The Bashkale Resistance () was the bloody encounter between three revolutionaries of
Armenakan and some
Ottoman officials in May 1889.
It is named after the town of
Başkale
Başkale (, ) is a municipality and district of Van Province, Turkey. Its area is 2,727 km2, and its population is 44,168 (2022). The municipality Başkale was established in 1937. In the local elections of March 2019 Erkan Acar from the ...
in the
Van Vilayet
The Vilayet of Van (; ) was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire. At the beginning of the 20th century, it reportedly had a population of about 400,000 and an area of .Van Vilayet was one of the six Armenian vila ...
of the Ottoman Empire, today in
Van Province
Van Province (, , Armenian: Վանի մարզ) is a province and metropolitan municipality in the Eastern Anatolian region of Turkey, between Lake Van and the Iranian border. Its area is 20,921 km2, and its population is 1,128,749 (2022). ...
of
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 ...
. The event was important as it was reflected on main Armenian newspapers as the recovered documents on the Armenakans showed an extensive plot for an uprising.
The event
The comrades Karapet Koulaksizian, Hovhannes Agripasian, and Vardan Goloshian, left the village of
Haftvan (Salmast district of
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
), for Van on May 16, 1889.
They were stopped near Van by Ottoman police. The police demanded that they disarm to protect the accompanying caravan. In the conflict Goloshian and Agripasian died and Koulaksizian escaped. The police recovered two letters (accompanying documents) addressed to Koulaksizian, one from Avetis Patiguian of
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
and the other from Mekertitch Portugalian in
Marseille
Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
.
Reflections
Ottoman Empire believed that the men were members of a large revolutionary apparatus and the discussion was reflected on newspapers, (''Eastern Express'', ''Oriental Advertiser'', ''Saadet'', and ''Tarik'') and the responses were on the Armenian papers. In some Armenian circles, this event was considered as a
martyrdom
A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In colloqui ...
and brought other armed conflicts.
[Darbinian, op. cit., p. 123; Adjemian, op. cit., p. 7; Varandian, Dashnaktsuthian Patmuthiun, I, 30; Great Britain, Turkey No. 1 (1889), op. cit., Inclosure in no. 95. Extract from the "Eastern Express" of June 25, 1889, pp. 83–84; ibid., no. 102. Sir W. White to the Marquis of Salisbury-(Received July 15), p. 89; Great Britain, Turkey No. 1 (1890), op. cit., no. 4. Sir W. White to the Marquis of Salisbury-(Received August 9), p. 4; ibid., Inclosure 1 in no. 4, Colonel Chermside to Sir W. White, p. 4; ibid., Inclosure 2 in no. 4. Vice-Consul Devey to Colonel Chermside, pp. 4–7; ibid., Inclosure 3 in no. 4. M. Patiguian to M. Koulaksizian, pp. 7–9; ibid., Inclosure 4 in no.]
References
{{Armenian Resistance
Armenian rebellions in the Ottoman Empire
Bashkale clash
History of Van Province
Van vilayet
May 1889