Armenian Girls Forced in Harems and Servitude

Military men, Turks, Kurds, and Arabs would either snatch or bribe the gendarmes escorting the deportation caravans and bring Armenian women, girls, and boys into their homes, and harems, as servants, slaves, wives, or concubines. Others were sent to state-run orphanages where a Turkification process was underway. Accounts from the deportation marches tell of mass mutilations and unimaginable sexual violence. Children were raped then shot, as they became unable to continue on the death marches. 

The “good looking” deportees were distributed among men in different villages. Girls were sent to high-level government officials for their sexual pleasure, and forced into orgies. The director of the Rescue Home, Karen Jeppe, stated that out of the thousands of women who came her way, only one had been spared sexual abuse, as Matthias Bjornlund notes in his article “A Fate Worse than Dying.” Excerpt  from Devilish Marks’ and Rape in the Time of Genocide by Nanore Barsoumian (Armenian Weekly)

Alma Sakaian, a 15 year old genocide survivor was sold into servitude by a slave trader. Read her story

http://milhomme.blogspot.com/2013/04/alma-sakaian-1915-armenian-genocide.html

Read about "Secrets of Harems"

 http://milhomme.blogspot.com/2012/05/secrets-of-harems-last-stronghold-of.html

Read  about "Auction of Souls" based on Ravished Armenia: http://milhomme.blogspot.com/2012/05/auction-of-souls-made-blood-of-american.html

1915 Martyred Professors of Euphrates College, Harpoot

In 1915 several of the leading Armenian members of the faculty at Euphrates College in the city of Harpoot were arrested, tortured, and executed. The college buildings were then occupied by the Ottoman Military and initially used as training camp, and later as a military hospital. Euphrates College was officially closed shortly after the founding of the Republic of Turkey and nothing now remains of its buildings.

The following description of the above photograph is from `WHERE EDUCATION WAS A CRIME' [By Ruth A. Parmelee, M.D.] < http://groong.usc.edu/orig/ak-20110627.html >

`When the Turkish Government began to carry out its plan of exterminating the Armenian race, the educated and influential men of the community received first attention. In May, 1915, a number of Armenians were imprisoned in the city of Harpoot, among whom were priests and merchants and five of the professors of Euphrates College. Their houses were searched for papers that might incriminate them in some revolutionary plot, and they themselves were cruelly tortured, to extract confessions of hidden fire-arms or the preparation of bombs.'

She continues and describes the men in the photograph.

`The upper right hand professor in the group [Nigohos Tenekejian, Professor of History and Ottoman Literature, [Osmaniyan badmoutiun in Armenian] had served the college for thirty five years and had shown some special talent and tact in representing the interests of the Americans and his own people to the Government. He never had shown the least disloyalty toward the rulers. Nothing could be proved against him at this time, but after most severe tortures (pulling out of hairs of head and beard, hanging by arms, beating) he was sent out with his companions, bound together and under strong guard, and killed on the road. Of this man's family only one daughter escaped. The two older sons were among twelve hundred Armenian soldiers (serving in the Turkish army) who were starved for some days and sent out to be murdered in cold blood. The wife and the younger children were exiled and never heard from again.

`The left hand man in the lowest row [Donabed Garabed Loulejian, (Biology; Botany and Zoology)] was beaten until unconscious and then thrown into a foul-smelling closet. The Turkish mayor himself took a hand at the beating. After some weeks of imprisonment, some favorable influence resulted in his being taken to a Turkish military hospital. After recovery from the results of his tortures, he remained in hiding until opportunity was offered of escaping on foot through the mountains into Russia. He was a great help in relief work for the destitute Armenians in the Caucasus [specifically Erzerum] until his death from typhus fever.

`The one in the center of the group [Garabed Soghigian, (Armenian Language)] also died of disease, after obtaining release from prison by paying large bribes.

`The right hand professor in the middle row [Mugurdich Vorperian, (Professor of the Preparatory Department, Religion)] did not suffer imprisonment but was exiled with his family in a company of rich people who were promised very safe conduct. They were robbed of all their possessions and after a few days' travel, the men were separated from the women, to be taken to their slaughter. When asked for his thirteen year old daughter by a Turkish officer the Professor replied that he should prefer death for himself and her, to a marriage to a Mohammedan Turk. The beautiful girl was kidnapped by the officer, but the father died for his principles, being taken out and killed with all the men of their company. The son of this professor [Mooshek Vorperian] had his life saved through the influence of the above-mentioned Turkish officer and later escaped into Russia and thence to the United States. His story has been recently printed in a well-known magazine. 

