Vahram Shemmasian
The Sanjak of Alexandretta/Iskenderun was an autonomous
province within Syria during the interwar years. Its inhabitants included a
significant number of Armenian natives and refugees, among them the indigenous
population of Musa Dagh near Antioch. A political crisis beginning in 1936 shook
Sanjak society to its core, as winds of change from a French mandate to Turkish
suzerainty increasingly caused panic. The turmoil grew to alarming proportions
for the Arabs, Alawites, and Christians when a farcical “election” in the summer
of 1938 installed a Turkish majority in the Sanjak’s legislature. A year later
Turkey annexed the area. This was the final straw that compelled the
overwhelming majority of Armenians, among other groups, to seek refuge in other
parts of Syria as well as Lebanon, refusing to live under Turkish rule.
During the period between the summer of 1938 and the summer of
1939, socioeconomic life in Musa Dagh deteriorated rapidly. Exports and imports
from and into the Sanjak were drastically reduced. Merchants conducting business
with Aleppo were obliged to deposit with the Hatay government a sum equal to the
value of their merchandise as collateral. After selling the goods the merchants
had to convert the Syrian lira into the Turkish lira to be able to carry their
money back into the Sanjak. The merchants were able to regain only 70 percent of
the collateral they had deposited at the time of export, that is to say, the
government kept 30 percent as tax on profits, in addition to customs fees. As a
result, unemployment in Musa Dagh rose to 90 percent. Construction was halted.
Artisans sold their merchandize for 25 percent less, and bought other
necessities for 25 percent more. Poverty and misery became rampant.
Beginning in late spring 1939,
Turkish police posts were set up in and near the Armenian villages. There was
also an attempt to establish Turkish Halkevleri
(nationalistic people’s houses, i.e., clubs) with the help of Armenian
collaborators, described as “paid enthusiastic Kemalist propagandist agents.”
They reported regularly on compatriots who remained opposed to the emergent
Turkish regime, and even sent representatives to propagandize about the Sanjak
(then called the Hatay Republic) among Musa Dagh expatriates in Aleppo,
Damascus, and Beirut.
When in April 1939 two French senators, who were also members
of the French Mediterranean Committee opposed to the Sanjak’s annexation to
Turkey, visited Musa Dagh, they received an immense popular reception. After
their departure, a number of Armenians were arrested. Serop Sherbetjian was
sacked from his Musa Dagh governorship position. Tateos Babigian from Vakef
replaced him as an appointee of the Turkish regime in Antioch.
On June 30, 1939, the Armenian National Union (ANU) in Beirut
sent High Commissioner Gabriel Puaux a letter signed by the political and
religious leaders, including the Primate of the Aleppo Ardavazt Surmeyian. In
it, they expressed with sadness the fact that efforts in Paris had failed to
save the Sanjak; that the Armenians and especially those of Musa Dagh would be
the biggest losers; that they wanted to live under French protection given
Turkey’s record of persecutions and massacres; that the Musa Daghians must be
settled as a group in a mountainous area in Lebanon reminiscent of Musa Dagh and
affording agricultural opportunities; and that France should assume the
transportation expenses.
Four days later, on July 4, Bishop Surmeiyan sent Puaux a
letter, saying that since “the question of selling their [the Musa Daghians’]
houses is dead,” they should at least be allowed to carry their movable
belongings. He similarly asked that the goods be inspected when packed in the
villages rather than at the border customs to avoid long lines and undue delays,
that laissez-passers be issued free of charge, and so on.
When Col. Philibert Collet, the French officer in charge of the
Armenians’ exodus, heard rumors that the Musa Daghians were contemplating
burning their homes before departure, he issued a call for them to leave their
doors open and their homes and orchards intact. Those rumors proved
unfounded.
Collet similarly instructed Khat Achabahian, prelate of the
Sanjak Armenians, to form special committees to determine the number of persons
and livestock, and the weight of movable belongings that would be transported.
