Sivas (Sepasdia) – Labor migration (Part I)

Author: Robert A. Tatoyan, 12/12/25 (Last modified 12/12/25) - Translator: Simon Beugekian

“Labor migration (bantkhdoutyun) is as old as the Armenian nation.

A young man, just married, would leave his veiled bride and spend his honeymoon in the corners of khans in large cities, under the shoulder yoke of the hamal [porter], his heart burning with his yearning for his hearth and its warmth, the plough and the coulter.

… The Armenians of Sepasdia, too, took the road of emigration, forced out of their native land by violence. They were squeezed out of their cities and unknown villages in groups, like lemons being squeezed dry. America, France, Egypt, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Syria, the Black Sea coast, the Caucasus, Persia, Mesopotamia, Constantinople, and elsewhere… These migrants settled down in all these places, where they rallied around their compatriotic societies.” [1]

The province of Sivas/Sepasdia was one of the six eastern Armenian-populated provinces of the Ottoman Empire. The province was created in 1867, encompassing the old eyalet of Sivas, and included the territories of Lesser Hayk (Lesser Armenia), the First and Second provinces of Hayk, and Kamirk (Cappadocia). The province of Sivas bordered Trabzon in the northeast, Erzurum in the east, Harput/Kharpert in the southeast, Adana and Aleppo (through the district (sanjak) of Marash) in the south, Angora in the west, and Kastamonu in the southwest.

In the late 19th century-early 20th century, the province was divided into the districts of Sivas (Central), Shabin Karahisar, Tokat (Evdokia), and Amasya, each with its own subdistricts (kazas) and village clusters (nahiyes).

According to French demographer Vital Cuinet, the total area of the province of Sivas was 83,700 square kilometers, with the central district of Sepasdia having an area of 39,450 square kilometers. [2]

In ancient times, the territories of Lesser Hayk and Kamirk were the birthplace of the Armen (Togarmah) tribe, and later one of the centers of the formation of the Armenian nation. In the early Middle Ages, most of the Armenians of Lesser Armenia and Kamirk, under the influence of Hellenic rule, assimilated into Hellenic culture, losing their national character. Concurrently, the area saw significant Armenian immigration in the form of a more advanced Armenian population from the mid-8th century until the end of the 11th century – the period stretching from Arab invasions to the Seljuk invasions – as a result of the westward migration of Armenians from the territory of Armenia proper. [3]

Among the better-known waves of migration occurred in the year 1021, when King Senekerim Artsruni of Vasbouragan surrendered his domain to Emperor Basil II of Constantinople, receiving the city of Sivas/Sepasdia and the environs in exchange. Alongside Senekerim, his army of 14,000 men moved to Sepasdia, with their wives and children. [4]

In the late Middle Ages, the region of Sepasdia was a hub of both emigration and immigration. Armenians from other regions of the country, which were the theater of the Turkish-Persian Wars, immigrated to Sepasdia. Some of them settled down temporarily or permanently in large or small settlements across the province and were soon engaged in commerce or the crafts [5]. Others, alongside natives of Sepasdia, emigrated westward, to the western reaches of Asia Minor, chiefly to Constantinople. [6]

After conquering Constantinople in 1453 and declaring it the capital of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman sultans accelerated the city’s development. Among other things, they encouraged Armenians from elsewhere to move to and settle down in the capital. Constantinople soon became, and remained until the Armenian Genocide, the principal destination of migrants in Western Armenia. It was deemed “the most important destination of Armenian migration and the city with the largest Armenian population in the world.” [7]

Emigration of Armenians from Sepasdia to Constantinople was documented beginning in the second half of the 15th century. For example, the famed Armenian doctor Amirtovlat of Amasya (1420-1496) moved to Constantinople and was welcomed to the Ottoman royal court. [8] In 1567, the first Armenian printing house was founded in Constantinople by Apkar Tokatetsi (Evdokatsi). This printing house published the books Pokr Keraganoutyun [Little Grammar] (1567), Jamakirk [Hymnal] and Badarakamaduyts [Breviary] (1568), Donatsuyts [Holiday Guide] (1568), Dagharan [Songbook] (1568), Barzamadour (1568), and Mashdots (1569). [9] Evidence of the great influence wielded by Armenians from Sepasdia in Constantinople includes the fact that several natives of Sepasdia served as patriarchs of Constantinople: Khachadour Sebastatsi (1642-1643), Ghazar Sebastatsi (1660-1663), Hovhannes Amasyatsi (1674-1675), Kalousd Gaydzag Amasyatsi (1703-1704), and Avedik Yevtogatsi (1702-1706). [10]

Many Armenians migrated from Tokat to Constantinople and Asia Minor as a result of the Celali uprising in 1602. Armenian poet Sdepanos Tokhatsi described this wave of migration thus: 

Armenian transcription:

1. Yerp charn yegav hangardzagi
2. Sev Yazudjin i Tokhati
3. Tsrvets zamenn vonts poshi
4. Tsukets zamenn mi mi deghi.
5. Vomank knatsin iUsdamboli
6. Vomn i Boursa, iAdranayi [11]
7. Shadk kunatsin hOuroumeli,
8. Furangats doun, Boughdan [12], Lehi” 

English translation:

1. When evil came suddenly,
2. The black devil of Tokhat
3. Scattered them as if they were dust,
4. Scattered them all to different places.
5. Some went to Constantinople.
6. Some to Bursa, to Edirne, 
7. Some went to Rumelia
8. Some to the doors of the Franks, to Boughdan, or to the Poles. [13]

At about this time, around the year 1600, Armenians who had emigrated from the village of Bardizag in Sepasdia founded the eponymous settlement of Bardizag near the city of Izmit (Nicomedia). [14]

Some of the famous Armenian amira houses of Constantinople originally hailed from Sepasdia. [15] Namely, the Dyuzian family, who were Catholic, hailed from Divrig. For successive generations, they served as royal jewelers and directors of the Ottoman imperial mint. [16]