Of these seven professors, then, four were murdered [Khachadour Nahigian, Hovhannes Boujicanian, Nigoghos Tenekejian, Mugurdich Vorperian ] and two died of disease after having suffered the tortures and discomforts of the Turkish prison [Garabed M.Soghigian and Donabed Garabed Loulejian]. Four of these men had taken post-graduate work in Yale [Donabed Garabed Loulejian, M.S. degree, 1911], Cornell [courses taken as a special student fall of 1909 and spring 1910 by Garabed Donabed Lulejian sic!], Michigan [Khachadour Nahigian], Princeton [Mugurdich Vorperian] and Edinburgh Universities [Hovhannes Boujicanian]. The only charge against them was their education. `The seventh man [Samuel Khachadourian, Professor of Music (left hand lower corner) was the sole survivor of the group. He had studied music in Germany and seemed to find favor with the Turkish authorities.'

Read the history of the establishment of Euphrates College (Armenia College)

Read the history of the establishment of Euphrates College (Armenia College)

Rev. Crosby H. Wheeler
http://milhomme.blogspot.com/2013/01/rev-crosby-h-wheeler-dd-founder.html

Also 

https://www.facebook.com/bill.milhomme/media_set?set=a.3582716294854.165851.1481635172&type=3

Alma Sakaian: 1915 Armenian Caravan PART III Samsat to Ras Al Ayn

Alma Sakaian, a young woman of 15 years of age, was among the 150 survivors of a 1915 deportation caravan that numbered 18,000 men, women and children. She was the sole survivor of her immediate and extended family. Her 65 day forced march commenced in her village of Aghin situated in the regions of the Upper Euphrates valley. It traversed ancient roads along the Euphrates River, along the foot paths of the Taurus Mountains and the uncharted sand dunes of the Syrian Desert. Using available primary sources I have attempted to recreate her ordeal. 

PART III chronicles the landscape traversed days fifty to seventy from the ferry crossing of the Southern Euphrates at Samsat to Ras Al Ayn in the Syrian Desert.The map outlines the 3 caravans that deported the villages of the Harpout area. The identified numbered towns on the right are the towns the Alma's caravan passed through and the correspond to numbered pictures provided. The pictures should convey to the reader the difficult terrain that the deportees walked upon. 

READ ALMA'S STORY : 

http://milhomme.blogspot.com/2012/03/from-aghin-samuel-sakaian-alma-sakaian_10.html

Alma Sakaian: 1915 Deportation Caravan Rte. PART I : The First 13 of 65 Days Forced March; Aghin to Malatia          

http://milhomme.blogspot.com/2014/04/alma-sakaian-1915-deportation-caravan.html

Alma Sakaian: 1915 Caravan PART II Malatia to Samsat

http://milhomme.blogspot.com/2014/04/alma-sakaian-1915-caravan-part-ii.html

THE EXTERMINATION RESEARCH CHRONOLOGY DAYS FIFTY to seventy

1915; September 10: Eight thousand women and children from convoys originating in Harput and Erzerum are exterminated between Diyarbekir and Mardin, their killers being members of bandit squadrons of the S.O. **(Simon, n.d.: 90).

1915; September 14: Two thousand women and children of the convoys originating in Harput and Erzerum are exterminated in the outskirts of Nisibin. ** (Simon, n.d.: 90).

1915; October to the end of March 1916, concentration camp at Ras ul-Ayn (mutessarifat of Zor): This camp is situated to the east of Urfa, in Syria and Mesopotamia in a desert climate. The camp of Ras-ul-Ayn houses deportees for six months. ** (Kévorkian, 2006:804-805).

1916; March 17, concentration camp at Ras ul-Ayn: In five days the operation saw the systematic liquidation of 40,000 internees still living in the camp. This violence was organized by the kaymakam, Refik Bey; Adıl Bey, the Director of deportees; an “educated” Istanbulite; and local Çerkez led by the Mayor of Ras ul-Ayn, Arslan Bey. ***(Kévorkian, 2006: 805).

Alma Sakaian: 1915 Armenian Caravan PART II Malatia to Samsat

Armenian girls crucified outside Malatia (Ravished Armenia book/movie)

Alma Sakaian, a young woman of 15 years of age, was among the 150 survivors of a 1915 deportation caravan that numbered 18,000 men, women and children. She was the sole survivor of her immediate and extended family. Her 65 day forced march commenced in her village of Aghin situated in the regions of the Upper Euphrates valley. It traversed ancient roads along the Euphrates River, along the foot paths of the Taurus Mountains and the uncharted sand dunes of the Syrian Desert. Using available primary sources I have attempted to recreate her ordeal. 

