Inanc Atilgan & Garabet K Moumdjian, Archival Documents of the Viennese Armenian Turkish Platform, Edition Diwan, Wieser Verlag, 2009, pp.
KLS 528
ED 1029
YD 2061
FH 21 (1-18)
Türkiye/ATASE
Atase 1.cilt 408-418 (Ottoman Military Archives)
Ottoman Army
General Headquarters
The nearing of the end of Turkey is being declared in all over the country. Papasijan and Viremijan, members of the parliament, in order to convey the results of the congress to be convened in Istanbul and to make the necessary preparations. They have held a large congress in Erzurum, to which the Daschnakzoutioun delegates coming from the Caucasus also participated.
In this congress held in Erzurum, they [ARF] have worked on the text of the agreement, the terms of which, were set with the Russians pertaining to Russians’s handing the occupied regions over to the Armenians, and Russians’s guaranteeing a free Armenian state. Russian-Armenian agreement was approved by the congress, and the following articles were decided to be sent for the information of the committees:
1. To continue to show submission and keep silent until the declaration of war, but in the meanwhile to become well equipped with the weapons to be obtained from Russia and from the inner regions.
2. Should the war be declared, all the Armenians in the Ottoman [Empire] would join the Russian forces with their firearms.
3. To keep silent on should the Turkish Army advances.
4. Should the Turkish Army withdraws or comes to the point of stand still, all the gangs should start their activities behind the lines in accordance with the plan they already have.
After the acceptance and distribution of the decisions taken at the congress, the member of the parliament Viremijan has proposed the following, in writing, to the Governor of Erzurum:
Should the Ottoman Government declares war upon Russia, on the event of Ottoman Army’s launching an attack upon the Caucasus, the Ottoman Government should make a strong promise to the Armenians living in the region on the issues of cooperation during the war and to propagation, and this promise ought to be fulfilled.
Viremijan’s application to the Governor of Erzurum, after having had the above mentioned four articles approved and his closing of the congress, served for the attainment of two specific objectives
1. To be able to revive their national goals, should the Ottoman Government become victorious.
2. To keep the unfaithful secret Armenian organization away from the eyes of the Ottoman Government.
Viremijan and Papasijan, having thus completed their tasks in
Erzurum, have moved to Çankeli monastery together with a couple of the
leaders from the Daschnakzoutioun Committee where they have invited the
Armenians living nearby to convey the decisions taken at the congress.
The 3rd Army reveals the decisions taken at the congress, and orders
and warns the governor and the commanders under his service to be full
alert.
The following is the information, which is forwarded by the 3rd Army,
upon the measures taken by the Armenians in Russia and Turkey until the
declaration of war.
1. The Muslim villages and towns on the eastern part of the border (in
Russia) are being searched and the weapons found in the houses are
distributed among the Armenians.
2. It has been heard that large number of weapons, ammunition, and
bombs are stockpiled in Oltu, Sarıkamış, Kağızman, and Iğdır in order to
arm the Ottoman Armenians, especially the Armenians living in the villages
on the western part of the border (in Turkey). And that, the Russian General
Loris Milikov’s son together with Malkon and Ohannes, two leaders from the
Daschnak Committee, has moved to Van via Abâga on September 10, 1914
in order to concretize the measures to be taken and the decisions pertaining
to the distribution of the arms.
3. It has been understood that the Russian consuls in Iran having
armed the Iranian Armenians, especially the ones in Rumiye and Salmasd,
sending them into the inner regions of the border with the promise of
foundation of Armenia on the lands to be occupied in Turkey.
4. Some of the leaders of the Daschnak Committee of Caucasus and
Turkey are organizing Armenian gangs in the regions neighboring borders
as follows:
a. Six thousand Armenians were gathered mostly from Erzurum,
Eleşkirt, Hınıs, Malazgirt and from among deserters in Kağızman, 3500 of
whom have been sent to Azerbaijan with the arms provided by the Russian
Government and with the food taken as war tax with the help of the Russian
officials and the Armenian gang leaders on October 31, 1914. The others
are believed to be in Kağızman.
b. We are informed with ocular proof that an Armenian cavalry gang
of 1500 men – most of whom fled from Oltu, Kars, Sarıkamış, and from
Trabzon – have been formed. 1000 of these have been sent to Iğdır region
in order to pass over to Beyazıt and environs; and 500 were sent to Oltu
from where they were to pass over to the Hodicor1 region.
c. It has been understood from the information received from the
refugee Russian soldiers and from the other sources that 6000 Armenians –
mostly composed of the Armenians from Beyazıt, Van, Bitlis, deserters, and
of the Armenians from environs of Iğdır – have gathered in Iğdır have been
organized in groups and have been armed.
d. It has been understood that an Armenian gang has been set up at
the Beyecek Church, on the Koni side of Makû, and that they were to
advance as far as Van together with the other gangs set up in Salmas.
