The Union daily times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1918-current, 1922-07-28
Turkish Deportation
Methods Described
By Witnesse,


rived in Constantinople from Arab
kir where they have been organizing
relief among refugees, gave further
details of the deportations of Greeks
and Armenans described previously
by Major Yowell and DR.. Mark Ward.
Arabkir is in the interior of Anatolia,
60 miles west-northwesL of Kharput.
They estimate that 10000 departees
passed through Arabkir between July
1921 and March 1922. The signed
report given by them to the British
Armenia Committee reads as follows:
beginning in July 1921 the first
instalment of 600 deportees of Greek
men of military age arrived. They
were all from the Konia district. One
hundred and fifty of these were Ar
menians, and were sent on to Egin.
$50 of these remained in Arabkir,
and the balance were sent on to the
Kharput and Diarbekir districts
Then came an instalment of about
$50 to 300 deportees, mostly Greeks,
from the Ordu district There was
sometimes a man with his whole FAM
lily, but generally women without any
male members of the family with
them, and children.
'To large portion of these it was
necessary for us to furnish bread
every day for the whole winter.
There was another group of about
100 men over so years old; some ap-
peared to be 80 years old. These re-
manned a few weeks and then all but
few were sent on to the Kharput
area. A large drove of over 1000
was the next installment to arrive in
Arabkir in the late fall. They We're
herded on a hill above the city with
in 200 yards of running ditch Of
water. They were not allowed to get
water from this ditch, but were COM
PEELED to buy it from vendors. On a
bleak, cold morning a few days after
wards they were started on their
way towards Kharput. 1t was a sight
that one can never forget, to see mid
dle-aged and old women and men, to
say nothing of the younger women
and children, carrying on their backs
large loads of bedding, food and fag-
gots, and in their hands pots and
kettles, and perched upon their load
n child.
MANY of these were destined never
to reach their destination, as the
storm which was brewing in the early
morning on the mountains soon de-
veloped 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 Ar
menian buildings where those who
were unable to go on were left be-
hind, we discovered several dead
bodies on the floor and number of
other persons dying, with their chill
dren 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 obliged to leave them
on the roadside. We took into our
orphanage about 20 of these children,
and several Of them were unable to
survive the starvation and exposure
they had undergone prior to reach
ing Arabkir.
"Personally | visited in Kharput
several hospitals that were full of
hundreds of Greek dcportees, ill with
typhus, and from one hospital it was
reported that as many as 20 a day
were carried to the cemetery The
stories of robberies and extort:ons
told us by the deportees were al
most universal. We were convinced
from the policy of the Turkish gov
ernment in forwarding these Lcpor-
tees to other places on days when the
weather was extremely severe, that
their intention was to subject them
to such exposure that they would
perish. Their policy of giving two
ratons OF bread day to the dcpOr-
tees who were working on their
roads, which was insufficient for their
and then cutting it
down when they showed signs of
weakness to one ration, showed that
slow starvation was also another
method for accomplishing their OK
termination.
"On our way from Arabkir,
Kharput, Diabekir and Urfa,
we encountered these Greek depor-
tees in every village and city, and
thousands of them were at work on
the road. Personally, we examined
the rolls of deportees to whom Am
orleans were giving bread every day
m Kharput, and the number averaged
800"
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