The social and economic transformation of Mush region between 1865 and 1890

Abstract

This study investigates the ethnic conflict through land, reforms, and migration. The central government, after the Tanzimat period, eliminated the Aladdinpaşazadelis who owned the yurtluk-ocaklık lands in the Muş region. The population in the Muş region was mixed and composed of Armenian, Kurdish and Circassian people. Unlike the claims that the interference of the European Powers started the conflict, this study investigates the importance of the land which escalated violence due to the scarce resources which were taken by Kurdish tribes by force. The violence reached its peak in the region after the establishment of the Hamidian Regiments in 1891. This study also investigates the reforms attempts of the state and divides the period into two: Between 1865 and 1878, a series of reform attempts of the state were visible in order to protect the local inhabitants from attacks of Kurdish tribes. Between 1878 and 1890, the reforms were aimed to secure the region and state officials started to favor the Kurds and the establishment of the Hamidian Regiments illustrates this. Land disputes in the region, on the other hand, also transformed from class conflict to an ethnoreligious conflict; at the end of the 1880s, the state officials tolerated the land seizures of the Kurds. However, not every example is the same. In the case of the Surp Garabed Monastery, displacement of the Kurdish people from their houses with the help of the state investigates how the peasants cope with problems, developed new strategies and created their own discourses.