"The Persian Army entered the plain of Xanthos under the command of
Harpagos,
and did battle with the Xanthians. The Xanthians fought with
small numbers
against the superior Persians forces, with legendary
bravery. They resisted the endless
Persian forces with great courage,
but were finally beaten, their womenfolk,
children, slaves and treasures
into the fortress. This was then set on fire from,
below and around the
walls, until destroyed by conflagration.
Then the warriors of Xanthos
made their final attack on
the Persians, their voices raised in calls of
war,
until every last man from Xanthos was killed…"
Heredotos
Heredotos
My first posting inspired by my Lycian Tour was on Karmylassos because we have gone there first, but the story of Xantos, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was the most impressive with its story.
Xantos was capital city of Lycia and a trade center. The people of Xantos were courageous and brave warriors. They demonstrated their commitment to independence choosing to commit mass suicide rather than submit to invading forces twice. The Xanthosian men set fire to their women, children, slaves and treasure upon the acropolis before making their final doomed attack on the invading Persians. Heredotos's description of this tragic event is quoted above.[1] Xanthos was later repopulated by 80 families who were away during the fight. But the history repeated itself in 42 BC when Brutus attacked the city during the Roman civil wars in order to recruit troops and raise money. Brutus was shocked by the Lycians' suicide and offered his soldiers a reward for each Xanthosian saved. Only 150 citizens could be stopped from committing suicide.
We made our houses graves
And our graves are homes to us
Our houses burned down
And our graves were looted
We climbed to the summits
We went deep into the earth
We were drenched in water
They came and got us
They burned and destroyed us
They plundered us
And we,
For the sake of our mothers,
Our women,
And for the sake of our dead,
And we,
In the name of our honor,
And our freedom,
We, the people of this land,
Who sought mass suicide
We left a fire behind us,
Never to die out...
Poem found on a tablet
in the Xanthos excavations,
translated by Azra Erhat[2]
The Xanthosian men burned their women and children rather than giving in to a more powerful country which wanted to take control of Xanthos. Persians had attacked them because Xantos was a commercial center and Persians wanted to reach the trade roads.
In that era powerful countries took control of less powerful countries they could physically occupy. As humankind got more clever --I am not sure if this can be called development-- they became able to control countries in distance either through creating differences among people co-living or through quislings. Poor economic conditions would help them greatly.
Thinking of the Armenian Question; rise of nationalism after 1789
French Revolution, decline of economy in the Ottoman Empire
due to capitulations, getting smaller and not being able to cope with the
changing environment, Russian attacks to reach the sea trading routes,
competition of great powers to control trade routes and natural resources
within the borders of the Empire, promise of Russia to Armenians for autonomy[3], Wilson Plan for Armenia had all been in the root of this issue.
The co-living two peoples were set against each other, Armenians encouraged to
upsurge and Ottoman Empire being obliged to take cautions against the
upsurge.
During the upsurge in a vain effort to
change the demographic balance Armenian revolutionists set fire to hundreds of
villages. This time peoples of the same land burned not themselves but their
neighbours. In earlier postings I mentioned Zeve where people from eight
villages have come together to defend themselves collectively but died
together, two mansion houses and a mosque packed with people in Erzurum to exemplify the atrocities. A
very horrendous method used by Armenians was bringing people together in
a spacious building and then letting in a bull kindled like a torch. A document
titled “Ermenilerin Hınıs'ta İslam Ahaliye Yaptıkları Mezalim / Atrocities Perpetrated by Armenians Against Muslim
Population in Hınıs[4] describing
use of this method in Hınıs sent by the Administrative Office of the District
is available in the Ottoman Archives.
An archival document[5] which
mentions burning of living women and children
by Armenians in Aşnak village of the township of Reşadiye in Van
province has been included in Archival Documents of the Viennese
Armenian-Turkish Platform. From upsurge of Armenians in Eastern Anatolia in 1890s
until peace was restored with the Treaty of Alexandropol on 2 December 1920
Armenians burned masses of Muslim population with the purpose of ethnic
cleansing in an effort to change the balance in population so that they would
ensure mandate of the US as promised by Wilson if they could get control of Eastern Anatolia reaching out to Blacksea in the north via Trabzon and to Mediterranean in the South through Cilicia in line with the Wilson Plan.
In an anonymous article published in The Presbyterian, in late January/first days of February 1894, the author pointed out that the name "Armenia" was historical not geographical, and that out of two or three million Armenians around the world, one third lived in Russia, one third were scattered to several countries and only one third lived in Anatolia but not at a certain location. It was the opinion of the author that even at places like Van or Bitlis where the Armenian population was most dense, the muslim population was twofold and therefore appointment of Armenian governors would create problems. The rumor at the time was that the author was the Director of the American College in Merzifon (Marsuvan)[6]. While a civilian can see that gaming on Armenians is not a good idea, the politicians should be expected to know better, and probably they knew. But to beat the Ottoman Empire they preferred to act as they did. As a result, some two and half milliom muslims[7] and a highly disputed number of Armenians lost their lives and and many Armenians had to start a new life in new lands.
So long as the humankind does not develop good enough to overcome greed and ambition and leave people alone to have sovereignity on the lands they born and live, many many more innocent women and children will die burning or through other different ways unfortunately!
References
[1] XANTOS RIVER.
http://en.dragoman-turkey.com/print.jsp?p=14734
[2] Lycian Turkey - Discover the
Beauty of Ancient Lycia.
http://www.lycianturkey.com/lycian_sites/xanthos.htm Accessed: 09.09.2012
[3] Armenian Congress at Erzurum.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_congress_at_Erzurum Accessed:
09.09.2012
[4] Ermenilerin Hınıs'ta İslam
Ahaliye Yaptıkları Mezalim / Atrocities Perpetrated by Armenians Against
Muslim Population in Hınıs. http://www.europeana.eu/portal/record/2021203/C6A2D5B5B3D33147B3FF3B7BBC1053E9A9C83676.html?query=h%C4%B1n%C4%B1s
and http://www.devletarsivleri.gov.tr/Forms/belge/991/85.PDF Accessed: 09.09.2012
[5] Atılgan, İnanç, Moumdjian,
Garabet. Archival Documents of the Viennese Armenian-Turkish Platform.
Klagenfurt/Celovec: Wieser Verlag, 2009. P. 718.
[7] Fein, Bruce. "An Armenian
and Muslim Tragedy? Yes ! Genocide? No"
http://ataturksocietyuk.com/2010/03/17/bruce-fein-on-armenian-genocide-claims/
Accessed: 09.09.2012
Armenian Holocaust:My Story blog by Selma Aslan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Gayriticari-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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