34;
pany, 4i2th regiment, 150 sister of, 233
Bostanji, Rev. Karalambos, Greek Children's Hospital in Marash, 76,
pastor executed at Marash, 21 107, 157, 167, 169
Boulgourjian Hill (Joseph Kherla- Chorbajian family of Marash, 123:
kian's house): defense of, 119; Hovsep (Joseph), 123, 184; Ste-
 INDEX 3°5

pan, pharmacist, 75, 180, 210-11, Church of Saint Sarkis, 122, 130
243 Church of Saint Stephen, 102, 120,
Christensen, Albert, director of Ma- 122-23, 13°
rash NER in fall of 1920, 240 Church, Second Evangelical, 125, 153,
Chudare Zad6 Mohammed, restrains 207
Turks from massacre, 225 Church, Third Evangelical, 207
Church, Armenian Catholic (Sourp Cilicia: administered by Bremond,
Purgitch): activities and location, 34; claims for, 39-40; exchange of
138-39; defenders of, 139, 156, troops, 54-57; occupation by Brit-
200; French troops quartered in, ish, 33; occupation by French,
79, 138; haven for Armenians, 52, 53- 54
129, 138-39, 174, 206; secret with- Clemenceau, Georges, French pre-
drawal of French from, 154-55, mier, 53, 54, 56
194; surrender of arms, 200; Tur- Cold, Edith, American Board Mis-
kish nationalists confer with sionary in Hadjin and Marash,
leaders, 199 238, 239
Church of Asdvadsadzin: Christmas Committee for the Defense of Rights,
service, 87; defended by Ar- 67. 83> 98-99. !99. 253
menian legionnaires, 123-24; or- Coppanole, Lt. of French forces
phans immolated, 123; sacked by at Franciscan Monastery, 115-16,
Turks, 123-24, 125, 130; visit by 137, 166, 191
Shepard and Lambert, 207 Corneloup, Maj. of i7th Senegalese
Church, First Evangelical: haven Regiment, 80, 81, 120, 130, 140;
for refugees, 129, 134-35; legion- withdrawal from Marash, 148,
naires establish communications, 151. !52-56. l62- l64> !93. *94:
141; negotiations with Kemalists, date of withdrawal, 152, n,i
199; occupation by British, 36; Counarai, Lt., 89-90, no
occupation by French, 119, 130; Crane, Charles, member of Wilson's
secret withdrawal of French, 152, Commission of Inquiry, 38, 40
153~54> 173' 1 94> visit by Lambert Crathern, C. F. H., American YMCA
and Shepard, 199 secretary, 74, 89-90, 96, 106, 113,
Church of Forty Sainted Youths '43. '57. l6°. l67. ig^ga. 2°3>
(Karasoun Mangantz): death of 204
Major Marty, no, 124; origin Crawford, Gen., British commander
of name, 92 n., quarters for Al- at Marash, 61, 117
gerian and Senegalese troops, Cuthhroat Lane, See Boghaz Kesan
140; shelter for refugees, 120,
153; visit by Lambert and Shep-
ard, 206; withdrawal of French, Damad Mahmoud Pasha, 6
!94 Damadian, Mihran, 61
Church, Latin Catholic, See Francis- Dayi Zad6 Hoja of Marash, berates
can Monastery Christian leaders, 242, 256
Church of Saint George; burned, ioa, Dashnaktsutiun. See Armenian politi-
104, no, 123; refugees killed, cal organizations
101-1, 130 Dedi Pasha house, 106
306 : I N D E X

Deir-ez-Zor on Euphrates River, ter- Dingilian, Anna and children, 209

minus for Armenian exiles, 29, Divanli quarter, Marash, 131
44, 272-74 Djihan River, crossing between Zei-
Deputy Police Commissioner, Marash, tun and Marash, 233
testifies in court for author, 243 Dr. Artin, See Dr. Haroutune Der
Der Arsen Der Hovanessian of Ar- Ghazarian
menian Apostolic Church in Ma- Dodd, Dr. William S., American phy-
rash, 20 sician at Adana, 18; reports con-
Der Ghazarian, Haigouhi, (sister of dition of exiles, 24; aids survivors
Dr. Haroutune Der Ghazarian, of flight to Islahiy^, 192; reports
174 number of survivors, 195-96
Der Ghazarian, Dr. Haroutune (Dr. Dodge, Bayard, in headquarters office
Artin), surgeon at German Hos- of NER, Beirut, negotiates trans-
pital, 21, 75, 104-5, 122, 156, fer of orphans from Cilicia to
174, 184; at American Hospital Lebanon, 247
in Adana, 192 Dorizas, Mike, interpreter for King-
Derindj£, NER supply base, 41-42; Crane Commission, 38
freight terminus of Baghdad rail- Don-Kal£, village in district of Ma-
way, 41 rash, 86, 187
Der Kaloustian, Movses, Adjutant of Dougherty, Minnie, of Marash NER,
Armenian legionnaires in Ma- 75, 160
rash, 149 Doumaine, 2nd Lt. of Corneloup's
Der Ohannesian, Arsen, 120, 173-73, i7th Senegalese, 150
188-90 Dufieux, Gen. Julien, commander
Der Ohannesian, Mrs. Makrouhi (n^e of "Blue Horizon" (i56th) Di-
Der Vartanian), wife of Arsen, vision of African troops: assigned
120, 172-73, 188-90 to command French forces in
Der Sahag Der Bedrossian, Armenian Cilicia, 54, 78; amazed at retreat
Apostolic priest in Marash, 20, from Marash, 193; harassed by
199, 242 Turkish chdt£, 80; his orders mis-
Der Vartanian, Hovsep, historian and quoted by Normand, 150, 157;
Beitshalom teacher, brother of notified of Marash uprising, 100;
Mrs. Makrouhi Der Ohannesian, notifies Querette 412th regiment
98, 122 needed at Urfa, 90; orders Que-
Der Vartanian, Khatchig, 120 rette to transfer headquarters to
Der£ Keoy, village in district of Ma- Marash, 81; orders occupation of
rash, 18 Marash, 61; receives order to
Desert Mounted Corps, Emir Feisal's, place Eastern Territory under
230 French control, 69; requests re-
Deyermenjian, Haroutune, Armenian inforcements for re-occupation of
legionnaire, killed, 137 Marash, 222; reviews Bernard's
Deyermenjian, Nevart (Mrs. Samuel battalion at Islahiye', 191; sends
Haydostian), 165-66, 187-88 reinforcements to Marash, 146
Diarbekir, destination for the last Dumaine, 2nd Lt. of Corneloup's bat-
Zeitunlis, 234 talion, 148
 I N D E X : 307

