“The year of the firman:” The 1895 massacres in Hizan and Şirvan (Bitlis vilayet)

Abstract

Despite an overwhelming amount of primary sources, there are surprisingly few detailed studies on the massacres of 1894-1897. Events in the countryside are still less known than those in the major towns. This article is a micro-historical approach to the massacres of late autumn 1895 in two rural districts of Bitlis province, Hizan and Şirvan. Both districts particularly attracted the attention of contemporary observers because of alarming reports of thousands of conversions to Islam. On the basis of hitherto unused Armenian, British and Ottoman reports, after an introduction of geographical, ethnic, and socio-economic character of the districts, the article sets out to reconstruct the events aiming at an inventory of incidents and an estimate of the number of victims. It also explores other important issues like the identity of the perpetrators and their motives, the role of the authorities, and possible involvement of Armenian revolutionaries and Kurdish Hamidiye.