A Wreath on Gamavor's Tomb

A Wreath on Gamavor's Tomb

Vahe H. Apelian, 19 July 2012

 

Gamavor is an Armenian word meaning volunteer. It is used only as a noun. For the one or two generations preceding ours Gamavor referred to the approximately 5,000 Armenian men who voluntarily joined the French Army and faught the Turks during the First World War. The French called the formation La Legion Armenienne.

The Armenian soldiers were motivated by a French and Diaspora Armenian pact which promised that in return for Armenian military support to the Allies against the Ottoman and German alliance, the French and their allies would help the Western Armenians lay the foundation for home rule in Cilicia, part of historic Armenia. Most, if not all, of the volunteers were expatriate Cilicians. Approximately 1,200 came from the United States, including 70 Kessabtsis. Among the latter was Nshan, the paternal uncle of historian Dr. Antranig Chalabian. When the doctor dedicated “Revolutionary Figures” to his uncle, he included the following inscription in the book: “Towards the end of 1916, when my father was subjected to deportation, his brother left America and returned to the homeland to enlist with the volunteers to fight against the Turks. After training with the Armenian Legion in Cyprus for two years, my uncle and his cousin Panos went to Palestine along with thousands of volunteers, fought in the Battle of Arara, went to Cilicia and after the turnabout of the French Government, returned to America and died in Fresno in 1973.”

The Battle of Arara was the major military engagement of the Gamavors. It took place on Sept. 18, 1918, near Megiddo (the Biblical Armageddon) in northern Palestine. The valor of the Armenian combatants in securing victory against the German-Turkish forces merited special commendation of the Allied High Command. Twenty-three Armenian combatants were killed in action. What followed the battle was another sad chapter in Armenian history.

The French forces, having secured victory, headed north and eventually captured Cilicia. Their presence encouraged the Genocide survivors to return to their ancestral villages. But instead of honoring their pact with the Armenians, the French reneged on their promise and withdrew their forces, without giving notice to the Armenians and without having negotiated with Turkish forces about the state of the Armenians they were to be left behind. I recall being told during family conversations that the French even padded the hooves of their horses to muffle the sound of their unannounced midnight evacuation. “Chivalrous France” became a sarcastic expression in Armenian conversation and literature.

Abandoned and left to the whim of the Turkish onslaught, without the protection that they had rightfully expected from their French allies, and unable to protect themselves, the Armenians once again fled their Cilician homeland to disperse around the world. Only two Armenian villages were left from a thriving Armenian enclave on the prime northeastern Mediterranean region-- Wakf in historical Mussa Dagh in Turkey and Kessab in Syria.

The Kessabtis tenaciously held on to their enclave, establishing a de facto home rule, mostly under the leadership of the Gamavors. The home rule lasted from 1918 to 1921 during which the Armenians established administrative and judicial bodies to enforce law and order. They also had an army to protect the population from the prevailing lawlessness. It's said that members of other minorities, such as the Greeks and the Alevis, were given refuge in Kessab. Eventually the French disbanded the self-rule, as they cemented their colonial control over Syria and Lebanon.

The British and the French, as the supreme powers in that part of the world, redrew the map of the region to suit their interests. The straight-lined borders of present-day Middle Eastern states were the work of  Sir Mark Sykes of Britain and  François Georges-Picot of France. They carved, among themselves, what had remained of the Ottoman Empire, without regard for the mosaic of the area's ethnic, religious or social fabric.

The redrawn map put Kessab within Turkey. The prospect of ending up in Turkey terrified the Kessabtsis, although they had been under Turkish rule for centuries, had adopted Turkish words, traded almost exclusively with Turkish-occupied Antioch and had almost no dealing with their Arab neighbors in the south. The uncertainty over the fate of Kessab heightened in the latter part of the decade (1937 to 1939) as Turkey began imposing its presence in Kessab and made Turkish language teaching mandatory. Many members of the first post-Genocide generation born in Kessab had reached conscription age by then. They were urged by their families to flee, lest they be drafted into the Turkish army. These young men also became the last resort for their families forced to leave their ancestral village.

