24 Mart 2019 Pazar

TNT History Mini-Series: Brutal Turkish POW Reports from Russia (1914-1918)/Part VI


31.       Information obtained verbally and accompanied with a 
photograph  that was handed over to the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs in February 1916 by the American Embassy:

The prisoners on Nargin Island are kept barefoot and cruelty 
has been inflicted on the Ottoman prisoners for a long time.

                                  *     *     *


 baku map ile ilgili görsel sonucu
            Nargin Island is directly south of Baku city.

32.       Report dated 7 October 1917 about the things Mr. Tenman,
a member of the Swedish Red Cross, witnessed on Nargin 
Island:

There are 74 Ottoman prisoner officers on Nargin Island.  The 
shacks they are made to live in have neither walls nor frames.  
The officers have to cook their food in the shacks they sleep in.  
There are flies in the shacks and it is impossible for them to sleep 
on the wooden boards.  The so-called cleaning efforts of the 
Russians are laughable.   The officers are given 50 rubles to take 
care of all their needs and food.   Shopping is done 3 time each 
week by just one officer who goes to the city.  Everything is 
100% expensive.  The officers’ lives are dreadful and there is 
no difference between the housing for the officers and for the 
soldiers.  There are 4,000 Turkish prisoners on the island and 
they are housed in floorless, windowless, poorly-made barracks 
holding between 200-250 people.   Although according to 
Russian law there should be materials for cleaning, none are 
provided.  All of the items of prisoners are taken away for 
cleaning when transport is supposedly imminent, but 75% of 
their clothes are stolen in this process.  New clothing provided 
is actually quite old.  When complaints are made to the 
Russian  officers there is no follow-up.  They prisoners go 
without clothes.  The stored food given to the prisoners is 
moldy.  Because of poor nourishment the soldiers have 
stomach and intestinal illnesses.    The treatment of the 
Turkish prisoners is quite horrible and brutal.  In particular, 
there is no importance given to the sick and crippled.   On
the contrary, they are forced to work like healthy men and 
are whipped and prodded with sticks going to the work site. 
The death rate is more than 33%.  No medicine is provided
for treatment.  The food given to the sick is bad and 
insufficient.  A third of the food and bread given to the sick 
is held back and sold at the market by the wife of the highest-
ranking Russian of the garrison, named Didivevich.  Even 
those patients who have been operated on are beaten.

                                                                   
                                    *     *     *
kostroma russia map ile ilgili görsel sonucu


33.  Report dated 1 November 1917 from Mr. Rydberg of the 
Swedish Red Cross delegation, who visited the Ottoman 
prisoners camp in Kostroma:

The prisoners barracks in Kostroma is a brick building formerly 
used as a wine factory.  There are 103 Turkish officers and 23 
of their orderlies here.  Each officer is permitted to walk about 
the city until 6 o’clock accompanied by a guard.  There are no 
separate rooms for senior-ranking officers, with two officers 
sharing each room, where they cook and eat their food.  The 
officers are given 50 rubles.  Everything is expensive.  The 
officers complain that this amount of money is insufficient and 
that they are in need of everything.  I loaned them money for 
underwear, shoes, towels, socks and plates, in return for receipts.

                                   *     *     *

Baku state of war click here to see a TNT series
on the 'state of war' enveloping Baku in 1918.//


34.   Report dated 5 May 1918 given to the Spanish Consul in 
Tbilisi by Colonel İvanof of the Castanskiold delegation:

As of 1 July 1917, the number of Turkish prisoners in 
Transcaucasia was about 33,000.  As of 1 December 917, this 
number was 30,000 and it is now 25,000.  Besides the 4,000 
prisoners on Nargin Island, there are another 4,000 in 
Transcaucasia.  The delegation visited 5,200 prisoners in Kars,
 Gümrü, Batumi and Guri.  Of these, 4,000 were registered.  
The delegation distributed 47,000 rubles and another 23,000 
rubles were deliverd to the Tbilisi Consul Berberof to be 
distributed to the prisoners.  Because of the continuing state 
of war, we could not visit the prisoners on Nargin Island.  
Here, though, the housing situation of the prisoners is rather 
good.  Only the 1,800 prisoners in the Karanof barracks in 
Gümrü are living in squalor.  So, with the exception of 
Karanof, attention to the prisoners is not too bad.  Clothing 
is generally quite bad and, for the most part, there is no 
underwear and shoes. Because of the filth in Karanof and 
the resulting spotted fever cases, it has become a haven for 
microbes.  Otherwise, the health situation is rather good.  The 
Ottoman prisoners are very afraid of the Armenians because it 
has been verified that in Kars and Gümrü the Armenians have 
killed Ottoman prisoners.  Turkish prisoners are made to work 
hard and although many of them have successfully fled to the 
Turkish Army, the Armenians are intent on preventing any 
more escapes.

There are approximately 22,000 prisoners in the Caucasus.  
The delegation visited 3,000 prisoners and registered them.  
Information was obtained about 4,000 prisoners.  The 
remaining prisoners either died or are in the Kuban region 
or they have sought asylum in Moslem villages in the 
Caucasus mountains.  The delegation saw prisoners working 
on the rail line from Vladikavkaz to Stavropol.  In addition,
prisoners work in agricultural jobs.  There is a general 
warmth toward the Turks but soon the local people will want 
these jobs for themselves and the prisoners will be unemployed.  
The prisoners’ housing conditions are good.  Since they are 
working their food is good but when they lose their jobs they 
will go hungry, because the local government has no money 
and the depots are empty.  The prisoners’ clothing is quite bad.  
Previously, 60% of the prisoners died from malaria and typhus. 
These illnesses were most prevalent in Maikop, Tuays and 
Bielaritzenskaya.  Hereabouts, the health situation is especially 
bad.  The delegation provided treatment wherever it went but 
there are no doctors and the Ministry of Health is nowhere to 
be seen.  The prisoners can not communicate with their 
homelands so we collected letters from the prisoners and 
sent them to Petrograd.

//END of PART VI//

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