Dunaway, John, organizes recovery of 52, 215; under attack by French

Armenian women and children, at Aleppo, 228, 229-30
43-48 Ferish Pasha Ravine, site of massacre
Du Veou, Paul, French historian, 53, of Urfa garrison, 217-18
54, 145, 215, 216, 219, 236 Finch, Lt., Spahi commander, escorts
convoy from Aintab, 89-90; killed
Ebber Hanum, Turkish nurse at in action, 91, no
German Hospital, 210, 211 First Evangelical Church, Marash, See
Ebenezer Boys' Orphanage, Marash, Church, First Evangelical
74-75» 96> US' l66 Flag incident, Marash, 70-71, 256
Edib, Halide Hanum, Turkish fem- Foch, Field Marshal, 53-54, 145
inist, 26 Fontaine, Capt., of Armenian legion-
Eliza, killed in the Wilson house, 177 naires, 91-94, 147, 62 n.3; guards
Elliott, Dr. Mabel E., NER physician convoy from Bel Punar, 91-94, 147
in charge of the German Hos- Fouquet, Capt. de, 5th company of
pital, 75, 128, 163; passim, 143, 4i2th infantry, commands first
192, 211, 158-59; under Turkish French detachment to enter Ma-
fire, 97; withdraws to Islahiye, rash, 62; transferred to Aintab,
160-61, 166, 186-87, l89. I9l~9s 78
El Oghlou, village south of Marash, Franciscan Monastery: conditions at
80, 81, 82, 88, 93, 140, 141, 148, end of siege, 179, 180; descrip-
173, 187 tion of, 129, 136; fortification
Emergency Hospital, See Children's and defense of, 136, 137, 140;
Hospital place of refuge, 137, 180; refu-
Emin, Ahmed, See Yalman, Ahmed gees follow retreating French,
Emin 170, 172; withdrawal of French,
Enver Pasha, Ottoman Minister of 164, 167
War, 9, 69; defeat at Sarikamish, Franklin-Bouillon, Henri, Briand's
12; leads coup d'Etat in 1912, 8; emissary to the Kemalists, 236;
opposes American aid to Ar- proclamation of Ankara Accord,
menians, 28 247, 253
Eskishehir, threatened by Greek French garrison at Urfa, 214-19. See
force, 231 also Urfa
Essad Bey, chief of Nationalist bands French occupation of Marash, 61-64,
(ch^te) north of Aintab, 208 255-57; quarters in Marash, 134
Euphrates River, condition of Ar- n.6, 136 n.g. See also Marash
menian exiles along, 272-74 Froideval, Lt. of the 4i2th infantry,
Evliy6 Efendi, Turkish Nationalist at Franciscan Monastery, no;
leader in Marash, 69, 100, 125- killed in action, 137
27 Fundijak, village in district of Ma-
Evliye Haji Evliye, Sheikh-ul-Islam, rash, 18; defense of and subjuga-
tion, 19-20; refugees from, 104

Feisal, Emir, leader of Arab armies, Gabalian, Garabed, courier for Gen-
31; ruler of Arab state, 43-44, 47, eral Querette, 184
3 o8 : I N D E X

