Sivas (Sepasdia) – Labor migration (Part II)

Author: Robert A. Tatoyan, 05/02/26 (Last modified 05/02/26) - Translator: Simon Beugekian

The Hamidian persecutions that targeted Armenians in the mid-1890s, especially the massacres that took place in Constantinople in August 1896, acted as a catalyst for a new wave of Armenian emigration and labor emigration. These events also prompted Armenian migrants to eschew the Ottoman capital in favor of other regions and countries. Beginning in this period, the United States became one of the main destinations for labor migrants from Sivas.

This is confirmed by Phillip Pullman, the British vice-consul in Sivas, who noted in August 1896 that there was a general desire among local Armenian men to leave, and that the Ottoman authorities were making no attempts to dissuade them. [1] Pullman also stated that from October 1895 to August 1896, 293 men had obtained Ottoman identity papers (tezkere) on the pretext that they were leaving for Constantinople or Samsun, but all of them had left the country and most had emigrated to the United States or Russia; while approximately 150 men had left Sivas without a tezkere, headed for Zeytun, Samsun, Trabzon, and Ankara. [2]

American-Armenian researcher Robert Mirak calculated that in the 56 years between 1834 and 1890, 1,500 Armenians settled in the United States; then, in the five years between 1891 and 1896, this number rose to 5,500; and in the two years between 1896 and 1897, it was 5,000. [3] In future years, up to 1914, an average of 3,250 Armenians immigrated into the United States each year, with the largest number, 9,353, being recorded in 1913 (for comparison, this number was 5,222 in 1912 and 7,785 in 1914). [4] Thus, by the eve of the Armenian Genocide, a total of 65,950 Armenians had settled in the U.S., [5] approximately 55,000 of whom had come from the Ottoman Empire. [6]

These numbers indicate that labor emigration from Sivas to the United States and other countries accelerated and reached new heights after the Young Turk Revolution of 1908. To the “traditional” causes of labor migration (land poverty, the heavy tax burden, the low profitability of agriculture, etc.), two new factors were added: 1) the Ottoman authorities rescinded the limitations and bans imposed by Sultan Abdul-Hamid on internal and external travel; and 2) the Ottoman Parliament passed a law whereby, beginning in 1910,the government stopped accepting the bedel i-askeri military exemption tax, which meant that Armenians and other Christian Ottoman citizens were conscripted into the army on an equal basis with Muslim citizens (for details, see the article Moush and Sasoun – Military Exemption Tax (Bedel-i Askeri) on the Houshamadyan website.

Many young Armenian men from Sepasdia, with the aim of avoiding military conscription, resorted to emigrating to the United States, Russia, or Balkan countries.

As evidence of this demographic pattern, the Hogh-Tar periodical, published in Sivas, stated that after the reinstatement of the Constitution in 1908, the growth of the Armenian population in the villages of Sivas/Sepasdia region had virtually come to a standstill due to the emigration of the youth. [7]

Similarly, in the Armenian-populated villages of the subdistrict of Divrig, the “severity of the latest military regulations,” meaning the repealing of the military exemption tax; the conscription of Armenians and their participation, as soldiers of the Ottoman Army, in the Balkan War (1912-1913); and the lack of arable land were cited as causes of labor emigration. It was reported that in some villages in Divrig, funds sent by labor migrants were the primary source of income for the local population. [8]

Biographical details that were included in the eulogies of Sivas Armenians who died in America also shed light on the main reasons they emigrated to the United States – to avoid military conscription and participation in the Balkan War (these eulogies can be found in almost every issue printed between 1940 and the 1970s of the Nor Sepasdia [New Sepasdia] periodical, published by the Pan-Sepasdia Building Society, founded in the U.S. in 1936).

For example, the eulogy of Setrag Derdiarian (1892-1946), born in the village of Zara in Sivas, stated: “Setrag, like many other honorable Sepasdia Armenians, fled his birthplace in 1913 when he reached military age, and came to the United States, to New York”. [9]

The eulogy of Mourad Kachoyan (1889-1967), from the village of Charkyud in Sivas, stated: “In 1912, during the Balkan War, he was conscripted and taken to Constantinople. But he escaped the barracks, and with the assistance of sympathetic compatriots, came to America.” [10]

Similarly, the eulogy of Mourad Grdodian (1893-1976), from the village of Tavra in Sivas, stated: “In 1912, when problems of a military nature arose during the Balkan War, he decided to leave Sepasdia permanently and settle in the United States.” [11]