The Musa Dagh survey revealed the following results: 1,272 families or 7,888
persons, 3,232 animals, and 781 tons of luggage. These figures were later
adjusted at the Ras al-Basit encampment as follows: 1,204 families (68 families
less), 5,125 persons (2,763 persons less), approximately 1,850 tons of goods
(nearly 2.5 times more than the initial amount). The reasons for these changes
will be discussed in a more comprehensive study.
Those who
stayed behind
Not all Armenians elected to leave Musa Dagh. Such cases
numbered 68 families or 384 persons, constituting about 6 percent of Musa Dagh’s
total population. The breakdown was as follows: 4 families/12 persons in Bitias;
1 family/8 persons in Haji Habibli; 4 families/28 persons in Yoghunoluk; 4
families/27 persons in Kheder Beg; 3 families/15 persons in Kabusiye; 11
families/64 persons in Zeituniye in the nearby plain of Svedia; and 41
families/232 persons in Vakef. Most of these families lived together as a group
in Vakef. Presently Vakef is showcased as the sole Armenian village left in
Turkey.
They stayed behind for several reasons. To begin with, these
Armenians believed that they could live peacefully and harmoniously in
republican Turkey (intense Turkish propaganda aided in shaping this favorable
opinion). Second, it was emotionally and psychologically difficult for them to
abandon their ancestral lands (this torment certainly applied to those who
elected to depart, as well). Third, they entertained the false hope that they
would be able to acquire the fixed properties abandoned by those who left.
Fourth, they belonged to a political faction—mainly members and sympathizers of
the Social Democrat Hnchakian Party—that had failed to break the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation’s (ARF) hold on the governance of Musa Dagh during the
interwar years. Therefore, by staying they would be able to rid themselves of
the ARF’s dominance. That being said, most others with similar anti-ARF
sentiments still decided to leave the area.
The
exodus
The exodus from Musa Dagh took place from July 15-20, 1939.
The goods were shipped by boat to Ras al-Basit, between Kesab and Latakia; the
women, children, and the elderly rode trucks and buses, and the men walked, some
of them accompanying the animals. Turkish soldiers manning border checkpoints
inspected the goods strictly in search of weapons, especially. Some Turkish
civilians attacked the caravans and stole about 340 animals, killed 4 pigs, and
took 330 Syrian liras. Turkish gendarmes succeeded in retrieving just 63
animals, and only a fraction of the money.
When the refugees arrived at the
Armenian enclave of Kesab, the locals welcomed them with open arms by offering
food, water, and tan (yogurt juice). Then, at Qastal
Muaf, en route to Ras al-Basit, they were vaccinated against typhoid.
The camp
at Ras al-Basit
The first batch of refugees arrived in Ras al-Basit on July 18
and camped in the open, as no shelter was available. As the rest began to join
them, they congregated in groups according to their villages. Families built
sheds with branches and whatever materials they could muster, and hoisted the
French flags on them. They made water sources in the immediate vicinity
operational with pumps, and opened ditches just 50 meters away from the camp to
be used as restrooms. This unsanitary arrangement attracted “millions” of flies,
which caused serious health problems. The women cooked food outdoors, while the
men herded the animals and opened makeshift stores. People commuted to Latakia
to purchase necessities. The French government paid 25 Syrian liras per adult
and 10 liras per child under the age of 10 beginning on Aug. 7.
Social life resumed to some degree. The various denominations
in each village-grouping worshipped in their respective “churches.” The
political parties held their own meetings. Some voluntary associations likewise
tried to keep a semblance of normalcy. For example, the annual meeting of the
Union of Former Légion Arménienne Combatants took place on Aug. 24 in the
presence of 173 members. An executive committee was elected unanimously. A
report of activities read revealed the type and amount of donations that the
Union had received beginning in the second half of 1938 from the Syrian Armenian
Relief Cross in Aleppo (one box of medicines), and Union affiliates in France
(1,600 FF) and the United States ($240).
A Central Relief Committee
approved by the French and Vicar General Bedros Sarajian of the Catholicosate of
Cilicia at Antelias, Lebanon, managed all refugee affairs. The Armenian General
Benevolent Union (AGBU) Central Executive in Paris cooperated by forming an
Extraordinary Central Fundraising Committee on July 21. In turn, the Harach (meaning “forward,” in Armenian) newspaper in Paris
made its front pages available to publish the lists of donors from Europe and
North Africa. Compatriots from the United States likewise contributed.
