4r At'r~ ganyil
SUNDAY MAGAZINE
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 1922
French Betrayal of Cilician Christians
By Prof. F. W. Kelsey
In December, 1917, a British army in which he gives an account of his "After long years of War, the On the side of physical well-being
under General Allenby captured Je- experiences. After the Armenians had reign of peace and of toil has the French administration continued
rusalem. Thence it forced its way been expelled from the cities, their come. Let all upright people the arrangements made by the British.
houses and shops were systematically range themselves on the side of It provided rations and tents for
slowly northward. Damascus fell on pillaged and burned, and Turks be- France!" refugees in need of such help, and
the last day of September, 1918. came rich from the loot. General Querette. co-operated with both the American
In October. 1918, British armored At the close of the War the British In Tarsus the French officer in com- Relief organization and English or-
cars and a strong cavalry division were in possession of all the Turkish mand was Major Coustilliers. He de- ganizations which shared in the care
reached Aleppo, near the northern territory which the Turks had evacu- clared that the French had come to of orphans; but so far as I could learn
edge of Syria, and dislodged the rem- ated north of Egypt-Palestine and stay. Soon afterward he staged an the French officers maintained an at-
nants of the Turkish army gathered Cilicia, with Syria and Mesopotamia imposing ceremonial to celebrate the titude of complete indifference to the
there for a last stand. The Turks re- and the strip of territory along the raising of the French flag; for no rescue of Armenian women still in
treated northward, and on October 26 northern border of - these countries. Turkish flag was allowed to be seen possession of the Turks.
they were defeated a few miles from The Arabs had rendered invaluable as- Military orders were issued requiring Meanwhile the-delay of the Allies in
Aleppo, in the last engagement of the sistance in the war, and the relations that all the Christian population of settling the Turkish problem gradual-
Great War, in the Near East. The hetween them and the English were Tarsus should be present at the cere- ly restored the courage of the Turks
Turkish Armistice, which was equiva- cordial. mony. In anticipation, the children in Central and Northern Asia Minor.
lent to an unconditional surrender, The peace-loving element of the were trained to sing the Marseillaise. By the beginning of 1920 the Nation-
came into force five days later, Oc- population, Moslems and Christians The assembly for the flag-raising alist movement, which has for its
tober 31. alike, had confidence in the fairness was held in the open space in front purpose the perpetuation of the Turk-
In consequence, at the end of 1918 and eveness of the British Administra- of the French Barracks. Speeches of ish tradition of government, had gain-
Asia Minor and the regions to the tion. The American Near East Re- felicitation to the French were made ed such headway as to become for-
east as far as the Caspian Sea and lief work was extended rapidly over in the various languages spoken by nidable. Tragedies thickened.
the border of Persia were completely the regions occupied by the British the native Christians. Some of the In Bozand, in the Taurus Moun-
in the power of the Allies. The Turks and ministered to the needs of all speakers openly congratulated the na- talus, a relatively large detachment of
still retained possession of most of through the establishment of hos- tive Christians that the cruelties and French soldiers was reported cut off
the country, but they believed that! pitals and the distribution of supplies; rule of the Turks were now forever in repwsted from
their tenure of power would depend oil but it particularly devoted itself to the past th mat nothing more was heard from
good behavior, and were ready to com- the gathering and care of the thou- eajor Coustilliers responded to the ah, Ftrsoench iriso abdoned
ply with any reasonable demand. saids of orpha children who had laudatory sentiments of the speakers, the city on a bitter cold night in Feb-
By the 'terms of the Armistice the survived the massacres and were and accepted their congratulations. ruary, 1920, and set out for a three
Turks were obliged to withdraw their tound wandering like wild beasts in He promised security of life and prop- days' march to a junction point. About
forces at once from the regions south the open or were in virtual bondage try. He pledged himself to safeguard three thousand Armenians, who had
of the Caucasus Mountains, from Ci- in Turkish and Arab houses; also to the honor of their homes. "Nous gathered in Marash after the mas-
licia, and from a broad strip of ter- the rescuing of the Armenian women sommes ici," he said, "et nous rest- sacres, fearing the Turks set out with
ritory east of Cilicia, along the north- who had been seized by the Turks. somms Id" he simlar scres shes, arits surk stout with
ern border of Syria and Mesopotamia, The latter were assembled in Refuge were enacted, and similar assurances the furig sow sor drove
which controlled the route of the Homes, here they were protected and wee eiiAdana and Mersin a. hours. The French pressed on with-
prally completed "Berlin-Bagdad" given an opportunity to do usefulgieaAdnadMrsa. hu.TeFechpsedowt-
raiway wyk Afterward, but before the end of out halting, but about a thousand of
railway. -ok 1919, the United States Commission the refugees, among whom were many
Cilicia lies in the southeast corner Under these circumstances, the rem- headed by General Harbord came to women and children, were unable to
of the Peninsula of Asia Minor, be- nants of the Armenian and Greek pop- Tarsus. Two of my informants were keep up with them and perished in the
tween the Taurus Mountains on the uIlation drifted back to the cities from invited to meet the train at the rail- snow.
