Salmast :: ARMENIAN LOCATIONS

306 Monuments

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

Name Origin

The medieval Armenian sources often referred to Salmast (nowadays: Salmas) as Saghamast or Salamast. It corresponds to Zarehavan and Arna Districts of Parskahayk Province, Armenia Maior, which is mentioned in Ashkharatsuyts (an early medieval illustrated Armenian book on geography).

This location of the districts of Zarehavan and Arna was found out by Dr. Babken Harutiunian, a Professor, after a comprehensive study of the recently-published materials relating to the issue (Հարությունյան Բ., Մեծ Հայքի վարչա-քաղաքական բաժանման համակարգն ըստ «Աշխարհացոյց»-ի, մաս Ա, [B. Harutiunian, The System of the Administrative-Political Division of Armenia Maior according to Ashkharatsuyts, part 1] (Yerevan, 2001), pp. 329-334). One of the available records says: “According to Yeznik, Zrvan derives from Zarvan and is of purely Persian origin, meaning to the luck or to the glory. However, it is a completely Armenian name deriving from Jrvan [meaning water-repelling], as the district survived several disastrous floods, repelling water. ... And all these fragmentary legends are only Persian ones. As for Jrvan (also known as Zrvan or Sam), he at first lived in Zarvand or Zrvana Und [meaning Zrvan is There], which was called after him. This is my etymology of Zarev And, which can be either accepted or not [italics added]” (Թաղիադեանց Մ., Ճանապարհորդութիւն ի Հայս, հ. Ա, [M. Taghiadiants, A Journey to Hayk, vol. 1] (Calcutta, 1847), pp. 181-182). Other records say: “Zarvand, Zaravand or Zarevand, one of the ancient districts in Parskahayk [Province] named after Zrvan, is present-day Salmast” Էփրիկեան Ս., Պատկերազարդ բնաշխարհիկ բառարան, հ. Ա, [S. Eprikian, An Illustrated Dictionary of Geography, vol. 1] (Venice, 1903-1905), p. 766). “This is ancient Saghamast. The Turks, the ruling people, call it Salmas, the name allegedly deriving from the Persian words salam (safe and sound) and ast (is), and being associated with the salubrious climate of the place. The Armenians of Salmast call their district Salmast Pos [italics added]” (Աթայըեան Ա., Սալմաստ [A. Atayan, Salmast] (New Jugha, 1906), p. 3). In 1906 Tigran Otian, a teacher from Van, wrote the following: “In bygone times, Parskahayk Province had three districts, Her, Zarevand and Zarehavan. According to Alishan, Her is the present-day district of Khoy; Zarevand is Salmast, and Zarehavan is Urmia. However, I have grounds to think that Zarehavan is Salmast, as the remnants of the castle of the Armenian prince Zareh are still preserved in Salmast; besides, here we have a lot of place names which are the distorted forms of the name Zarehavan. The fortified township of Tjara (also called Chahri and Zara), which has become an apple of discord for some Kurdish tribes, was built over the ruins of historical Zarehavan [italics added]” (Ասօ /Տիգրան Օտյան/, Կապուտանի արեւմտեան ափերից [Aso /Tigran Otian/, “From the Western Shores of Kaputan”], «Երիտասարդ Հայաստան», [Yeritasard Hayastan], no. 52, 20 June 1906, p. 417).
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 9.

Geographical Environment

Salmast District, which is situated on the south-eastern border of Historical Armenia, covers the area from the north-western shores of the endorheic Lake Kaputan (Urmia) to the watershed of the Kotur mountain range, which stretches from the north southward: “It is a valley lying in the bosom of mountains which surround it from three sides. The composition of the soil and hills, and the volcanic origin of the mountains clearly show that this valley used to be the bottom of a sea: in fact, once it was the continuation of Lake Urmia. The water level of the lake dropping year after year, water completely receded from its more shallow parts, making them fit for habitation: [in this way], the districts of Khoy and Guney, and certain parts of Urmia and Tabriz Districts [acquired more lands].”

Աթայեան Ա., Սալմաստ [A. Atayan, Salmast] (New Jugha, 1906), pp. 5-6.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 9.

Salmast District is at most about 75 km long (from the south-west to the north-east) and around 35 km wide.

Atayan writes the following in this regard: “Salmast, including Tjara, is maximum 64 versts long from the south-west to the north-east, and maximum 55 versts wide from the north to the south. On the whole, the district covers an area of about 2,000 square versts (this is only the approximate area of Salmast as its borders are not accurately fixed, just like those of all the other districts of Persia”) (Atayan, p. 5).

A perfect plain which is maximum about 30 km long and almost 10 km wide extends in the district centre and east of it, up to the lakeside. The rest of the district territory is mainly mountainous: the Kotur chain running along its western border has several peaks which are more than 3,000 metres high (Gharahisar: 3,421 metres; Saratap: 3,221 metres, etc.): “The west of Salamas is dominated by steep mountains called Gusgun Gran Yogushlar which mark the borderline between Persia and Ottoman Turkey.” Part of the Kotur range, which separated the districts of Aghbak and Salmast, was called the Dushman (Enemy) mountains by the Armenians of Salmast, as the “district incessantly suffered attacks from these mountains.”

A missionary who saw the plain of Salmast in 1831 offers the following picturesque description: “Level almost as the floor of a house, with a soil of rich light loam, and irrigated throughout with canals, it presented a landscape truly charming. Cotton and rice do not flourish here, and only grain is cultivated; but with that almost every spot was green. ...Numerous villages appeared, and all were surrounded, like Khósrova, with forests of fruit trees, which seem to flourish here with almost unequalled exuberance. The apple, pear, quince, peach, apricot, walnut, and sinjid, were the principal” (Eli Smith and H. G. O. Dwight, Missionary Researches in Armenia: Including a Journey through Asia Minor, and into Georgia and Persia, with a Visit to the Nestorian and Chaldean Christians of Oormiah and Salmas (London, 1834), pp. 356-358). Another author provides the following description: “The plain of Salmast is surrounded by mountains from three sides, the lake [Urmia] lying in its eastern part. It does not cover a large area, only about 500 square versts, but it is beautiful: in spring and early in summer, the scenery in Salmast is just breath-taking” (Ֆրանգեան Ե., Ատրպատական, [Yer. Frangian, Atrpatakan] (Tiflis, 1905), p. 65). A record of 1908 states the following: “Salmast lies in an extensive valley which is surrounded by mountains. It is 40 km long and 30 km wide. In the south, the Soma mountains extend, with the Kurdish district of the same name located amidst them. In the west, the valley is dominated by the Araul [mountains] with the branches of the Zagrosh mountains extending from Turkish Armenia. In the north are the mountains of Khoy with the mountain pass of the same name, and in the east, Lake Urmia lies, with the Shakaryaz mountains in the north, and the mountains of Pirchavush and Khantakht in the south. In the south-west of Salmast, close to the Turkish border, the gorge of Tjara is situated, with a fortress of the same name. In the north-west [of Salmast], opposite Khoy, the Ghotur gorge lies amidst the mountains of the same name. These two gorges form a common border between Persia and Turkey” (Ա. Ա., Արծիւների մօտ (Քառասուն եւ երկու տարի առաջ) [A. A., “With the Eagles” (Forty-Two Years Ago)], «Ալիք» [Alik], no. 195, 2 September 1951, p. 2). According to another description (1931), “Salmast was truly fascinating thanks to its geographical position and breath-taking scenery. It had salubrious climate with cool weather. The spacious orchards, gardens and groves added to the beauty of the district, most of the lands of which were “invigorated” thanks to the River Zola and its channels. With all its natural beauty, Salmast seemed to be a twin of Van, its extensive plain stretching from the foot of the Araul and Soma mountains up to the northern shores of Lake Urmia” (Կոսոյեան Հ., Սալմաստում եւ Դերիկում [H. Kosoyan, “In Salmast and Derik”], «Ալիք» [Alik], no. 201, 12 September 1964, p. 2.
Ինճիճեան Ղ., Աշխարհագրութիւն չորից մասանց աշխարհի, հ. Ա [Gh. Intjitjian, Geography of the Four Parts of the World, vol. 1] (Venice, 1806), pp. 249-250.
Րաֆֆի, Երկերի ժողովածու, հ. 4 [Raffi, Collected Works, vol. 4] (Yerevan, 1963), p. 304.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, pp. 9-10.

The northern and southern borders of Salmast District are marked by mountain branches. Some of their peaks that are up to, or a little more than, 3,000 metres high, gradually lower to the east, finally merging into the terrain on the approaches of Lake Kaputan, which is at an altitude of 1,268 metres: “Salmast is surrounded by the following mountains: in the north-west is Mount Solava, which marks the beginning of an unnamed chain (called Mountains of Khoy in Salmast, and Mountains of Salmast in Khoy) that stretches eastward up to the mountain pass of Khoy and runs farther into the sub-district of Guney. In the west are the mountains of Aghbak with the peaks Aravul and Pir-Jopan. In the south-west is Mount Shnatal, from which the mountains of Tjara and Soma District, including the peak Aghvan, run to the north-east, reaching Lake Urmia [italics added].” Lake Urmia, which has been repeatedly mentioned in the Armenian sources by the names of Kaputan and Shahalij, is the largest of the three major lakes in the Armenian Highland with a surface area of about 5,800 sq. km (the other lakes are Van, with an area of 3,760 sq. km, and Sevan, with a surface of 1,416 sq. km).

Atayan, pp. 4-5.
Also see Հայրապետեան Յ., Սալմաստ [H. Hayrapetian, “Salmast”], «Ալիք» [Alik], no. 207, 17 September 1969, p. 5. Other records say: “Salmast (Zarevand) District represents a circular and quite spacious plain which is surrounded by mountains from the north, west and south, the sea-like lake Urmia lying in the east.... Salmast has a lot of villages which are situated close to each other and abound in gardens and orchards” (Արտօս, Ատրպատականի Սալմաստ գաւառը [Artos, “Salmast District of Atrpatakan”], «Արմէնիա» [Armenia], no. 83, 11 June 1890, p. 1). “Salmast District of Persia lies in a plain surrounded by gigantic mountain chains from four sides, as if nature has created ramparts for that small plain. The villages are situated both in the plain and on the mountain slopes, the former having abundant water resources” (Խուրշիտ, Սալմաստ եւ Միրզա Աբդիւլ Վահաբ Խալիսայի ձեռքով պատահածը [Khurshit, “Salmast: What Happened because of Mirza Abdul Vahab Khalisa”], «Արմէնիա» [Armenia], no. 88, 28 June 1890, p. 2).
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 10.

The water of Lake Kaputan incessantly decreasing for millennia, some rocks emerged from under the water, revealing the fossils of some animals (fish, starfish, shell-fish, etc.) which are generally known to live in fresh water. This fact suggests that the lake which used to cover a much larger area in bygone times contained fresh water, whereas for recent centuries, it has already been known as a saline one with almost no animal life: “This is a saline lake where no animals live” (from a record of 1691).

[Mihrdat Rahmani Ahrenjani, The Historical Monuments of Salmast] (Salmast, 1388), p. 223.
G. Uluhogian, Un’ antica mappa dell’ Armenia [An Ancient Map of Armenia] (Ravenna, 2000), p. 80.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 10.

The shoreline of Lake Urmia, which used to mark the borders of Salmast District, has considerably receded, especially in recent decades. As a result of this, the east of the district gradually enlarged, although the land in these areas is unfit for agricultural use due to its extreme salinity.

Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 10.

Means of Communication

The district of Salmast is located at the juncture of two important intersecting roads one of which stretches from Khoy to Urmia (from the north southward), and the other from Tabriz to Van (from the east westward). Both these ancient highways still serve their purpose.
The capital of the district, Zarehavan, can be found on the Peutinger Map: “The road from Artashat to Tigranakert ... extended from Shamb to Flegoana [this name has not been deciphered], and thence to Dagreuana. That station is identical to Zarehavan, the centre of the Zarehavanian Princely House. Zarehavan was followed by Molchia, which can presumably be identified with the settlement of Osi in Metz [Greater] Aghbak.”

Մարտիրոսյան Հ., Առաջին եկեղեցական հաստատությունները Հայաստանում` ըստ Պևտինգերյան քարտեզի, [H. Martirossian, “The First Ecclesiastical Establshments in Armenia according to the Peutinger Map”], «Էջմիածին» [Echmiatzin], no. 2 (1999), pp. 67-68.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 12.

The 10th-century Arab historian Ibn Haukal places Salmast on the way from Ardabil to Baghesh. The 13th-century Arab historian and geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi (1178 to 1229) writes in the 3rd volume of his Dictionary for Geography that Salmast was “a renowned city in Atrpatakan [Azerbaijan in the original] lying within two days’ distance from Urmia, and three days’ distance from Tabriz. This city, which is in a devastated state, is separated from Khoy by a distance of an otevan [a unit denoting distance that can be covered within a day].”

Արաբական աղբյուրները Հայաստանի և հայերի մասին, հ. Գ [The Arabic Sources about Armenia and the Armenians, vol. 3] (Yerevan, 2005), pp. 79, 623.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 13.

As stated in a record of the late 19th century, “Salmast lies within three days’ distance from Tabriz, and the road is quite safe thanks to the frequent traffic.... ...there are caravans going to Karin, Ardabil and other places.”

Averois, “My Travel Memories,” p. 21.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 13.

On the territory of Salmast District, the aforementioned main roads intersected at different bridges built over the rivers in bygone days and repaired or reconstructed from time to time: “There is only a single stone bridge over the River Zola near the village of Habash, and a wooden one near Ghalasar; for this reason, in winter-time communication between the villages on both banks of the river becomes difficult, especially due to the ice [covering the river surface] which often breaks.”

Աթայեան Ա., Սալմաստ [A. Atayan, Salmast] (New Jugha, 1906), p. 90.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 13.

Earthquakes

Natural Disasters. Judging from the available written records, Salmast District has not suffered many earthquakes and floods.
Earthquakes. Before the formidable earthquake of 6 May 1930, only the earthquake of 27 December 1779 is mentioned. It caused almost no damage to Salmast as its epicentre was in the vicinity of Tabriz: “On 27 December, Friday, a heavy earthquake shook the city of Tabriz and entirely levelled it to the ground, a countless number of people perishing under the ruins. Eye-witnesses say that the large city looked like a huge hill, with absolutely no vestiges of buildings preserved anywhere. Several tremors were felt in the neighbouring small towns and villages (Gunayi, Tasu, Salmast, Khoy, Hormi [Urmia]) and in our city of Van, but they did not suffer any damage thanks to the Lord’s grace.”

Դիւան հայոց պատմութեան, գիրք Ժ [Documents Relating to Armenian History, vol. 10] (Tiflis, 1912), p. 146 (Յարութիւն Խալֆայեան ժամանակագիր [Chronicler Harutiun Khalfayan]). See exactly the same in: Մանր ժամանակագրություններ, Ա [Collected Chronicles, vol. 1] (Yerevan, 1951), p. 380.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 13.

At midnight on 27 February/11 March 1900, weak, but long-lasting tremors were felt in Salmast.

«Արմէնիա», [Armenia], no. 70, 11 April 1900, p. 2.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 13.

At 1:30 a.m. on 6 May 1930, Salmast was struck by a major earthquake which had tragic consequences: “That was a warning: the inhabitants of Havtvan, Dilman, Ghezelja, Payajouk and Ghalasar poured out into the fields and gardens, whereas the other villages of the district did not take it seriously, thinking that it would not repeat. At 1:30 a.m. the air was pierced by terrible cries and screams; within just a second, the district turned into hell and the villages were reduced to heaps of ruins. The death toll among the Armenians was approximately the following: Havtvan: 3; Mahlam: 42; Sarna: 7; Ghezelja: 1; Payajouk: 5; Sanamerk: 25, and Sara: 1. The survivors, including us, were scattered here and there, in the gardens and fields, in an unorganised way, exposed to the sun and severe winds. We were terrified with the clouds gathered in the sky: if it rained ... half of us would be in immediate danger.... We were in need of flour: we had wheat, but there were no mills in the district. The authorities of the country provided us with bread brought from Urmia. We also received medicaments as those available were too insufficient.... A lot of people want to emigrate in groups. I would rather die than beg for bread in the streets of Tabriz. I forgot to write that more than 100 people were injured, and the 3/4 of them was in a hopeless state. Unbelievable as it may sound, it took me two hours to write this letter, as the tremors interrupted me all the time. Half of the livestock has been killed.... All the churches of the district have collapsed and look like heaps of debris, except the church of Havtvan: it is standing although it has suffered some cracks, and its dome has been overthrown.”30

Քիրս, Առաջին պաշտօնական տեղեկագիրը Սալմաստի երկրաշարժի մասին [Kirs, “The First Official Report on the Earthquake of Salmast”], «Յառաջ» [Haraj], no. 1270, 23 May 1930, p. 1.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 13.

