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286 ARMENIA AND THE NEAR EAST
equipped with modem weapons, were exempted from the
ordinary provisions of the law, and had only to obey the
orders of the commander-in-chief at Erzinjan. When we
remember that these Kurds and their chieftains lived by
robbery on a large scale, the value of the Sultan’s weapon
will be evident. He was gradually preparing for the final
blow.
The following typical episodes will serve to illustrate the
way in which the Armenians were treated. The valleys in
the wild Taurus Mountains south of the fertile Mush plain,
separating it from the great Mesopotamian plain in the south,
were inhabited by Armenians ; but there were also Kurds
living there, to whom the Armenians as usual paid tnbute
in order to restrain them from robbery and pillage. In the
summer of 1893 an Armenian agitator had carried on
propaganda against the Turks near the village of Talori in
Sassun, on the southern slopes of the mountains, and he was
imprisoned. Soon after, some of the Kurdish bandits were
induced by the Turks to attack the Armenian villages near
Talori. The Kurds were beaten and complained of the
" insurgents " to the authorities ; Turkish troops then helped
them by levying an illegal " tax," the villages were looted,
and the vilkgers had to flee to the neighbouring mountains.
Next the Armenian peasants were required to pay heavy fines
and fresh taxes as a punishment for using their arms against
Muhammedans ; but they refused to pay double taxes, or to
give anything to the Turks until they were liberated from the
illegal exactions of the Kurds. Thereupon several regiments
with mountain artillery were sent against them ; the villages
were tåken by storm, and then massacres commenced by
order of the Sultan. For three weeks the fugitives were
pursued and killed ; between 900 and 1,500 people lost their
lives, and many young Christian girls were carried off as
" booty." . .
These outrages made public opinion uneasy, especially in
England ; but France and Russia, who were now allies, would
do nothing. On the initiative of the Powers, however, a
Turkish (!) commission was sent in January 1895 to^
"investigate the criminal acts of the Armenian brigands."
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