I WITNESSED and LIVED THROUGH

Couple of days later I was passing through one of the streets around
the town hall. Senior Lieutenant Canbolatyan, an Armenian
commander of one of the battalions under my command, was riding
with me. On seeing couple of Turks reading the bulletins, we
stopped.
Senior Lieutenant Canbolatyan told the people gathered there in
Turkish that the Command Headquarters had taken all the measures
to prevent any Armenian soldier from committing any crimes against
the civilian Turkish people; and that no harm would be done unless
the townspeople rose.
In reply to his words they said, the past two years had not witnessed
any rebellion, or any attempt for rebellion; but complained about the
treating of the helpless people with disdain.
I asked Senior Lieutenant Canbolatyan to explain them that I, as the
Commander of the Russian Artillery, and all the Russian officers were,
are, and would be the defenders of the unarmed civilian Turkish
people; that we had taken all the measures possible in order to stop
all the violence; and that we would immediately voice our requests to
our superiors once more.
Most of the people there approved my words saying that they were
already aware of the truth of my words. Meanwhile, three people in
the crowd declared that I had saved their lives on February 7. Senior
Lieutenant Canbolatyan was taking part in the activities of the
Armenian Committee.
In the second general meeting of the officers, only Dr. Zavriyev was
present as a foreigner. We declared that the 2nd Fortress Artillery
Regiment in Erzurum was not an Armenian regiment as the
Armenians were eager to see it; that only its troops were Armenians;
that none of us had signed any contract to serve the Armenians, nor
that we had any idea to serve them as mercenaries; that we did not
sign any document to serve in the Armenian units; that we did not
sign any contract to do so; that it was high time that the government
put forward decisively if the regiment was Russian or Armenian; that
if it were Russian we needed Russian soldiers; that if it were Armenian the Russian officers who wanted leave should be set free to serve in
another Russian Corps; that those who did not want to serve at the
Caucasian Front should be set free disregarding the obstacles put by
the so-called martial law.