Mussulmans implore the Porte for Protection from Armenians
DESOLATION IN THE WAKE OF KURDS
A Secret Committee Relies Upon Two Hundred Thousand Insurgents in Asia Minor in the Spring
CONSTANTINOPLE, Nov. 14 – Official dispatches received here to-day show no diminution in the reign of anarchy in certain parts of the empire [the Ottoman Empire]. A telegram from the authorities at Arabkir, Pashalic of Sivas, Asiatic Turkey, states that 1,500 Armenians rose against the Turks and committed many excesses Oct. 26 and 27. The Armenians set fire to a mosque, the school, and the bazaar, using bombs containing some inflammable material to make their work more certain. The flames spread with startling rapidity, and several stores and houses occupied by Mussulmans and Christians were destroyed. The Insurgents also attacked the Mussulman quarter Ouloupinar and killed many of the residents. The Mussulman population of Arabkir has telegraphed to the Porte imploring protection. The authorities succeeded, however, in restoring the order. Forty bombs were discovered, with which the Armenians designed to destroy the barracks and Government offices. Five thousand Armenian revolters have assembled at Tchoukmerzen, Adana, and are preparing for aggressive action. The official dispatches charge the Armenians with various acts of murder and pillage at Erzinghian, Sivas and Mandjilik.
LONDON, Nov. 14 – The Daily News will to-morrow publish a Constantinople dispatch saying that the Embassies have received telegrams stating that massacres have occurred at many small places. The country between Karahissar and the Euphrates River has been desolated by the Kurds. A letter states that the Turkish Villagers near Karahissar vainly tried to protect the Armenians from the Kurds. A diplomat informed the correspondent of the Daily News that the Consuls at the various places where troubles had occurred had disproved the allegations that the Armenians had begun the disorders. The Consulate at Erzeroum now declares that a mistake was made in attributing the troubles there to the troops. A Vienna dispatch to the Daily News says that a secret Armenian committee at Bitlis is sending delegates to the Christian communities in Asia Minor to persuade them to join in a general rising in the Spring. The committee relies upon having 200,000 insurgents ready to resist the Government at that time.
ROME, Nov. 14 – Advices have reached here from Bayroot showing that the situation in Syria and Lebanon is causing much anxiety, and conflicts are feared at any moment. The inhabitants of Damascus are in a state of panic. The Mussulman populace is equally incensed against the Government and the Christians. The local officials are powerless owing to the contradictory orders that they have received.
© New York Times, November 15, 1895