Page:Islam, Turkey, and Armenia, and How They Happened.djvu/204



1. The Massacre of Sassoun, (1894), the First in the Series. Sassoun is a small, mountainous district in the Province of Bitlis, in the heart of Armenia. The inhabitants of this district, being impoverished by heavy taxes imposed upon them by the Turkish Government and by several tribes of the Kurds, and being oppressed by tortures and outrageous barbarities of these tax-gatherers, were obliged to raise their voices and implore the help of the local and central government. These appeals were responded to by severe Kurdish assaults and increased Turkish atrocities. The Armenians of that district, therefore, decided to oppose the Kurds when they came to collect taxes, upon which the barbarous race, being enraged, made a stronger attack for the purpose of murder and revenge. Among the Kurds whom the Armenians of Sassoun opposed, there were a few Hamidieh Kurdish soldiers, the authorized brigands of Kurdistan, several of whom were killed in the struggle. The exaggerated report sent by the Governor of Bitlis made the Sultan enraged, and accordingly he ordered: the suppression of this Armenian rebellion with the severest means." This was the opportunity which the Sultan was anxiously watching for many years, and for which end he was planning.