The Kum Kapu demonstration occurred in the

Kumkapı Kumkapı (meaning "sand gate" in Turkish) is a quarter in Fatih district of Istanbul. It is located along the northern shore of Marmara Sea. Up to recent times, Kumkapı is the center of the Armenian community of the city, boasting a school and ...

district of Constantinople on July 27, 1890. It ensued in skirmishing in which several demonstrators and four police officers were killed. The intent of the demonstration was "..to awaken the maltreated Armenians and to make the Sublime Porte fully aware of the miseries of the Armenians."

Background

Towards the close of the nineteenth century, Armenian revolutionary societies began to agitate for reform and renewed European attention to the

Armenian Question The Armenian question was the debate following the Congress of Berlin in 1878 as to how the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire should be treated. The term became commonplace among diplomatic circles and in the popular press. In specific terms, the ...

. The

Hnchak The Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (SDHP) (), is the oldest continuously-operating Armenian political party, founded in 1887 by a group of students in Geneva, Switzerland. It was the first socialist party to operate in the Ottoman Empire and i ...

party in particular utilized the tactic of

mass demonstration A political demonstration is an action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favor of a political or other cause or people partaking in a protest against a cause of concern; it often consists of walking in a mass march formati ...

to hasten the process. They had been suspected to be behind an earlier June 1890 protest in

Erzerum Erzurum (; ) is a city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. It is the site of ancient Theodosiopolis. T ...

that resulted in a

massacre A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians Glossary of French words and expressions in English#En masse, en masse by an armed ...

July 27, 1890

On 27 July 1890,

Harutiun Jangülian Harutiun Jangülian (; 1855 – 15 June 1915) was an Armenian historian, political activist, and member of the Armenian National Assembly. He was especially known for his involvement in the Kum Kapu demonstration. He spent six years imprisoned in ...

, Mihran Damadian and Hambartsum Boyajian interrupted the Divine Liturgy at the Armenian Cathedral in Constantinople to read a

manifesto A manifesto is a written declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party, or government. A manifesto can accept a previously published opinion or public consensus, but many prominent ...

and denounce the indifference of the Armenian patriarch and

Armenian National Assembly The Armenian National Assembly was the governing body of the Armenian millet in the Ottoman Empire, established by the Armenian National Constitution of 1863. Elections Tax paying members of the Armenian Gregorian church were given suffrage ...

. They soon forced the patriarch to join a procession heading to

Yıldız Palace Yıldız Palace (, ) is a vast complex of former imperial Ottoman Empire, Ottoman pavilions and villas in Beşiktaş, Istanbul, Turkey, built in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was used as a residence by the List of sultans of the Ottoman ...

to demand implementation of Article 61 of the 1878 Treaty of Berlin. Even as the procession was gathering, police surrounded the crowd, and shots were fired that resulted in a number of deaths, including four policemen and three protestors. NB Evidence for this paragraph is not provided by the source cited which does report that the deaths listed occurred during the riot at the cathedral..

Result

The Hunchaks concluded that the demonstrations at Kum Kapu were unsuccessful. At the same time, while there was no clear result from the event, the Hunchak press praised the courage shown by those present. Similar demonstrations on a lesser scale followed throughout most of the 1890s.Hovhanissian, Richard G. (1997) ''The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times.'' New York.

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan in New York City. It is headquartered in the Equitable Building (New York City), Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishe ...

, 218-9

Notes

{{Protests in Turkey 1890 protests Rebellions in the Ottoman Empire 19th century in Armenia Conflicts in 1890 1890 in the Ottoman Empire Armenian rebellions in the Ottoman Empire Rebellions in Turkey Riots and civil disorder in the Ottoman Empire July 1890 19th century in Istanbul Demonstrations Protests in Turkey

Background

July 27, 1890

Result

See also

Notes