After the recapture of Erzurum, Turkish commanders, pursuant to special instructions, sent report after report to Constantinople, claiming that the retreating Armenians had committed a huge massacre and had slaughtered the Muslim population of the area. The Turkish press launched a ruthless campaign against Armenians. Every day, blood-curdling stories, accounts, and reports appeared in the newspapers. Column after column was published, without end in sight, spreading tales of violated Muslim girls, pregnant women who had had their wombs cut open, newborns impaled on spears, young maidens with their breasts severed, children who had been split in two by their legs, elderly men and women roasted alive, corpses that had been impaled or cut to pieces, and destroyed homes.