Salmast :: ARMENIAN LOCATIONS

Monuments

Iran (Country) / Western Atrpatakan (Province) / Salmast (District) / Salmast (City)

Location

Salmast City, once a district capital, now an administrative centre, is situated between the cities Khoy and Urmia, 42.6 km south-west of the former (by straight line) and 76 km north-west of the latter; at an altitude of 1,370 to 1,400 metres: “A city on the western shores of Urmia Lake, in a plain: it is at the border of Iranian Azerbaijan Province, and is a 3-day distance from Tabriz...,” also: “The district capital of Salmast is Diliman. ...[it] is situated almost in the centre of the district and is surrounded by more than 70 large and small villages.”

Intjitjian, p. 249.
Մելիք-Բաբախանեան Ա., Պարսկական մի քաղաքի նկարագիրը [A. Melik-Babakhanian, “The Description of a Persian City”], «Մշակ» [Mshak], no. 80. 3 May 1900, p. 2.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 483.

Other Names

Salmast City was formerly known as Dilman, Dilmaghan, and Dilmaqan: names which took their origin from Dil-maqan, meaning the heart of the place or district, a centre.

Hayrapetian, “Salmast,” Alik, no. 210, 21 September 1969, p. 5.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 483.

The city has also been mentioned as Dilima, Diliman, Telman, Tilman, Tiliman, and Tilmagan (in Persian the name Dilman is met in these two ways: Dilmoghan and Dilmogan).

Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 483.

Another variant of the name was Town: “This place is sometimes called Salamast, and sometimes Dilman, but in everyday speech it is rather known as Shehr (simply Town).”

Ainsworth, p. 300.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 483.

During the reign of Reza Shah (1925-1941), the city was renamed Shahpoor (it is translated as king’s son), then Salmas which is the present-day official name of the settlement.

Hayrapetian, “Salmast,” Alik, no. 212, 23 September 1969, p. 5.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 483.

Administrative Status

Salmast City, the central settlement of the district of the same name, had primary importance due to its favourable geographical position, perhaps, from time immemorial, but at least from the starting ages of Van Kingdom (9th to 6th centuries BC). Therefore, for many centuries, the district governors have settled down just in this city: “... [in the city] is also the residence of the governor, and the whole is enclosed like a fort.”

Ainsworth, ibid. Also: “The district capital of Salmast is Diliman...” (Averois, “My Travel Memories,” p. 22). Also: “...[it] is considered the central city of Salmast” (Frangian, p. 73). Dilman was “Salmast’s centre” (Patrikian, “A Letter from Persia,” Horizon, no. 98, 7 May 1913, p. 4).
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 483.

The city has never lost its significance as a district capital and administrative centre, even when affected by wars or heavily damaged by earthquakes. Neither the 27 December 1779 earthquake which turned Tabriz City (135 km away) into a clod of earth, seismic waves reaching up to Van City (“...27 December, Friday, a strong earthquake occurred in Tabriz and the whole city was destroyed and a large number of people died ... the villages Gunayi, Tasu, Salmast, Khoy, Yormi, and our city of Van also felt some tremors, but by God’s grace no damage happened”); nor, especially, the 6 May 1930 earthquake, after which the whole city was reconstructed by a quite new plan, were able to discredit the administrative-economic importance of Salmast City.

Documents Relating to Armenian History, vol. 10, p. 146.
Hayrapetian, “Salmast,” Alik, no. 212, 23 September 1969, p. 5.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 483.

Historical Introduction

Since the name of the district was transferred to the administrative city, it is very difficult to distinguish between the district and the city in the references available particularly in the Armenian medieval written sources. In other words, when a historic event that took place in Salmast-Saghamast is remembered, it very often remains uncertain whether that is about the administrative city or the district.

Taking into account the aforementioned, we have summarized all the indefinite references in the narrative concerning the district.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 483.

It is known that in the 16th-17th centuries Salmast was almost deserted, and this was the result of the Turkish-Persian wars and especially the result of the forced deportation of Armenians by Shah Abbas. The city was underpopulated to such an extent that during the reign of Nadir Shah only the name from it was left. After that the city was walled and again became a district capital.

Frangian, p. 132.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 483.

Salmast City, almost emptied of its Armenian population, in the 19th century was more known as Dilman especially out of the Armenian circles. The city suffered its last heavy blow after the Russian-Persian war of 1826-1828: in the aftermath of the war the last few Armenians of the city abandoned it and thus the historical town Saghamast has actually been known as a town populated almost only by Turks since 1828.

Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 483.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the settlement was remembered for a number of special cases. One of them was mentioned in an information dating back to 20 February 1906: “On the day of Ashoura, when the mosque of Diliman was full with several thousands of Turks (male and female), suddenly, a few Turks rushed in and cried, “Run away, Armenians are attacking, run away!” The prayers rushed to flee, many took weapons and went out but they saw that they were badly deceived. The government immediately arrested the trouble-makers and punished them.”

Վանօ, Սալմաստից [Vano, “From Salmast”], «Արշալոյս» [Arshaluys], no. 58, 16 March 1906, p. 4.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 484.

