No. 9. LIEUTENANT R. WADHAM FISHER [an English Volunteer in with Fifth Battalion of the Macedonian Legion].
Lieutenant Fisher explained the circumstances of the massacre which occurred at Dede- Agatch. "A sharp fight took place outside the town between the legion and the army of Javer Pacha; wherever the Turkish villages showed the white flag, our troops were forbidden to march through them. Our men had been much inflamed by reports of outrages committed by Turks on Bulgarians near Gumurjina. We entered Dede-Agatch under fire towards 9 p.m. after marching and fighting all day. Javer Pacha insisted on withdrawing into the town and we were obliged to pursue him. Bullets were still whistling through the streets, but the local Greeks came out to show us where the Turkish soldiers were posted. The Greeks feared a massacre and regarded our coming as their salvation. I saw something of the search for arms; no one was harmed. At 11 p.m. we received an order to withdraw from the town, and to march to a village twenty-five kilometers away. Some 150 men were left in the town, either because the order did not reach them or because they were too exhausted to obey it. No officer was among them, and they were organized by a private soldier, Stefan Boichev, a contractor of Widin. The Greek bishop afterwards stated that Stefan Boichev had done good service in reestablishing order. On November 19 the lower class Greeks and the soldiers began to pillage the town together. A certain number of the local Turks were undoubtedly killed. These excesses must be explained by the absence of any officers.
No. 10. BORIS MONCHEV, Bulgarian Mayor of Dede-Agatch.
This witness confirmed Lieutenant Fisher's account, believed that not more than twenty Turks were killed in the massacre, and insisted that the local Armenian porters (hamels) had taken the chief part in the disturbances. There were in the town fully 8,000 Turkish
refugees, of whom all the men were armed and had taken part in the fight outside the town from 7 to 9 p.m. After the first disastrous night, everything was done to maintain order by a commission which included the Greek bishop and himself. The 142 Macedonian volunteers obeyed their orders. The Bulgarian army returned to the town six days later, November 25, and order was fully restored.
The notorious incident of the killing of Riza-bey, the Imperial Turkish Commissioner of the Junction railway line, is to be explained by the fact that as he was being taken under arrest to the school he attempted to snatch a rifle from a Macedonian volunteer, and was killed by the volunteers on the spot.
In the course of a search on the eve of the second war twenty-seven Gras rifles and letters used for signalling were found in Greek houses; also a store of rifles at the bishop's palace. In consequence of this, fifty leading Greeks were arrested as hostages for the good behavior of the town, and sent to Bulgaria. It is probable that some of these were liberated after paying bribes. The town was without a regular government from July 22, and much robbery took place; but he had previously taken the precaution of sending the Armenian hamals, who were always a troublesome element, out of the town.
No. 11. VASIL SMILEV, a Bulgarian Teacher at Uskub.
He stated that on the entry of the Servian army into Uskub, efforts were made by the Servian authorities to persuade all the Bulgarian teachers to join the bands which they were forming in order to pursue the Turkish bands. He served for twenty or thirty days, but left the band because it was continually engaged in burning, torturing and killing. He witnessed the slaughter of eighteen Turks who had been collected in the Bulgarian school of the Tchair quarter of the town. They were killed in the open and their bodies thrown into a well near the brickworks. This happened about 9 p.m., four days after the festival of Saint Paraskeva. He named four of them. Later he witnessed the Servian chief of police, Lazar Ilyts, who had been responsible for this massacre, superintending the pillage of the village Butel. Near this village he met a number of Albanian villagers fleeing from their village. A Servian major unveiled and kissed a young girl among them. Her father killed him on the spot. Thereupon the Servian band massacred the whole body of fugitives, men and women, to the number of sixty. This he witnessed personally and reported it at the time to the Russian consulate. After this he refused to have anything further to do with the Servian bands. He was expelled afterwards from Uskub with the other Bulgarian teachers.