The Kessab episode may be the only instance where the great powers gave in and redrew the map in that small corner of the Middle East to save it from Turkish occupation. Kessab was incorporated into Syria but at a price. Most of the arable lands of Kessab were given to Turkey. It is generally accepted that Cardinal Krikor Bedros XV Aghajanian (Գրիգոր Պետրոս ԺԵ. Աղաճանեան, French: Grégoire-Pierre XV Agagianian, Italian: Gregorio Pietro XV Agagianian) played a decisive role in the redrawing of the border as he struggled to secure the last remnant of Armenian Cilicia. The first official visit to Kessab (March 20, 1944) of Shukri Kuwaitli, the first elected President of Syria, was Syria's token of appreciation to the Armenians for urging that their native land be included in Syria.

The late George Azad Apelian, in his pre-teens in the mid-'50s, remembered the Gamavors arrival to Keurkune--one of Kessab's twelve villages--for a September reunion and celebration. Their arrival created much excitement among the villagers, particularly among the youngsters: seeing the men in their military fatigues and carrying ammunition and rifles was a thrill for all. The Gamavors celebrated their victory at the Battle of Arara seated next to the village spring, feasting on food over white sheets spread on the meadow. They sang about the Gamavors. George had memorized the old song that ended with:

From Arara to Cilicia

Are reminders of the Volunteers

On the tomb of the Volunteer

There is no wreath, however.

Source: Keghart.com.

"Vow to Mount Ararat" - Ուխտ Արարատին

There are other translations of Antranig Zarougian's fomous poem “Vow To Mount Ararat” - «Ուխտ Արարատին» - . The attached is my translation of that poem.

We will reach, Holy Mountain, your summit,

When the flood of bombs ends

When the seas of blood wear rainbow


When the slain dove of peace

Returns from the abyss of horrors

With the olive branch of accord in its beak,

We will reach your summit.

From cities, thoroughfares, plains,

From the depths of the deaf alleys of exile,

Will our daring ranks storm

For the sake of our forefathers’ sacred vision.

We'll tear down separating us

All the black walls of fate.

We will reach our waters and soil

Trumpeting the longing most sanctified

We will reach, should suns crumble

Should the paths be hellish and bloody

We will reach your summit.

See our ranks jubilant and brave

See our longing sprinting like Vahakn

See our soul, clean as your snows

And our resolve, see, hard like your rocks

And believe, Oh god of granite

Holly Mountain believe

We will reach your mountaintop.

Translated by Vahe H. Apelian

The original text - Բնագիրը

«Ուխտ Արարատին»

Պիտի հասնի՛նք, սրբազան լեռ, կատարիդ,

Երբ ջրհեղեղը ռումբերուն գտնէ վերջ

Ու արիւնի ծովերն հագնին ծիածան:

Երբ մորթուած խաղաղութեան աղաւնին

Վերադառնայ արհաւիրքի վիհերէն

Ձիթենիի հաշտարար ճիւղը բերնին`

Պիտի հասնի՛նք կատարիդ:

Քաղաքներէն, ճամբաներէն, դաշտերէն

Աքսորի խուլ գռիհներու խորերէն

Պիտի շարքերը մեր խրոխտ փոթորկին

Մեր պապերուն ի խնդիր սուրբ երազին:

Պիտի փշրենք մեզ իրարմէ անջատող

Ճակատագրին սեւ պատնէշները բոլոր:

Պիտի հասնինք մեր ջուրերուն ու հողին

Ամենասուրբ` ըրած կարօտը շեփոր:

Պիտի հասնինք թէ արեւներն իսկ փլին

Ու ճամբաներն ըլլան դժոխք ու արիւն,

Պիտի հասնի՛նք կատարիդ:

Տե՛ս, մեր շարքերը խանդաբորբ ու արի,

Տե՛ս, մեր կարօտը խոյանքով Վահագնի,

Տե՛ս, մեր հոգին քու ձիւներուդ պէս մաքուր,

Ու կամքը մեր, տե՛ս, ժայռերուդ պէս ամուր,

Եւ հաւատա՛յ, կրանիտեայ ո՜վ Աստուած,

Սրբազան լեռ, հաւատա՛յ, թէ կը հասնինք,

Մենք կը հասնինք կատարիդ:

