Commemorating WWI Civil Victims of Eastern Anatolia

I remember 3.000 souls massacred in one night on March 11/12 , 1918; 3.000 elderly and children who faced death willingly to give a chance to retreat to the defeated army on the Kargapazarı mountain during WWI (February 15, 1916), 3.000 people killed at Yanıkdere (February 20, 1918), all those who were atrociously killed like my grandaunt during raids  by the Armenian revolutionaries with the purpose of ethnic cleansing to change the population ratio to their advantage in vain because of the unalterable gap of 80/20, and hundred thousands who died because of the attacks of the outlaws, freezing cold, epidemics and food shortage as they had to flee home in fear of Armenian bands. I wonder how many provinces there are which have lost one third of their populations in a war.

The Western World tends to overlook our pains and is reluctant to admit that the decision of relocation of Armenians was out of necessity. This is probably because in fact they were responsible for all the blood shed, and they are not ready to face it. I will suffice sharing a few paper clippings and quotations and a video link for which I have translated the subtitles as will be seen below the link further down.

"The situation in Turkey with respect to Turks, Armenians and Greeks alike meets all the terms of the classic definition of tragedy, the tragedy of fate. A curse has been laid upon all populations and all have moved forward blindly to suffer their doom.

It is a tragedy with only victims, not heroes, no matter how heroic individuals may have been. There are villains, but they are muffled figures appearing upon the open stage only for fleeting glimpses. They are the Great Powers, among which it is surely not invidious to select Russia and Great Britain by name. It is easy to become a fatalist in the presence of the history of Asia Minor and the Balkans; any one who would write history in terms of Providence is well advised to keep clear of these territories."

John Dewey, 1924

Liberation of Erzurum, March 12  (Not to commemorate but understand)

Erzurum was on the route which was the first target of Tsarist Russia during the WWI.The city was occupied by the Russians on February 16, 1916. The Tsarist regime had been overthrown in 1917 and the Bolsheviks had taken control in the country. Due to this administrative change in Russia, the Russians withdrew from the territories they had occupied in the Eastern Anatolia and had started returning to their country. However, Armenians who dreamed of an Armenia [n state] in Eastern Anatolia were armed rapidly and started the massacres in and around Erzurum.  Twerdo-Khlebov, Commander of the Russian 2nd Artillery Regiment of Fortress in Erzurum remained as a mere spectator of these bloody perpetrations. Turkish troops which entered Erzurum have buried 2127 martyrs in the city and also found 250 bodies at the Kars gate.

Kazım Karabekir Paşa described the morning of 12 March as follows: “In Erzurum, someone found his father, another his brother or sister, either burnt or bayoneted and they all tore their hair out and wept. There was no sign of life on the streets. Children, women and old people were lying in blood all around.”

In his memoirs, Russian Lieutenant Colonel  Twerdo- Khelebov has stated that the Armenians had killed 3.000 Muslim Turks, only in one night on March 11-12, 1918, which was their last night: “At the railway station it was as if the graves had spurt out the dead bodies. We passed through the corpses and saw a terrible massacre of Turks. Particularly the sight of people who were filled and then torched in the residences of Osman Ağa and Mürsel Paşa one across the other in Tahtacılar district was enough to send one trembling.”

According to official documents, 9563 native Turkish people were killed by Dashnak Armenian gangs in Erzurum.

March 12, 1918 is the day, Erzurum, the heart of the Turk, reached freedom from captivity, and life from death. March 12, is the anniversary of the liberation of Erzurum, whose people faced the foe, their blood drenching the beautiful Eastern lands and high mountains, until the end of the dark days when the city was liberated by the Turkish government in 1918.

March 12, 1918 was the sacred morning historical Erzurum fortress was looking forward to. March 12 is remembered with respect, hearts sinking, joy of liberation washed with tears, happiness blended with grief, freedom bearing the weight of blood shed for it, proud to be a Turk, our flag symbolizing and protecting the meaning of our existence. These are the feelings and thoughts March 12 inspires us as a day of celebration.

Sources

Dewey, John. (12 November 1924). The Turkish Tragedy. The New Republic. Accessed on 12.03.2017 at http://armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2007/02/1423-turkish-tragedy-by-john-dewey-1859.html

Nansen, F. (1929). League of Nations. Sixteenth Plenary Meeting.Accessed on 12.03.2017 at https://newsspecialblog.wordpress.com/2017/01/29/1906-1922-leek-2-5-million-people-killed-by-armenians-in-anatolia-and-caucasus-2/

Further Reading

"Armenia and the Armenians," The Presbyterian, Dec.22, pp.824-825, Dec.29, pp. 841-842,1893, Jan. 5, 1894 pp. 10-12. [The author who used "The Correspondent" pseudonym is thought to be the Director of Marsovan (Merzifon) American College. Translation of the article into Ottoman Turkish is available in the Ottoman Archives as Document no. 289/90 and was cited by Gülbadi Alan in Amerikan Board'ın Merzifon'daki Faaliyetleri ve Anadolu Koleji. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 2008.]

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

Fein, Bruce. Lies, damn lies, and Armenian deaths. April 24, 2009. Huff Post World. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-fein/lies-damn-lies-and-armeni_b_211408.html (Accessed: 31 March 2012

Tverdohlebov. I Witnessed and Lived Through: Eyewitnessing of the Russian Lieutenant Colonel to the Actions of the Armenians in the Eastern Front , journal in manuscript. 1917-1918. Translations into Turkish pp.3-44, English pp.45-90, French pp.91-126 and in its original language, Russian PP.127-188.

Shameful Photographs Showing the Atrocities and Genocide Inflicted Upon Turks By the Armenians. [Photographs taken from the book titled Archive Documents About The Atrocities And Genocide Inflicted Upon Turks By Armenians by Ismet Binark. Board of Culture Arts and Publications Grand National Assembly of Turkey, 2002.