Gannaway, Dr. Charles, NER physi- rejects help for Armenian evac-
cian in Marash, 240; Mrs. Charles, uation of Cilicia, 237, 247
240; Theodore (son of Charles), Graeber, Chris, NER chauffeur, 44
240 Grand National Assembly at Ankara,
Gates, Caleb, President of Robert rejects terms of London Accord,
College, 39 235-36; approves Ankara Accord,
Gavlak minar£ ("Bare minaret"), 142 237
Gavur Pass, 88
Georges-Picot, French High Commis- Hadidian, Aram, NER employee in
sioner in Syria, 53, 54, 61; nego- Marash, 128
tiator of secret Sykes-Picot Ac- Hadjin, mountain town north of
cord, 30, 37 Adana, relay of message from
German Farm, Marash, 35, 106, 79, Marash, 128-29, so°'- repatriation
117-18 of Armenians, 36
German Hospital, Marash, 73, 75, Haidar Pasha, mutasarrif of Marash,
96-97, 107-109, 112, 116, 130, 136, in campaign against Zeitun, 16
143, 157, 161, 166, 167, 172, 176, Haig, Armenian legionnaire, carries
187; oifered for Turkish wound- message under fire to Franciscan
ed, 179, 184, 209, 210, 211, 221, Monastery, 172
223, 225, 241 Haji Bey, president of Marash mu-
German Orphanage, Marash, see Beit- nicipal council, 95
shalom Boys' Orphanage and Hama, camp of deportees, 26
Bethel Girls' Orphanage Hamdi Efendi, of Marash police
Ghadeyan, Sarkis, leads the defense force, 244-45
of Saint Sarkis Church, 122 Hamid Bey, Turkish Under-secretary
Ghazarian, Haigaz, editor of Haire- of State, announces terms of An-
nik, secured access to Turkish kara Accord, 247, 252
documents, 14 n.2 Hamelin, Gen., commander of the
Gibbons, Henry Adams, correspon- Armenian Legion, 33, 54
dent, report on Adana massacre, Hanifi Efendi, transmits messages be-
7 tween Turks and Americans, 143,
Geddes, Walter, American witness of i58. !59
deportation in progress, 26 Hardy, Bessie (Mrs. James K. Lyman),
Girls' College (Marash Girls' College), American missionary in Marash,
closed, 241; destroyed in 1895, 5; 76, 160, 179, 184, ai2, 223, 228,
passim, 73, 76, 105, 136, 184, 230, 240
827 Hardinge, Lord, British ambassador
Goksun, mountain town north of Ma- to France, protests Briand's viola-
rash, visit by Mr. Lyman, 226-27 tion of Sykes-Picot Accord, 237
Gouraud, Gen. Henri J. E., French Harran, home of Abraham, south of
High Commissioner to Syria, 54; Urfa, 218
commander of French forces in Hartunian, Rev. Abraham, pastor of
the Near East, 69-70, 78, 100, First Evangelical Church, church
144, 145, 146, 193, 215, 220, 236; burned, 154; deceived by French,
 I N D E X : 309

173; deported, 25; interprets at from Marash killed near, 79-80;

author's trial, 243; mediator, 19, French forces for Marash assem-
199, 220; passim, 134, 179, 228; ble at, 87, 146; French retreat to,
protests treatment of Armenians, 186-89, 19l'< Lyman escorts Dr.
241-42; tricked by mutasarrif, 233 Bell from, 211-13; survivors of
Hatchem Bey, leader of An£z6 Arabs, Marash siege flee to, 186-92, 196
214, 215, 216 Ismail Hakki, Marash gendarme
Hauger, Maj., commander of French commander, 95
force at Urfa, 217, 219 Ismail Kemal Bey, mutasarrif of Ma-
Haydostian, Mariam, escapes mas- rash district, 19, 23
sacre at Khatcher house, 111, 112 Italian ship at Mersin£ evacuates Ar-
Hayrulla, Muallim, commander of a menian orphans, 237
Turkish platoon, killed at Ta- Ittihad ve Terrake, Committee of
nish, 80 Union and Progress: formation
Herviou, 2nd Lt. in Normand's relief of, 7; organizer for resistance to
force, killed at Marash, 160 Allies, 35
Hilfsbund, German mission: insti- Izzet, Burner, Turkish lieutenant in
tutions in Marash, 73, 74, 75, command of gendarmes escorting
79; relief work, 24 French from Urfa, 217; 217 n.g
Hill, Miss Justine, bacteriologist in
Aleppo, 43
Hilmi Bey, Turkish physician at Jackson, J. B., American consul in
German Hospital, 211 Aleppo, 15-16, 26, 204, 230
Hittite, capital at Carchemish (Jera- Jadi, village on Turkish frontier
blus), 215, 216, 217; citadel in north of Aintab, 239
Marash, 3, 73; remains at Sakja- Jamal (Ahmed) Pasha, Ottoman Min-
goz, 82; and at Sinjirli, 188, 189, ister of Marine: advice to Ar-
191 menians, 11-12; at Marash, 22,
Hoff, Norwegian major, inspector 23; campaign against Suez, 14; on
general for Armenian provinces, deportation, 26, 28; report on
12 Adana massacre, 7
Howard, Professor Harry N., author Jamstel, in district of Marash, first
of An American Inquiry, 53 village attacked, 105
Hussein, Sherif, Arab ruler in Mecca, Jeilan-oghlou, Marash siege signalled
52 at house of, 98
Hunchak, See Armenian political or- Jellal-eddine, mutasarrif of Aintab,
ganizations reviews exchange of troops, 56
Jerablus, (ancient Carchemish) rail-
Inglizian, Avedis, master builder in way station at bridge over Euph-
Marash, 172; Haroutune (son of rates, 215, 216, 217
Avedis), 172 Jernazian, Peter, 96, 228, 229
Islahiy£, station on Baghdad railway: Jevdet Bey, brother-in-law of Enver
Armenian exiles at, 28; Arme- Pasha: as governor of Van, 12-13;
nian Legion patrols, 33; couriers at Adana, 25
3io : INDEX