ԱՆԴՐԱՆԻԿ ԾԱՌՈՒԿԵԱՆ

The 1909 April 23 Sack of Kessab: The Attack (1/2)

HHistorians have not studied the 1909 sack of Kessab. However American missionaries, among them Ms. Effie M. Chambers, who acted as the secretary of the post sacking relief committee wrote extensively about the catastrophic event in her correspondence with the board of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission (ABCFM) on whose behalf she devoted 19 years of her life doing mission work among the Armenians in the Ottomoan Empire, the last nine years being in Kessab. Stephen Van Rensselaer Trowbridge, who appears to have been in the region on behalf of a charitable organization, also wrote a detailed report on the sacking in “The American Red Cross Bulletin (1909)”, pages 29-39:. Major American newspapers also reported on the sacking of Kessab as well. The following can be ascertained from such reports.  For part 2/2, click: http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2017/07/after-massacre-at-kessab-1909.html) Vahe H. Apelian

When did the attack on Kessab occur?

The attack on Kessab happened on the wee hours of Friday April 23, 1909. Miss Effie Chambers was not present in Kessab during the attack. She had gone to Adana to attend an annual meeting, presumably the same meeting Armenian Evangelical pastors were heading to when they were ambushed and killed. In her report, she mistakenly notes of “that awful Tuesday, April 23rd (1909)”. April 23, 1909 is in fact a Friday.

Where the Kessabtsis caught by surprise?

No, the Kessabtsis were not caught by surprise. The news of the Adana tragedy had reached them and they had raised their concerns for their safety to the local authorities who, naturally were Turks.

Stephen Van Rensselaer Trowbridge reported the following: “On Thursday, April 22, serious alarm reached the people of Kessab. It was known that a massacre of the Armenians had taken place in Antioch, 36 miles to the north and that attacks were being planned on the Christian villages of the mountains. A parley was arranged with the Mudir (magistrate) of the Ordou, the nearest seat of government, and a telegram asking for military protection was dispatched to the Governor of Aleppo. The Mudir, whose name is Hassein Hassan Agha, met the Kessab delegation halfway down the mountainside and assured them that he had already scattered the mobs that had gathered with evil intention.”

What happened on Thursday April 22,1909?

 Stephen V. R. Trowbridge continued his reporting about the pledge of the Mudir (the Magistrate) Hassein Hessan Agha and noted the following; “But his pledges soon proved to be idle tales, because that very Thursday evening he permitted crowds of armed Moslems to come to Ordou from Jissr Shoughr, Kusayr, Antioch, and even from Idlib far to the east.” Moreover, the Mudir “detained the eleven gendarmes which were ordered by the Aleppo government to protect American and Italian interests in Kessab The Mudir instructed the gendarmes that they should remain in Ordou”.

How did the attack on Kessab commence?

Stephen V. R. Trowbridge reported that the next day, on Friday April 23, 1909, “Early the morning, after entertaining the raiders overnight, he (the Mudir) sent them on their way to sack Kessab.” Stephen W.R. Trowbridge's report ascertains that the sacking of Kessab was sanctioned by the Ottoman state.Surely the maginstrate could not have given such a permission without overt approval by his superiors in Constantinople, especially that the news of the Adana massacre had by then become widely known.

The Kessabtsis meanwhile also had not remained idle relying solely on the promise the Mudir had made to them during their parley..

Stephen V. R. Trowbridge reported; “Thursday evening Kessab scouts brought word into the town that great crowds of armed Turks and Arabs had gathered in the nearest Moslem village. 

It was an anxious night.

Before daylight, Friday morning, rifle shots told of the enemy’s advance. By three separate mountain trails, from the north, northeast and east, thousands of armed Moslems came pouring on the valley. Their Martini rifles sent the bullets whizzing into the Kessab house, while the shotguns of the 300 Christians who were posted on the fence could not cover the range”.

How did Kessabtsis manage to brave the attack with relatively little loss of lives?

The members and adherents of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation of Kessab were the Kessabtsi combatants who defended Kessab against the onslaught.

