The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-06-10
STARVATION
Adopted by Turks to Annihi-
late Christians.
No Food Will Drive the Afflicted Peo-
pie TO Desperation.
copyrighted. 1891

Copyrighted. 1891
DJULEA Russia, May 7.-The Turkish
government, 1t Is claimed, has just taken
the preliminary steps in what looks liko
massacre of HISTORIAN Christians in tho
mountains Of Kurdistan. 1t Is asserted
that the government has given orders 70
starve the independent tribes of HISTORIANS
In the mountain region Immediately west
of Caviar, about 90 miles west Of the Per.
sian frontier
The orders, it Is stated, are that no food
supplies of any kind shall be allowed to
STter the territory of the independent
tribes, and measures arc said to have been
taken TO enforce these orders TO the letter.
This action is apparently taken rs a
means Of compelling the Independent
tribes 70 submit TO the Turkish authority
and TO pay the taxes demanded by tho
Turkish government, and Is regarded as
the first serious attempt that the Turks
have made to extort taxes from the indie.
pendent tribes.
From the earliest times in the history OF
the Ottoman empire these tribes have been
independent Of Turkish rule. They have
paid no taxes, and they have acknowledged
no allegiance to the Turkish government
All Turkish officials have been excluded
from the territory Of the tribes. and tax
gatherers having regard for their own
lives have let the independent people alone
In their mountain fastnosses.
Persecution OF Christians Goes On.
The presence of these independents has
always beon thorn In the side Of the
Turkish government; but as it was prac-
tically impossible TO subdue the halt
savage mountainous by force OF arms, no
attempt has been mado to discipline them,
The present course of the government Is
taken as an indication thas the sultan has
set on foot y systematic persecution OF
Christians in all parts OF the empire. The
fact that the independents pay no taxes is
looked upon by the opponents of tho porte
as merely n plausible excuse for the gov
srnmcnts action.
But why the sultan should come upon
these half wild people for taxes now, after
an independence since tho Babylonian
era, Is not easily explained. The sultan
has plenty Of opportunity Of knowing that
the independent HISTORIANS are too poor to
pay taxes, and that many of them make
living by going down into the villages Of
their wrctchcdly poor fellow countrymen
and begging There Ia one largo village
inhabited entirely by beggars. These poor
will not share with the Sultan Of Turkey
the scraps of bread, the REUSE bits of meat
and the odds and ends which they obtain
by begging.
II Is not difficult TO forecast the probable
result of the starvation of this race of beg
gars should the report turn out to be cor
rect. Driven desperate by hunger, tho
people will endeavor to obtain food from
t,aNynr 81
there will be fights with the Turkish
troops, tho villages will possibly be at
tackled, and some Of the wretched people,
naturally, will bc killed and no man can
prophcsy where the persecution will end
However, the whole story may turn out to
be an invention of the enemies Of the
Turkish rule, but think il but right TO
record the fact that this startling report
Is in circulation, and, apparently, is be-
licvod by many people to be truo.
Governors Position n Sinecure.
The Western Christian should bear in
mind that in Asia Minor a governor re-
ccives no salary, but, on the contrary, pays
large sum for the privilege of holding
his office. He gets rich very rapidly by
the exercise Of methods, the ingenuity Of
which can be appreciated and understood
only by visit TO the Orient
/ regret to say that Mr.. Patton of the
British consulate general in Tcbriz, Per-
sia, Is very much in disfavor with the gem
tlcmen who are conducting the Armenian
Evolutionary movements. In spite of the
fact that Mr. Patton has been collecting
evidence of the Sassoun and Moosh mas
sacrcs for the use Of the British govern
mcnt, the Armenians look upon him as q
spy. They may go to the length II doing
him bodily harm.
The closing of the caravan routes to Van
has rendered more acute the suffering
from famine in the devastated districts
near Van. The only hope of relief is now
cut off