THE EXODUS OF MUSA DAGH ARMENIANS FROM THE SANJAK OF ALEXANDRETTA TO ANJAR, LEBANON, IN 1939
By Vahram L. Shemmassian
November 27th, 2012
The Sanjak of Alexandretta/Iskenderun was an autonomous province within
Syria during the interwar years. Its inhabitants included a significant
number of Armenian natives and refugees, among them the indigenous
population of Musa Dagh near Antioch. A political crisis beginning in
1936 shook Sanjak society to its core, as winds of change from French
mandate to Turkish suzerainty increasingly caused panic. The turmoil
grew to alarming proportions for the Arabs, Alawites, and Christians
when a farcical “election” in the summer of 1938 installed a Turkish
majority in the Sanjak’s legislature. A year later Turkey annexed
the area. This was the final straw that compelled the overwhelming
majority of Armenians, among other groups, to seek refuge in other
parts of Syria as well as Lebanon, refusing to live under Turkish rule.
During the period between summer 1938 and summer 1939, socioeconomic
life in Musa Dagh deteriorated rapidly. Exports-imports from and into
the Sanjak were drastically reduced. Merchants conducting business
with Aleppo were obliged to deposit with the Hatay government a sum
equal to the value of their merchandise as collateral. After selling
the goods the merchants had to convert the Syrian lira to the Turkish
lira in order to be able to carry their money back into the Sanjak.
Besides, the merchants were able to regain only 70 percent of the
collateral they had deposited at the time of export, that is to
say, the government kept 30 percent as tax on profits, in addition
to customs fees. As a result unemployment in Musa Dagh rose to 90
percent. Construction was halted. Artisans sold their merchandize
for 25 percent less and bought other necessities for 25 percent more.
Poverty and misery became rampant.
What was more, beginning in late spring 1939 Turkish police posts were
set up in and near the Armenian villages. There was also an attempt
to establish Turkish Halkevleri (nationalistic people’s houses, i.e.,
clubs) with the help of Armenian collaborators, described as “paid
enthusiastic Kemalist propagandist agents.” They reported regularly
on compatriots who remained opposed to the emergent Turkish regime,
and even sent representatives to propagandize about the Sanjak
(then called Hatay Republic) among Musa Dagh expatriates in Aleppo,
Damascus, and Beirut.
When in April 1939 two French senators who were also members of the
French Mediterranean Committee opposed to the Sanjak’s annexation to
Turkey visited Musa Dagh, they received an immense popular reception.
After their departure, a number of Armenians were arrested. Serop
Sherbetjian was sacked of his Musa Dagh governorship. Tateos Babigian
from Vakef replaced him as an appointee of the Turkish regime in
Antioch.
On June 30, 1939 the Armenian National Union (ANU) in Beirut sent
High Commissioner Gabriel Puaux a letter, signed by the political
and religious leaders including the Primate of the Aleppo Ardavazt
Surmeyian. They expressed with sadness the fact that efforts in Paris
had failed to save the Sanjak; that the Armenians and especially
those of Musa Dagh would be the biggest losers; that they wanted to
leave under French protection given Turkey’s record of persecutions
and massacres; that the Musa Daghians must be settled as a group in a
mountainous area in Lebanon reminiscent of Musa Dagh and affording
agricultural opportunities; and that France should assume the
transportation expenses.
Four days later, on July 4, Bishop Surmeiyan sent Puaux a letter to the
effect that, since “the question of selling their [the Musa Daghians’]
houses is dead,” they should at least be allowed to carry their movable
belongings. He similarly asked that the goods be inspected when packed
in the villages rather than at the border customs to avoid long lines
and undue delays, that laissez-passers be issued free of charge,
and so on.
When rumors reached Col. Philibert Collet, the French officer in charge
of the Armenians’ exodus, that the Musa Daghians were contemplating
to burn their homes before departure, he issued a call for them to
leave their doors open and their homes and orchards intact. Those
rumors proved unfounded.