In some cases, the number of young men from specific localities in Sivas who had emigrated to the United States was so large that they were able to create educational and cultural organizations on foreign soil. For example, in 1910, migrants from the village of Haght in Sivas created the Scholastic Society of the Village of Haght in the American city of Providence (in the state of Rhode Island). [12] This organization had chapters in Detroit, New York, Niagara Falls, and even in Canada. The new school building of the village of Haght was built in three years thanks to 6,000 Ottoman pounds raised by this organization. [13]

In 1911, again in Providence, a “young, enthusiastic group” of migrants from Govdoun founded the Govdoun Scholastic Society. [14] Funds raised by this organization paid for the construction of a watermill in Govdoun in 1915. Plans were also made to build a new school building in the village. [15]

With the intention of diminishing, rather than putting a stop to the flow of migrants from Sivas to the United States, Hogh-Tar, in its 26 April 1914 issue, published a letter from an Armenian from Sivas working as a laborer in the U.S., alongside a poem that described the difficult life of a worker in the country. The migrant urged young men back in Sivas to “never put faith in fantastical accounts,” to “smarten up,” and to “recognize the value of the homeland.” [16]

In the spring of 1913, the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople conducted a census of the Armenian population across the Ottoman Empire. As part of the census, the Patriarchate asked Armenian dioceses to provide the number of locals who were migrant workers. Dioceses were also requested to list the destinations of these migrants.

According to the figures received from the diocese of Sepasdia, across the 42 Armenian-populated settlements of the diocese, there were 50,308 Armenian residents and 5,835 Armenian migrant workers. In other words, the percentage of migrant workers among these Armenians was 10 percent of the total population, and correspondingly, 20 percent of the total male population (for more details on each locality, see Table 1). [17]

In the diocese of Gyurin/Gürün, the Armenian population was 37,023, with 3,518 migrants. In other words, the percentage of labor migrants was about 8 percent of the total population and 16 percent of the male population. The most popular destinations for these migrants were America (USA and Canada), “Europe” (European countries), Russia, and the interior provinces of Turkey (for more details on each locality, see Table 2). [18]

In the diocese of Shabin Karahisar/Şebinkarahisar, the total Armenian population was 22,684, of whom 2,847 were labor migrants. In other words, the number of labor migrants was about 11 percent of the total Armenian population and 22 percent of the male population. The most popular destinations for these migrants were Constantinople, Izmir, America, Russia, Balkan countries (Bulgaria, Romania), and Greece (Kavala) (for more details on each locality, see Table 3). [19]

In the diocese of Amasya-Marzvan, the total Armenian population stood at 31,513, of whom 478 were labor migrants. The percentage of migrant workers was relatively low among the Armenians of this subdistrict, about 1.5 percent of the total population and about 3 percent of the male population. The most popular destinations for these migrants were Constantinople, Samsun, Bafra, America, Russia, European countries (Italy, France, and England), and Egypt (for more details on each locality, see Table 4). [20]

In the diocese of Yevtogia/Tokat, the total Armenian population stood at 32,281, of whom 511 were labor migrants. The percentage of migrant workers was low, about 1.5 percent of the total population and 3 percent of the male population. The most popular destinations for these migrants were Constantinople, Izmir, Egypt, America, Russia, and Bulgaria (for more details on each locality, see Table 5). [21]

So, according to these numbers, the entire province of Sivas was home to a total of 186,998 Armenians, of whom 13,189 were migrant workers. In other words, 7 percent of the total Armenian population of the province, or 14 percent of its male population, were migrant workers. [22] The percentage of migrant workers among the Armenians of both Sivas (including Gyurin) and Shabin Karahisar was 10 percent of the total population or 20 percent of the male population. These percentages were particularly high for the city of Gyurin, where about 2,500 Armenians, or 22.4 percent of the Armenian population of 11,133 (44.8 percent of the male population), were migrant workers. On the eve of the Genocide, the leading destinations for migrant workers from Sivas remained internal – Constantinople, Smyrna, Cilicia, Aleppo, the Black Sea ports, etc. One destination that was gaining popularity was the United States of America (and Canada). There was a significant flow of migrant workers from the eastern areas of the region, especially Shabin Karahisar, towards the Russian Empire (Batumi, Tbilisi). Other popular destinations included the Balkans (Greece, Bulgaria, Romania) and Western European countries.

