Jamalzadeh Witnesses the Pain and Torture of Armenian Women and Children

Hundreds of Armenian women and men were being driven forward, weeping, by the blows of whips and weapons, weak and powerless. Among the men, no young ones were seen, as all the young men had either been sent to the battlefield or killed out of caution (to prevent joining the Russian army). Armenian girls had shaved their heads completely, fearing that Turkish and Arab men would assault them. Two or three gendarmes on horseback drove these groups forward like a herd of sheep with whips. This "very terrifying nightmare" has sometimes dominated the existence of Mohammad Ali Jamalzadeh, the renowned Iranian writer and father of modern Iranian storytelling, and has "tormented" him. The nightmare that Jamalzadeh witnessed in the spring of 1916, while traveling by train from Baghdad to Berlin, was the forced relocation of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, which began in the spring of 1915. Many historians refer to it as the "first genocide of the 20th century," estimating the victims to be between one to one and a half million. Armenians consider April 24, 1915, as the beginning of the "genocide," while Turkey claims that "genocide" did not occur. Jamalzadeh's memories were republished by Ismail Ra'in in the book "The Armenian Genocide." In part of it, he recounts: "We set out with carts and carriages from Baghdad and Aleppo towards Istanbul. From the very first stop, we encountered numerous groups of Armenians being driven towards death and destruction by armed Turkish gendarmes. Initially, it astonished us, but we gradually became accustomed to it, and indeed, there was no point in looking. Hundreds of Armenian women and men were being driven forward, weeping, by the blows of whips and weapons, weak and powerless. Among the men, no young ones were seen, as all the young men had either been sent to the battlefield or killed out of caution. If any of those captives fell behind from exhaustion or for any other reason, they remained behind forever, and the cries of their loved ones were in vain. Therefore, we saw people, both men and women, lying dead or dying by the roadside. Later, it was heard that some young residents of those regions had not respected the dignity of Armenian girls who were dying or already dead. We, whose route was along the western bank of the Euphrates, did not pass a day without seeing corpses in the river being carried away by the water. One night, we stopped in a relatively populated area and managed to buy a lamb from the residents, slaughter it, and grill it. We had emptied the lamb's entrails nearby. Suddenly, we saw a group of Armenians, whom the gendarmes had settled near us, greedily falling upon that green liquid, eating it. It was a sight I have never forgotten. Another day, we camped where a large caravan of Armenians was under the watch of Ottoman police riders. An Armenian woman, with the face and appearance of the dead, approached me and said in French: "For God's sake, buy these two diamond rings from me and in exchange, give us some food, as my children are dying of hunger." Believe me, I did not take the diamonds and gave her some food, even though our own food was running low, and since there were still days left before we reached Aleppo, we were facing scarcity. When we reached Aleppo, we stayed in a large inn called "Prince's Inn," owned by an Armenian. He came to us in fear, saying that Jamal Pasha had entered Aleppo and was staying in the same inn, and he feared he would be captured and killed, and the inn would be seized. He begged and pleaded for us to intercede with Jamal Pasha, who was known for his cruelty. He said you are respectable people, and your intercession might not be in vain. But it was in vain, and a few hours later, it became known that that Armenian man had been captured and sent to Beirut and its surroundings, where it was known that a large slaughterhouse had been established. In summary, we spent strange days. It has taken on the nature of a very terrifying nightmare for me that sometimes, on occasion, dominates my existence and disturbs and torments me.