Martial Culture of the Sasun Region
Introduction
Sasun is a mountainous historical district located to the south of Lake Van in Turkey. This area was primarily inhabited by ethnic Armenians since antiquity, although after the Ottoman invasions various Kurdish tribes made their way in, making up a substantial portion of the population. Compared to its neighboring areas, Sasun is characterized by its extreme geographic isolation due to its intense mountainous terrain. Being so isolated that its roads were completely blocked off for the whole winter, Sasun’s residents had to rely on makeshift skis and snow glare goggles to get around. Even in the summer, travel to the nearby Mush Plain was still very limited. This factor allowed the native population (Both Armenians and Kurds) to live in virtual independence of Ottoman control, where customary law took precedence over state law. (1) The native Armenians of this region had organized themselves under elected headmen, known as Res. In many of the villages of Sasun, these headmen bore the title of prince, Ishkhan or Res-Ishkhan (“Headman-Prince” in Armenian). (2) A few of the most central and remote villages of Sasun had managed to maintain nearly complete autonomy until the end of the 19th century. Save for these exceptions, by the end of the 19th century, most Armenian villages had been subordinated to Kurdish Aghas and Beys of various tribes, to whom they paid tribute. Regardless of this fact, the Armenians were on equal footing with the Kurdish peasants, elected their own leaders, and often acted as fighting allies of their Kurdish Aghas. In most cases, the role of the Kurdish Aghas was solely confined to collecting tribute.
Long-term geographic isolation and their semi-autonomous status allowed the Armenian residents to preserve yet another custom, long abandoned by other Armenians suffering under the draconian restrictions of the Ottoman state, namely the widespread owning and carrying of arms along with a rich martial tradition. (3) The following is a preliminary investigation based on the most widely accessible English and Armenian language sources. I hope that with further study, and interviews with the last few elders of the Sasun refugee villages in Armenia who may have a deeper level of knowledge, more can be uncovered and preserved.
Customary Law, Martial Traditions, and Armed Conflicts
Due to the popularity of the national epic Daredevils of Sasun, the Sasun highlanders had long been viewed by other Armenians as fierce and courageous warriors. Extremely hospitable to friends and guests, the Sasunians were nonetheless extremely quick to anger and violence in response to insults against their honor and transgressions by outsiders. (4) The Sasunians never turned to established Ottoman Law to settle disputes, viewing it as extremely dishonorable and an infringement on their local way of life. Instead, all disputes were handled by the Ishkhan and the village’s council of elders, in accordance with customary law. Local customs mandated the immediate killing of anyone who was discovered to have conspired against or reported an Armenian to the Turks, while the only acceptable punishment for adultery was death at the hands of one’s own family. (5) In the case of murder, local law mandated the payment of a “blood price”, which was equivalent to 20–25 Ottoman gold coins. However, this was merely an initial formality, as such a payment would be universally rejected by the family of the murdered. Rather, they chose to enact blood revenge, which the Sasunians viewed as a regrettable but non-negotiable act. After a relative of the murdered would chase after the murderer and kill them, he would toss the blood money through the window of their house. Through this gesture, the murderer’s family would know that “blood had been washed away with blood”. The murderer’s family could choose to continue the blood feud, and it would often go on until one side could finally be convinced to accept the blood money. In the presence of the Ishkhan, the council of elders, and the wider community, the two clans would swear an oath upon a bible to not continue the feud any further. (6)
The Sasunian Armenians were subjected to frequent attacks from their Kurdish neighbors, namely aimed at driving away their livestock. The Kurds would drive away several animals, the Armenians would chase after them and kill a few Kurds in retaliation, while reclaiming the animals or an equivalent number of the Kurds’ animals. (7) These attacks were mostly committed by nomadic Kurdish tribes who came to the highlands en masse during the summer. The Armenians usually had good relations with their settled Kurdish neighbors and Aghas, although armed conflicts and the stealing of livestock would often occur over unpaid tribute. Occasionally, very grave insults such as the murder of an Armenian prince by the Kurds or an insult to women led to small-scale wars between the Armenians and Kurds. (8) In case of war, each sub-district of Sasun could field 500–1000 riflemen. (9).