Stephen V. R. Trowbridge reported: “ It was a desperate struggle, and the Kessab men realized their straits. The plan, which they thereupon made is to their honor and credit. They resolved to hold out as many hours as possible, so as to furnish time for the women and children to escape into the clefts and caves of the mountains to the south. For five hours the fusillade continued with fierce determination. By mid afternoon Turks from the Antioch village had circled around Jebel Akra (mount Gassios of Kessab) so to command a position above Kessab. The Arabs had flanked the town on the southeast. Meanwhile the vanguard of the Ordou Moslems had captured and burned the adjacent villages just below Kessab, and had set fire to three of the houses at that end of the town (Note: presumably Nergi Kyugh). Their cries and frantic threats could be heard distinctly. The women and girls gathered up the little children on their backs and in their arms, hastened along the west trail over the ridge toward Kaladouran, and clambered up into the cliffs and crevices which overlook the sea at an altitude of 5,000 feet. Some in small groups, others entirely alone, hid themselves underneath the thorny underbrush or in the natural caves. Toward the evening the men had been compelled by the overwhelming odds to give up the defense. They fell back without any panic or noise. And the Turks and Arabs who rushed into the streets of the town were so seized with the lust of plunder that they did not pursue the rear guard of the Christians. Angry must have the scenes as the plunderers fought with one another over the stores of raw silk, the chief product of Kessab. Cattle, mules, copper, kettles, bedding, clothing, and rugs were carried out by the Turks in feverish haste, as one after another the houses were set on fire.”

Miss Effie Chambers is more specific in reporting that the Kessabtsis mostly fled towards Kaladouran, their coastal village.

In 1912, three years after the sack of Kessab, the battle hardened Kessab Armenian Revolutionary Federation had their gratitude embroidered in blue thread and gifted it as a memento to their beloved missionary, Miss Effie M. Chambers noting in Armenian the following: “From grateful Armenian Revolutionary Federation of Kessab” (ԵՐԱԽՏԱՊԱՐՏ ՔԵՍԱՊԻ Հ.Յ. ԴԱՇՆԱԿՑՈՒԹԻՒՆԷՆ). The embroidery in blue thread read also the follwing in English “ TO E.M. CHAMBERS, IN ABIDING GRATITUDE. WE WILL NEVER FORGET”. The Chambers family still retains this embroidery in Iowa.

How many Kessabtsis died in the carnage as "Axes and knives finished up what rifles had spared" ?

Stephen V. R. Trowbridge reports that “Some of the aged (Kessabtsi) Armenians, who had not the strength to flee, were caught in their houses and were barbarously put to death. Others, who had delayed the flight in order to gather up and rescue a few valuable, were likewise put to the sword. Axes and knives finished up what rifles had spared. But the instinct to escape had been so strong among the Christians, and the greed of plunder so absorbing among the Mohammedans, that in all the day’s fray only 153 Armenians and a handful of Turks were killed”.

Subsequent reports by Miss Effie M. Chambers who acted as the secretary of the post sack Kessab relief committee, details the human cost as follows:

Villages receiving aid 11 

Number at present on relief lists 5251

Burned Houses 516

Burned Shops 62

Number killed 153

Widows 79

Orphans not over 15 years old 64

How were the fleeing Kessabtsis rescued?

Hiding in cliffs, crevices, underbrush on the surrounding mountain would have amounted to eventual death either by exposure to the elements or hunger for the more than 6000 Kessabtsis who had fled the scene of sacking and carnage with nothing other than the clothes they were wearing. Their rescue came about thanks to the determined leaders of Kessab who were able to secure help  the very next day, on April 24, and had rescue boats come to the shore of Kaladouran and had the people move to Latakia where they were provided shelter and sustenance..

The efforts of these Kessab leaders to save the people are for historians to study and will make for a fascinating study. Suffice to say here that the representatives of Kessabtsi leaders managed to reach Latakia, after negotiating  with the local Turkic people for their passage south to Latakia and even secured their help to reach Latakia by the next day, some 35 miles south of Kessab where they contacted the consular offices of the European powers who provided boats and other means and had the fleeing Kessabtis transported to Latakia.

