Batak massacre
Encyclopedia
Batak massacre refers to the massacre
of Bulgarians
in Batak
by Ottoman
irregular troops in 1876 at the beginning of the April Uprising
. The number of victims ranges from 3,000 to 5,000, depending on the source.
, mainly Pomaks
, led by Ahmet Aga from Barutin
surrounded the town. At that time the Pomaks were a part of the Ottoman Muslim Millet. After a first battle, the men from Batak decided to negotiate with Ahmet Aga. He promised them the withdrawal of his troops under the condition that Batak disarmed. After the rebels had laid down their weapons, the Bashi-bazouk attacked the defenseless population. The majority of the victims were beheaded
According to the most sources, around 5,000 people were massacred in Batak alone. The total number of victims in the April uprising according to most estimates around 15,000, which is supported by Eugene Schuyler
's report, published in Daily News, according to which at least 15,000 persons were killed during the April Uprising in addition to 36 villages in three districts being buried. According to Donald Quataert around 1,000 Muslims were killed by Christian Bulgarians and consequently 3,700 Christians were killed by Muslims. A contemporary British report mentioned that only 46 Muslim men and no women and children were killed.
In his work "The Bulgarian Massacres Reconsidered.”, which has been described as pro-Turkish,, the American historian Richard Milliman states that Eugene Schuyler
visited personally only 11 of the villages he reported on. Millman also claims that the accepted reality of the massacres is largely a myth.
Schuyler described the things he saw:
Another witness to the aftermath of the Massacre is American journalist Januarius MacGahan
who described what he saw as follows:
The British
commissioner, Mr. Baring describes the event "as perhaps the most heinous crime that has stained the history of the present century". In October Mr. Baring had to report again on the proceedings of the Turkish
commission. After six weeks from the closing of the committee it had not been decided whether or not the Batak Massacre was a crime.
On 3 April 2011, Batak massacre victims were canonized as saints, something that had not happened for more than a century.
Massacre
A massacre is an event with a heavy death toll.Massacre may also refer to:-Entertainment:*Massacre , a DC Comics villain*Massacre , a 1932 drama film starring Richard Barthelmess*Massacre, a 1956 Western starring Dane Clark...
of Bulgarians
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...
in Batak
Batak, Bulgaria
Batak is a town in Pazardzhik Province, Southern Bulgaria, not far from the town of Peshtera. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Batak Municipality. As of December 2009, the town has a population of 3,498 inhabitants.- Geography :...
by Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
irregular troops in 1876 at the beginning of the April Uprising
April Uprising
The April Uprising was an insurrection organised by the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire from April to May 1876, which indirectly resulted in the re-establishment of Bulgaria as an autonomous nation in 1878...
. The number of victims ranges from 3,000 to 5,000, depending on the source.
The Massacre
Batak played an important role during the April Uprising. A few weeks after the uprising the town proclaimed independence. This lasted for nine days under the authority of Revolutionary committee. The rebel town was reported to the Turkish authorities and on April 30, 1876, 8,000 Bashi-bazoukBashi-bazouk
A bashi-bazouk or bashibazouk was an irregular soldier of the Ottoman army...
, mainly Pomaks
Pomaks
Pomaks is a term used for a Slavic Muslim population native to some parts of Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo. The Pomaks speak Bulgarian as their native language, also referred to in Greece and Turkey as Pomak language, and some are fluent in Turkish,...
, led by Ahmet Aga from Barutin
Barutin
Barutin is a village in southwestern Bulgaria. It is located in the municipality of Dospat, Smolyan Province.- Geography :The village of Barutin is located in the Western Rhodope Mountains. It is situated in the Chech region.- History :...
surrounded the town. At that time the Pomaks were a part of the Ottoman Muslim Millet. After a first battle, the men from Batak decided to negotiate with Ahmet Aga. He promised them the withdrawal of his troops under the condition that Batak disarmed. After the rebels had laid down their weapons, the Bashi-bazouk attacked the defenseless population. The majority of the victims were beheaded
According to the most sources, around 5,000 people were massacred in Batak alone. The total number of victims in the April uprising according to most estimates around 15,000, which is supported by Eugene Schuyler
Eugene Schuyler
Eugene Schuyler was a nineteenth-century American scholar, writer, explorer and diplomat. Schuyler was of the first three Americans to earn a Ph.D. from an American university; and the first American translator of Ivan Turgenev and Lev Tolstoi...
