Sandjak of Marash
Sandjak of Marash

To Marash

The journey that Houshamadyan began with Palu continues with Marash.

We will present, under this general heading, the district (sandjak) of Marash during the Ottoman era. The chief centre for the Armenians of the district was the town of Marash itself (today known as Kahramanmaraş), where the greatest number of the district’s Armenians lived. The subjects presented will also encompass the other Armenian-populated towns and villages. The exception to this will be Zeytun (today Süleymanlı) that also forms part of the Marash sandjak, but is noted for the wealth of primary sources about it. This is sufficient reason for us to pay it special attention and present it under a separate title.

For Houshamadyan’s editorial board this series on Marash is the beginning of a new experience. Clearly the articles found and to appear in the future have not been written by members of the editorial board, but by Houshamadyan’s collaborators. In the case of Marash, the articles have been written by Varty Keshishian, working with whom was a piece of great good fortune. Other articles are being prepared by other collaborators. Houshamadyan’s method of working is for each article to be examined by a group of referees comprised of at least three people and, only after receiving a favourable critique from them, is an article posted on the website. In this way we retain the scientific depth of our plans, which for us has the greatest significance. We hope that by this method of working we will continue to enrich the pages of our website with articles written not only by our editorial staff but also with those by our collaborators.
 


The Marash work area on the website – just like that of Palu – was the place where new acquaintances and new meetings were made. Such encounters make us truly enthusiastic. The impression is created that we are gradually putting down roots among the visitors to our website, engendering confidence in us through our work. The result will be that they will send us precious relics – old photographs, sound recordings of songs and so on - connected with the Marash’s Armenian legacy. On this occasion we should like to thank Garo Derounian, who has kindly sent us the addresses of people owning old photographs of Marash in their family archives. We should also like to express our thanks to Joyce Chorbajian, Bedros Dikiciyan, Nora Lessersohn, Mihran Minassian, Michel Paboudjian and Krikor Geokdjian who, with their input, helped to enrich the pages of the website concerned with Marash.

Houshamadyan’s doors are wide open for new encounters...