Kurds Massacred 10,000 Armenians Thousands of Christians Are Being Driven From the Country Refugees At Igdir
During Past Four Months Massacres Have Been Very Frequent
TIFLIS Trans-Caucasia, Aug 10-(Via Petrograd and London, 11:20p.m.)-The Armenian bishop has received word that 60,000 Armenian refugees have arrived at Igdir, the principal outlet of the Vilayet of Van. It is thought fully 100,000 will be driven from Van alone, and another exodus of Christians from Persia is feared.
Kurds are reported to have massacred 10,000 Armenians in the Villayet of Bitlis, throwing the bodies of the victims into the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
- Varazdate, a member of the committee of the Armenian social Democratic party, writing to L’Humanite of Paris, on August 2, said the committee had received word to the effect that the Turks after massacring all the males of the population in the region of Bitlis, Turkish Armenia, assembled nine thousand women and children and drove them to the banks of the Tigris, where they shot them, throwing the bodies into the river.
Reports of massacres of Armenians at various points have been received frequently in the last four months. Six thousand were said to have been slain at Van in May. American missionaries at Van have played a prominent part in protecting Armenians from Turkish and Kurdish attacks. The Armenians are defending themselves as best they can with whatever weapons are available.
The head of the Armenian church was reported early this month to have sent to President Wilson an appeal to the American nation to protest against Armenian massacres and the violent removal of Armenians from Constantinople and Galicia (Asia Minor) to Konieh and Mesopotamia, where they are doomed to perish.