THE ARMENIANS IN SYRIA

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 42, 13 November 1918, Page 8

THE ARMENIANS IN SYRIA

SUFFERINGS OF DEPORTEES

POLICY OF WHOLESALE ASSASSINATIONS

(By Captain Alured F. Ozanne.) Before 1915 there was a fair-sized Armenian colony in Syria, consisting of from twenty 10 thirty thousand Armenian merchants. 1$ 1915' and 1916, however, as a result of live deportations, thousands of Armenians were dispersed to all parts of the country. One has some idea of tho sufferings wnich they endured from reliable evidence i'ecently brought forward by refugees and released prisoners of war, the substance of whose information is given below. Alter 'turkey's entry into the war the Armenians in" tlie northern part of Syria were treated like slaves. So soon as any of them appeared ill the markets of Aleppo they were arrested as vagabonds by tub police and compelled to fill-the gaps in the Labour Corps. Widows and orphans were compelled to work in the military work-, shops on a daily ration of 500grs. (1.i00z.) of bread. As a result of this harsh treatment the majority of the Armenians of Northern Syria are dying of starvaIn order to cover up bis atrocities, towards the Syrian Arabs and Christians Djemel I'aslia did not allow a genera deportation of Armenians from Northern Syria. A few persons were deported, and a few families deported from. Adana were given protection by Djemel l'asha and allowed to start business 111 Aleppo, Damascus and Beirut. On the other hand, those Armenian refugees who nad been sent from. Diabekir and Mush to Horns and Hama were forced to become Moslems and were obliged to marry their daughters to Moslems. After their conversion" they were not; treated so badly. Of those Armenians who were deported to the Hauran the majority died, from starvation. AVonicil and even children under tweke years of age were forced to work at road-making and other forms of rough manual labour. It is presumed that all the Armenian refugees who weie sent to Deir es Zoer, about 50,000 in number, were massacred, as nothing moie was ever heard of them. The lot of those Armenians who have .been depo ted to Damascus seems to be more tolerable. They can do fairly well in business and trade. In many cases the women, gn Is, and children of needy families sell bread in he streets. Ilard-working Armenians it Ham" Horns, and El Kuneitoa can also get their living. The workshop at Aleppo, however, can only emploj a mere fraction of tho deportees aad tl.B There are at present about MM Armenians in Damascus, Southoi 1 bjria, and Eeiaz. In the last two districts the plight of the deportees (.an only be described as pitiable. The advance of the British Armv is made an occasion for further deportations. About two months ago the Turks began ian6 in Damascus, and it, has beenl norted that tho Turks have been compelling all young Armenian men to adopt the Mohammedan religion qid to Turkish names. If an Armen-an 1 or if he incurs the dishko of the lui if TWmoscus, ho is exiled to the Hawaii, nnd thence for any further. offence to AlepS wheie the J utmost distress now l 'nm" S great is the distress in Aleppo mav 'be appreciated from the fact tha. in 'October 1917, iheire were 111 Aleppo and its vicinity about 25,000 Armenians, 08 ner cent of whom were absolutely destitute. Quite 80 per cent. °r. refwees were old men and women, widows ,nd children, wasted with hunger and disease. It must be remembered, moreover that the missionary relief work, which had been so zealously and succe..»fully undertaken by sionaries. .came to an. end with America«. pntrv into tlio wui« .. . i Prom all this information it is al),l ' n : dantlv clear that Turkey was embaiked unon'a policy of wholesale rssassination "ofat is the wretched Armenians are concerned. How far this policy has been inspired by Berlin, or how- far it is the 2 ' nroduct of the Turks themselves, natters little.' The ! that as in 1914, so also -n 1918, tlie, enemies'of Britain and the entente show , by their every-day attitude towards questions involving ordinary justice and decency, how necessary is their overthrow if smaller and wealter races, are to letam any claims at all upon mere existence.