Jevdet Bey, deputy mutasarrif of Ma- Beitshalom orphanage, 131, 165,

rash, imprisoned by General 85°
Querette, 95, 105 Kazim Bey, Turkish censor in Ma-
Johnson, Frank S., YMCA secretary, rash, 843
74, 89; killed enroute to Marash, Kehyayan, Yeremia, teacher from
a°3-5 Dere1 Keoy, report on events at
Joly, Capt., of French detachment in Fundijak, 18-19
Armenian Catholic Church, Ma- Kemal Bey, military commander in
rash, 64, 138, 154-55 district of Marash, assists in final
Joseph, Franciscan priest, 112, 137 disposal of Zeitunlis, 234
Jozerau, Maj., leads aist Algerian in- Kemal, Mustafa: commands Seventh
fantry in capture of Merjimek Army in Palestine, 31; in Ana-
Tepe1, 149 tolia (1919), 68; leads Nationalist
rebellion, 65-67; refuses to sur-
Kachaznuni, Hovhannes, first premier render Anatolia, 4; reports devas-
of Armenian republic, 11, 13 tation in northeastern Anatolia
Kadir Pasha, sons of, lead Turkish (1916), 13 n.i7; supports siege of
che'te' in slaughter of Armenians, French at Marash, 99, 118, 195,
132 214, 217, 220, 221. See also Na-
Kadi Zad£ Haji, opponent of Zeitun- tional Assembly, Ankara.
lis, 231 Kemal Yousuf, Kemalist Commis-
Kaloustian, Krikor, editor of Marash sioner for Foreign Affairs, signs
Gam Kermanig ew Heros Zeyt'- Accord of Ankara, 236
own, 19, 25 Kerr, Marion (Mrs. Roy J. King)
Kanli Dere" (Bloody Stream); Ar- with Marash NER, 230, 238, 239
menians cross from Sheikh's Keshishian, Khatcher, Marash phar-
Quarter, 116; bridge over, 96, macist: his home crowded with
138, 140, 154; French fail to refugees, 102; plan for rescue,
secure bridge over, 130; major no; the slaughter, 111-12.
source of Marash water, 73; mill Ketenjian, Hagop, of Aintab, de-
on, 122; scaffolds on, 21 fender of Aremenian Catholic
Karabekir, Kiazim, commander of Church, Marash, 139
i5th Ottoman Army Corps, sup- Khatcher, "Doctor", Marash pharma-
porter of Mustafa Kemal, 65-66 cist. See Keshishian, Khatcher.
Karabiyikli, village between Marash Kherlakian, Avedis (brother of Ha-
and Aintab, 72, 78, 239, 246; gop Agha), wounded in attempt
visited by Lambert and Shepard, to follow French troops, 174
203 Kherlakian, Clementine, wife of Set-
Karayan, Dr. Sarkis J., study on Ar- rak Agha and daughter-in-law of
menian losses during World War Hagop Agha, 248-50
I, 50-51 Kherlakian, Hagop Agha, Aremenian
Kaspar Usta, builder, saves Beitsha- delegate to Parliament, 70, 154,
lom from fire, 133 155; killed on attempting flight
Kazarosian, Ohannes, headmaster at from Marash, 174
 I N D E X : 3i i

Kherlakian, Helene (daughter of Jo- Constantinople, 38; in Syria, 52;

seph, and granddaughter of origin of, 37-38, 53; recommenda-
Hagop Agha), 70, go tions of, 40
Kherlakian, Joseph, (son of Hagop King, Henry Churchill, president of
Agha), Armenian Catholic repre- Oberlin College, member of
sentative, 38, 90, 119, 154, 200 King-Crane Commission, 38
Kherlakian, Raphael (son of Bedros, Kinross, Lord, historian of Mustafa
nephew of Hagop Agha) aide to Kemal, Ataturk, 35, 222
Lt. Col. Flye Sainte-Marie, 79; Kirat-hane" (Marash Reading-room),
consulted by General Querette, 143, 158, 210
82-84; effort to establish Muslim- Kishifli, village in district of Marash,
Christian cooperation, 83; mar- 18, 8i, 68
ries his cousin Helene, 82, 90; Knudsen, John, NER treasurer at
plots with Kurdish chief, 84-85; Aleppo, captured by che'te', 227
relates sack of Kouyoujak quar- Koulaghi-Kourtlou Quarter, Marash,
ter, 119; reports French rein- 120-27
forcements unlikely, 145; signifi- Korganoff, Gabriel, tsarist general,
cance of French withdrawal, 154; 11; report on Armenian Legion,
stone from Kherlakian ruins do- 12
nated for barracks, 241; witness Koumrian, Nathan, 63 n.i2
to end of Zeitun, 232-34 Kouyoujak Quarter, Marash, 118-19
Kherlakian, Setrak (son of Hagop Kouyoumjian, Garabed, Marash mer-
Agha): in defense of Kouyoujak chant, 89
quarter and in Boulgourjian Krikorian, K. K., professor, presents
home, 118-19; leads defense of Armenian aspirations for terri-
Armenian Catholic Church, 139, tory, 39
156, 180-81; imprisoned by Krikor of Furnous, active in defense
Turks, 200; sister and her chil- of Armenian Catholic Church,
dren killed, 174 139
Kherlakian, Victoire (Mrs. Jack Sou- Kuluj AH (Emdoullah Zade" Bey),
adjian), daughter of Setrak Agha, Kurdish captain: assigned to Ma-
70, 174, 248-49 rash, 68, 314 n.2; directs attacks
Khoubesserian, Vahe1, interpreter for on French convoys from com-
Captain Andre1, 71 mand post at Pazarjik, 80, 83, 95;
Khourshid, Turkish captain at Zei- French commander plans his de-
tun, 17 struction, 88; German Farm and
Killis, town north of Aleppo, 202, Kouyoujak Quarter sacked, 118;
205; author warned by French Marash uprising first test of
sentry, 229; author leaves with strength, 195; Nationalist leader-
French armed convoy for Aintab, ship shared with Arslan Bey,
238; headquarters for French 199; requests report from Ali
2nd Division, 215, 816, 224 Saib at Urfa, 214; visits German
King-Crane Commission, an Ameri- Hospital, 221
can Inquiry; in Adana, 38; in Kumbet Quarter, Marash, 122, 132
3 i 2 : INDEX