There are a large number of records relating to this disastrous earthquake, but the most important are the memoirs of the eye-witnesses: “From 1 May onwards, every day occasional tremors were felt in Salamast District of Atrpatakan, a stronger quake shaking it at 9:30 on the morning of the 6th.... At 1:30 on the same night, entire Salmast was struck by a formidable earthquake which lasted for 5 minutes. The Turkish small towns of Dilman and Kohneshahar, the Armenian villages of Payajouk, Ghalasar and Haftvan, the Assyrian village of Khosrova, as well as the villages of Akhtakhana, Ghezelja, Drishk, Savra, Mahlam, Sarna, Oula, Patavor, Saramerik and Gulizan, which have mixed populations of Armenians and Turks, the Turkish villages of Darzakonan, Sataghian, Aghismayil, Baghjajuk, Yayji, Kojamish, Moughanjoukh, Galvan, Khantakht, Minas and Hamza were entirely destroyed and reduced to heaps of ruins. Also, the stone-built churches and school houses of Haftvan, Payajouk and Ghalasar were wracked. Most of the local people ran away to the fields and were saved, while most of their livestock was buried under the ruins of the cattle sheds and barns.... The fatalities in Salmast include 250 Armenians and Assyrians, and 3,000 Turks. A lot of people have been injured, but their exact number has not been ascertained yet. The earthquake has also destroyed a number of Kurdish villages in the district of Derik. In Salmast, throughout an area of 40 km, no buildings are preserved in any village. In some parts, the earth crust ripped apart, releasing black, sulphurous water.... During a meeting, held in the Provincial Governorate on 7 May under the chairmanship of Governor Manu-el-Mulki, with the participation of some Turkish and Armenian merchants, it was decided to start fund-raising to provide urgent relief to the earthquake-stricken people.... The commander of Atrpatakan and Doctor S. Yeghiazarian went to Salmast with a group of doctors to provide relief and medicaments for the injured on behalf of the Red Shir-Khurshid [Lion and Sun].... The Russian consul and the doctor of the Russian hospital, S. T. Davtian, went to Salmast, too. One hundred automobiles rushed to rescue.
“On the order of the Prelate, Archbishop Nerses Melik-Tangian, the Administration of the Red Cross Organisation of Armenian Women has collected clothes and underwear for the earthquake-stricken. The Government is distributing allowances among the Turks, Armenians and Assyrians without any discrimination.”

Հայկազեան Դ., Սալմաստի շարժին աւերները [D. Haykazian, “The Devastation Caused by the Earthquake of Salmast”], «Յառաջ» [Haraj], no. 1271, 24 May 1930, p. 3.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 13.

As written in a letter of 12 May, “the death toll from the earthquake in Atrpatakan stands at about 3,000.... The tremors are still felt in Salmast with the same magnitude. Today’s heavy shower and storm only came to aggravate the miserable situation of the population of that district even further. The American Mission, set up to extend relief to the earthquake-stricken, has started receiving funds, but the rainwater that has inundated the roads has made it impossible for the automobiles to approach Salmast. The earthquake has created a 2-mile-wide cleft in the ground in the area between Urmia and Salmast. The Persian officials say that the country has not seen such an earthquake for many years.”

«Հայրենիք», [Hayrenik], no. 5482, 14 May 1930, p. 1.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, pp. 13-14.

Another letter dated 12 May stated that the tremors had already abated, and the number of the fatalities was around 3,000.

«Ժամանակ», [Zhamanak], no. 7158, 13 May 1930, p. 2.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 14.

Early in May 1930, the District Administration of the Armenian Red Cross Organisation of West Europe issued a statement for the purpose of extending relief to the earthquake-stricken people of Salmast: “Within just a second, the district turned into hell, and its villages were reduced to heaps of ruins. There are neither surviving villages nor standing houses. We are scattered in the gardens and fields in an unorganised way. We are exposed to the sun and severe winds. We are terrified with the clouds: if it rains..., half of us will be in immediate danger. All our miserable clothes are buried in the earth. Half of the livestock has been killed.... In addition, about 100 corpses have been taken out from under the ruins, and about 100 people have been injured, the three-fourths of them being in a hopeless state.... This heart-rending calamity has struck Raffi’s birthplace, Salmast, and its villages, Haftvan, Payajouk, Ghalasar, Savra, Mahlam, Sarna, Ghezelja, Sanamerik, Sara and others, all of which used to be so beautiful and prosperous. For many decades, these villages gave shelter ... to thousands of young Armenians on their way to the “Valley of Tears” where they went with great enthusiasm to rescue the Armenian nation suffering under the Turkish yataghan. In these villages, the doors and stores of bread were always open for the large multitudes of Armenian refugees escaping the Turkish hell and seeking shelter in Persia and the Caucasus. Needless to say what cordial hospitality these villages showed to the volunteers during the Armenian liberation movement....! Who does not know that the Armenians of Salmast fed Andranik’s detachment for two months before they started their operation? For these reasons, the Turkish Government hated the Armenians of Salmast, and as soon as they had the golden opportunity—the sinister World War [I]—the Turkish hordes attacked Salmast with particular rage and fury.... However, despite all the outrages and persecution, the Armenians of the district cherished a great love for their ancestral land.... The prudent Armenians who do not spare efforts for building new houses cannot allow the abandonment ... of the Armenian houses founded on the eastern borderline of Vaspourakan.... The District Administration of the Armenian Red Cross Organisation of West Europe has already ordered its branches in Paris, Marseilles, Lion, Valencia, Vienna, Kartan, Tesin, Greenopolis, etc. to urgently organise the distribution of relief among the inhabitants of Salmast.”

Haraj, no. 1272, 25 May 1930, p. 1.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 14.

According to a letter dated 26 May 1930, “the earthquake tremors still continue in Salmast, with some subterranean rumble heard along with them.... The soil has developed cracks in many parts of Salamast, and the ground has sunk by almost a metre. In Salmast the earthquake has killed 87 Armenians and 480 head of livestock, including 255 head of large and 225 head of small cattle. The Turks have suffered 3,000 fatalities and about 2,000 casualties: some of the latter are getting treatment in Salmast, and the others in Khoy and Tabriz. About 6,000 tumans has been collected in Tabriz for the quake-stricken; the fund-raising is still underway in the districts.”

Հայկազեան Դ., Շարժէն յետոյ՝ մարախը [D. Haykazian, “The Grasshopper after the Earthquake”], «Յառաջ» [Haraj], no. 1285, 11 June 1930, p. 2.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 14.

Another article published 4 days later stated the following: “The number of the fatalities among the Armenians and the losses they have suffered, as compared to those of the Persians and Assyrians, have not been ascertained yet. However, judging from a telegram sent to the Armenian Red Cross Organisation of America with a request of urgent relief, ... the victims among the Armenians are so numerous and their losses are so heavy that they need support from abroad. During the world war, the districts of Urmia and Salmast became theatres of heavy military operations and suffered a Turkish invasion in 1918. In consequence of all this, these districts were almost entirely abandoned and remained in this state for several years after the war. The Armenian and Assyrian refugees had to face grave hardships and even obstacles while trying to return to their places of living. For rather a long time, the Kemalists kept exerting heavy pressure on the Persian authorities so that they did not permit the return of the Armenians and Assyrians of Salmast to their birthplaces. This was done under the excuse that in the past the Armenians and Assyrians had turned Urmia and Salmast into “dens” of revolutionary activities particularly directed against Turkey; therefore, if they returned, allegedly they would again be involved in the same harmful activities. Seeing that it was impossible to return to Salmast, many Armenian refugees decided to move to Soviet Armenia. And truly, a considerable part of them did get permission and repatriated to [Soviet] Armenia.... ...soon the Persian Government at last gave the Armenians permission to return to Salmast. Once back home, they immediately started reconstruction activities which continued until the earthquake.... It was very nice of the Armenian Red Cross Organisation of America to immediately send $ 500 to the quake-stricken district, but that donation is too insufficient.... The Armenians should also give their care and attention to the earthquake-stricken people of Salmast.”

Hayrenik, no. 5495, 29 May 1930, p. 4. Another record says: “Nowhere has the earthquake caused so much destruction as in unfortunate Salmast: devastated during the massacres of the [first] world war, the district had just started rebuilding the prosperity it had enjoyed before the war. The birthplace of immortal Raffi and the neighbouring 50 to 60 villages have been levelled to the ground. According to the official telegrams received from the earthquake zone, no standing houses or any other buildings have been left in that once thriving township, only a bath-house pillar remaining intact there. As soon as the shocking news of the earthquake reached the capital, the shah allocated 100,000 ghrans and sent his court physician, Dr. Amire Alam, to the disaster zone by plane. The latter is also the founder and vice-president of the State Society of the Red Lion and Sun (Shir and Khorshid). Also, some people from Tabriz rushed to rescue and fund-raising started all over the country to save the survivors from starvation and the injured from inevitable death. The collected means will also be used for the reconstruction of the destroyed city and villages. ... Apart from the aforementioned large donation of the shah, the 500 English pounds sent by C. Gulbenkian from Paris was also particularly noteworthy. Besides, the Centre of the Red Cross Organisations sent a touching telegram in which they expressed their willingness to provide relief for the survivors. On the order of Comrade Zora Saginian, the deputy of Atrpatakan, a group of Armenian women have started fund-raising in Tehran; besides, the wife of the court minister Teymur Tash is going to have a large and solemn charity party which will probably be devoted to the earthquake-stricken people of Salmast” (Իրանեան Վ. /Վաղինակ Սարգսյան/, Քիչ մը պատմութիւն Սալմաստի աղէտին առթիւ, [V. Iranian /Vaghinak Sargissian/, “Some Information about the Tragedy of Salmast”], «Յառաջ» [Haraj], no. 1283, 7 June 1930, p. 2). On 16 May 1930, “the earthquake tremours still continue both in Salmast and in entire Atrpatakan, being usually felt at 10-11 o’clock in the morning and at 1-3 o’clock at night” (Մասիս /Հայկ Աճեմյան/, Լրացուցիչ տեղեկութիւններ Սալմաստի աղէտի մասին. Կորուստներուն առաջին տեղեկագիրը, [Masis /Hayk Atjemian/, “Additional Information about the Disaster of Salmast: the First Report on the Losses”], «Յառաջ» [Haraj], no. 1277, 31 May 1930, p. 1). Another report says: “The total number of the fatalities in the Persian villages is more than two thousand. The search is still going on, with more and more corpses found from under the ruins. All the Kurdish villages lying in the direction of the Aravul chain have been totally levelled to the ground and have suffered numerous fatalities” (Masis, “Additional Information about the Disaster of Salmast,” p. 1).
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, pp. 14-15.

The survivors of the earthquake received relief and support from a lot of people, including the inhabitants of the neighbouring districts and even Shah Reza of Persia, who donated 2,000 in English gold (about $ 10,000). Another $ 5,000 was given by the Armenian Red Cross Organisation of America.

Hayrenik, no. 5481, 13 May 1930, p. 1. Another record says: “The commander of Atrpatakan, Emir Lashkyar Zofar Teovle, has actively organised the distribution of relief to the earthquake survivors, for which the people are grateful to him. The Government does not spare efforts to carry out this work rapidly and effectively. All the earthquake-stricken people of Salmast, the Armenians, Persians, Assyrians and Kurds, are equally receiving Governmental relief” (Masis, “Additional Information about the Disaster of Salmast,” p. 1). The Armenian Red Cross Organisation of America sent $ 300 for the earthquake survivors of Salmast and its neighbourhood through its Tabriz Branch (Hayrenik, no. 5486, 18 May 1930, p. 1). According to a letter dated 12 June 1930, donations for the earthquake survivors were also made by some Persian Armenians from Tehran (800 tumans), New Jugha (800 tumans), Shiraz (161 tumans), Sultanapat (about 160 tumans) and Rasht (150). The Persian Government allocated 300,000 tumans for the reconstruction of Salmast (Մասիս, Սալմաստի երկրաշարժը [Masis, “The Earthquake of Salmast”], Յառաջ» [Haraj], no. 1302, 1 July 1930, p. 2). Besides, on 3 July the Persian community of Paris held an evening party under the auspices of the ambassador of Persia to France and Mrs. Hyusein Khan Ala (ibid., p. 3). In 1973 Manuel Berberian and John Tchalenko carried out a study of the earthquake of Salmast (J. Tchalenko, M. Berberian, “The Salmas (Iran) Earthquake of May 6th, 1930,” Annals of Geophysics, vol. 27 (1974), nos. 1-2, pp. 151-211).
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 15.

The situation in the quake-stricken district aggravated even further when it was struck by hail and a shower at 5 o’clock on the evening of 12 May: “The survivors of the earthquake who did not have any covered shelter had to go through grave suffering, being exposed to cold at nights and the sun [in the daytime]. No roofs have been preserved throughout the district. The field canals have been rendered unfit for use, because of which, the fields are doomed to dry up.”

Masis, “Additional Information about the Disaster of Salmast,” p. 1. Besides the earthquake, the villages of Salmast also suffered grasshopper attacks: “As if all this was not enough, on 13 May the fields throughout Atrpatakan suffered a grasshopper infestation” (ibid.).
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 15.

At 5:30 on the morning of 27 June 1970, Salmast was struck by another earthquake which did not cause any damage to the district.39

Alik, no. 138, 28 June 1970, p. 3.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 15.

Inundation

Floods. Indeed, floods were not so disastrous as earthquakes, but anyway, they caused tangible damage to the district. Special mention should be made of the flood of 1872: “On the evening of 15 May, a heaviest shower started in Salmast Province, on the western shore of Lake Urmia.... In two hours’ time, the rivers overflowed their banks and began destroying the nearby villages: 200 houses were ruined in Savra; another 200 houses and the entire market with all its shops were wrecked in the small town of Diliman, and 120 houses were inundated in Mahlam. Besides, seven villages were entirely destroyed in a region called Gharabagh. All these villages are mostly inhabited by Armenians. One of the major consequences of the flood was the complete destruction of the sown fields which were covered with the sand blown off the mountains. The poor people who hoped to overcome famine thanks to this year’s harvest have been left with nothing.”

«Մշակ» [Mshak], no. 22, 8 June 1872, p. 3.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 15.

In 1904 Salmast suffered another flood caused by heavy showers that had been pouring down for a week: within a night, more than 100 people fell victim to the inundation in the Turkish village of Ghushchi, with 25 to 30 houses being entirely destroyed.

Մ. Ս. Փիրան /Մարտիրոս Փիրանյան/, Նամակ Պարսկաստանից [M. S. Piran /Martiros Piranian/, “A Letter from Persia”], «Մշակ» [Mshak], no. 113, 9 June 1905, p. 2.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 15.

Historical Introduction

The archaeological monuments preserved in different parts of Salmast District show that this area was quite densely populated as early as the Bronze and early Iron Ages, and the pre-Urartian period.
According to some researchers, one of the oldest and largest cities in the region, Ulkhu (Ulhu), built in 1200 to 800 B.C., was located within the borders of this district.

[Tohid Malekzadeh Dilmaghani, The Ten Thousand-Year History of Salmast and West Atrpatakan] (Tabriz, 1384), p. 27.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 15.

Salmast is rich in remnants of monuments (fortresses, fortified settlements, dams, canals, sepulchres, religious buildings, etc.) dating from the times of Van (Urartu) Kingdom: these remnants are even more abundant than those of medieval monuments. Although so far no cuneiform inscriptions have been found in Salmast (according to the local people, a fortress located near Nazarabad Village used to have a cuneiform inscription which has not reached our days), it is beyond doubt that the district formed part of Van Kingdom in the 9th to 6th centuries B.C. as one of its most important regions in terms of political and economic significance.

Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 15.

After the fall of Van Kingdom, Salmast District was successively part of the Orontid, Artashessid and Arshakid Kingdoms of Armenia. The Arshakid king Trdat II (also known as Khosrov the Great, 217 to 252) had to fight an almost 5-year war (228 to 232) against Artashir I (226 to 241), the founder of the Sassanid dynasty, who wanted to conquer Armenia. What is noteworthy, in order to keep the border districts of the country away from inevitable destruction, Trdat II crossed the Persian border to carry on the military operations on the territory of Persia, in the land of Media.

Մեր հաղթանակները, հ. Ա [Our Victories, vol. 1] (Yerevan, 2008), pp. 218-222.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 15.

The partition of Armenia Maior between the Roman and Sassanid Empires in 387 was followed by the fall of the Armenian Kingdom in 428, and Eastern Armenia was actually conquered by Persia. During their liberation struggle against the Persian domination, the Armenian noblemen and common people similarly attempted to prevent the inevitable destruction of the interior districts of the country and did their utmost to stop the enemy at the very borders of Armenia. The eloquent examples are the battles of Avarayr (451), Akori (481) and Nersehapat (482) in Artaz District, Vaspourakan Province, Armenia Maior. By that time, Salmast and the neighbouring districts had already shifted into Persian reign.
In 484 a treaty was signed between the Armenians and Persians in Nvarsak Village of Her District, which borders on Salmast in the north. Under that treaty, the Persian court “recognised Vahan Mamikonian as the supreme military commander and satrap of Eastern Armenia, and he accordingly became the governor of the country.” Indeed, Salmast and the neighbouring districts were within this Governorate of Eastern Armenia, which was established only thanks to the Armenian liberation struggle.
About a century later, the Armenians again rose in rebellion against the new encroachments of the Persian conquerors and won glorious victories at the battles of Dvin and Khaghamakhi in 572, actually paving the way for the beginning of a process aimed at the overthrow of the Persian domination in Eastern Armenia.

