Many unnamed individuals helped their neighbours to escape. For instance, another Armenian survivor I interviewed, Mr. Hagop Arsenian showed me ‘scars’ he carried from that period of his life. Tattoos on his right arm depicted an Arab knife (hançer), the Islamic crescent and star. He always thought that these tattoos were to disguise Armenians as Muslims and were done by local Muslims (mainly Arabs) to save them.⁶
There were also such groups as the Mevlevi order in Konya and the people of Dersim, who helped Christians, as pointed out by Raymon Kevorkian.⁷ Garo Sasuni also reported that the Kurds in the South participated to the massacres to a lesser extent than their northern brethren and that many Kurdish tribes helped Armenians by hiding them. For example, in Dersim⁸ 20,000 Armenians were saved because of Kurdish efforts. In Ras-ul-Ain, while some Chechens attacked Armenians, other Chechens “saved around 400 to 500” deportees and the Jabbur Arabs sheltered many Armenians.⁹
Sefa Kaplan in an interview with Prof. Selim Deringil stated that “[t]here were many Muslims who took great risks in order to save their Armenian neighbours, there were also those who adopted children in order to save them”. Deringil responded: “Yes, of course, this was done despite İttihat ve Terraki’s orders to the contrary. There was such an order, what can we say to that? It is not possible to deny it. There were even commanders who refused to follow orders.”¹⁰
Indeed there were many such functionaries who did not obey orders and for obvious reasons are overlooked in the official narrative in Turkey. Raymon Kevorkian who conducted research on this topic identified a number of government functionaries who contested government orders.
For instance, the Vali¹¹ (governor) of Konya, Celal Bey, did not permit the Konya Armenians to be deported because he knew what would have happened to them if they were sent to the deserts of Deir Zor. Where possible he also tried to prevent Armenians from other places to be sent to the deserts. He was removed from his post in October 1915 but he had already saved many lives. He remained unemployed until 1919.¹²
Other examples include, the Governor of Ankara Hasan Mazhar, who was removed from his post for refusing to deport Armenians in the August of 1915, the Mutasarrıf¹³ of Kütahya Faik Ali Bey, who refused to deport about 2,000 Armenians (later he became permanent undersecretary of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic) and the mayor of Malatya Mustafa Ağa Azizoğlu.
Malatya was a transit place for those who were deported from the Eastern provinces. The mayor did not have authority to prevent deportation but saved people in his house by providing refuge. Dramatically, he was killed by his son, a member of Union and Progress, for “looking after infidels”.¹⁴ To this list Reşit, Vali of Kastamonu, who was also dismissed for not complying with the extermination campaign and the Mutassarıf of Yozgat, Cemal Bey, should be added.¹⁵ Last, but not least, Tahsin Bey, Vali of Erzurum should also be remembered as one of the heroes who defied orders.¹⁶
[…]
Many other high ranking officials have paid with their lives for disobeying orders. As well as being responsible for massacres against the Armenians and Assyrians, Dr. Reşit Şahingiray, the governor of the Province of Diyarbakır, was alleged to have murdered a number of Turkish officials who refused to carry out his orders: “Vali of Basra Ferit, Mutasarrıf of Müntefek [part of Basra] Bedii Nuri, Kaymakam²⁴ of Lice Hüseyin, Deputy Kaymakam of Beşiri [Batman] Sabit, journalist İsmail Mestan; all socialists and/or humanists”.²⁵
Dr. Reşit also tried to assassinate the Mutasarrıf of Mardin, Hilmi Bey, who was removed from office. His successor Shefik [Şefik] Bey was also removed for not following orders. Finally, Bedri Bey who was willing to carry out Reşit’s orders was appointed as Mardin’s Mutasarrıf.²⁶ A telegram to form the Interior Ministry to the Province of Diyarbakır, dated 28 June 1915 informs the governorate that Şefik was being transferred to Baghdad, while Bedri Bey was being appointed to the post.²⁷
The Dominican priest Marie-Dominique Berré in his comprehensive report on the Massacres in Mardin notes that
[t]owards the middle of May 1915, Doctor Raschid [Reşit] Bey, vali of Diarbékir, sent to Mutasarrif of Mardin, Hilmi Bey, the order to imprison all Christian notables of that city. Hilmi Bey responded by this telegram, the authenticity of which I guarantee: ‘I am not a man without conscience; I have nothing against the Christians of Mardin; I will not execute these orders.’ A few days later Hilmi Bey was discharged. A functionary, his name of which I have forgotten [Bedri Bey], very hostile to Christians²⁸ became responsible of the management of the mutasarrifate.
Sister Issa Wareina from the Dominican Sisterhood of St Catherine de Sienne (Catherinettes) wrote that the Kaymakam of Savur Wahabit (Wahib/Wehbi) Efendi, a native of Mardin, protected her and her niece and 200 other Christians by giving them refuge in his property. Sister Wareina reported that “the Kaymakam was of Muslims who preferred suras of the Koran which prescribed compassion towards the Christians, than the savage preaching of massacre of Giaours [infidels]”.²⁹
