The violence that preceded the siege of Van was not limited to the kaza of Shadakh. The nahie of Arjag (Erçek), located on the shores of Lake Arjag two hours to the northeast of Van, learned on 16 April from the Kurd Nuro Pisoğlanı, a notable who maintained close relations with Armenian circles, that the kaymakam of Perkri, Ziya Bey, had called a meeting of the muhtars of the area in order to warn them that, should massacres occur, Kurds must not give refuge to Armenians or protect them, on pain of being shot.
The kaymakam of Mahmudiye, Kâmil Bey, had been assigned the task of massacring the inhabitants of the nahie; he was accompanied on his mission by 150 gendarmes, backed up by Kurdish contingents under the chieftains Şaraf Beg of Khanasor, Nacib Ağa of Mugur, and Arif Beg of Şav.
The first village to be attacked, on 18 April, was Mandran (pop. 390), which had made a name for itself in the past by resisting Kurdish attacks. Fifteen people were killed and the village was mercilessly plundered, but the women and children managed to flee without being seriously threatened.
On 19 April, Arjag was attacked by çetes under the command of the kaymakam of Perkri, Ziya Bey: one hundred people lost their lives, houses were burned down and many women were raped. However, when, on the afternoon of the same day, these irregulars attacked the village of Kharagonis (pop. 1,525). Some 200 people were concentrated there, with the refugees from Mandran, Hazara, and Boğazkiasan, and they were met with heavy gunfire.
On 20 April, all the forces under the kaymakams of Perkri and Saray were regrouped before Kharagonis, but did not launch their second assault until 21 April, when they attacked a village in which only old men, women, and children remained – a good part of the population had fled to Mt. Kızılja in the area north of the lake – slaughtering around 50 of them and burning the village to the ground.
On 19 April, the villages of the northeastern part of the nahie of Timar, which were located on the eastern shore of Lake Van, were attacked in their turn: the villagers of Ardavez (pop. 118), Goj (pop. 137), Atikeozal (pop. 226), Giusnents (pop. 825), Seydibeg (pop. 56), as well as those from two villages bordering on the kazas of Perkri, Keaparig (pop. 379), and Kharashig, also sought refuge on the flanks of Mt. Kızılja.
On 22 April, 300 Kurdish çetes attempted to attack them from the north, but were beaten back by heavy gunfire. On 23 April, the throng of refugees on Mt. Kızılja was further swollen with peasants from Napat (pop. 165), Yalguzarach (pop. 49), Kızılja (pop. 423), Boghants (pop. 451), and Paytag (pop. 195), who were fleeing the çetes.
The lack of hygiene and food, however, made the situation of those who had found refuge on Mt. Kızılja literally untenable, leading the village headmen to organize a withdrawal toward the little town of Averag (pop. 1,061), located on the plain, on the morning of 24 April. The result was that some 8,000 people in all found themselves crowded together in Averag, where they were notably joined by the inhabitants of Shahpagh.
That afternoon, Averag was surrounded by squadrons of irregulars and a few gendarmes. They met with powerful resistance. During the night, 7,000 people, escorted by a few young men under arms, made a successful attempt to break through their encirclement and reach Van.
On 25 and 26 April, the forces that had surrounded Averag went on to attack Tarman and Gokhbants, where the inhabitants of Lim (pop. 143), Zarants (pop. 240), Sevan (pop. 439), Ermants (pop. 24), Bakhezeg (pop. 98), Farugh (pop. 210), and Osgerag (pop. 270) had taken refuge, bringing the total number of people in Tarman and Gokhbants, defended by 70 men, to 3,000. Adopting the same tactics as the refugees who had been concentrated in Averag, this group succeeded in reaching the slopes of Mt. Varak, further south; villagers who had come from localities southeast of Lake Van were also concentrated here.
The villages in the northern part of the nahie of Timar, Aliur (pop. 1,955), Marmet (pop. 811), Ererin (pop. 938), Khzhishg (pop. 775), Giusnents (pop. 825), Boghants (pop. 451), Khavents (pop. 633), and Janik (pop. 714), were not spared by the militiamen and squadrons of hamidiyes under Captain Amar and Arif Beg, reinforced by members of the Şavetli tribe (from Perkri). Inhabitants of mentioned villages were attacked on 21 April. They met with resistance, however, at Asdvadzadzin/Diramayr (pop. 462), Khzhishg, Aliuret, and Marmet, where the inhabitants of the surrounding villages had come together.
Seventy people were killed in Asdvadzadzin and 73 more in Janik. It was in this district, the furthest from the administrative seat of the kaza, that thousands of people who had come from the villages of Pirgarib, Sosrat, Shahkialdi, Janik, Asdvadzadzin/Diramayr, Norashen, Kochan, Norovants, and Koms found themselves massed on the lakeshore opposite the island of Lim toward the end of the day of 21 April. On 22 April, militiamen and hamidiyes, followed by a crowd attracted by the prospect of plunder and acquiring young women, marched on the encampment that had been hastily set up on the shores of Lake Van.
A few dozen armed men fended off the attackers while the villagers were transferred to the island by boat. It took a full three days to transfer all of these 12,000 people to the island of Lim, where the situation soon became critical for lack of food. On 25 April, after having cleaned out the Armenian villages of Upper Timar, the kaymakam of Perkri, Ziya Bey, with his militiamen and çetes, laid siege to Aliur, the biggest town in the district. Concentrated here were villagers from Paylag/Paytag (pop. 195), Adnagants (pop. 247), and Derlashen (pop. 657), protected by 160 armed men.
Unable to break their resistance, the kaymakam offered to spare the village if the armed men agreed to leave. As in other localities, the notables accepted the proposal; the militias and Kurds thereupon proceeded to lock the 160 men in the church and began looting the village. The population fl ed. On 28 April, the men in the church were tied together and taken in small groups to a place called Ekbağ, where they were massacred in the usual fashion with knives, bayonets, and axes.
On 27 April, the men who had conducted this attack, led by Ali Beg of the Şavetli tribe, launched an assault on the village of Marmet, whose mayor, Raïs Hovhannes, chose to negotiate. He asked the 60 armed men present to leave. One hundred men were thereupon arrested, locked into the church, and then led to Zhagatsi Tsor, half an hour from Marmet, where they were liquidated at the same time as 25 men from Zhirashen.
To be continued
Note- this chapter is from Raymond Kévorkian’s book ARMENIAN GENOCIDE: A Complete History, p. 321-323.
