Dr. Mark H. Ward, Supplementary statement on Greek deportations, May 1922

Item Detail

Supplementary statement on Greek deportations via the Sivas–Erzingan route and estimated 100,000 total deportees, by Dr. Mark H. Ward, May 5, 1922

Context

Dr. Mark H. Ward prepared this supplementary statement, dated May 5, 1922, to accompany the Yowell Report submitted to Secretary of State Hughes. Where Ward’s published Deportations in Asia Minor documented the convoys, he personally observed passing through Kharput, this supplement addresses the deportation routes he could not directly witness — particularly the Sivas–Erzingan road, where Americans were barred from observing or assisting deportees. Ward estimated that approximately 20,000 additional Greeks were sent in that direction from Sivas, with a death toll of roughly 50 percent, and that over 10,000 refugees had survived the winter around Erzerum (Erzurum) in desperate condition.
The supplement also documents a separate deportation of 600 Armenians from the Zeitoun villages through Marash (Maraş) to Chermoug and Severek in November 1921. Ward’s conservative estimate placed the total number of Greeks deported toward Erzerum and Bitlis at approximately 100,000 out of a Greek population of nearly 300,000 under Angora government control and called for Christians to be permitted to leave the country. NARA page stamps 0269–0272.