Turkish cruelties upon the Armenian Christians. A reign of terror

Front matter

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PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE. The ecclesiastical head of the Armenians is the Catholicos residing at Etchmiadzine, in the Caucasus. Of the same rank are the Catholicos of Aghtamar (near Van) and the Catholicos of Sis, in Cilicia. Next come the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Jerusalem, the former taking precedence as the civil head of the Armenians in Turkey.

Introduction

WE need a new angle of vision on the martyrdoms in Armenia. Let us suppose that we had never heard anything about them and that on next Sunday morning, in our respective churches, our respective pastors should come forward with a statement like the following : —

Near the foot of a famous mountain there lived 1 500 years ago, in a little country about 400 miles square, a people numbering, perhaps, 3,000,000. In the turmoil of the centuries they had been scattered until their ancestral valleys and mountain slopes have largely passed into other hands. They still preserve, however, the racial characteristics of that early time, and look back with intense yearning to that olden time and those familiar places.

In face, figure and bearing, they are remarkably attractive. It is said that their personal resemblance to the supposed physical type of our Lord is probably more striking than that of any other race. In the simplicity of their faith and the earnestness of their character, these people are reminders of the early Christian Church. The bravery of their men and the chastity of their women are proverbial. They cherish the Bible as the most precious of their possessions and guard i it all the more sacredly when to do so involves the hazard of their lives. They are unarmed and do harm to none, they only seek to tend their flocks, till their fields, and conduct their trade in quietness and peace.

Their country is controlled by a rich and powerful potentate of another race, who with his court and his army would be neither cruel nor vindictive except for their religion. They are Mohammedans and

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2 INTRODUCTION.

have been taught for centuries that a Christian slain was the surest passport to the favor of God and the enjoyment of eternal happiness. Under the insane spell of this awful fanaticism, they have come down like wolves on the gentle Christian people under their sway, and within the last year have slaughtered men, women and children without mercy, not for any wrong that they have done, but only because they are Christians. Their villages and homes have been burned to the ground and such ingenuity of torture and outrage inflicted upon them as could hardly have been excelled if the bottomless pit had vomited forth its leading spirits to urge the battle on.

The cruelty towards priests and women, the two non-combatant classes, has been bitterest of all. Because the priest represented the detested religion of Christ, he has been not only slain but mutilated, and the sign of the cross cut in his forehead by murderous swords, and because Mohammedans believe before all things in the harem rather than the home, a brutal soldiery has spared neither the wife, the mother, nor the babe unborn. Outrages worse than death have been endured by women, always preceded by the promise that they would be spared if they would abjure their faith, but in no instance have they hesitated to face their double agony rather than disclaim allegiance to the Cross.

Now, in the presence of such a spectacle as this, with the martyrdom of a devoted nation going forward under their eyes, the men of Christendom have stood by and watched these agonies ; have seen a crowd of gentle Christian women shut up in a church and undergoing a night of outi.ge ending in murder, the streams of blood flowing out under the church doors ; they have stood by while Moslem savages deliberately disemboweled Christian mothers and brought into a world accursed, innocent babes which were taken on the points of bayonets and sportively tossed to and fro ; they have passively beheld the massacre of fifty thousand Christian people in the slowly-rounded circle of a year.

Suppose that this were said in every Christian pulpit next Sunday morning, with what righteous anger and holy indignation would the congregation rise up exclaiming : " Where are these outrages ? Who are the

INTRODUCTION. 3

dastards that stand by watching the slow martyrdom of a nation whose only fault is its loyalty to the Gospel that we profess ? "

And then should come the answer that Nathan uttered in the face of David : pointing to America, England, the Christian nations of the continent of Europe, " Thou art the man ! " It is you that are standing by like the traitors of old and consenting to the death of those who in an age of spiritual apathy are sealing with the blood of martyrdom their holy allegiance to " the faith once delivered to the saints."

This is the situation : Armenians are the nation ; the Sultan and his soldiers are the devil's scourge ; the Anglo-Saxon race is the coldhearted spectator.

In saying this I am not upbraiding any person high in power, not singling out any nation as more guilty than the rest. For in this crisis mere criticism would be futile. What we must have is action ; united, cogent and immediate; we must not stand upon the order of our going, but go at once, drawn by the compulsion of what is best and most enduring in our natures, even " the tie that binds " us to the assertion and proof of a common humanity and a " like precious faith " in Christ. We have waited a year, and now across the horrid front of war gleams the white figure of a woman. Clara Barton, the angel of the battlefield, takes upon herself the heavenly task of going to Turkey to represent the forces of the Golden Rule and of the Home which is their outcome.

