Norwich bulletin., 1919-06-04
STORIES OF TIE WAR
Frishtful Experiences of Deported Ar
menians.


 Stories told by Christian women and girls of Armenia who were deported from their homes, led to virtual cap tivity or slavery in the camps of the Turks, 'Circassians and Arabs or held captives in Turkish harems sin Asia Minor have been received by the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief. The statement is- sued by the committee says that the women whose narratives are made public were released by their masters or rescued by allied troops.
 After the signing of the armis tice," says the committees statement many of the Turks believing that by so doing they could escape punish ment, turned the women-many of them with babies-into the street. Ca blegrams to the committee have re- ported that numbers of hese women were wandering about the country crazed by starvation and exposure. As fast as possible they are being gath cred up by the committees relief workers and placed in homes estab- lished for their care. A late tele- gram said that fifteen such homes have been established in Asia Minor" Stories of these Armenian victims of Turkish atrocity were obtained by pr. Loyal L. Wirth, member of an expedl tion sent to Turkey by the committee They are taken down as related by Dr. W. A. Kennedy, field director of ths Lord Mayors Relief Fund of Lon don After taking them down, Dr. Kennedy assured Dr. Wirth, he per , sonally re-read the aidayits to the l narrators and they signed them in his 1 presence.
 | Together these tales constitute one 1 of the tragic chapters of the war. l They we're not isolated cases but in i some instances the experiences of as many as 5000 refugees who had been i driven from their homes and forced to ] journeys of hundreds of miles from 1 fertile Armenia into the borders of the l Syrian desert. On the way hundreds
 at a time were separated and massa-
 cred often in the most diabolical way. Hundreds of girls were torn from the other members of their family and taken none knows where by the Turks kurds or Ciccassians. Scores were
 compelled to live &1 captivity naked
 for months and suffering from sum blisters and beatings. Armenian girls | who escaped death were bartered like | cattle. After their fathers or rela- | tives had vainly paid ransom foI them. Some saw their fathers oi friends murdered. In the tents of the Arabs in the Syrian desert many were bound and forcibly tatooed on the forehead, lips and chin to mark then as MoSlem women.
 Generally the stories indicate thar the captives were moved sometimes il
 large groups fl on Armenia southwarC
 toward the desert of Syria. Th'
 stories told by at least three Armenian
 Christian girls deal with the move
 ments of one of these great groups
 consisting of ? 900 families or 5.0Ot
 persons. One story of this awful jour. ney into the desert was told by Ia kouhi Guezkuchdkan, a girl of eigh teen who with her father, mother fou
 sisters and a brother was deportec from Hadjin, in Adara province in
 May 1915. They were moved south
 ward to Aleppo and thence further or
 toward the Syrian desert until tn,
 party numbered about LOCO families
 At Sivaria, she said, they were tolc tht on payment of 5000 Turkish lira they would be allowed to return.
 , "The refugees said tht- could no !, give this amount" tfE Armenian gir 7 told Dr. Kennedy Then the Circa , sians of the tribe of Chechens wht , had control of them separated out l. . 100 of the poored families and tool the mawa,-. The same evening som
 of these people returned and said the, . had escaped and that four hours aft , CT they left, the Chechens had besu1
 to kill them with iron studded clubs
 The remaining families raised 1.5o ' pounds and sent a deputation of fifty , two men with it to huy their security J The amount was refused and the me were beaten and sent back
 They raised an additional 800 Ira and took 2,000 Turkish pounds in gol to the Circassian Beys who took tn l money and tried to force them to sig paper saving that the Armenians ha J paid no money to them. The deputa tion refused to do this and the fifty l two men were hound and taken away. n A few days later. according to tn | girls story, the remaining familie were deported from Sivaria and aftc !, eight days arrived at Shedadieh. Q the river Habour cast of Deir- Es 20 "On the way" the girls story wer . on, "150 men were separated an e taken away and soon after the Circas 9 sians returned and divided anon themselves some of the clothing whic z she recognized as belonging to son c of the men which they had take away. Tho next day 300 more nc 2 were taken away and killed" As tf n refuEees resumed their Journey on u