From the late 18th century and until the mid-19th century, as the central government consolidated control in the Western Armenian provinces, Sepasdia Armenians, instead of emigrating permanently, began migrating as workers to Constantinople, other relatively developed regions of the Ottoman Empire, and foreign countries. By the second half of the 19th century, the flow of groups of migrants from Sepasdia and other eastern provinces to the capital had become permanent and began growing quickly. According to figures from 1860, 15,000 Armenian migrants lived in Constantinople. [17] By the 1870s, this number reached 30,000, [18] and by 1882, 40,000. [19] In the first half of the 1890s, according to some calculations, this number reached 50,000 [20] or even 60,000. [21] The three largest groups of Armenian migrant workers in the capital were those from Sepasdia, Vasbouragan, and Moush. [22]

The flow of migrants from Sepasdia and other areas of Western Armenia to Constantinople was made possible thanks to the constant growth of ship travel between the ports of the Black Sea beginning in the 1830s. The Armenians of Erzurum, Van, and Moush traveled to the capital on steamships that sailed from the ports of Trabzon and Ordu, while the Armenians of Sepasdia sailed from the ports of Samsun and Giresun. In the 1860s-1870s, an average of three-four steamships sailed from these ports to the capital each week. [23]

These were freight ships, but they also transported passengers. The number of passengers on each ship occasionally reached the hundreds, most traveling in extremely spartan conditions, crowded on the wooden deck. As these ships made frequent journeys, the migrants who reached the departure ports did not have to wait long. Once they boarded a ship, depending on its itinerary, they would reach Constantinople in just a few days. The overland trip of 1,500 kilometers from Sepasdia to Constantinople required a journey of four to five weeks, while the same journey could be made by sea in about half that time, in approximately two weeks. [24]

In the 1860s, the price of a ticket to travel on a ship’s deck from Trabzon to Constantinople was 1.2 Ottoman pounds, which was reduced to 1 pound in later years. Fares for ships sailing from Samsun or Giresun could be slightly cheaper. Even these amounts were not trivial for Armenian emigrants, and many were forced to borrow money prior to their departure to pay for their passage. [25]

As was the case throughout Western Armenia, the main causes of labor migration from Sepasdia were economic, namely the unprofitability of agriculture and the heavy tax burden, specifically the military exemption tax (bedel-i-askeri) and ashar (tithe). After the internationalization of the Armenian Question in 1878, to these was added political and religious persecution and the acts of looting, murder, and abduction committed by Kurds and Circassians with the encouragement of both central and local authorities. [26] As a specific factor that contributed to the emigration of Armenians from Sepasdia, contemporaries mention economic competition with Muslim muhajirs [migrants] who had settled down in the province after migrating from the Balkans (Rumelia) after the 1877-1878 Russo-Turkish War. [27]

In Constantinople, migrant workers specialized in various trades according to their lands of origin. Migrants from Sepasdia mostly became porters or worked in public bathhouses. [28] According to Sarkis Pteyan, a contemporary Armenian author, by the 1870s, the Galata neighborhood of Constantinople was already crowded with migrant porters from Moush and Sepasdia. [29]

Most workers in public baths were Armenian migrants from Sepasdia and Shabin Karahisar, with “more than 200 of them working in the baths of Constantinople alone.” [30] The Armenian intellectual class viewed this profession as “abominable,” and noted the fact that so many provincial Armenians worked in them with “shame and pain.” It was suggested that the moral and physical degradation of the youths working “in such a polluted environment and insalubrious profession, where they constantly sweat and get chills” was inevitable. [31] Thanks to the efforts of prominent Armenians from Sepasdia who lived in the capital, many migrants from the province were dissuaded from working in the bathhouses, choosing to become “porters rather than tellaks [Turkish for bath servants – R. T].” [32]

According to the calculations of British researcher Christopher Clay, unskilled migrants seeking daily labor in Constantinople earned ten kurush per day. If they worked 250 days each year, they could earn a total of 2,500 kurush (25 Ottoman pounds). [33]

Those who had skills in the building trade, including bricklayers, masons, and joiners, could earn 15 kurush per day (37 pounds per year) or more. [34]

The porters or hamals were paid based on the work they performed, rather than a daily wage. Presumably, they also earned considerably more than regular workers. [35]

Some migrants, who had been able to obtain permanent unskilled work in foreign companies, earned about twice the average. For example, the Armenian porters (hommes de peine) working at the central offices of the Ottoman Bank in the Galata neighborhood, most of whom hailed from the province of Sivas, generally earned 36 or 48 Ottoman pounds per year, and were also paid at least three Ottoman pounds as a bonus at the end of each year (December 31). [36]

Given the fact that migrants working in Constantinople were exempt from taxes that even the extremely poor had to pay in the provinces, as well as the extremely modest lifestyle of these migrants who lived away from their families, we can assume that they were able to save about a third (more or less) of what they earned and send it back to their homelands. Based on this assumption, seasonal migrant workers could send home at least three-four Ottoman pounds per year, and permanent workers about nine-ten Ottoman pounds per year. [37]

In many cases, migrants had to resort to the services of politsadjis [38] to send money back home. These middlemen often charged exorbitant fees for these transfers. For example, a group of migrant Armenian workers from Sepasdia working in Constantinople wrote a letter in 1882 to the Artsakank weekly newspaper, published in Tbilisi, stating that loan sharks “charged an interest of 5 kurush on each pound for a loan of 10 pounds if the money stayed in the Yergir, and 15 kurush on each pound if it was sent to Constantinople… As a result, in one year, the loan of 10 pounds becomes a debt of 30 or 35 pounds, and they begin seizing our lands, homes, and property.” [39]

