Page:Islam, Turkey, and Armenia, and How They Happened.djvu/205

Rh Thus he ordered his troops to march to the Sassoun district and help the Kurds in their bloody work. This plan being hidden from the Armenians, and most probably from the European Powers, was carried on in a very systematic way. The various Kurdish tribes had received special invitation to take part in this great expedition, and the chiefs, with their men, arrived one after the other, and the total number of the Kurds who took part in the campaign was estimated at 30,000. The Armenians believed in the beginning that they had to do only with the Kurds, but they soon realized that a Turkish regular army, with provisions, rifles and cannons, was standing at the back of the Kurds. Sassoun was doomed whether she submitted or opposed. After two weeks' self-protection against the Kurds they saw that the regular army entered into active campaign. Mountain pieces began to thunder, and the Armenians, having nearly exhausted their ammunition, took to flight, when the Kurds and the Turks pursued them and ruthlessly massacred men, women and children (not less than 10,000), plundered the properties and burned seventy villages, and after many horrible outrages, carried many girls and women to Kurdish and Turkish harems. These things took place in August and September of 1894.

2. The Scheme of Reforms in The American Provinces. The news of the Sassoun massacre was concealed about four months, during which time the Turkish Government worked steadily to remove every sign and trace of these hellish deeds. But through