PART II chronicles the landscape traversed days fourteen to fifty (112 miles) over the Taurus Mountains to the ferry crossing of the Southern Euphrates at Samsat.The map outlines the 3 caravans that deported the villages of the Harpout area. The identified numbered towns on the right are the towns the Alma's caravan passed through and the correspond to numbered pictures provided. The pictures should convey to the reader the difficult terrain that the deportees walked upon. 

Aidyaman

READ ALMA'S STORY : 

http://milhomme.blogspot.com/2012/03/from-aghin-samuel-sakaian-alma-sakaian_10.html

Alma Sakaian: 1915 Deportation Caravan Rte. PART I : The First 13 of 65 Days Forced March; Aghin to Malatia          http://milhomme.blogspot.com/2014/04/alma-sakaian-1915-deportation-caravan.html

THE EXTERMINATION RESEARCH CHRONOLOGY Days thirteen to fifty 

1915; July 16, transit camp at Fırıncılar (sancak of Malatya): Girls under the age of fifteen and boys under the age of ten are removed from the convoys of deportees passing through Fırıncılar to be officially housed in orphanages specially established for them at Malatya. Several thousand of them are drowned in the Euphrates some days later.

1915; July 18, Harput (province of Mamuret ul-Aziz): The second convoy from Harput, made up of some 3,000 people, is set en route to Urfa. Eight days later, at a point some three hours from Malatya at a place called Çiftlik, the males over the age of twelve are extracted from the convoy and executed in the barracks. *** (Kévorkian, 2006: 484).

1915; July 28, Harput (province of Mamuret ul-Aziz): The third and last convoy from Harput carries the elderly, young women, some children, and the blind who had been taken care of until then. **(Jacobsen, 2001: 82-83; and Davis, 1994: 53).

1915; August 15 to 17, sancak of Malatya: The first convoy of deportees from the various quarters of Malatya is put together and sent to Sürgü. Part of this convoy is decimated two hours away at Akçadağ, in the Beğler Deresi valley, by local Kurdish tribes. ***(Kévorkian, 2006: 508).

1915; August 23 to 25, sancak of Malatya: The second convoy of deportees from Malatya is put together and sent to Fırıncılar. Part of the group arrives at Samsat. ** (Kévorkian, 2006: 508).

Alma Sakaian: 1915 Armenian Deportation Caravan Rte. PART I : The First 13 of 65 Days Forced March; Aghin to Malatia

Alma Sakaian Prior to Deportation

Alma Sakaian, a young woman of 15 years of age, was among the 150 survivors of a 1915 deportation caravan that numbered 18,000 men, women and children. She was the sole survivor of her immediate and extended family. Her 65 day forced march commenced in her village of Aghin situated in the regions of the Upper Euphrates valley. It traversed ancient roads along the Euphrates River, along the foot paths of the Taurus Mountains and the uncharted sand dunes of the Syrian Desert. Using available primary sources I have attempted to recreate her ordeal. PART I chronicles the landscape traversed during the first thirteen days (75 miles) of the sixty-five day genocidal journey. The map outlines the 3 caravans that deported the villages of the Harpout area. The identified numbered towns on the right are the towns the Alma's caravan passed through and the correspond to numbered pictures provided. The pictures should convey to the reader the difficult terrain that the deportees walked upon. 

READ ALMA'S STORY : 

http://milhomme.blogspot.com/2012/03/from-aghin-samuel-sakaian-alma-sakaian_10.html

The Extermination Research Chronology prior to and up to the thirteenth day at Malatia

1915; April 22, Egin/Agn (province of Mamuret ül-Aziz): Systematic searches are conducted at Agn and 248 people are arrested. ** (Agouni, 1921: 174).

1915; May 1, Harput (province of Mamuret ül-Aziz): Arrest of the Armenian Protestant elite, particularly the professors of the Euphrates College. *** (Kévorkian, 2006: 474).

1915; May 1 and 2, Çemişgezek (province of Mamuret ül-Aziz): Raids are conducted by the authorities in schools and in the homes of Armenian functionaries. One hundred individuals are arrested and interned. The arrests last until June 20. *** (Kévorkian, 2006: 517).

1915; June 1, Egin/Agn (province of Mamuret ül-Aziz): Authorities arrest Armenian religious leaders and civilians of Agn, who are then drowned in the Euphrates (near Keban Maden) along with some 100 other Armenian detainees. ** (Agouni, 1921: 175).