Armenian migrants from Sepasdia were known in Constantinople for their unity and solidarity. When the Armenian Patriarchate granted the migrant Armenians living in the Galata neighborhood the rights of native resident Armenians, thus allowing them to participate in the elections of neighborhood councils, the Armenians of Sepasdia, in the elections of February 3, 1880, thanks to self-organization, were able to secure the election of three of their own as part of the nine-member council. On the other hand, migrants from Moush, whose numbers were greater, split into factions, and failed to secure the election of any of their candidates. [40] Interestingly, after the elections, there were clashes between migrants from Sepasdia and migrants from Moush: “Migrants from Moush, in the courtyard [of the Saint Lousavorich Church of Galata], attacked migrants from Sepasdia with cudgels and whips. Screams were heard, and the cries of pilgrims inside the church multiplied.” [41] Bishop Maghakia Ormanian, who was the serving pastor at the church, was forced to personally intervene. He calmed everyone down “and was able to empty the courtyard by reprimanding and admonishing those involved.” [42]

The large number of and high level of organization among Armenian migrants from Sepasdia living in Constantinople is also evidenced by the fact that in one of the principal cemeteries of the capital, the Shishli Cemetery, founded in 1865, a separate section was created from the day of its founding, called “neighborhood of the Sebastatsis” and reserved for Armenians from Sepasdia. [43] One of the gravestones on the grounds of the cemetery reads: “Migration set my soul on fire, as I wept, deprived of my father and mother. My eyes won’t stop weeping. So, brothers, don’t place any faith in this world. Arakel, son of Goureghian Manoug, from the village of Shabin Karahisar. July 12, 1865.” [44] Armenians from Sepasdia were also buried in other sections of the cemetery. [45]

Similarly, migrants from the settlement of Prknig in Sepasdia, who were Catholic Armenians, [46] had their own section, called “Tagh Prknigtsvots” (“neighborhood of natives of Prknig”), in the Armenian Catholic cemetery of Constantinople. [47] Their gravestones, too, chronicled the lives and emotional worlds of migrants, as well as their yearning for their home. For example, the gravestone of Hovhannes Kopian (1842-1913) bears the following poem:

English translation:

1. May the good relics of Hovhannes Kopian,
2. Rest here eternally.
3. He was a son of Prknig,
4. Seventy-one years old.
5. He tasted the bitterness of a migrant’s life,
6. He worked heroically.
7. Lord, bless his sweaty, virtuous brow
8. With your light. [48]

The great Armenian poet Taniel Varoujan (Taniel Chbouckyarian, 1864-1915) was native of Prknig. He had the personal experience of being a provincial Armenian migrant who had settled down in the capital. In one of his letters, he wrote: “I have lived with Armenian migrants, and I have wept for them.” [49] His poem, Hivant E [He is Ill], is about the grim life of migrants. The poem describes the death of a father far from home and his family, in a foreign land, alone and abandoned, penniless and in despair:

English translation:

1. In the shadows, forsaken in a corner of a khan [inn]
2. A wretched migrant is sick.
3. The damp delivers his body, drop by drop,
4. To the grave.
5. He has no doctor. He has spent the money he had.
6. The pain is terrible. Mercy!
7. There is not a single heart to drip kindness
8. Onto his parched lips. [50]

Migrants from Sepasdia who lived in the Galata neighborhood regularly made monetary contributions to the Sourp Prgich [Holy Savior] National Hospital. To wit, in June 1885, the total sum of the “gifts from the migrant Armenians from Sepasdia in Galata” to the hospital was 5,306 kurush (53 Ottoman pounds). [51]

These migrants were living victims of the difficult socioeconomic conditions prevailing in their homelands in Western Armenia and the lack of safety that Western Armenians experienced, which meant that they were fertile ground for propaganda by Armenian political parties in their midst. A significant percentage of the Armenians who participated in the protest organized in Constantinople by the Hunchakian Party on September 18, 1895, were migrant porters, [52] including Mourat Khrimian, a native of the Govdoun village of Sepasdia, who would later become the famous fedayee leader, Sebastatsi Mourat. [53] The suppression of the protest was immediately followed by attacks on Armenian migrants staying in khans, which claimed the lives of hundreds of Armenian migrants. [54]

The flow of Armenian migrants to Constantinople temporarily slowed after the massacre in the city that followed the occupation of the Ottoman Bank headquarters by a squad led by Karekin Pasdrmadjian (Armen Karo), a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF). This massacre claimed the lives of 5,000-6,000 Armenians, mostly migrant workers. [55] The Ottoman authorities arranged for about 20,000 Armenian migrant workers to be sent back to their homes by ship. [56] Some migrants moved from Constantinople to the Balkan states, Europe, and the United States. [57]

The Ottoman authorities also asked the large mercantile and financial companies operating in the capital and backed by foreign capital (the Ottoman Bank, the Ottoman Debt Commission, the Regie (tobacco monopoly), etc.), to dismiss porters and guards whom they employed and who were migrant Armenians. [58]

A large number of migrant workers from Sepasdia were involved in the construction of the railroads in the western regions of Asia Minor. The church registers of the city of Smyrna (Izmir) indicate that between 1883-1898, half of the deaths registered were those of migrant workers from Sepasdia or Moush, “who worked on the railroads, fell ill, were brought to our city, then departed this life.” [59]

The Armenian migrant workers from Sepasdia who lived in Constantinople generously helped the educational institutions in their homeland. In 1851 (or 1846, according to another source), migrant workers from Sepasdia founded the Senekerimian Society, whose stated aim was to “reform the coeducational national/parochial schools in Sepasdia … To take moral responsibility for the condition of the schools in the villages of Sepasdia.” [60]

To achieve its goal, the society vowed to use the funds it raised to purchase properties and to use the income generated by these properties to ensure “the future of the schools.” [61]

The membership fee of the society was 40 para (1 kurush). Anyone could become a member, but only those who were born in Sepasdia had the right to participate in plenary meetings as voting members and to elect the society’s executive board. [62]

In 1853, the Senekerimian Society, thanks to the funds it had raised, built an inn/hotel/khan in Sepasdia called Aramian. The profits from this enterprise were used to support the city’s Armenian schools. [63]

