The Khanasor Expedition ( hy, Խանասորի արշավանքը, ''Khanasori arshavankë'') was a punitive raid launched by
Armenian fedayees
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 across the ...
against the
Kurdish
Kurdish may refer to:
*Kurds or Kurdish people
*Kurdish languages
*Kurdish alphabets
*Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes:
**Southern Kurdistan
**Eastern Kurdistan
**Northern Kurdistan
**Western Kurdistan
See also
* Kurd (dis ...
Mazrik tribe on July 25, 1897. In 1896, in the aftermath of the
Defense of Van, the Mazrik tribe had ambushed and slaughtered many of the Armenian defenders of Van as they were retreating into Persia. The
Armenian Revolutionary Federation
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation ( hy, Հայ Յեղափոխական Դաշնակցութիւն, ՀՅԴ ( classical spelling), abbr. ARF or ARF-D) also known as Dashnaktsutyun (collectively referred to as Dashnaks for short), is an Armenian ...
decided to retaliate for that atrocity, resulting in the Khanasor Expedition.
Event
About a year after the events in Van, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation decided to retaliate and "punish" the Kurdish Mazrik tribe for its role in the
Hamidian massacres and its ambush of the defenders of Van. The Mazrik tribe were camped in the fields of
Khanasor, near
Avarayr. The ARF, with the support of the
Hunchakians and the
Armenakans, organized an attack on the tribe. The operation was planned by
Nikol Duman
Nikol Duman ( hy, Նիկոլ Դուման), born Nikoghayos Ter-Hovhannisyan ( hy, Նիկողայոս Տեր-Հովհաննիսյան; 12 January 1867 – 23 September 1914), was an Armenian fedayee from Karabakh.
Early life
Nikoghayos Ter-Hov ...
alongside
"Khanasora" Vartan Mehrpanian and
Ishkhan Arghoutian, all of whom participated as commanders of the operation. Among the Armenian soldiers also there were disagreements. For their settlement the party sent in Tavriz
Harutiun Shahrigian and as a result they come to conclusion of holding an action. On 25 July 1897, at dawn, the 250 Armenian fedayees attacked and killed the fighting men of Mazrik tribe, sparing the women and the children, among whom the Mazrik chief, Sharaf Bey, learned Armenians were coming earlier and managed to escape by wearing women's clothing, leaving the women and children behind. The attack ended on 27 July 1897.
Results
Although ARF founder
Rosdom's brother
Garo
Garo may refer to:
People and languages
* Garo people, a tribal people in India
** Garo language, the language spoken by the Garo tribe
Places
* Kingdom of Garo, a former kingdom in southern Ethiopia
* Garo, Colorado
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and 25 other fedayees were among the casualties, the Khanasor expedition was a small triumph for the Armenians, both militarily and morally. As a result, Armenians built up their self-confidence; their belief in their ability to defend themselves was now reinforced. To this day, the ARF remembers the event in commemorative ceremonies honouring the expedition as an important event in the history of the Armenian struggle for freedom.
Gurgen Mahari
Gurgen Mahari (''Gurgen Grigori Ajemian''; , 1903 in Van – June 17, 1969 in Yerevan) was an Armenian writer and poet. His most significant works include the semi-autobiographical novella '' Barbed Wires in Blossom'' (1968) and the novel '' ...
, as part of a critique of the effectiveness of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, had a character in his novel ''The Burning Orchards'' question whether the high moral and strategic significance the Dashnaktsutyun gave to the Khanasor Expedition's results was justified, or whether the expedition, and other acts like the
Ottoman Bank siege, were just isolated incidents whose sum total did not relieve the oppression of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.
[Marc Nushanian, ''The Flames of Van'', in ''Armenian Van / Vaspurakan'', p280.]
See also
*
Armenian resistance
Armenian resistance included military, political, and humanitarian efforts to counter Ottoman forces and mitigate the Armenian genocide during the first World War. Early in World War I, the Ottoman Empire commenced efforts to eradicate Armenian ...
References
*
{{Coord missing, Armenia
Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Conflicts in 1897
Battles involving Armenia
1897 in the Ottoman Empire
19th century in Armenia
Van vilayet
History of Van Province
July 1897 events
Armenian national liberation movement