As a result of the Armenian Genocide about 500 000
Armenian children were killed during 1915-1923 (they were burned, poisoned,
strangled), some of them died of starvation and various epidemic diseases. The
children, who survived the Genocide were left orphaned and were forced to
convert to Islam. The Armenian associations, church organizations, foreign
relief organizations (American Near East Relief Committee, The Lord Mayor’s
Fund of London, Danish Women's Union, The Russian Red Cross, Union of Russian Cities,
etc.), as well as international organizations (Red Cross, The League of
Nations) were involved in saving the survived Armenian children from impending
death and bringing them out of the Ottoman borders.
(Group of 5000 Armenian children evacuated from Kharberd, 1922)
Taking the children, who were on the verge of death, out
of the Ottoman Empire would insure their physical security and solve the
problem of residency and national education. In fact, the evacuated children
were those, who had been recruited from uninhabited places (deserts and
forests), streets, where they were involved in begging, Muslim families and
Turkish state orphanages. The children found in the war zone were also
evacuated by the help of Russian and British soldiers.
The first large-scale evacuation of the Armenian children
in the years of the Armenian Genocide was during the battle of Musa Dagh. In
spring of 1915, the Young Turks’ government started the massacres and the
deportation of the Armenian population in Western Armenia and other areas of
the Ottoman Empire.
On 30 July six Armenian villages of Svedia in the
Mediterranean coastal region with 6000 Armenian population were given the order
of deportation.
Small part of the Armenian population there obeyed to the
command, while the rest (about 5000 Armenians) climbed Musa Dagh and resort to
self-defense, which lasted 53 days. French ships “Gishen” and “Joan d'Arc”
reached for help on 13-15 September and could evacuate 4058 people, bringing
them to Port Said in Egypt. A few children were born on board the French
battleships and were called with symbolic names, such as Gishen, Freedom, etc.
1563 Armenian children reached Port Said. In the same
period the evacuation of the Armenian children continued in Khunus, Van, Bitlis
and other places.
Along with the expansion of the Kemalist movement in the
Asia Minor during 1921-1922, a perilous situation occured for the Armenian
children in the orphanages that operated within the Ottoman Empire, and this
was further exacerbated after the massacres of the Armenians in Cilicia
perpetrated by the Kemalists. As a result of those massacres thousands of
Armenians from Ayntap, Marash, Hajn, Mersin and other places were forced to
leave their ancestral homes. During the mass deportation of the Cilician
Armenians at the end of 1921, about 7500 Armenian orphans were evacuated to
Aleppo, Beirut, Damascus and Alexandretta, most of them were taken under the
protection of National Care Association and AGBU.
One of the dramatic episodes of evacuation occurred on
December 1921 in the township of Nahr El Oman in the province of Basra, where
816 Armenian orphans were transported to Jerusalem and were welcomed by
Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Yeghishe Durian, national figures
and a number of local Armenians.
As a result of the massacres perpetrated by Young Turks
and Kemalists, thousands of Armenian orphans were on the brink of destruction
in the whole territory of the Ottoman Empire. For this concern a meeting was
held on 7 February, 1922 in Aleppo between American Near East Relief staff and
the Armenian delegation headed by vicar of the diocese priest Haroutyun Yesayan
and authorized by Catholicos of Cilicia Sahak II. The commission decided to
transport the Armenian orphans, who sheltered in the Turkey’s southern and
southeastern orphanages, to Syria and Lebanon, and from northern and
northwestern regions to the Caucasus and Greece. By the decision of the
American Near East Relief, Armenian and Greek orphans from Central Turkey,
Kayseri, Konya and Sebastia, and northern regions, Trabizon, Samsun were transported
to Constantinople and then to Greece by ship and placed in 13 orphanages. From
Trace, another part of the decaying Ottoman Empire, the Armenian orphans were
transported to Romania and Bulgaria, and from Izmir and Bursa to Greece by
river of Maritsa.
Jacob Küntzler and his wife Elizabeth were in charge of
the evacuation progress from South and southeastern parts of Turkey (Urfa and
nearby, Mardin, Kharberd, Agn and Malatia). They were working in the Urfa
branch of American Near East Relief and were involved in taking care of the
Armenian orphans. They were selected for this job thanks to their brilliant
knowledge of the area and the mastery of Turkish language. In April, 1922
Künzler organized the largest evacuation ever: 5000 orphans were brought out from
Kharberd and the vicinities. According to Künzler’s statistics, totally 8000
Armenian children were evacuated from south and southeastern parts of Turkey.
They were placed in Syrian and Lebanese orphanages.
In September 1922 about 5000 Greek and Armenian orphans
were evacuated by the Kemalists during the devastating fire of Smyrna through
the help of Sara Cornig, a worker in Smyrna branch of American Near East
Relief. Those children were transported to Greece by American warships. As a
result of evacuation works, thousands of Armenian orphans were saved from Young
Turks’ and Kemalists’ genocidal operations.
According to the data provided by J. Barton, , about 30
000 Armenian and Greek orphans were evacuated to Syria, Lebanon and Greece
thanks to the rescue operations carried out by American Near East Relief. As
many as 12 000 Armenian children were from south and southeastern parts of the
Empire. - See more at: http://www.genocide-museum.am/eng/online_exhibition_18.php#sthash.toGfabBs.fhDyM159.dpuf
The evacuation of Musa Dagh Armenians to Port Said by French battleships, 1915
Children evacuated from Musa Dagh to Port Said, 1915
Children evacuated from Musa Dagh to Port Said, 1915
Children evacuated from Musa Dagh to Port Said, 1915
The evacuation of 816 Armenian orphans from Nahr El-Omar to Jerusalem, 1921
The Armenian orphans in Jerusalem, 1922
The evacuation of blind and disabled Armenian orphans from Turkey by J.Küntzler, 1922
Routes showing the evacuation of 8000 Armenian orphans from Turkey by J. Küntzler, 1922
A group of Armenian orphans evacuating from Turkey, 1922
Group of 5 000 Armenian children evacuated from Kharberd, 1922
A group of Armenian orphans evacuating from Turkey, 1922
The first group of 130 Armenian orphans (out of 8000, evacuated from Turkey)
having rest after two days of difficult journey
Armenian orphans evacuated from Urfa near the Kurdish village of Suruj, 1922
1400 Armenian orphans evacuated from Turkey were given a shelter in Ghazirie orphanage (Lebanon)
Armenian children being evacuated by American Near East Relief workers and taking the ship, 1922
Armenian orphans climbing the ship with their backpacks and rescue rings,
accompanied with American Near East Relief workers, 1922
Armenian children at the platform waiting for the ship, 1922
A group of thousand children evacuated from Turkey.
They are forced to leave their ancestral homeland, 1922
Rows of little orphans evacuating from Turkey, 1922
Armenian children evacuated from Smyrna by Sara Cornig, 1922
- See more at: http://www.genocide-museum.am/eng/online_exhibition_18.php#sthash.toGfabBs.fhDyM159.dpuf
http://www.genocide-museum.am/eng/online_exhibition_18.php
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