Toponym and administration
Since the Syriac Saint Bar Savmo Monastery was the center “where the cross was carried”, it is assumed that Kurds named it ‘Pütür gah’ (‘the place of the Cross’).
Previously, it has also been known as Shiro (1710), but in 1917 Pütürge / Pûtürge became the official name of the mountain administrative district, which was established in 1877, with the town of Imrum as its administrative seat.[1]
Population
According to the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople, there lived 679 Armenians in the village of Vartenik on the eve of the First World War. They maintained a church and a school for 120 children.[2]
At present, except for a few Turkish-Alevi settlements, the population of the district is Sunni Kurds.
14 Armenian Settlements in the kaza Pütürge
Imron (Imrun, Umryunyun, administrative seat), Aghvan (Aghvani), Arghuchay, Burj (Bourj), Damli, Zahmana (Zamano), Mamash, Nokhudlu, Chamchrek, Chardagh, Jambeck, Keferdiz, Kyari, Krat.(3)
Destruction
“According to official statistics, 622 [Armenians] were deported in summer 1915. These villagers were put on the road in a single convoy at the request of the kaymakam, Rüşdi Bey, who was probably appointed to his post in order to carry out this mission, having held it only from 8 July to 31 October 1915. Given the proximity of these districts [Keban Maden and Pötürge] to the much more heavily populated kazas of Arapkir and Eğin, it seems reasonable to suppose that their Armenian inhabitants received a similar treatment to that reserved for those in more populous districts.”[4]