Resistance from Urfa

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Armenian fedajin in Urfa in July

The resistance of Urfa ( Armenian Ուրֆայի հերոսամարտի ) or Urfa Rebellion ( Turkish Urfa İsyanı ) against the genocide of the Armenians took place from September 20 to October 20, 1915 in Urfa . The resistance under Mgrdich Yotneghparian was put down after Germany intervened in favor of the Ottoman ally.

In Urfa, the massacres began in the middle of August. From August 15 to 19, 400 people were killed by the Ottoman government forces; furthermore, Armenian civilians in Urfa were first deported and then killed.

On May 27, 1915, several hundred Armenians were captured in Urfa on the orders of the Ottoman authorities. The community held a meeting to agree on a solution to the problem. Mgrdich Yotneghparian and his partisans preferred to fight to the death instead of giving in to the Ottomans. The Adana massacre of 1909 made Yotneghparian increasingly reluctant to accept the new Young Turk government and waned his belief in the new Ottoman constitution .

Led by Mgerdich, the resistance of the Armenian fighters lasted sixteen days in the heavily fortified houses and was finally broken only with the help of a reinforcement contingent of six thousand Turkish troops, who were also equipped with heavy artillery .

Individual evidence

  1. Mihran Kurdoghlian: Badmoutioun Hayots . Ed .: Hradaragoutioun Azkayin Oussoumnagan Khorhourti. III edition. Athens , Greece 1996, p. 93-95 (Armenian).
  2. Taner Akçam : A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility . S. 200 ( google.com ).
  3. "Hayots Badmoutioun, Volume III"
  4. ^ Lewy, Guenter. The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey: A Disputed Genocide , p. 201. Salt Lake City: Utah University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-87480-849-9 .