Bitter Displacements of Wars

UNHCR Turkey Office's 11 December 2014 Update reported that there are 1,655,992 Syrian refugees in Turkey. Actual figure together with those not recorded is estimated to be around 2 million. They are in difficult conditions and having a hard time. Diaa Hadid and Joseph Krauss's report from AP Office in Taza Khormato, Iraq, concerning displacements caused by war appeared in Yahoo News with the title of "Fleeing Iraqis join large tide of displaced people" on June 20, 2014. In this article it was reported that United Nations says this is the largest worldwide population of displaced people since World War II (Hadid & Krauss, 2014).

This region of the World saw many displacements throughout centuries. I am interested in displacements because both my maternal and paternal grandmothers were displaced during WWI on Caucasian Front. Actually this is one of the reasons I initiated this blog to search and understand what really happened 100 years ago and share my findings.

Byzantine-Persian Campaigns 611-624 (WP GNU)

In earlier periods, Armenians were deported/relocated to the interior Iran by Sassanians, to Syria and Arabia by Arabs, to Central Anatolia, Istanbul, Thrace, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Rumania, Hungary, Transylvania and Crimea by Byzantines, to Cyprus, Crete and Italy during the Crusades, to Khazan and Astrakhan during the Mongolian invasion, and to interior Russia from Crimea and Caucasia by Russians. The dispersion of Armenians to various regions varying from Sicily to India, to Crimea and Arabia is a result of all these deportations. Their having been brought to the Sivas region, happened soon after arrival of Seljukians in Anatolia (Is it by...)

Armenians certainly were not the only people subjected to displacements in the region. "About one quarter of all people living in Slavonia in the 16th century were Muslims ... Like other Muslims who lived in Croatia and Dalmatia, they were all forced to leave their homes until the end of 1699. This was the first example of the cleansing of Muslims in this region. This cleansing of Muslims "enjoyed the benediction of Catholic church". Around 130,000 Muslims from Croatia and Slavonia were driven to Ottoman Bosnia and Herzegovina. Basically, all Muslims who lived in Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia were either forced to exile, murdered or enslaved (Persecution of Ottoman Muslims). Later from the last quarter of 1700s to early 20th century 10.5 million people left their homes under forced migration heading to Anatolia. Half of them lost their lives on the ways because of terrorist attacks or harsh conditions such as lack of food or epidemics.

Ottoman Muslim Persecution (WP CC)

When Russia occupied Crimea in 1783 the first people who had to migrate was Crimeans. Another wave of flee took place in the same direction during Crimean War (1853-56). Caucasians, Abhazs and Georgians followed Crimeans. When Greeks rebelled in 1821 another wave started to arrive from Mora peninsula and Aegean islands. Some 15 thousand women and children were massacred as reported by George Finlay in History of Greece. At the end of two months the number went up to 30 thousand. Through looting and pillaging people were terrified and forced to flee home. This was the first example of this model which would be perpetrated on Muslim peoples in Balkans and later in Eastern Anatolia for the purpose of ethnic cleansing. Even from Algeria, 12 to 15 thousand Turk were sent by the French. The numbers exceeded million after the defeat faced in 1877-78 Russo-Ottoman War.

There are various types of displacements:  

• to be killed, looted and expelled when the homeland is occupied as it was the case with Crimeans and Caucasian peoples during expansion of Russia southward;
• to be sent internally by the government to populate a newly occupied region by consent or forcefully;
• exchange of peoples in the aftermath of a war as it was the case between Greece and Turkey under the "Convention concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations", signed at Lausanne January 30, 1923;
• to be relocated internally as a safety measure during war either to protect the relocated group as it was the case with Muslim people of Van during second Armenian uprising of April 15, 1915 or to protect the country from the relocated as it was the case with Ottoman Gregorian Armenians after Van Uprising, while the Russian Army, guided by Armenian Volunteer Units, was proceeding;
• to flee home in fear when invasion starts as was the case with Eastern Anatolian Muslims while Russian Army, Armenian Volunteer Units and Irregulars were approaching.  

These movements have always been very painful and have caused large scale losses in the past. Out of two million Caucasians who set to road towards Ottoman lands 1,5 million were able to reach their destinations between 1859-1879 with 25 percent loss. In some cases this ratio was even higher. Out of 493 thousand Circassians 311,333 were able to reach settlement locations and were registered between 1854-1864 with a loss rate of 36 percent  (Pul, 2011 s.420). Reaching the destination was not the end of pains either. Sufficient sanitary conditions could not be provided at camp sites and food was scarce leading to further losses until the refugees were permanently settled. 

