Six vilayets

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 ili[1]) were the Armenian-populated vilayets (provinces) of the Ottoman Empire:

The Six Armenian provinces in early 20th century.

Term

The term Six Vilayets was a term In the diplomatic language and meant the Vilayets with Armenian population. European diplomats often referred to the Six Armenian Vilayets during the Congress of Berlin in 1878.[2]

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 population statistics.
Statistical analysis of the racial elements in the Ottoman provinces by the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, 1912[3]

Note: The analysis excludes certain portions of these provinces where Armenians are only a minor element. These portions are as follows: Hakkiari, in the Vilayet of Van; the south of Sairt, in the Vilayet of Bitlis; the south of the Vilayet of Diyarbekir; the south of Malatia, in the Vilayet of Mamuretülaziz; the north-west and west of the Vilayet of Sivas.[3]

Ethnic groups Bitlis Diyarbekir Erzurum Mamuretülaziz Sivas Van TOTAL %
Armenians180,000105,000215,000168,000165,000185,0001,018,00038.9
Turks148,00072,000265,000182,000192,00047,000806,00030.8
Kurds277,00055,00075,00095,00050,00072,000499,00019.1
Others330,00064,00048,0005,000100,00043,000290,00011.1
TOTAL382,000296,000630,000450,000507,000350,0002,615,000100

1 including Qizilbash
2 including Zaza
3 Assyrians (Nestorians, Jacobites, Chaldeans), Circassians, Greeks, Yazidis, Persians, Lazs, Roma

Ottoman official population statistics, 1914[4]

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

The official Ottoman population statistics of 1914 that were based on an earlier census underestimated the number of ethnic minorities, including the number of Armenians.[5] The Ottoman figures didn't define any ethnic groups, only religious ones. So the “Armenian” population as counted by the authorities only tallied ethnic Armenians who were also adherents of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Ethnic Armenians who professed the Muslim faith, which by that time had grown in number (and are the ancestors of most of the modern population of Muslim “Turks” of these regions after their acculturation to a Turkish ethnic identity), were counted only as “Muslims” (not as Armenian Muslims or Armenians), while Armenian Protestants, just as Pontic Greeks, Caucasus Greeks, and Laz, were counted as "others".

Ethnic groups Bitlis Diyarbekir Erzurum Mamuretülaziz Sivas Van TOTAL %
Muslims309,999492,101673,297446,376939,735179,3803,040,88879.6
Armenians119,13265,850136,61887,862151,67467,792628,92816.5
Others44,3484,0205,7974,04778,17311,969148,3543.9
TOTAL473,479561,971815,712538,2851,169,582259,1413,818,170100
  • 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[6] Van Vilayet 40,000 25,000 62.5%
Sivas[7] Sivas Vilayet 60,000 30,000 50%
Erzurum[8] Erzurum Vilayet 60,000 15,000 25%
Mezereh[9] Vilayet of Mamuret-ul-Aziz 12,00 6,000 50%
Bitlis[7] Bitlis Vilayet 30,000 7,000 23%
Diyarbakır Diyarbekir Vilayet 15,000 45,000 33%
Arapgir[10] Vilayet of Mamuret-ul-Aziz 20,000 10,000 50%
Malatya[11] Vilayet of Mamuret-ul-Aziz 40,000 20,000 50%

See also

References
Notes
  1. (in Turkish) İsmail Soysal, Türkiye'nin Siyasal Andlaşmaları, I. Cilt (1920-1945), Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1983, p. 14.
  2. Verheij, Jelle (2012). Jongerden, Joost; Verheij, Jelle (eds.). Social Relations in Ottoman Diyarbekir, 1870-1915. Brill. p. 88. ISBN 9789004225183.
  3. "The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire 1915-1916" by JAMES VISCOUNT BRYCE, London, T. Fisher Unwin Ltd., 1916
  4. "1914 Population Statistics" (PDF). Turkish General Staff. pp. 603–628. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
  5. 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...
  6. Hakobyan 1987, p. 236.
  7. Hakobyan 1987, p. 222.
  8. Hakobyan 1987, p. 163.
  9. Hakobyan 1987, p. 134.
  10. Hakobyan 1987, p. 51.
  11. Hakobyan 1987, p. 182.
Bibliography
  • Hakobyan, Tadevos (1987). Պատմական Հայաստանի քաղաքները (Cites of historic Armenia) (in Armenian). Yerevan: "Hayastan" Publishing.
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