Shabin-Karahisar Resistance

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Shabin-Karahisar Resistance
partof=Armenian Resistance


caption=
date=June 2-June 30, 1915
place=Castle at Şebinkarahisar
result= Suppression of the Resistance and massacre of the rest of the Armenians.
combatant1=Ottoman Empire
combatant2=Hunchaks (members of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party)
commander1=
commander2=
strength1=
strength2=
casualties1=
casualties2=|

Shabin-Karahisar resistance (June 2-June 30, 1915) was the resistance of the Armenian militia of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (Hunchaks) of the Giresun Province. They had resisted the Ottoman onslaught for a duration of a month. [Simon Payaslian, "The Armenian Resistance at Shabin-Karahisar in 1915" 5th International conferences on Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces]

News of the massacres in other regions of Western Armenia made the people of Shabin-Karahisar think that their "turn" was coming soon. In April, 1915, hundreds of young men were suddenly imprisoned. In June, 1915, the region's Armenian religious leader was executed. Then, 200 Armenian merchants were killed as a part of a systematic campaign of genocide by the Ottoman authorities.

The able-bodied Armenians of Shabin-Karahisar thus decided to confront the Ottomans. They started by burning their own homes and fortified themselves in a nearby castle. Many Turkish soldiers fell those days. After weeks of confrontation, the Armenian militia had no ammunition left. They decided to come out from the castle and fight with their own bare hands. Now, there were only women, children, and elderly in the city, who were all massacred following the resistance's suppression. [Translated from the Armenian: Mihran Kurdoghlian, Badmoutioun Hayots, C. hador [Armenian History, volume III] , Athens, Greece, 1996, pg. 93.]

Shabin Karahisar`(Şebinkarahisar) was the birthplace of Andranik Toros Ozanian.

Footnotes

See also

*Şebinkarahisar