5. The leaders who are charged with setting up organizations around
Kars, Sarıkamış, and Kağızman are Antranik, Arshan of Bayburt, Âram of
Bitlis, all of whom are the famous Armenian leaders. It has been understood
that the pharmacist Rupen Mygirdijian, Taurus Karakashijan, Portakalijan,
and Surpen, the representative of the Daschnakzoutioun Bayazit branch,
were given the task of establishing associations.
6. It is understood that they have set up espionage centers in
Trabzon, Erzurum, Muş, Bitlis, Van, Sivas, and in Kayseri in order to inform
the Russian Army about the movements and state of the Turkish Army.
7. It is understood that the surplus of weapons and firearms brought
over the borders are being kept in Karahisar, Sivas, and Kayseri.
8. An actions committee composed of Russians, Armenians, and of
Greeks is set up in Batum. The committee’s task was to gather detailed
information about the Turkish Army, as well as to instigate uprisings and
rebellions with the help of the Greeks and Armenians residing in the Turkish
side of the Black Sea coast and, furthermore, to ease smuggling of the
firearms and explosives into Turkey.
In relation to the activities of the Armenians in Turkey, until the
declaration of war upon Russia, the information files of the 3rd Army
pertaining to that time are summarized below.
1. It has been observed that most of the soldiers, Armenians who
were to be called into military service, have not obeyed the law and moved
to the eastern part of the border line extending from Hopa - Erzurum - Hınıs
on the Black Sea coast to Van, in order to join the organization set up in
Russia.
2. 4th Reserve Cavalry Division moved to its gathering point on the
Yağanışığı - Yağan - Köprüköy line, and on October 3, 1914 have
discovered a lot of Russian manufactured weapons in house of Manuk’s son
Ovanis in Köprüköy, and Papas’s house in Yağan. Meanwhile, some
numerous weapons were found in Hasankale and the one who were held
accountable for the storing of the arms were sent to the Military Courts. All
these are definite proofs for the realization of the first phase of the decisions
taken at the congress.
3. Ekşi’s son Setrak from Izaksa village of Yomra3 district, together
with the gang of 25 under the leadership of Arakil’s son have massacred
Muslims whom they met in the lonely places around Hodicor. On October 5,
1914 they have attacked at the stagecoach coming from Trabzon to
Erzurum, around Gümüşhane, massacred the mailman and ran away with
the mail. As a result of the interrogations carried out some instigators who
were caught were sent to War Courts. It is understood that they were the
members of the above-mentioned gangs who came to Oltu.
4. It is observed that the Armenian gangs are patrolling the Russian
posts situated across our stations in Hehas, Kötek,4 Mecingerd,5 Pasin
Karachurch, Gürcübulak6 and other stations in the further south. It has been
understood that the attacks held by Kegork from Malatya, a deserter who ran
away with his arms from Pasinkara Church battalion, with his 20 horsed men
via Gürcübulak; and the attacks planned by the Armenian gangs on the
Kötek Border Battalion via Karaurgan,7 as well as the raids planned and
carried out by pharmacist Rupen and Surpen from Bayazit, with 500 men
around Musun,8 are all prove that all these instigations were intended to
speed up the occurrence of the disagreement between the Russians and the
Ottomans, and that these gangs were acting with the desire of becoming
advanced guards of the Russian Army.
5. It has been understood that the Armenian soldiers in the units,
especially in the border battalions and the border units have fled to Russian
side with their arms.
6. It has been observed that the Muslim soldiers who were caught
alone or who were caught on their way to their villages for medical purposes
were massacred near the Armenian villages. The outrageous massacring
and burying of First Lieutenant Sabri Effendi, of the Mantelli battery affiliated
to command headquarters of Lazistan and environs, in pieces by his
Armenian landlord Bedros in Hösmasa village; and upon the discovery of
this incident after a week, the gendarme forces who went to the village were
confronted with Bedros’s gunfire and as soon as he understood he was to be
captured soon he committed suicide. Thus he does not turn in his
accomplices.
The number of such individual incidents is continuously increasing.