Collet similarly instructed Prelate Khat Achabahian of Sanjak
Armenians to form special committees to determine the number of
persons, livestock, and the weight of movable belongings that would
be transported. The Musa Dagh survey revealed the following results:
1,272 families or 7,888 persons, 3,232 animals, and 781 tons of
luggage. These figures were later adjusted at the Ras al-Basit
encampment as follows: 1,204 families (68 families less), 5,125 persons
(2,763 persons less), approximately 1,850 tons of goods (nearly 2.5
times more than the initial amount). The reasons for these changes
will be discussed in a more comprehensive study.
Those Who Stayed Behind Not all Armenians elected to leave Musa
Dagh. Such cases numbered 68 families or 384 persons, constituting
about 6 percent of Musa Dagh’s total population. The breakdown was as
follows: 4 families/12 persons in Bitias; 1 family/8 persons in Haji
Habibli; 4 families/28 persons in Yoghunoluk; 4 families/27 persons in
Kheder Beg; 3 families/15 persons in Kabusiye; 11 families/64 persons
in Zeituniye in the nearby plain of Svedia; and 41 families/232 persons
in Vakef. Most of these lived together as a group in Vakef. Presently
Vakef is showcased as the sole Armenian village left in Turkey.
Several reasons existed for their staying behind. To begin with, those
Armenians believed that they could live peacefully and harmoniously in
republican Turkey; intense Turkish propaganda aided in shaping this
favorable opinion. Second, it was emotionally and psychologically
difficult for them to abandon their ancestral lands, which torment
certainly applied equally to those who elected to depart. Third,
the stayers also entertained the false hope that they would be able
to acquire the fixed properties abandoned by the goers.
Fourth, those who stayed behind belonged to that political
faction-mainly members and sympathizers of the Social Democrat
Hunchakian Party-which had failed to break the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation’s hold on the governance of Musa Dagh during the interwar
years. Therefore, by staying they would be able to rid themselves
of the ARF’s dominance. That being said, most others with similar
anti-ARF sentiments still decided to leave the area.
The Exodus The exodus from Musa Dagh took place from July 15-20. The
goods were shipped by boat to Ras al-Basit, between Kesab and Latakia,
the women, children, and the elderly rode trucks and buses, and the
men walked, some of them accompanying the animals. Turkish soldiers
manning border checkpoints inspected the goods strictly in search of
weapons especially. Some Turkish civilians attacked the caravans and
stole about 340 animals and killed 4 pigs. They also took 330 Syrian
liras. Turkish gendarmes succeeded in retrieving just 63 animals,
and only a fraction of the money.
When the refugees arrived at the Armenian enclave of Kesab, the
locals welcomed them in open arms by offering food, water, and tan
(yogurt juice). Then, at Qastal Muaf, en route to Ras al-Basit,
they were vaccinated against typhoid.
The Camp at Ras al-Basit The first batch of refugees arrived at Ras
al-Basit on July 18 and camped in the open, no shelter whatsoever
being available. As the rest joined them, they congregated as groups
according to their villages. Families built sheds with branches and
whatever they could muster, hoisting the French flags on them. They
similarly made water sources in the immediate vicinity operational
with pumps, and opened ditches just 50 meters away from the camp to
be used as restrooms.
This unsanitary arrangement attracted “millions” of flies, which caused
serious health problems. The women cooked food outdoors, while the
men herded the animals and opened makeshift stores. People commuted to
Latakia to purchase necessities. The French government paid 25 Syrian
liras per adult and 10 liras per child under ten beginning on August 7.
Social life resumed to some degree. The various denominations from
each village grouping worshipped in their respective “churches.”
The political parties held their own meetings. Some voluntary
associations likewise tried to keep a semblance of normalcy. For
example, the annual meeting of the Union of Former Legion Armenienne
Combatants took place on August 24 in the presence of 173 members. An
executive committee was elected unanimously. A report of activities
read revealed the type and amount of donations that the Union had
received beginning in the second half of 1938 from the Syrian Armenian
Relief Cross in Aleppo (one box of medicines) and Union affiliates
in France (1,600 FF) and the United States ($240).
