1915-5-6 Routed Turkish Army Pursued By Russians

The New York Times ROUTED TURKISH ARMY PURSUED BY RUSSIANS Armenians Hold Van Against Turks and Kurds--Massacre of Villagers Continues MAY 6, 1915 TIFLIS, Transcaucasia, May 5 -- The pursuit of the defeated Turkish army under the command of Khail Bey, in the Khori-Dilman region of the Caucasus, is being continued, according to trustworthy advises reaching Tiflis. This battle which has resulted in heavy losses for the Turks, began April 29 at Hantahta, near Urumia. In the beginning the Russians stood off the Turks, but the latter received reinforcements and on April 30 the Russians abandoned Dilman and entrenched themselves at Magonzhio, the first village on the way to Khor. From this position they pounded the Turks with their heavy artillery until the arrival of Russian reinforcements. Three hundred refugees from Dilman have arrived at Julfa, just over the border in Russia, and 1,200 more are on their way. The Russian Council here is taking measures to prevent refugees from Urumiah and Dilman entering the Caucasus. Nersus, the Bishop of Tabriz, Persia, has arrived here. He describes the situation at Van as desperate. Eight hundred Turks and a large number of Kurds are active there, destroying Armenian villages. Of 300 inhabitants of the village of Rashva, only three escaped. The Armenians, according to the Bishop are still hoping for American and Italian diplomatic interference. At Van, where a month ago the Armenians were forced to take the defensive and barricade the town they now have been standing off the Turks and the Kurds for a week. Four Turkish regiments, with artillery, are advancing against these Armenians from Erzingan. They are threatened also by gendarmes from the Persian border. It is feared that the history of 1895 and 1896 will be repeated. (In these years reforms for Armenia were demanded after a series of act of oppression on the part of Turkey. The presentation of the demands by the States

of Europe was followed by terrible massacres of Armenians, which began in September of 1895, and continued into 1896.) It is declared in Armenia that the Young Turks have Adopted the policy pursued by Abdul Hamid in 1905, namely the annihilation of the Armenians. The existing state of terror has presented the planting of crops and a famine is impending. The city of Erzerum in Turkish Armenia, has today 300 cases of typhus fever.