Mush
Mush (Մուշ) was a town of around 42,000 people at the time of the Armenian Genocide, located on the south-central part of a large, fertile plain. The population was about half Armenian. Today the city is part of Turkey, and spelled Muş in Turkish. There is no longer an Armenian community, but rather it is now majority Kurdish with Zazas and Turks comprising the minority.
Needs translation
Մուշ, (Муш, Mush) - A city in Western Armenia, in Bitlis state's Mush region. It was the administrative capital of the Mush region and hosted the had the regional chair of the Armenian church: Mush was also known as a fortress, a settlement, a city and a town.
GOOGLE TRANSLATE OF TEXT (original Armenian found here):
The name Mush was etymologized and meant in various forms. Some associate it with the tribes and toponyms of Ancient Armenia (Mushuni, Mushk's), some with the Armenian "fog", which usually covers the entire Mush plain in the morning. The city is located on the left tributary of Meghraget on the banks of the Mush River. On the south side rise the Sassoun mountains of the Armenian Taurus Mountains, with "Tsirkatar" and "Kordukh" peaks, on the sloping slopes of which 1-2-storey clay houses were built amphitheatrically, dull, with no basic facilities, with flat roofs. The Mush River divides the city into 2 parts. Its water used to irrigate 10-12 mills and irrigate the vegetable gardens and orchards in and around it. Before 1915, it had 12 large and small districts: Berd district, Brut district, Dash Mahla, Duz Mahla Khurdents district, Dzor district, St. Marine district, Minara district, Jigrashen district, Sufra district, Jerin district, Kyotan district. In the center of the city was the market, where at the end of the 19th century there were about 800 large and small shops, kiosks and workshops, 500 of which belonged to Armenians. The market did not have a more or less regular layout, it was in fact an irregularly arranged gathering place for shops and kiosks. Most of the houses built around the crooked, narrow and dirty streets of the city had no yards or fences. That's why washing, cooking and bathing children on the streets were commonplace. In 1909 it had about 25,000 inhabitants, of which 9,000 were Armenians, the rest were Turkish-Kurds. In addition to farming, tobacco growing, and gardening, Armenians were engaged in trade and handicrafts. Crafts were common: pottery, footwear, tailoring, jewelry, blacksmithing, painting, and carpet weaving. The products of M artisans, fruits, wine, tobacco, and other agricultural products were sold in the neighboring provinces. The more or less prominent buildings of the city were the stone bath, the 2 inns, the tasteless and unsightly private house of the Turkish ruler of the province, the 2 Muslim mosques (one was formerly an Armenian church), the Armenian Evangelical Church, St. Gregory the Illuminator, St. Kirakos, St. The churches of Harutyun, Marine, Sargis, Stepanos, Savior, most of which were standing and functioned until 1915. The most magnificent and beautiful of these churches was St. Marine, and the oldest was St. Savior, mentioned in connection with the events of 851-852. On the east side of city, on the hill, was the fortress of Mush, and not far from it, the magnificent building of the Central School of the United Company or the Holy School of Translators, built by Mkrtich Agha Ter-Hovhannisyan from Mush in 1850. The Diocese of the Catholic Armenians and the Murat Mkhitaryan College were located in St. Marine district. The synagogue and the school of the Protestant society also functioned here. The building of the Armenian Prelacy was built on the river bank. In Duz Mahla district and the Mush fortress there were housed the 3,000-strong Turkish garrison and arsenal. The Armenian 5 district one-day girls' schools, the United School Central School and the two orphanages maintained by the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople played a very important role in the educational and cultural life of A. In 1899, the number of students in schools was about 750. In 1863-65 "Lratar Artsvik Tarono" newspaper G. was published in M. Edited by Srvandztyan.
The Armenians of Mush were courageous, selfless, patriotic people who sacredly preserved their national deposits, people with certain skills in science and arts, from whom we can remember publicist, editor and pedagogue G. Ս. Andreasyan (1869-1906), an incomparable performer of Armenian song, "Taron okhak" Armenak Shahmuradyan (1878—1939), publicist Mkhitar Abroyan (1880-1915), agronomist. science Dr., Prof. N. A. Malatyan (1898-1377) & others. Due to the difficult socio-economic and legal situation of the Armenians of Armenia, since the end of the 19th century, many Armenians from America also went to Constantinople, Russia and other countries. Many simply emigrated with their families; in just one month in 1887, 600 Armenians emigrated to the United States, and the number of those who left the entire province reached 15,000 in the same period. The massacre of Armenians in Mush began on July 10, 1915. A significant part of the population around the city was annihilated, and a part was deported to this or that country with great suffering. Some groups of deportees from Mush settled in 1917-18 & 1927 in Getashen, Hoktemberyan, Hnaberd and other villages of Hoktemberyan region of the Armenian SSR. Archaeological finds in and around M confirm that it is one of the oldest settlements in the Armenian world. There are traces of a Cyclopean fortress. The cuneiform inscription of King Menua I of Van (810-786 BC). Its foundation is traditionally credited to Gayl Vahan Mamikonyan. On the west side of the city are found Mushaberd, Hoghaberdik and Astghaberd's ruins. A few writings from 13-15 century Mush have been preserved. Until the 4th century AD it belonged to the ministers of Slkun and then to Mamikonyan. In the 8th century AD it passed to the Bagratuni, and in 851-852 it became the center of the people's liberation struggle against the Arabs. In the winter of 852, Yusuf, the leader of the Arab bandits, was killed by Hovnan Khutetsi and his warriors in the Church of the Savior. It has been conquered by the Turks since the 16th century. Anti-Turkish armed demonstrations also took place in Mush in the 1860s, which, of course, were influenced by the events in Zeytun. Now Mush is a shadeless and half-ruined settlement, and the administrative center of Turkey's Mush province. In 1952, there were 7,000 Kurdish-Turkish inhabitants.
See also
- Bodil Biørn - witness to the Armenian Genocide in Mush