In 1857, the executive president of the Constantinople chapter of the Senekerimian Society of Constantinople was Hagop Kubruzian, the treasurer was Apraham Habeshian, and the secretary was Ghazar Buyukian. The chapter’s members were agent Minas Odabashiants, Manoug Medzmoroukian, Balig Der Babiants, Mahdesi Yerem Maghakiants, Hovhan Baliants, Hagop Parounagiants, Mahdesi Khachadour Proudiants, Melkon Choukhasziants, Mahdesi Bedros Hovhannesian, Kevork Karakashiants, Babig Doumariants, and Khachadour Zakeyants. [64]

Correspondence from 1863 indicates that the Senekerimian Society had ceased operation due to the unequal collection of donations. “The Constantinople chapter consisted of porters and their oversees or odabashis, as well as a few politsadjis. The poor porter, despite his dire circumstances, gave the penny he earned with the sweat of his brow without hesitation, but the more fortunate, the politsadjis and the merchants who also acted as politsadjis, were all talk, or were accustomed to not giving according to their abilities. This is why gradually, hearts grew cold. As those who gave and those who didn’t were treated equally, the Senekerimian Society was shuttered.” [65]

On October 2, 1871, the Senekerimian Society of Constantinople was revived under the name of the “Restructured Senekerimian Society of Sepasdia.” The members of the society’s steering committee were Krikor Tashdjian, Hagop Aharonian, Mahdesi Hagop Kbrzian, Mahdesi Bedros Makhatian, Mahdesi Serovpe Odabashian, Giragos Norhadian, Ohan Der Ohanian, Ohannes Altounian, Mgrdich Gharatekeyan, Krikor Odabashian, Hagop Boyadjian, and Khachig Pdian. [66]

A report from March 1874 states: “The emigrant community of Sepasdia … In Galata, elected an executive board of seven members to lead the Senekerimian Society. The board will also include two individuals representing each craft.” [67]

By October 1875, the society was able to purchase a large plot of land with the aim of building a “national inn” in Sepasdia, “but because this initiative required a large amount of money, and could not be funded with just subscriptions,” the decision was made to “appeal to the generosity of honored members of the national community as part of a special fundraising drive.” [68]

Thanks to this and other fundraising efforts, the Senekerimian Society was able to collect the required amount and built the Senekerimian Inn/Hotel/Khan. Father Karekin Srvantsdyants, who visited Sepasdia in 1878, mentioned that together, the Senekerimian Khan and Aramian Khan, the latter previously built by the society, included 71 two-story rooms and 15 stalls, which generated a yearly income of 30,000 kurush (300 Ottoman pounds). The proceeds were used entirely for the needs of the local schools. [69]

From another source, we learn that in the early 1880s, the Senekerimian Society managed all 13 of the national/parochial coeducational schools in the city of Sepasdia. These schools were funded by the income generated by the two inns, as well as various donations, fundraising drives, and subscriptions. [70]

The Senekerimian Society also organized theatrical performances and other events in Constantinople to raise money. Namely, in 1888, a theatrical performance organized in the Pera neighborhood raised 120 Ottoman pounds, of which 74 was used to purchase two huts/shops in the jewelers’ market in the city of Sepasdia. [71]

The Senekerimian Society continued operating, with varying levels of activity, until 1895, when it was dissolved due to “political considerations” during the frenzied period of the Hamidian persecutions. [72] As was the case with other Armenian educational/cultural organizations, it seems that the property and assets of the Senekerimian Society were transferred to the Armenian ecclesiastical/parochial authorities. [73]

Migrant workers from Sepasdia living in Constantinople also founded other educational/cultural organizations. The Antsnver [Altruistic] Society was created in 1860, with the aim of teaching reading, writing, and numeracy to “adult Armenian migrants.” [74] The organization established a Sunday school in Constantinople, which was attended by more than 50 students. The organization also founded a chapter in Sepasdia in 1865, with the aim of contributing to general educational efforts in the city, specifically efforts to educate adult Armenians. The organization operated, with some interruptions, until 1895. [75]

In 1874, Sepasdia intellectual Varaztad Ptian founded the Varaztadian Society in Constantinople, with the aim of establishing a Sunday school to “provide free education in reading, writing, numeracy, and their native language and history to all Armenians, whether from the provinces or from Constantinople.” [76]

Among the organizations created by migrant Sepasdia Armenians was the Karasnits Mangants [Forty Holy Martyrs] Society (operated from 1868 to 1870). This organization aimed to support the construction of a fence and to provide other support for the Forty Holy Martyrs Monastery. The organization raised, and sent to Sepasdia, 2,000 kurush for this purpose. [77]

Between 1875 and 1879, the Arvesdasirats [Crafts-Loving] Society, founded by Sepasdia Armenians, operated in Constantinople. Its stated aim was to support the crafts in Sepasdia, particularly in the field of agriculture. [78]

Some of the educational/cultural organizations that were active in Sepasdia established chapters in Constantinople with the aim of raising funds. For example, in September 1882, the Lousaper Society created one such chapter in the capital, with the aim of supporting the “free education of indigent children” (founded in 1870). In March 1883, the society organized a theatrical performance in the Verdi Theater in Pera, which raised 40 Ottoman pounds. [79]

Especially in the 1870s-1880s, migrant workers created many educational/cultural organizations in Constantinople with the aim of helping schools in their native villages. Among these were the Vasbouragan Society (1875-1876), created by migrants from the Bingeol (Pyuragn) village of Sepasdia; [80] the Nersesian Society (1879), created by migrants from Aghdik; [81] the Levonian Society (1878), created by migrants from Oulash; [82] the Mamigonian Society (1878-1879), created by migrants from Prapert; [83] the Kapamadjian Society (1871), created by migrants from Divrig; [84] the Lousavorchian Society (1879), created by migrants from the village of Kournavil in Divrig; [85] the Nalian Society (1879), created by migrants from the village of Zimara in Divrig; [86] the Lampronian Society (1869), created by migrants from the Tamzara village of Shabin Karahisar; [87] etc.

