I WITNESSED and LIVED THROUGH

The Armenian hypocrisy was getting more and more repulsive.
Violence directed at the civilian people was not ceasing; they were
being committed in secret. The Armenians had shifted their activities
to the near by villages which could not be seen by us. The Turks
living in the villages near the city started to disappear. I do not know
how and where they disappeared. The people living in the distant
villages started to defend themselves with firearms.
In the city people were being arrested under the pretext of curbing a
possible uprising. I inquired Colonel Morel about the extent of the
security of the lives of the arrested. I implied, whether the arrested
people would be slaughtered like sheep in an organized manner as it
was the case in Erzincan. He replied saying that the arrested leaders
of a probable Turkish uprising would be sent to the rear echelons of
the front, to Tbilisi, in secured convoys; and that some of them would
be kept in Erzurum to be used as hostages for a possible uprising.
Reports pertaining to illegal activities of the Armenian logistics units
started to arrive one after another. Fat required by the regiment
personnel was being refused at the point of transfers. If any demand
for fat was voiced by the electricians’ battalion, their needs were met
in no time, for its non-commissioned officer had once close contacts
with Antranik. The Armenian official in charge of the depot did not
give the amount of sugar required by the regiment by claiming that
Antranik had taken the distribution of sugar in his own hands. This
Armenian official refused to give a written document stating the case.
Russian officers coming to the city from the front, following the
logistics supply lines, were complaining about the lack of food and a
warm place to lodge; but they said, the Armenian officers always
found plenty of food to eat and a warm place to lodge on their way
back.
Army Headquarters allocated two wagons to the artillery officers in
the middle of February. Officers sent some of their belongings and
their families to the rear echelons of the front. Three more wagons
were asked for the transfers of the remaining families and
belongings. Army Headquarters had approved the allocation of those
wagons before its departure from Erzurum.