TIPOS DE CONSORCIOS DE COOPERACIÓN

Before the war, Erzurum city center had a population of 11,735 Armenians, 40 Greek families and nearly 30,000 Muslims66 according to an Armenian traveler. The Muslim population could not be evacuated from the city unlike the case in other cities such as Van, Rize, and Trabzon.67 _{Mainly the Sogor and the Cemiyet-i Hayriye}

organized the relief organizations in the region.

With the occupation of Erzurum, the military authorities called the Sarıkamış branch of the Sogor for the cleaning up of the city. Moreover, the military authorities demanded from the Sogor to respond to the nutritional needs of the war stricken residents of the city, of the refugees, and also of the workers of the Sarıkamış-

64 _{Ionesyan, “Rezultaty Izsledovaniya Mushskoi Doliny”, Izvestiya Kavkazskogo Komiteta}

Vserossiiskogo Soyuza Gorodov, No.8, (May 1916), p.132

65 _{B. Aslan, ibid., pp.286-287} 66 _{R. Bekgulyants, ibid., p.60}

Erzurum road.68 _{A disinfection brigade of 40 people was sent in February 1916, and}

by the end of the year it had 7 subdivisions active in the region. They buried 1,500 Turkish corpses, and cleansed many buildings, mainly the military institutions, barracks, dormitories, baths, and also the private houses.69 In a city, which was raged by typhus, and in which the death rate among the 40,000 infected people was up to 70%,70 the activities of the disinfection brigade was of utmost importance. Two hundred Turks and hundred Arabs [probably prisoners of war] were employed in the cleansing activities.71 The construction of baths was another measure against infections. The Sogor operated four baths for the officers, four for soldiers and one for the refugees in Erzurum. The field hospitals of the Sogor increased their capacities by time to strengthen struggle against epidemics, and by the end of 1916 the Sogor hospitals had 665 beds: 225 surgical, 106 reserved for the PoWs, 150 for the typhus patients. However, that was not enough to meet the requirements of the situation and Dr. Markaryan, the officer of the Sanitary Department of the Sogor in Erzurum, asked the Central Committee of the Caucasian Department of the All- Russian Union of Towns, to negotiate with the military authorities for permission to utilize the 2000 beds capacity of the military hospitals in the city.72

67 _{Izgoi, “Godovshina vzyatiya Erzeruma”, Kavkazskoe Slovo, 4 February 1917, p.4}

68 _{“Neobkhodymye izmenenie v organizatsii deyatel’nost’ v Sarikamishskom raione”, Izvestiya}

Kavkazskogo Komiteta Vserossiiskogo Soyuza Gorodov, no.8, (May 1916), p.124

69 _{“Deyatel’nost’ dezinfektsionnogo otrayada Vserossiiskogo Soyuza Gorodov v Erzerume”, Bulleten’}

Mediko Sanitarnogo Otdela Glavnogo Kavkazskogo Komiteta Vserossiiskogo Soyuza Gorodov, no.4, (10 December 1916), p.11

70 _{Otchety o deyatel’nost’ uchrezhdenii Vserossiiskogo Soyuza Gorodov v sarikamishskom raione,}

(Tiflis: N.p. 1916), p.82-83

71 _{“Deyatel’nost’ dezinfektsionnogo otrayada Vserossiiskogo Soyuza Gorodov v Erzerume”, Bulleten’}

Mediko Sanitarnogo Otdela Glavnogo Kavkazskogo Komiteta Vserossiiskogo Soyuza Gorodov, no.4, (10 December 1916), p.11

72 _{“Khronika”, Bulleten’ Mediko Sanitarnogo Otdela Glavnogo Kavkazskogo Komiteta Vserossiiskogo}

Malnutrition of the population was referred to as an important cause for the spread of epidemics, therefore, the medico-sanitary aid and nutritional help were perceived as interconnected for the prevention of infectious diseases. Aware of this fact, the Sogor tried to provision the refugees and inhabitants of the Erzurum region. In the city, the refugees were not original inhabitants, thus they were deprived of the resources of the established residents. The Sogor tried to meet their needs by public kitchens. In other parts of the region, in Pasinler Valley, however, the refugees were the inhabitants of the destroyed villages, so in order to guarantee the food supply, The Sogor organized a resettlement program of the refugees, in coordination with the Chief Administrator of the Refugees, General Tamamshev, and provided agricultural equipment, and credits for the temporarily settled refugees.73

Another important task levied on the Sogor was the supply of food for the workers of the Erzurum-Sarıkamış road.74 However the scope of the task was not clearly defined by the military authorities. First of all, there were two different construction businesses in the mentioned direction; the railroad and the highway constructions. Second, the Russian Red Cross was also involved in feeding of workers. The Sogor sent two representatives to investigate the matter75_{, and the}

military authorities divided the region into two, one under the responsibility of the Russian Red Cross, and the other under the Sogor’s responsibility.76

73 _{“O polozhenii bezhentsev v Pasinskoi doline i okrestnostyakh Erzeruma”, Izvestiya Kavkazskogo}

Komiteta Vserossiiskogo Soyuza Gorodov, no.8, (May 1916), p.115-123

74 _{N. T. Stelmaschuka red., Kavkazskii Kalendar na 1917 god, (Tiflis: Tipografiya Kantselyarii}

Namestnika, 1916), p.347

75 _{“Pitanie rabochikh na stroyuscheisya dorog Sarykamish-Erzerum”, Izvestiya Kavkazskogo Otdela}

Vserossiiskogo Soyuza Gorodov. no.6 (March 1916), pp.221-226

76 _{Otchety o deyatel’nost’ uchrezhdenii Vserossiiskogo Soyuza Gorodov v sarikamishskom raione,}

Other than the main cities of the region, there were canteens in Cibok, Kötek, Hasankale, Karakaya-Gedik, Çat, Parmaksız, Çanak, Yüzbaş, Fama, Kame (Ağaçlı), Karaurgan, Agmali (Çatak), Omragom (Yeşilöz), Aliçekrek (Aliçeyrek); coffee shops in Deveboynu, Bardakçı; medico-sanitary assistance positions in Aliçekrek and Omragom; transportation units in Yüzbaş, Fama, Kame and Kan; baths in Agmali and Zivin (Süngütaşı).

Since the majority of the population in the city was consisted of the Muslims the Sogor cooperated with the Cemiyet-i Hayriye branch in Kars for the organization of relief to the Muslims.78 The chief representative of the Cemiyet-i Hayriye in the occupied regions, Hüsrev Paşa Bey Sultanov, had also applied for permission, and

77 _{Uchrezhdenie Kavkazskogo Otdela Vserossiiskogo Soyuza Gorodov po dannym na 1-oe Yanvarya}

1917 goda, (Tiflis: N.p., 1917), pp.4-6; Proekty Smety Raskhodov Kavkazskogo Otdela Vserossiiskogo Soyuza Gorodov, (Tiflis: N.p., 1917), pp.20-68

78 _{ibid., p.84}

Table 1. The Sogor institutions in the Erzurum region by 1917:77

Erzurum

1.Field hospital- General-diagnostic-400beds 2.Field hospital- General-400beds

3.Field hospital-Infectious diseases-150beds

4.Hospital of Russian Technicians brigade-100beds 5.Medico-sanitary assistance positions

6.Dental cabinet 7.Disinfection department 8.Canteens 9.Baths 10.Storage 11.Workshops

Köprüköy 1.Field hospital for workers _2.Canteens