Kiinzler, Jacob, Swiss missionary in 179, 181; Young Turk leader, 67;
Urfa, 50 Nationalist leader, 255
Kusajukian, Anna (Mrs. Anna Aba- Lyman, Rev. James K., American
jian), 125 n.8; events at Soap Board missionary, 73, 76-77, in;
Factory, 124-5; 15S explores measures for relief of
Kusajukian, Ohannes, owner of Soap exiles, 23, 24; loss of a convert,
Factory, 124-5 200; marked for assassination,
Kuskonian, Garabed, of Armenian 223; on a dangerous mission, 212;
Catholic Church, killed, 139 residence, 109; search for solu-
tion of conflict, 127-28, 143, 158-
Lager, Lt., French cavalry officer, 91 59, 166-68, 175-78, 180-81, 184,
Lambert, Dr. Robert A., NER direc- 199
tor, Aleppo area, 41, 48, 72, 74, Lyman, Mrs. James K., See Bessie
75, 76, 195, 224; visit to Ma- Hardy
rash, 2O2-8, 222, 227, 228; visit to Mclntyre, Ann, NER worker, Ma-
Urfa, 218-19 rash, 244
Lamothe, Gen. de, commander of McMahon, Sir Henry, British High
French 2nd Div. in northern Commissioner in Egypt, 52
Syria, 315, 216 Magarian, Haigouhi, 248-49
Langer, William L., historian, 5 Malboeuf, Adjutant of French de-
Lawrence, Col. T. E., shares leader- tachment in Beitshalom orphan-
ship of Arab forces with Emir age, 132, 165
Feisal, 31 Maljian, Rev. Pascal, Franciscan
Lebanon, grants asylum to Armenians priest; charged with treason, 18;
of Cilicia, 237, 247; suffers fam- confers with Georges-Picot, 61;
ine during war, 31-32 felled by stone, 64; gives his bed
Legion d'Orient, creation of, 30, 37; to French captain, 138; misled by
in Palestine, 31 the captain, 154-55, 173; with-
Lepsius, Dr. Johannes, German ori- draws to Islahiye1, 190-91
entalist, 50 Mandelstam, Andre1, dragoman in
Leslie, Gen., commander of British Russian embassy, Constantino-
igth Brigade, 33 ple, 7; his program for reform,
Lied, Inez, American missionary in 8; historian, 54
Marash, 76, 107-109, 160 Manoogian, Rev. Sisag, in orphanage
Lion of Marash, 71, 73 work in Aleppo, 29
Lloyd George, David, British Prime Marash: ancient art, 73; artisans, 73;
Minister, 53 confiscation of Armenian prop-
London Accord, February 1921 re- erty, 252; deportation from, 22-
vision of the Sevres treaty, 235 25; executions in, 21; expulsion
Lucian, Arsen, professor of physics, of Armenians in 1921-22, 251-54;
University of Pennsylvania, 182- flag incident, 70-71, 256; French
83 garrison in, 78, 81, 255; looting of
Lutfi, Marash pharmacist, claims the Armenian homes, 201, 210; loot-
body of his brother Dr. Mustafa, ing of Turkish homes, 154, 156,
 INDEX : 3 i 3

