Massacres in Harput District
The first sign of dangers was the appearance on the plain of bands of Kurds from the regions north and east. Villages were attacked, looted and burned, while the villagers were killed or scattered. For a time the marauders seemed to hold aloof from the city itself, but as they kept on their course of pillage their appetite for plunder was whetted, and they looked with avaricious eyes at the city on the hill.