A correspondence of 7 January 1909 reads the following: “... Izetoullah-Salar bombed Dilman City twice but was defeated and retreated to Shekereazi Village, leaving a great number of killed and wounded soldiers in the battlefield. Part of his army ran away.”
On 23 May of the same year, “after the ferocious battle between the local constitutionalists, the Turkish regular army of seven thousand, and the ashiret Kurds, the central city of Salmast, Dilman, was captured by the Turkish army.”
Two days later there was a new information: “The unexpected gunfire that took place this night cast terror upon the people of Salmast.
“The morning revealed the following: usually, the gates of the walled city of Dilman (the district capital of Salmast) are closed at night under the supervision of the Persian guards and opened only for people knowing the “night password.” That sinister night, over 100 Turkish askeri [regular soldiers], who had camped in the citadel of Dilman, offered not to close the gates: as if they were waiting for new soldiers to come. The guards refused... At that moment, the shahbandar (the Turkish vice-consul who... had played a scheming role in the districts of Salmast and Khoy) wanted to enter the gates but he was stopped and told about that [the password] ... The shahbandar was the first to order the askeri to shoot. After the first shooting immediately a fighting started which resulted in 6 killed, 7 wounded, about 30 disarmed (one was found hiding in an underground passage) askeri, while only 3 Persian mujahideen [mujahid—one engaged in struggle] were killed. ... at dawn, Sayid-ul-Mamalik, the judge, disappeared from the citadel together with all his men. In fact, Salmast is in the hands of the Turks.
“Though, the shahbandar, dishonoured after the incident, declared to the people not to worry about the unpleasant “misunderstanding” that had taken place, the locals were very frightened and they thought there would be new attacks by the Kurds.”

Razmik, no. 314, 17 January 1909, p. 4.
Ֆարրուխ, Տաճկաց զօրքը Դիլիմանում «Լրաբեր» [Farroukh, “The Turkish Army in Diliman”], Lraber, no. 24, 14 June 1909, p. 3.
Ma., Ընդհարում տաճիկների և պարսիկների միջև, [“A Conflict between the Turks and the Persians”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 119, 7 June 1909, p. 2. About this incident see also Ազիզ, Լուրեր Սալմաստից, [Aziz, “News from Salmast”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 124, 13 June 1909, p. 2.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 484.

On 20 April 1914, “... at midnight, at the northern gates of the city, the guard of the Russian barracks noticed a few men approaching the entrance of the barracks. The guard called out, but they did not answer and coming a little closer shot at the guard, who fell down wounded. The other guard came out to help but they opened fire on him as well. This time the bullet missed the guard and he ran inside to call for help. The criminals took advantage of that moment, snatched the gun of the wounded guard and disappeared. A meeting took place the day after the incident, during which the famous Simko said: “Neither a Turk nor a Kurd would dare do such a thing, it is the job of the Armenian revolutionaries.” Fortunately, the wounded man had noticed that the perpetrators, who took away his gun, were 5: 2 Turks and 3 Kurds.”
Moreover, the wounded guard died a short time later, and “after that for several nights Turks were firing at the Russian army of Dilman. The army answered them the same way and they even used machine guns against the Turks.
“A number of searches started and went on for a while, and the Turks, terrified of those searches, as well as of the hail of bullets, voluntarily handed over about 200 guns (besides the ones taken during the searches).”

G. R., “From the Life of Salmast,” Gharadagh, no. 7, 15 May 1914, pp. 5-6.
Pshour, “Regarding the Situation in Salmast,” Gharadagh, no. 9, 15 June 1914, p. 2.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 484.

On 1 March 1915, the Russian troops occupied Dilman.
On 16 April of the same year, at the battle of Dilman “...the Turks were completely defeated and fled: 8-10,000 Russians and 17,000 Turks participated in the battle. The 12,000 soldiers of the Turkish army had been sent from Polis [Constantinople] 4 months earlier, via Aleppo-Mosul line: they were well armed and trained, having 8 cannons and 15 machine guns. The rest of the army, the 5,000, consisted of: the Kurds of Simko (armed with the best Russian guns); the Persians of Khantakht, Dilman and other villages; and the bands of robbers of Sherif Bey. The commander of the Turkish army was Khalil Bey, the cousin of Enver Pasha.”
After the battle, “Turks fled to Chiari-chay valley through Ounjalegh mountain pass: Chiari-chay valley is 15 km south-west of Dilman... On 2 May, the Russians, driving away the Turks from Dilman and providing the communications for themselves, occupied Khanasor pass, 35 km west of Dilman, in the direction of Van City.”

Hayastan, no. 4, 21 March 1915, p. 3.
Ibid., no. 17, 13 March 1915, p. 2.
Ibid., no. 18, 16 March 1915, p. 2.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 484.

Author Alikhan Vali
Date 1980 y․

Direction From the south-west
Author Samvel Karapetian
Date 2011 y․

Name	Year/Century	Etymology
Dilman
Shahpoor
Dilmaghan
Dilmaqan
Dilima
Diliman
Telman
Tilman
Tiliman
Tilmagan
Dilmoghan
Dilmogan
Salamast
Shehr
Salmas