The Tragedy of Gulpashan.
The case of the treatment of the village of Gulpashan is without parallel in the history of the Urmi massacres. It is the most wealthy and prosperous of all the villages of the plain, and its inhabitants are quiet and law-abiding people. When the sister village of Geogtapa was plundered and burnt, by an ominous fate Gulpashan was spared. Karani Agha, a Kurdish Chief, well spoken of as a man of high principle, had announced that the village was his property and that it was to be spared. For two months the people were left in peace. It was said to be due to a friendship which existed between the Christian village masters, one of whom was related to the German Consular Agent at Urmi, and the Moslems. A servant of the German Agent was there, and Turkish soldiers were placed to guard the village. On the 24th February, a band of Persian fedais, who had been unsuccessful in an attempt on Salmas, returned to Urmi and attacked the village. They feigned friendliness at first, until they had got the men of the place in their power. Then they tied them together with ropes and drove them to the cemetery, where they butchered them in a barbarous and cruel way. Then the men, still wild with blood, turned on the women, and, after treating them in an unseemly manner, put some of them to death. The American missionaries went afterwards and buried the dead, which they did in many other places also. This was the last of the massacres in the Urmi plain. The awful deeds that were perpetrated here were telegraphed to America, whereupon such strong representations were made by the United States Government that an order was given for their cessation.
The Massacre in Salmas.
In the plain of Salmas, to the west of Lake Urmi, there are many large and beautiful villages inhabited by Syrians and Armenians. For the most part these people had fled to Russia before the flight from Urmi took place; but their homes and fields shared the same fate as those in Urmi. The Turks found on their arrival there that a good number of Christians had hidden themselves in the houses of friendly Moslems. The Moslem Hadjis were ordered to prepare a letter, which every Christian must sign, stating that they had received kind consideration at the hands of their protectors. This was only a trick on the part of the Turks, for in this way they got to know the names and dwelling-places of about 725 Armenians and Syrians in Salmas. A few days later all these men, roped together in gangs, were marched to the fields at night between Haftevan and Khusrawa, and some were shot, while others were hacked to pieces, in one way and another, in the most horrible fashion. This happened in March, only three days before the return of the Russian troops. This timely arrival of help prevented the women of the place from sharing a like fate.
The Attack on the Syrians in the Turkish Mountains.
The rest of the awful story comes from the Turkish side, where the Patriarch and the larger number of the Syrians live in the mountains of Kurdistan. It was many months before news reached their brethren in Urmi as to what had been happening some hundred miles away. The Patriarch, Mar Shimun, was driven from his home in Quodshanis. He fled to Tiari with all the members of his household. The Patriarch’s house was burnt, together with many other houses, including the house of the English Mission. Mar Shimun, writing to England a few days ago, tells us that for four months he has been a wanderer with his people, carrying on a war with the Turks and Kurds. They only gave up fighting when Turkish artillery was brought against them, which made it impossible for them to offer an effective resistance. Tiari and Tkhuma, both of which districts embrace many Christian villages, have been entirely destroyed. In August last 35,000 mountaineers fled to Salmas, Persia, but the larger part of the Syrians are still in the mountains wandering about from place to place, without food, and with no hope of anyone coming to their relief. The most pathetic part of the story is this. Surma, the Patriarch’s sister, with Esther, her sister-in-law, and three small children, went down to Tchumbar in Tiari in June last for safety. With the approach of the Turkish army they soon had to flee to Dadoush, and from there to the great Church of Mar Audishu, in the Tâl country. They always had to travel on foot with just the clothes they could carry. “Often-times,” Surma writes, “we were hungry, and the little children, who were with us, would fall asleep on the road, as we always had to travel at night.” Surma spent three months in Mar Audishu, expecting to leave at any moment, when the enemy drew near. During that time there was food but almost no water, and none at all could be spared for washing or bathing. Occasionally they walked to a stream to bathe and wash their clothes.
The last day of their stay there was the saddest of all. On that day their brother Ishaya died of fever. Mar Shimun, hearing of his illness, had come over the day before. The enemy was then very near, and they could hear the sound of the guns in Tkhuma. Just when the funeral of their brother was to take place, Surma, Romi, and Esther with her children were compelled to leave the place, lest they should be caught by the enemy. Mar Shimun, two priests, and a few laymen remained behind at this time of danger to bury their brother. The burial service was quickly said and the body hastily interred, and Mar Shimun hastened after the fugitive women and children. They were only just in time, for, a few hours after their departure, the Turks arrived and made straight for the church, having heard that the Patriarch’s household was there.
When writing to us on the 6th October, Mar Shimun says that he is in a village in Salmas, Persia, with his sisters and one or two members of his family. At the present moment there are with him 35,000 Syrians camped out in the plain of Salmas (4,000 feet above sea-level), sleeping in the fields with no clothes to cover them at night, clad in the rags which they have worn for many months, without food or shelter. The British Consul has telegraphed to England to say that unless these people are helped by charitable folk at home, two-thirds of them will die. No Christian nation has ever suffered for their religion as these people, and none has so great a claim on us as this unhappy Syrian remnant.
| A List of the Ruined Nestorian Villages. | |||
| A. Baranduz District:— | |||
| 1. | Darbaroud. | ||
| 2. | Sardaroud (Armenian). | ||
| 3. | Babaroud. | ||
| 4. | Ardishai. | ||
| 5. | Teka. | ||
| 6. | Alkian. | ||
| 7. | Kurtapa. | ||
| 8. | Shenabad. | ||
| 9. | Kosabad. | ||
| 10. | Mouradaloui. | ||
| 11. | Dizateka. | ||
| 12. | Shimshadjean. | ||
| 13. | Satloui. | ||
| 14. | Aliabad. | ||
| 15. | The Tazakands. | ||
| 16. | Diza of Baranduz. | ||
| 17. | Saralan. | ||
| 18. | Gulpashan. | ||
| B. Urmi River District:— | |||
| 1. | Geogtapa[[188]] (partly destroyed). | ||
| 2. | Wazerabad. | ||
| 3. | Tcharbash. | ||
| 4. | Sangar—Burzukhan. | ||
| 5. | Sangar—Beglerbegi. | ||
| 6. | Alwaj. | ||
| 7. | Seir. | ||
| 8. | Haidarloui. | ||
| 9. | Mar Sargis. | ||
| 10. | Hasar and Kom. | ||
| 11. | Anhar. | ||
| 12. | Diza Agha Ali.[[189]] | ||
| 13. | Balaw. | ||
| 14. | Kizilashuk (chiefly Armenian). | ||
| 15. | Gerdabad (chiefly Armenian). | ||
| 16. | Mata d’Zaya and Karagöz. | ||
| C. Nazlu River District:— | |||
| 1. | Ismael Agha’s Kala. | ||
| 2. | Armudagatch. | ||
| 3. | Kosi.[[190]] | ||
| 4. | Nazi. | ||
| 5. | Karalari. | ||
| 6. | Shumbulabad. | ||
| 7. | Superghan. | ||
| 8. | Ada. | ||
| 9. | Mushabad. | ||
| 10. | Yengidja. | ||
| 11. | Khaneshan. | ||
| 12. | Sherabad. | ||
| 13. | Gavilan. | ||
| 14. | Djemalabad. | ||
| D. Tergawar District:— | |||
| All villages, including— | |||
| 1. | Queana. | ||
| 2. | Mawana. | ||
| 3. | Palulan. | ||
| E. Hakkiari District (Ottoman territory):— | |||
| All Tiari. | |||
| All Tkhoma, except Mazra’a. | |||
| All Barwar. | |||