We learn of the Grtasirats [Education-Loving/Scholastic] Society, created by migrants from the village of Zara in Sepasdia, from the archives of the Ottoman Ministry of the Interior. While investigating an assassination attempt that targeted Simon Maksoud, a prominent member of the Constantinople Armenian community, on May 12, 1894, [88] the Ottoman police questioned a man called Lutfik (Loutfi?), a migrant worker from the village of Zara, who had come to the capital in the early 1890s and worked as a porter. Among Lutfik’s belongings was a charity ticket (iane bileti) issued by the Grtasirats Society of the Sahagian School of Zara (Zara Sahakyan Nam Mektebi Sevenler Şirketi), which this migrant had founded with other migrants from Zara (Toros, Nishan, Garabed, Pahatour, and Vartan). Lutfik insisted that this ticket was one of 2,000 that had been printed and sold among his compatriots (hemşeri) to raise funds for their village school and church. With the help of a priest from the church of Galata, who had also helped print the tickets, Lutfik had collected donations for about three months. But interestingly, he had not sent the 600-700 kurush that he had collected to the village. Instead, he had used the money to help his needy compatriots in the capital. He had even made a list of his compatriots who had borrowed from him. The police did not believe Lutfik, insisting that his story was a cover for raising funds for criminal purposes. Everyone involved was arrested, including the priest. [89]

Migrant workers from Sepasdia also helped the educational institutions in their native villages, as needed, without resorting to donations to educational/cultural organizations. For example, on a visit to Constantinople in the summer of 1876, the senior priest of the main church of Sepasdia, Father Kapriel, obtained “a large amount of paper, ink, pens, and embroidery items” thanks to the help of migrant workers from Sepasdia, for the newly opened Jarankavorats School of Sepasdia, as well as for the city’s girls’ school. [90]

One of the primary destinations of migrants and migrant workers from Sepasdia, specifically from the southern and southeastern areas of Sepasdia (Gyurin, Divrig), was neighboring Cilicia, which experienced a period of robust economic growth in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The province of Adana alone, each year, was the destination of 12,000-15,000 Armenian migrant workers from Western Armenia and other regions of the eastern Ottoman Empire, most of whom were engaged in ginning and cleaning cotton. [91]

The largest single group of victims of the Adana Massacre of 1909 consisted of Armenian craftsmen and merchants who lived in the hotels/inns/khans of Adana, as well defenseless migrant farmworkers, many of whom were Armenians from Sepasdia, who worked as day laborers in the farms/chiftligs of Muslim landowners. [92]

According to one author who was a contemporary of these events, the number of Armenians who died in the massacres in Adana was 8,147, of whom about 3,500 were migrant workers. The author also states that in the wider province of Adana, 10,293 Armenians were killed, adding in the notes that the large majority of victims were migrant workers: “The bodies of the Armenian migrants who have been killed in Muslim villages and other places are scattered across 254 villages… The victims were mostly farmers, with a smaller number of craftsmen. They came from Hadjin, Kharpert, Gaban, Frnouz, Garin, Evereg, Yere-Bakan, Antioch, Geyavour-Dagh, Gemereg, Sivas, Adiyaman, Besni, Malatya, Sghert, Urfa, Moush, Albisdan, Divrig, etc.” [93]

The most popular southern destinations for migrants from Sepasdia were Aleppo and Ayntab. These cities were particularly popular among migrants from southern Sepasdia, especially Gyurin. [94] By the mid-19th century, migrants/migrant workers from Gyurin made up a significant percentage of the Armenian migrant worker population in Aleppo. [95] This phenomenon was so common that it was evinced in Gyurin’s folk poetry:

Armenian transcription:

1. Aysor shad kervan yegav,
2. Yares bol khaber perav,
3. Yars Halbe yegav nu, 
4. Inds darablous mu perav. [96]

English translation:

1. Today, many caravans came,
2. They brought good news from my beloved,
3. My beloved came back from Aleppo,
4. And brought me a silk belt.

Among the Gyurin Armenians born and raised in Aleppo was the author, commentator, and editor Misak Kochounian (1863-1913). [97]

Migrant workers from Gyurin living in Aleppo, despite adapting well to their new environment, remained involved in the life of their native village and supported its educational institutions. In 1863, Armenian merchants from Gyurin living in Aleppo founded the “Vahanian Society,” which aimed to support the establishment of national/parochial schools in Gyurin, as well as to assist indigent people in the village. The founding members of this organization were Mardiros Arabian, Sarkis Chilingirian, Senekerim Tahmazian, Markar Kochounian, Margos Magarian, Haroutyun Maranian, and Boghos Arabian. Each of these founders donated 50 Ottoman pounds to raise the organization’s original capital. Soon, many new members joined the organization, and its total assets rose to 500 Ottoman pounds. [98] The organization continued to grow in future years. In 1877, the organization’s assets totaled 1,000 pounds; and in 1893, 1,991 pounds. [99]

In 1874, the Vahanian Society founded the Ghevontian School/Boarding School in Gyurin, which had an enrollment of 40 pupils. [100]

In 1892, two of Vahanian Society’s founding members, H. Maranian and M. Arabian, constructed buildings in Batumi and Samsun, on the Black Sea Coast, as an investment. All the profits they earned from these buildings were used to support educational institutions in Gyurin. [101]

The presence of migrants from Gyurin was also documented in Ayntab. In 1877, the compatriotic society they created founded the Aramian Institute, a day school, in Gyurin. [102]

