Kurkcuoglu: Armenian Gangs Killed Turks In Feb. 1918 In Ortabahce Village

ERZURUM - The monument built in the memory of Turks killed by Armenian gangs in Ortabahce village of Askale town of eastern Erzurum province in February, 1918 will be opened on June 7.
Erol Kurkcuoglu told A.A correspondent on Thursday that Armenian gangs gathered 600 Turks including women and children from Tazgul, Evrenli, Aptalcik, Karabiyik and Merdivenli villages and brought them to Ortabahce village and killed them. ''Only 13 persons saved themselves from this massacre,'' he said.
Kurkcuoglu said that the documents related to the massacre were in the Prime Ministry's and military's historical archives, adding that the First Caucasus Army Corps which entered Ortabahce village on March 1, 1918 witnessed the massacre.
Kurcuoglu stated that the ones living in Ortabahce village recovered the skeletons of the victims found in the garden of a mosque in 1969, adding that ''villagers transferred the skeletons to the graveyard of the village.''
(Öª) 05.06.2003