NO. 12. A MOSLEM NOTABLE of Yailadjik (name suppressed), a village one and a half hours' distant from Salonica, states--On Nov. 7, 1912, most of us fled to Salonica, leaving about twenty-five men in the village. On the 8th the Bulgarian soldiers came and did no harm, except to take the food and forage they required. They passed on after spending a day and a night, and two days later the Greek soldiers came, together with people from the neighboring Greek villages. They killed fifteen Moslems, and took all the furniture, 9,500 sheep and goats, 1,500 cattle, and all the grain which they could find, and then burned the 250 houses of the village.
No. 13. BULGARIAN COURTS-MARTIAL.
On January 10, 1913, the headquarters of the Bulgarian army issued the following telegraphic order (No. 2360) to the commanders and military governors of Thrace and Macedonia:
On February 15, 1913, the Supreme Military Tribunal transmitted to the President of the courts-martial the following order:
No. 13a. A report drawn up by the Moslem community of Pravishta, on the atrocities committed in that town and the neighboring villages since the withdrawal of the Turkish authorities on October 24, 1913.
[NOTE.--The names of all of the killed (195 in all) and of some of those robbed, and also those of the aggressors, are fully given in the original Turkish document, but are omitted in the following summarized translation].
Village of Giran.--Twenty-one Moslems killed by the Greeks of the village of Nikchan, and a sum of about 3,000 (Turkish pounds) stolen. Six hundred goats were also stolen for the benefit of the Greek church at Nikchan and 2,400 goats taken by the Greeks of Djerbelan.
Village of Palihor.--Six Moslems killed by the band commanded by Demosthenes, head- master of the Greek school of Palihor, pillage to the extent of about 3,000 (Turkish pounds). One woman (named) was violated by Demosthenes and another.
Village of Micheli.--Demosthenes and other Greeks pillaged the village, carried off many oxen and much corn and stole credit notes for a sum of 3,000 (Turkish pounds).
Village of Drama.--Two Moslems killed by Greeks of Pravishta.
Village of Osmanli.--Six Moslems killed by Greeks of Holo; about 1,500 (Turkish pounds) stolen.
Village of Samalcol.--Twenty-one Moslems of this village were taken by Miltiades Machopoulos of the band of Myriacos Mihail to the ravine of Casroub, where they were massacred by the Greek bandit Leonidas and others. Over l,500 (Turkish pounds) were stolen from them; a shop looted of stock worth 1,500 (Turkish pounds), and about 7,000 (Turkish pounds) stolen in the village generally.
Village of Tchanahli.--Two Moslems killed by Greeks of Holo; 200 sheep and a mule stolen.
Village of Mouchtian.--Twenty-five Moslems killed by Myriacos Mihail, his band and some local Greeks in the ravine of Casroub. "In the twentieth century of progress the skeletons which may still be seen in this ravine, present to the eyes of justice a monument capable of enlightening her regarding Hellenic civilization." About 3,000 (Turkish pounds) stolen.
Village of Dranich.--2,000 (Turkish pounds) in money, seven goats and 1,000 sheep stolen by the Greeks of Palihor and Nikchan.
Village of Ahadler.--Nine Moslems killed by Greeks of Casroub, and sums amounting to 258 (Turkish pounds) stolen.
Village of Tchiflik.--Ten Moslems killed by the same Greeks of Casroub, and about 1,000 (Turkish pounds) stolen.
Village of Pethor.--Fourteen Moslems killed by the grocer Myriacos Mihail, member of the bishop's council, Panahi, priest of Boblan, and Miltiades Machopoulos. [The band led by these three men is frequently mentioned.] Local Greeks stole about l,500 (Turkish pounds).
Village of Rehemli.--Three Moslems killed by Greeks of Holo.
Village of Sarili.--Five Moslems killed by Greeks of Pethor, and about 1,000 sheep and goats stolen.
Village of Dedebal.--Eight Moslems killed by Myriacos Mihail and his band; about 1,000 (Turkish pounds) stolen.
Village of Deranli.--Three Moslems killed by Myriacos Mihail and his band; about 3,000 (Turkish pounds)stolen.
Village of Orphano.--Three Moslems killed by the Greeks. One of these was seized by the priest Panahi on a telephonic order from the Greek bishop of Pravishta and killed at Essirli. The bishop had had the telephone removed from the Turkish governor's office to his own house, and by this means he gave orders to the whole district.