• [1] Vahan Hampartsoumian, Kyughashkharh. Badmagan, Azkakraga Ousoumnasiroutyun [The Rural World. Historical, Ethnographic Study], Paris, 1927, p. 257.
• [2] Vital Cuinet, La Turquie D’asie։ Géographie administrative, statistique, descriptive et raisonnée de chaque province de L’Asie-Mineure [Asian Turkey: Detailed Administrative, Statistical, and Descriptive Geography of Each Province of Asia Minor],volume 1,Paris, Ernest Leroux, 1892, p. 613.
• [3] For more details on the immigration of Armenians into the territory of Sepasdia during this period, see S. Peter Cowe, “Armenian Immigration to the Sepasdia Region, Tenth-Eleventh Centuries,” Armenian Sepasdia/Sivas and Lesser Armenia, edited by Richard G. Hovhannisian, Costa Mesa (California), Mazda Publishers, 2004, pp. 111-135.
• [4] Tovma Artsruni and Anonymous, Badmoutyun Ardzrunyats Dan [History of the House of Artsruni], Yerevan, Yerevan State University Press, 1985, pp. 478-479 (“14,000 arampk, togh zganays yev mangdis” [“14,000 men, with their women and children”]. A total of 14,000 Armenian families, or about 56,000 individuals (calculation based on an average family size of four) moved to Sepasdia. Armenian researcher Arakel Badrig put the number of Armenians who immigrated to Sepasdia at 40,000-50,000 (Arakel N. Badrig,Badmakirk Houshamadyan Sebastyo yev Kavari Hayoutyan [History and Memory Book of Sepasdia and the Armenian Population of the Province], volume 1, Beirut, Mshag Printing House, 1974, p. 51).
• [5] For example, the population of the city of Gyurin in the subdistrict of Sepasdia consisted of Armenians who had immigrated from Eastern Armenia, specifically from Artsakh, in 1745-1750 (Bedros Minasian, Badmakirk Gyurini [History Book of Gyurin], Beirut, Sevan Printing House, 1974, p. 212; S. M. Dzotsigian, Arevmdahay Ashkharh [Western Armenian World], New York, 1947, p. 348).
• [6] For more details on the demographic changes in Armenian in the 16th-17th centuries, see Mikayel Malkhasian, Joghovrtakragan Kordzuntatsner Hayasdanoum 16rt Taroum-17rt Tari Arachin Gesin [Demographic Processes in Armenia in the 16th Century-First Half of the 17th Century], Yerevan, Yerevan State University Press, 2020.
• [7] Hrachia Adjarian, Hay Kaghtaganoutyan Badmoutyun [History of Armenian Migration], Yerevan, Zankag-97, 2002, p. 585.
• [8] Ibid.
• [9] “Apkar Tokhatetsi,” Haygagan Sovedagan Hanrakidaran [Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia], volume 1, edited by Victor Hampartsoumian, Yerevan, “Head Editorial Board of the Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia, Science Academy of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia,” 1974, p. 18. 
• [10] Adjarian, Hay Kaghtaganoutyan Badmoutyun, p. 526.
• [11] The settlement of Etrenos (Adarnos) in Bursa.
• [12] In the territory of present-day Romania and Moldova.
• [13] Nerses Aginian, Hink Bantoukhd Daghasantsner [Five Migrant Bards],Vienna, Publishing House of the Mekhitarist Order, 1921, p. 120. For more information on the migration of Armenians to Constantinople from across Armenia after the Celali uprising, see H. Anasian, “Turkish Rule over Armenia in the Seventeenth Century,”HSSR KA Deghegakir Hasaragagan Kidoutyunneri [Report on Public Sciences by the Science Academy of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic], Yerevan, number 5, 1951, pp. 59-60.
• [14] Hagop Der-Hagopian,Bardizagu Khadudig [Dappled Bardizag], Paris, 1960, p. 16 (the imperial edict that founded Bardizag in Nicomedia was issued in 1625, which is why the year of the founding of the settlement is listed as 1625). Also see Boghos Natanian, Deghegakroutyun Unthanour Vidjagin Sebastio yev Anor Gousagaloutyan nerkev Kdnvogh Meg Kani Klkhavor Kaghakats [Report on the General Situation in the Province of Sepasdia and a Few of the Major Cities in Its Jurisdiction], Constantinople, Hayasdanyats Press, 1877, pp. 157-158 (“Armenians in Sepasdia, especially most of the residents of the village of Bardizag, not able to tolerate the persecution they experienced, left their native land and migrated to other places. It is highly probable that the Bardizag that exists near Iznimid received its name as a result of this migration”).
• [15] Hagop Levon Barsoumian, The Armenian Amira Class of Istanbul,Columbia University, 1980, p. 73.
• [16] For details on the Dyuzian dynasty, see H. Murmurian, Masnagan Badmoutyun Hay Medzadounnerou [Partial History of Armenian Noble Houses], Constantinople, 1909, pp. 33-34 and 106.
• [17] Salvine Margosian, “The Unique Social Structure of the Armenian Community of Constantinople in the 19th Century,” Mertsavor Arevelk. Badmoutyun, Kaghakaganoutyun, Mshagouyt, Hotvadzneri Joghovadzu XIV [The Near East. History, Politics, Culture. Collection of Articles XIV,Yerevan, 2019, p. 256.
• [18] Haig Ghazarian,Arevmdahayeri Sotsial-Dndesagan yev Kaghakagan Gatsoutyunu 1800-1870 t. [The Social-Economic and Political Situation of Western Armenians, 1800-1877], Yerevan, published by the Science Academy of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1967, p. 425 (the researcher’s source is Ashod Hovhannisian’s Nalbandian and His Times (Yerevan, Haybedhrad, 1955)).
• [19] A. Tokhmanian, “Letter from Turkey,” Mshag(Tbilisi), 2 September 1888, p. 3.
