Şirvan (, , , ) is a municipality in the

Şirvan District Şirvan District is a district of Siirt Province in Turkey. The town of Şirvan, Siirt, Şirvan is the seat and the district had a population of 21,321 in 2021. Its area is 936 km2. The district is fully Kurds, Kurdish. Settlements Th ...

Siirt Province Siirt Province, (, ; ) is a province of Turkey, located in the southeast. The province borders Bitlis to the north, Batman to the west, Mardin to the southwest, Şırnak to the south, and Van to the east. Its area is 5,717 km2, and its pop ...

in southeastern

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. It is populated by

Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

of the Silokan and Sturkiyan tribes and had a population of 3,958 in 2021.

Neighborhoods

The municipality is divided into the neighborhoods of Bağcılar, Fatih, Kırtepe, Küfre and Sit.

History

Şirvan is attested in the 13th century by

Yaqut al-Hamawi Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) () was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th–13th centuries). He is known for his , an influential work on geography con ...

in ''Mu'jam al-Buldan''. Under the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, Şirvan was a ''

kaza A kaza (, "judgment" or "jurisdiction") was an administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire, administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. It is also discussed in English under the names district, subdistrict, and juridical district. Kazas co ...

'' (district) of the

sanjak A sanjak or sancak (, , "flag, banner") was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans also sometimes called the sanjak a liva (, ) from the name's calque in Arabic and Persian. Banners were a common organization of nomad ...

Siirt Siirt (; ; ; ) is a city in the Siirt District of Siirt Province in Turkey. It had a population of 160,340 in 2021. The city is predominantly inhabited by Kurds. Neighborhoods The city is divided into the neighborhoods of Afetevlerı, Alan, ...

in the Bitlis Vilayet, and the village of Küfre (ܫܪܘܐܢ, "village" in Syriac, today called Şirvan) served as its administrative centre. In late 19th century, the district of Şirvan was largely inhabited by Muslim

but was also home to a number of Christian

Assyrians Assyrians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to Mesopotamia, a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians share descent directly from the ancient Assyrians, one of the key civilizations of Mesopotamia. While they are distinct from ot ...

and

Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...

, who constituted roughly 20% of the total population of the district. Of the total 200-odd settlements in the district, 28 were Christian, most of which were predominantly inhabited by

Syriac Orthodox The Syriac Orthodox Church (), also informally known as the Jacobite Church, is an Oriental Orthodox denomination that originates from the Church of Antioch. The church currently has around 4-5 million followers. The church upholds the Mia ...

Assyrians, and some were populated by both Christians and Muslims. As a consequence of the removal of local Kurdish overlords as part of the Ottoman policy of centralisation in the 1830s and 1840s, rural areas in the district were made vulnerable to oppression and exploitation by Kurdish tribes. Christians were also the victim of religious persecution, and led many to emigrate, as well as a small number of Kurds due to economic hardship, and resulted in a gradual process of

Kurdification Kurdification is a cultural change in which people, territory, or language gradually become Kurdish. Historically, Kurdification has happened naturally, as in Turkish Kurdistan, or as a deliberate government policy (as in Iraqi Kurdistan after ...

of the district. By 1895, Küfre was populated by Assyrians and Kurds, with some Armenian families. In the same year, amidst the

Hamidian massacres The Hamidian massacres also called the Armenian massacres, were massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in the mid-1890s. Estimated casualties ranged from 100,000 to 300,000, Akçam, Taner (2006) '' A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide a ...

, the village was attacked by Kurdish nomads of the Mahometan (Mehmediyan) and Strugan (Sturkiyan) tribes, allegedly with the permission of the acting ''

kaymakam Kaymakam, also known by #Names, many other romanizations, was a title used by various officials of the Ottoman Empire, including acting grand viziers, governors of provincial sanjaks, and administrators of district kazas. The title has been reta ...

'' (district governor), Fatha Bey. It was reported that all Christian houses were looted, and 25 Assyrians and Armenians were killed. As well as this, almost every Christian village in the district was attacked in October–November 1895. James Henry Monahan, British vice-consul of Bitlis, reported that 179 Christians (151 men and 18 women) were killed, however it is suggested that this figure may under-represent the total figure. In order to avoid future attacks, almost all Assyrians and Armenians ostensibly converted to Islam on the suggestion of sedentary Kurds. The large majority of converts privately reconverted to Christianity within several years after the massacres of 1895, and only three converted villages in the district remained Muslim when visited by Monahan. Oppression of Christians worsened considerably in the aftermath of the massacres, thereby increasing Christian emigration; of 22 villages in the district, over half of the population left.

Demographics

On the eve of the First World War, the

Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

recorded 2,853 Armenians in 19 localities of the

of Şirvan, with eleven churches and two schools. Their fate is unknown. According to the

1927 Turkish census The 1927 Turkish census (, ) was held 28 September 1927. The population of Turkey was 13,649,945. The census covered 63 vilâyet, 328 kazâ and 39,901 villages. It was the first census conducted in newly established Republic of Turkey Tu ...

, the whole population of 9,467 people was Muslim. However, a number of

crypto-Christian Crypto-Christianity is the secret adherence to Christianity, while publicly professing to be another faith; people who practice crypto-Christianity are referred to as "crypto-Christians". In places and time periods where Christians were persecuted ...

villages have endured into the 21st century. The 1927 census records 9,272 native Kurdish speakers, 109 native Turkish speakers, and 66 native Arabic speakers.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sirvan Populated places in Siirt Province Assyrian communities in Turkey Crypto-Christianity in the Ottoman Empire Kurdish settlements in Siirt Province Şirvan District District municipalities in Turkey Former Armenian communities in Siirt Province Places of the Hamidian massacres

Neighborhoods

History

Demographics

See also

References

Bibliography