In the long and bloody annals of the Sultan's country, two figures brighten the scene, two names breathe benediction — Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton, the fairest flowers of English and American Christianity. Women may well be grateful that their sex has placed in the sky where the crescent is fading into darkness the two brightest stars of hope that shall glow in history's constellation.

Americans have given costly hostages to the Turk. No band of men and women more heroic have lived since the Great Light shone forth out of Jerusalem, than our Missionaries in the land of the harem.

The record of their danger, suffering and death is only second to that of the beloved Armenians whose devotion has rewarded their heroic

4 INTRODUCTION.

toil. Their colleges and schools, churches and hospitals have passed under the withering blight of the Mohammedan.

In the present desperate emergency, the work of Miss Kimball in the devastated city of Van will be chronicled on the fairest pages where the bravery of Christian women is described.

The record that follows is given us by a noble young American, the son of Isaac G. Bliss, D. D., that statesman-like Missionary whose name has been endeared to the Christian Church for well nigh half a century by reason of his wise and unremitting labors. The appearance of this book is opportune, and its moderation of tone will commend it to all thoughtful readers. For we do not wish to hate the Turk or impale him on the point of rapier-like epithets. He is what the centuries have made him, and like Saul of Tarsus who became Paul of Damascus, he " verily thinks that he doeth God service." Superstition and fanaticism have oeen in all ages the most deadly foes of the human race. Under their withering, breath the Armenians seem likely to be swept out of existence. Surely such an illustration, surviving in a century when " sweet reasonableness " and universal toleration have made more rapid strides than in any that has preceded it, should nerve the will of every Christian man and woman to defend our Mission and our Missionaries, whose work alone can disinfect the land of the scimitar from its awful taint, and disintegrate by means of education the public opinion that prefers the harem to the home and the Koran of Mohammed to the New Testament of Christ.

En route in the Southern States, January 1 5, 1 896.

FRANCES E. WILLARD.

Preface

THE object of this book is not merely to set forth the situation in Turkey as it is to-day, but to trace the influences that have produced it. Those influences are very complex. They include the social characteristics of the peoples of Turkey, the religious beliefs and ecclesiastical customs that have grown up in the empire during the past centuries, the political ambitions and jealousies of the European Powers, and the personal qualities of the different men who have been prominent in the control of affairs. Probably no chapter in history is more kaleidoscopic in its character. To set forth its various phases, the topical rather than the strictly historical form has been adopted. The effort has been made to let each phase stand out as clearly as possible, first in itself, and then in its relation to the other phases. The contemporary historian is never logical. That remains for those who, with longer range, have a better perspective.

The various histories of Turkey have been consulted, but special acknowledgment must be made to "Turkey Old and New," by Sutherland Menzies, which more than any other traces the development of the Eastern Question from the standpoint of the European Powers. "The Life of Lord

VI PREFACE.

Stratford de Redcliffe," by Stanley Lane Poole, " Turkish Life in War Time," by Henry O. Dwight, and Dr. Cyrus Hamlin's books, " My Life and Times" and "Among the Turks," have been consulted with great advantage. It is a privilege not less than a duty to acknowledge the very efficient aid rendered by Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, Dr. Benjamin Labaree and Professor E. A. Grosvenor. Dr. Hamlin's vivid remembrance of the picturesque phases of Turkish diplomacy during the reigns of Mahmud II and Abd-ul-Medjid ; Dr. Labaree's scholarly as well as practical knowledge of branches of the Eastern Church which to most are little more than historic names ; Professor Grosvenor's intimate acquaintance with, and sympathetic appreciation of, the Greek life and character, have laid me under peculiar obligations to each. I must also express my thanks to those who from the very center of the conflict have given those sketches which describe so vividly the terror of the situation. Some of the letters appear for the first time on these pages ; others have been already given to the world in the columns of The Independent and the daily press. Their authors I know well and esteem most highly for their great ability and high character, which has been most nobly manifest during the trying scenes of the past year. As I write these lines word has come of the death of one and of the critical condition of another. They have been urged tp leave their posts, but one and all they have refused, with the exception of a very few who, in their own physical weakness, have felt that they could not strengthen their associates. Turkey and Russia are banded together to force them to leave ; the former that they may not bear witness against the evil done ; the latter that they may not hinder the progress

CONTENTS. XI

and Powerful Viziers — Alliances with Foreign Powers — Repeated Disasters — Weak Rule in Asia — Revolt in Egypt and Syria — Condition at Commencement of Present Century 164

CHAPTER X.

