Draft:Defense of Ahlat

Defense of Ahlat
Part of Armenian resistance during the Armenian genocide, Also Armenian National Movement, And The Aghbiur Serob Movement
Aghbiur Serob, Located in Gyumri, Victory Park
Date 1895 Location Ahlat,Ottoman Empire,(Today Turkey) Result Armenian Fedayi victory flight of the Muslim army
Belligerents
Armenian Fedayi	Ottoman Empire Kurds Circassians
Commanders and leaders
Aghbiur Serob	Unknown Muslim Dommanders
Strength
10 Fedayis	600 Ottoman and Muslim ( Turkish,Kurdish,Circassian ) Troops
Casualties and losses
Nobody	40 captured unknow deads

The Defense of Ahlat, also known as the Siege of Ahlat (Armenian: ախլաթի պաշարում), was the conflict between Ottoman Empire's Hamidiye forces and the Armenian fedayi start of the Armenian resistance's in the Ahlat, Ottoman Empire, Today part of Turkey

Background

Main article: Hamidian Massacares

Calling the people to self-defense in the Ahlat region, Aghbiur Serob said: “… do not remain without bread, do not remain without weapons.” In the harsh days of 1895 , when the Hamidian sword of genocide was hanging over the heads of all Armenians, Aghbiur Serob arrived in Ahlat with a combat group and immediately found himself in the midst of battles. The enemy had focused most of his attention on the village of Soghord, which, thanks to its strong geographical position, brave sons, and especially the famous Khcheents family, was the spirit of Akhlat’s self-defense. In order to save his native region from massacre, to commemorate the people, and to create combat self-defense groups, Serob sent his comrades-in-arms to the most dangerous directions of the expected enemy attack, while he himself remained in Soghord with 10 fedayeen. "In all the villages, the local youth gathered around Aghbiur Serob's haiduks, and Aghbiur Serob himself, with a few friends, traveled from village to village to monitor security."

Battle

Serob's soldiers, being well acquainted with the province, were able to organize effective self-defense groups in the villages in a short period of time. A few days after the Baghesh massacre, the Kurds of Hasan and the Circassians of Diyarbakir, with the support of Turkish soldiers, attacked Soghord . The fighting group formed by the villagers took up positions near the cemetery, while he himself, along with his fedayeen, lay in ambush in the ravines separated from the village by the river, in order to strike the enemy from the rear at the decisive moment. The Kurds, unaware of the Armenian preparations, boldly crossed the ravine and the cemetery and approached the positions of the Soghord residents.

The battle begins, the superiority of 600 armed Kurds and Circassians was obvious. After a short resistance, the peasants' fighting group begins to retreat, and at that decisive moment, Serob's group strikes from the enemy's rear. "And Serob chooses the decisive suicide. With the ten warriors with him, he launches a fierce attack on the enemy, corpses will fall and panic will arise." Encouraged by the powerful attack of the fedayeen, the villagers boldly throw themselves at the enemy. The surprised Kurds, leaving the killed and 40 prisoners on the battlefield, flee in panic. It is interesting that when the captives are released through the mediation of the governor, they, not believing that the Armenians are capable of such audacity, tell the governor: "Efendim, these kiavars did not defeat us, but the Moscow kiavars caught up with us from behind and poured fire on us from the sky, our bullets could not reach them, and they did not leave a single one of us, they rolled them down." The Turks, represented by the fedayeen, began to suspect that they were dealing with special combat groups armed with more advanced weapons. The self-defense battles of Akhlat were the first combat operations in Serop's fedayeen life.

After

In 1895 , the struggle of the Armenians of Akhlat, led by Serob's group, once again confirmed that the disasters of the massacres can be prevented only by organizing common self-defense. During the bloody years of the Hamidian, when 300,000 Armenians fell victim to the atrocities of the Turkish massacrers, Taron was the only region of Western Armenia that was spared from the massacres thanks to Aghbyur Serob. The Turkish authorities managed to learn about the activities carried out by the Armenians in the province. In order to expose and destroy the revolutionary movements, the Turkish government created a wide network of spies and informers, from the secret information provided by which the Turkish police of Baghesh were well aware that the main figure of the militant organizations operating in Akhlat was Serob.