Due to the unsanitary living conditions, disease increased to
an alarming degree, afflicting children especially. Torrential rains from Aug.
22-24 soaked the campers and exacerbated the situation. Collet sent 12 tents to
shelter the children. A French military doctor established a six-bed infirmary.
An Armenian pharmacist from Aleppo donated 100 Syrian liras worth of medicines.
A maternity with 20 beds was also opened in Latakia with a midwife sent by the
Syrian Armenian Relief Cross; by Aug. 30, some 180 sick and elderly people were
admitted. A French military health inspector, upon visiting Ras al-Basit,
ordered the transfer of some 60 sick children together with their mothers to
Beirut to be placed under the care of the Armenian National Union (ANU). The
government-run trade school building was placed under the ANU’s disposal, with
its chair and Lebanese Armenian Relief Cross representative, Dr. Onnig
Gergerian, managing it.
In search
of a final settlement site
The Turkish government asked the French to refrain from
installing the Armenians near the Syrian-Turkish border. The French obliged, and
initially considered four possible sites in Lebanon: (1) in the mountains
overlooking Tripoli, especially around the villages of Sir and Bakhune; (2) in
the district of Hermel, along the Orontes River; (3) in the west of Baalbek,
around the villages of Shemestar, Hadith, and Budaye; (4) in south Lebanon, in
the foothills of Hermon, between the cities of Marjayun and Rashaya. Hermel was
regarded as the most suitable, not only because of the available land, but also
because the Armenians “would constitute a moderating element and a factor of
appeasement, in a corner which troubles, permanently, the dissentions between
Christians and non-Christians.” For various reasons, however, none of these
places were selected.
The High Commission ultimately negotiated with a retired
Turkish military officer named Rushdi Hoja Tuma, who owned a 1,540 hectare
domain at a place called Anjar in the Bekaa valley. Although Rushdi Bey asked
for 10 million FF, he was willing to accept, out of “patriotic sentiments,” an
“important reduction” if the Turkish government asked him to. The land was
purchased at a reduced price.
To Anjar
The relocation from Ras al-Basit to Anjar took place from
Sept. 3-16. The refugees were sent to Tripoli by ship, and then to Riyaq by
train, where they received food, fruit, and refreshments from a local Armenian
reception team. From Riyaq, they were transported aboard trucks to their final
destination of Anjar. This was a rocky and thorny terrain with no dwellings
whatsoever. Because the refugees received an inadequate number of tents
(accommodating 12 people each), ordinary linen was additionally distributed for
the uprooted to make their own shelters. As in Ras al-Basit, here, too, the
population stuck together in compact groups according to their villages of
origin. Given the inhospitable geographical milieu, scores fell ill and/or died.
With the cold winter fast approaching, some 1,778 women and children were
dispersed among 14 villages and towns in the general vicinity and housed in
vacant buildings or among Christian families with accommodation possibilities.
The men in turn stayed at Anjar to construct stone dwellings that the French had
planned. The original project would give each family a house comprised of 2
rooms, a kitchen, and a restroom on a 400 sq. meter lot. But as France entered
World War II, and with its finances earmarked for that effort, the original plan
was reduced to a single room with an outdoor restroom. Each adult male received
an addition parcel of land for farming. By spring 1940, the Armenians occupied
their new houses. The three religious communities (Apostolic, Evangelical, and
Catholic) in turn received specific plots within the village for their churches
and schools. A new life in a new country thus began to take shape for the
Armenians from Musa Dagh.
Today Anjar is a beautiful 73-year-old thriving town with all
kinds of community facilities and businesses. Yet, given the political turmoil
in the Middle East, its future status and that of the Armenian communities in
the region as a whole remain tenuous at best.
"The Armenian Weekly," December 2, 2012
"The Armenian Weekly," December 2, 2012
No comments:
Post a Comment