Information AboutAdana Massacre |
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| anti-armenianism | |
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The '''Adana amidst Governmental Upheaval resulted in a series of anti-Armenian Pogrom s throughout the district. Reports estimated that the massacres in Adana Province resulted in 20,000 to 30,000 deaths.http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50C10F93C5A15738DDDAC0A94DC405B898CF1D3http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50F16FE355512738DDDAE0894DD405B898CF1D3The Armenian Genocide, Arte France, The cie des Phares et BalisesCentury of Genocide: Eyewitness Accounts and Critical Views By Samuel. Totten, William S. Parsons, Israel W. CharnyWalker, 1980, pp.182-88 The perpetrators of the Adana massacre were driven by "cupidity, religious dogmas" and fear of losing "their positions and jobs." Involved were governmental functionaries and Ottoman military authorities.Vahakn N. Dadrian, Genocide Study Project, H.F. Guggenheiam Foundation ORIGINS In 1908 , the Young Turk government came to power in a bloodless revolution. Within a year, Turkey's Armenia n population, empowered by the dismissal of Abdul Hamid II , began organizing politically in support of the new government, which promised to place them on equal legal footing with their Muslim counterparts. Having long endured so-called loyalists, themselves acculturated into the system that had perpetrated the Hamidian Massacres of the 1890s, came to view the empowerment of the Christian minority as coming at their expense. The Countercoup Of March 1909 wrested control of the government out of the hands of the secularist Young Turks , and Abdul Hamid II briefly recovered his dictatorial powers. Appealing to the reactionary Muslim population with populist rhetoric calling for the re-institution of Islamic Law under the banner of a pan-Islamic Caliphate , the Sultan mobilized popular support against the Young Turks by identifying himself with the historically Islamic character of the state. According to one newspaper report of 15 April 1909, With the plea of reform (the Young Turks ) won the Turkish Army over to Liberalism. But now again is heard the cry of Mohammedanism centuries old: "Where the sword is, there is our faith."http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40910F83E5A12738DDDAC0994DC405B898CF1D3 According to one source, when news of a mutiny in Istanbul arrived in Adana, speculation circulated among the Muslim population of an imminent Armenian insurrection. By April 14 the Armenian quarter was attacked by a mob, and many thousands of Armenians were killed in the ensuing weeks.Mantran, Robert (editor); ''Histoire de l'empire ottoman'' (1989), ch. 14. Other reports emphasize that a "skirmish between Armenians and Turks on April 13 set off a riot that resulted in the pillaging of the bazaars and attacks upon the Armenian quarters." Two days later, more than 2,000 Armenians had been killed as a result. AG Chapter 3 - The Young Turks in Power The outbreaks spread throughout the district and by the end of the month as many as 30,000 Armenians were reported killed.http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50C10F93C5A15738DDDAC0A94DC405B898CF1D3 Adana Massacre - Encyclopedia Entries on the Armenian Genocide In those Difficult Times for the Ottoman Empire and its citizenry, the Armenians were also believed to be a target owing to their relative wealth, and their quarrels with imperial taxation.http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70910F93C5A15738DDDAC0A94DC405B898CF1D3 BLOODSHED The tension erupted into riots on April 1, 1909 , which soon escalated into organized violence against the Armenian population of Adana and in several surrounding cities. By April 18, over 1,000 people were reported dead at Adana alone, with additional unknown casualties in , where the situation was "desperate", and many Western consulates were besieged by Armenian refugees.http://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F00A15F93A5512738DDDA00994DC405B898CF1D3 The Ottoman military was struggling to subdue the violence. Similar violence consumed Marash and Hadjin , and the estimates of the death toll soon grew to exceed 5,000.http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60817F93C5512738DDDA80A94DC405B898CF1D3 The British cruiser Diana was hoped to provide a "tranquilizing" effect at the port of Alexandretta, where violence still raged.http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60817F93C5512738DDDA80A94DC405B898CF1D3 Reports surfaced that imperial "authorities are either indifferent or conniving in the