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Arabkir 2 Monuments

Turkey (Country) / Kharberd (Province) / Arabkir (District) / Arabkir (District Centre)

Fire

In Arabkir the authorities entrusted the “work” to robbers whom they had provided with “arms” beforehand: “They had been given highly inflammable substances and tools with which they set the plundered and emptied houses on fire. The buildings of Arabkir were mostly of stone and mortar, which made them very difficult to burn so that special efforts were made to kindle a fire inside the houses (in this way, all the buildings that would not catch fire were burnt down). ...Thus, within several days, the 2,000 Armenian dwellings of Arabkir were reduced to ashes. Today the beautiful and prospering Armenian quarters of the city represent a distressing heap of ruins, including those of the Terpeteriants’s, Kolanjiants’s, Yekaniants’s and other splendid, expensive mansions and more than 1,000 large, multi-storey and very fine-looking buildings. The conflagration thoroughly devoured the Mother Church of the city, as well as the large and small markets the booths of which mostly belonged to the Armenians. The flames spared only those houses which were close to the Government residence or the Turkish quarters, or those which were rented by Turks (they number between 150 and 300). However, the plunder and fire seemed insufficient to destroy the Armenians of Arabkir: it was necessary to launch a formidable, long-lasting massacre to exterminate at least the males of the nation. During the plunder and burning, the crowd of robbers also mercilessly hit, injured and killed all men they came across. The slaughter continued not only in the houses and streets, but also in the gardens, gorges and other impregnable places where the multitude of Armenians had taken refuge. Several days proved insufficient to find all the Armenians from their houses and hiding-places and slaughter them so that it was necessary to go on with the carnage for ten days. Special efforts were made to kill those boasting renown in the city thanks to their knowledge and fortune. In many families, several males or a few brothers were killed together, while several others lost all their male members without exception. In the aftermath of this harrowing massacre, which lasted for ten days, most of the male representatives of the Armenian nation were exterminated.” “It was only in fifteen days’ time that the merciful Imperial Government condescended to terminate the carnage and burning, but even after this, they did not cease looking for surviving Armenians in every single street and house to imprison them. They arrested anyone above 15 and under 60 they came across, and in this way, between 400 and 500 Armenians were thrown into the prison of Arabkir...”

«Դրօշակ», 1896, N 7, էջ 54-55: «Հնչակ», 1897, N 2, էջ 14: Karapetian Samvel, The “Accidental” Fires of the Ottoman Empire, in: "Vardzk", 2012, N 5, p. 13.