Մեր հաղթանակները, հ. Բ, [Our Victories, vol. 2] (Yerevan, 2010), p. 91.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, pp. 15-16.

In the early 8th century, Salmast District, along with the rest of Armenia, shifted into the reign of the Arab Caliphate, but in the early 10th century, it was liberated and became part of the Artzrunies’ Kingdom of Vaspourakan. After the fall (1021) of this kingdom, some districts of the former Armenian Kingdom, including Salmast, shifted into the sway of the Oghuz-Turkoman tribes which had established their reign in Her District. In 1042 the new rulers of Her even invaded one of the interior districts of Vaspourakan, Tornavan, the local prince, Khachik, and his younger son being killed during the fighting. A short time later, Khachik’s other sons, Hasan and Jenjeghuk, crushed the Oghuz Turkomans at a victorious battle and drove them away from Tornavan.45 As for Salmast, it remained under the domination of these tribes (unlike Salmast, Artaz, which bordered on Her in the north, preserved its Armenian principality, with its centre in Maku, until 1426).

For details, see Մեր հաղթանակները, հ. Գ [Our Victories, vol. 3] (Yerevan, 2011), pp. 13-20.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 16.

In 1179 Salmast was mentioned in connection with the Ecclesiastical Council of Hromcla, which was attended by Bishop Stepanos “of Saghamast and [all the Armenians of] Persia.”

Ցուցակ հայերէն ձեռագրաց մատենադարանին Մխիթարեանց ի Վիեննա, հ. Ա, կազմ.՝ Տաշեան Յ. [List of the Armenian Manuscripts of the Library of the Mekhitarists of Vienna, vol. 1, compiled by H. Tashian] (Vienna, 1895), p. 350.
Also see Օրմանեան Մ., Ազգապատում, հ. Ա [M. Ormanian, National History, vol. 1] (Echmiatzin, 2001), p. 1718.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 16.

In the 1230s Persia, and naturally, the districts of Armenia that were under its rule were conquered by the Tatar-Mongols.

Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 16.

On 18 July 1316 (on 10 July 1317, according to M. Ormanian), Bishop Hakob of Salmast participated in the Ecclesiastical Council of Adana.
In 1387 the southern districts of Armenia were attacked by Tamerlane, who was defeated by the Turkoman tribe of the Kara Koyunlu.

Օրմանեան Մ., Ազգապատում, հ. Բ [M. Ormanian, National History, vol. 2] (Echmiatzin, 2001), p. 2124.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 16.

In 1390 “[a certain] Avag from Salmast suffered martyrdom in Baghesh.”

Documents Relating to Armenian History, vol. 10, p. 494 (Ղևոնդ Տոսպեցի. Ժամանակագրութիւն [Chronicles by Ghevond Tospetsy]). Another record says: “A Christian man named Avag, a saddler and a purse maker, used to live in the city of Salamast.... And this pious believer suffered martyrdom and became a saint, this taking place on 23 February, Wednesday, during the second week of the Forty-Day Lent, in the year 839 (1390) of the Armenian calendar” (Մայր ցուցակ ձեռագրաց Սրբոց Յակոբեանց, հ. 9, կազմ.՝ Պողարեան Ն. [Main List of the Manuscripts of St. Hakob Monastery Compiled by N. Pogharian, vol. 9] (Jerusalem, 1979), p. 416). Also see List of the Armenian Manuscripts of the Library of the Mekhitarists of Vienna, vol. 1, p. 77.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 16.

In 1407 Salmast (perhaps, also Her and some other nearby districts) was under the reign of Shah Edgar, probably, one of the army commanders of Tamerlane.

Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 16. Shah Edgar is also mentioned in an epitaph on p. 211 of this book.

In 1410 Salmast and the neighbouring districts and regions shifted into the sway of the Kara Koyunlu leader Kara Yousouf (1388 to 1399, 1405 to 1420), who had finally won the long-lasting struggle against the Timurid rulers and the Ak-Koyunlu (the capital of Kara Yousouf’s state was Tabriz). In 1429 Salmast was mentioned in connection with the invasion of Shahrukh, one of the Timurid rulers who “massacred the Turks in Salamast.”

Առաքել Դաւրիժեցի, Գիրք պատմութեանց [Arakel Davrizhetsy, A Book of Histories] (Yerevan, 1990), p. 472. “In 878 (1429) ... [he] massacred the Turks of Salmast, after which he made Busayid a khan there and went to his country” Մայր ցուցակ ձեռագրաց Սրբոց Յակոբեանց, հ. 10, կազմ.՝ Պողարեան Ն. [Main List of the Manuscripts of St. Hakob Monastery, vol. 10, compiled by N. Pogharian] (Jerusalem, 1990), p. 611).
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 16.

In 1468 the Ak-Koyunlu leader Uzun Hasan defeated the Kara-Koyunlu and conquered their vast lands, founding his own empire (1468 to 1502).

Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 16.

In 1501 Ismayil I (1501 to 1524) founded the Safavid Dynasty in Persia and put an end to the existence of the Ak-Koyunlu Empire just a year later, making Tabriz the capital of Persia (in 1555 the capital was moved to Ghazvin, and in 1598 to Isfahan).

Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 16.

The history of Safavid Persia was marked by repeated wars against Ottoman Turkey (1514 to 1555, 1578 to 1590, 1603 to 1612, 1616 to 1618, 1623 to 1639, 1723 to 1726, 1730 to 1736, 1743 to 1746) during which the district of Salmast suffered most of all, very often turning into a theatre of hostilities.
In accordance with the treaties signed and violated after each war, also due to certain historical developments, Salmast was finally placed within the borders of Persia, together with numerous other districts of Eastern Armenia.
What is particularly noteworthy, instead of attempting to comfort, encourage and support their nation in Armenia, a war-torn country with destroyed economy, the Catholicosates of Aghtamar and Echmiatzin strove to have jurisdiction over Salmast District for gaining profit: “The Catholicosates of [Caucasian] Albania and Aghtamar wanted to seize Khoy and Salmast from Echmiatzin, but Catholicos Michael ‘succeeded in getting an authoritative edict from Shah Tahmaz’ and put an end to their pretensions. Unfortunately, it remains unknown when that edict was issued: we think that it hints at the first important fact in the activities carried out after 1557 ... to issue a decree regarding Khoy and Salmast when the Persian-Ottoman wars that started in 1548 ended in 1557.” By the way, it is not by chance that in 1557 the situation was described as harsh: “During the reign of the Kizilbashes, in bitter and harsh times when Christians were being persecuted everywhere, including Salamast, we met each other in the small town of Pagajouk [Payajouk].”

«Արարատ» [Ararat], vols. 1-12 (1919), p. 6. Another record says: “[The Catholicos] put an end to the encroachments of the Catholicoses of Aghvank [Caucasian Albania] and Aghtamar, having previously suppressed them” (Ormanian, vol. 2, p. 2623).
Մայր ցուցակ հայերէն ձեռագրաց մատենադարանին Մխիթարեանց ի Վենետիկ, հ. Ա [Main List of the Armenian Manuscripts of the Library of the Mekhitarists of Venice, vol. 1] (Venice, 1914), p. 529.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 16.

Interestingly enough, as early as the late 16th century the Safavid ruler Shah Abbas I recognised the rights of the meliks descending from the old Armenian princely houses and confirmed the real estate they possessed as their property in many districts of Eastern Armenia. These districts also included Salmast, where this right was bestowed on the owners of Hin Qaghaq, Haftvan and Payajouk Villages: “Written in Persian in 1588 (1006 of Hijrah), in the days of Shah Abbas the Great, that legal manuscript relates to the religious property of the Armenian villages of Salmast. It ratifies the irrefutable right of the Armenian community to some plots of land. On the order of Zalibek, then governor general of Atrpatakan, certain boundaries were fixed for the lands of different proprietors. All the villages of Urmia and Salmast were separated in this way.”

Ավագյանց Սեդր., Ատրպատականի հողային սիստեմը [Sedr. Avagiants, “The Land System of Atrpatakan”], «Զանգ» [Zang], no. 37 (Tabriz, 1919), p. 3.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 17.

The Turkish-Persian war that broke out in 1603 had grave consequences in Salmast and entire Eastern Armenia: learning about the approach of the Turkish army, Shah Abbas decided to retreat, in the meantime also deporting the entire population of the country to impede the advance of the attacking Turkish troops. Among thousands of Armenians deported from numerous districts of Armenia and driven to the remote regions of Persia in 1605 were also the Armenians of “Salamast.”
In 1617 Salmast was taken by the Ottomans: “In 1066 (1617) the Ottomans conquered Salaymast from Khan Pirputagh, whose seat was in Khoy.”
At approximately the same time Ali Pasha invaded Salmast with an army of 20,000 to punish the Kurdish khan Ghazi for having taken sides with the Persians: “And at that time, the shah left Isfahan for Tabriz ... moving ahead on horses that rushed at full speed and reaching Tabriz in a few days. The Ottoman troops did not know about the Persians’ arrival as the latter had reached Tabriz within just several days. And when Shah Abbas reached Tabriz, he attacked this city successfully, as its ruler, Ali Pasha, the commander of all the Ottoman troops that had taken that land, was in the district of Salmast, where he had gone with 20,000 troops to attack the aforementioned Kurdish ruler, Ghazi Khan. The Ottomans had learnt that this khan had broken his alliance with them and had taken sides with the Persians, sending one of his faithful men, Khan Avdal, to the shah. For this reason, the Ottoman troops gathered and went to attack Ghazi Khan in Salmast.”

Davrizhetsy, pp. 65, 86. Հայերեն ձեռագրերի ԺԷ դարի հիշատակարաններ, հ. Ա [Colophons of the Armenian Manuscripts of the 17th Century (henceforward: Colophons, 17th century), vol. 1] (Yerevan, 1974), p. 412. “Then he took Nakhjevan and destroyed Jugha, [after which he also conquered] Salmast and Aghbak, deporting people even from Van” Բաբգէն աթոռակից կաթողիկոս, Ցուցակ ձեռագրաց Անկիւրիոյ Կարմիր վանուց եւ շրջակայից [Co-Catholicos Babgen, List of the Manuscripts of Karmir Vank [Red Monastery] of Ankara and Its Neighbourhood] (Antellias-Lebanon, 1957), p. 261). Below follows an excerpt from the colophon of a Gospel of 1614 written by Zakaria Vanetsy: “In the year 1053 (1604) of the Armenian calendar and in the year 292 of the small Roman calendar, the Persian Shah Abbas came and laid siege to Tabriz, slaughtering the Turkish troops stationed there. He succeeded in this as Ali Pasha and all the other Turkish soldiers of Tabriz, Nakhchvan and Yerevan had moved to Salmast to attack Ghazi Bey. And when they returned, all of them were massacred together with numerous Christians.... The same fate befell the Armenians as the shah had ordered to deport them; so the Armenians of Kars, Shirakavan, Basen, Kaghzvan, Aghjayghale, Alashkert, Gogsu, Khnus, Mal[n]azkert, Tiplis [Tiflis], Tumanis, Chaldar, Ardahan, Kola, Shaki, Shrvan, Shamakhi, Banak, Parkert, Youkhtik, Mamrvan, Tonitun, Seper, Terjan, Kamakh, Van, Arjesh, Artzke, Berkri, Vostan, Zarishat, Yerevan, Nakhchvan, Jugha, Aghbak, Salamast, Tabriz, Ganja and Damukhapu were all deported. Also, many other villages and cities [were emptied of their Armenian inhabitants], but it is impossible to mention all of them; the Persians devastated all the places from Davrezh [Tabriz] to Theodoropolis that is called Arzrum, and deported 60,000 Armenians from Yerevan to Tabriz. Some of these people were slaughtered, while others died of starvation, got drowned in the river, or froze to death” (Ցուցակ ձեռագրաց, որ ի Հանդէս ամսօրեայ, խմբ.՝ Ոսկեան Հ. [List of Manuscripts Published in the Handes Amsorea. Edited by H. Voskian] (Vienna, 1976), p. 114. Cf. p. 130).
Colophons, 17th century, vol. 1, p. 611.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 17.

In 1656 the district of Salmast was mentioned in the colophon of an Ashkharatsuyts (an early medieval illustrated Armenian book on geography): “Aghbak and Salmast... where the relics of the holy apostle Bartholomew are kept.”
Apparently, after the deportation organised by Shah Abbas I, part of the deported Armenians were able to return and harness themselves to the reconstruction of their homeland. This became possible thanks to the fact that the shah’s successors exercised a milder policy towards the Armenians. Anyway, despite the repeated Turkish-Persian wars, by 1672 to 1673, the Armenian population of Salmast and the neighbouring districts had increased to such an extent that Catholicos Hakob Jughayetsy commissioned Tovmas Vanandetsy to hold fund-raising in the districts of Khoy and Salmast for the renovation of Sourb Khach (Holy Cross) Church of Goghtn.

Թօփճեան Յ., Ցուցակ ձեռագրաց Դադեան Խաչիկ վարդապետի, մասն Ա [H. Toptjian, List of Manuscripts Compiled by Archimandrite Khachik Dadian, part 1] (Vagharshapat, 1898), p. 77.
Գրիգորեան Մ., Նոր նիւթեր եւ դիտողութիւններ հրատարակիչ Վանանդեցւոյ մասին [M. Grigorian, New Materials and Remarks on the Publisher Vanandetsy] (Vienna, 1969), pp. 135-136.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 17.

In 1718 Salmast as well as numerous other districts was invaded by the Lezghins.

Ormanian, vol. 2, p. 3260.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 17.

In 1723 “the Ottoman pasha Avtula moved from Istanbul to attack the Persians. He conquered Khoy, Tasu and Tabriz, reaching Gilan.... The Ottomans’ power over the Persians increased to such an extent that the pasha’s son reached Baghdad with his one hundred and fifty thousand troops and took Hamadan. They reigned in this way for fifteen years until the Persian Shah Tahmaz gathered large troops in 1187 (1738) and reconquered all his lands.”

Documents Relating to Armenian History, vol. 10, p. 379.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 18.

In 1733 Tamur Pasha of Van “launched an attack against Salmast and looted the district, taking Chichag and massacring three to four thousand people. Then he returned to Van.”
In 1810 Archimandrite Simeon addressed a letter of blessing to the Armenians, including those of Salmast, calling on them to contribute to the reconstruction of the monastery of Sourb Tadevos Arakyal (St. Thaddeus the Apostle) in Artaz.
The Armenians of Salmast who had been suffering the Turkish-Persian wars throughout 2.5 centuries, but remained devoted to their homeland were to go through another, perhaps, more cruel, experience in the early 19th century. Indeed, the main theatre of hostilities during the Russo-Persian war of 1804 to 1813 was mostly in the regions lying north of the River Arax, and it did not directly affect the fate of the Armenians in Salmast and the neighbouring districts, but the other war between these two great powers that lasted from 1826 until 1828 proved disastrous for the Armenians.

Documents Relating to Armenian History, vol. 10, p. 132.
Թօփճեան Յ., Ցուցակ ժողովածուաց Դադեան Խաչիկ վարդապետի, մասն Բ [H. Toptjian, List of Manuscripts Compiled by Archimandrite Khachik Dadian, part 2] (Vagharshapat, 1900), p. 16.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 17.

The Immigration of Salmast Armenians to the Russian-Conquered Regions. The Russo-Persian war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Turkmenchay on 21 February 1828. Immediately afterwards, a considerable portion of the Armenian (and partly also Assyrian) population of the districts of Maku, Khoy, Salmast and even Urmia started immigrating to the Russian-conquered regions (the former khanates of Yerevan and Nakhijevan) with naive hopes that they were going to have a more peaceful and happier life under the auspices of that Christian state. The immigration became possible thanks to the efforts of some Armenian clergymen who had committed themselves to serving the political interests of the Russian Empire: they encouraged and urged the Armenian natives of the districts of Persian Armenia to emigrate, even cursing those who refused to leave their ancestral land.

On 8 September 1828, 6 months after the immigration, the Armenians of Mahlam and Savra who had taken up residence in Jahuk Village of Old Nakhijevan wrote the following about their conditions to Catholicos Yeprem: “We ... have left behind all our belongings. We have been here for already 6 months, but we have not received any support; on the contrary, we have been suffering even more. ...We got ill, but we did not receive any remedy, so we are asking You to visit us and provide us with medicaments. We sowed some fields, but our harvest was destroyed. We were not given any properly-built houses. We started ploughing the land, but it was seized from us on the order of Hasan Khan. When we informed the captain in charge of us about our needs, he beat one of us for protesting. For the same reason, several people living next to us were brutally beaten, so now we can rely only on Your care.... The Armenians of Tarvizh [Tabriz], Salmast and Khoy who have taken up residence in Nakhichevan are eye-witnesses to all this and can confirm everything.”

A great number of families which had been prudent enough not to sell their houses and lands at once returned to Persia as soon as they had the opportunity. However, the majority of the emigrants had already sold their realty at meagre prices, having in this way burnt all their bridges; for this reason, large multitudes of people had to go through unspeakable privations and start from nothing.

