Chronological Index:

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1915; June 19-22, plain of Harput: One thousand Armenians from places around the plain and from Mezreh and Harput are arrested in their homes and interned at the Kırmızı Konak of Mezreh. On June 23, 900 of them are dispatched and shot the day after at the foot of Mount Heroğli by Special Organization bands commanded by Çerkez Kazım.***(Piranian, 1937: 156-1157, 167-77; Atkinson, 2000: 38; and Davis, 1994: 123).

1915; June 20: The men from the first convoy from Erzerum are assassinated and many of the women are kidnapped near the village of Çoğ by Kurdish irregulars directed by two S.O. leaders, Ziya Beg of Başköy, and Adıl Bey (his real name being Adıl Güzelzade Şerif). *** (Kévorkian, 2006: 360-361).

1915; June 20: Twelve thousand women and children are executed between Diyarbekir and Mardin under the direct supervision of Commissary Memduh Bey, the head of S.O. operations in the province of Diyarbekir. *** (Simon, s.d.: 56 and 85).

1915; June 20, kaza of Koçhisar (province of Sıvas): Two thousand men, including all of the parish priests in the kaza, are interned in the prison at Koçhisar and executed before the deportations. Each night, these males are taken outside the town in groups of 100 and executed in the gorges of Seyfe or in the middle of the bridge of Boğaz under the direction of the S.O. gang leaders Kütükoğlu Hüseyin and Zaralı Mahir. The first convoy, which is made up of villagers, leaves around June 20. It is followed by a caravan comprised of the inhabitants of Koçhisar, 500 of whom are male. After an initial attack by Circassians of Kuştepe, this convoy reaches the village of Ulaş, where it is grouped together with another caravan made up of 1,000 women and 200 men from the rest of the kaza. Two days later the group arrives at Hasançelebi, where 200 adolescents are separated from the convoy and executed. The following day, at Hekimhan, the elderly men are extracted from the convoy and massacred. Several dozen women from Koçhisar arrived in Hama, in Syria, in the fall of 1915. ***(Kévorkian, 2006: 548-549).

1915; Between June 20 and 29, kaza of Koçgiri/Zara: Around 7,000 Armenians of the kaza are deported to Divriği, then Harput, Siverek, Urfa, Viranhşehir, and Rakka. **(Kévorkian, 2006: 549).

1915; June 20-30, kaza of Derik (province of Diyarbekir): The President of the military tribunal of Diyarbekir, Tevfik Bey, carries out the elimination of the men, in small groups, and then has the women and children deported. They are massacred near the town by bands of the S.O. On June 27, the religious leaders from different confessions are hung in public. ** (Armalto, 1970: 345; Rhétoré, ms. 43; and Ternon, 2002: 100-101).

1915; June 21: The general order to deport all Armenians without exception is transmitted to all the provinces by the Minister of the Interior, Talat. ** (Dündar, 2006: 265-66).

1915; June 21: Midyat (sancak of Mardin). The Christian homes of Midyat are searched. Around 100 men are arrested and executed outside the town, around the Well of Sayta. **(Kévorkian, 2006: 459).

1915; June 21, kaza of Arapkir (province of Mamuret ül-Aziz): Three hundred men from Arapkir are drowned in the Euphrates by S.O. gangs. ** (Kévorkian, 2006:495).

1915; June 21, Merzifun (province of Sıvas): Around 9,000 Armenians of Merzifun are set en route to the Syrian Desert via Hasançelebi, Fırıncılar, Suruc, and Arapbunar, and then Bab and Aleppo, where some 20 men and less than 100 women and children arrive. *** (Kévorkian, 2006: 559).

1915; Summer, Istanbul: Around 30,000 Armenians of the Capital, mostly bachelors and people originally from the provinces, are deported in small groups to Syria. ** (Lepsius, 1986: 185).

1915; June 22, Gürün (province of Sıvas): Some 20 men from Gürün are executed on the route from Elbistan by Tütünci Hüseyin Çavuş and his irregulars. *** (Kévorkian, 2006: 553).

1915; June 22-24, Trabzon: Dr. Bahaeddin Şakir, the President of the Special Organization, begins a visit to Trabzon on June 22. On June 24, 42 Armenian notables—political figures, key businessmen, and teachers—are arrested and dispatched by boat the following morning. They are drowned in the open sea of Platana by gangs commanded by Tekkeli Neşad. *** (Kévorkian, 2006: 586).

1915; June 23-24, kaza of Arapkir: Two groups of 250 men from Arapkir are drowned in the Euphrates by S.O. gangs. *** (Kévorkian, 2006: 495).

1915; June 23, Sıvas: A second wave of questioning is launched in Sıvas. A thousand men are interned in the main prison and in the cellars of the medrese. *** (Kapigian, 1924: 85).

1915; June 23, Binga (province of Sıvas): Around 1,000 Armenians of Binga are deported in a convoy to Arapkir, then to the Syrian desert. ** (Kévorkian, 2006: 552).

1915; June 24 and 25, Harput and Mezreh (province of Mamuret ül-Aziz): Police carry out the arrest of all men; they are subsequently assassinated in the outskirts of Harput, mostly at Gügen Boğazi, a gorge situated near Maden. *** (Riggs, 1997: 77-78; Piranian, 1937: 179-182; and Kévorkian, 2006: 477).

1915; June 25, Bitlis: Cevdet and his 8,000 “human butchers” begin to round up the males of Bitlis. Seven hundred men are executed at a spot six miles from the town; boys from the ages of seven are burned alive at the outskirts of Bitlis in the presence of Governor Mustafa Abdülhalik. ** (Kévorkian, 2006: 417).