slaughter."http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60817F93C5512738DDDA80A94DC405B898CF1D3 Some order was restored by April 20, as the disturbance in Mersina had abated, and the British cruiser Swiftsure was able to deliver "provisions and medicines intended for Adana".http://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F30616F93E5A12738DDDAA0A94DC405B898CF1D3 A "threatening" report from Hadjin indicated that well-armed Armenians were held up in the town, "beleaguered by Moslem tribesmen who are only awaiting sufficient numerical strength to rush the improvised defenses erected by the Armenians."http://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F30616F93E5A12738DDDAA0A94DC405B898CF1D3 8,000 refugees filled the missions of Tarsus, where order had been restored under martial law, the dead numbering approximately 50.http://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F30616F93E5A12738DDDAA0A94DC405B898CF1D3 An April 22 message from an for future protection."http://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F10616F93E5A12738DDDAA0A94DC405B898CF1D3 An American missionary at Adana during the period, Reverend Herbert Adams Gibbons of Hartford , described the scene in the days leading up to the 27th of April: Adana is in a pitiable condition. The town has been pillaged and destroyed... It is impossible to estimate the number of killed. The corpses lie scattered through the streets. Friday, when I went out, I had to pick my way between the dead to avoid stepping on them. Saturday morning I counted a dozen cartloads of Armenian bodies in one-half hour being carried to the river and thrown into the water. In the Turkish cemeteries, graves are being dug wholesale. The Ottoman government sent in the Army to keep peace, but it was alleged to have either tolerated the violence or participated in it. A newspaper report of 3 May 1909 indicated that Ottoman soldiery had arrived, but did not seem intent upon effecting a peace: Adana is terrorized by 4,000 soldiers, who are looting, shooting, and burning. No respect is paid to foreign properties. Both French schools have been destroyed, and it is feared that the American school, commercial, and missionary interests in Adana are totally ruined. Grand , had ordered the "extermination of the Armenians", he did articulate his confidence that "there will never be another massacre."http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30B14F93A5A15738DDDA80894D0405B898CF1D3 In July 1909, the Young Turk government announced the trials of various government and military officials, for "being implicated in the Armenian massacres".http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40611FE345512738DDDAD0994DF405B898CF1D3http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0714FD395A12738DDDA00A94DF405B898CF1D3 DISPUTATION AND PARTIALITY OF MEDIA The government of Turkey , as well as some Turkish writers and Nationalists , dispute this version of history, contending that the events of April 1909 were in fact an Armenia n "rampage of pillaging and death" Page 59 (17 of 22), ''The Political Milieu of the Armenian Question'', via [http://www.tbmm.gov.tr/english/english.htm Grand National Assembly of Turkey website targeting the Muslim majority that "ended up with about 17,000 Armenian and 1,850 Turkish deaths." Page 59 (17 of 22), ''The Political Milieu of the Armenian Question'', via [http://www.tbmm.gov.tr/english/english.htm Grand National Assembly of Turkey website Ottoman authorities denied responsibility in the shooting deaths of two , for instance, while noting Ottoman denial of responsibility in the killing of Maurer and Rogers, nonetheless attributed their deaths to "Moslem fanatics".http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50612F63A5512738DDDA10A94DC405B898CF1D3 The Ottoman account of the killings was later contradicted by an eyewitness, American priest Stephen Trowbridge of .http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70A15F63F5D12738DDDAB0894DD405B898CF1D3 Western media often rendered the massacres as a struggle between Christianity and the Muslim world, a "Christian martyrdom".http://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F10A11F93A5A15738DDDAD0A94D8415B898CF1D3 While the Sultan resisted the attribution of religious motives to the killings, several Protestant missionaries and European Christians died in the massacres, and several Protestant and Jesuit churches and schools were destroyed.http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30612F63A5512738DDDA10A94DC405B898CF1D3 SEE ALSO REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS |
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