The Armenian immigrants from Salmast and Khoy Districts settled down in the territories of the former khanates of Yerevan and Nakhijevan (in Ararat, Kotayk, Vayots Dzor and Syunik Regions of the present-day Republic of Armenia, and in the Autonomous Republic of Nakhijevan), which had been conquered by the Russians. According to a record, the Armenians who immigrated to Vayk (in Vayots Dzor Region) included the inhabitants of Saramerik (Saramerk), Shorik, Orban, Sulav, Yezdekian, Gharatapa, Shakearyazi, Mallajnut, Kanigayni, Kava, Shidan, Yengija, Rashgiran, Savri, Ghalaveran, Jukelan, Goladam, Somayi, Aslanik, Hmbanava and Mahlazan Villages.

In consequence of this emigration, hundreds of villages were totally emptied of their Armenian inhabitants, being almost immediately occupied by Kurds (in the mountain villages) and Iranian Turks (in the villages of the plain).

Those Armenians of Salmast who had not abandoned their homeland lived in peace and were able to engage in creative activities thanks to the benevolent attitude of the Persian authorities—something that should be highly appreciated. For about 6 decades (until the 1890s), they were busy reviving and developing the agriculture of the district. Besides, they also founded a number of schools and carried out some reforms in the sphere of education (these people faced hardships only when they had to find means to support the Armenian refugees who had somehow reached Salmast after the outbreak of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877 to 1878).

Присоединение Восточной Армении к России, Сборник документов, т. II (1814-1830) [The Incorporation of Eastern Armenia into Russia. A Collection of Documents, vol. 2 (1814 to 1830)] (Yerevan, 1978), p. 541.
Քաջբերունի, Ճանապարհորդական նկատողութիւնք [Kajberuny, “Travel Notes”], «Արարատ» [Ararat], no. 3 (1892), pp. 202, 216-217.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, pp. 17-18.

The Aggravation of the Political Situation in the mid-1890s. Salmast, which bordered on Ottoman Turkey, was always directly affected by the events taking place on the Turkish side of the frontier. What is noteworthy, the district saw influxes of Armenian refugees from Turkey and hordes of Kurdish bandits who crossed the border for plunder both when the persecutions of the Armenians intensified in Turkey and when the Persian authorities showed signs of weakness.
As reported in a letter of 12 July 1892, “the Kurds from Ottoman Turkey attack the Armenian mountain villages of Salmast [from Aghbak] for robbery. Several Armenian villages of the district which are located close to the borderline have to give the Shikak Kurds some gifts every day to escape plunder.”

From October 1893 onwards, within a year, 172 Armenian families (about 860 people) from Aghbak immigrated to Salmast to escape raids and depredation.

The following was stated in a letter of the same year dated 15 November: “Salmast ... seems to be living through the year ‘79 again: a countless number of refugees have poured into the local villages from Turkey. Starving, naked and barefooted, they keep wandering here and there, begging for bread and shelter.... The Armenians of Salmast spare nothing to help their poor compatriots although unfortunately, this year they themselves are in a difficult situation because of the shortage of bread.”

According to a letter of 27 April 1894, 130 Armenian families from Aghbak District “have immigrated to Salmast.... Two representatives of the newly-arrived refugees have come to Davrezh [Tabriz] to ask His Excellency, Prelate Sukias, to intercede before the Persian authorities to permit them to take up residence in Salmast.”

In the same year, another 120 Armenian families emigrated from Aghbak to Salmast due to their grave economic conditions: “Seeing the intolerable state of the refugees, the [Persian] Government showed benevolence and gave them places of living in different Armenian villages of Salmast.”

The large influx of the Armenian refugees into Salmast, particularly from the neighbouring district of Aghbak, also continued in the following years due to the massacres of the Western Armenians organised by Sultan Hamid. The situation was described as follows in 1896: “All the villages, about 23 in number, have been reduced to ashes. Part of their surviving inhabitants have poured into the capital of Aghbak District, Bashkale, while others have crossed the border and surged into the villages of the neighbouring districts of Salmast and Urmia.”

A record of 1896 states the following: “In all the villages, there are poor, miserable refugees from Aghbak who are starving. In order to help them, Amine Dovla has sent one hundred tumans from Tabriz. The Society of the Armenian Women of Tabriz followed the example of that kind-hearted Persian and sent Mrs. Amatuny and Masumian to Salmast for the distribution of wheat and clothes among the refugees. In their turn, the Armenians of Salmast do their utmost to help their compatriots.”

Another record says: “Now there are about 1,500 refugees in Salmast, without clothes, starving and wandering from one place to another. They are begging the Armenians of Atrpatakan for relief. The Administration of the Charity Society of the Armenian Women of Tabriz extended a helping hand to them, like a saving angel. The members of this Society raised about 300 tumans; besides, they walked from one house to another and collected old clothing, hats, shoes and pieces of new cloths from which the pupils of their workshop made 80 sets of female clothing. On 26 October, two members of the Administration, Srbuhi Amatuny and Mariam Masumiants, left for Salmast to distribute these clothes and buy wheat for the famine-stricken people with the collected money. Special thanks are due to Mrs. Amatuny, who pledged herself to cover the expenses of the transportation of the clothing. It is also encouraging that a Protestant American lady, Mrs. Wilson, collected 100 pieces of clothing in the district where she works and sent them to the same refugees.”

What is particularly noteworthy, after the Armenian massacres perpetrated by Sultan Hamid in Western Armenia, the Turkish consul of Salmast attempted to instigate similar pogroms in this district as well. A letter dated 7 September 1897 states the following with this regard: “The Turkish consul (shahbandar) of Salmast, Riza Bey, sent orders to the Kurds living on the borderline to resume their raids, plunder and killings as soon as the [Persian] Government stopped its persecutions against, and pressure on, the Armenians of Salmast (as if these sufferings were not enough). Apart from the mountain villages inhabited by the Armenians, some of the villages of Salmast Plain, Sarna, Hmpanava, Khosrova, Khanakian and others, were plundered, too.”

Indeed, the Kurdish tribes which “earned” their living through plunder repeatedly attacked the Armenian villages, but they only robbed the Armenians and did not commit any harsh atrocities, as if sparing their “milch cows” for the next raids. However, due to the instigation of the Turkish consul of Khoy, the Kurds intensified their atrocities and outrages to such an extent that between 1896 and 1897, all those mountain villages of Salmast which still had some Armenian inhabitants were totally emptied of them: “Salmast is in panic and terror, too. Until recently, the situation was more or less tolerable, but now the Armenians of the mountain villages have moved to the plain, unable to endure the Kurdish outrages any more. They have left everything to the Kurds.”

The Turkish consul who resided in Khoy kept sending reports and telegrams that contained only disinformation, being directed against the Armenian refugees from Vaspourakan who had somehow found shelter in the villages of Salmast. The misinformation he disseminated finally intensified the relations between the Turkish and Persian states: “The conditions of the Turkish Armenian refugees who had found shelter in Khoy and Salmast Districts of Atrpatakan considerably aggravated after the July events of this year, when some skirmishes took place between the Armenians and Kurds on the Persian-Turkish borderline. Provoked by the Turkish authorities, the Persian Government took strict measures against the refugees and started persecuting them, forbidding them to gather anywhere in large numbers. Taking advantage of the situation, the Persian governor of Khoy and Salmast, Zafar Dovle Shahzade, who had become a mere tool in the hands of the Turkish vice-consul of Khoy, began oppressing both the refugees and the local people. The consul’s mean reports, which contained only disinformation, created a lot of turmoil and tension in the Governmental circles. This gentleman recently kept showering Constantinople and Tehran with telegrams claiming that 4,000 mounted Armenian fidayis or “ghachaghs”* had gathered in the Ararat Plain, within the borders of Maku Khanate. Allegedly, they were going to attack Turkey, and the Armenian refugees in Salmast had some involvement in this matter. Using these falsified reports, the Turkish Government sent 12,000 troops and 20 cannons to the borderline. The Persian authorities who were completely at a loss immediately sent some investigators to Maku, and the latter, indeed, declared that the existence of the 4,000 mounted Armenian “ghachaghs” was only the fruit of the sick imagination of the Turkish consul. The Turkish army, however, remained on the borderline, the Persian Government being largely concerned about this. The investigators sent from Tehran and a separate inquiry carried out by the consuls proved that the border skirmishes had been incited by the Kurds of Turkey who had been the first to attack. For this reason, the Persian Government demanded that the Ottoman authorities should keep the Kurds in check and recompense for all the harm done to their subjects. The Sublime Porte, however, kept harping on the same theme, insisting that the Armenian revolutionaries were to blame for all those clashes. At the same time, the Persian Government carried out a strict and unbiassed examination of the letter of protest submitted by the vicar of Atrpatakan, Archimandrite Hovsep Sarajian, against the governor of Khoy and Salmast, Shahzade Zafer-Saltane: as said earlier, the Turkish consul had incited this official to arrest all the Armenians whom he labelled as revolutionaries.... Archimandrite Sarajian’s accusations proving grounded, Amir Nizam released Zafar Saltane from work; moreover, a few days ago, the shah ordered from Tehran that he should be fined and made to pay back all the money that the Persian Government had spent—guided by his falsified reports—to station some troops in Salmast and Khoy.
“However, as a result of the Turkish intrigues, the large multitudes of Armenian refugees who had found shelter in the Armenian villages of Salmast District were scattered here and there. About 2,500 Armenian refugees who had had a narrow escape from the Turkish atrocities had found home in these villages. The eye-witnesses say that the Armenian peasants of Salmast who hosted their poor compatriots for a year treated them with cordial fraternal love, meeting all their needs without absolutely any outside relief. Unfortunately, the refugees could not find the same warm, brotherly compassion and support in other places, such as, for instance, Gharadagh and Tabriz, primarily because the local inhabitants were too poor to help them. It is for this reason that many of the refugees who were forced to leave Salmast are now thinking of returning to their homeland, Turkish Armenia, although the news coming from there is too discouraging.”

Indeed, the formidable accounts of the pogroms of the Armenians raging in Western Armenia from 1894 until 1896 tore their compatriots’ hearts to pieces. Guided by the desire of saving their suffering nation from the clutches of the Turkish tyrants and wishing to take revenge, a lot of young Armenians gathered in groups of volunteers who committed themselves to serving for the liberation of their Homeland. The volunteers attempted to enter Turkish Armenia not only across the Russian-Turkish frontier (where they always had to fight the Russian border guards), but also via the Persian-Turkish border, the district of Salmast being regarded as the most convenient place for crossing it: “Located between the two parts of Armenia, Salmast truly became a bridge connecting Russian Armenia with Turkish Armenia during the Armenian revolutionary movement.”

The aforementioned Turkish consul of Khoy was struggling against these very small groups of volunteers who attempted to enter the land of Western Armenia suffering under the Turkish yoke. In his endless telegrams to the Persian authorities and diplomats of different countries, he described their activities with unspeakable exaggeration: “On 5 August [18]97, Salisbury addressed a telegram to the ... English consul of Persia, informing him about the intention of the Armenian revolutionaries of Salmast to attack Van, and ordering him to make the Persian Government ban their crossing of the border.”

Armenia, no. 2, 24 August 1892, p. 3.
Armenia, no. 32, 17 November 1894, p. 2.
***, Նամակ Պարսկաստանից [“A Letter from Persia”], «Մշակ» [Mshak], no. 15, 2 December 1893, p. 4.
Armenia, no. 70, 26 May 1894, p. 4.
Mshak, no. 89, 6 August 1894, p. 4.
«Դրօշակ» [Droshak], no. 9, March 1896, p. 67.
Մխ., Նամակ Պարսկաստանից [Mkh., “A Letter from Persia”], «Մշակ» [Mshak], no. 138, 26 November 1896, p. 3.
Միրզա, Նամակ Պարսկաստանից [Mirza, “A Letter from Persia”], «Մշակ» [Mshak], no. 139, 28 November 1896, p. 4.
Մի թղթակից, Նամակ Պարսկաստանէն [Mi Tghtakits (A Correspondent), “A Letter from Persia”], «Արմէնիա» [Armenia], no. 11, 9 October 1897, p. 2.
74 *, Նամակ Պարսկաստանէն [“A Letter from Persia”], «Արմէնիա» [Armenia], no. 84, 27 May 1896, p. 2.
As literally translated from Turkish, the word ghachagh (kachagh) means a runaway, especially one persecuted by the government. In this quoted text, it actually refers to the Armenian fidayis or hayduks, the freedom fighters who formed irregular armed groups and struggled against the Ottoman Government in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in reaction to the mass murder of Armenians and the pillage of Armenian villages in Western Armenia.
Առաքելեանց Հ., Շվեդական ծրագիրը [H. Arakeliants, “The Swedish Programme” (A Letter from Persia)], «Մշակ» [Mshak], no. 135, 18 November 1897, p. 1. Other records say: “For already several days, the Shikak Kurds living close to the borderline have been inciting skirmishes in the districts of Khoy and Salmast, with about 8 to 10 Persians having been killed. There are some rumours—probably, trustworthy—that the Kurds were provoked by the Turkish Government” (Droshak, no. 10, 24 July 1897, p. 81). “Salmast did not suffer any persecutions by the Kurds. The reported atrocities were perpetrated not by the Government, but by certain officials, such as, for instance, the governor of the district who had taken a lot of bribes. The governor general of Atrpatakan summoned him up to Tabriz and made him return all the money he had taken as a bribe. He gave it back to the Armenians of Salmast and even strictly punished the district governor” (Droshak, no. 16, 25 December 1897, p. 137). The same record also mentions the shah’s telegram to the governor of Atrpatakan in which he ordered the latter to defend the Armenians (ibid.).
A. A., “With the Eagles” (Forty-Two Years Ago), Alik, no. 196, 3 September 1951, p. 3. The article also pointed out that Salmast District “has its peculiar place in the history of the Turkish Armenians’ liberation movement. In those times, Salmast was a centre of revolutionary activities: the Armenakans usually gathered in Haftvan; the Hnchakians in Payajouk, and the Dashnaktsakans [members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation] in Ghalasar” (Հ. Պանիրեանի յուշերից [“From H. Panirian’s Memoirs”], «Ալիք» [Alik], no. 242, 30 October 1947, p. 4). “The youth [of Salmast] had joined the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, harnessing themselves to the sacred liberation struggle of the Armenian nation. Following the example of the heroes of Raffi’s Minaret, they had established a bridge connecting the three parts of the Armenian nation for the realisation of the great national dream” (A. A., “With the Eagles,” Alik, no. 197, 4 September 1951, p. 2).
Droshak, no. 4, 30 April 1898, p. 38.
Karapetian. Samvel**, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, pp. 18-20.

The Negative Consequences of the Petty Inter-Party Conflicts. The young Armenian patriots who cherished the same goals and dreams were unfortunately split between rivaling political parties, due to which, their activities were mostly unorganised; moreover, the inter-party conflicts often aggravated to such an extent as to stir up enmity. Even some unimportant, minor reasons were often enough to make the members of different parties fight each other: regretful as it is, numerous young Armenians killed each other out of intolerance and narrow-mindedness—the “fruits” of party-affiliation—their tombstones being still preserved in the cemeteries of almost all the villages of Salmast District. These young men were not killed by the enemy against whom they had taken up arms.
The petty inter-party conflicts were troublesome not only for the young members of the political parties, but also for the peasants of the district who were fined by the Government after every murder. Indeed, these extremely imprudent actions only played into the hands of the Turkish consul of Khoy and certain local officials: “At the demand of Riza Bey, the Ottoman consul of Khoy and Salmast, violent acts of search were carried out in the Armenian villages of Salmast, and unspeakably high fines were imposed on the local people. Even some murders were committed in these villages, as a result of which, the thriving economic life of Salmast Armenians was gradually destroyed, and they started emigrating. The representative of the Red Beast [namely Sultan Abdul Hamid, who is often referred to as the Red Sultan because of the pogroms of the Armenians he organised in the late 1890s] enjoyed the fruits of his plots and schemes although for the final realisation of his plans, Riza Bey still had to carry out the most important action, namely the emptying of Salmast of its Armenian population. However, he failed to reach this although he did his best to persuade the Persian Government, through the judge Shahzade, to deport the Armenians of Salmast and resettle them in Gharadagh.”

Mars, Պարսկաթրքական սահմանագլուխ [“The Persian-Turkish Borderline”], «Հնչակ» [Hnchak], no. 4, 30 May 1901, p. 28.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 20.