An indictment about the situation of Caucasian immigrants and responsibility of state officers on these situations, written by a state officer who was working as a pharmacist for immigrants had revealed the abuse, irregularities and corruption occurred in Trebizond in 1864. Pul has thrown some light to migration and settlement issues from both native population and immigrants' eyes and also shown State's approach in her study of this indictment. (Pul, 2011, p. 413) İzgöer has studied the epidemics like cholera and resultant water contamination that occurred in Istanbul by the arrival of Balkan refugees in 1912. (İzgöer, 2012, p.71) Many more examples of such studies can be found concerning difficulties and sufferings of displacements.

The Caucasian Front was opened by the attack of Russian troops led by Georgy Bergmann on November 1, 1914. Russians advanced so far as Bitlis and Mush southward and Trabzon along the Black Sea coast. With a sudden attack starting on January 11, 1916, the Russian Army captured Erzurum on February 16, and Erzincan on July 2, 1916.

During this period Easten Anatolian Muslims fled home in fear. This was an example of displacement which takes place when war requires people to move from their homes due to the danger. From the provinces invaded 1,604,031 people fled in total as recorded by authorities. More must have left without informing authorities taking care of themselves. 701,166 people, that is 43 percent of registered refugees lost their lives (Öğün, 2004, p.36).

The earliest to return home were Bitlis people as occupation lasted only for 5 months there. However, when they returned home they found the city devastated and their sufferings continued. For a long time people fed themselves eating gılgıl and kenger, that is a thistle like natural plant and millet bread only. 

A petition sent to an MP from Erzurum was heart breaking: "... Over seven years we have lost two thirds of our folks, and only one third is left behind at the moment. If we are not settled here this year either, we will all pass away and this will be our end altogether." (Öğün, 2004, p.209) Since Armenian units and irregulars had exercised scorched earth policy as they left the occupied lands, refugees were not allowed to return home because they would not be able to maintain themselves in the wreckage left behind. Some people returned despite discouragement and they needed to be looked after.

In Sivas 3,500 refugees died because of hunger, in Erzurum and Erzincan the situation was even worse (Öğün, 1999, p. 328). As a result of Talat Pasha's efforts a Cabinet Decree was passed for the 3rd Army to distribute excessive food to refugees. (Öğün, 1999, p. 329) But the army did not have enough to feed refugees sufficiently. Tuncay Öğün has given a detailed account of the sufferings of the Eastern Anatolian Refugees in Vilayat-ı Şarkiye Mültecileri (1915-1923) published in 2004.

Many decisions to meet the requirements of refugees were taken, but these decisions mostly remained on paper because there were neither fiscal nor human resources available to put them into effect. Insufficient infrastructure was another obstruction to meet the needs in absence of good roads and rails and enough  vehicles (Öğün, 2004, Ballı, 2014).

The Red Crescent Association tried to help the refugees. Although what they could offer was limited they were giving away to Muslim and other needy people alike without making any distinction. When they suggested to work together to Red Cross, the response they had was you help Muslims, we help Christians. Red Cross aided Muslims in a very small scale  (Öğün, 2004).

When we remember Justin McCarthy's comparison that the loss rate was 20 percent among Armenians relocated in Syria, whereas Muslim refugee losses exceeded 40 percent, I wonder how one can allege that Ottoman Armenians and other Christians were subject to genocide. Figures explicitly demonstrate that they were better taken care of in comparison to Muslim refugees. A comparison of what Armenians and Eastern Anatolian Muslims have been through is the simplest testbed whether allegations of genocide are relevant or not, and the situation explicitly demonstrate that there can't be a genocide where more perpetrators die than victims as pointed out by McCarthy. (Sonyel, 200, p.203) A brief account and a map of displacements between 1770-1923 by McCarthy is available on Turkish Coalition of America web site (McCarthy, 2010)

Sufferings of Eastern Anatolian Muslims during WWI were totally ignored and underestimated. Jeremy Salt (2013)'s following statement comprises not only the ones who could not run away and were killed, but also those who perished during this forced migration: "What is never mentioned in the standard narrative is that probably between two and 2.5 million Ottoman Muslim civilians died in this war from the same range of causes. They are the ghosts never talked about because the news correspondents, consuls and missionaries were only interested in the suffering of Christians. The Muslims have disappeared from history as if they never existed."