A Central Relief Committee approved by the French and Vicar General
Bedros Sarajian of the Catholicosate of Cilicia at Antelias, Lebanon,
managed all refugee affairs. The Armenian General Benevolent
Union (AGBU) Central Executive in Paris cooperated by forming an
Extraordinary Central Fundraising Committee on July 21. In turn, the
Harach (forward) newspaper in Paris made its front pages available
to publish the lists of donors from Armenians in Europe and North
Africa. Compatriots from the United States likewise contributed.
Due to exposure and unsanitary living conditions diseases increased
to an alarming degree, afflicting children especially. Torrential
rains from August 22-24 soaked the campers wet, exacerbating the
situation by causing untold misery. Col. Collet sent twelve tents to
shelter the children. A French military doctor established a six-bed
infirmary. An Armenian pharmacist from Aleppo donated 100 Syrian
liras worth of medicines. A maternity with twenty beds was likewise
opened in Latakia with a midwife sent by the Syrian Armenian Relief
Cross. By August 30 some180 sick and elderly people were admitted. A
French military health inspector, upon visiting Ras al-Basit, ordered
the transfer of some sixty sick children together with their mothers
to Beirut to be placed under the care of the Armenian National Union
(ANU). The government-run trade school building was placed under the
ANU’s disposal, with its chair and Lebanese Armenian Relief Cross
representative Dr. Onnig Gergerian managing it.
In Search of A Final Settlement Site The Turkish Government asked
the French not to install the Armenians near the Syrian-Turkish
border. The French obliged, and initially considered four possible
sites in Lebanon: 1) in the mountains overlooking Tripoli, especially
around the villages of Sir and Bakhune; 2) in the district of Hermel,
along the Orontes River; 3) in the west of Baalbek, around the
villages of Shemestar, Hadith, and Budaye; 4) in south Lebanon,
in the foothills of Hermon, between the cities of Marjayun and
Rashaya. Among those places Hermel was regarded as the most suitable
one not only because of the available land, but also because the
Armenians “would constitute a moderating element and a factor of
appeasement, in a corner which troubles, permanently, the dissentions
between Christians and non-Christians.”
For various reasons, none of these places were selected.
The High Commission ultimately negotiated with a retired Turkish
military officer named Rushdi Hoja Tuma, who owned a 1,540 hectare
domain at a place called Anjar in the Bekaa valley. Although Rushdi Bey
asked for 10 million FF, he was willing to accept, out of “patriotic
sentiments,” an “important reduction” if the Turkish government asked
him to. The land was purchased at a reduced price.
To Anjar Relocation from Ras al-Basit to Anjar took place from
September 3-16.
The refugees were shipped to Tripoli and thence entrained to Riyaq,
where they received food, fruit, and refreshments on the part of
a local Armenian reception team. From Riyaq they were transported
aboard trucks to their final destination of Anjar. This was a rocky
and thorny terrain with no dwellings whatsoever. Because the refugees
received an inadequate number of tents (that could accommodate twelve
persons each), ordinary linen was additionally distributed for the
uprooted to make their own shelters. As in Ras al-Basit, here too
the population stuck together in compact groups according to their
villages of origin. Given the inhospitable geographical milieu,
scores fell ill and/or died. With the cold winter fast approaching,
some 1,778 women and children were dispersed among fourteen villages
and towns in the general vicinity and housed in vacant buildings
or among Christian families with accommodation possibilities. The
men in turn stayed at Anjar to construct stone dwellings that the
French had planned. The original project would give each family a
house consisting of two rooms, a kitchen, and a restroom on a 400
sq. meter lot. But as France entered World War II with its finances
earmarked for that effort, the original plan was reduced to a single
room with an outdoor restroom. Each adult male received an addition
parcel of land for farming. By spring 1940 the Armenians occupied their
new houses. The three religious communities (Apostolic, Evangelical,
and Catholic) in turn received specific plots within the village to
build their churches and schools on. A new life in a new country thus
began to take shape for the Armenians from Musa Dagh.
Today Anjar is a 73-years-old beautiful, thriving town with all kinds
of community facilities and businesses. Notwithstanding, given the
political turmoil in the Middle East, its future status and that of the
Armenian communities in the region as a whole remain tenuous at best.
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