Turkey and Europe.

First Intercourse — Alliance between Francis I and Suleiman the Magnificent — Intrigues between France and Austria — The First Treaty — Nature of Capitulations — Peculian Favors Granted to the French — Their Recognition as the Protectors of Christians — Entrance of Other Powers — Louis XIV and His Ambassador — Influence of De Breves — Peace of Carlowitz — Turkey No Longer Dreaded in Europe 183

CHAPTER XI.

Russia and Turkey.

Aggression of Peter the Great — Diminution and Renewal of French Influence — The Contest over the Holy Places — Victory of Russian Influence in Favor of the Greek Church — Russia's Religious Propaganda Among the Greeks — Rise of Phil-Hellenism — Dismemberment Talked of — Effect of the French Revolution — The Russian Fleet in the Dardanelles — The English Fleet at Constantinople — Peace of Tilsit — Plan for Partition — Accession of Mahmud II 195

CHAPTER XII.

Mahmud II.

A Disintegrating Empire — An Energetic Sultan — Napoleon and Alexander — Lord Stratford de Redcliffe — Greek War for Independence — Russia's Perfidy — Destruction of the Janissaries — Reforms Attempted — Mehemet Ali of Egypt — Accession of Abd-ul-Medjid 210

CHAPTER XIII.

Reform and Progress.

Reign of Abd-ul-Medjid — Influence of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe — English Policy in Turkey — Hatti Sherif of GulhanS — A Remarkable Document — Equal Rights for All Subjects of the Sultan — Land Tax and Judicial Reform — General Situation of the Country — Application of the Reforms 225

XU CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XIV.

Treaties of Paris and Berlin.

Influence of Lord Stratford — The Holy Places — Crimean War — Treaty of Paris — Abd-ul-Aziz — Extravagance — Influx of Europeans — Provincial Government — Accession of Abd-ul-Hamid II — Russo-Turkish War — Treaty of San Stephano — Treaty of Berlin — Cyprus Convention 238

CHAPTER XV.

Condition of the Christians.

The Christians under Early Moslem Rule — Mohammed II — General Oppression — Protection by French Government — Russian Intrigue — Power of the Greek Church — Reforms under Mahmud II and Abd-ul-Medjid — The Hatti Humayoun — General Improvement Throughout the Empire 259

CHAPTER XVI.

The Turkish Government.

True Moslem State Theocratic — Dual Form of the Present Government — The Sublime Porte — Army and Navy — Internal Administration — Financial Management — General Corruption — Administration of Justice — Treatment of Christians — The Ulema — The Palace Party — The Sultan 280

CHAPTER XVII.

Protestant Missions in Turkey.

Early History — Opposition of Ecclesiastics in the Oriental Churches — Attitude of the Turkish Government — Work Among Moslems — Development of Education — Societies at Work — The American Board — Presbyterian Boards — American and British Bible Societies — English Societies — General Statistics — Relations to the Turkish Government — Character of the Missionaries 302

CHAPTER XVIII.

The Armenian Question.

A Progressive Grand Vizier — Victory of the Reactionary Party — Egypt and the Mahdi — Rise of the Armenian Question — Russian Intrigue — Articles of the Berlin

CONTENTS. Xlli

Treaty — Autonomy Desired — The Huntchagist Committee — Placards in Asia Minor — Burning of American Building at Marsovan — Numerous Arrests — Armenians Exiled — Coercive Measures of the Government — American Citizens — Threats — Huntchagists Disowned by the Nation — Young Turkey Party — Absolute Failure of the Huntchagist Movement 324

CHAPTER XIX.

General Situation in 1894.

Terrible Oppression — Exaggerated Reports — Truth Stranger Than Fiction — Religious Liberty Infringed Upon — Oppressive School Laws — Rigorous Censorship — General Effort of the Government to Suppress Christian Development 345

CHAPTER XX.

The Sassun Massacre.

A Deliberate Plan of The Turkish Government — Kurdish Raids — Armenians Defend Themselves — Kurds Reinforced by Regular Troops — Terrible Scenes of Slaughter — Stories of Survivors 368

CHAPTER XXI.

Politics and Massacre at Constantinople.

Investigation at Sassun — Mr. Gladstone on the Situation — Disturbances in Constantinople — Joint Notes by the Embassies — Plan of Reforms — New English Government — Massacre in Constantinople — Decisive Action of the Embassies — Signing of the Reforms — Subsequent Acts of Defiance — Breach Between England and Russia — Collapse of English Influence 384

CHAPTER XXII.

