As if The Graves Spurt Out the Dead Bodies

Translated by: Hüseyin Avşaroğlu – Kayseri, August 2007.


A cauldron was set up in the town center Babies were boiled, Ladies who had not seen the light of day Were forced to dance at the tip of the sword.

This verse which was written to describe the Armenian atrocities in the Salimbeyli district of Adana (old Cilicia), summarizes the endless catastrophe facing the Turkish people after the central government collapsed due to the Great War 1 (1914-1918).

Gaining courage from the French occupation forces Armenians started killing their neighbors of 900 years one morning, in order to invade the lands they wanted and declare their autonomy. Women and young girls were forcibly brought by armed men and stuffed into the Government Hall. Children and babies were taken from their mothers’ arms, boiled in cauldrons, and served to their mothers on trays. The above verse is part of a poem chanted by an unfortunate Melek Hatun after her late daughter Afife.

An eye witness from the same village described to accomplished researcher Cezmi Yurtsever, how Kurdish Genco was killed; “They caught Sergeant Major Genco and brought him to the Government Hall. They nailed him upside down to the nearby plane-tree from his hands and feet. They killed him by skinning him alive.

Similar incredible scenes of atrocities sending chills through the spine of reasonable men were witnessed by the French, British and Russian soldiers in most cities all over Anatolia while it was under their invasion. We mean to say those who claim they suffered genocide by the Turks and those who passed resolutions in line with such outrageous claims are guilty of attempt to perform genocide on the Turks.

Russians in the East, British and the French in the South collected old broken down rifles from the Turkish villagers after invading their land. Later they armed the Armenians and sent them to destroy whatever was left over; mostly women, children and the elderly from their enemy, the Turks. After approving Greek atrocities in the West, the British armed the Nestorian population of Mosul in addition to the Armenians in an effort to wipe out the Turks. They also provoked the Kurds. Mr. Marlin informed Sir Edward Grey on Sep, 3 1912; “Not only the Balkans and Europe, but the Arabs, Armenians, Kurds and all different races must be severed off from the Ottoman Empire” , Lord Curzon was not embarrassed to write to Wardrop on 11 March 1920; “Boghos Nubar and Mr. Ahoronian paid a visit to me. I scolded them for their stupid actions. I explained to them the stupidity of using on the Azerbaijanis the armament that we gave them to kill the Turks.”

It is interesting to note that the weapons were given to the Armenians not to defend themselves, but to attack the Turks.

The same unfair attitude prevailed in the French, Italian and even the German rows. Arşavir Şıracıyan, who killed the Ottoman Prime Minister Sait Halim Pasha in Rome, a well known İttihat and Terakki Party foreman Bahaattin Şakir in Berlin, and Trabzon Mayor Cemal Azmi Bey also in Berlin wrote in his memoirs translated into Turkish as “Bir Ermeni Teroristin Itiraflari [An Armenian Terrorist’s Confessions]” how the Armenians hid the enemy soldiers, how they armed themselves, and how he benefited from the Italian and German police.

Almost all of the soldiers of the French Battalion who took over the city of Maraş from the British soldiers were Armenian. The number of Armenian soldiers among the French was reported as 3,000 by the Darende Lieutenant Governor to the ministry of Internal Affairs (dated 11 Teşrini sani 1315).

In a small city where there are no young men or ammunition to defend civilians, and a collapsed central government, such large number of enemy soldiers causes big threat. The belligerent Armenians of Zeitun who were already committing serial murders must be added to this number of invading enemy soldiers. In such a situation it must be noted that the French used the Armenians to commit genocide in South East Anatolia, as well as Adana and Mersin.

Russians also did partake in the Armenian atrocities. Not only did they send them ammunition to strike the Turkish Army from behind prior to the war, they also encouraged the Armenians to annihilate the Turks in the cities they occupied.

A Russian Red Crescent Nurse, Tatiana Karameli who was also a student at the Moscow Medical School, penned her memoirs including the time that she spent in Bayburt. She mentioned that the Russian Commander Popov invited the Armenians aged 18-45 and distributed weapons to them from the Russian Army’s stocks in Bayburt. This Russian girl who said the murders of the region were organized by Arshak and Antranik’s bandit forces also mentioned that all the Turks detained in Bayburt were killed. Also, some of the 150 Turkish children that the Armenians took as hostage with them on their retreat were killed en route.

An Armenian state was planned to be founded east of the line drawn from Trabzon on the Black Sea coast to Iskenderun on the Mediterranean, so genocide was committed to the Turks living in that area, especially those living in and around Kars, Erzurum, Erzincan, Bitlis and Van.

Genocide means intentional annihilation, with a plan, of people belonging to a certain ethnicity, race, or religion,. As soon as World War 1 erupted, Armenians started to exterminate the population of Eastern Anatolia because they were Moslem or Turkish. Their method of destruction is comparable only to that of the Greeks in Western Anatolia. By archive documents, it will be proven how this genocide took place against the very same people who are unfairly portrayed as the guilty party.