Kemah is located in the northern foothills of the steep and rugged Munzur Mountains, north of the Taurian Mountain Belt. The region is largely hilly, but in places mountainous to rugged. More extensive flat land is almost non-existent. The Karadağ, the Çölen Dağı, the Köhnem Dağı (3045 m) and the Vank Mountains rise in the north of the county. In 1915, Kemah (Karasu) Gorge near the administrative seat of Kemah was one of the places of mass extermination of Armenians. Between 10-14 June 1915, 25,000 Armenians were killed within four days and the victims were thrown into the river over the [...]
Archives: Regions
Our CPT for the regions
Kaza Erzincan / Երզնկա – Yerznka
Ecumenical Genocide Memorial, Berlin: Commemorative Plate for Erzincan / Yerznka Population On the eve of the First World War, there lived 25,795 Armenians in 38 localities of the kaza of Erzincan, maintaining 53 churches, 24 monasteries and 37 schools with an enrolment of 3,863 pupils.[1] Destruction The 30,000 Armenian villagers from the Erzurum plain were deported in three large caravans to Mamahatun. They were exterminated near Erzincan by a Special Organizationsquad.[2] On 23-25 May 1915, the mutessarif of Erzincan, Memduh, at the head of the gendarmes and bandits (some 12,000 men), took over the Armenian villages (some 60 in number) in the region. The men [...]
Sancak Erzincan / Երզնկա – Yerznka
Ecumenical Genocide Memorial, Berlin: Commemorative Plate for Erzincan / Yerznka Administration The sancak comprised six kazas: Erzincan/Yerznka, Kemah/Gamakh, Kuruçay, Refahiye/Gerjanis, Bayburt/Baberd, and Ispir/Sper. Toponym Previously called Yerez or Yeriza, the city of Erzincan was known in ancient times as Acilisene (Grk.: Ἀκιλισηνή – Akilisini) and for a while Justinianoupolis in honour of Emperor Justinian I. In the Armenian language, the 5th-century Life of Mashtots called it Yekeghiats. In the more recent past it was known in Armenian as Երզնկա (Yerznka). Population According to the Ottoman census of 1893 the overall population of the sancak Erzincan was 107,100; of these, 85,900 were Muslims, 19,000 Armenian Apostolic, 200 [...]
Kaza Kiskim / Yusufeli / Խոտորջուր – Khotorjur / Khodorchur
Khotorjur / Kiskim (source: https://allinnet.info/history/massacre-of-armenians-khotorjur/) The administrative seat of the kaza, Khotorjur (Trk.: Sırakonak) is located at the foot of Kajkar mountain, on the left tributary (Mets River) of the Chorokh (Trk.: Çoruh) River in the Khotorjur basin. It was formerly known as Hodiçor, Xodiçur, Xodrçur and Xodorçur. Toponym The Armenian placename Khotorjur means ‘gras’ or ‘straw water’. In 1912, the district and the city of Kiskim were named after the Ottoman prince Yusuf Izzettin. Administration Before the 1915 genocide the settlement of Khotorjur (Sırakonak today) was the centre of a group of thirteen villages populated mostly by Catholic Christian Armenians. Khotorjur (also known as Khotojur, Khotayjur, [...]
Kaza Tercan / Mamahatun
Karavanserai in Tercan/ Mamahatun (source: By Bertramz – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17563051) Toponym The placename derives from Byzantine Derzene. The town and region were formerly called Mama Hatun, after the late 12th century female Saltukid ruler Melike Mama Hatun. Population At the eve of the First World War there lived 11,690 Armenians in 41 localities of the kaza, maintaining 36 churches, two monasteries, and 27 schools with an enrolment of 1,187 students.[1] Today, the town Tercan has a large Kurdish population that is mostly Alevi as well as a significant Turkish Sunni population. Notable Armenians Soghomon Tehlirian (Tehlerian; born in Nerkin Bagarij/Pakaric, 1896 – San [...]