The Actions Taken by the Local Authorities to Drive the Armenian Revolutionaries away from the District. The acts of search and violence against the Armenians of Salmast also continued in 1898: “The false letters found with a certain Alexan on his way from Khoy to Salmast ... were a good excuse to subject Salmast to further search. Believing the slanderous disinformation provided by the hungry and corrupt sarparasts of Khoy and Salmast, the governor of Tabriz, Amir Nizam, gave strict orders to carry out search to find any hidden arms, cannons and the “gangs of bandits” themselves. No houses escaped the search ... the fines, robbery, theft and merciless beating were unspeakable. The tortured Armenians of the district surged into the telegraph-office of Salmast and submitted a serious protest to Amir Nizam.... The desperate telegram of Salmast Armenians aroused the pity of that passionate, but far-seeing old man, and he immediately sent orders to Salmast to abate the search and treat the Armenians well. Also, the prince and Amir Nizam ordered to send investigators to Salmast for the examination of all the cases. Fatih Sultan, who was on close terms with the prince, was sent to the district among the other officials, as a chief investigator. He is said to be a conscientious person.” Another record says: “On the order of Riza Bey, 80 or 90 of the Armenian refugees who were still in Salmast were beaten, tortured and herded towards Khoy, perhaps, to exact more fines from them and strip those suffering wretches of the last rags covering their nakedness.... The goals of the sultan’s agent, the master of Khoy and Salmast who was about to found a glorious duchy in that part of the Persian state are no secret, but the indifference of the officials of the shah cannot be understood. The lamenting people of Salmast sent telegrams to Amir Nizam and the [Armenian] Prelacy; the wives and children of the refugees who had been driven to Khoy poured into the telegraph-office of Salmast ... to beg for some remedy for their harsh situation; the Russian agent of Salmast conveyed the same information to the consul Petrov. [However], the Prelate, who was no longer an authority, could do nothing. The tajirbashi, Sargis Honaniants, passed the telegrams and letters sent by the Russian consul to Amir Nizam, asking him to punish the criminals and return the unjustly exacted fines. Reportedly, Amir Nizam feigned to be unaware of what had taken place and even pretended to be surprised that his officials could have treated the Armenians so unfairly. He has promised to restore order and improve the Armenians’ conditions. Two of the ten refugees who are Turkish subjects have been handed over to the Turkish vice-consul of Tabriz, while the other eight are still in prison. The interrogations and examination of the documents still continue: Amir Nizam has assured that all the arrested refugees, except one of them, will be set free in a few days.”
Early in the spring of 1898, the Persian officials continued the persecutions of Salmast Armenians at the instigation of the Turkish Government.
At the same time, the Persian Shah Mozaffar Ed-Din (1896 to 1907) sent a letter to the governor of Atrpatakan, Amir Nizam, in which he stated the following with regard to the harsh conditions of Salmast Armenians: “It was a great pain to me to learn about the privations and sufferings of my Armenian subjects in Salmast. Immediately move all those oppressing officials away from Salmast, make them compensate for all the harm and damage they have caused and repay the people. Provide complete security and peace for the Armenians and do not allow their emigration.”
We do not know if the district authorities faithfully obeyed the shah’s orders or not, but the contemporary press publications attest that the Armenians in Salmast, and particularly, the refugees from Vaspourakan who considered this district as a safe haven were starving to death: “Encouraged by the presence of the English consul, the Armenian refugees from Aghbak, facing starvation in Salmast every day, started going to Ghalasar in groups to ask him for relief and support. Unfortunately, however, the consul had already left, and the poor people were not able to describe their formidable conditions to him. However, seeing the miserable state of those wretches, several kind-hearted people decided to register them for a detailed statistical account. Finding out that about 1,300 men, women and children were starving in 12 Armenian villages, they decided ... to set up a committee to help them. They applied to the Prelate of Atrpatakan, His Excellency Ayvatian, for giving the committee members the necessary instructions and supporting them in the distribution of bread and clothing for the coming winter among those unfortunate sons of their homeland. The volunteering members of that committee are Misters Karapet S. Arzumanian, Sahak Shahgaldiants, Smbat Budaghian, Vahan Nazarian, Mihran Paghdasarian and Grigor Hasratian.
“Hopefully, realising what dangers the lamentable conditions of the refugees are fraught with, the Prelate will immediately ratify the establishment of the committee, giving its members the necessary instructions and fully entitling them to carry out their kind intentions. The refugees are in urgent need of relief. Under the current deplorable circumstances, the entire nation is largely responsible for the sustenance of those wretched people. Last year the wheat was abundant and cheap, and there were a lot of donors: the Germans, Americans, the Charity Society of the Armenian Women of Tabriz and certain kind-hearted people from Petersburg made large financial contributions for the Armenian refugees. Besides, the people of Salmast largely supported those poor people. However, this year they are starving in the very proper sense of the word and there are no supporters. Winter has already come. It has not snowed yet, but the weather is rather dry and cold, while the refugees are half-naked and have absolutely no bread, as a wheat pack is 8 or 9 tumans, the barley is 5 or 6 tumans, and the millet 3 to 4 tumans, whereas they do not have any money. They did not have any proper employment last year: from time to time, some of them worked in the fields for several days at a meagre daily payment (1 ghran = 20 kopecks), while the majority kept begging for bread in this or that village, dragging their existence in that way. This time the local people are absolutely unable to help them: the endless fines and large bribes the poor villagers had to pay this year for allegedly hiding “ghachaghs” [fidayis] in their houses, for the corpses brought by the rivers and under thousands of other pleas have put them in abject poverty. In addition, the price for bread went high, paving the way for the complete poverty that is now reigning in Salmast. After all this, how can the Armenians of Salmast help those vast multitudes of refugees from Aghbak when their own children are hungry? They are also deprived of any possibility of getting education as this year the schools have remained closed for the reasons specified above.”
Salmast was in this situation when a group of 8 Armenian fidayis were discovered near Mahlam Village in October 1898 and were immediately arrested. They had moved to Salmast from Vaspourakan to have some rest after a number of fights, but all of them were decapitated on the order of the pro-Turkish governor of Khoy.
In 1899 the starving refugees and the destitute Armenians of Salmast continued receiving donations. In winter the Charity Society of the Armenian Women of Tabriz sent 400 roubles to Salmast and Urmia for buying and distributing wheat. In April 1899 the Society provided 300 tumans for the poor on the occasion of Easter.
More than 100 Armenian refugees from Aghbak who had at first stopped in Salmast in May 1899 later moved to Tabriz, unable to bear the grave conditions to which they were exposed. However, the Charity Society of the Armenian Women of Tabriz “decided to send them back to Salmast, after sustaining them ... for a week, covering all the transportation expenses, the fare, bast shoes, etc. Some influential people of Salmast informed the refugees about the decision of the Society to prevent their movement from this district and the neighbouring ones to Tabriz, and 1,000 ghrans was immediately sent to Salmast’s Relief Committee for distribution among the poor refugees, although they had also received an allowance earlier.”
The aforementioned Society commissioned Jibrael Budaghian, a merchant from Salmast, to consult the village proprietors of the district for allocating houses to the immigrant farmers.

W.,Վերջին դեպքերը Ատրպատականում (Նամակ Պարսկաստանից) [“The Recent Events in Atrpatakan” (A Letter from Persia], «Մշակ» [Mshak], no. 30, 27 February 1898, p. 1.
W., Նամակ Պարսկաստանից [“A Letter from Persia”], «Մշակ» [Mshak], no. 42, 17 March 1898, p. 1. Late in January 1898, “the local authorities made all the Armenian villages of Salmast sign a special document under which the locals pledged themselves to abstain giving shelter to the Armenian revolutionaries. If they broke the pledge, they would have to pay the fixed fine, an amount of 1,000 to 2,000 tumans, after which they would be shot to death and their houses would be burnt away. Indeed, the greedy khans and exploiting officials of Salmast could not find a better plea.... Encouraged by the order to check if there were any Armenian revolutionaries in Salmast, they imprisoned a great number of refugees and released them only when they got fully convinced that those poor people did not have any money left in their pockets.” After the protests of the vicar of Salmast, Mirza Mahmut Khan was sent to the district to make a list of the Armenian refugees living there (Պարգեւ, Նամակ Պարսկաստանէն [Pargev, “A Letter from Persia”], «Արմէնիա» [Armenia], no. 50, 2 March 1898, p. 2).
Armenia, no. 61, 9 April 1898, p. 2.
Վարդ, Պարսիկ կառավարութիւնը եւ հայերը [Vard, “The Persian Government and the Armenians”],«Արմէնիա» [Armenia], no. 80, 22 May 1898, p. 1.
Ականատես, Նամակ Պարսկաստանից [Akanates (Eye-Witness), “A Letter from Persia”], «Մշակ» [Mshak], no. 209, 17 November 1898, p. 3. “The situation of the starving people is even graver in Urmi and Salmast. Their number keeps increasing, while the local efforts are not enough to remedy their situation, and outside relief is indispensable. The Charity Society of the Armenian Women of Tabriz has donated 100 tumans, and the Prelate, Bishop Sahak Ayvatian, somehow collected about 200 tumans, 30 of which was received from the Charity Society of the Armenian Women of Atrpatakan.... It should be noted that this Society has been providing financial means for the refugees since last year, but anyway, the entire burden of that heavy work has been borne by the Society of the Armenian Women of Tabriz, which is as diligent as a bee in its efforts” (W., “A Letter from Persia,” Mshak, no. 229, 15 December 1898, p. 3).
For details, see the part on Mahlam Village, pp. 384-385.
W., “A Letter from Persia,” Mshak, no. 30, 17 February 1899, p. 3.
Armenia, no. 78, 13 May 1899, p. 1.
Armenia, no. 15, 20 September 1899, p. 2.
Armenia, no. 16, 23 September 1899, p. 1.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, pp. 20-22.

The Emigration of the Late 1890s. In the second half of the 1890s, the abject poverty and the powerlessness to struggle against the reigning injustice gradually made almost the majority of Salmast Armenians think of abandoning their Homeland (indeed, labour migration had become a common lifestyle for them). With this regard, a letter dated 30 December 1899/11 January 1900 stated the following: “The Russo-Persian war of [1826 to] 1828, the temporary conquest of Atrpatakan by the Russians, and the large-scale, disastrous emigration of the Armenians from the province which started in the same year marked the beginning of a wandering life for Salmast Armenians in the Caucasus and Russia.... It gradually became a habit for Salmast Armenians to often leave for a foreign country. Very small is the number of the people who have not been to Russia for several times. This has become a kind of a disease: every father thinks it his sacred duty to send his son to a foreign country as soon as he is 10 so that he masters some craft to be able to earn his living.” According to the author of this letter, the reasons for the development of this lifestyle were as follows: “1. The Armenian of Salmast makes his means of subsistence with the sweat of his brow, but the fruits of his hard work are seized from him. The villager who is engaged in farming and gardening is not the owner of the land: he is subject to a certain khan or agha [master].... whom he has to pay the poll tax, one of his (I do not know how many) hens, a tribute for his cows, buffalos, oxen and even dogs....
“2. The Armenian of Salmast does not have any life security: the corrupt sarparast ... can arrest and abuse him without any obstacle. The Kurds steal his grazing sheep and shoot at his piles of wheat; the sarbaz destroys his garden, robbing anyone he comes across....
“3. In Atrpatakan the crafts and commerce are concentrated exclusively in the Turks’ hands ... all the Armenian merchants being engaged only in the export. There used to be very few Armenian craftsmen, but we are glad to say that their number has increased in recent years: many people have started learning and teaching crafts. The spread of crafts was primarily promoted by Turkish Armenians.
“4. The Armenian of Salmast has become kind of envious... eager to accumulate riches easily and within a short time....
“5. The Armenian of Salmast is ignorant in the very proper sense of the word.”
The following record, dated 15 February 1900, provides more details about the lamentable situation in Salmast: “During the revolutionary movement ongoing in the Armenian Homeland in recent ten years, the Armenians of Atrpatakan, and particularly, of Salmast—a district bordering on Vaspourakan—performed their brotherly duties with the utmost willingness. No losses made them step back from their praiseworthy activities of great responsibility.
“However, when the revolutionary activities came to an end, all the noble and conscientious revolutionaries left Salmast, while a number of dregs of society who had been playing their own game under the disguise of revolutionaries stayed there as a burden to the local people. Various adventurers ... came to Salmast to pursue their own interests and imprudent actions, marring the sacred image of the true revolutionary on the one hand, and causing horrible disasters on the other, becoming a curse to the local Armenians.... In the Armenian Homeland [the author means Western Armenia], the Armenians were oppressed, abused and killed by the Kurds and Turks, while the Armenians of Salmast suffered the same atrocities in the hands of those bastards who had trampled on all the sacred tenets of the revolution. The desperate people even attempted to revolt against those “janissaries,” but indeed, the terrible crimes committed by those scums of the society did not fail to attract the Persians’ attention: every wrongdoing, every unpleasant incident, skirmish and murder was perpetrated in broad daylight, before the very eyes of the Government officials, soldiers and policemen.... The officials of lower rank took advantage of this, and in their turn, started severely oppressing the common people.
“And Salmast gradually went into decline, its degradation still going on. Over many years, the local Armenians had to feed both their compatriots who had been reduced to refugees and those parasite “janissaries.” On the other hand, they had to pay taxes to the nonchalant Government officials and village owners, from time to time also providing loot for the invading Kurdish tribes. As a result of all this, they went into abject poverty. ...the misery and the complete insecurity of life, property and honour made many Armenians emigrate to the Caucasus. Those who were more or less well-off emigrated together with their families, while the poor went alone, leaving their families, wives and children. If the emigration continues in this scale, Salmast will undoubtedly be emptied of its Armenian population and will be unable to perform its historical role in the future.... The unrest and turmoil in Salmast and the anarchy reigning there have largely affected the Armenians of entire Atrpatakan, making them involuntarily pursue the wrong path.”
Two caravans of emigrant Armenians set out of Salmast in September 1899: “Two large caravans of Armenian families have left Salmast. In the last 2 years, the local Armenians have been emigrating together with their families.”
Apparently, the emigrants included not only the refugees from Vaspourakan, but also a considerable number of Armenians from some mountain villages of Salmast which had already been emptied of their population by 1896 to 1897: “The Armenians of Salmast are emigrating in the very proper sense of the word: Aslanik, Qapik, Hmbanavan and Hakhveran, which were inhabited by Armenians several years ago, are now entirely populated by Kurds.”
It is noteworthy that the emigrants who had been deprived of all their belongings pursued their way without any obstacles, while the few returning Armenians generally suffered attacks. Thus, for instance, on 21 December 1899, a caravan of 11 Armenians of Haftvan returning from Russia was attacked and plundered within a distance of 1 or 2 hours from Dilman: “The stolen goods and money make up 3,000 roubles. The stablemen who gave away the poor Armenians have been arrested.”

Ման. Արմէն, Նամակ Պարսկաստանէն [Man. Armen, “A Letter from Persia”], «Արմէնիա» [Armenia], no. 54, 10 February 1900, p. 2.
Սլահ, Նամակ Թաւրիզից [Slah, “A Letter from Tabriz”], «Հնչակ» [Hnchak], no. 2, 10 April 1900, pp. 31-32.
Man. Armen, “A Letter from Persia,” Armenia, no. 32, 18 November 1899, p. 2.
Ibid., no. 33, 22 November 1899, p. 2.
Ibid., no. 53, 3 February 1900, p. 1. This was one of those rare cases when the robbed Armenians’ protests were heard and they were paid back the price of their stolen goods. These people and their fellow villagers were happy to learn that 100 tumans had been endowed to the school of Haftvan (ibid., no. 59, 28 February 1900, p. 1).
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, pp. 22.

