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  • The First Swimmers From Adana To Kyrenia

    THE FIRST SWIMMERS FROM ADANA TO KYRENIA

    Gibrahayer
    Apr 1, 2009

    THE 1909 ADANA MASSACRES

    By Mihran Boyadjian - The Adana Massacres of 1909, whose 30,000 victims
    are being commemorated on the centenary of their death this year,
    are of special significance to the Armenians of Cyprus since a large
    proportion of them are descendants of the 1915 Genocide survivors from
    Adana who found refuge in Cyprus, and who still consider themselves
    "Adanatsi". In Larnaca, the Armenian Church of St. Stephanos, built
    in 1913, is dedicated to the 1909 victims.

    Massacres of Armenians in Turkey were nothing new, in fact about
    15 years earlier, the Hamidian Massacres of 1894-96 had claimed
    tenfold that figure and had shown the lack of enthusiasm of the
    European powers for taking any effective preventive action. It must
    be mentioned however that the American Missions, whose members were
    eyewitness to the events, saved countless lives through their valiant
    efforts on the ground and their very effective fund-raising back home.

    Earlier Massacres had been more local affairs, usually the result of
    periodic Kurdish raids on helpless villages and small towns. Some were
    opportunistic, "pacifying" operations by local governing pashas whose
    main aim was to raise revenue by pillage and extortion to recoup the
    large sums (some20would call them bribes), which they had to pay the
    Porte to obtain their posts.

    The Russian Empire, whose primary foreign policy objective was to
    gain access to the Mediterranean through Ottoman territory, found a
    convenient pretext for intervening in Ottoman affairs by assuming the
    role of protector to the Christian population. The European powers,
    led by Great Britain, fiercely opposed any Russian expansion into the
    Mediterranean and wanted any pieces of the slowly collapsing Ottoman
    Empire for themselves.

    Hence they supported the Sultan.

    The Armenians, caught in the middle, had great hopes on the con
    stitutional changes forced on the reluctant Sultan by the European
    powers.

    However, these changes were on paper only and were largely ignored
    by the Porte. It was in this context that Cyprus was ceded to Great
    Britain in 1878 in return for promised British protection against
    Russia.

    Some time ago, I came across and purchased a letter written by the
    Commissioner of Kyrenia of the time, W.N. Bolton, which reveals a
    macabre link between Cyprus and the Adana Massacres of 1909. The
    letter, written on cream coloured notepaper blind embossed with the
    British coat of arms, is apparently in response to an enquiry by
    Harry Lukach, Private Secretary to the Governor of Cyprus Hamilton
    Goold-Adams. Today, he is better known as Sir Harry Luke, having
    changed his surname to20Luke in 1919. Subsequently, he had a highly
    successful career in the colonial service and authored numerous books
    mainly on the Middle East where he served in Cyprus, Armenia (1920),
    Jerusalem, Malta etc. His books are full of anecdotal material of his
    experiences in the places he served in, and show his compassionate
    interest in the people he came in contact with.

    Kyrenia 30th January, 1912

    Dear Lukach, I have just been looking up the inquests held in my
    district in 1909 on unknown bodies washed up by the sea.

    The first case was in the first week in May on the body of a man washed
    ashore near Lapithos. This body was much decomposed but had two bullet
    wounds one in the neck and one in the abdomen just above the groin.

    The two next both males came ashore one at Ayios Ambrosios & one at
    Ayios Epiktetos but I do not think there were any marks showing cause
    of death. No 4 was the body of a little girl about 6 to 8 years her
    head had been smashed in by some heavy weapon like a hammer or a pick.

    As far as we could tell from their dress they were all Armenians. Dr.

    Fuleihan now Ast D.M.O. Nicosia was the officer who examined the
    bodies and might if you want it give you more information.

    Besides these there were several bits on which I did not hold inquests.

    And I also believe a very large number came ashore=2 0in the Carpas. I
    cant write owing to gout which I am glad to say is getting better
    but very slowly.

    I sent you a wire about the Lapithos road on Saturday as Williams was
    over in the P.W.D. Motor on Friday & told me it was quite passable
    with care, since when they have been hard at work mending it so it
    should be quite all right.

    Yours Sincerely W.N.Bolton

    It is interesting to note that the Adana Massacres started in early
    April and bodies started to get washed up in Cyprus about a month
    later.

    Today the fiction being propagated by the Turkish state is that there
    was no Genocide in 1915 and that deaths occurred on both sides as
    a result of fighting between Armenians and Turks. They further claim
    that the deportations, during which some "unfortunate" deaths occurred,
    were necessary for the security of the Ottoman Empire.

    They neglect to mention that most of the fit Armenian men, who had
    been conscripted into the Ottoman Army in 1914, were later disarmed,
    transferred to labor battalions, and subsequently executed.

    The fighting claimed by the Turkish state only took place in a
    few mountainous regions when the Ottoman army tried to enforce the
    deportation orders of 1915. We see here another example of reversal
    of facts employed by the Turkish state similar to that of claiming
    the bodies of Armenian victims exhumed from mass20graves were those
    of Turks killed by Armenians!

    The final destination of the entire Armenian population of Anatolia,
    consisting mostly of older men, women, and children, was the small
    oasis town of Der Zor in the middle of the Syrian Desert! Very few
    were fit or lucky enough to reach there. The majority were killed on
    the way or died of thirst, starvation or exhaustion during the forced
    marches, as was intended by the Ottoman government.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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