New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-05-17
HORRORS OF TURKISH RULE.
-rpyDAY OCCURRENCES REPORTED BY
A FOREIGN RESIDENT.
,,,cursr PROVINCIAL OFFICIALS DISREGARD
THE RIGHTS OF PROPERTY ALL '''''i-'
sAppLED UPON THE CHRISTIANS
KURps MURDER AND OUTRAGE
IMMUNITY.
WITH IMMUNITY


Tho following communication is from for
~, suhiect who has lived in Asiatic Turkey Tor
,,ore than fifteen years, and VINO recently mas
,rave,led in parts Of the worst-soverned PROV
s Tho report is authentic in every detail,
-. care having been taken to secure the exact
60. For obvious reasons all names have been
,,;,toa While possibly more startling array
~ .ao,s might have been given by selecting the
-, telling occurrences in several provinces, the
uritcr prefers TO confine the report to a single
province. In order '"a' '''''
be impaired:
rho Governor of this province impresses all who
-, hin, as n man destined to rule. ana that I'M
,o,s,v If not wisely. His presence is command
-, nd his manner dctatorial. but in strange con-
.st ~ these are the puerile traits of credulty ana
,nnulsive,ess On his arrival he began moral
,,g of the provincial seat. Evildoers began 10
rake hut after ALL 1t something like an earth
cuake terrible while ii lasted, but soon over linen
was instituted a cours. IF policy directed soleS
AGAINST the peace and prosperity OF the CHRISTIAN
,onu,ation The record is something appalling.
ccores have died the prisons and at the hanHs OF
,ho Kurds. hundreds Of homes have been devastated
thousands reduced abject poverty trade mas peen
frustrated, avenues of communication cioseu' an"
all the Christians of the province Drought 10 .ne
verge of despair No pen can picture theT p'ap'e
condition The worst criminals Of the province
Governor He showers gifts them, he Kisses
their foreheads. he decorates them with badges OF
honor while innocent and law-apioihs cu"e"S arc
made 10 suffer for their crimes
The following story. more amusing than anything
else Illustrates the methods he uses to secure his
ends one day he CHANGED TO see an Armenian
,is,ng nv on n fine horse He called the man ana
tried TO close bargain for the horse but the latter
objected that II did not belong to him, but 10 MS
h-other who was In exile. After leaving the roN-
ernor's presence he began to feel rather uneasy
and concluded 10 sell the animal to foreign sub
,oct The new owner paid % liras for him. but in
his turn grew apprehensive lest he lose the horse'
and so took him TO the Consulate mot Enshsh)'
The acting Consul very soon received missVe
from the Governor saying that valuable horse
worth 90 liras had been stolen from hurd ana
had been secreted in the Consulate. and polite
request was added that the horse be delivered up.
Weakly enough IL must be admitted the surrender
was made Then the Governor called IN the hufd
who had sold the horse in the first instance Tor :"
lras TO the man who was later eXiied, and said'
Here is your horse take IT,. year later 'he
Kurd was summoned and asked TO bring the morse
along with him. In the presence OF officials ana
others n bargain was closed at u lras, and the
horse worth 60 lras passed into the hands OF Ills
Exccllency The writer has seen the Governor pay
chess in the way. al critical points exercising
the prcrogatlve of regulating his opponents moves
Not very far from the city is a Kurdish chef' an
Intimate. friend of the Governor. His rule in the
district he occupies be said 10 be positively
unsurpassed In history for its absolute tyranny The
people OF that region are worse tnan Saves ana
now no one preends TO count the number OF muir
ders for which this man is responsible ana as Tor
rapne and piage It Is simply impossible 70 give
estimates One OF his more recent outrlgcs was 10
KIN four unoffendng Christians Tina; II was done
at the instigaiion OF the local government Is evil
dent from the fact that the Governor himself went
10 this district called the chief and the friends Of
..Ii "a Into fa1t
here you must forgive this chief. and | VIII see
that he pays you blood money" which, according
TO the law. ought 70 have been l.D litaH. what
could they do but acquicscc; Then the chief Rcur-
RED about among the povcrty-Strlcken villagers.
collected 10 bras from the Christians and made his
peace. II IL clear that the crime was thus admit
tel by the cuiprit and the Governor. and yet such
the result. In this instance enc might by
much twisting and stretching. say that at least
there was some faint show Of an attempt TO make
peace in the chiefs unhappy family. but what Of
those scores OF instances when Christians have been
murdered openly and In cold blood and no redress
has been possible For instance. poor. defence
less old was taking his grain 10 the mill when
he was attacked by Kurds. who robbed and muir
dered him. The body was found and brought 70
the village church Word was sent again and again
10 the Governor to and see the body. but no
one came and the villagers did not dare TO bury
the body lest they should be accused of the muir
der Fortunately on the sixth day the English Con-
sui happened along and managed TO see the body.
though az he told the writer. the stencil was some
thing fearful. After that the Government sent
some one 10 investigate and give the verdict that
the man had been murdered by Christians.
Another instance of this nature Will suffice. About
twenty miles from the Government seat a Kurd.
having a grudge against Armenian. publicly
threatened his life and shortly after. finding him
harvesting. killed him in the presence OF lis wife
and children. TWO OF the younger children died
from sheer fright. Complaints were made at once.
but no notice taken of the matter Two months
after the murder a disturbance took place this
village In which Armenian outlaws were supposed
to have resisted the Government Then the muir
dered mans name was put down on the list OF the
outlaws who had taken part in the struggle and
there the matter dropped. That is 10 say. man