• [20] On August 29, 1893, Catholicos Mgrdich I Vanetsi (Khrimian Hayrig) mentioned that 50,000 farm workers from Sepasdia, Moush, and Vasbouragan had been registered in Constantinople (Artsakank, Kragan yev Kaghakagan Lrakir [Artsakank, Literary and Political Periodical] (Tbilisi), 1 (13) September, 1893, p. 1).
• [21] Adjarian,Hay Kaghtaganoutyan Badmoutyun, p. 645.
• [22] See Mgrdich I Vanetsi’s above-mentioned statement.
• [23] Christopher Clay, “Labour Migration and Economic Conditions in Nineteenth-Century Anatolia,” Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 34, n. 4, Turkey Before and After Ataturk: Internal and External Affairs, October 1998, p. 7.
• [24] Ibid.
• [25] Ibid.
• [26] Hovagim Hovagimian (Arshagouni),Badmoutyun Haygagan Bondosi [History of Armenian Pontus],Beirut, Mshag Printing House, 1967. P. 18.
• [27] “National Perspective: On the Occasion of the Harvest of Asia Minor,”ArevelkPolitical and National Daily Newspaper (Constantinople), 14 July 1980, p. 1.
• [28] Adjarian, Hay Kaghtaganoutyan Badmoutyun, p. 631.
• [29] Sarkis and Misak Pteyan, Harazad Badmoutyun Darono[True History of Daron], edited by Aghan Daronetsi, Cairo, Sahag-Mesrob Printing House, 1962, p. 26.
• [30] “National Perspective: On the Occasion of the Harvest of Asia Minor.”
• [31] Ibid.
• [32] Ibid.
• [33] Clay, “Labour Migration and Economic Conditions in Nineteenth-Century Anatolia,” p. 16.
• [34] Ibid.
• [35] Ibid.
• [36] Ibid., p. 17.
• [37] Ibid.
• [38] Politsadjis were people who made a living selling promissory notes signed for the repayment of debts (agreements whereby the signatory accepted the obligation to pay a specific amount of money to the debtholder by a specific date).
• [39] “Letter from Constantinople,” Artsakank Literary and Political Weekly (Tbilisi), 20 June 1882, p. 276. The letter was signed by 140 migrants from the village of Kournavil in the subdistrict of Divrig, 100 migrants from the village of Mourvana, 150 migrants from the village of Odour, and 70 migrants from the village of Ashoush (Ibid., p. 277).
• [40] Archbishop Maghakia Ormanian, Azkabadoum. Masn Yerrort. 1808 Darien minchev 1909 [History of the Nation. Third Part. From the year 1808 to 1909], Jerusalem, Srpots Hagopyants Printing House, 1927, p. 4373.
• [41] Ibid., p. 4374.
• [42] Ibid.
• [43] For the inscriptions on the tombstones of 57 Sepasdia Armenians buried in the “neighborhood of Sepasdia Armenians,” see Karning Kasbarian, Azkayin Kerezmanadoun Hayots Shishliyi [National Armenian Cemetery of Shishli],Constantinople, O. Arzouman Printing House, 1922, pp. 234-248.
• [44] Ibid., p. 241.
• [45] The following is an excerpt from the engravings on the gravestone of Tateos Hapeshian (1835-1893), buried in the “seventh square” section of the cemetery: “I obeyed the will of God // I became a father to sons and grandchildren // I sang in many cities with my violin // Alas, I ended my life as a migrant” (ibid., p. 209).
• [46] At the start of the 20th century, Prknig was home to 400 households and a population of 2,000 Armenians, all Catholic (see Teotig, Koghkota Hay Hokevoraganoutyan [Calvary of the Armenian Clergy], New York, 1985, p. 114).
• [47] Archimandrite Father Hagop Kosian, Kerezmanadoun Gatoghige Hayots G. Bolsi [The Cemetery of Catholic-Armenians in Constantinople, Vienna, Publishing House of the Mekhitarist Order, 1931, p. 153.
• [48] Ibid., p. 163. Father Hagop Kosian’s book presents the inscriptions on the gravestones of a total of nine Armenians from Prknig in the “Prknig neighborhood” (ibid., pp. 153-184).
• [49] Taniel Varoujan, Namagani [Correspondence],Yerevan, Hayasdan Printing House, 1965, p. 194.
• [50] Taniel Varoujan, Sarsourner [Shivers], Venice, Saint Lazarus, 1927, p. 83.
• [51] Arevelk Political and National Daily Newspaper (Constantinople), 7 (19) June 1885, p. 3.
• [52] Sinan Dinçer, “The Armenian Massacre of Istanbul (1896),” TSEG-The Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History 10,n. 4 (2013), p. 22.
• [53] Murad A. Meneshian, “Rural Sepasdia: The Village of Govdun” in Armenian Sepasdia/Sivas and Lesser Armenia, p. 348.
• [54] Florian Riedler, “Armenian labour Migration to Istanbul and the migration crisis of the 1890s,” The City in the Ottoman Empire: Migration and the Making of Urban Modernity, ed. by llrike Freitag, Malte Fuhnnann, Nora Lafi, and Florian Riedler, London and New York, Routledge, 2011, p. 167.
• [55] Dinçer, “The Armenian Massacre of Istanbul (1896),” p. 27.
• [56] Ormanian, Azkabadoum, p. 5066.
• [57] For example, Aram Seraydarian, who was born in the city of Sepasdia, “barely survived the massacres of Constantinople and fled to Paris, France. After learning how to work with cars there, he moved on to London and was employed by a rich Englishman. He worked as a driver. After working there for some time, he emigrated to America, and in New York, established a successful car business” (Nor Sepasdia, Bashdonagan Organ HamaSepasdiatsiagan Shinarar Mioutyan [New Sepasdia. Official Organ of the Pan-Sepasdia Building Society], year 14, December 1949, pp. 26-27).
• [58] Dinçer, “The Armenian Massacre in Istanbul (1869),” p. 39.
• [59] Hagop Kosian,Hayk i Zmyurnia yev i Shrchagays [Armenians in Smyrna and its Environs], volume 1, Zmyurna yev Hayk: Hedazodoutyun Artsanakroutyants yev Hishadagaranats [Smyrna and Armenians: Investigation of Records and Chronicles], Vienna, Publishing House of the Mekhitarist Order, 1899, p. 340.