The Situation between 1901 and 1904. In the spring of 1901, the Turks intensified their Frontier Guard to prevent the passage of the Armenian fidayis to Turkish Armenia from Salmast District: “The Turkish authorities have recently started fortifying their side of the Turkish-Persian frontier, having twice increased the number of the border-guarding troops. In this way, they want to impede the entry of the Armenian revolutionaries to Turkey. The Turkish powers have long considered the border districts of Salmast and Khoy as gathering places for the Armenian revolutionaries, while the local Armenians have been targeted for encouraging and supporting them. In recent years, the small Armenian population living in these districts has become a sore point for the Turkish Government: they made every possible attempt to either exterminate these “dangerous elements” or move them away from the borders of their country. However, seeing that his blood-covered hands could not reach these districts, lying outside the borders of his state, the Red Beast turned to his typical monstrous tricks. One day some Turkish youlemas and softas [theology students] from Constantinople unexpectedly turned up in various towns of Atrpatakan and started preaching in the local mosques, provoking the Persian mob against the unclean giaurs [infidels] and inciting them to slaughter all the Armenians. In their turn, the Ottoman consuls used every opportunity to harm the Armenians. The “fruits” of the aforementioned preaching and the intrigues woven by the Ottoman consul of Tabriz were the notorious skirmishes that took place in Tabriz on 20 March [18]97. Fortunately, these events did not find any response in other places, and the Turkish Government had to concentrate all its attention only on the Armenians of Salmast.... At present the Turkish authorities are fortifying their frontiers, seeing that it is impossible to move the Armenians away from the borderline. According to some rumours, they intend to resettle some Muslim refugees from the Caucasus in the regions close to the Persian border, but we do not know if these talks are trustworthy or not.”
Indeed, when the Persian Government did not take any proper measures for the defence of Salmast District, the presence of armed Armenians became of great necessity there: “Surprising as it is, so far none of the Armenian villages of the district has suffered any Kurdish raid. Reportedly, the Kurds greatly fear to launch such acts, thinking that there are a great number of revolutionaries hiding in the Armenian villages. Generally speaking, the Kurds of this district are terribly afraid of the Armenian revolutionaries and do their best to avoid fighting against them.”
However, the author of another record dating from the same year (1901) wrote with satisfaction that the Persian Government had taken some actions to suppress the Kurds: “Thanks to the arrival of the new governor and the concentration of the troops [in the district], the Kurds had to stop their outrages and robbery and withdrew to the nearby mountains where they are now busy dividing the loot (costing about 20,000 tumans) seized from Salmast.... This time the Persian Government is determined to punish the Kurds for their atrocities and is planning to take drastic measures to finally put an end to their incessant raids. For this reason, a considerable number of troops have been concentrated here; besides, a couple of days ago, two cannons were brought from Khoy. The fighting between the Persian troops and the Kurds is inevitable; it can possibly break out one of these days. The Kurds treat the Persian Government and their threats with the utmost contempt.... Recently the agents of the Red Sultan have become very active in these districts: Hamid’s local representative has long been diligently collecting detailed information about the revolutionaries—particularly, about their number—staying in Salmast and in the neighbouring districts. He is aided by several Armenian traitors from Van who have the face of calling themselves revolutionaries although in fact, they have recently become a mere tool in the hands of the Turkish consul of Salmast and blatantly carry on their treacherous activities. A few days ago, these villains gave the shahbandar (the Ottoman consul) a list containing the names of 22 young revolutionaries hiding in Salmast.”
In 1903 a Turkish delegation started gathering information about the number of the Armenians—particularly, the refugees from Turkish Armenia—living in Khoy and Salmast Districts. What is especially noteworthy, they worked without any obstacles and even enjoyed the evident connivance of the local authorities: “A group of Turkish officials have started ransacking the Turkish-Persian borderline. It has already been several days since they arrived in Khoy and Salmast. They are about 30 in number, including the brother of the governor of Van, several officers, police commissars and soldiers. They made inquiries in Khoy and Salmast, trying to find out where the refugees stayed, how many of them were with their families, and how many without. That large group of spies even tried to cross the Arax into the Caucasus, but they were not permitted to do this.”
In July 1903 the following incident took place in Haftvan: 14 horsemen who were subject to the newly-appointed judge “entered one of the gardens of the Armenian village of Havtvan where they had seen two young women. They assaulted the women to rape them, but the latter started resisting with enormous efforts, at the same time also crying for help. Several people rushed to rescue them. Also, the vicar, Archimandrite Endzak, hurried to the scene of that harrowing crime together with his brother as soon as he heard about it. Instead of running away, the horsemen attacked the archimandrite with daggers, but the latter’s brother resisted with his own one and made them take to their heels. Then he rushed home to fetch his rifle, but as soon as the horsemen saw him leaving the garden, they returned and attacked the archimandrite again. The vicar suffered several blows with revolvers which fortunately did not shoot. Seeing that he was in a tight corner, the archimandrite immediately took out his revolver and shot one of the horsemen in the heart, after which they ran away. This incident terrified the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages. The Armenians of Dilman even locked their shops and ran away, and the movement between villages stopped.” After the hearing of this case, the Armenians were found not guilty by the decision of the judge, Mejidi Saltana; moreover, the latter severely punished one of his horsemen. This fact was highly encouraging for the Armenians who continually suffered injustice, being forced to obey unfair court decisions and pay fines.
The same, however, could not be said about the newly-appointed sarparast: a well-educated person who had lived in France for many years, he had aroused great hopes amidst the inhabitants of Salmast, who, however, were disappointed within a short time. The reason was that “the smallest fine fixed by this man is 50 tumans: he ruthlessly exacts fines from anyone who falls into his hands, who has the misfortune of crossing the threshold of the kyargyuzar.” From November 1904 until March 1905, the sarparast extorted a fine of 450 tumans from the Armenians of Saramerik; 250 from each of the villages of Haftvan and Mahlam; 80 from Savra; 350 from a certain Hovakim from Mahlam; 50 from Tatos; 60 from butcher Hovakim from Ghalasar, etc. Unfortunately, the Armenians and Assyrians of Salmast did not ever protest against, or oppose to, this injustice: “The sarparast keeps robbing the Armenians and Assyrians easily, and they seem willing to be exploited like slaves, as if considering it a sin to disobey or express any objection.”
In 1904 “while driving his herd from Salmast to Khoy, an Armenian from Salmast, a certain Safar, was killed by a gang sent by Jahvar Agha in a site called Ghanli Dara, in the mountain pass of Khoy. Besides Safar, several carriages full of Armenian migrant workers were crossing the mountain pass at the same time, and they had just a narrow escape from death thanks to several dexterous and bold Armenians who rushed to rescue them from the nearby Armenian villages of Saramerik and Erkava.... The bandits were about 70 or 80 in number, while these Armenians were only 7, but despite this, they forced the Kurds to withdraw thanks to the position they had occupied and their long-range rifles. The Armenian migrants were safe and sound, but they had to turn back to Salmast.”
In the same year, “on 13 October an arms-transferring group of 15 horsemen set out of S... Village of Salmast for Western Armenia under the leadership of the prominent fidayi Pokhik. These hayduks had been living in Salmast for long years—since the times of Peto, Vardan and the operation of Khanasor—carrying out their activities in the district and in the surrounding mountains.”

Mars, “The Persian-Turkish Borderline,” pp. 27-28.
Ibid., Hnchak, no. 6, 5 November 1901, p. 55.
Հրանտ, Նամակ Սալմաստից [Hrant, “A Letter from Salmast”], «Հնչակ» [Hnchak], no. 6, 5 November 1901, pp. 55-56. Another record says: “Instigated by the Turkish Government, in recent years, the Kurds of Turkey have been crossing the Persian border and plundering the villages of Salmast and Khoy Districts without any punishment, always returning with rich trophies. This year the Persian Government has at last taken this fact into serious consideration, and in order to put an end to the Kurdish outrages, more than 3,000 soldiers have been stationed on the borderline.... [However], a week ago, about 100 armed Kurds from Mazrik, led by the brother of Sharaf Bey, that notorious butcher of the Armenians, crossed the Persian border and entered the district of Khoy. They plundered 2 Persian villages and returned to Aghbak with a large loot” (Mars, Նամակ պարսկա-թրքական սահմանագլխից [“A Letter from the Persian-Turkish Borderline”], «Հնչակ» [Hnchak], no. 4, 1 July 1902, pp. 29-30).
Droshak, no. 6, July 1903, p. 89.
Փաշայեան Կ., Նամակ Պարսկաստանից [K. Pashayan, “A Letter from Persia”], «Մշակ» [Mshak], no. 169, 7 August 1903, p. 3.
***, “A Letter from Persia,” Mshak, no. 72, 16 April 1905, p. 4.
Algh., Նամակ պարսկա-տաճկական սահմանագլխէն [“A Letter from the Persian-Turkish Borderline”], «Արմէնիա» [Armenia], no. 25, 18 January 1905, p. 2.
Droshak, no. 4, April 1905, p. 55. “In 1904 Khecho, a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Party, came to Salmast together with several of his friends to join Duman’s group, which planned to move to Van and later to Sasun to support Andranik. Before their arrival, some arms had been transferred to the monastery of [Stepanos] Nakhavka [St. Stephen the Proto-Deacon] to be distributed among them.... Duman had brought some money to pay back the debts he had fallen into for organising the operation of Khanasor, about 1,000 tumans” (Ն. Հանգոյց /Նիկոլ Աղբալյան/, Սամսոնի յուշերը [N. Hanguyts /Nikol Aghbalian/, “Samson’s Memoirs”] «Հայրենիք» [Hayrenik], no. 8, June 1924, pp. 139-140).
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, pp. 23-24.

The Situation in 1905 to 1907. The ethnic conflicts that broke out in the Transcaucasian regions of the Russian Empire, particularly the skirmishes between the Armenians and Tatars, equally affected the Armenians and the Iranian Turks living in the border districts of Persia. The mistrust and tension intensified with every piece of bad news, but thanks to the drastic and balanced measures taken by the Persian authorities, the situation fortunately did not have any risky escalation (in contrast to them, the tsarist officials proved either unable or unwilling to take any moves to prevent the bloody ethnic clashes).
A letter of 27 June 1905 reported that a Kurdish chieftain, Jafar Agha, and several of his friends had been killed in Tabriz: “The Christians and Turks of Salmast are deeply affected by that news, being equally happy and upset: they are happy because Salmast has at last got rid of its scourge, but they are also upset fearing the inevitable revenge of Jafar Agha’s brothers, son and fellow tribesmen” (by the way, Jafar’s brother was the notorious gang leader Simko).
On 10 July of the same year, the Kurds attacked the Turkish villages of Mavikand and Shakaryaz and captured 500 head of herd, also killing 4 Turks who were calling for help.
According to a letter of 1 September, because of the Armenian-Tatar fights, all movement had stopped in Salmast, causing a decline in trade and an economic slump in the district: “The news ... about the recent events of Shushi and Baku is spreading at lightning speed.... The Armenians are terrified, their only hope of salvation being the merciful patronage of the Shahenshah, who has not disappointed them so far.... It was reported from Hin Qaghaq that the Turks have officially invited the Armenians to the mosque in the evening to tell them about the shah’s instructions regarding their interrelations. [However], the Armenians did not go as they did not believe them.... This is the first such case.”
As reported on 22 October, the soldiers sent from Gharadagh “have been to Salmast for already four months, but the local Armenians did not suffer the slightest harm during this period. Certainly, the strict instructions of the Government, and the drastic measures they have taken account for this: the soldiers have been ordered not to approach the Armenian villages and abstain from doing any harm to the Armenians, lest their actions should give rise to any unpleasant skirmish between the two neighbouring nations. It was thanks to these strict orders and cruel punishment of the Government that the tension abated in Persia, and the bloodshed of the Caucasus did not have any response here.”
As said in another letter sent from Salmast, “the Persian mob was affected by the events of the Caucasus, so the Armenians had to secure arms for their self-defence. Horror has also permeated amidst the Persians as there are rumours that the Armenians have bombs able to kill one hundred people at once. The Persian Government ... soon took prudent actions, and the province governor declared that if any Armenian was killed by a Persian, the assassin’s entire family would be hanged, and revenge would be taken on his kinsfolk: in Persia this is equal to depriving them of their last piece of bread.”
In May 1906 Salmast saw some Kurdish fights: “Two Kurdish tribes living close to the borderline started fighting against each other one or two months ago.... These tribes are the Mahmadies and the Avdos, the latter ... being Jahvar Agha’s fellow tribesmen. In recent week, the snow covering the border territories melted away, and the Avdos whose hearts were burning with revenge started raids against a number of villages in Salmast. Hin Qaghaq, Savra, Ayan, Sulavi and other villages were pillaged, thousands of sheep and other animals being captured, and even house utensils being stolen. Some small amount of this loot has been returned. The skirmishes that broke out during these raids took away the lives of 7 or 8 people from both the sides. The threat of plunder and robbery is actual every day, from every corner. So far, however, the Kurds have been clever enough not to approach the Armenian villages, indeed, because they have no reasons to take revenge on the Armenians; besides, they fear that they will be taught a good lesson. The Avdos receive support from the Turkish side of the border, from the ashiret of Sharif Bey, who hates the Armenians.”
A letter of 1 August stated the following: “The Kurdish atrocities do not know any limits: Salmast has been permeated with horror for already two weeks, no day passing without news of robbery and killings.... The Kurdish bandits (allegedly, about 300 in number) are led by Mirza and Simko (the former is one of Jahvar Agha’s faithful servants who survived last year’s plot of Tabriz, and the latter is the brother of the treacherously killed Kurdish agha), who have reportedly declared that they are going to kill a countless number of Turks without any discrimination. The revengers informed the Armenians of Salmast and the foreigners living there that they did not have any reasons to worry: the Kurds did not have any intentions to harm them as they were going to take revenge only on the Turks. Truly, the numerous villages that have been plundered do not include any Armenian ones, and no Armenians have been killed. In this general atmosphere of terror, yesterday the Turkish inhabitants of several places poured into the Armenian villages for shelter.”
As reported on 9 August, “the authorities have ordered to entirely burn down the Turkish village of Shakar-Yazi with its houses, piles of wheat, etc. As is claimed, this order was truly carried out because the inhabitants of the village had allegedly given shelter to the Kurdish gangs.”
According to a letter of 7 September, “after capturing the herds of Barkeshlu and Hamzakyand Villages of Salmast, the Kurds engaged in fighting against about 50 horsemen of the Government (they were on their way to Tabriz) in the vicinity of Shakaryaz. Both the sides suffered several losses, including a centurion. Reportedly, the loot was seized back, although this news seems to be far from probable.”
A letter of 15 September emphasized the following: “What is really striking is that so far neither an Armenian village nor any Armenians were robbed during the raids in Salmast and on the roads.”
Truly, the Armenians of Salmast did not suffer any Kurdish raids throughout 1906, but instead, they were oppressed by the Government officials: “The present-day kargyuzar of Salmast has become a true scourge to the poor Armenian nation: he arrests and fines every single peasant, depriving the hard-working people even of their last piece of bread.”
In the context of the aggravation of the relations between the Armenians and the Tatars, of special interest was also the murder of 8 January 1907, when a Persian and three Jews from Hin Qaghaq—all of them Turkish subjects—were killed on the way to Khosrova and Hin Qaghaq. With regard to this case, “the Muslims spread the rumour that the murder was the handiwork of the Armenian “ghachaghs” [fidayis], but later they tried to present some facts to prove that it had been committed by three Assyrians from Khosrova. Now there are also some talks that it was a plot organised by the janbezar Turks of Hin Qaghaq.... However, the Jews ... claim that the assassins ... were three Assyrians from Khosrova.”

Յ., Նամակ Պարսկաստանից [H., “A Letter from Persia”], «Մշակ» [Mshak], no. 134, 12 July 1905, p. 2.
Յովհ. /Ստեփան Հովհաննիսյան/, Նամակ Պարսկաստանից [Hovh. /Stepan Hovhannissian/, “A Letter from Persia”], «Մշակ» [Mshak], no. 148, 29 July 1905, p. 3.
Ղազարեան Մ., Նամակ Պարսկաստանից [M. Ghazarian, “A Letter from Persia”], «Մշակ» [Mshak], no. 189, 20 September 1905, p. 5.
Ֆրանգեան Ե., Թուրք-հայկական յարաբերութիւնները Պարսկաստանում [Yer. Frangian, “The Turkish-Armenian Relations in Persia”], «Արշալոյս» [Arshaluys], no. 52, 10 November 1905, p. 3.
«Արաքս» [Arax], no. 2 (4 November 1905), p. 14.
Խ. Ա., Նամակ Սալմաստէն [Kh. A., “A Letter from Salmast”], «Երիտասարդ Հայաստան» [Yeritasard Hayastan], no. 50, 6 June 1906, p. 402. “The fierce Avdos who were truly brave and dexterous were small in number, but despite this, they attacked the central villages of Salmast in broad daylight, plundering and massacring the locals. They had been instigated by the Ottomans who had woven some political plots and had even armed the Kurds with the powerful Mausers of the Ottoman soldiers. The Avdos have already attacked Hin Qaghaq, Savra, Ahreran, Moughanjouk and the Turkish villages, driving away their herds” (Ասօ, Նամակ պարսկա-թրքական սահմանագլխից [Aso, “A Letter from the Persian-Turkish Borderline”], «Հնչակ» [Hnchak], no. 5, May 1906, pp. 45-46; nos. 9-10, September-October 1906, p. 98).
Hovh., “A Letter from Persia,” Mshak, no. 184, 25 August 1906, p. 4.
Ibid., no. 187, 29 August 1906, p. 3.
Պարոյր, Թրքօ-պարսկական սահմանագլուխ [Paruyr, “The Turkish-Persian Borderline”], «Ռազմիկ» [Razmik], no. 96, 30 September 1906, p. 3. “Some time ago, a fighting broke out between some Kurds and Persian horsemen near one of the neighbouring villages. A Kurd and two Persian soldiers were killed, but the robbers managed to take away their loot. Such fights are particularly disastrous for the local Persian population. So far the Kurds have not approached any Armenian village or town. Because of the repeated raids, post communication has stopped for already a long time. Travellers are always in danger: very often our soldiers accompany Armenian travellers to secure their safe passage from places like Ghanli Dara, where the Kurdish bandits generally wait in ambush” (Droshak, no. 11, November 1906, p. 166).
Aso, “A Letter from the Persian-Turkish Borderline,” Hnchak, nos. 9-10, September-October 1906, p. 98.
Paruyr, “The Turkish-Persian Borderline,” Razmik, no. 105, 1 November 1906, p. 2.
M. S. Piran, “A Letter from Persia,” Mshak, no. 18, 26 January 1907, p. 4.
Ibid., no. 21, 30 January 1907, p. 4.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, pp. 24-25.

