KURDISH MASSACRE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 395, 2 January 1909, Page 15

KURDISH MASSACRE.

CHILDREN ABANDONED Arid CIRLS < CARRIED OFF. 50 VILLAGES BURNED. News of o Bcrios of, shocking outrages _h!i3 ■been_ received ill jLotmoh' from the American missioiiary jit . Mftrdin, 'in tile villayet of Diarbekr. The following letter has been communicatcd by Dr. ltendel Harris to tho London V Daily Noto/'jyliich joints out thdt tho riew .Gdvornmeftt ih Turkey;gdnnpti bo charged with responsibility fol\ tno fiendish Acta committed by tiio . Kurdish'.tribosyrlen , And uv liUst be a difficult taskr • Mnrdmi October 23, 1908. . Your teleatam. m reply to my . tllieo was received Wednesday lastj and I 6ii ,th<x samo day sent you AMthor Bt&tine. that _I was phased by tho nee'dy onc&j.ahdnWvkl some lmtaediatfc help. To-ddy I received a petition from \ r eran Slielltr (c&llod. . tjlo w>vernmenfc . Yem Shehir)r froln. which- I mako the following cxtraitsj lis:it. IB too-long to . translate in its entirety..-j-- ; "Some 50 .villages. hire been burned, between- 500 ' and' 700.of; tlio . Shirkian. tribes : have'been.lUlled; and s6Hlo;'100 ciiildreß, from a 'month Old and upward; were abhiidoned by their motliers in tneir llastO and fatigue, on thb roa'd of: their flight betweeh- tho. Kusr arid-.Virnn Shehir, .whero thoy diedafld were 'eaten by. tho vultures. ■ Women .and girls wero impropriated:.by the soldilarS alia the Koords of Davik, Ghdori, the Dishicyah, Mishkeevahj and other tribes, to the number of. 150 v women: and. girls ;■ and .thoso of the. Yemdeo inen, • .women, : and 'children who reachcd ils ' with '.ujion •• them and : without bedding. are : botweeh JSOOO. and 400U.' .The villages' Were butned by the Redu and the Koords from tho wfest, north, and east of. Vcran-Shehir. • They also, killed, the Shirkian Yezideesj: and made c&ptivos .of jtho wotneA., The 300 refugees. m Viran.Shehir.aro.liot ail by ally moans.- ■ I liave a list ct -10 houses of them 'ill Telcrmim of 10 houses m fa'osjt, of 16 faniili&S ii\ Ittfoildoor And Kazil Ajak-. We liavb nit W in lUftd the list's 6f the;, refugees ill Davik aM jiUcds in the mountains.- vine. 50 villages burned-were,,not. gll that wehv sO treated, fot molo of. tho villus Well in t-cilts (block)- thaii in. houses, ahd, 411 of . those were carried oif, so that they ardiiV as.bad.4 E light;- asf, if :'iv6V, worse .than, those. whose ouses-Wel'Oj bUrhedi.c; — ■ ThAt is-W Say, over'loo villagers . are now. = homelessV ;fdodlessi clotheless, bedlcss, "Without cattle, ploughs, sited: and. .their sheep and camels and donkeys-all driven off. They escaped witli. only the clothes on their backs, /and even; some.'. of those wei'O. taken from thetn by sbldiors in the places to \\hieli they ■ fled. 1 Sever4l Arab ahd Kdordifeh tribes word plUh'dftred by the;soldiers a'riti. their Kurdish eH'eVAie3. out not to the 6XWM to trhitsh Wife Ys'ziilcbs ' llhvo 1 siiflerod,. lliobgh ill AumhferS thfey fexceed. tho Yezideesi . Olio thdtißihu twit's out of 2000 Arab teftts of " the followers of''lbrahim Pashaiuvobeei; bluhdci'ed.by ] the Tai Hamidieli and thc Kdoi'ds of ABhita. j 'rho'area given Up to plVmdeYj kiUmg,.and i .buhiing. stretchy threte - days' jouhley -from-i eftst-'ta wetti: and twd' dayS' -jouriloy frorii nOrth;to solith. It is a wOrse CdlainitV foi'; the.' .Y€iidei>h ahd soino of-' tho. Arab ,'ftiid KoOrdisll tribes thail fell Upoiutho Ghristiaiifi iti 1 .1895. Siiroly hero. is. a ehaljco for . the Red Ctoss Society to loud a .hand, especially in ■ rehabilitating the -Yc?.ideo 1 villagcß, -be-, cause tho Government viVill- bo much more likelyy if it does anything 'to • aid the Arab and Koordish tO recupsrato them : selves than .to Assist tho Yizi'dees, - whom they .hatc-. ; y . :;v-":v '?■- It "is; a"- safe^^.st'atemeht/toV.sayvtha^ on the plain befohs lis," And -in -ViralV Shehir (for somo 4000 inhabitants ..of. that; .town, /'are las -b^lv.Voff,-;^ fled to it, Jiaving; becti robped by vt-he • sol--difets' Bettt fof their prOtcolioii), there' are, a-, winter.- with hothiftg-. W. at or. wear • oi sleep im ■ Musfc w6 fdld. oUr handß ahd siy, Bo j'e wanned, and filled, • and do nothing? The Yezidees, who. 'have;'thus 'so'-s "cVuelly ■ suffered;' and .'tnatyafttrßh:?!^ .' rendered G6V<*f -Itlie following tribes: '■(l 5 'Sllirkisi'u, I (!i) Sdvan, (3) • Demad, (4): Khalta, ahd (o) Moseka.—Yours very trulv, '> - V (SigiWrt A. N. ANDRUS