For the Sasunians, martial training began from an early age, with youths practicing horsemanship, marksmanship, hunting, and fencing with swords and bucklers. Training and fencing games with swords and bucklers were known by the names Martlug and Martlutse. The best opportunity to show off such skills was during pilgrimages to holy sites on the slopes of the mountains Maratuk and Andok, in an attempt to impress potential suitors. Among the many games held at these pilgrimages were shooting competitions, horse races, mounted duels with spears and shields, and wrestling matches. (10)
However, the most intense of these games was a form of ritualistic fencing, known as “Sword and Martal”. This was only practiced by the bravest of warriors, who had accumulated such a reputation through many sword duels and life-and-death encounters with the enemy. These duels represented the traditional local tale of the fight between Sasun’s two tallest mountains, Andok and Maratuk, as they fought to determine who was the king of Sasun’s mountains. The combatants would be armed with swords and bucklers a half meter in diameter, and the first to land a blow would be declared the winner. (11)
The Weapons
Weapons production was one of the most widespread crafts in Sasun. All weapons and weapon accessories, including gunpowder and ammunition, were of local production. The craft was exclusively in the hands of ethnic Armenians, as the local Kurds did not have any blacksmiths of their own. (12) The weapons produced in Sasun were widely known and used not just in Sasun but in the neighboring regions, by both Armenians and Kurds (13). Given the societal importance of the local martial traditions, the ever-present threat of Kurdish raids, and the mountaineer’s fierce independence and desire to protect their autonomous existence, every man was armed and weapons were considered to be an indispensable part of his costume. (14)
Cold Arms: A fully-armed warrior from Sasun carried with him three weapon blades, save for their knife which was a tool rather than a weapon. Each of these could be seen as representative of a state of conflict.
1: The Khanjar was a dagger, of a familiar form to those wielded by Kurds and Turks in the neighboring districts of the Armenian Highlands. The blade was curved, often with a raised central fuller. The most prestigious was considered to be one with a white ivory or horn hilt. (15) While much of the other equipment to be described was set aside for everyday use, such daggers were a basic element of a man’s everyday dress, representing the lowest tier of conflict, the everyday tasks and struggles a man had to deal with. As these daggers were always carried by men, they were frequently used to retaliate against insults or settle blood feuds. (16)
2: The Nalchkh was a war axe, essentially a locally produced example of Ottoman and Persian Tabar axes. Although such weaponry seems to have been largely abandoned elsewhere by the late 19th century, it was preserved by the Sasunians into the 20th century. Even after their deportation to Eastern Armenia, the Nalchkh was preserved in the Sasun resettlement villages of the Ararat Plain. (17) This weapon was primarily a hunting weapon, although many wielded it in war as a sidearm. It was always carried on the back of the belt. In confrontations with big and dangerous game, it was used as the main weapon of melee attack. This weapon represents the second tier of conflict, hunting, and one-to-one encounters with dangerous animals. (18)
3: The Sword, essentially a Shamshir, and Martal, a type of buckler shield synonymous with Ottoman Kalkans of the period, were the main melee weapons of war. These were used both in close-quarter fights with enemies and in the aforementioned form of ritualistic dueling, and thus represent the final level of conflict, actual warfare with human enemies.
Firearms: The Sasun Mountaineers relied on rather antiquated guns until the end of the 19th century, namely miquelet lock firearms known as Chakhmakhli, or Tvng. These were locally produced and came in a wide variety of styles, mostly copies of firearms from nearby and faraway regions. To the locals, these styles were known as:
1: Majar: This word is an archaic way of saying “Hungarian”, aka Magyar. Refers to Hungarian-style flintlocks.
2: Shashkhan: The well-known Ottoman Shishane Guns
3: Tersmi: Guns in the style of “Dersim”. Most likely, resembling Caucasian miquelets.
4: Stambuli: Guns in the style of Istanbul, or the western territories of the Ottoman Empire. Most likely consisting of Shishanes, blunderbusses, and pistols.
