Erzurum (Armenian: Կարին (Karin) is a city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. The current name "Erzurum" derives from "Arz-e Rum" (literally The border of the Romans in Persian).
Erzurum was the scene of massacres during the Hamidian massacres. Following the massacres of Erzeroum of October 30, 1895 , a British consul put the hand on two letters sent to his brother and to his parents by a Turkish soldier:
"My brother, if you want news from here, we killed 1 200 Armenians, all tiny rooms in pâtée for dog [... ] Mother, I am healthy and except. Father, twenty days ago, we carried out the war against the Armenian incrédules. By the grace of God, no misfortune arrived to us. The rumour says that our battalion will be dispatched in your part of the world - if it is the case, we will kill all the Armenians there. Other share, 511 Armenians were wounded, and it perishes about it one or two each day. If you want news of the soldiers and bachi bouzouks, not only one did not bleed of the nose [... ] That God blesses you." (Source: "The Graphic", 07.12.1895, Massacres of Erzeroum of October 30, 1895)
"On June 20th the soldiers were trying to disperse Armenians who were holding a meeting in a church. The soldiers began a massacre of the Armenians and the Turkish populace joined in the attack. The shops and houses of Armenians were pillaged. The sack lasted four hours. The British Consulate, at which on the same night a fete was being given for the benefit of poor Armenians, was stoned and its gates and windows broken. The Consul and members of his family took refuge in the cellars in the building and the fete was abandoned. The Armenian mission served as a refuge for fifty fugitives." (Source: Los Angeles Times Jul 26, 1890 TURKISH ATROCITIES. - DETAILS OF THE MASSACRE AT ERZEROUM)
It was also a major extermination and deportation center during the Armenian Genocide of 1915. The deportation route for the Armenians of Erzurum and for many others from eastern Anatolia went through the city of Harput.
Today these events are known as the Armenian Genocide, when Raphael Lemkin invented the word and used it to refer to the Armenians as a people subjected to genocide.
The events are widely recognized as a Genocide, the only dispute is with Turkey to acknowledge the events as Genocide similar to when Nazis denied the Holocaust at first but later acknowledged there acts, but what is most absurd, the Turkish state still maintains there denial of the Armenian Genocide.
Eastern Turkey was populated by Armenians in majority before the Armenian Genocide, a territory that was ruled by Armenian kingdoms and tribes for centuries. Today there are no Armenians living in Erzurum. Due to the fact massacres, pillaging, deportation had occurred.
'Should Turkey have a right to rule these ancient Armenian territories? by Genocide? and forced deportations? today Eastern Turkey is mostly inhabited by Kurds another ethnic group that is facing oppression.
By some accounts, Turkey has the second largest population of internally displaced persons in the world, yet, the international humanitarian community has done virtually nothing on their behalf.
Forced migration of Kurds in Turkey has a long history. Following the Young Turk revolution at the beginning of this century and the flowering of Turkish nationalism, the destruction or assimilation of minority populations (particularly Armenians and Kurds) has been a recurring pattern.
Source: U.S. Committee for Refugees, World Refugee Survey 1998, p.9.
Comment and add to the story without registration, but keep the comments meaningful please. Links are not accepted.
