The cumulative evidence shows that early in 1915 a decree was issued that all Armenians should be disarmed. Those who were fighting in the army were withdrawn and compelled to engage in road building. constructing fortifications. and in other work nonmilitary in character. Soon afterwards orders were issued and executed with methodical precision for the deportation of the male Armenians. No warning was given. They were immediately roped together or driven in groups from their homes in the cities and towns in which they lived into the deserts antid mountains. where most of them were butchered. This fiendish plan was carried out in all of the vilayets to which I have referred. as well as in various parts of Anatolia. Some of the Armenians who belonged to the Catholic Church were exempted from the order. but in the main substantially all male inhabitants were deported and most of them murdered by the gendarmerie or by fanatical Moslems or by the wild and irregular bands of Kurds who infested the mountains and plains. Later the women were ordered deported. Some. under proniise of a renunciation of their faith. were permitted to remain. This meant that they were forced into harems or into marriage with some brutal Tartar. Many women and girls were ravished and butchered. and the long lines of deportees driven by cruel gendarmes and Turkish soldiers fell by the wayside and perished in the mountain fastnesses and deserts. Thousand died of hunger. thirst. and exhaustion. Brigands and outlaws assailed them. murdering some. carrying others into captivity.
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deported deportation deportees