Massacres at Trebizond and Erzrum.

Importance and General Prosperity of Both Cities — Threats by the Turks — Terror Among the Armenians — Suddenness of the Attacks — Murder and Pillage by Regular Soldiers, Under the Eye of Foreign Consuls — Ferocity of the Turks — Testimony of Eye-Witnesses — Terrible Scenes at the Burial of the Victims 406

CHAPTER XXIII.

Massacres in Harput District.

American Residences — First Indications — Specious Promises — Riot, Murder and

XIV CONTENTS.

Pillage — A Dangerous Journey — Attempts at Defense — List of Villages and Details of Massacres — Statement of a Turkish Official — Armenians not Responsible — Turkish Dread of Reform — Tabular Statement 427

CHAPTER XXIV.

AlNTAB, MARASH AND UrFA.

The Situation in Northern Syria — No Revolutionary Movement — Massacre at Aintab — Kurdish Women — A Turkish Captain Helps the Pillage — A Colonel Checks it — Caring for the Wounded — Two Attacks at Marash — Destruction of American Houses — Brave Men in Zeitun — Story of Massacres at Urfa 447

CHAPTER XXV.

Character of the Massacres.

Massacres at Sivas, Cesarea, Birejik, Bitlis, and the Region of Mardin — Protection by the Turkish Government for the Jacobites — General Survey — Place and Time of the Massacres — Victims Exclusively Armenians — Effort to Destroy the Strength of the Nation — Motive — Responsibility of the Turkish Government and of the Sultan . „ 474

CHAPTER XXVI.

Religious Persecution.

Motive of the Massacres — Primarily Political, then Religious — The Religious Element Overpowering the Political — Dread of Christian Domination — False Statements by the Turkish Government — Instances of Persecution and Enforced Conversion to Islam— A Tremendous Moral Disaster — Efforts of the Government to Suppress Reports 482

CHAPTER XXVII.

Relief Work.

The General Situation — Absolute Destitution — Appeals to America and England — Work in the Sassun Region — Van and Dr. Kimball — Appeals Following the Greater Massacres — Clara Barton and the Red Cross — Opposition of the Turks — Letter from Van — After the Massacre in Harput — Suffering in the Villages — Appeal for Help 5°*

CONTENTS. XV

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Partition of Turkey.

Factors in the Problem — Turkey and Europe — Topography of the Country — Distribution of Population — Countries Interested — Russia, England, France, Austria, Italy, Germany, Greece, Bulgaria — Desire for Territorial Aggrandizement — Mutual Jealousies — Possible Solution — Turkish Factor Often Overlooked — Great Difficulties to be Met 528

CHAPTER XXIX.

America and Turkey.

Early Treaties — Some Prominent Ambassadors — American Missionaries — Obedience to the Laws — Treaty Rights — Questions of Importance — Indemnity at Harput and Marash — More Consuls Needed — Naturalized Americans — Right of Domicile Threatened — Positive Action Needed — Duty of America 542

CHAPTER XXX.

General Survey.

Statistics of Massacre and Pillage — Where Does the Responsibility Rest? — The Turks; Fear, Ferocity, Outrage — The Armenians; Ambition, Lack of Preparation, Unwisdom of Huntchagists — The European Powers ; Jealousy, Ambition, Cowardice — The Sultan; Alliance with Reactionary Party, Difficult Position, Individual Care of Minutiae — Latest Development of Most Terrible Persecution . . 552

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Patriarch of Constantinople .... Frontispiece.

View of Mount Ararat . . . . . . . .17

General View of the Gardens of Van . . . .18

A Kurdish Encampment 35

Turkish Peasant Family 36

The Hamadieh Mosque . • 53

Turkish Dervish . . 54

Turkish Peasant . . 71

Group of Mountaineers 72

Kurdish Sheik .89

Group of Xeibecks . 90

Armenian Woman 107

An Evangelical Armenian Church 108

Kurdish Mountain Village . . . . . . .125

A Turkish Village Sheik 126

The City of Brusa 143

Land Walls of Constantinople 144

Bridge of Boats Across the Lower Tigris . . . .161 Village of Reed Huts in Lower Mesopotamia . . .162

A Khan, or Caravansary 179

A Dome Village in Northern Mesopotamia . . .180

General View of Constantinople 197

View of Adrianople 198

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Group of Armenian Young Men

The City of Marsovan in Asia Minor

Sultan of Turkey ....