The Events of 1908 and the Fighting during the Constitutional Revolution in Persia. For the Armenians of Atrpatakan, the beginning of the year was marked by the reception of their Prelate, Karapet Ter-Mkrtchian, by the Persian Shah Mohammed Ali (1907 to 1909) on 8 January: “After a long delay, the Armenian Prelate was at last received by the shah. Reportedly, the latter expressed his annoyance with the Armenian revolutionaries—not so much with those of Tabriz as with those of Salmast, Khoy and Urmia—who had always enjoyed the benevolence of his Government. An Armenian from Salmast who was the leader of several hundred fidayis was encouraging a national uprising, thus causing a lot of trouble to the Government officials.”
In 1908, “with the coming of spring, the situation in Salmast gradually became more and more dangerous. The Kurdish invasions which have become periodical in that unfortunate district threaten to assume a wider scope this year. ... instigated by the Turks, ...the Kurds are trying to attack the central, mostly Armenian, villages of Salmast, where they believe the Armenians have accumulated vast fortunes. What particularly encourages the Kurds is that due to the anarchy reigning in Persia, there is neither military nor secular authority in Salmast and in the neighbouring districts. The local inhabitants have to organise their self-defence on their own; so they have to take up arms to defend their lives and property against the enemy. Having absolutely no hopes of outside help, the Persians and Armenians of the district are actively organising their self-defence. Those who are able to bear arms have been forbidden to leave for foreign countries for work.”
According to a letter of 6 April, the Kurds “have so far captured all the herds of the following villages: Akhtkhana, Soltaymat, Minas, Mughul, Kabagh-Tapa, Aliabat, Tamar, … Aghzi-Yarat, Khantakht and Zevajuk. The bandits failed to drive away all the herd of this last village, as the local guard, Zako, kept resisting them bravely until the inhabitants of Sarna and Mahlam rushed to support him. The fighting continued until the evening, the Kurdish robbers being finally forced to leave the village with just some insignificant loot.”
A letter dated 14 April said: “Kurdish raids have also started in the district of Salmast. In recent week, 8 villages have been plundered, with 5 people killed. The number of the injured is very large. The raids are gradually becoming more and more frequent.”
Also, the following was stated with regard to the Kurdish inroads: “Although the Kurds have not touched the purely Armenian villages and have not caused any considerable harm to the Armenians, the latter cannot remain indifferent to the danger threatening their close neighbours. The Armenians are taking part in the figtings of the Turkish villages of Sultan-Ahmat, Zevachuk, Gyulizan and Ayan to defend their Turkish neighbours. They have seized back the sheep and the other loot; besides, it was thanks to these fighting Armenians that Zevajuk and Ayan suffered very few losses. So far the Kurds have not dared to directly attack the Armenians, fearing their strong resistance.”
On 23 April Vahan Ghukassian reported more details about the situation in the district: “Salmast, which escaped the Kurdish invasions to some extent until lately, has suffered a number of well-organised raids in recent several weeks. Within a short time, the Persian villages of Gharagh, Bapa, Khantakht, Minas and Tamar were attacked and plundered one after another. The Kurds drove away the flocks of Ghara-Gheshlagh, Sultan-Ahmad and Hamzakyand Villages. Besides, they also attempted to attack the villages of Vardan and Saramerik, which have mixed populations including Armenians; however, they did not carry out their intentions, knowing that the Armenians were armed and ready for self-defence.... The sardar of Maku, who has been charged with the defence of the frontier by the Persian Government, has recently appointed the notorious bandit Simko as commander of the fortress of Chara [Tjara] to replace Ismayil Agha. Simko and his 300 horsemen have been in Dilman for already several days and will soon leave for Chara.... However, Ismayil Agha, whose tribe is in enmity against Simko’s clan, has decided to stay in Chara and keep that important fortress under his control with arms. That fortress serves as a strong base for the gangs of Ismayil Agha, which continually invade the districts of Khoy and Salmast, always returning with a rich trophy.... While preparing an attack to take Chara, Simko... had to make heavy efforts to acquire 2 cannons from the Government. He will move towards Chara one of these days.”
On 26 April Simko started his campaign against the fortress of Tjara with 400 Kurdish and Persian horsemen, also carrying the aforementioned cannons. After a fighting of two days, he defeated Ismayil Agha and took the fortress: “Now another gang leader, Simko, has established his reign in the impregnable elevations of Chara. Perhaps, he will now start invasions, plunder and slaughters with even greater rage and fury than his predecessors.”
Another record states the following: “The Turkish Government has declared that they want to take Salmast because of the presence of the Armenian fidayis in that district, which has always served as their hub. Probably, after having thought for a long time ... the Turkish authorities spread rumours, through various clandestine sources, that allegedly 600 armed Armenian fidayis, led by a certain Mkrtich, had set out of Tabriz for Salmast in order to later move to Van. Reportedly, when already in Salmast, 200 of these fidayis moved to Urmi, while 500 went to Van, where they carried out a number of attacks, being afterwards either arrested or killed. In view of all these “facts,” the Turkish authorities strictly demanded that the Persian Government should drive away the Armenian fidayis from Salmast; otherwise, they threatened to do this themselves, if the authorities of the neighbouring country failed to meet their demand. Obeying the order of the Persian Government, the governors of Salmast and Urmi invited the prominent Armenians of these districts and ...asked them to temporarily move away the fidayis, if any. The invited Armenians explained that all those rumours were the fruits of the [Turks’] imagination.”
A letter of 17 June said that “the Kurds have taken the ancient Armenian monastery of Derik.... The horsemen of Rahim Pasha, who have been coming since yesterday evening, have encountered some resistance in certain places. The infuriated horsemen and the mob have been committing outrages, the local people getting more and more worried.”
As reported on 2 September, “the village of Ajivaj has been declared as a Turkish land, and the local people are to pay the tithe of the harvest to the gaymagam of Tjara. As usual, the Kurds have started their raids: six days ago, they captured the herd and part of the sheep of Ayan and Ahrevan. They twice robbed a caravan on its way to Urmi, and two days ago, on Sunday, they seized 30 horses from the dimens of Drishk. When already in Khantakht, the same caravan was again attacked and sieged by the Kurdish horsemen. [Fortunately], some Armenian fighters rushed to rescue it, and we have just been informed that it has been freed.”
On 3 September the Kurds captured the herd of Moughanjough Village, but “the local inhabitants and the people of Saramerik, both the Armenians and the Turks, stopped them with united efforts and took back the entire loot.” On 19 September “fierce clashes broke out between the Armenian fighters and Kurds in two places, near Khantakht, on the way to Urmi, and close to Kabakh-Tepe. Four days before, five of the Armenian fighters involved in the organisation of the self-defence of the local people had left for Urmi together with a caravan to protect it, if necessary. The Kurds who were waiting in ambush failed to rob it and decided to take revenge on its guards, waiting for them in the positions they had occupied. So, as soon as the fighters reached the Kurds, the latter opened fire. During the combat which lasted for 2 hours, one of the fighters and two horses were injured, the Kurds suffering two casualties. By the time the inhabitants of the nearby villages rushed to rescue, the fighting had already ended.... As if likewise for taking revenge, another Kurdish gang made a raid to capture the herd of Kabakh-Tepe. A clash ensued between the Kurds, 40 in number, and the local people, one of the former getting injured. The robbers managed to seize about 25 sheep, but most of the herd was saved.”
In October, in some villages located in the south of Salmast, “in Kabukh-Tepe (Turkish), Qyalashan (Turkish) and Zevajuk (inhabited by Turks, Kurds and Armenians), Armenian fighters stay as guards to protect the local people against the Kurds of Soma and the plunder of the horsemen of the local authorities. Armenian fighters also accompany travellers and caravans going to Urmi and Khoy to defend them against the Kurds and the aforementioned horsemen.”
In the autumn of 1908, Salmast turned into an important gathering-place for the Constitutional movement of Persia, and a number of fierce fights against the royalists took place in the district.
As early as 26 October, “the judge [of Khoy] summoned up several local Armenians and gave them a letter from the sardar, which was particularly addressed to the Armenians of Salmast: the sardar was ordering them to abstain from participation in the Persian revolution. Also, he enumerated all the favours that he had allegedly done for the Armenians, particularly emphasizing his contribution to the Armenian revolutionary movement.”
On 9 November the leader of the royalist forces, Izo Khan, advanced towards Salmast to crush the constitutionalists: “Large forces are moving towards Salmast.... Izo Khan is on his way to Salmast together with his cavalrymen, while his infantry left for the district some 5 or 6 days ago, with 4 cannons. [However, in fact], almost all these troops are unwilling and frightened to go to Salmast and think of running away, having hardly set out.”
The following was reported on 15 November: “Late in October, the former president of the Anjuman of Salmast, Patshih Pishnamaz, gathered two hundred armed men in the district of Garatagh [Gharadagh] and joined the rebels of Tilman [Dilman] and the followers of Sattar Khan. Pishnamaz defeated the Kurds who had been sent to fight against him and made them run away. Then, after a long siege, he took Tilman, afterwards also occupying Kokhneshehir [Hin Qaghaq].”
A record of 17 November stated the following: “After Dilman had been taken and the flag of the Constitution had been hoisted there, the local judge ran away—after some short resistance—to the area of Orban and Sulav, where he started organising the royalist forces, also receiving some aid groups from Maku. To prevent his future actions, on the 8th of this month [November], the constitutionalists moved forward with 300 to 350 armed volunteers and fighters and occupied positions in the Armenian village of Saramerik located slightly south of the place where the judge stayed. The fighting broke out at sunrise, the following day. Although the judge kept receiving new forces from Izo Khan, who was in Yezdi-Kan, he was unable to resist the fierce attack for a long time and discredited himself by running away for the second time and leaving Orban and Sulav under the control of the constitutionalists. Carried away by some meaningless fury, the latter destroyed and burnt away the first of these places. This glorious victory gave rise to such great enthusiasm in Salmast—particularly amidst the volunteers—that the constitutionalists started advancing towards Yezdi-Kan to attack Izo Khan. However, they soon changed their minds and returned to Saramerik, after which most of them were scattered in different villages and started preparing for the attack against Izo Khan. The bloody battle took place on 11 November. Infuriated after his second defeat at the fighting of Tabriz, the khan resisted strongly, making the constitutionalists shift from attack to defence.... Part of the latter withdrew, leaving the battlefield to about thirty fighters who strongly resisted the savage hordes for a long time, all by themselves against more than 700 Kurds and cavalrymen. Eventually, the enemy who heavily outnumbered them made them gradually retreat. Two fighters were killed at that heroic battle, one of them being Dadash, a soldier of vast experience famous for his past deeds. After the conquest of Saramerik, Izo Khan threatened to attack Dilman, if the local people did not surrender voluntarily and did not give away Fish-Namaz. Due to this fiasco of the constitutionalists, part of the inhabitants of some villages have abandoned them, being inclined to take sides with the royalists and declare obedience to Izo Khan. Groups of people have gathered numerous signatures and applied to the Turkish official residing in Tjara for protection, in return for which, they are ready to become Turkish subjects. Their desire has been met, and now zaptias are being sent to the villages, suggesting that the local people should hoist the Turkish flag and show resistance to the officials of Maku.”
As written in a letter of 20 November, “the Armenians of Salmast are in danger, too. The cavalrymen of Izo and Namo Khans of Maku, comprising about 2,000 troops, have attacked the villages of Sanamerik, Vardan (purely Armenian), Rekava and Ayan (Armenian and Turkish), committing plunder and murders there. The inhabitants of these villages have fled away and found shelter in the central villages of Salmast. The cavalry of Maku threatens to destroy Salmast.”
Part of Saramerik’s “inhabitants took their belongings and ran away to the central villages, while the Armenian children and women who had stayed there were killed by the horsemen of Salar [Khan].”
After occupying Saramerik, which had been emptied of its inhabitants, “the khans Izo and Namo sent their men to the neighbouring villages, demanding voluntary surrender; otherwise, all the local inhabitants would be mercilessly slaughtered. In the meantime, the khans advanced and took the village of Moughanjough. On the evening of the 13th, Izo Khan left Moughanjough for Kyohna-Shehar, the inhabitants of which welcomed him out of fear and declared obedience to him. Immediately after entering Kyohna-Shehar, Izo Khan, who was encouraged with this success, sent about 100 Kurdish cavalrymen to the neighbouring villages to spread horror there and force the local people into voluntary subjugation. These horsemen started maneuvers around Savra, Gyulizan and Patavour.... Part of the population of Savra declared obedience to Izo Khan, while the rest found it useless to respond to his threats and began preparing for an armed resistance. The fighting took place on the 15th and ended in the villagers’ complete victory, with 3 Kurds killed, and 3 of their horses captured. Also, the enemy left the loot seized from Arjevan Village on the battle-field. Twenty fighters have gone to Savra as there are fears that the village can suffer another raid. For two or three times, Izo Khan also demanded subdual from the central village of Dilman, but its inhabitants ignored his threats, and are now seriously preparing for resistance. On 14 November, 100 Kurds of Soma came to Dilman via Haftvan to support the constitutionalists. Besides, a group of pro-constitutional volunteers who left Tabriz for Dilman a long time ago have finally reached the place. It is generally believed that Izo Khan’s attack against Dilman will be a failure. As for the other villages, their inhabitants are moving away, mostly gathering in the interior of the district and preparing for a strong resistance. The victory of Savra has created great enthusiasm.”
After perpetrating the pogrom of the Armenian women and children of Saramerik, the criminal khan Salar moved to Dilman on the same day: “On the evening of 13 November, Salar moved from the district of Gever and Saramerik towards Dilman. Before reaching there, he ordered to massacre a lot of men, women and children in Manja Village despite the fact that the local people had met him with bread and salt. The survivors of this slaughter ran away to the city [Dilman] together with their families, taking [only] their rifles and leaving all their property to Salar. Having stationed his troops in Manja, Salar demanded that the city should immediately surrender; otherwise, he threatened to bombard it and slaughter its inhabitants. He has four cannons, his troops comprising an infantry of 600 and a cavalry of 700, including Kurds and men from Maku. As for Dilman, there are 800 armed men there. The city is being fortified, four bulwarks having already been built outside it. Samson is in the village of Ghalasar with his one hundred fighters. On 14 November Kyohna-Shehar declared subjugation to Salar, after which the Turkish askyars left it and the former governor of Salmast entered there.”
As reported on 18 November, “the horsemen of the khan of Maku have surrounded Salmast and its neighbourhood. The Armenians are worried about their families and relatives as the khan has reportedly received an order from Tehran to severely punish the people of Salmast, where an Armenian committee functions, in case his attack is a success.”
On the same day, it was also reported that “Amir moved from Khoy to Salmast with 250 cavalrymen. They entered Ghalasar, but they did not cause any harm to the Armenians as they had to immediately leave it at the demand of the local ARF (Armenian Revolutionary Federation) members. Then Amir entered Dilman. At sunrise his horsemen were attacked by some Turkish revolutionaries who were in Hin Qaghaq (Kyohna-Shehar) at that time and had to retreat to Khoy, suffering total defeat.”
Responding to the request of the anti-royalists, “the Turkish gaymagam of Charik promised to send 200 horsemen of the Kurdish Shikak tribe to the city—before receiving an order from Constantinople—to support it against Salar. On 14 November 70 of these horsemen reached Dilman and joined Pishnamaz. The population of the entire district is in terror: the inhabitants of the remote villages are running away with all their belongings, trying to reach Dilman and the central Armenian villages, where the people are armed. The abandoned villages are being plundered and burnt by the Kurds of Olar. On 16 November Salar’s cannons fired against the city for four times, but the revolutionaries did not respond.... On the order of the Turkish gaymagam of Charik, Ismayil-Laga, the bey of the Shikak Kurds and the present-day commander of the fortress of Charik, reached Dilman with one hundred cavalrymen and joined Pishnamaz.”
Before these events, “Namo Khan, who was proud of his temporary victory won after the defeat of Saramerik and the retreat of the fighters, sent his Kurds to the neighbouring villages for raids. Soon Simko came to help him with his Shikak Kurds—an infantry and cavalry of 3,400—whose atrocities spread terror, at the same time also deepening the despair that the defeat at Saramerik had aroused. In complete desperation, some of the villages had to succumb to Izo Khan, his threats making them declare obedience to him without resistance. Thanks to this, the khan moved forward with his army and entered Hin Qaghaq, while Namo Khan and Simko went to the village of Arjevan located west of Dilman. In this way, Savra, the inhabitants of which had ignored Izo Khan’s threats and continued disobeying him, was surrounded by two armies. As for the other persisting villages, the maneuvers of the troops endlessly continued in their vicinity, but without any success.... ...Savra was in the most dangerous situation, as it was in almost total encirclement. For this reason, groups of fighters, about 140 in number, gathered there, preparing for the battle under Smbat’s leadership. The attack started soon, the fierce battle ending in the fighters’ glorious victory: not only did they repel the attack, chasing the Kurds and the horsemen, but they also seized back their loot, Namo Khan’s 11 camels loaded with sugar, rice and oil. The victory gained at this heroic battle changed the feelings aroused by the retreat of Saramerik ... greatly encouraging the spirit of resistance.... Another glorious victory, won at Dilman, came to drastically change the situation, the enemy being forced to run away from Salmast. On 23 November the united forces of the royalists ... launched a fierce attack against the north of Dilman and started bombarding the positions heavily. Defended by cannon fire, the cavalry boldly moved forward and occupied positions very close to the city. A short time later, they took a walled garden located within only 300 steps of Dilman and occupied rather a dangerous position in a building located up there. The attack, accompanied by cannon fire coming from the opposite side of the city, put the people under siege into despair. However, Sam, who had taken up a most dangerous position in front of the garden with only seven men, started fighting bravely and changed the course of the combat, imbuing the people with enthusiasm and dispelling their despair. The enemy soldiers kept falling down, shot to death with the Mosins, even their cannons proving unable to cause any damage to Sam’s position. Seeing that the intense shots reached them even through the openings they had made in the walls of the garden, they retreated in despair. Following their example, those attacking the city from its opposite side withdrew, too, thus all the enemy troops taking to their heels in total panic after a heavy battle that had lasted for two hours and a half. The cavalry suffered 25 losses, with numerous horses killed, and Simko’s Kurds had 12 fatalities and casualties. The constitutionalists fired for several times from an old cannon they had in Dilman, but it soon went out of use. The defeated enemy left Salmast after a day’s stay in Moughanjough. The khans Izo and Namo moved to Mafikent and Shakar-Youz, the villages of the mountain pass of Khoy, while Simko left for Sulav. In this way, Salmast again shifted into the full control of the constitutionalists.... From Gyuney and other places, ... groups of volunteers are continually pouring into Dilman, thinking that another attack can be launched against the city. The Kurds of Soma, about 200 to 250, are there, too, although they do almost nothing. Sattar Khan has appointed Riza-Gyuli Khan, who is in Marand, as judge of Salmast.”
Analysing the events of the year, the author of a letter dated 8 December 1908 emphasized the following: “The Armenians of the border districts, and particularly, of Salmast, were able to thwart the advance of the royalists’ army, just as they had repelled the raids of the Kurdish gangs formerly. The Armenian fighters never suffered defeat anywhere. From 1 until 25 November, they engaged in 13 fights, some of them with the participation of the constitutionalists, and always won victory. It was only in Yezdi-Kan that they suffered defeat firstly because the enemy heavily outnumbered them, and secondly and most importantly, because part of the constitutionalists deserted them. Actually, the events took place in the following way: on 31 October Amir directly came to Dilman and held a consultation with the local judge at night: it was decided to arrest several young Persians the following day and punish them in the severest way, by tying them to the mouth of a cannon, to terrify the people and make the constitutionalists give up the idea of resistance.... [However], at 5 o’clock on the same night, the constitutionalists launched a heroic attack and took Dilman.”
As stated, “Salmast proved victorious at the invasion of Izo Khan,” thanks to which, at the end of the year, “the constitutionalists have full control of the situation, the affairs of the district being handled by the Anjuman that has opened in Dilman.... The Ottoman officials are evidently attempting to protect the people against the atrocities committed by the royalists. The petition submitted by Hin Qaghaq for protection has already been accepted by the supreme body of Constantinople, and three representatives of Hin Qaghaq are already on their way to Van, where they have been called to get the necessary instructions. A number of Ottoman policemen have come to Heodar; some of them are to leave for Yezdi-Kan.”
To summarise, the year 1908, and particularly, its second half, was marked by an unusually intense political situation for the Armenians of Atrpatakan, and especially, of Salmast.
In fact, in 1908 both Turkey and Persia saw the beginning of a struggle aimed at the overthrow of monarchy and the establishment of constitutional governance (the constitutionalists of Turkey already celebrated a victory in July). What is especially noteworthy, in both these countries, the Armenians who were led by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Party contributed to the victory of the anti-royalist forces (in Turkey these were the Young Turks who appeared in the arena with the motto Freedom, Equality, Fraternity) with the utmost devotion and courage. During that struggle which, indeed, did not come to an end in 1908 and also continued in the following years, the Armenians of Atrpatakan, particularly of Salmast, suffered heavy human and material losses, some Armenian villages going into total economic decline and being later abandoned altogether.
However, as the latest developments (the replacement of the Persian authorities with candidates supported by Constitutional Turkey) showed, the “achievements” of that struggle did not at all mark the realisation of the dreams for the sake of which, large numbers of Armenians had endured so many privations and sufferings.

