PERSECUTIONS OF THE GREEKS IN TURKEY SINCE THE ...

CHAPTER IV
AMISSOS (SAMSOUN)
VABIOUS reports, transmitted with a communication of
the Greek Legation at Constantinople, No. 548 (Ministerial
Archives, No. 5079), dated January 14 and 29,
and February 7 and 29, 1917, describe the ruin of
Samsoun and of the Greek villages of the littoral of the
Black Sea. The following are some extracts from these
reports:
"Eighty of the wealthiest Greeks of Samsoun, havirig
been arrested without any reason whatever, were
imprisoned on December 27, 1916; they were not allowed
to communicate with their families in order to secure
clothing, and were taken next morning very early to
the interior of the country as if they were the worst of
criminals. The foremost Greeks shared the same fate.
Being deprived of everything, they will not be able to
stand such privations and calamities. On the same
day the city was encircled by the Turkish army, and all
the population was called to the square of Upper Samsoun
(Cadikioi) in order that, as was said, they might
listen to the Governor who was to speak to the public.
In that manner they were all seized and imprisoned in
the barracks. The same thing also happened in the village
of Eliazkioi. The men were thus without money
and both men and women without extra clothing. The
old and sick were taken along, being assisted by their
relatives. The Turks did not spare even women who had
just given birth to children nor the babies themselves.
In such a condition they followed their executioners on
foot, all night long, through the snqw-covered mountains.
This tragic scene had the aspect of a herd of cattle being
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