Six vilayets

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The Six Armenian provinces in early 20th century.

The Six vilayets or Six provinces (Ottoman Turkish: ولايت سته‎ Vilâyat-ı Sitte) or the Six Armenian vilayets (Armenian: Վեց հայկական վիլայեթներ Vets' haykakan vilayet'ner, Turkish: Altı vilayet, Altı Ermeni ili[1]) were the Armenian-populated vilayets (provinces) of the Ottoman Empire:

The term

The term Six Armenian provinces was first used in the Congress of Berlin in 1878.[citation needed]

Population

Ethnic groups

Ethnic map of Six vilayets according to the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1912.
Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire according to the 1914 official census.

Reliable population statistcs do not exist. Different versions are shown below.

Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, 1912
[2]

Note: The analysis excludes certain portions of these provinces where the Armenians are only a minor element. These portions are as follows: Hakkari, in the Vilayet of Van; the south of Sairt, the Vilayet of Bitlis; the south of Vlayet of Diyarbekir; the south of Malatia, in the Vilayet of Mamouret-ul-Aziz; the north-west and west of the Vilayet of Sivas.

There is no evidence supporting the data of the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, as the methods of gathering of data was never cited.[3] Also, the Patriarch had issued statistics of Six Vilayets in 1882 stating a total of 1.63 million Armenians in the area, 2.55 times the number they reached in the 1914 Census Report, but disowned 1882 figures in 1912 to publish new figures.[3][4]

Ethnic groups Bitlis Diyarbekir Erzurum Mamuretülaziz Sivas Van TOTAL %
Armenians 180,000 105,000 215,000 168,000 165,000 185,000 1,018,000 38.9
Turks1 48,000 72,000 265,000 182,000 192,000 47,000 806,000 30.8
Kurds2 77,000 55,000 75,000 95,000 50,00 72,000 499,000 19.1
Others3 30,000 64,000 48,000 5,000 100,000 43,000 290,000 11.1
TOTAL 382,000 296,000 630,000 450,000 507,000 350,000 2,615,000 100

1 including Qizilbash
2 including Zaza
3 Assyrians (Nestorians, Jacobites, Chaldeans), Circassians, Greeks, Yazidis, Persians, Lazs, Roma
Ottoman official census, 1914
[5]

Note: The Ottoman census doesn't give information for separate Muslim ethnic groups such as the Turks, Kurds, Circassians, etc.

Most modern Western scholars agree that the official Ottoman census underestimated the number of ethnic minorities[citation needed], including the number of Armenians.[6] In fact Ottoman census didn't define any ethnic groups, only religious ones. So Armenian meant an adherent of Armenian Apostolic Church. Ethnic Armenians who claimed to be Muslims were counted as Muslims, Armenian Protestants - like Pontic Greeks, Caucasus Greeks, and Laz - were counted as others.

Ethnic groups Bitlis Diyarbekir Erzurum Mamuretülaziz Sivas Van TOTAL %
Muslims 309,999 492,101 673,297 446,376 939,735 179,380 3,040,888 79.6
Armenians 119,132 65,850 136,618 87,862 151,674 67,792 628,928 16.5
Others 44,348 4,020 5,797 4,047 78,173 11,969 148,354 3.9
TOTAL 473,479 561,971 815,712 538,285 1,169,582 259,141 3,818,170 100
  • Maps

  • 1893-96, Armenian population

  • Armenian population in the Six vilayets.

Largest cities

All figures are as of early 20th century.

City Vilayet Population Armenians  %
Van[7] Van Vilayet 40,000 25,000 62.5%
Sivas[8] Sivas Vilayet 60,000 30,000 50%
Erzurum[9] Erzurum Vilayet 60,000 15,000 25%
Mezereh[10] Vilayet of Mamuret-ul-Aziz 12,200 6,080 49.8%
Bitlis[8] Bitlis Vilayet 30,000 7,000 23%
Diyarbakır Diyarbekir Vilayet
Arapgir[11] Vilayet of Mamuret-ul-Aziz 20,000 10,000 50%
Malatya[12] Vilayet of Mamuret-ul-Aziz 40,000 20,000 50%

See also

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References

Notes
  1. ↑ (Turkish) İsmail Soysal, Türkiye'nin Siyasal Andlaşmaları, I. Cilt (1920-1945), Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1983, p. 14.
  2. ↑ "The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire 1915-1916" by JAMES VISCOUNT BRYCE, London, T. Fisher Unwin Ltd., 1916
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Steven T. Katz,The Holocaust in Historical Context, 1994, p. 86 ...indicates (based on 1919 British estimates) that though Ottoman data were generally reliable they did underestimate the Armenian population in 1914...
  7. ↑ Hakobyan 1987, p. 236.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Hakobyan 1987, p. 222.
  9. ↑ Hakobyan 1987, p. 163.
  10. ↑ Hakobyan 1987, p. 134.
  11. ↑ Hakobyan 1987, p. 51.
  12. ↑ Hakobyan 1987, p. 182.
Bibliography
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