EASTERN TURKEY | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Feb 8, 1905

EASTERN TURKEY.

THE Eastern Turkey Mission includes a wide area of country, extending from Asia Minor on the west to Persia on the east, and from Mesopotamia on the south to the mountains skirting the Black Sea and the Caucasus in Russia on the north. It includes within its extended territory, besides the ruling Mohammedans, Armenians, two races of Koords, Syrians, Jacobites, and Nestorians. This embraces in many respects the most disturbed portion of the Turkish empire. It was in this region that the massacres of 1895 began, extending throughout the entire mission. Again, during the year under review, there have been renewed conflicts growing out of race prejudices, and hatreds intensified by bands of so-called Armenian revolutionists, who form upon the Russian and Persian side of the line and penetrate into Turkish territory. These bands sometimes seem to be only companies of marauders while in other cases they are more formidable, and are able to attack the Turkish troops with success. The country is thus kept in a state of political turmoil, while the government troops add to the distress by reprisals upon the people, and by attempting to collect alleged heavy arrearages in taxes. In the midst of conditions like these, the work of the past year has been conducted. It was undoubtedly expected by many there that the missionaries would withdraw from the country after the massacres of 1895. Many of the Armenians feared this and pleaded for them to remain, conscious that with the missionaries away there would be little or no restraining force in the interests of order. The missionary buildings then destroyed have been reconstructed, and in many respects the work has made a strong advance at once. This is especially true in the case of mission schools. A missionary overheard a

conversation between two natives of the country upon the subject of burning the mission premises. One of them said: "Burn every building they possess and they will not leave the country. They are here to stay." The missionaries did not enter that country to retreat as soon as it became difficult to continue. Every persistent attack upon the missionaries and their institutions has invariably resulted in a forward movement upon the part of the mission, and in a more firmly-intrenched position.

The massacres forced the missionaries to open orphan homes at every station, and provide for the children who were left homeless and destitute. Eight years have passed since then. These three thousand children have not only had the advantages of a Christian education, but the most of them have had regular and systematic industrial training. Many of the older boys are now entirely self-supporting as Christian teachers, while others are working at practical trades learned in the orphan schools. So long as political conditions remain as they are, many Armenians will flee from the country as opportunity may offer. In spite of the constant exodus from the churches and schools, the churches are strengthening and deepening their foundations, as the new buildings at Van and Harpout indicate. The poverty of the people is constantly increasing with the political uncertainty and government oppression, and yet they testify to their devotion by the large sums given for the support of the churches and the education of their children. If that country could have political rest and safety for person and property, so far as we can now see, the work would speedily become self-supporting. The three great departments of work carried on in this mission are: the medical work, with physicians at each one of the five stations; the educational, with the mission theological schools at Harpout and Mardin, the college at Harpout, high schools for both sexes at each station, and village schools all over the country; and the evangelistic work, which is the glory and crown of it all.—Missionary Herald.