Forty Days of Musa Dagh (114 page)

Ermeni millet -- "the Armenian people."

 

Feredjeh -- Moslem woman's veil.

 

Ferman -- decree issued by the Sultan.

 

Giaour -- infidel, Christian.

 

Ginkahair -- godfather (Armenian).

 

Hamam -- public steam-bath house.

 

Hamidiyehs -- Abdul Hamid's irregular troops of pogrom inciters.

 

Hanum -- form of address for women; Madam, Miss.

 

Hekim -- doctor.

 

Hoja -- religious college.

 

Hükümet -- headquarters of an administrative district, of a kaimakam.

 

Inshaat taburi -- labor battalions, depot soldiers.

 

Irade -- written decree of Sultan of Turkey.

 

Ittihad -- the Young Turks' "Committee for Union and Progress,"
the official name for the Westernization movement which led
the Revolution of 1908.

 

Janizary music -- after the music played by the Sultan's janizaries,
a special body of Turkish infantry disbanded before
the middle of the nineteenth century.

 

Kaimakam -- civll governor of a kazah or administrative district;
equivalent in military ranking of a lieutenant- colonel.

 

Kangni -- oxcart.

 

Karagos -- the Turkish shadow-theater.

 

Kayik -- rowboat for ferrying.

 

Kazah -- an administrative district; subdivision of a sanjak or region.

 

Kebab -- broiled or roast mutton.

 

Kef -- languor, the dreamy state induced by drugs; hence, peace, quiet.

 

Khan -- caravanserai, inn.

 

Khanzir -- swine.

 

Khavass -- armed constable, servant, or courier.

 

Kiafir -- infidel.

 

Kismet -- fate, destiny.

 

Kolagasi -- Turkish staff captain.

 

Komitaji -- meinber of a Balkan guerrilla band.

 

Konak -- an official residence or government house.

 

Lokum -- Turkish sweetmeats.

 

Medjidjeh -- silver coin worth 19 piastres, or 84 cents.

 

Mevlevi dervishes -- Islamic fanatics.

 

Millet -- people, nation.

 

Mohajirs -- refugees.

 

Muafin -- police chief.

 

Müdir -- minor civil official in charge of a nahiyeh or sub-district;
equivalent in military ranking of a lieutenant.

 

Mukhtar -- mayor.

 

Mülasim -- lieutenant.

 

Mullah -- a learned teacher, expounder of the law of Islam.

 

Münadir -- drummer herald.

 

Mutessarif -- civil administrator of a sanjak or region; equivalent in
military ranking of a colonel.

 

Nahiyeh -- administrative sub-district; subdivision of a kazah.

 

Nargileh -- plpe for smoking through water.

 

Oka -- Turkish measure of weight, about 2-3/4 lbs.

 

Onbashi -- sergeant-major.

 

Padishah -- one of the Sultan's titles; as an adjective, equivalent to
"imperial."

 

Para -- coin worth 1/40 of a piastre, or 1/9 of a cent.

 

Pasha -- an honorary title placed after the name, given to officers
of very high rank both civil and military. The stress falls
on the second syllable.

 

Piastre -- silver coin worth about 4-1/2 cents.

 

Raki -- ardent spirits usually flavored with anise.

 

Redif -- military home guard.

 

Sanjak -- large administrative region, coming in order of scope
between a kazah (district) and a vilayet (province).

 

Saptieh -- gendarme.

 

Selamlik -- the reception-room of the Turkish house.

 

Seraglio -- residence of the Sultan, or official palace of the government.

 

Seraskeriat -- the War Ministry.

 

Shalwar -- baggy Turkish trousers.

 

Sublime Porte -- the government of the Turkish empire.

 

Sura -- a chapter of the Koran.

 

Tar -- Armenian guitar.

 

Tarbush -- turban made by wrapping a scarf around a fez or red cap.

 

Tekkeh -- Moslem cloister.

 

Teskeré -- passport for travel in Turkish interior.

 

Tonir -- brick oven dug into the earth.

 

Türbedar -- holder of exalted office, "guardian" of the tombs of sultans
and holy men.

 

Ulema -- a Mohammedan college or body composed of the hierarchy.

 

Vartabed -- Armenian ecclesiastic.

 

Vilayet -- chief admiaistrative division of the Ottoman Empire;
a province.

 

Wali -- civil governor or prefect of a vila yet or province;
equivalent in military ranking of a general.

 

Weli -- Islamic holy man.

 

Yailadji -- mountaineer.

 

Yayli -- two-horse coach.

 

Yüs-Bashi---major.

 

Zikr exercises -- Islamic devotions, practised by dervishes.

 

Zilgith -- ancient Turkish battle cry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They were
butchering
tyrants!
For months the ruthless Turks had waged
a campaign of terror against the Armenians
-- hanging, looting and raping.
And now, in 1915, they embarked on a cam-
paign of complete extermination.
Faced with certain death, the Armenian vil-
lagers revolted. It fell to Gabriel Bagradian
to lead some five thousand of them into the
impenetrable mountain area of Musa Dagh.
Here they constructed primitive but almost
impregnable fortifications.
The tough, courageous villagers -- poorly
armed and with meager provisions -- looked
out across the rocky slopes to see the first
Turkish patrols inching slowly up the
mountain.
The bloody battle of
Musa Dagh was about
to begin!