File 705/1916 Pt 2 'Arab revolt: Arab reports; Sir M Sykes' reports' [‎190r] (377/450)

of documents sent by Sir Percy Cox to “ The Officer in Charge, Cairo Section, Eastern
Bureau, Cairo.” None of them are of sufficient current interest to print in the
Appendix, but the sending of them suggests the idea that there is some misunder
standing at Basra in regard to the Arab Bureau.
PART III.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Armenian Massacres.
An agent reports [06870] that the Greek Minister for Foreign Affairs, referring
a few days ago to a detailed report on the Armenian massacres received from
M. Callerghis, Minister at Constantinople, stated that it was estimated that 800,000
Armenians had been massacred.
Turkish Deserters.
An agent [06836] gives the newspaper “El Balag” for the 20th June as his
authority for the statements that all deserters were in future to be condemned to death,
and that ten had already been crucified at Damascus and eleven hanged.
The Turkish Opposition in Switzerland.
An agent reports [06805] that several members of this party have again met in
Switzerland, and that:—
1. They are persuaded that the time is ripe for a revolution in Turkey; for which
they suggest the ground should be prepared by an extensive distribution
of pamphlets and leaflets dropped from aeroplanes, particularly in the
Smyrna district.
2. They propose to get into touch with Bahmi Bey at Smyrna, and if he should
be willing to move, they wish to know whether the British Government
would help him, and if so to what extent and in what manner.
PART IV.
THE PRESS.
Syria.
Syrians starved.
The state of the people of Syria is past all belief, and many hangings have taken
place. They are not exactly hanged, but suspended from a frame vuth their toes on a
stool, which they often kick from underneath them. There is a new terrorisation of
the Arabic-speaking Moslems. It is estimated that from 60,000 to 80,000 have died of
starvation in Northern Syria. The process of Turkifying this country is being carried
out with great thoroughness. The unfortunate people who are deported are made to
give up their holdings, and the Turkish Government then sells the land and promises
them that they will have similar allotments granted them in the north or in Angora.
They are then transported and sent to Sivas or some similar town, where they find that
the Turkish Government has done with them. This has been the procedure in
thousands of cases, and the depopulation of Syria is fast proceeding. In some of the
vilayets there are none of the Arabic-speaking Christians left.
The typhus epidemic everywhere gains new impetus, and a great number of the
Turkish army doctors have succumbed to it. Many of the civilian prisoners, mostly
British, have contracted the disease, and at least twelve Englishmen M 7 ere ill with it,
but recovered.—(The “Times,” 12th August.)
[ 898—3]
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