Under the light of the above-mentioned preparations and measures it
was understood by the 3rd Army that there were preparations for a largescale
upheaval. As a matter of fact, storing of explosives, firearms in certain
places were evident proofs of the preparations for a coming upheaval. It was
understood from the testimonies of the Armenians at War Court hearings
held after the Sivas incidents that the upheavals would start firstly in Van,
Bitlis, Erzurum, and Şebinkarahisar; then Sivas, Kayseri, and Diyarbakır
were to follow. It was also understood from the testimonies of the
Armenians, during the interrogations following the Sivas incident at the
Military Courts, that, inspectors, war commanders, gang leaders have been
elected, and that an order was issued to Tashnak branches for all the boys
from the age 13 and up should be registered to the committee and armed on
the event of mobilization.
Should the centers of upheavals be analyzed closely, it will be seen
that they constitute the main points that are at a day’s distance from the
borders. In fact, with the declaration of mobilization the Ottoman
Government had integrated most of the gendarme forces in the mobile
forces, and left some of the regions to second grade gendarmes. The
upheaval to be instigated would necessitate the sending of some forces from
the army over to those regions, and thus it can be claimed that such an
event would jeopardize the army.
Upon the emergence of the disagreements with the Russians, it was
observed that some of the Russian troops have attacked on the borders.
Russians, positioned a Plastoon brigade, 1st Cossack Cavalry Brigade along
with the Armenian gangs – set up in Oltu, Sarıkamış, Kağızman – whom the
Russians equipped with machine guns and artillery, in Id1, Kötek, Pasinkara
Church and Beyazıt line. Those gangs were advancing by pillaging and
destroying the Muslim villages, massacring even the babies in their cradles.
The women and children in the neighboring regions were fleeing from their
villages towards inner regions. In no time, Erzurum, Bitlis, and Van became
places of misery. As a matter of fact, the young men of those villages were
called into military service; the elderly, the disabled, the women and children
who remained behind have either suffered from the atrocities or became
victims of the outrage or died in misery and poverty (the reports on the
Armenian atrocities sent by the 11th Army Corps will be recorded. 2nd Branch
has not been found yet. Sadık Bey has the manuscripts of the 3rd Army. The
list that will be obtained from the Immigrant Committee will also be added
here.).
The state of the Ottoman Army on the Caucasus Front prior to the
declaration of war:
The 3rd Army was to be composed of the Ninth, Eleventh, and
Thirteenth Army Corps that was to come from Baghdad; the First, Second,
Third, Fourth Reserve Cavalry Divisions; the Second Regular Cavalry
Division; and of the Gendarme Divisions situated in Van and Erzurum.
Those units who were barely supplied could not come to the gathering points
yet. The above-mentioned units that were to make up the 3rd Army were
either in part on march or near Erzurum as shown on the Sketch 1.
Ten days prior to the declaration of war, the army, upon the orders of
the Headquarters, had assigned positions where the coming units would
spend the winter, and the arriving units had moved to the assigned positions.
However, the government’s political decision was still uncertain. It was
evident for the 3rd Army that the government was not willing to engage in war
during winter, and thus the Muslims in the villages, who wanted to emigrate,
near the border were requested to maintain their positions.
Thus was the state of the 3rd Army prior to the horrifying Russian
campaign that was to take place on the Turkish land. For this reason the
Russians managed to come as far as Hasankale at the first attack. Upon this
the 3rd Army decides to make use of the Erzurum citadel, withdraws all the
units on the border until the positioning of the coming units and decides to
form a defense line around Höyükler near Erzurum. However, upon the
perseverance of the Second Regular Cavalry Division for four days in font of
the Russians, and upon the information that Russians’s not getting support
from their rear ranks, the 3rd Army decides to march over with full force to
Russian Army which was composed of Armenian gangs, a Plastoon brigade
and a Cossack Cavalry Division. And thus, the advancing Turkish forces had
to stop in front of the Russian lines set up in Zivin1.
On considering the behaviors and actions of the Armenian officers,
doctors, and soldiers as well as the Armenians in the rear regions:
The Armenian gangs who advanced as far as eastern Erzurum have
forced the Armenian villagers to move to Russia and forced the ones who
were capable of bearing firearms to join them, and while withdrawing they
have destroyed the villages and massacred the population, as was declared.