's report, published in Daily News, according to which at least 15,000 persons were killed during the April Uprising in addition to 36 villages in three districts being buried. According to Donald Quataert around 1,000 Muslims were killed by Christian Bulgarians and consequently 3,700 Christians were killed by Muslims. A contemporary British report mentioned that only 46 Muslim men and no women and children were killed.
In his work "The Bulgarian Massacres Reconsidered.”, which has been described as pro-Turkish,, the American historian Richard Milliman states that Eugene Schuyler
Eugene Schuyler
Eugene Schuyler was a nineteenth-century American scholar, writer, explorer and diplomat. Schuyler was of the first three Americans to earn a Ph.D. from an American university; and the first American translator of Ivan Turgenev and Lev Tolstoi...
visited personally only 11 of the villages he reported on. Millman also claims that the accepted reality of the massacres is largely a myth.
Schuyler described the things he saw:
"...On every side were human bones, skulls, ribs, and even complete skeletons, heads of girls still adorned with braids of long hair, bones of children, skeletons still encased in clothing. Here was a house the floor of which was white with the ashes and charred bones of thirty persons burned alive there. Here was the spot where the village notable Trandafil was spitted on a pike and then roasted, and where he is now buried; there was a foul hole full of decomposing bodies; here a mill dam filled with swollen corpses; here the school house, where 200 women and children had taken refuge there were burned alive, and here the church and churchyard, where fully a thousand half-decayed forms were still to be seen, filling the enclosure in a heap several feet high, arms, feet, and heads protruding from the stones which had vainly been thrown there to hide them, and poisoning all the air.
"Since my visit, by orders of the Mutessarif, the Kaimakam of Tatar Bazardjik was sent to Batak, with some lime to aid in the decomposition of the bodies, and to prevent a pestilence.
"Ahmed Aga, who commanded at the massacre, has been decorated and promoted to the rank of Yuz-bashi..."
Another witness to the aftermath of the Massacre is American journalist Januarius MacGahan
Januarius MacGahan
Januarius Aloysius MacGahan was an American journalist and war correspondent working for the New York Herald and the London Daily News...
who described what he saw as follows:
"There was not a roof left, not a whole wall standing; all was a mass of ruins... We looked again at the heap of skulls and skeletons before us, and we observed that they were all small and that the articles of clothing intermingled with them and lying about were all women's apparel. These, then, were all women and girls. From my saddle I counted about a hundred skulls, not including those that were hidden beneath the others in the ghastly heap nor those that were scattered far and wide through the fields. The skulls were nearly all separated from the rest of the bones - the skeletons were nearly all headless. These women had all been beheaded...and the procedure seems to have been, as follows: They would seize a woman, strip her carefully to her chemise, laying aside articles of clothing that wore valuable, with any ornaments and jewels she might have about her. Then as many of them as cared would violate her, and the last man would kill her or not as the humour took him....We looked into the church which had been blackened by the burning of the woodwork, but not destroyed, nor even much injured. It was a low building with a low roof, supported by heavy irregular arches, that as we looked in seemed scarcely high enough for a tall man to stand under. What we saw there was too frightful for more than a hasty glance. An immense number of bodies had been partially burnt there and the charred and blackened remains seemed to fill it half way up to the low dark arches and make them lower and darker still, were lying in a state of putrefaction too frightful to look upon. I had never imagined anything so horrible. We all turned away sick and faint, and staggered out of the fearful pest house glad to get into the street again. We walked about the place and saw the same thing repeated over and over a hundred times. Skeletons of men with the clothing and flesh still hanging to and rotting together; skulls of women, with thehair dragging in the dust. bones of children and infants everywhere. Here they show us a house where twenty people were burned alive; there another where a dozen girls had taken refuge, and been slaughtered to the last one, as their bones amply testified. Everywhere horrors upon horrors..."
The British
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
commissioner, Mr. Baring describes the event "as perhaps the most heinous crime that has stained the history of the present century". In October Mr. Baring had to report again on the proceedings of the Turkish
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
commission. After six weeks from the closing of the committee it had not been decided whether or not the Batak Massacre was a crime.
Accusations of revisionism
In May 2007, a public conference was scheduled in Bulgaria by Martina Baleva and Ulf Brunnbauer aiming to present research in an effort to form the official report of the events of the Batak Massacre. Bulgarian media reported that the authors were denying the massacre, which gave rise to a substantial media controversy.On 3 April 2011, Batak massacre victims were canonized as saints, something that had not happened for more than a century.
See also
- Ottoman empireOttoman EmpireThe Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
- List of massacres in Bulgaria
- The Turkish Atrocities In Bulgaria, The Bronx Times
- Баташкото клане не е мит, а реалност.