5: Navhulu: Naval guns. Most likely referring to pistols and carbines. (19)
Along with a firearm came all of its necessary accessories, namely a priming flask, known by the name Tezik, and a device for storing ammunition. Photographic evidence for these is too lacking to give an accurate prediction, but based on what evidence exists we can conclude that priming flasks came both in the classic Caucasian form and the heart-shaped form more common in the Ottoman territories. At least some locals strapped their ammunition pouch on the front of their belts, although it is likely that there was considerable variation in the form and use of all of these accessories.
Symbolic Martial Traditions
The Sasunians had been exposed to war since time immemorial, and it permeated many aspects of their secular culture. This is well represented in their weddings, which were staged as elaborate battles to capture the Ourk, or Tree of Life. This was essentially a pole with colorful fruits attached to it. It was the duty of the “King” (the Groom) and his “Soldiers” (armed men accompanying his wedding procession) to protect the tree from attacks by the wedding guests. The attackers would wield swords and martals, sticks, or use their fists, and launch the attack on the groom at his house. (20)
Perhaps the best-preserved remnant of this old martial culture is the war dance Yarkhushta, widely known today as one of the most popular Armenian folk dances.
The favorite dance of the Sasunians, Yarkhushta was a war dance representing a battle between two invading armies. The name of the dance can loosely be translated to “Friend of the weapon”, from the old Parthian words “Yar” (friend) and “Khshtik” (spear). The most prevailing theory about this dance is that it was an ancient form of martial training, practiced by soldiers before battle to put them into a state of Euphoric trance.
Two teams of men would stand opposite to each other, with one man having one opponent, whom he would interact with throughout the fight. The two teams would make their way to their opponents in a series of leaps, and clap their hands against those of their opponents before turning back and repeating the process. The “battle” would go on until one team deemed that it had lost. (21)
The Sasun Massacres of 1894 and the Armenian Genocide of 1915 decimated the population of Sasun, reducing an ancient land and its proud warrior people to rubble. Although some elements such as Yarkhushta have been well preserved, much of the aforementioned customs have been entirely forgotten about for decades. Only through the efforts of modern scholars, can all the aspects of this rich culture be properly preserved, studied, and revived.
Bibliography
«Արաքս», 1894–1895, Գիրգ Ա․
Bliss, E. (1896). Turkey and the Armenian Atrocities: A Reign of Terror, Philadephia: Edgewood Publishing Company.
Lynch, H. F. B. (1901). Armenia, Travels and Studies, London: Longmans, Green, and co.
Martirosyan, T. (2020). Armenian Demographics of Sassoun in the Late Ottoman Period. The Armenian Review, 57(1–2), 59–93.
Պետոյան, Վ. (2014). Սասունի Ազգագրությունը, Երևան։ «Լուսակն» հրատարակչություն.
Պողոսյան, Հ․Մ․ (1985). Սասունի Պատմություն, Երևան։ «Հայաստան» հրատարակչություն.
Tashjian, S. (2019). Sassoun — Religious Customs. Houshamadyan.
Footnotes
1: Պետոյան, 2014, p. 303.
2: Martirosyan, 2020, p. 62.
3: Lynch, 1901, p. 158.
4: Tashjian, 2019.
5: Պետոյան, 2014, p. 304.
6: Ibid, p. 305.
7: Bliss, 1896, p. 374.
8: See the Battle of the Seven Spoons, or the murder of Prince Grgo of Ahronk.
9: Արաքս, 1894–1895, p. 93.
10: Tashjian, 2019.
11: Պետոյան, 2014, p. 395–396.
12: Ibid, p. 161.
13: Արաքս, 1894–1895, p. 70.
14: Ibid, p. 87.
15: Պետոյան, 2014, p. 199
16: See Պետոյան, 2014, p. 372–373 for a folk song describing this action.
17: Ibid, p. 140.
18: Ibid, p. 141.
19: Պողոսյան, 1985, p. 118. I am also indebted to Oliver S. Pinchot for deciphering the kinds of guns these names likely referred to.
20: Tashjian, 2019.
21: Պետոյան, 2014, p. 399–400.