There were many local customs associated with becoming a migrant worker (or going “ghurbet” (Turkish)). On the day of the migrant’s departure, his family and friends would gather at his home and see him off by “wishing him success while drinking the last glass of arak.” [23] The migrant’s loved one would present him with yazma [scarves], socks, and food. The women would typically gather in a separate room, where they would mourn the departure of the migrant with weeping and lamentations (the mourning was justified, as migrant workers would be absent for years, if not decades, and many would die without ever seeing their families again). When it was finally time to leave, the migrant would kiss his mother’s, wife’s, and other female relatives’ hands, and they would kiss him on the eyes and forehead, blessing him before his departure. [24]

The migrant’s male relatives would accompany him to the border of the village or locality, where he would join a caravan consisting of other migrants, traders, and various travelers. Usually, Armenian migrants left their native lands in groups of 5-10, or sometimes even 20-30, having previously made arrangements with the caravaneer regarding the fee and the date of departure. [25]

On the evening of the migrant’s departure, his family would visit the local church to beseech God to grant him a “good journey.” [26]

Along the journey, whenever possible, migrants would send one or more letters to their loved ones, stating that they “reached such-and-such city or village selamiin [alive].” They would also immediately send a letter back home upon arriving in Constantinople or their final destination. [27]

Later, after settling down, migrants endeavored to maintain communication with the family they had left behind in their homeland. They would write about daily events and their needs, and would also send some of the money they had earned to their families. In these letters, the migrants would ask their parents to “be blessers and dvadji [persons who pray] and keep your nazar [eyes] on the bride and the children.” They would instruct their wives to “obey your elders, and be moughet [vigilant] with the children;” to “know your place” (a reference to preserving their honor and not betraying their absent husbands); to “not neglect church and prayer,” etc. [28]

As the men were away, their wives, in addition to their usual domestic duties, were also forced to cultivate the family’s land, especially the gardens and orchards adjacent to the homes. The women of the Ashour neighborhood of Gyurin were said to be accustomed to using shovels and hoes. [29] Generally, the people of Gyurin were described as “hospitable, kind, and amiable.” It was also said that they “loved migrant workers very much, as they were accustomed to migrant labor.” [30]

Women would express their yearning for their migrant husbands in Armenian and Turkish songs focusing on the themes of itinerance, migration, love, and yearning. For example, the song Ullayi, Ullayi [If I were, If I were] was popular in Gyurin:

Ullayi, ullayi,
Bezirgan ullayi, pert parnayi,
Suvurdjukh ullayi vrat tarnayi,
Lezous pallink ullar sirdt panayi.
Ullayi, ullayi,
Tavsirdji ullayi, tavsirt haneyi,
Amen garodnalous archevs arneyi,
Varti dzar ullayi, tourt pousneyi,
Amen aravodin srdit patsveyi.
Dalgha, dalgha gou ka Bolisi dzovu,
Inch anoush gu pche sevdayin hovu,
Deru nasib uner, yertayi kovu,
Arneyi mourads, ungneyi dzovu. [31]

English translation:

If I were, if I were,
If I were a trader, I would carry your burden,
If I were a sparrow, I would run all over you,
If my tongue were a key, I would unlock your heart.
If I were, if I were,
If I were a painter, I would take your portrait,
And look at it every time I miss you.
If I were a rose bush, if I bloomed at your door,
And grow in your heart every morning.
A wave, a wave comes to the sea of Constantinople,
How sweetly the wind of my love blows,
If the Lord would make it worth, I’d travel to you,
If I could only have my wish, then I could fall into the sea.

There were also various superstitions associated with labor migration. For example, it was believed that to ensure that a migrant worker returned home quickly, one of his loved ones had to secretly steal and hide away a piece of bread from his supply for the journey. [32]

The average length of a migrant’s stay in Constantinople or Smyrna was 5-7 years, but it could be as long as 10-20 years or longer. As a rule, young men would leave as migrant workers for the first time at the age of 18-20. Their families would arrange marriages for them before they left, to ensure that they didn’t become alienated from their homeland and remained bound to their birthplace and hearth. The young men would leave a few months after their weddings, leaving behind pregnant wives. In some cases, children were born and grew up without ever meeting their migrant fathers. If the child was a girl, the family would arrange a marriage for her at the age of 14-15, without waiting for her father’s return. [33]

Sometimes, men would migrate alongside their young sons, aged 10-12. The following was a popular story associated with this practice: “A small boy, traveling to Constantinople with his father, on the first night of their journey, in an inn, began sobbing. The father, his voice quivering with emotion, asked him, ‘Why are you crying like that, my son?’ The boy replied, ‘I want my mother… My mother!’ The father, wiping away tears from his own eyes, replied, ‘Son, how badly do you think I want your mother too? But she’s not here…” [34]

Not all migrant workers returned. Many languished, dragging on their existence in dark corners of inns, often succumbing to alcoholism, and eventually dying in foreign lands. Those who left for the United States tended to settle down and establish themselves there, transforming labor migration into full-fledged emigration, with their wives and children joining them eventually.