188; Nationalist uprising in, 59- Mikhaelian, Lucy, 228

196; orphans transferred to Leb- Mohring, Miss L., German mission-
anon, 242, 347-51; stone lion, 71, ary in Marash, 24
73; survivors of siege, 201-2, 254; Mollett, Gen., French Minister of
threat of reoccupation by French, War, 215
222; water supply, 73; with- Monument to last battle of Great
drawal of French from, 164-71 War in Near East, 225
Marashlian, Leah, in Marash prison, Morgenthau, Henry, American Am-
101-2; bureaucratic problems, bassador in Constantinople, 15,
244 28
Marshall, Lieutenant, in Armenian Mouheddine Pasha, proclamation of
Legion, 93 Ankara Accord, 247, 252
Masmanian, Ferida, foils bandits, 249 Mudros armistice, Turks protest vio-
Marty, Major, ambushed by ch^te1, lation of, 56, 96, 144
81-82; killed by sniper, 124 Mulhush Nuri, killed in attack on
Massacre of Armenians: in 1895, 5, Armenian house, 100
84; in district of Adana (1909), Mur£, Rev. Materne, Franciscan
7; in Marash (1920), 100-1, 102- priest: accepts and feeds refu-
114, 120-21, 123-24, 174; on de- gees, 116, 137-38; describes burn-
portation route from Ayran-In- ing of Asdvadsadzin, 124; learns
tilli, 25; at Deir-ez-Zor, 272-74; French plan to evacuate, 164;
statistics, 50-51, 196, 254 reports destruction of Franciscan
Massacre of Turks, in Plain of Alash- institutions in villages, 104; se-
kert-Bayazid, 12; in villages near cures permission for Armenians
Fundijak, 19 to follow retreating French, 171-
Mather, Miss, NER treasurer in Ma- 72; story of retreat, 196
rash, 245; attacked by brigands, Musa Dagh, defense of, 26, 63; veter-
248-49 ans of, 31
Mehmet Ali, Marash lawyer, flag in- Mustafa Balji, flag-bearer for Dr.
cident, 71 Mustafa, 166, 176-78
Melkon, orderly in German hospital, Mustafa, Dervish sheikh of Aintab,
killed by sniper, 107 56
Membij, Syrian town between Aleppo Mustafa, Doctor, Marash physician,
and Arab Pounar, 218 Young Turk and Nationalist
Merjimek Tepe1 ("Lentil Hill") also leader: establishes liaison with
known as Saint Toros: capture Mustafa Kemal, 67, 118; defies
of, by Turks, 106; re-taken by French in flag incident, 71; re-
French, 148-49; used as Col. Nor- sponds to American offer for
mand's command post, 150-162 mediation, 167; risks life to meet
Merrill, Rev. John R., American mis- French commander, 168-69; snot
sionary in Aintab, 55 at hospital, 169, 176-78, 181-85,
Mesken£, Syrian town on Euphrates 209
River: condition of exiles at, Mustafa Remzi, mutasarrif of Ma-
272-74 rash: arrests author, 243; dis-
3 14 : I N D E X

Mustafa Remzi (continued) quents Wilson residence, 105,

missed from office, 244; reap- 127; notifies Americans of
pointed, 248 French withdrawal, 157; offers
Nairn Sefa Bey, secretary at deporta- flour and gold to NER, 162; of-
tion center, Aleppo, 15 fers to escort Mrs. Wilson to
safety, 160; participates in parley
National Assembly at Ankara: Mus- with Dr. Mustafa, 183; provides
tafa Kemal at the, 223; nego- escort for author, 108, no
tiates accord with France, 236-37,
847 Patlak Zad£ Mohammed Efendi, con-
Near East Relief (NER); birth of, vert to Christianity, in; fate of,
ix-xiii, 41; in Aleppo, 38, 41- 200
43; in Marash, 72-354 Pazarjik, village near bridge over
Nickolaef, Russian general at Van, 13 the Ak Su, as base for guerrilla
Nicol, Rev. James, American Red bands (che"te"), 72, 82, 84, 117;
Cross Major, Beirut, 230 passim, 73, 89, 95, 239; visited
Nokhoudian, Rev. Haroutune (later by Drs. Lambert and Shepard,
Harry Serian), in refugee camp 208
at Hama, 26, 26 n.2O Pears, Adeline, laboratory technician
Normand, Robert, Lt. Col.: as gover- in Marash, 72
nor of Adana district, 34; as Gou- Peet, William W., treasurer, Ameri-
raud's "ambassador" to Turkish can Board of Commissioners for
Nationalist, 145; commands col- Foreign Mission, 18, 24, 28, 129
umn for relief of Aintab, 219-22; Perry, James, General Secretary of
commands column for relief of YMCA International, killed en-
Marash, 135, 146-51, 155, 157, route to Aintab, 203-5
159-62, 170-71, 193-94, 2!4> com- Picot, See Georges-Picot (the hyphen-
mands column for relief of Urfa, ated form being that used by the
215; his losses at Marash, 195; re- French historian Paul du Ve'ou)
treat to Islahiye1, 186-92 Pidpapd, Col. de, commander of Le-
Nubar Pasha, Boghos, Armenian gion d'Orient, 31, 62
leader; negotiates with Briand Poladian, Dr. Vartan, Marash physi-
for organization of Armenian cian, 115, 172, 202, 211; Arme-
Legion, 30, 37 nouhi, daughter of Dr. Vartan,
172; Sirvart, daughter of Dr. Var-
Odabashian, Baghdasar, sergeant in tan, 248-49; Zabel, daughter of
Armenian Legion, rejects oppor- Dr. Vartan, 172
tunity to escape, 123-24 Power, Mrs. Mabel, NER nurse, 97,
Omar Bey, Turkish captain at siege 108, 157, 160, 161, 166
of Fundijak, 19
Orchanian, Luther, assistant pharma- Querette, Gen., commander of French
cist in Marash, 76, 108 forces in Eastern Anatolia; alerts
Ordons, Maj. Rose de, commander Lt. Col. Sainte-Marie of Marash
of 3rd battalion, 412th infantry; insurrection, 100; activates his
assigned to Marash, 78, 79; fre- troops, 95-96, 115, 131, 137, 140;
 I N D E X : 3 15

