Sasun Resistance (1894)
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The Sasun rebellion of 1894, also known as the First Sasun resistance (), was the conflict between
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 ...
's Hamidiye forces and the
Armenian fedayi ''Fedayi'' ( Eastern ; , , , ), also known as the Armenian irregular units, Armenian militia, or Armenian Hayduks were Armenian civilians who voluntarily left their families to form self-defense units and irregular armed-bands in reaction to ...
belonging to the
Armenian national movement The Armenian national movement ( ''Hay azgayin-azatagrakan sharzhum'') included social, cultural, but primarily political and military movements that reached their height during World War I and the following years, initially seeking improved statu ...
's Hunchakian party in the Sasun region.


Background

The
Social Democrat Hunchakian Party 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 ...
was an Armenian national movement active in the region. In 1894, Sultan
Abdul Hamid II Abdulhamid II or Abdul Hamid II (; ; 21 September 184210 February 1918) was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1876 to 1909, and the last sultan to exert effective control over the fracturing state. He oversaw a Decline and modernizati ...
began to target the Armenian people in a precursor of 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 ...
. This persecution strengthened
devolution Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territori ...
sentiment among Armenians. In Sasun Armenians were organized by Hunchak activists, such as Mihran Damadian,
Hampartsoum Boyadjian Hampartsoum Boyadjian (; 14 May 1860 – 30 July 1915), also known by his ''nom de guerre, noms de guerre'' Murad and sometimes Medzn Murad (, "Mourad the Great"), was an Armenians, Armenian ''Armenian fedayi, fedayi'' (partisan leader) and a lea ...
(Medzn Mourad) and Hrayr Dzhoghk. In his unpublished memoir, the missionary Royal M. Cole, who was based in Bitlis, recounted how Tahsin Paşa used a general atmosphere of suspicion to exaggerate the situation in the mountains and secure an imperial order for the destruction that occurred in late summer of 1894. Cole suggested that if Tahsin and the Ottoman State had bothered to investigate, they might have found only a small number of well-armed Armenians desperate to organize self-defense bands among the mountaineers. When Zeki Paşa, the commander of the Fourth Army stationed in Erzincan, arrived in Sasun in early September, he strongly criticized Tahsin Paşa for overstating the threat posed by the Sasun mountaineers to the Ottoman government. According to Cole, Zeki Paşa fiercely attacked Tahsin Paşa for calling up so many troops and causing such a massacre on such a flimsy pretext. Zeki Paşa believed that the poor and weak-looking Armenians he saw were not a real threat to the government, and he criticized Tahsin Paşa for leaving without facing him.


Conflict

Sasun was the location for the first notable battle in the Armenian resistance movement. The Armenians of Sasun confronted the Ottoman army and Kurdish irregulars at Sasun, succumbing to superior numbers. Foreign news agents protested vehemently against the events at Sasun; British prime minister
William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...
called Hamid "the Great Criminal" or "the Red Sultan". The rest of the
Great Powers A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power ...
also protested and demanded the execution of Ottoman Sultan Hamid's promised reforms. An investigation committee composed of French, British, and Russian representatives were sent to the region in order to examine the event.


Aftermath

In May 1895, the aforementioned foreign powers prepared a set of reforms. However, they were never carried out, because they were not actively imposed on the Ottoman Empire. The
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
's policies vis-à-vis the Armenian question had changed. In fact, the Russian foreign minister Alexei Lobanov-Rostovsky supported Ottoman integrity. Moreover, he was so anti-Armenian that he wanted an "
Armenia without Armenians __NOTOC__ "Armenia without Armenians" is a phrase with different meanings. Armenian genocide Some Armenian and non-Armenian scholars use the phrase in reference to the aftermath of the Armenian genocide of 1915, which left the Turkish-controll ...
". On the other hand, Britain had gained considerable influence and power in former Ottoman
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
and
Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
, and for Gladstone, good relations with the Ottomans were less important than before. Meanwhile, the Ottomans had found a new European ally,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
's Bismarck. The Ottoman Empire thus felt free to commit further massacres, in 1896.


See also

* Sassoun Massacre *
Social Democrat Hunchakian Party 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 ...
* 1904 Sasun uprising * Cevizlidere, Muş


Footnotes

{{Armenian Resistance Sasun rebellion Armenian national liberation movement 19th century in Armenia History of Batman Province Bitlis vilayet Armenian rebellions in the Ottoman Empire Rebellions in the Ottoman Empire 19th-century rebellions