Zeitun Rebellion (1895–1896)

Zeitun rebellion of 1895–1896
Part of Hamidian massacres
Date October 1895 – January 1896 Location Zeitun, Aleppo Vilayet Result Negotiated settlement with European political intervention
Belligerents
Hunchak Party	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Aghasi (Karapet Ter-Sargsian) Ghazar Shovroian	Ali Bey Mustafa Remzi Pasha Edhem Pasha
Units involved
	Ottoman Fifth Army Corps
Strength
1,500-6,000 armed militia	28,000 Turkish troops 30,000 Muslim irregulars 12 cannons Total: 58,000 soldiers
Casualties and losses
6,000 (includes non-combat Armenians)	10,000-20,000 soldiers

The Zeitun rebellion or Second Zeitun Resistance (Armenian: Զեյթունի երկրորդ գոյամարտը, Zeyt'uni yerkrord goyamartĕ) took place in the winter of 1895–1896, during the Hamidian massacres, when the Armenians of Zeitun (modern Süleymanlı), fearing the prospect of massacre, took up arms to defend themselves from Ottoman troops.

The Armenians of Zeitun had historically enjoyed a period of high autonomy in the Ottoman Empire until the nineteenth century. In the first half of the nineteenth century, the central government decided to bring this region of the empire under tighter control and attempted to do this by settling Muslims in the villages around Zeitun. This strategy ultimately proved ineffective and in the summer of 1862 during the First Zeitun Resistance the Ottomans sent a military contingent of 12,000 men to Zeitun to reassert government control. The force, however, was held at bay by the Armenians and, through French mediation, the first Zeitun resistance was brought to a close.

The Ottoman government was nevertheless upset with the results of the mediation. In the following decades, it once more resolved to bring the area under control by provoking Zeitun's Armenians: newly stationed government troops harassed the population and frequent calls for their massacre were issued by a number of Turks. Between the years 1891 and 1895, activists from the Armenian Social Democrat Hunchakian Party visited Cilicia and established a new branch in Zeitun and encouraged the Armenians to resist the oppressive measures of the Ottoman government. It was also at this time that the ruler of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Abdul Hamid II, decided finally to eliminate one of the only strongholds of Armenian autonomy during the Armenian massacres of 1895–1896.

As the governor of the province was removed and replaced by Avni Bey, a man who held a deep-seated hatred for Armenians, orders were given on October 24, 1895, by Ottoman authorities to use the troops to begin razing several of the Armenians villages near Zeitun.

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