assists at Kherlakian wedding, Romieu, Lt. Col., commander of Le-

90; attempts to replenish military gion d'Orient, 31, 33
stores, 92; consults with Raphael Russia, concern over Turkish ad-
Kherlakian, 83, 84; directs all ministration in Anatolia, 4
operations, 99; establishes liaison
with relief column, 150; gives
Zeitunlis arms, 128; lacks signal- Sabaheddine, Prince, Turkish rebel
ling equipment, 149, 194; moves emigrd, 6, 7
headquarters from Aintab to Ma- Sahakian, R. G., historian, 50
rash, 81; orders evacuation, 157, Saillant, French officer of Armenian
162, 164, 171, 193; permits Amer- legionnaires, 141-42
icans to interview hostages, 143; Sainte Aymour, Gen. Robert de Caix
receives Turkish appeal, 159; re- de, secretary to General Gouraud,
ceives Turkish emissary, 166, 167, 145. 247
183-84; retreats to Islahiye1, 168- Sainte Marie, Lt. Col. Flye: as com-
69, 186, 191; sends courier to mander of French forces in Ain-
Adana and Hadjin, 127, 129; tab, 71, 72, 78, 79, 100; attempts
shells enemy position, 106; sum- to allay Turkish-Armenian hos-
mons Turkish leaders, 87-88, 95- tility, 82-83; fails to clinch Kur-
96 dish military support, 85; par-
ticipates in funeral ceremonies
for YMCA secretaries, 205; re-
Ramkavar, 6. See also Armenian po- fuses to arm Armenians, 84; re-
litical organizations views exchange of troops at Ain-
Rauf, Hussein, Turkish Minister of tab and Marash, 55-56, 62;
Marine, 65, 66 warned that France would send
Ravendal, Gabriel Bie, American con- no more troops, 145
sul in Constantinople, 39 Saint Paul's Institute at Tarsus (now
Reckman, Elsa (Mrs. Stanley E. Kerr), Tarsus American College), 134
American Board missionary in Saint Toros Hill, See Merjimek Tepe1
Marash, 238, 239 Sajous, Captain of French troops at
Redan, Pierre, French historian, 63 Urfa, 217
Rehder, Pauline (Mrs. William Sage Sakjagoz, ancient Hittite settlement
Woolworth), American mission- near Aintab, French troops am-
ary in Marash, 238 bushed near, 82
Representative Committee, 118, 214 Salaheddine, Col., grd Turkish Army
Rescue Home, in Aleppo, 48; in Ma- Corps, receives report from Ma-
rash, 76, 113, 135 rash mutasarrif, 105; as Pasha
Rifat Hoja of Marash, 88, 95 commanding Turkish forces in
Rifat, Mevlan Zad6, ex-member of Cilicia, ordered to conquer Zei-
Ittihad, 8, 8 n, 14, 25 tun, 231-34, 242
Riza, Ahmed, Turkish revolutionary Salmond, Miss, English missionary,
leader, 6 directress of Beulah orphanage,
Rohner, Beatrice, German missionary Marash, 115, 160; departure from
in Marash, 24, 28 Marash, 245-46
3 i 6 : INDEX

Sanders, Gen. Liman von, commander Sinjirli, ancient Hittite settlement

of Ottoman and and 3rd armies, north of Islahiye1, 188, 189, 191
34 Sivas Congress, 66
Saral, Gen. Ahmed Hulki, Turkish Snyder, Paul: caught in Turkish fire
military historian, 63, 68 on mountain road, 88-90, 239;
Sarilar, village between Marash and offers German mauser for dis-
Islahiye1, 80, 147 guise, 127; passim, 72, 74, 76, 106,
Sarkisian, E. K., historian, 50 no, 112, 157, 160, 167, 220, 224;
Schafer, Paula, German missionary in rigs device for optical signals,
Marash, 24, 38, 29 143
Seferian, Avedis, 68-69, 125-26 Soap Factory, Kusajukians, 124-25;
Seminary. See Theological Seminary 153
Sevian, Dr. Parsegh, physician at Ar- Solakian, Rev. Asadour, pastor of 3rd
menian Catholic Church, 139, Evangelical Church, Marash, 109;
181, 211 his wife and children massacred,
Seruj, Turkish town on road to 112, 205; leaves Marash with
Urfa, 218 French, 168; suicide, 112 n.io
Shahin Bey, chief of Nationalist Speaker, Herr, German director of
bands between Aintab and Kil- Beitshalom Boys' Orphanage, 74
lis, 208, 219 Stolzfus, Benjamin Franklin, 218
Shamlian, Hagop, the tanner, 115 Suleyman Efendi, 138
Shamlian, Mrs. Gohar, directress of Suleymaniyeh, Turkish name given to
NER Rescue Home, Marash, 76; Zeitun after expulsion of last
killed in Rescue Home, 135 Armenians, 234
Shamiran Hanum, matron of Beulah Sykes-Picot Accord, Anglo-French-
Girls' Orphanage, 115 Russian agreement concluded in
Shayb, Rose (Mrs. John Dunaway), London, 16 May 1916, 30, 37;
44.45 Briand violates Clause 9, 236
Sheikh's Quarter, Marash, 113-17 Syrian Protestant College (later The
Sheker Dere", Marash, 73, 100, 120-27, American University of Beirut),
150, 152 134, 210, 211
Shepard. Dr. Lorrin (son of Dr. Fred
Shepard), surgeon at Aintab; trip Tabak Zade Mehmet, 138
with Dr. Lambert to Marash, Taj sin Pasha, governor of Van, 12
195, 202-8, 222; aids author's Talaat Bey, as Minister of Interior,
party pass che'te' post, 229 8, 9; his attitude toward Arme-
Shepard, Dr. Fred, American surgeon nians, 28; his deportation plan,
at Aintab, 23, 28, 55, 206 15, 30; his guilt acknowledged,
Shirajian, Rev. Aharon, treatment in 16
1895. 5. 5 n-5. 29-3°' 43-44. 49 Tapou Agha, Kurdish chief of Pazar-
Shishman-oghlou, Arif, 95 jik, 84
Shultz, Helen, NER nurse in Marash, Tarsus College, (Saint Paul's Institute
76, 89-90, 157, 160 at Tarsus), 134
Simonoff, "Colonel", Russian volun- Tash Khan (Stone Warehouse), 126,
teer in 4i2th regiment, 165 140, 152
 INDEX 317