1915; June 6-20, Harput, Hüseyinig, and Mezre (province of Mamuret ül-Aziz): Authorities carry out searches of all the homes and arrest several hundred men whose names were on pre-existing lists. *** (Jacobsen, 2001: 68-70 and Riggs, 1997 : 75)

1915; June 7, Egin/Agn (province of Mamuret ül-Aziz): Four hundred conscripts recruited among the male population between the ages of sixteen to eighteen and forty-six to sixtee are tied together in groups of five and thrown into the Euphrates at three different spots. ** (Agouni, 1921: 175)

1915; June 14-15, Mezreh (province of Mamuret ül-Aziz): Three thousand soldier-workers from the labor battalions of Hoğe, Habusi, and Aşemi, along with 500 artisans from Harput, are interned at the Kırmızı konak, outside of Mezreh. There, they are tortured and starved. On June 18, Çerkez Kazım, one of the Commanders of the Special Organization “militias” accompanied by cavalrymen and two hundred infantrymen, transfers these soldier-workers to the south and has them assassinated the same day. *** (Piranian, 1937: 98-99, 117-118; 133-139; 151-7; Riggs, 1997: 78; Atkinson, 2000: 38; and T.V. No. 3771, Jan. 13 1920: 48-49).

1915; June 19, kaza of Çemişgezek (province of Mamuret ül-Aziz): Searches begin in the 21 Armenian villages of the kaza, particularly at Garmrig. More than 200 men are imprisoned on July 3 and 4 and are executed in the course of the following days by gendarmes and Special Organization bands. ***(Kévorkian, 2006: 518).

1915; June 19, kaza of Arapkir: One hundred thirty notables of Arapkir are drowned in the Euphrates by Special Organization bands. *** (Kévorkian, 2006: 495).

1915; June 19-22, plain of Harput: One thousand Armenians from places around the plain and from Mezreh and Harput are arrested in their homes and interned at the Kırmızı Konak of Mezreh. On June 23, 900 of them are dispatched and shot the day after at the foot of Mount Heroğli by Special Organization bands commanded by Çerkez Kazım.***(Piranian, 1937: 156-1157, 167-77; Atkinson, 2000: 38; and Davis, 1994: 123).

1915; June 21, kaza of Arapkir (province of Mamuret ül-Aziz): Three hundred men from Arapkir are drowned in the Euphrates by S.O. gangs. ** (Kévorkian, 2006:495).

1915; June 23-24, kaza of Arapkir: Two groups of 250 men from Arapkir are drowned in the Euphrates by S.O. gangs. *** (Kévorkian, 2006: 495).

1915; June 24 and 25, Harput and Mezreh (province of Mamuret ül-Aziz): Police carry out the arrest of all men; they are subsequently assassinated in the outskirts of Harput, mostly at Gügen Boğazi, a gorge situated near Maden. *** (Riggs, 1997: 77-78; Piranian, 1937: 179-182; and Kévorkian, 2006: 477).

1915; July 1 to 5, Egin/Agn (province of Mamuret ul-Aziz): The women, children, and elderly of Egin and 25 of its sub-districts—some 13,000 people—are deported in three convoys to Malatya until they reach the killing field of Fırıncılar, where a good portion of the group is exterminated in the gorges of Kahta. ** (Kévorkian, 2006: 500-501). **SAKAIAN’S CONVOY**

1915; July 4, province of Mamuret ül-Aziz: The Armenian population of Hüseyinig is deported in one convoy via Malatya. ** (Piranian, 1937: 222-227; and Atkinson, 2000: 40).

1915; July 5, province of Mamuret ül-Aziz: Eight hundred men from Harput and Mezreh are executed in a gorge near Hanköy by a band of thugs who had accompanied them to their destination. ** (Atkinson: 2000: 40; Riggs, 1997: 103; and Jacobsen, 2001: 73).

1915; July 5, Arapkir (village of Mamuret ül-Aziz): Seven thousand Armenians from Arapkir, 250 of which are men, are deported on a convoy to Urfa. The men are separated from the group a week later at the Kırk Göz Bridge (“The Forty Arches”), situated on the Tohma Çay, an affluent of the right bank of the Euphrates, and there they are shot. ***(Kévorkian, 2006: 496-497).

1915; July 10, Harput (province of Mamuret ul-Aziz): The first convoy, made up of fifty families from the “lower quarter” (Vari Tagh), is dispatched and escorted by “Kurds and gendarmes”. ** (Atkinson, 2000: 46; and Jacobsen, 2001: 76-77).

1915; July 10, kaza of Çemişgezek (province of Mamuret ul-Aziz): The population of the 21 Armenian villages of the kaza—some 3,000 individuals—is dispatched in a convoy from Arapkir to Urfa and Aleppo. Around 15% reaches its destination. ***(Kévorkian, 2006: 518).