Ականատես, Թէհրանեան լուրեր [Akanates (Eye-Witness), “News from Tehran”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 11, 18 January 1909, p. 2.
Վ. Մ-եան /Վահան Ղուկասյան/, Նամակ Պարսկաստանից [V. M.-ian /Vahan Ghukassian/, “A Letter from Persia”], «Լրաբեր» [Lraber], no. 1, 27 April 1908, pp. 3-4
Ցոլակ, Վերջին դեպքերը Պարսկաստանում [Tsolak, “The Recent Events in Persia”], «Մշակ» [Mshak], no. 89, 26 April 1908, p. 4.
Mshak, no. 81, 17 April 1908, p. 1.
«Ռազմիկ» [Razmik], no. 245, 7 May 1908, p. 3.
V. M.-ian, “A Letter from Persia,” Lraber, no. 3, 11 May 1908, p. 4. Ibid., no. 4, 18 May 1908, p. 4.
Razmik, no. 244, 3 May 1908, pp. 2-3.
Mshak, no. 132, 19 June 1908, p. 1.
Ազիզ, Քրդերի շահատակութիւնները [Aziz, “The Outrages of the Kurds”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 1, 11 September 1908, p. 2.
Ազիզ, Սպանութիւններ, յափշտակութիւններ [“Murders and Robbery”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 21, 5 October 1908, p. 2.
Ազիզ, Քրդերի յարձակումները [“The Kurdish Raids”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 42, 30 October 1908, p. 1.
Ազիզ, Վերջին դէպքերը Սալմաստում [“The Recent Events in Salmast”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 54, 13 November 1908, p. 1.
Արամ, Սարդարը սպառնում է հայերին [Aram, “The Sardar is Threatening the Armenians”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 56, 15 November 1908, p. 2.
Արամ, Լարւած վիճակ [“A Tense Situation”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 55, 14 November 1908, p. 1.
Razmik, no. 299, 19 November 1908, p. 4. Another news report of the same day provided the following details: “Late in October, the Chairman of the former Anjuman of Salmast, Hajji Pishnamaz, gathered 200 armed men in the Diocese of Gharadagh and joined the supporters of Sattar Khan and the fidayis who had left Dilman to meet him.... They sieged the city of Dilman with united forces, Hajji Pishnamaz routing the Kurds of the Milan tribe, sent there by the sardar of Maku, and making them take their heels. The province governor ran away.... After taking Dilman and Kyohnashahar, Pishnamaz kept receiving additional forces from the nearby places and Tabriz. Almost entire Salmast was under his control” (Mshak, no. 256, 18 November 1908, p. 1). “Hajji Pishnamaz, the Chief Anjuman of Salmast who retreated during the Reaction days, has already entered the district with his armed forces. The province governor has run away, and the revolutionaries have hoisted the flag of the Anjuman on the roof of the judge’s house in Dilman” («Զանգ» [Zang], no. 8, 23 November 1908 (Baku), p. 122). The following excerpt shows how Dilman was taken by Hajji Pishnamaz, the leader of the forces struggling against the monarchy: “[Hajji Pishnamaz] organised the conquest of Dilman. His group of “mujahideen” entered the city with the help of the local villagers, allegedly, for some shopping; several days later, on the morning of 1 November 1908, they stirred up a rebellion in the city. The “mujahideen” started shooting and occupying positions, after which, Hajji Pishnamaz and his “mujahideen” attacked Dilman with Samson Khan and his group of local young Armenians, in accordance with a previous arrangement. After a short resistance, the royalists and their gunmen succumbed to the national movement. Samson’s victorious group returned from Dilman, holding the flag of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.... The Persian and Armenian peasants welcomed the conquest of Dilman with great enthusiasm: armed villagers went there, expressing their willingness to participate in the fighting for the Constitution (A. A., “With the Eagles,” Alik, no. 197, 4 September 1951, p. 2). A letter of 8 November says: “The revolutionaries took Binab and Dilman” (Mshak, no. 250, 11 November 1908, p. 1). Another letter written on the same day stated that “the struggle between the royalists and constitutionalists ended in the latter’s victory in Salmast” (Իբօ, Դէպքերը Պարսկաստանում [Ibo, “The Developments in Persia”], «Մշակ» [Mshak], no. 251, 12 November 1908, p. 2).
Ֆ-օ, Սալմաստի դրութիւնը [F-o, “The Situation in Salmast”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 63, 25 November 1908, p. 2. For information about the fighting of Saramerik, also see Ֆ-օ, Սարամէրիկի կռիւը [F-o, “The Fighting of Saramerik”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 64, 26 November 1908, p. 2. Perhaps, it was with relation to these events, and particularly, the murder of Dadash that the Catholic prior of Khosrova reported the following: “On 13 November [the khan of Maku] crushed the groups of the Armenian [Revolutionary] Federation and the Turkish border-guarding troops near the villages of Siltu and Saramerik, which border on Turkey” (Պ. Գ., Մի վանահօր լուրը [P. G., “The News Reported by a Prior”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 64, 26 November 1908, p. 2).
Իբօ, Պարսկաստանի գործերը [Ibo, “The Affairs of Persia”], «Մշակ» [Mshak], no. 262, 26 November 1908, p. 2. Another record says: “The horsemen of Iso Khan of Maku attacked several Armenian villages of Salmast and looted the locals, also killing some of them. The inhabitants of these places had to seek shelter in the central villages of the district, which had the best means of protection” («Կոչնակ» [Kochnak], no. 1, 1909, p. 22).
Պ. Գ., Իզզէթ-ուլլահ-խան-սալարի աւերածութիւնները [P. G., “The Devastation Caused by Izzet-Ullah-Khan-Salar”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 70, 4 December 1908, p. 1. The same information was also reported in a letter of 2 December (Mshak, no. 268, 4 December 1908, p. 1).
F-o, “The Situation in Salmast,” Gortz, no. 67, 29 November 1908, p. 2.
P. G., “The Devastation Caused by Izzet-Ullah-Khan-Salar,” p. 1. Also see Mshak, no. 268, 4 December 1908, p. 1.
Պ. Գ., Սպառնալիք հայերին [P. G., “A Threat to the Armenians”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 60, 20 November 1908, p. 1.
Ա., Սալմաստի դէպքերը [A., “The Events of Salmast”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 61, 21 November 1908, p. 1.
The semi-savage Shikak tribe was characterised as follows: “The Avdos form a branch of the large Shikak tribe the members of which are scattered in the steep areas close to the south-western border of Salmast. Since bygone times, the name Shikak has been perceived as a synonym to a dexterous thief throughout Vaspourakan [italics added]” (Algh., “A Letter from the Persian-Turkish Borderline,” p. 2).
«Գործ» [Gortz], no. 70, 4 December 1908, pp. 1-2.
Ֆ-օ., Սալմաստի կռիւները [F-o, “The Fighting of Salmast”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 76, 12 December 1908, p. 2.
Ազիզ, Սխալ լուրեր [Aziz, “Disinformation”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 85, 23 December 1908, p. 1. According to a letter of 10 December, “the Kurds of Soma [District] who came to help Dilman have completely retreated now. Several days ago, a new group of border-guarding volunteers, about 100 in number, reached Salmast from Urmi: their conduct is quite nice. It is the capricious and disorderly behaviour of the volunteers from Gyuney that has been disturbing the local population” (ibid., Քրդերը յետ քաշւած “The Kurds have Retreated”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 88, 26 December 1908, p. 1).
Mshak, no. 280, 19 December 1908, p. 2.
Ազիզ, թղթակցություն [Aziz, “A Letter”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 7, 13 January 1909, p. 2.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, pp. 25-29.

The Developments of 1909. As reported on 2 January, “the Turks have occupied all the Sunni villages in the district of Kizan, north-west of Salmast, under the plea of protecting their brothers-in-religion. Some 3 or 4 zaptias [Turkish policemen] have settled in every village. Also, there are zaptias in Kyohne-Shehar, the inhabitants of which have sent a delegation of ten representatives to Turkey—at the suggestion of the governor of Van—to receive the necessary instructions to follow in case of any turmoil.”
A letter of 5 January stated the following: “The liberation movement of Persia, which has assumed large scopes in Atrpatakan, has recently had a favourable impact on the districts of Persian Armenia. Urmi, Salmast and Khoy, where monarchy reigned until yesterday, broke the reins of the ruling regime one after another and drove away the Maku gangs of impostors.”
According to a letter of 20 January, “the disarmament of the Kurdish tribe of Marzik [Mazrik] having started in Aghbak, Sharaf Bey was summoned up to Van. His son, Hasan Agha, crossed the Persian border with 150 horsemen to find some shelter in Persia. Three days ago, while in Hin Qaghaq, he turned to Samson for permission of residence in the villages of Vardan and Ayan, but he was rejected.... Now a Turkish centurion, Jelalettin Effendi, is living in Sulav: he has taken the villages of Kyorasen under his control, but he is on good terms with the Armenians and has assured that the people of Kyorasen will not show any enmity to those of Saramerik, if the latter decide to return to their village. The Turks have put some guards in Khantakht Village and keep the road to Urmi under their control.”
On 28 January “Sayid-ul-Mamalik, who had been appointed governor of Khoy by Sattar Khan, came from Khoy to Salmast to restore order there.” Besides, “early in February 1909, the regressive forces of Atrpatakan, which had grown larger, tightly encircled Tabriz and simultaneously started heavy attacks against the districts of Salmast, Khoy, Gyuney, Marand, Alamdar and Gyargyar. However, the revolutionaries fighting for the constitutional order were not discouraged although they were smaller in number. Sometimes they ran out of ammunition, but … it was again provided, although with difficulty, by the mixed body of Persian Julfa, the Anjuman, which kept the important military base of Julfa under its control from the beginning of the revolution until its end, incessantly procuring ammunition and gathering new groups of fighters.”
In April 1909 “trade has stopped in Urmia, Khoy and Salmast, and the caravans no longer transport any Russian goods. Late in March, the prices of the Russian products increased in the local market by 30 per cent.”
As reported on 6 May, the Turks continued strengthening their positions in those districts where monarchy had been abolished thanks to the victory of the “constitutional” forces: “According to the information received from a trustworthy source, soon some Turkish troops will cross the [Persian] border and enter Khoy, Salmast and Urmi. As declared by the Turkish consul of Khoy, these cities are in a dangerous situation; that is why the Turks have to station troops there to protect their subjects and their interests. This confident statement shows ... that this decision was made in Constantinople.”
On 15 May the situation was described as follows: “The district is in peace now, and the royalists have retreated. The roads are safe again, and the Turks sheltered in the Armenian villages are returning to their places. The villages of the neighbourhood which have been subjected to large-scale plunder and destruction are in grave misery. Now the Turkish soldiers have given rise to some anxiety.... They have occupied several Persian villages and make the passers-by pay the topraghbasti [a special tax for entering their territories]. What is particularly noteworthy, even the Turkish consul is complaining against the soldiers’ actions, declaring that they have advanced illegally.”
As reported on 23 May, after the conquest of Dilman by the Turkish army, “the inhabitants of the villages around Salmast ... gathered in the Armenian villages of Ghalasar and Payajouk, consigning their ripe fields and property to neglect.” A record of 25 May stated that “the other day 50 Turkish soldiers crossed the border and entered Salmast. Now they are in the Turkish consulate.”
As informed on 28 May, “telegraph communication with Salmast has been cut off ... several travellers have said that the roads are extremely dangerous as the Kurds have already descended [from the mountains] and have started their atrocities.” A letter of 30 May said: “The merchants of Tabriz still hope that the roads to Tehran, Khoy, Salmast and Ardabil, which have become impassable due to the robbery committed by the Governmental troops and gangs, will “open” again.”
Some days later, on 3 June, the following was written: “The Persian fidayis who were defeated by the Turkish troops in Salmast are coming to Tabriz, transferring their arms secretly, at nights. Although the Constitution has been adopted and general amnesty has been declared, the fidayis have not laid down arms yet. Having been deprived of their income, they have started acts of robbery on the roads and in the villages that are outside the range of the operations of the Russian army.”

Պ. Գ., Դրութիւնը Սալմաստում եւ Ուրմիում [P. G., “The Situation in Salmast and Urmi”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 9, 16 January 1909, pp. 1-2.
Հայկակ, Կացութիւնը պարսկա-թուրք սահմանագլխին վրայ [Haykak, “The Situation on the Persian-Turkish Borderline”], «Ռազմիկ» [Razmik], no. 317, 28 January 1909, p. 2.
Ազիզ, Քիւրդերի զինաթափումը [Aziz, “The Kurds’ Disarmament”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 36, 20 February 1909, p. 2.
Պ. Գ., Դրութիւնը Խօյում և Սալմաստում [P. G., “The Situation in Khoy and Salmast”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 35, 19 February 1909, p. 2.
Ալգա, Մի էջ պարսկական յեղափ. պատմութիւնից [Alga, “A Page from the History of the Persian Revolution”], «Դրօշակ» [Droshak], no. 1, January 1911, p. 13.
Gortz, no. 86, 28 April 1909, p. 2.
Ֆ-օ, Տաճիկների միջամտութիւնը [F-o, “The Turkish Intervention”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 102, 17 May 1909, p. 2.
Բարսամ, Սալմաստի վիճակը [Barsam, “The Situation in Salmast”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 109, 26 May 1909, p. 2.
Ֆարրուխ, Տաճկաց զօրքը Դիլիմանում [Farrukh, “The Turkish Army in Diliman”], «Լրաբեր» [Lraber], no. 24, 14 June 1909, p. 3.
Ֆ-օ, Նամակներ Թաւրիզից [F-o, “Letters from Tabriz”], «Գործ» [Gortz], no. 115, 3 June 1909, p. 2. Ibid., no. 118, 6 June 1909, p. 2.
Gortz, no. 114, 2 June 1909, p. 2.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, pp. 29-30