The 1896 Defense of Van or Van Rebellion was a revolt by the Armenian population in

Van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across th ...

against the armed forces of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

in June 1896 during 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 an ...

Background

The Van region had avoided the earlier stages of the

in 1895. However, by January 1896 there was increasing violence – a report by the British vice-consul in Van, W. H. Williams, said that many Armenian villages had been looted and "Armenians are everywhere in a state bordering on panic, afraid lest the spring will bring still further disasters". The Ottoman authorities eventually sent an expedition to attack the Armenian population of Van in June 1896.

Defense and massacre

Between 3 and 11 June some six to seven hundred Armenian men defended the Armenian sections of the Aigestan (Garden City) district of the city. After a week of fighting, the sultan sought assistance from the Western powers to end the violence, promising that he would guarantee the lives and safety of the Armenians of Van. After some negotiations, and making clear they had been acting in self-defense in the face of continual massacre, the Armenian defenders agreed to leave for Persia, escorted by Ottoman troops. En route, as nearly 1,000 Armenians marched towards the border, they were massacred by Ottoman troops and Kurdish tribesmen. This was followed by further massacres throughout the Van region. Vice-consul Williams estimated that some 20,000 Armenians had been killed and some 350 Armenian villages destroyed.

Aftermath

In July 1897, an Armenian Fedayee group undertook a revenge attack, known as the

Khanasor Expedition The Khanasor Expedition ( hy, Խանասորի արշավանքը, ''Khanasori arshavankë'') was a punitive raid launched by Armenian fedayees against the Kurdish Mazrik tribe on July 25, 1897. In 1896, in the aftermath of the Defense of Van, th ...

, against the Kurdish Mazrig tribe that had been responsible for the massacre of the defenders of Van when they were moving towards the Persian border.

References

{{Armenian Resistance 1896 in the Ottoman Empire Armenian national liberation movement Van vilayet History of Van, Turkey Hamidian massacres June 1896 events

Background

Defense and massacre

Aftermath

See also

References