north and the Mediterranean Sea on which they had been expelled. They way station and accompany General sow.
begway staio andil accompan Generalnd Soon afterward the French garrison
the south. It consists largely of a beg to rebuil ruin houses and Harbord to Mersina. To the same in Urfa, left by the French High Com-
fertile plain, which supports three try to get a new start in life. station in Tarsus a committee of prom- mond to its fate, made terms with
important cities. Of these, one is In the midst of this constructive inent Armenians came, with the ex- the Turks and marched out under a
Tarsus, best known as the birthplace work, France intervened. She demand- pectation of boarding the train and pledge of sate conduct. In a pas not
of St. Paul; the other two are the ed that she te permitted to have con- ithus obtaining an opportunity to tar from the city, it was treacher-
harbor-city, Mersina, on the coast, and trol of Syria and Cilicia. England, meet members of the American Con- ously surroumded by the enemy and
Adana, on the Sarus River. In the in the face of plain understandings mission. While they stood talking in annihilated. Aintab was besieged but
region east of Cilicia are the cities of with Arab leaders, who now accused front of the station Major Coustilliers held oit. The cities of the Cilician
Aintab, north of Aleppo; Marash, her of betraying them, withdrew from came up. He divined their purpose, plain also remained in the hands of
north of Aintab; and further east is Syria, and also from Ciia. As the and without affording opportunity for the French
Urfa, the Edessa of ancient history. British forces left the French took explanation he "bruitally" (the word At ... .
All these cities before the War had possession, used by the narrator) ordered them At Hadjin, a comparatively short
a large proportion of Christians in On December 13, 1919, the following to leave the station "at once." He distance north of Cilicia, finding no
their population, chiefly Armenians. proclamation was circulated in the was carrying a swagger stick, but other resource the Armenians of the
In some of them there was a consid- French, Turkish and Armenian lan- though his manner was threatening, region gathered, organized for defense
erable body of Orthodox Greeks, with guages: he did not use it. He said that the and beseeched the Allies for help. A
a smaller number of Turkish-speaking "To the inhabitants of the Pro- Armenian Committee should under no deaf ear was turned to their entreat-
and Syrian Christians. vincial Districts of Aintab, Mar- circumstances have an opportunity to les, and in November, 1920, after a
The Christians formed the most ash, and Urfa. speak to the American Commission. siege of some months, the city fell.
,intelligent and progressive element of "By order of the General of Di- The French soldiers at the station Of the Armenians, estimated as high
the population. They were the best vision, Commander in Chief of vigorously followed up the major's as ten thousand in number, I have the
artisans, and most of the trade was in the Army of the East, High Com- orders, and accomplished the rapid word of a survivor that only three
their hands. The quarters of the missioner of the French Repub- departure of the Armenian commit- hundred and twenty-five escaped. The
cities in which they lived contained the lic in Syria and Cilicia, I assume tee. rest, men, women and children, were
best houses and shops. command of the French troops in This incident, in itself of trivial im- indiscriminately butchered.
During the War the Greeks in Asia , the provincial districts of Aintab, portance, is unfortunately typical. It Now, if ever, the French should have
Minor suffered terribly. In some parts Macash, and Urfa. illustrates the lack of intelligence joined with the British, who were
Greek villages were destroyed. In "In accord with the Sultan, -the which the French Administration has fighting the Nationalist Turks on the-
the larger cities Greek men were French Republic today extends its from the beginning manifested in its West side of Asia Minor opposite
taken from their homes and forced to protective action over Syria, Ci- , relations with the natives in these Constantinople. By combined effort
labor upon roads and railroads, under licia, and the territories of the regions. In Adana I was amazed to beyond doubt they would have been
such conditions that, according to East. All the inhabitants, with- find Armenian soldiers in French uni- able to make good their pledges to
report, the majority died of disease out distinction of race or of re- forms on guard. The majority of the the harried remnants of Christian pop-
and starvation, ligion, are under the protection inhabitants are Turks and the placing ulation that had come back into the
Of the horrors of the deportations of our arms, the power of which of a "foreign legion" of Armenians cities of Southeastern Asia Minor after
and massacres of the Armenians it is, has been- consecrated by Victory. over them had about the same dis- the massacres.
not necessary to speak. A conserva- j "We shall respect the religions, quieting effect that would have been But here the narrow and callous
five statement, based upon official the rights of private property and produced in a southern city immedi- self-interest, which is the character-
documents and reports, is presented the laws in the Ottoman Empire, ately after our Civil War in case a istic of French foreign policy, caught
by the American Ambassador to Tur- and shall cause them to be re- regiment of Negro soldiers should a glimpse of economic advantages to
key, Henry Morgenthau, in the book spected. have been sent to police it. (Continued on Page 8)
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