SHA L L T HIS N ATIO N DIE ? E M . Rev . JOSEPH AAY , O I . NI With a Preface by L O R D B R Y C E and An Historical Essay by B GA R IEL OUSSAN I , Chaldean Rescue 253 M adison Avenue N ew York , N . Y . CON TEN TS PART I CHAPTE R ’ M e I . y Fath r s Death M II . y Escape T e U III . he Fat of rfa I M i e e V . y Prison Exper nc s ’ S e e e e V. My ucc ssor s Exp ri nc PART II CHAPTER C e the M s e a S I . Depositions onc rning as acr t airt H l II . a ata i e III . Kar ma (ag d 13) S ar IV . tera and W ena In he V . t Desert I e e V . The Massacr of Diarb kir In e s he e s VI I . the T nt of t B douin The M L i a VIII . assacre of dj i I ! . What Happened n Kharput ! . M Rape , Loot , and urder PART III CHAPTER I n Hak ari I . ki and Persia III . The Experience of the Right Reverend S Petros Aziz , Bishop of almas IL L USTRATION S Pa ge The Author Disguised as a Bedouin Fronti spi ece The Author ’ s Father 22 The Prison Camp 44 Mazlou m Bey 53 The Patriarch of B abylon 121 Dj alila 131 Wadi Wawela 139 Halata 145 The Archbishop of Sairt 158 ’ L The Archbishop s Sec retary 162 Karima 163 " Stera an d Warina 167 Hunting for Gold 172 The ArchbishOp of 181 ‘ Rafts on the Tigris 187 V Michael and His Brother 19I ” Eyewitnesses 199 The Archbishop of Jezire 207 Habiba 254 ' Mar Shimou n 26 1 ‘ The Rev . Lazare Georges 267 The Bishop of Salmas 303 The Bishop of Urmia 308 “ Map of Mesopotamia 318 P R E FA C E LORD BRYCE The bloodstained annals o f: the East contain no record of massacres more unprovoked , more wide spread o r more terrible than those perpetrated by the Turkish Government up on the Christians of Anatolia 1915 w as ff and Armenia in . It the su erings of the Armenians that chiefly drew the attention of Britain and America because they were the most numerous among the ecclesiastical bodies , and the slaughter was , therefore , on a larger scale . But the minor com munities A ss ro- , such as the Nestorian and y Chaldean churches , were equally the victims of the plan for exterminating Christianity , root and branch , although the Turks had never ventured to allege that these had ff communities given any ground of o ense . An o u t account of these massacres , organized and carried with every circumstance of cruelty by Enver and ru ffi an l Talaat , chiefs of the y gang who were then in SHALL THIS NATION DIE ? o p wer in Constantinople , has been given in the Blue ffi 1916 Book , published by the British Foreign O ce in , and entitled Treatment of the Armenians in the Otto man Empire . In the present volume there is pre sented a graphic and moving narrative of similar cruelties perpetrated upon members o f the A ssyro- Chaldean u o f o e Ch rch in which about half them , men , w m n o f mu r and children , perished at the hands Turkish derers and robbers . The narrative is written by the N aa em who s aw s Rev . Father y the e horrors with o n his w eyes and narrowly escaped with his life . He has recounted to me and to other friends of his people o in England the terrible st ry , and we have encouraged him to believe that his English translation of his book will be read with sympathy and pity both here and in the United States . I venture to recommend it to those who Wish to know What these innocent victims have ff su ered , trusting that it may do something to sustain that interest in the sorely afflicted Christian Churches of the East which has b een ma nifested in both coun 0 tries , and h ping also that the charitable aid so gen ero u s ly extended to them in their calamities may be PREFACE continued . The need of relief is still very great and it e is for th ir Christian faith , to which they have clung o f during centuries oppression and misery , that they ff have now again had to su er . 