By April 26, major American newspapers, such as New York Times, along other major newspapers reported the catastrophic event. The New York Times on Monday April 26, 1909 reported the following: “Constantinople, April 25 - Dispatches reaching here from points in Asiatic Turkey bring tidings of Armenian and Turkish conflicts all over the country. Dr.JM Balph, who is in charge of the missions at Latakia, Syria, telegraphs that the refugees are arriving there from outlying parts of the district who report massacres and the burning of towns. He also reports that there are the gravest apprehensions concerning the conditions at Kessab where Miss Chambers is one of the missionaries".  

Dr. Albert Apelian in his book "The Antiochians” described the rescue operation. He also attributed it to the serendipitous turn of events in Constantinople that facilitated the French and the British to send ship for the rescue on the Kessabtsi Armenians. Had Abdul Hamid not dethroned these consular offices might have dared to send rescue boat. Dr. Albert wrote (page 114): "word came from the capital (Constantinople) that Abdul Hamid had been dethroned and Sultan Reshad had ascended the throne (April 27, 1909). The new ruler has proclaimed that none of his subjects should be molested".

The Aftermath of the 1909 Sack of  Kessab

A few days after the sacking and destruction of Kessab, the suriving refugees returned in mass. They attended an open-air service in memory of their brethren who were killed during the mayhem. Subsequently they embarked to rebuild their lives anew. Under pressure from the foreign powers, the Ottoman authorities promised to punish the “unruly” perpetrators of the sacking. Some of the loot was returned. The Ottoman authorities, in their conning ways to placate Western powers, also allocated money towards the reconstruction. The American charitable organizations extended much needed help.

Their next year – 1910 - proved to be that for Kessab “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. In the words of Charles Dickens’ in the “Tales of Two Cities”. Theirs also “ was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair” because the Kessabtsis not only engaged with an inspiring single-mindedness in rebuilding their lives anew, they also founded the Kessab Education Association with the purpose of rendering Kessab a center for learning and enlightenment in the region for the  Cilician Armenians who had survived the 1909 massacres commonly known as the Adana Massacre although the widespread killing and looting was not confined to that city alone.

Of course they could not realize their dreams. The 1915 Genocide befell upon the Armenians altering forever the course of the Armenian history. But surviving Kessabtsis toiled along and almost a century later, made Kessab a touristic destination for peoples of all faiths to enjoy its hospitality matched only by its superb weather and nature that had the crusaders call the region  “Casa Bella”, the beautiful home, after which Kessab is thought to have evolved.

Unfortunately, that also was not to last, an onslaught by another marauding and armed crowd attacked Kessab on March 21, 2014. Kessabtis for a third time hurried to their safety with nothing but their clothes on charting yet a new course in its long but determined history to overcome the odds stocked against it.

Pa

See:  http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2017/07/after-massacre-at-kessab-1909.html

The 1909 April 23 Sack of Kessab: The Aftermath (2/2)

The American missionaries reported about the 1909 sacking of Kesssab that took place in the immediate aftermath of the Adana massacre that decimated the Cilician Armenia as the lyrics of the folk song known as the “the lament of Adana” (Voghb Anadanayi) poignantly notes. 

Stephen Van R. Trowbridge detailed the sacking of Kessab in his report titled “The Sack of Kessab” in the  “The American Red Cross Bulletin” (1909).  But Miss Effie M. Chambers’ report about the sacking of Kessab, stands apart. She was engaged in mission work in Kessab and lived the ordeal with the people, although she was not in Kessab when the sacking took place. She reported that she had gone to attend an annual meeting in Adana, presumably the same meeting that the Armenian evangelical pastors where heading when they were ambushed and massacred. She returned to Kessab and reported her eyewitness account in the 1909 issue of “Life and Light for Women” Journal by The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission (ABCFM), which arguably was the first and the largest American missionary organization on whose behalf Miss Chambers spent 19 years among the Armenians, the last 9 years in Kessab. Stephen Van R. Trowbridge stated that she acted as the secretary of the Kessab Relief Committee.

I have reproduced her report as it appeared in the “Life and Light for Women” Journal.

