As to their methods, Armenian sympathizers were expected to support them voluntarily; but blackmail and terrorism were also used freely—particularly on the wealthier merchants, who (having something to lose) were not merely blind opponents of the Turkish régime. Thus in one case a merchant was captured, and simply given the choice between paying £100 to the cause, or forfeiting his ears; when he offered £50, he was told that in that case only one ear would be taken. Under that pressure he paid, and was released; with the warning that immediate death would follow any attempt to obtain redress from the Government.
In like fashion, the Bishop of Akhtamar, near Van, was deliberately murdered; either for not supporting the movement with church funds, or—as some said—for not exerting himself sufficiently to obtain redress from the Government for his oppressed flock.
Sometimes, however, they did execute a sort of irregular justice. One notorious Kurdish oppressor at least was found shot; and information was sent to the Government that this was the justice administered by the Tashnakist organization for what that man had done, and that therefore if any of the dead man’s immediate rayats were charged with it, the Government officials would hear more of the matter. Had they confined themselves, under the existing circumstances, to this twentieth-century version of the Vehm-gericht, it would not have been difficult to sympathize with them.
Their local organization consisted of a small “inner ring,” which had not more than a dozen members at most. Next to them came perhaps 600 “sworn soldiers,” who were well armed with Mauser pistols, and had each of them taken[{247}] an oath to fight to the death under the orders of the “ring,” and never to surrender under any circumstances. Beyond these again were “adherents” in indefinite number (perhaps 3000 in all), for whom guns had been smuggled in, and stored in secret arsenals; with the idea that this force could be called to arms if ever an opportunity of open rebellion arrived. If the massacre they courted should begin, these arms could of course be of use for defensive purposes.
The guns were a “scratch lot;” the best being Mausers, but the majority Russian military rifles. It would seem that discipline in the Caucasus was benevolently slack, and that very few questions were asked if a soldier sold his rifle for vodka. They had also a good supply of bombs, the material for which was transported from the Caucasus, and made up locally by a chemist of the band.
In the summer of 1905, the Fedais at large attempted what might be called a guerrilla war on a fairly large scale in the district of Mush, to the west of Lake Van. They said they were interfering to protect the peasants from the troops. The troops said that they had been marched down to protect the peasants from the brigands. And the unfortunate peasants heartily wished both parties away! In any case, there were some 300 Tashnakists wandering in the land, having arrived in small parties from Russia; and they were levying open war on the Government, which had to reinforce the local garrison by some 6000 men to deal with the annoyance, and then failed to catch them. One may have one’s own opinion of the cause and methods of the Fedais; but it must be admitted that their claim that Armenians proved themselves to be as good fighting men individually as any Turk was well substantiated.
In one case, a party of some twenty of these desperadoes were fairly caught by 700 Government troops, regular and irregular, upon an isolated and waterless hill. It did seem that these men were cornered, for there was not cover for a rat to escape by, and no man can fight against thirst. However, the Armenians did not wait for the next day’s attack, but came down that moonless night, provided with[{248}] the weapons they had—rifles, bombs, and electric torches. Obviously, they had a leader with a head on his shoulders, for their plans were regularly laid. They advanced in couples; and as soon as a challenge was heard Armenian A threw the flashlight from his electric torch on to the sentry, and Armenian B threw the bomb at him and annihilated him. The explosion roused the camp; but the band of Fedais rushed straight on, flashing their lights and throwing their bombs at anything that came in their way. Naturally, half trained troops were not going to face Sheitan himself in this style. They broke; and the band went through without the loss of a man, thanks to an ingenious combination of the tactics of Gideon with those of the modern anarchist.
On another occasion the result was not quite so successful, though the revolutionaries secured a full price for every man they lost.
Eighteen Fedais, their work done, were endeavouring to leave the country, but were forced by sheer hunger to halt near a friendly village, while food was provided for them. Somehow, the fact of their presence leaked out, and the Kurds of the neighbourhood gathered to the prey. The men took refuge in three small caves that stood side by side, serving, as is often the case, for sheepfolds. These were hollowed artifically in loose conglomerate rock, their roof being formed by a comparatively thin shelf of projecting limestone. The Fedais put their bombs in readiness at the cave mouths; these forming their sole weapon: though the fact that they were carrying some £6000 in gold on their persons made them a prize worth winning. One party of Kurds occupied the top of the shelf of rock, while the main body prepared for a frontal attack. As these rushed up the slope, an Armenian in the central cave took up a bomb from the heap that lay ready, and hurled it at the enemy. His aim was not too good, however, for the missile hit the edge of the rock and exploded; the concussion naturally detonating the whole magazine. Of course the six Armenians in that cave were never seen again; though the writer was shown some of the coins that were then in their waist-belts, and which had in several cases been blown[{249}] clean into the rock, looking as if they had been battered with a hammer on an anvil. If the garrison perished, however, their cave was turned for the moment into a great cannon. Every Kurd in the path of the explosion was killed; and the roof of the cavern, with all the men on it, disappeared into space. Thirty-five Kurds missing altogether, besides a number wounded, was fair recompense for the loss of six men. The assailants had no wish to face the two remaining caves after the reception they got from the first one, and the rest of the party effected their retreat safely.
Nature aided the Tashnakists, by giving them practically inexpugnable strongholds in the land, with ready exits into Persian territory. The great crater of Nimrud, some six miles across, was one of their refuges; and this is paved for much of its area with a maze of corrugated lava whence no man who knows the runs can be dislodged. Here are also hot springs, just of a temperature to sit in comfortably, in which some of these fellows actually lived for weeks during an Armenian winter, with the thermometer far below zero. They had rigged up an ingenious arrangement, so that they could lie in the water and sleep with their heads above the surface.