Gulizan :: ARMENIAN LOCATIONS

5 Monuments

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

Location

Gulizan is situated 7 km south-west of Salmast City, in a plain abounding in orchards, within about 600 metres of the left bank of the River Zola, at an altitude of 1,410 metres.

Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 163.

Population

For centuries, Gulizan was one of the purely Armenian villages in Salmast District. This is substantiated by the available descriptions of the local cemetery (now not extant), which is mentioned as a very old one. Being emptied of its Armenian inhabitants in the aftermath of the emigration that started after the Russo-Persian war of 1826 to 1828, the village was later re-populated by Assyrians. In 1876 “the entire village of Gulizan, located not very far from Khosrova, was bought by the Catholic [Lazarist] congregation of this village. The Persian Government bans the citizens of other states from acquiring lands in Persia, so I wonder how the Roman Lazarist priests were allowed to buy villages and farms.”

Աթայեան Ա., Սալմաստ [A. Atayan, Salmast] (New Jugha, 1906), p. 9. Րաֆֆի, Երկերի ժողովածու [Raffi, Collected Works], vol. 9 (Yerevan, 1964), p. 165. Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 163.

Between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in 1905, Gulizan had a mixed population of Iranian Turks (36 houses), Assyrians (27 houses), Kurds (3 houses) and Armenians (3 houses, one of which also had some Assyrians and Protestants).

Աթայեան Ա., Սալմաստ [A. Atayan, Salmast] (New Jugha, 1906), p. 56. Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 163.

In 2011 Gulizan had a population of 250 houses, 2 of which were inhabited by Kurds and the rest by Iranian Turks.

Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 163.

Name Origin

The village has also been mentioned by the names of Gyulizan, Guluzan and Kyulizan. Gulizan, which is the Persian equivalent for rose-woman or flower-woman, is supposed to be a modified version of the name Gilizan found in some inscriptions of the 2nd to 1st millennia B.C.

Աթայեան Ա., Սալմաստ [A. Atayan, Salmast] (New Jugha, 1906), p. 56. Ahrenjani, p. 52. Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 163.

Some written records of the Urartian period mention the name Gilzan, which is closely related to Gulizan.

.36£ ,1384 ,rëpGN ,ÚDWëDFomA EpºÞ uDØÏv éÎDv oCrç æk jëoDN ,íÛDÃØÏëk ækCq ÈÏ× lìdßN [Tohid Malekzadeh Dilmaghani, The Ten Thousand-Year History of Salmast and West Atrpatakan] (Tabriz, 1384), p. 36. Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 163.

According to a viewpoint, the toponym consists of the roots gul and uzan, the latter meaning minstrel in the Safavids’ times. And truly, several centuries ago, the village was the centre of the travelling singers of Atrpatakan.

Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 163.

Economic Life

In the early 20th century, the lands of the village belonged to the local beys, who received one-third of the harvest as a tribute. For irrigation, the water of the River Zola was used (it reached the village through a canal).

Աթայեան Ա., Սալմաստ [A. Atayan, Salmast] (New Jugha, 1906), p. 56. Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 163.

As everywhere else in Salmast District, the economy of Gulizan seriously suffered not because of pests such as locusts or caterpillars but due to the endless plunder by the Kurds. Thus, for instance, on 6 April 1908, the Kurds surrounded the village from all sides to drive away its cattle from the pastures. However, they encountered “the Armenians who had learnt about the raid [beforehand] and had positioned themselves in the mountains of Mahlam. ...the Kurds just left the animals and retreated without any shooting.”

Tsolak, “The Recent Events in Persia,” p. 4. Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 163.

Education

Gulizan did not have an Armenian school, but despite this, in 1905 half of the local Armenians were literate.

Աթայեան Ա., Սալմաստ [A. Atayan, Salmast] (New Jugha, 1906), p. 56. Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 163.

Type Photo
View Exterior
Direction From the south-west
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Colour Negative
Date 2011 y․

The village from the south-west as seen from the mountain on which Gharniyarukh Fortress is situated

The Armenians formed only an insignificant number, the available statistical data regarding them showing the following picture:

Dates	Armenian Houses	Armenians (Male)	Armenians (Female)	Total (Armenians)	Notes	Source
1898	3	12	10	22		Ararat, nos. 11-12 (1898), p. 505. Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 163.
1905	2	9	10	19	Another author reports 24 native Armenian inhabitants (9 males, 15 females), including 2 migrant workers, for the same year (Աթայեան Ա., Սալմաստ [A. Atayan, Salmast] (New Jugha, 1906), p. 56, and insert).	G. Hovsepian’s Archives, folder 91, document 14, p. 11. Also see Materials for the History of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Party, vol. 4, p. 267. Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 163.
1914	1				The village was also mentioned as having an Assyrian population of 30 to 40 houses. According to another work, the local inhabitants included 4 houses of Armenians in the same year (Հայոց ցեղասպանությունը Օսմանյան Թուրքիայում. վերապրածների վկայություններ, Փաստաթղթերի ժողովածու, հ. 3 [The Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey: Testimonies of Survivors (a Collection of Documents), vol. 3] (Yerevan, 2012), p. 376).	National Archives of Armenia, fund 57, list 2, file 1960, pp. 4-5. Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 163.