There is no need to create an independent commission to investigate the event or conduct further studies. History is there for those who want to see the facts.  Scholars can not have the luxury of ignoring documents in some archives or results of studies in certain languages. Allegers mention Caucasus Front as if it is a tale fictionalized by Turks. Even if they can be impertinent not to believe Turkish archival materials and results of scholarly works conducted by Turkish scholars, they can find enough information in Russian and Armenian sources. 'The Concerned Scholars' who have written to ECHR to support the government of Switzerland's request for a reexamination of the Court’s judgment mention blatant ignorance of "overwhelming and scholarly evidence" and talk about "ethical understanding of denialism". There is nothing unethical with denial of an unfounded allegation, but it is seriously unethical for scholars to overlook some important facts, present their presumptions as facts and accuse those who do not agree with them.

We see and believe in what we want, and care about those who are close to our hearts, while we ignore what we don't want or care for. Thinking of the 1,5 million people who gathered in Paris to condemn terrorism upon 12 losses at Charlie Hebdo Office yesterday (January 11, 2015), I said it is good so many people have come together against terrorism, and then I wondered if they really equally care about Muslims or victims of terror from other cultures such as 2000 souls in Nigeria killed by Boko Haram, as well. Prosperity and wellness of a certain group at the back of others is not sustainable, and double standards are not acceptable. Unless we mature enough to feel sorry for any human being, whether close to us or not equally, how far we can cherish the idea of peace, equal opportunities and enjoyment of human rights?

References 

Ballı, E. (2014). Birinci Dünya Savaşı Yıllarında Erzurumlu Mültecilerin İskân Ve İaşesi.   1. Dünya Savaşı'nda Kafkas Cephesi Sempozyumu, Erzurum, 25-27 Eylül 2014.

Hadid, D. and Krauss, K. (2014, June 06). Fleeing Iraqis join large tide of displaced people. Accessed at
http://news.yahoo.com/fleeing-iraqis-join-large-tide-displaced-people-203231046.html on 10.01.2015.

Is it by force that Turks, starting from the Seljukians and Ottomans, seized from Armenians and occupied the Armenian soils? Accessed at http://www.kultur.gov.tr/EN,32714/is-it-by-force-that-turks-starting-from-the-seljukians-.html on 09.01.2015. 

İzgöer, A. Z. (2012). "1912 Balkan Savaşı Sonrası Rumeli’den Yapılan Göçler Sebebiyle İstanbul’da Görülen Salgın Hastalıklar Ve Su Kaynaklarının Korunması. (Turkish)." Turk Dunyasi Arastirmalari no. 201: 71. Supplemental Index, EBSCOhost (accessed January 3, 2015).

McCarthy, J. (2010). Forced Migration and Mortality in the Ottoman Empire. Turkish Coalition of America. Accessed at  http://www.tc-america.org/media/Forced_Displacement.pdf on 12.01.2015.

Öğün, Tuncay. Kafkas Cephesinin Birinci Dünya Savaşındaki Lojistik Desteği. Ankara: Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi, 1999.

Öğün, Tuncay. Vilayat-ı Şarkiye Mültecileri (1915-1923): Unutulmuş bir göç trajedisi. Ankara: Babil, 2004.

Persecution of Ottoman Muslims. Wikipedia. Accessed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Ottoman_Muslims#Caucasus_Campaign on 12.01.2015.

Pul, A. (2011). "Kafkasya Muhacirlerinin Durumlarına Dair Eczacı Es-Seyyıd Hüseyin Efendi'nin Bir Mektubu. (Turkish)." Journal Of International Social Research 4, no. 16: 413. Supplemental Index, EBSCOhost (accessed January 3, 2015).

Scaruffi, P. A timeline of World War I.Accessed at www.scaruffi.com/politics/wwi.html on 11.01.2015.

Salt, J. (2013). Armenians and Syria 1915 and 2013. Accessed at http://www.avim.org.tr/yorumnotlarduyurular/en/ARMENIANS-AND-SYRIA-1915-AND-2013---30-December-2013---JEREMY-SALT/2195 on 12.01.2015.

Scholars Call for Reexamination of ECHR Judgment on Genocide Denial Case. Armenian Weekly, February 16, 2014. http://www.armenianweekly.com/2014/02/16/scholars-call-for-reexamination-of-echr-judgment-on-genocide-denial-case/ Accessed: 22.04.2014

Sonyel, S. R. (2005). The Turco-Armenian Imbroglio : Prospects for reconciliation. London: Cyprus Turkish Association, 2005.

UNHCR. (2014, December 11). Turkey External Update. Accessed at http://www.unhcr.org.tr/uploads/root/unhcr_turkey_external_weekly_update_12_december_2014.pdf on 05.01.2015.

Sources of Maps:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Byzantine-persian_campaigns_611-624-mohammad_adil_rais.PNG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ottoman_muslims_persecution_map.png