Audience at the Palace .

Robert College ....

The Boys' High School in Smyrna .

Circassian Officer in the Sultan's Army

Slaughter of the Armenians at Sassun

Gateway of the War Department at Constantinople

The City of Trebizond ....

The City of Harput in Eastern Turkey

The Ckty of Aintab ...

The City of Gumushkhane

View in the City of Tabriz .

Council of the Government of Great

the Armenian Question Square of the Atmeidan .

British Flotilla ....

Massacres of the Armenians .

Looting in Stamboul Massacre in Stamboul Imprisoning Armenians Scene of Slaughter .

After the Slaughter Burying the Armenians .

Britain Regarding

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359 360

377 378 395 39 6

413 414

449 467

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PREFACE. VU

of that policy of repression already applied to Evangelical thought throughout her empire.

What is in the future no man can tell, but the growth of pure religion in whatever form of church organization ; the development of freedom of thought; the attainment of civil liberty, and that not merely for Armenian, but for Greek, Nestorian, Jacobite, and even for the Turk himself, depends upon the continuance of the influences for a higher life that have been at work during the past sixty years, and that depends upon the missionaries being supported at their posts. Theirs is no sectarian work. They stand as the friends of Gregorian Armenians, Roman Catholic Chaldeans, Nestorians and Jacobites as well as of those in closer affiliation with the Protestant Churches of Europe and America. America should stand by them and demand their full protection. It is our right by treaty ; it is our right by the duty we owe humanity, by the duty we owe to our tradition as a liberty loving nation. We have no political ends to serve ; we want not a square foot of the Sultan's domains ; but we stand, as we have always stood, for freedom for the oppressed, for the right of every man to worship his God in the light of his own conscience.

Edwin Munsell Bliss.

New York City, March 21st, 1896.

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Red — District Where Massacres Occurred.

CHAPTER I. The Turkish Empire

Geographical Extent — Topography — Physical Characteristics — Products — Traveling

and Transportation — Building . 19

CHAPTER II. Population and Languages

Accurate Statements as to Population Impossible — No Census — Best Available Estimates — Distribution — Most of the Races Described in Other Chapters — Jews and Foreigners — General Characteristics — The Languages — How Distributed — Peculiarities of the Turkish — Number Spoken in the Seaboard Cities 37

CHAPTER III. Religions

Islam and Christianity — A Few Pagan Communities — Origin of Mohammedanism — The Koran — The Traditions — Extent of Islam — Present Condition — Effect upon the Turks — Contact with Civilization — Sects — Oriental Christianity — Characteristics 5 1

CHAPTER IV. The Turks

Their Origin — Early History — General Characteristics — Good Qualities — Kindness — Hospitality — Temperance — Honesty — Intellectual Ability — Obedience to Rulers — Bravery — Bad Characteristics — Indifference to Suffering — Brutality — Degradation of Women — Sensuality — Official Unreliability — Fatalism — Insolence — Indolence

— General Summary 66

(ix)

X CONTENTS.

CHAPTER V. The Kurds

Legend of the Serpents — Connected with the Medes — Tribal Organization — Nomad Life— Saladin and the Crusaders — After the Russo-Turkish War — The Hamidieh Cavalry — Brutal Treatment of Christians — Arabs — Circassians and Other Moslem Subjects — The Nusairiyeh — Yezidis and Druzes 85

CHAPTER VI. The Armenians

Their Origin — Early History — First Nation to Accept Christianity — Dispersion Under Oppression — Change from Agricultural to Commercial People — General Characteristics; Loyalty to Nation and Religion — Industry — Morality — Intellectual Ability — Shrewdness — Jealousy of One Another — Influence of Missions and European Ideas — Growth of National Ambition — Armenians in Russia — Autonomy — Armenians in Other Countries — Patriarch Mattheos— Outlook for the Future 106

CHAPTER VII. The Greeks

Fidelity of the Oriental Churches — The Apostle Andrew — Concessions by Mohammed II — Gennadios II — Suffering and Misery — Greek Revolution — Growth of National Spirit — Hellenes or Romaioi — Bulgarians in their Relation to the Greek Church. . 130

CHAPTER VIII. Other Oriental Churches

The Syrian Church Divided into Syrians, Chaldeans, Nestorians, Jacobites, and some Roman Catholic Bodies — The Jacobites — Patriarch of Antioch — Condition of Villagers — Jebel Tur Region — Nestorians — Patriarch of Babylon — Badir Khan Bey — Chaldeans — The Copts of Egypt — Maronites and Druzes 145

CHAPTER IX. Rise and Decline of Ottoman Power

Capture of Constantinople — Victories of Mohammed II — The Sultans Assume the Caliphate — Reign of Suleiman the Magnificent — Attack upon Venice — Constant Strife over the Danubian Principalities — Internal Disorganization — Weak Sultans

CHAPTER I. The Turkish Empire

Geographical Extent — Topography — Physical Characteristics — Products — Traveling and

Transportation — Building.