Occasionally, the long absence of migrants resulted in family tragedies. In Gyurin, one of the epicenters of labor migration from Sivas, people told the story of Agon Emmi, [35] who had returned from emigration 20 years after his departure, having sent no letters and no news to his family in the interval. He arrived at his home late one night, and seeing a man lying next to his wife in bed, immediately killed them both, unaware that the man lying beside his wife was his own grown son. [36]

If a migrant worker was successful and was able to send money home, as well as to save some, he would return within five to seven years of his departure. Usually, the migrant’s return would coincide with the Christmas or Paregentan holiday. At the time, traveling to Sivas, especially its southern regions, such as Gyurin, involved great challenges, “because at that time of the year … The cold and the blizzards would be at their worst.” Migrant workers returning to Gyurin from Constantinople or Aleppo were often forced to wait for days in Sepasdia or Ayntab for a caravan. There were very few caravans that dared “make such a risky and dangerous journey at such a difficult time of the year.” [37]

If the migrant was able to inform his family of his imminent return to his homeland (also called his return to the sila), the family would inform all relatives and friends and would visit a church or shrine to convey their gratitude to God. On the day of the arrival of the caravan, the migrant’s relatives, carrying food and arak, would greet the caravan on the outskirts of their village or city, and “with cries of joy, games, and celebratory gunshots, would escort the migrant home.” [38] Upon the migrant’s arrival at his home, his loved ones would crack on egg on the forehead of the horse that had carried him, crying out, “Long live the brave horse that brought our traveler back unharmed!” The migrant, walking into his home, would embrace his parents, kiss their hands, then embrace his relatives and friends gathered there. He would then proceed to a separate room, where his wife would be waiting for him alone. If, during his absence, any of his children had married, he would be presented with his sons- or daughters-in-law. For three-four days after the migrant’s return, a stream of his relatives and friends would visit to welcome him back. For days, the migrant’s home would be transformed into a house of celebration, where large crowds would gather frequently to “welcome back the migrant and to ask him for news about other migrants.” The congratulatory “achouunid los” [“light to your eyes,” a congratulatory idiom in Armenian] would be answered with“darosu tser kharibin kloukhu lini, our an al sila ka parov” [“May your migrant be blessed with the same fortune, may he return hale and hearty”]. [39]

Generally, labor migration to Constantinople was a one-time event. Upon his return, the migrant would remain home, and later, his children would migrate. But there were instances where six months, a year, or several years after their return from ghurbet, men would be forced to leave for foreign lands once again, and labor migration would become a recurring phenomenon.

