Defense of Van

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The Defense of Van was an act of self-defense of the Armenian population in Van against the Ottoman Empire in June, 1896.

Defense of Van
Date June 3, 1896 - June 11, 1896 Location City of Van, vilâyet of Van Result Armenians agree to disarm, defenders and additional civilian population massacred.
Belligerents
Ottoman Army	Armenian residents of Van
Strength
4 battalions+cavalry	600-700
Casualties and losses
	20,000 massacred 350 hamlets or villages destroyed

Contents 1 Background 2 Defense and Massacre 3 Aftermath 4 See also 5 References

[edit] Background

While Van had avoided the earlier part of the Hamidian massacres in 1895, the Ottomans eventually sent an expedition to attack the panic stricken Armenian population in June of 1896.

[edit] Defense and Massacre

The Armenians, with several hundred men, defended themselves in the Aigestan (Garden City) region adjacent to the city. After a week of fighting, the sultan sought assistance from Western powers to end the fighting, in exchange for the safety of the Armenians in Van. After some negotiations making clear they were acting only in self defense, 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. Before the month was over, hundreds of villages were destroyed and 20,000 Armenians in Van were massacred.^[1]

[edit] Aftermath

In 1897, an Armenian Fedayee group conducted the Khanasor Expedition in response to the Kurdish massacres of the defenders of Van.

[edit] See also

• Van Resistance

[edit] References