The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-09-28

of the nanve Christian churches m the
near east
Today, however, there are practically
no Armenians In the six provinces The
appalling deoortations of 1915. during
which $4,000 Armeuians died, was to the
Armenians what the great dispersion was
to the Jews. Their clergy and their
better classes are dead There are left
about 1,250,O00 Armenians. one-third OF
them the poorer classes of Armenian men
and the other two-thirds women and
girls, practically all of whom have been
subjected to the most narrowing expert
ences by their Moslem captors and part
of whom are still held. willingly or I'M
willingly, as servants in the Moslen
households of which they became mem
bers n 1915. They are now broken and
scattered people, whose remnants are
being gathered up by American funds
and shepherded together in camps, pend
ing their ultimate repatriation.
CAUCASUS REPUBLIC
eNariy a million of these survivors have
formed a pitiful republic" in the eau
casus, with a former mayor OF Tifiis
Russia, for their president These art
the Arrnenians who, when the war began
trekked from the provinces OF Erzerum
Van and Bitlis, across the Turkish IRON
tier into the Russian Caucasus to escape
the Turkish anti-Armenian outbreat
which they knew would come sooner o.
later and also. in some part to joil
the Russian armies as auxiliary forces
They trekked back along with the stu
pendous Russian advance OF lsl5 mt
Turkey, and they fled back into TN
Caucasus when the treaty OF Brest- LIT
ovsk necessitated the Russian with
drawai Since the war began most
them have had no settled home. Inc.
have undergone such terrible ordeals
starvation that stories of the boiling o
babies for food and of other cannibalisn
are still current in the Caucasus. Hun
dreds of thousands OF them are nov
living on food supplied by the America
committee for relief in the near east AM
! by the Hoover food commission. The,
are surrounded by Kurds. Tartars an
Turks. eager for an excuse to begin IN
, looting which accompanies a massacre
They are a frightened. helpless, cruel an
| treacherous people There is a sayin
| throughout the near east that "everybod
syrnpathizes with the Armenians but no
body likes them"
| Cut off from this Armenian republic
! by all the breadth Of Asia Minor an
! half its length. are about 10000 NOR
| Armenian exiles. now being collected a
camps in and around Aleppo for repatria
I tiOD Dy the directorate Oh EtlicI hOPo
| triation of the British army. They ar
being repatriated only as far into IN
six so-called Armenian procinces
British occupation has been extended
and since occupation has only been ex
tended into the southern fringes Of thes
/ provinces, /. E., up TO and fnciudin
| Marash, Eintab and Urfa, repatriatio
can only proceed until these districts ar
full. after which it must stop. Just no'
the Mecca Of these Armenians Is Adams
| the capital of SILICA. rich plain De
i tween the Amanus and Taurus mountain
now being claimed by the Syrian ARABS
the French and the Armenian Nationa
union, Here, at Adana, one finds TN
first sign of hope for the Armenian pee
pie. The French had their Legion Al
menienne stationed here, until they dis
| covered that the Armenians were TO op
rose the French claim to Cilicia, VINE
the Legian Arrnenienne began to be de
modified with great rapidity AND II
personnel thrown onto the streets to DC
come the objects of American relief
Among these soldiers are a NUMBER 9
i American Armenians who came to Asi
/ Minor to feht for their people. The ma
tive Arrnenians are an exceedingly car
able people, but not according to wes'
ern standards. These American Armen
ians. however, are men OF western train
ing, upon whom must rest a large snar