The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1922-08-01
DEPORTATION BY /
ETURks TOLD Of /
| BY Z WITNESSES.
American Relief Workers
Tell OF Deportation OF
The Greeks
Estimate 1o,008 Deported
From July 1921 To
March 1922
tsy The ASSOCIATED parss)


!. LONDON, July 31+-rwo American
relief workers, J. H. Knapp and Miss
B. Bannerman Murdoch, who have ar.
rived in Constantinople from Arabkir
where they have been organizing re.
liet among refugees, give further de,
tails of the deportations of Greeks
and Armenians described previously
byf Major Yowell and Dr. Mark Ward.
Arabkir is in the interior of Anatoia,
80 miles west-northwest of Kharput.
They estimate. that 10000 deportees
passed through Arabltir between July
1921 and March 1922. The signed. re-
port given by them to the British Ar.
menia committee reads az follows:
Beginning in July 1921, the first
installment of 600 deportees of Greek
mon OF military age arrived. They
were all from the Konia district. One
hundred and fifty OF these we're Ar.
menians, and were sent on to Elgin.
The balance were Greeks. About 80
OF these remained in Arabkir and
put and Diarbekir districts. Then
came an instalment Of about 900 to
200 deportees mostly Greek, from the
Ordu district. There was sometimes
man with his whole family, but gen
orally women without any male mem
b~rs of the family with them, and
children.
ITO large portion of these it was
necessary for us to furnish bread ev
cry day for tho whole, winter. There
was another group of about 100 men
over 30 years old; some appeared to
be 80 years old. These remained a
few weeks and then all but few
were sent on to the Kharput area. A
EWge drove OF over ! 900 was the next
to arrive in Arabkir in the late fall.
They were herded on hill above the
city within 200 yards Of running
ditch OF water They were not al
lowed to- get water from this ditch,
bht were compelled to buy IL from
vendors. ON bleak, cold morning a
few days afterwards. they we're start
cd on their way towards Kharput. 1t
WIS sight that one can never for
get. to see middle-aged and old wo.
mon and men, to say nothing of the
younger women and children, carry
ing on their backs large loads of bed
ding, food and fagots, and in their
Ar ftnf nd Eni Il
~npon their load u child.
Many OF these were destined new
er to reach their destination, as the
storm which was brewing in the early
morning on the mountains soon devel.
oped into a blizzard and the roads
were left ,strewn with dead bodies.
These things were personally seen by
us, and IN visiting one of the Armen-
ian buildings where those who were
unable to go on were left behind. We
discovered several dead bodies on the
floor and n number of other persons
dying. with their children hanging
over them. These scenes were only
examples OF many others which we
Witnessed during the deportations,
Many OF the women were unable to
carry their children along, and were
Il sObliged to leave them on the roadside.
I'VE took In our orphanage about 20
6f these children. and several of them
were unable to survive the starva.
ti0n and exposure they had under.
gone prior to reaching Arabiiir,
PERSONALLY | visited In Kharput
several hospitals that were full OF
hundreds of Greek deportees. III with
tyIihus, and from one hospital II was
reported that as many as 20 day
were carried to the cemetery. The
stories OF robberlos and eXtortions
told MS by. the dcportees wefe almost