1 2 23rd Jul 9 0. y, AN HI STORICAL ESSAY ON TH E ASSYRO-CHAL DEAN CHRI STIAN S BY R O U SSA N I . REV . GAB IEL , D D N aa em the o f The Rev . J. y , author this work , and an eye-witness o f most of the horrible scenes o f e massacre her in described , has requested me to write an introduction to this English version of his book b of for the enefit the American public , which is per n o haps not so well acquai ted with the history , ge g raphy and religion of the A s sy ro - Cha ldean Christians who suffered during and after the great war ( 1915- 1920) at the hands of the unscrupulous Turks, indescribable who tortures , and lost through murder and famine f m o their me bership . Having the interest and the welfare of this u nfor tun ate nation at heart , being myself a native of that unhappy land , and having already known of these xvi SHALL THIS NATION DIE ? s things through direct correspondence with bishop , priests , merchants , friends and relatives in Mesopotamia , o f w I gladly accede to his request , hopeful a akening in the loving hearts of the American people a genuine sym a s for one o f p thy and commi eration this martyred race , c the most ancient and glorious nations ; but , alas , de i o u mated and reduced t r in . Never in the past have the American people had such an o pportunity of extending a helping hand to oppressed Christian nations as they have at the present time in Upper Mesopotamia . ff o f o The su erings the Belgian , French , P lish , Ser bian and Austrian peoples during the great war co m pletely fade away by comparison with what the help O f ff less countries the Near East su ered and endured , nd and are still enduring, from Turkish a Kurdish ravages and cruelties . The excellent work done by the Near East Relief Committee has accomplished much ; but a great deal an d r more must be done , done quickly , if the Ch isti m a ity of the Near East , and especially of Mesopotamia and Persia is to be rescued from immediate and total - e destruction . The well merit d relief so generously AN HISTORI CAL ESSAY xvii extended to the suffering Armenians has in a way so completely focused the attention and the generosity f r o the Ame ican people on this unfortunate race , that a ~ the other, smaller, but j ust as unfortun te , races of the Near East have been to a great extent lost sight h o f. T ese smaller Christian nations , and particularly A ss ro -C ff the y haldeans , su ered as much at the hands o f the r o the Turks as A menians , and pr portionately more , and thus deserve as much sympathy and help . A s s ro - Ethnographically , the modern y Chaldeans are s the descendants of the Ancient Babylonians , A sy rians and Arameans , who for many millenniums - inhabited and ruled over the Tigris Euphrates valley , Upper Mesopotamia and Syria , and who were the political masters of the Near East for many centuries o bef re the Christian era . With the downfall of the Kingdoms of Assyria and . 7t 6 h C. Babylonia ( and th centuries B . , respectively) e and the political ascendency of the M dians , Parthians , 6 6 and Persians (from circa th century B . C . to th cen tury A . D . especially during the reign of the Sassa ff on nide dynasty) , they su ered many political and later religious persecutions , but stood the test heroically . xviii SHALL THIS NATION DIE ? e Incidentally , their very ethnographic id ntity and their national spirit of independence were completely crushed . They were , so to say , engulfed in the many religious , racial and political whirlpools and currents which sw ept over their country for more than ten full centuries . Under the Arab domin ation (from the 7th to the c 13 . th century A D ) they on e more prospered , and developed the greatest and most extensive Christian Church of the Near East , enj oying vast political and times b religious privileges , marred at y occasional and 13th on local adversities . From the century and until our own day , however , this heroic Christian nation suffered such untold misery and persecuti o ns at the hands of the cruel Tartars , Moguls and Mohammedan Turks that at the beginning o f the 20th Century this once great and fertile country , this glorious and power was to one- o f ful nation , reduced less than tenth its former size . — emfbra c e d The Asse Chaldean nation Christianity , if not during the first , certainly during the middle of the second century . Setting aside the controversy as to the early evangelization of Edessa in Upper Meso AN HISTORICAL ESSAY xix potamia during the reign of King Abg ar (circa 35 A .