Urfa Resistance

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Urfa Resistance
partof=Armenian Resistance


caption=
date=September 29-October 20, 1915
place=Urfa
result=The resistance was thwarted following German intervention and the Ottoman Empire continued its genocidal campaign in the region.
combatant1=Ottoman Empire
Germany
combatant2=Armenian residents of Urfa
commander1=
commander2=Mgrdich Yotneghparian
strength1=
strength2=
casualties1=?
casualties2=?|

The Armenian resistance in Urfa during the Armenian genocide took place as a reaction to Turkish actions. The resistance was quelled following German intervention.hy icon cite book | last = Kurdoghlian | first = Mihran | title = Badmoutioun Hayots, Volume III | publisher = Hradaragoutioun Azkayin Oussoumnagan Khorhourti |year= 1996 | location = Athens, Greece | pages = p. 93-95]

In May 27, 1915, hundreds of Armenians were captured by Ottoman authorities in Urfa. The rest sat in a meeting in order to figure a way out of the problem. People thought of many different things, but Mgrdich Yotneghparian and his partisans were some of the few who preferred to fight till death instead of ceding to the enemy. Previous events like the Adana massacre made him increasingly cautious of the new Young Turk government and the Turkish constitution.

The charismatic Mugerditch, the resistance of the Armenian fighters in the heavily fortified stone houses lasted sixteen days and was finally broken only with the help of a newly arrived contringent of six thousand Turkish troops equipped with heavy artillery. [The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey: A Disputed Genocide - Page 201 by Lewy, Guenter ]

References