THE Turkish Empire at the beginning of 1896 included: in Europe, Albania, Macedonia, and the southeastern portion of the Balkan Peninsula ; in Asia, Asia Minor, Eastern Turkey or Kurdistan, Mesopotamia, Syria, and a comparatively small section of Southern Arabia. In nominal subjection was the large African province of Tripoli, while Egypt and Bulgaria were reckoned as tributary States. The total area may be estimated as follows :

IMMEDIATE POSSESSIONS.

Europe 63,850 square miles.

Add Tripoli 398,873 " "

TRIBUTARY STATES.

Bulgaria 37,86o " "

Island of Samos 210 " "

Grand Total. 1,629,963

A better idea of the extent will be gained from the statement that the immediate possessions cover very nearly the same territory as the United States east of the Mississippi, while the addition of Tripoli carries the line to include Minne-

2 ig

20 TOPOGRAPHY.

sota and Louisiana, and the entire possessions correspond to the section east of a line drawn south from the western boundary of the Dakotas and cutting Texas in two.

It is, however, by no means a compact country, as will readily be seen by the map, and the different sections are as unlike to as they are distant from each other. The difference between Albania and Mesopotamia, Asia Minor and Egypt, is scarcely less great than that between Maine and Honduras, Oregon and Cuba. This great diversity in topography carries with it corresponding diversity in the general characteristics of the people, and both must be kept in mind if the situation, political and social, is to be understood.

Topographically the general characteristics of the Turkish Empire, whether in Europe or Asia, are a great extent of coast line and a large amount of mountainous country. With the exception of the Mesopotamia plain, a portion of Northern Syria and the plateaus of Western Asia Minor, the whole Empire is distinctly mountainous. In European Turkey the mountains extend from Montenegro into Greece; and until within a hundred miles of Constantinople, with the exception of the valley of the Vardar, there is scarcely any plain at all. Asiatic Turkey may be divided into four sections : Asia Minor, Eastern Turkey, Syria and Mesopotamia. Asia Minor includes the country west of a line drawn north from the Gulf of Iskanderun to the Black Sea ; Eastern Turkey the remainder eastward to the Persian border ; Syria includes the section south of the Taurus and eastof the Mediterranean to the Euphrates; and Mesopotamia covers the great valley between the Euphrates and Tigris and the section between the Tigris and the Persian border as far south as the Persian Gulf.

MOUNTAIN RANGES. 21

From the very eastern end of the Black Sea along its southern coast, along the Sea of Marmora, the Aegean and the Mediterranean, extends a range of mountains, broken only by occasional passes ; while from the Mediterranean through to the Persian border a line almost as sharp as that of a seacoast separates the mountainous region known historically as Armenia, more lately as Kurdistan or Eastern Turkey, from the level of Mesopotamia. So also the Lebanon range, extending from this same point of departure, the Gulf of Iskanderun, separates the narrow coast line from the Syrian Desert and the Hauran.

The coast has almost no harbors worthy of the name. Constantinople, with its Bosporus and Golden Horn, is famous ; Smyrna has a good harbor, but Trebizond, Samsun and Ineboli on the Black Sea ; Adalia, Mersine, Alexandretta, Beirut and Jaffa on the Mediterranean, are open roadsteads. In European Turkey there are fairly good harbors at Kavala and Salonica on the Aegean, but none on the coast of the Adriatic. The mountain ranges have very few passes. The most important ones in Asiatic Turkey are on the north from Trebizond to Erzrum, from Samsun south to Marsovan and Sivas, and from Ineboli to Kastamuni and Angora ; and on the south from Mersine and Adana to Nidgeh and Cesarea, from Marash to Malatia and Harput, and from Diarbekir to Harput. On the east there are passes from Erzrum to Kars, from Van to Trebizond, from Mosul by Rowandiz to Lake Urumia, and from Bagdad to Hamadan. There are of course other roads, but they are so precipitous as to be most difficult of passage. The western section of Asia Minor is mountainous, without special ranges, and there are no passes of the same nature as those that cross the northern and southern ranges