1915; June 27, Gürün (province of Sıvas): Forty notables of the sub-prefect are executed near Çalikoğlu by S.O. bands. ** (Kévorkian, 2006: 554).

1915; June 27, Harput plain: The Minister of the Interior orders Sabit Bey, governor of Mamuret ül-Aziz, to make the necessary arrangements to have the Muslim emigrants (muhacir) settle in the “evacuated” Armenian villages. ** (Kévorkian, 2006: 479).

June 27, 1915, Red Konak of Mezreh: Five hundred detainees, who had been arrested over the course of the preceding days, leave for “Urfa,” but are assassinated at Gölcük by S.O. bands. ** (Piranian, 1937: 185; and Kévorkian, 2006: 478).

1915; June 29: The third caravan of deportees from Erzerum is put en route to Bayburt and Erzincan. It is made up of between 7,000 and 8,000 people, including 500 families from the Khodortçur district. At İçkale, a walking distance of ten hours from the town, 300 men are shot. A bit further, the surviving men suffer the same fate in the gorges of Kemah. It is in the gorges of Kahta, however, that the majority of the people in the convoy have their throats slit a few weeks later. Sever dozen escapees reach Mosul, in Mesopotamia. ***(Kévorkian, 2006: 364-365).

1915; June 29 and 30, Bitlis and surrounding areas: Eight thousand women and children are expelled from their homes, settled in the court of the cathedral and several houses, and then escorted to the south of Bitlis to the Arabi bridge by Cevdet Bey’s gangs. Around 2,000 people are abducted from there, and the others are deported to the south via Siirt. Some 15,000 Armenians from the sancak of Bitlis are estimated to have been executed on the spot. ** (Rafael de Nogales, 1926: 133; and Kévorkian, 2006: 417-418).

1915; End of June: The second caravan from Erzerum reaches the killing field in the gorges of Kemah, at the middle of the bridge that spans the Euphrates. Squadrons of bandits commanded by Oturakçı Şevket and Hurukçizade Vehib screen the deportees. Eight to nine-hundred men are separated from the convoy and killed by the S.O. thugs commanded by Çetebaşı Cafer Mustafa on July 18. ** (Kévorkian, 2006: 363-364).

1915; End of June, kaza of Yeni Han: After the execution of the men at a location called Masadler Yeri near Yeni Han, around 1,500 people are deported to Syria. * (Kévorkian, 2006: 549).

1915; End of June, sancak of Mardin: The Jacobite and Syrian Catholic inhabitants of Kırbüran, along with the Chaldeans of Kırjaus, Batı, Killet, and Hisn Kayfa, are massacred on the spot or flee to the Tur Abdin mountains. ** (Ternon, 2002: 175-176; and Armalto, 1970: 413).

1915; End of June, sancak of Mardin: All the men of Savur—Armenians and Jacobites having been lumped together without distinction—are arrested and executed at the outskirts of the town. The women and children are deported on a convoy to Karabhond, past Nisibin, where they are killed and hurled into huge pits. ** (Ternon, 2002: 175-176; and Armalto, 1970: 413).

1915; End of June, Gürün (province of Sıvas): Boys between the ages of ten and fourteen are questioned in Gürün. Kasap Osman, one of the Special Organization’s killers, sends a group of 120 boys to the Saçcığaz valley, to a Turkish village two hours away from Gürün, where their throats are slit. *** (Kévorkian, 2006: 553).

1915; End of June, Tokat (province of Sıvas): The remaining population, around 9,000 people, is grouped by age and deported accordingly. The Azar han serves as the -provisional detention center for mature women, who are questioned by police en route, followed by young women, and then the last Armenians who take the Sıvas route (via Çiftlik-Yeni Han) to Sarkışla/Maraş, or more frequently to Kangal/Malatya. The operations are overseen by Special Organization bands, notably Salhi Ağa (the local butcher), Çerkez Mirza Bey, Çerkez Osman Bey, Çerkez Mahmud Bey, and Çerkez Elmalızade Haci Effendi. ** (Kévorkian, 2006: 556).

1915; End of June, kaza of Niksar (province of Sıvas): The execution of men and the deportation of the remaining population—some 3,500 people—take place at the end of the month under the direction of the kaymakam, Rahmi Bey. ** (Kévorkian, 2006: 556-557).

1915; End of June, kaza of Erbaa (province of Sıvas): Nearly 7,000 Armenians are executed on the spot (men), or are deported (women and children) along the Sıvas-Kangal-Hasançelebi-Fırıncılar axis. ** (Kévorkian, 2006: 557).

1915; End of June, kaza of Zile (province of Sıvas): Violence hits more than 4,000 Armenians. The men are arrested and escorted through the marshes of Lake Gaz and executed. The women and children are deported through the Sıvas- Kangal-Hasançelebi-Fırıncılar route. ** (Kévorkian, 2006: 557).

1915; End of June, kaza of Mehsudiye (province of Sıvas): The 600 Armenians of the kaza are deported to the Syrian Desert by the kaymakam, Nafi Bey. ** (Kévorkian, 2006: 567).

1915; July: The second caravan from Erzerum reaches the plain of Fırıncılar, to the south of Malatya—one of the main killing fields employed by the Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa, which is supervised by the deputy from Dersim, Haci Baloszade Mehmed Nuri, and his brother, Ali Pasha, who are under order from two Kurdish chiefs from the Reşvan tribe, Zeynal Bey and Haci Bedri Agha, along with Bitlisi Emin, a retired Gendarmerie Commander. Three thousand six hundred deportees are executed there at the knife, 2,115 of which are men. *** (Kévorkian, 2006: 363).

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