• [1] Turkey No. 3 (1897). Further Correspondence Respecting the Asiatic Provinces of Turkey and Events in Constantinople, London, 1897, p. 25.
• [2] Ibid.
• [3] Robert Mirak, Torn between Two Lands: Armenians in America 1890 to World War I, Cambridge (Massachusetts), Harvard University Press, 1983, p. 290.  Migrants entering the United States between 1820 and 1898 were registered not based on nationality, but based on their geographic origin, namely their countries of departure. Specifically, migrants arriving from the Ottoman Empire until 1868 were registered as having arrived from “European Turkey,” then, starting in 1869, also “Asian Turkey” and “Armenia.”For this reason, the numbers relating to this period are approximate (Knarig R. Avakian, “The Migration of Armenians to the United States (1834-1924),” Lraper Hasaragagan Kidoutyunneri [Newsletter of Public Sciences], Yerevan, 1996, number 1, p. 97).
• [4] Ibid.
• [5] Robert Mirak, Torn Between Two Lands: Armenians in America 1890 to World War I, p. 290.
• [6] According to the calculations of American-Armenian researcher Malcolm Vartan Malcolm, between 1899 and 1917, 46,474 Armenians immigrated into the United States from the Ottoman Empire. For comparison, the number of Armenians who had immigrated into the United States from Russia in the same period was 3,034 (Malcolm Vartan Malcolm, The Armenians in America, Cambridge (Massachusetts), Pilgrim Press, 1919, p. 67).
• [7] G. V. Mouradjian, “Govdoun and Its Environs,” Hogh-Tar Community-Political Weekly, Sepasdia, 7 June 1914, p. 2.
• [8] Vahe, “The Armenian Villages of the Region of Divrig,” Hogh-Tar, 19 April 1914, p. 2.
• [9] Nor Sepasdia [New Sepasdia], Official Gazette of the Central Executive Board of the Pan-Sepasdia Building Society, New York, Sept-Nov. 1946, pp. 789-790.
• [10] Nor Sepasdia [New Sepasdia], Official Informational Gazette of the Central Executive Board of the Pan-Sepasdia Reconstruction Society, New York, February 1968, p. 39.
• [11] Nor Sepasdia [New Sepasdia], Official Bimonthly Informational Gazette of the Central Executive Board of the Pan-Sepasdia Reconstruction Society, New York, March 1977, p. 53.
• [12] Arsen Madoyan, “From the Society of the Village of Haght,” Alice, Official Gazette of the Nor Sepasdia Cooperative Association, New York, February 1926, p. 3 (“The reinstatement of the Ottoman Constitution was an opportunity for the youth to pick up the staff of migrants and seek fortune abroad. Young men from the village of Haght who currently live in America are the result of this exceptional wave of migration, and they are fortunate to some extent”).
• [13] See the eulogy of the society’s founder, Kevork Derderian, in the Nor Sepasdia periodical (Nor Sepasdia, Official Gazette of the Central Executive Board of the Pan-Sepasdia Building Society, New York, Sept-Nov. 1947, p. 875).
• [14] Later, it became known as the Reconstruction Society of Govdoun.
• [15] Vahan Hampartsoumian, Kyughashkharh. Badmagan, Azkakragran Ousoumnasiroutyun [The Rural World. Historical and Ethnographic Study], Paris, 1927, p. 262.
• [16] A Sepasdia Armenian, “From the Life of a Migrant Worker,” Hogh-Tar, 26 April 1914, p. 2.
• [17] Archives of the Nubar Library of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), APC/BNu, DOR 3/2, sheets 34-35 (unfortunately, the migrants’ destinations are not mentioned).
• [18] Archives of the Nubar Library of the AGBU, APC/BNu, DOR 3/2, sheets 37-45.
• [19] Archives of the Nubar Library of the AGBU, APC/BNu, DOR 3/2, sheets 1-29.
• [20] Archives of the Nubar Library of the AGBU, APC/BNu, DOR 3/2, sheet 31.
• [21] Archives of the Nubar Library of the AGBU, APC/BNu, DOR 3/2, sheet 32.
• [22] These calculations do not include Divrig, as the census did not include data on Divrig.
• [23] S. M. Dzotsigian, Arevmdahay Ashkharh [The Western Armenian World], New York, A. H. Leylegian Printing House, 1947, p. 96. Also see Hovsep G. Djanigian, Hnoutyunk Agna [Antiquities of Agn], Tbilisi, M. T. Rodiniantsi Printing House, 1895, p. 120.
• [24] Dzotsigian, Arevmdahay Ashkharh, p. 96; Djanigian, Hnoutyunk Agna, pp. 120-121.
• [25] Ibid.
• [26] Djanigian, Hnoutyunk Agna, p. 121.
• [27] Ibid.
• [28] Ibid.
• [29] Father Soukias Eprigian, Badgerazart Pnashkharhig Pararan [Illustrated Dictionary of the Natural World], volume 1, book 2, Venice – Saint Lazarus, 1907, p. 437.
• [30] Ibid.
• [31] Vartan S. Temourdjian, Kamirki Hayeru [The Armenians of Kamirk], Yerevan, Academy of Sciences of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1970, p. 118.
• [32] Ibid., p. 194 (“If you want a migrant worker to return quickly, secretly steal a piece of bread from his supply for the journey and hide it away”).
• [33] Djanigian, Hnoutyunk Agna, p. 122.
• [34] Dzotsigian, Arevmdahay Ashkharh, p. 29.
• [35] Uncle (Arabic).
• [36] Bedros Minasian, Badmakirk Gyurini [History Book of Gyurin], Beirut, Sevan Printing House, 1974, p. 368.
• [37] Ibid., p. 369.
• [38] Dzotsigian, Arevmdahay Ashkharh, p. 29.
• [39] Ibid.; Djanigian, Hnoutyunk Agna, p. 122.