Village of Boblan.--Eight Moslems killed by Myriacos Mihail and his band, specially sent for the purpose by the bishop; about 800 (Turkish pounds) stolen.
Village of Carpan.--Four Moslems killed by the band of Myriacos Mihail sent by the bishop. The Greeks of Carpan stole all the goods and corn belonging to the local Moslems, and did not leave them even the grain which they had in their household jars. The Greek bravoes brutally robbed the women of their ear-rings. Later Greek soldiers joined the villagers and began to violate the young women, until they were obliged to take refuge in the towns and villages held by Bulgarian troops. About 500 (Turkish pounds) was stolen in this village. Village of Leftera.--Four Moslems killed by Greeks. The wife of Arnaut Agouchagha, who voluntarily embraced Islam fifty years ago, was taken to Pravishta to be reconverted to Christianity. She told the Bulgarian chief, Baptchev, that she did not consent to this conversion. Baptchev had her released, but on her return to the village she was "odiously lynched by Greek savages." Baptchev took 500 (Turkish pounds) from a Turk at the instigation of the Greek priests of the monastery of Nozle, who also robbed the villagers of about 2,000 sheep.
Village of Kochkar.--Two Moslems killed by Greeks of Drazeni and about 1,000 (Turkish pounds) stolen.
Village of Kale Tchiflik.--Five Moslems killed, and all the cattle seized by the priests of Nozle.
Village of Devekeran.--Four Moslems killed by Greeks of Pravishta; about 500 (Turkish pounds) stolen.
Village of Essirli.--Nineteen Moslems killed in the ravine of Casroub by Greeks of that village. About 1,500 (Turkish pounds) stolen.
Village of Kotchan.--One Moslem killed to satisfy the vengeance of the bishop and of the priest Nicholas. "It is worthy of remark that many Imams figure among the list of victims in the district of Pravishta * * * further that the victims are almost always men known for their enlightenment. * * * The reason why the assassins killed Imams and the most enlightened notables for choice is obvious when one reflects that there are 13,000 Moslems in this district out of a total population of 20,000."
Town of Pravishta.--Ten Moslems were killed, including one woman, while the town was held by Bulgarian bands, under the command of a chief named Baptchev, who established himself in the governor's palace and acted as governor and commandant. They were killed by three Greeks (named) and the Bulgarians. On the evening when an assassination was to take place, the students of the Greek school assembled in the courtyard of the government house and sang the Greek national anthem.
The Greek bishop formed a municipal council composed of the priest Nicholas, the grocer Myriacos Mihail, and others (named). The sentence of death was passed by this council, approved by the archbishop, and communicated to Baptchev to be carried out. Similar councils were formed in the villages which took their orders from that of Pravishta. The Bulgarian chief Baptchev served as the tool of the Greek bishop and notables. In this town the Moslem population has incurred a loss of about 3,000 (Turkish pounds), stolen by the Bulgarian bands, guided by the Greeks.
The daughter of the commander of the gendarmeries, Suleiman Effendi, who is now in Constantinople, was summoned one night to the bishopric to be converted to Christianity. The bishop threatened her, in order to convert her, but the Bulgarian chief Baptchev, when he heard of this, went to the bishopric, saved the girl, restored her to her family, and thus prevented her conversion. Some days later he gave her a passport to go to Constantinople.
Thanks to the orders issued by Baptchev the mosques of the town and the villages were preserved intact, and no one was molested on account of his religion.
Neither the Bulgarian officers, nor their soldiers nor even the members of the bands committed any violence against women, but Baptchev took money to the value of about 6,000 (Turkish pounds).
The priest Panahi of the village of Nikchan and the Greek antiquarian Apostol, of the village of Palihor, who disapproved of the unworthy conduct of the bishop, were killed by his orders. The Bulgarian authorities after a careful inquiry were convinced of the bishop's guilt. The bodies of the victims of the town of Pravishta are still in the ravine of Cainardja, at the place called Kavala Bachi.
We certify that this report is in complete agreement with the registers of the Moslem community of Pravishta and true in all its details.
[Seal.] Moslem Community of the Caza of Pravishta, 1331.
END.