AFTER THE MASSACRE AT KESSAB

BY MISS EFFIE M. CHAMBERS

KESSAB, July 10, 1909

"OH, if you could only know what an awful thing this has been, and what our dear women have suffered and our brave young men – who defended the village for six or seven hours, and kept the murderers back, giving the women and girls a chance to escape to the mountains and hide in the caves and clefts and underbrush, from where they slowly and fearfully made their way down to the seashore – the young men and when they could held out no longer, retreating slowly and forming a rear guard as it were for the fleeing women as they went, carrying their children in their arms or on their backs with older ones clinging to their skirts. In this way the escape was affected on that awful Tuesday, April 23^rd. (Note: In actuality it was a Friday, rendering the sacking of Kessab religiously sanctioned for the Muslims)

I was absent from Kessab, as you already know, but my schoolgirls fled with others and were taken into the Presbyterian School in Latakia, where I found them on my return from the scenes of carnage in Adana. They were all safe, not one of them missing, and I was glad and thankful for that at least, but like the rest of us they have lost all, except what they wore. We are all alike in Kessab these days. There are no rich or poor, but we are all one. Sometimes the thought comes to me, if they had not burned my house and the girls’ school, I might have given shelter to many, but I am glad on the other hand that I can suffer with them and suffer as they do. It is different from other relief work I have done, but I am not sorry to have it on. It brings us so near together and gives me such an opportunity to help them.

More than 500 families are homeless and we have 5,500 people on our relief list for bread, clothing, household utensils, farming implements and tools, also bedding  and mats – for everything went, we had not even needles and thread, thimbles and scissors.  We have distributed about 1,000 quilts and blankets, cotton and a few mattresses and pillows, but need still 4,000 more that everyone may have a mattress, and 700 more covers are needed. For clothing to given each person on suit so he may have a change, we need, aside from that we have already distributed, 100,000 yards of cloth.

It is no small  problem to plan to house, clothe, feed and find bedding for ten villages, containing in all 8,000 people or more, but it is what must be done before winter or all our people will die of hunger and exposure and we can’t have that. These people must be saved and encouraged and started again. I must do it, as you will excuse me from a vacation this year,  won’t you, as they cannot be left alone.

We are having our preaching services out of doors in girls’ school yard and under a big walnut tree for the present, but we are trying o get a floor in the big new school building we made since I can here (it was burned), and if we can do it, we can use the upper story of it for chapel and the lower for schools.

An now you want to know about me, you say. Well, my history during these past weeks can be told in few words. I went to Adana for annual meeting, reaching there on Tuesday evening just before the beginning of that awful time. I stayed there ten days, leaving on April 24^th for Tarsus, where I stayed a day or two waiting for the roads to open a bit, then made my way back to Kessab where I have been ever since, except for a brief tour through the outside villages and a short stay in Antioch. I am in a native house, and if you ask bout my circumstances, I am more comfortable than anyone else in the village, and glad to be here and do what I can for these poor people. When court-martial proceedings are over, and a few at least of guilty ones punished, we hope the people will gather some courage. But it is scarcely to be expected they will be very confident until something is done.

I am in a native house since my return – one of the few not burned – but Mr. Gracey has just been down and we have planned a few changes in the former stable in the mission yard which we think will make it inhabitable, and we hope to begin to do it soon. I can have here, at a very small expense, bedroom, sitting room, kitchen and small storeroom; all ground floor to be sure, but better than I now have and quite good enough for me until the people get something.”

Later on, in her unpublished autobiography, Miss Effie M. Chambers reminisced noting: “Upon my arrival [to Kessab] the people, those who could get around, were assembled in the yard of the Mission House to greet me.

"Their first question was 'Will you stay with us and help us start again?'

"I said: 'That is what I came for, to stay and help you get on your feet again. If you want to stay we'll do it and God will help us rebuild our homes, shops, and churches and reclaim your land.'

"Is it a promise?" They asked.

"I said: "Yes, on my part it is.'

"On ours also," was the reply. 

"'I can't tell you how we did it", she elaborated, "just step by step, one day at a time, and by the autumn of 1911, before the rains set in, those who had stayed in Kessab and lived through the horrible ordeal, were back in their rebuilt houses, with their schools and churches going."