After the operations that early in the day had affected the Armenian populations of the kazas of Zeitun, Göksun, and Elbistan, the regions of Marash and Bazarcık in turn fell victim to the Young Turk extermination plan. A region forming a kind of pivot between the worlds of Cilicia, Cappadocia, and the Armenian plateau, in an enclave between the Antitaurus and the Taurus, the mutesarifat of Maraş/Marash was inhabited in 1914 by more than 70,000 Armenians living in 64 towns and villages. When the last two kazas began to be emptied of their Armenians, there were fewer than 35,000 of them left in 24 localities. Most of them were living in the city of Marash, whose 22,500 Armenians represented in 1914 around 50 per cent of its population. Almost all of them were concentrated in a neighborhood west of the citadel that extended to an area below the monastery of Saint James, on the outskirts of the city. Within this perimeter were no fewer than five churches, several Armenian schools, an American College, and a German hospital and orphanage.
The other Armenian localities of the region were Fındıkcak, located 22 kilometers from Marash, with an Armenian population of 2,500; Kişifli (pop. 560), Dereköy (pop. 1,000), Camustul (pop. 250), and Döngel (pop. 1,500). There was a second group of Armenian villages around Yenicekale (pop. 800) and Mucukdere (pop. 500), between which lay the Red Monastery of Kesun: Arablı (pop. 100), Kötekli (pop. 150), Yeğialar (pop. 150), Çurukköz (pop. 300), Demerek, Punarbaşı (pop. 100), and Dikilitaş (pop. 100). Still further to the southwest, on the boundary-line of the kaza around Enderun (70 Armenians) were three other villages: Acemli (pop. 84), Dırtadlı (pop. 280), and Deyirmendere (pop. 140). The last Armenian village, Chivilgi, lying in a northerly extension of the Enderun mountain chain, had an Armenian population of 1,760.1
Taking in the entire southern part of the mutesarifat of Marash, the kaza of Bazarcık was home to 1,500 Armenians, all of whom lived in the seat of the kaza, also called Bazarcık.2
In Marash, whose Muslim inhabitants had a reputation for being very conservative, the German consul in Aleppo, Walter Rössler, who visited the city on 31 March 1915, observed the tension that had been reigning there since the events that had occurred in the neighboring town of Zeitun. A state of siege had been declared in the city and a court-martial had been formed.3 According to two American doctors, Marash’s Muslim leaders took advantage of the situation to pressure the mutesarif into imposing harsh treatment on the Armenian population. A military committee had been sent to the town around 7 April and proceeded to conduct searches in Armenian institutions and the homes of certain notables, looking for evidence indicating that a rebellion was being organized. The committee gave the population three days, from 9 to 11 April, to turn its arms over to the authorities. On 8 April, Hagop Horlakhian (Kherlakian), a notable who even had access to the imperial palace, was summoned to appear before this committee, which demanded that he see to it that the Armenian population comply with the government’s orders.4 There is every reason to believe that the military commission began to cooperate closely with local Young Turk leaders. Dr. C. F. Hamilton and Dr. C. F. Ranney report that on 13 April the Armenians of Marash learned that “a black list of 300 to 600 names” was circulating in the city. Some Armenian notables nevertheless downplayed the significance of a document of this sort, making a game of trying to guess who was on the list.
Arrests in Marash took diverse forms. One of the methods most often employed was to invite all the men of draftable age, including those who had paid the bedel, to register for the draft. In fact, the registration campaign, which took place on 15, 16, and 17 July 1915, allowed the authorities to isolate these men, the better to liquidate them.5 Among the first to be arrested were 11 notables, including the auxiliary primate, Father Ghevont Nahabedian, the Protestant minister Aharon Shirajian, Garabed Nalchayan, Armenag and Nazareth Bilezigji, and Konstan and Hovnan Varzhabedian, all of whom were sent to Aleppo.6 In the course of a 21 April conversation with the vali of Aleppo, Celal Bey, the Protestant minister John Merril learned, moreover, that there was a plan to deport the “refugees” from Zeitun, but that the government’s policy was above all, “to prevent such public and unordered violence.” The American missionary’s long experience taught him how to translate this remark: “This is a plan for the breaking down of the Christian population without bloodshed and with the color of legality.” He had already observed that “false” reports about the Armenians had been transmitted to Istanbul “to be the basis for the orders now being carried out.” Finally, he noted that the first to be deported were the best educated men, especially those who were close to American missionary circles.7
In the neighboring localities, where the villagers were deported at the same time as the Armenians of Marash, the only unusual occurrence was the resistance put up at Fındıkcak.8 It was quickly crushed by the army, which massacred part of the population on the spot and deported the women and children.9
Some 30 men organized the squadrons of fçetes, with some 20 irregulars in each, which wreaked havoc in the region. These 30 men, who also supervised the massacres and served as the members of the committee responsible for “abandoned property,” were Ali Haydar Pasha, the mutesarif of Marash; Kocabaşizâde Ömer Effendi, the president of the Unionist club of Marash; Şevketzâde Şadir Effendi, parliamentary deputy from Marash; Ğarizâde Haci Effendi, a former parliamentary deputy from Marash; Dayizâde Hoca Baş, ulema; Haci Bey, the mayor of Marash; Eczaci Lutfi, a pharmacist; Sarukâtibzâde Mehmed; Eşbazâde Haci Hüseyin; Bulgarizâde Abdül Hakim; Sarukzâde Halil Ali; Şismanzâde Haci Ahmed; Şismanzâde Nuri; Ap Acuz Haci Effendi; Mazmanzâde Mustafa; Evliyazâde Evliya; Hoddayizâde Tahsin Bey; Hodayizâde Ahmed; Nazifzâde Ahmed; Hocabaşzâde Ahmed; Karaküçükzâde Mehmed; Derviş Effendi, the former mayor; Saatbeyzâde Şükrü; Eviliyazâde Ahmed, an imam; Bayazidzâde Ğadir Pasha; Bayazidzâde İbrahim Bey; Çuşadarzâde Mustafa; and Çuşadarzâde Mehmed.10
The principal local leaders of the Teşkilât-ı Mahsusa were Vehbizâde Hasip Effendi; Dr. Mustafa; Karaküçükzâde Mustafa; Koçabaşzâde Cemil Bey; Hoddayizâde Okbeş; Mazmanzâde Mustafa; Mazmanzâde Hasan; Haci Niazi Bey, secretary of the Department of Finance; Şakir Effendi; Cevdet Bey, the director of correspondence; Atıf Effendi, from Kilis; Ömer Effendi, an officer in the gendarmerie; Ömer’s two sons; and Fatmaluoğlu Mustafa. Those mainly responsible for perpetrating the exactions were Bayazidzâde Şukri Bey; Bayazidzâde Kasim Bey; Bayazidzâde Kerim Bey; Bayazidzâde Hasan Bey; Buharizâde Abdül Hakim Effendi; Kocabaşzâde Haci İbrahim; Ayntablıoğlu Ahmed, the assistant police chief; Çuşadarzâde Mehmed, a member of the local CUP; Safiyeninoğlu Alay Mustafa Effendi, a regimental secretary; Kusa Kurekzâde Ahmed, a belediye mufettişi (municipal inspector); Cemal Bey, a criminal court judge; and Hayrullah Effendi, a teacher in the Idadi middle school.11