The Armenian soldiers in the Turkish Army were fleeing away to the Russian
Army with their weapons. On the other hand, it was also observed that the
Armenian doctors and officers were joining the Russian Army with lots of
valuable information. It is observed that, in the most critical times they were
pin pointing the arsenals, batteries, and reserve emplacements to the
enemy. Hence, Kirkor, son of Ohannes from Gümüşhane, who pinpointed
the emplacements in Pazacur2, was proudly confessing his crime at the
Military Courts. Some Armenian soldiers – in the Ottoman Army – were
trying to provoke the Turkish soldiers for desertion in the most crucial
moment of the engagement and thus especially some of the skirmish lines
were breaking. The Armenians in the inner regions were not hesitating in
killing the wounded or lonely soldiers. Furthermore, they were spying on our
army by communicating continuously with the Armenians in the Russian
Army and to determine the positions they were to take. Most of the time such
ciphered messages were discovered on the spies. As a result, it will be
useful to mention some of the documents as proofs of Russian attempts in
sending ammunition and weapons to the Armenians in the Ottoman lands in
return for information about the situation and position of Turkish Army.
The following is the translation of a letter printed on a piece of cloth,
found sewn in the jacket of a person named Fika, written in Armenian to Van
Tashnak Committee:
Dearly beloved (this is a way of addressing among the committee
members) your letter has been received. The merchandise that is well
known to you and to us has been sent to you upon your request (weapons,
ammunition, and bombs are being mentioned). It is extremely hard to send
you without getting into trouble. Although the roads are blocked, there are
engagements on the borders. Uncle Shekpager (nickname of their leader
who took refuge in Russia) is thoroughly against the idea. You might either
have heard of it or considered it already. He has positioned a lot of inactive
things around us. The influx of living forces as well as of active things that
are of importance for him and for us is still continuing. Meanwhile we are
drenched among the goods. You are in need there. This is an unbearable
situation as it is. Dervish’s death has affected us. If ours cannot reach you
soon, please send our messenger urgently. Write about the deployment of
forces on move, category of the units (troops) and about their numbers.
(Asking for information about the Turkish Army).
With friendly greetings
Minarijan
Send us ink for writing ….. you have previously sent some. M. (It is
known fact that this is a cipher among the committees. As there is no need
for ink in Russia.)
Another document:
We have received a letter saying that our friend Mihak Setum wants to
come to our village with his ten soldiers.
He has been following us with the aim of investigating us and
gathering some soldiers. We do not have the power to set our houses on fire
for nothing. We would not want to get under the control of our children. Since
you do not have the power to help us, as you claim, then we will have to
keep our ammunition in the village. Or you come, join us, and head for the
mountains. If there are Greeks and nomads around call Revin as well. We
need his help. Otherwise we do not have the power to resist government’s
forces. Let’s be realistic.
Signed: Central Committee
March 1915
This document reveals how diligently the Armenians in the inner
regions were working. They were trying to serve the Russians in the same
manner, and to equip themselves and overcoming the difficulties in the inner
regions until the Sarıkamış Battle. They were witnessing the power of the
Turkish Army and that the Russians were being pushed away in every front.
For this reason they were hesitating to instigate an uprising. Turkish Army,
who withdrew to the positions shown in the sketch-map number 2 after the
defeat of Sarıkamış Battle, was decreased to some 20.000 men from about
130.000 men. The remaining soldiers were being wiped out by the typhus
fever. However, the Russians were also struggling with the same disease.
Russian attacks had come to an end. Both sides were trying hard to supply
themselves.
Meanwhile the news about an Armenian uprising was spreading in
every corner. Moreover, according to the information, it was evident that the
committee members have been crossing the borders with their followers in
the direction of Van and Bitlis and that they have been helping to the
displacing of the Armenian villages scattered among the Muslim villages in
secret but leaving only the elderly and the disabled for protection in those
villages. At last, the first attempt of the uprising broke up in Bitlis. The
strongest regular organization of the committees in Bitlis was located in
Karkar1 district of Hizan province on the Muş - Van border. Both in Muş and
Hizan series of events broke out and killing of soldiers and gendarmes had
begun within 15 days. Such that:
They have driven the two gendarmes, who were sent to Sekûr village
on the Ahkis2 direction in Karkar district, by saying that they were not willing
to yield the government’s orders anymore. Upon this incident a detachment
of eight gendarmes was sent to the village; however under the light of the
information received, as they entered the village the Armenians opened
heavy gunfire upon them killing 6 of the gendarmes, the other two
succeeded in withdrawing. Moreover, there is no information about the two
gendarmes who were sent to Korsor village. It has been heard that the
Armenian gangs are launching heavy attacks on the Muslim villages and
carrying out outrageous atrocities in the region. Some of the Armenian
gangs in Karkar district are trying launch an attack to capture Hizan
province.
