General view of the small town of Çermik (Jermuk – Ջերմուկ; Chermug; source: Pietschmann, Victor: Durch kurdische Berge und armenische Städte. Wien, 1940) Armenian Population In the sparsely populated kaza 12,418 Armenians lived in three localities. Around 2,000 of them resided in the administrative seat, Chermuk (Arm.: Jermuk – Ջերմուկ, ‘Hot Springs’), and more then tenthousand in Chnkush (today Çüngüş), where they were settled “on an impressive rocky plateau that dominated the Euphrates valley.”[1] The Armenian communities of the kaza maintained five churches, one monastery and five schools with 500 students.[2] The town of Çüngüş (Victor Pietschmann, Durch kurdische Berge und armenische Städte, [...]
Archives: Regions
Our CPT for the regions
Kaza Balu – Բալու / Բալահովիտ – Balahovit / Palu
Ecumenical Genocide Memorial (Berlin): Commemorative Plate for Palu (Balu) Balu (Trk., Western Armenian pronounciation: Palu) is located in the northwest of Diyarbekir province, between the lower reaches of the Eastern Euphrates (Grk.: Ἀρσανίας – Arsanias, Arm.: Aradzan; Trk.: Murat) and the mouth of its right tributary. The Ottoman kaza Balu almost corresponded to the historical canton of Balahovit with the village groups (nahiye) Garachor, Bulanık, Mazermat, Gökdere, Ochu, Hun, Charabeken, Sadadjur and Ashmushat. The Armenian villages were mainly located in Mazermat. Balu is surrounded by hills and has fertile soils, a favorable climate and rich water sources. Here, wheat (65% of the [...]
Kaza Argana / Arghana / Maden – Մադեն /Arġanameden -Արղանամեդեն / Erğani Madeni
Ecumenical Genocide Memorial, Berlin: Commemorative Plate for Erğani Madeni / Arg(h)ana / Arġanameden The small town of Arghana Maden / Ergani (Michel Paboudjioan collection; source: http://www.eskiturkiye.net/478/the-small-town-of-arghana-maden-ergani-source-michel-paboudjioan-collection#lg=0&slide=0) Armenian Population According to the census of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople, 10,559 Armenians lived in eleven localities of the kaza before 1914, maintaining ten churches, two monasteries and seven schools with 700 students.[1] The Armenian population of the kaza was eliminated in July 1915, “at the same time as the inhabitants of Chnkush [today Çüngüş], in the place known as Yudan Dere; this was a chasm lying on the border between this kaza and the kaza of [...]
Sancak Argana / Arghana / Արղն – Arġn / Արղանամեդեն – Arġanameden / Ergani Madeni
Ecumenical Genocide Memorial, Berlin: Commemorative Plate for Argana (Ergani-Maden) “Lying on the southern slopes of the Taurus mountains and traversed by the eastern branch of the Euphrates (Murad Su) in the north and containing the source of the Tigris in the east, the region was well suited to agriculture and animal husbandry. Copper mines were also in operation there.”[1] Administratively the sancak Argana consisted of the three kazas Arg(h)ana Maden (Arm.: Arġanameden -Արղանամեդեն), Palu (Arm.: Balu – Բալու) and Çermik (Chermig; Arm.: Jermuk – Ջերմուկ; Chermug). Toponym Arg(h)ana was first mentioned as Arkni/Argni as it was called by the Armenians. This toponym transformed into [...]
Kaza Beşiri / Բշերիկ – Bsherik / Չերնիկ – Chernik / Beth Shyreh (Bšērīye) – ܝܬܫܝܪ̈ܐ (ܒܫܝܪܝܗ)
The Armenian toponym of the city and the kaza of the same name is Chernik or Bsherik, the Kurdish name Kobin, also called Almedina by Syriacs. The history of settlement goes back to Churritic tribes. Around 1200 B.C. the area came under Assyrian rule. According to the census of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople, there were 5,038 Armenians in 40 villages of the kaza Beşiri before the First World War. They were Kurdophone and maintained 15 churches and 14 schools with 700 students.(1) David Gaunt describes Beşiri as a “Syriac Orthodox exclave east of Diyarbekir”, where 200 Syriacs lived in the administrative [...]