A PRISONER IN TURKEY
| By the Same Author |
| POEMS IN CAPTIVITY |
| THE BODLEY HEAD |
THE KARA HISSAR
The Armenian Church appears just to the right of the large white building in the centreof the picture, at the foot of the crag
A PRISONER IN TURKEY
By JOHN STILL
London: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD, W.
New York: JOHN LANE COMPANY. MCMXX
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY R. CLAY AND SONS, LTD.,
BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E. 1, AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.
FOREWORD
This book, like most books, consists both offacts and opinions. In order to fortify the facts,and so that it may be clearly seen that theopinions are justified, a number of extracts fromthe “Report on the Treatment of BritishPrisoners of War in Turkey,” which was presentedto Parliament in November, 1918, areincluded here by the special permission of theController of His Majesty’s Stationery Office.So few people read Government publications thatthis course seems necessary.
In this official report it is stated that out of16,583 British and Indian prisoners “BelievedCaptured,” 3,290 are dead, and 2,222 untracedand almost certainly dead. But this report wascompiled before the end of the war and is admittedlyincomplete. I do not know the actual statistics,viiiwhich must by now be available, nor do Iknow where to obtain them. But, as stated in thebook, we in Turkey believed that about 75 percent. of the British rank and file perished withintwo years of being captured. It may be that wewere unduly pessimistic; it is very sincerely to behoped that we were, and on the whole it seemsprobable. But I leave the figure unaltered in thetext, for it was our sincere belief after verydifficult and laborious enquiries made secretly.In the official report the figures show that of atotal of 4,932 British believed captured, no lessthan 2,289 are either dead or untraced. Thisamounts to 46 per cent. It would be interestingto know the final figures.
The extracts taken from the report have beenselected because they are either general incharacter or have special reference to Angora orAfion Kara Hissar, the two camps I knew personally.
I am indebted to three fellow-prisoners for thephotograph reproduced as a frontispiece to thisbook, for the piece of music, for reading the MS.,ixand for reading the proofs.
Extracts from a Report on the Treatmentof British Prisoners of War in Turkey.
The history of the British prisoners of war inTurkey has faithfully reflected the peculiari