As the uprising started to spread in the region, the Armenian gangs
who came to seize Hizan had to stop upon the heavy resistance of the
gendarme forces and the armed people. A strong gendarme detachment
under the leadership of the Bitlis Gendarme Regiment Commander, along
with two other detachments from Van and Gevaş are sent to Hizan. The
information received reveals that during the engagement of the Armenian
gangs and the gendarme forces from Gevaş on their way to Hizan, six of the
gendarmes are martyred and one is wounded. The detachment is
proceeding with the addition of units of troops. The detachments sent from
Van and Bitlis succeed in freeing Kapan Highway and Arnis villages from
occupation, and Hizan from siege. Detachments directed their attacks on
Ahkis. Although Ahkis and Beygırı1 villages were occupied following a twoday
engagement the rebels managed to get away.
Detachments gathering in the Tasu2 village on February 17, 1915
direct their attacks on the rebels who were becoming more and more
threatening. After a day’s heavy engagement they succeed in occupying the
mentioned village. Later, Korsu and Sigor villages are occupied after two
days’s engagements. A lot of Russian hats and equipment were discovered
in those villages; and it was observed that these villages were made strong
field emplacements. In the beginning of the events the bodies of the two
martyred gendarmes were found among the stones with crushed skulls,
lungs removed, eyes scooped, in Sigor. During the occupation of Viris3
village committee leader Ishan’s, form Van, marked mare is captured.
Among the dead, after the clashes, were discovered the corpses of
Keshishs’s son Vahan, who was a renowned committee leader around Van,
from Hurinis village of Van; and Kalon’s corpse from Sekûr village. Finding of
Vahan’s corpse among the dead was a definite proof for his being sent on a
specially assigned mission from Van. Following the upheavals in this region,
other rebellions were kindled in the villages on the prairies of Muş. On
February 10, 1915, a day later the Hizan incident, a detachment that
happened to be passing by Sironk village near Muş had to stop upon a
heavy gunfire and engaged in a clash. The pack animals and a lot of men in
the detachment were wasted. The other detachments sent from Muş under
the leadership of three officers caught up with the clash and surrounded the
committee.
At the end of the clashes nine members of the committee was
captured dead. Others managed to break through the siege ring. On the
same day the committee besieged the house where the gendarme
detachment and the district governor were found in the Kümes village of the
Akâan district and the gunfire continued for eight hours. Nine of the
gendarme soldiers were killed outrageously and the house was set to
aflame. The governor and the other gendarme soldiers with him in the house
have managed to run away in the dark. The detachments sent from the Muş
Quartermasters Regiment to capture the criminals could not succeed in
finding them. The presence of Rupen, the delegate of the Muş Tashnak
Committee, and of Esro, one of the leaders of the Muş Daschnak
Committee, and their commanding the rebels against the gendarme forces
on the same day with the Kümes Event serve as definite proof to the true
essence of the upheavals. In fact, Rupen and Esro not coming to Muş again
after the event, started attacking villages around and threatening the
government. Upon the information obtained by the government about the
hiding place of the criminals of the Kümes and Sironk events a detachment
under the leadership of Lieutenant Ahmet Effendi was sent to the Iraq
Monastery in Muş on February 25,1915. As the detachment neared the
monastery it was suddenly blockaded by the heavy gunfire coming from the
flanks as well as from ahead. The clash resulted in martyring of the
detachment commander Ahmet Effendi and four soldiers; and in remaining
soldiers’ managing to survive the gunfire and making their way out off the
blockade in the dark. Although a strong detachment was sent in support of
the first on February 27, 1915 from the Muş Quartermasters Regiment, it
was observed that the monastery was completely evacuated. Thus, it kept
this monastery, which served as a shelter for the committee, under its
control through out.
Again on February 26, 1915 four gendarme soldiers who were going
to Sason from Muş had stopped for a lunch by a creek near Geligüzan1.
