Turks According to Kaghankatouatsi

Turks According to Kaghankatouatsi

“In the 38th year of the rule of Khossrow (Khossrow Parviz, the Sassanid king of the time. H.) which was a year of tribulation and affliction …the [Turkish] Jebu (Jebqu/Jabghu) Khan arrived with his son. No one could count their army. When this horrific news came to Aghvank, Hyshak, the ruler of Aghvank who had been appointed to his post by Khossrow, decided to protect our land from the [Turkish] invaders and gather the people in the Partaw fortress... He thought he could resist with the aid of the notables. While he was worryingly anticipating the events, he heard news of the calamity visited upon the fortress of Chor (Darband/Derbend. H.) and its defenders...

Indeed, in the time of the universal misfortune which was in front of us all, first they slammed it against the waves of the immense sea and razed the fortress to the ground. Seeing the malevolent, imminent danger from the evil, monstrous ugly horde with brazen wide, eyelash-less countenances and long hair scattered over their faces like women, Hyshak, shook with fear especially when he saw the arrows that poured upon them like a violent hailstorm from the strung bows of their archers.

In the manner of bloodthirsty wolves and without a grain of shame and decency they attacked the people of the city and ruthlessly slaughtered them in the streets. There was no sign of any mercy in the eyes of these butchers regarding the beautiful, young women either. They massacred the boys and girls as well.

They did not even pity the harmless beings and the disabled and elderly who were unable to fight. Neither they spared the children nor the young, nor would their hearts soften regarding suckling and babies. These innocent infants were lying on the torn apart cadavers of their mothers and were sucking blood from their teats instead of milk. The moment they entered a house, like fire in a haystack, they would burn every place to cinders and they would reduce everything to rubble. The moment they would leave a house they had broken into, they paved the way for the beasts of prey and scavengers from sky and the ground...”