Tell Abiad, station on railway south tion, 35; French occupation, 54,
of Urfa, 315 81, 90, 195, 214-19; Dr. Lambert's
Theological Seminary, Marash, de- visit, 224; relief column, 162,
stroyed in 1895, 5> usec* by 194; supply base, 92; ultimatum
French as military headquarters, to French, 144-45
82, 109 Urfan Bey, Turkish colonel from
Thibault, C., Lt. Col.: commander of Aintab, mutasarrif of Marash,
French 412th regiment of infan- 200, 201, 207, 219, 220, 222; res-
try, 53, 78; comments on the fight- ignation, 223, 241
ing qualities of Turks, 99; con- Uzunoluk, Street in Marash, 63, 139-
fers with Dr. Mustafa, 183; 40
passim, 88, 106, 127, 162, 164;
records losses, 195; retreats to
Van, Armenian province, defense of
Islahiyd, 169, 189, 191, 193-94
by Armenians, 12-13
Thuiller, Lt. in Col. Normand's col-
Veziroghlu, Mehmet, Turkish nation-
umn, 148, 150
alist of Marash, 67
Tilkian, Ohannes, exiled at Hama,
Vratzian, Simon, last premier of Ar-
26-27
menian republic, 11, 13
Timm, Maria, German nurse in Ma-
rash, 74, 131-32, 165, 180, 221
Toynbee, Arnold J., declassification Weaver, Martin, NER chauffeur, 239,
of coded documents in his The 240
Treatment of Armenians in the Weir, Gen., British commander in Ci-
Ottoman Empire, 16 n.g; sum- licia, 55, 62
mary of Armenian history, 4 Westenenk, E., Dutch inspector gen-
Transfer of Marash orphans to Leb- eral of Armenian province, 12
anon, 242, 247-51 Wilson, Dr. Marion C., departure
Treaty of Sevres, 235 from Marash, 224; diplomat, 143,
Trostle, Evelyn, of NER in Marash, 209; marked for assassination,
75, 157, 160, 224 223; negotiates for safety of
Trowbridge, Rev. Steven, missionary, Armenians, 175-77, 179-81, 199;
Red Cross secretary, 16 NER director in Marash, 86, in,
Turkish courts-martial, judgments 127-28, 157, 160, 166-67; res'"
rendered for massacre of Ar- dence, 73-74; surgeon, 72, 79,
menians, 15 n_7 107-109, 162, 200, 211; visited
Turkish losses in Marash uprising, by Kuluj Ali, 221
'95 Wilson, Mrs. Marion, 97, 106-7, 113,
Turkish revolutionary organizations, 144, 157-58, 160-61, 166, 169, 175,
7 179, 183, 186, 211, 224
Wilson, Woodrow, President, ap-
points the King-Crane Commis-
Ulu Jami (Great Mosque), Marash, sion, 38; report of the Commis-
71, 96, 125, 127, 138, 139, 140, sion, 40, 52
149, 186, 225, 242 Woodward, NER accountant at Urfa,
Urfa (ancient Edessa): British occupa- 217, 219
3 i 8 : INDEX

Woolley, Maj. Leonard, British ar- C. F. H.; Johnson, Frank; Perry,

cheologist and political officer, James; and Archer, W. G.
218 Yoriik Selim Bey, Capt., Turkish cav-
Woolworth, Rev. William Sage, alry commander at Marash, 220
American Board missionary in Young Turk revolution, 7
Marash, 240
Zeki, Arab chauffeur for NER, killed
Yalman, Ahmed Emin, Turkish his- at Besh Goz, 204
torian, 12, 38 Zavrief, Dr. Hagop. Armenian rep-
Yenovkian, Levon, pharmacist at resentative in negotiations with
German Hospital, 108, 159, 183- Russia, 10
84 Zeitun, town in district of Marash:
YMCA (Young Mens' Christian Asso- deportation of Armenians from,
ciation) in Adana, 29; in Ma- 14, 16-18, 105; final conflict at,
rash, 73; murder of personnel, 231-34; its name changed, 234
202, 203-205. See also Crathern, Zeitunlis, 128-29, 231-34