They were attacked and slaughtered by the people of Geligüzan with axes
and were buried at a place that is an hour’s of distance from where the
massacre took place. The sudden disappearance of these gendarmes was a
clear sign of committee’s doings. For this reason the investigations were
prolonged as some signs were discovered around Geligüzan and on the
banks of the creek and the state moved the investigations to Geligüzan. The
criminals were caught as a result of the investigations and were sent to
Military Courts for trial. The criminals did not even hesitated to confess their
crimes with all its mercilessness in front of the Military Court. Such incidents
were following one another ceaselessly. The committee members were
deeply shocked upon the governments crushing the rebellions on time with
force. As a result the Armenians around Bitlis were in a way pushed into
silence; and, hence, the effectiveness of the power of the government rather
than that of the committee’s was introduced to the Armenians in Bitlis. The
protection of the Armenians who did not resort to arms against the
government was proved to be more effective, and the influential Armenian
leaders in Muş and Bitlis who were not members of the Daschnakzoutioun
committee have frankly cursed the events.
The member of the Parliament, Papasijan was in Muş and was
controlling this movement from the center. And whenever the events were
getting out of his control he would directly go to the government he was
telling that the events taking place in Hizan, Kümes, Sironk, and Monastery
were instigated by ignorant deserters. He used to claim that Kümes and
Sironk events stemmed from the treachery of the deserters, and that the
Monastery Event was an outcome of the detachment’s sudden appearance
in the Monastery that triggered the fear of the deserters and hence they
opened fire on the detachment. Furthermore, he claimed that the
Daschnakzoutioun Committee had nothing to do with those events at all, and
he even offered the service of the Daschnakzoutioun Committee to the
government if need occurred. Thus, by making use of the betrayals of some
of the Armenian deserters the member of the parliament Papasijan Effendi
was continuously informing the Muş officials by claiming that the committee
has never been indulged in those events. He feared that government’s
sudden and decisive measures would result in revealing the committee’s
undesirable character. He immediately began sending letters to the
Armenian Patriarch in Istanbul in order to narrate the events in a different
manner. Hence, the Armenian Patriarch applied the government as follows:
“Upon the appointing of the men like Beşar Çeto and Mehmet Emin in
charge of the public order and security of Bitlis, the Armenians began to be
subjected to disasters. Upon the murdering of the village attendants of
Halis1, Hınz, and Ruhte villages of Karkar district by the gendarmes, the
agitated villagers resorted to arms and killed four gendarmes. Furthermore,
upon gendarmes’ murdering of a small child in Ziko village openly, and the
killing of four of the eight deserters on the way to headquarters ended in
murdering of two gendarme soldiers in retaliation. Should the people are
forced not to stand against the atrocities committed by the gendarmes, and
not to protect their sacred belongings, and forced to stand all alone, this
would easily be presented as a rebellion, setting the houses aflame,
attempts of pillaging of the villages and massacring of the people would not
be in accordance with the law…” If the events have taken place in this
manner, he is requesting the severe punishment of the instigators from the
3rd Army Headquarters in Istanbul; moreover, he is denouncing to the Army
Headquarters from Elazığ that “Meksi” events were instigated by the district
governor. Thus, the army orders the formation of an investigation committee
in Elazığ under the chairmanship of 33rd Division Deputy Commander
Colonel Veysi Bey to the 11th Army Corps Deputy Command Headquarters.
As a result of the investigations:
1. He understood that Beşar Çeto and Mehmet Emin have never been
assigned for the public order of Bitlis. In fact, it was understood that Beşar
Çeto had willingly left for Azerbaijan with his men at the beginning of the
mobilization, and that he was martyred in the Hoy Battle three months before
the mentioned date.
As for Mehmet Emin, he was fallen into ambush by the Armenians
and returned home heavily wounded and has been under medication for
three months on the given date.
2. It was understood that there were no massacred village attendant
as a result of the investigations held by the investigation committee.
3. As for the child, whom the Patriarch claimed massacred by the
gendarmes in Ziko; it was understood that there was not a village named
Ziko in Bitlis, and that the massacring of a child by the gendarmes in Bitlis’
Ziko village was a forgery.
4. It was understood that the Armenians were not defending
themselves against the atrocities of the gendarmes as the Patriarch had
claimed, but that they were against each other. As a result of the
investigations and examinations; it was observed that the giving of the task
of maintaining of public order in an indefinite part of the town to Beşar Çeto
and Mehmet Emin, and putting the blame on someone who was not present
at the time for he was martyred earlier, and that the claims about the
massacring of a child in an unknown village in the region, were all definite
proofs of the sincerity and of the truth of the claims. For these reasons the
upheavals in Bitlis have ceased to a certain extent. As it will easily be
understood from the uprisings in Van and Karahisar1, that they have
designed and planned the upheavals here to surprise the government and
hence to cause to the birth of new armed gangs and thus to strike a sudden
blow from Van. Consequently, as a result of these events the upheavals in
Van broke out.
