small private death squad composed of Circassian volunteers. On March 28, which was Palm Sunday, Turkish soldiers entered all of the churches for mass arrests of alleged deserters, including deacons, who previously been exempt from the draft. The military continued to harass both Armenian and Assyrian churchgoers all through Holy Week and Easter Sunday was spent with, "scared hearts and fearful restless minds." Hoping to save lives, Archbishop Maloyan made every opportunity to express his Archdiocese's loyalty to the Ottoman Empire. For these statements, Maloyan was informed on April 6 that he was to receive a medal from Sultan Mehmed V. On April 13, 1915, a militia unit was formed from local Muslim volunteers, which increased the worry of local Christians. On April 20, 1915, the medal arrived and was publicly presented to Archbishop Maloyan along with a proclamation from the Sultan. In his acceptance speech, the Archbishop expressed hope for the continued health of Sultan Mehmet and the success of his Ministers and Generals in leading the Ottoman Empire to victory over the Allies. On April 22, a senior Ottoman official tipped off local Armenian and Assyrian clergy, saying, "hide the letters, papers, and books that you have which contain political news or are written in French or Armenian. The government intends to search minutely for such material and to punish severely those who have such material in their possession." The Meeting Soon after the April 24th mass arrest of Armenian intellectuals in Istanbul, the Vali of Diyarbekir, Reşit Bey, sent his close associate Aziz Feyzi Pirinççizâde to convince the Turkish and Kurdish leaders of Mardin, who had refused to take part in the Hamidian massacres, to participate in what would later be dubbed the Armenian and Assyrian Genocides. According to David Gaunt, Feyzi was the son of Arif Pirinççizâde, who had organized the Hamidian massacres in Diyarbekir Vilayet. Like his father, Feyzi was known to be, "a fanatic Pan-Turk nationalist." According to Fr. Jacques Rhétoré, a French Dominican priest interned in Mardin, a large meeting was held in Mardin on May 15, 1915. Feyzi accused the previous Vali of, "being soft on the Armenians and of being a close friend of the Armenian Bishop." According to Fr. Ishaq Armalé, Feyzi declared, "Let no Christian remain! He who does not do this duty is no longer a Muslim." Feyzi added, "The time has come to save Turkey from its