• [60] Hairenik National, Philological, Educational, and Commercial Provincial Periodical (Constantinople), 4 September 1875, p. 3.
• [61] Ibid.
• [62] Ibid.
• [63] Karekin Srvantsdyants,Toros Aghpar Hayasdani Djamport [Brother Toros, Traveler in Armenia], First Part, Constantinople, 1879, p. 146. Also see H. K. Ghazarian, “History of the Senekerimian Society of Sepasdia (1846-1922),”Alice(New York), ninth year, number 6, March-April-May 1929, p. 7.
• [64] Massis Political, National, Philological, and Economic Periodical (Constantinople), 23 January 1858, p. 3.
• [65] Jamanag Patriotic Review, 8 June 1863, p. 92.
• [66] Hairenik National, Philological, and Commercial Periodical (Constantinople), 2 October 1871, p. 1.
• [67] Hairenik National, Philological, and Commercial Periodical (Constantinople), 16 March 1874, p. 1.
• [68] Hairenik National, Philological, Educational, and Commercial Provincial Periodical (Constantinople), 14 October 1875, p. 2.
• [69] Srvantsdyants, Toros Agpar, p. 146.
• [70] Nazaret H. Istambollyants, “National Societies of Sepasdia,” Massis Political, National, Philological, and Economic Daily Periodical (Constantinople), 27 February (10 March) 1880, p. 3.
• [71] “The Senekerimian Society of Sepasdia,” Arevelk Political and National Daily (Constantinople), 10 March 1889, p. 2.
• [72] Yeprem Boghosian, Badmoutyun Hay Mshagoutayin Ungeroutyunnerou [History of Armenian Cultural Organizations], volume 2, Vienna, Publishing House of the Mekhitarist Order, 1963, p. 296.
• [73] Organizations called “Senekerimian Society” were founded in 1913 in Sepasdia and after the end of the First World War, in 1918, in Constantinople. These organizations, however, were not successors of the original Senekerimian Society and their aim was to address other contemporary challenges that faced the Armenians of Sepasdia. 
• [74] Badrig, Badmakirk Houshamadyan Sebastyo yev Kavari Hayoutyan, volume 1, p. 453.
• [75] Boghosian, Badmoutyun Hay Mshagoutayin Ungeroutyunnerou, volume 2, pp. 304-308.
• [76] Ibid., p. 326.
• [77] Ibid., pp. 316-317.
• [78] Ibid., p. 329.
• [79] Ibid., pp. 320-321.
• [80] Ibid., p. 377.
• [81] Ibid., p. 378.
• [82] Ibid., pp. 379-380.
• [83] Ibid., p. 380.
• [84] Ibid., pp. 251-256.
• [85] Ibid., p. 260.
• [86] Ibid., p. 261.
• [87] Ibid., p. 246-248.
• [88] One of those accused of participating in the assassination attempt was a bread baker from Sepasdia called Takavor (Varak Ketsemanian, “The Hunchakian Revolutionary Party and the Assassination Attempts against Patriarch Khoren Ashekian and Maksudzade Simon Bey in 1894,” International Journal of Middle East Studies, 50, no. 4 (2018), pp. 746-747).
• [89] Yaşar Tolga Cora, “Institutionalized migrant solidarity in the late Ottoman Empire: Armenian homeland associations (1800s–1920s),” New Perspectives on Turkey, 63 (2020), pp. 70-71.
• [90] Hairenik National, Philological, Educational, and Commercial Provincial Periodical (Constantinople), 15 June 1876, p. 1.
• [91] Jamanag Popular Newspaper (Constantinople), 10 (23) April 1909. Other sources put the number of migrant workers at 20,000-25,000 (see H. Terzian, Adanayi Gyanku [The Life of Adana],Constantinople, 1909, p. 6; Adanayi Yeghernu. Deghegakir Hagop Babigiani (Osmanian Yerespokhan Edirneyi) [The Massacre of Adana. Report by Hagop Babigian (Member of the Ottoman Parliament from Edirne],translated by Hagop Sakisian, Constantinople, Cilicia Bookstore, 1919, p. 18; Erminio, “The Massacres of Adana,”Horizon, 23 March 1910, pp. 2-3).
• [92] A. Melkonian,“Sepasdia,” Haygagan Harts, Hanrakidaran [Armenian Question, Encyclopedia], Yerevan, Head Editorial Office of the Armenian Encyclopedia, 1996, p. 407.
• [93] H. Shahbazian, “Self-Defense during the Catastrophe of Cilicia,”Azadamard(Constantinople), 2 (15) April 1910, p. 3.
• [94] Gyurin was one of the centers of emigration from Sepasdia. Contemporaries wrote that the terrain of Gyurin made it impossible for the locals to provide for their families without emigration (Father Soukias Eprigian, Badgerazart Pnashkharhig Pararan [Illustrated Dictionary of the Natural World], first volume, book C, Venice, Saint Lazarus, 1907, p. 436). V. Topalian, a native of Gyurin, wrote: “Gyurin… Was very miserly in terms of ensuring the economic prosperity of its people. As a result, since ancient times, men from Gyurin have always emigrated… To find work and ensure their family’s prosperity” (Minasian, Badmakirk Gyurini [History Book of Gyurin], p. 367).
• [95] Varti Keshishian, Halebi Haygagan Kaghtodjakhi Hasaragagan-Mshagoutayin Gazmagerboutyunneru (1846-1915) [The Community-Cultural Organizations of the Armenian Diaspora of Aleppo (1846-1915)], Antilias, Printing House of the Catholicosate of the Holy See of Cilicia, 2001, p. 239.
• [96] Minasian, Badmakirk Gyurini, p. 511.
• [97] Keshishian, Halebi Haygagan Kaghtodjakhi Hasaragagan-Mshagoutayin Gazmagerboutyunneru, p. 239.
• [98] Ibid., p. 240.
• [99] Boghosian, Badmoutyun Hay Mshagoutayin Ungeroutyunnerou, volume 2, p. 265.
• [100] Ibid., p. 264.
• [101] Ibid., pp. 265-266. For a list of educational institutions in Gyurin that received support from the Vahanian Society, see Minasian, Badmakirk Gyurini, p. 439.
• [102] Boghosian, Badmoutyun Hay Mshagoutayin Ungeroutyunnerou, volume 2, p. 267.