Iğdır Lecturer Distorts Iğdır's History

DEAR READERS:

The online newspaper Iğdırın Sesi (Voice of Iğdır) (https://www.igdirim76.com/aslanturk-akyildiz-igdirin-kisa-tarihini-anlatti/8141/) published a news report on December 17, 2022. According to the report, Lecturer Arslantürk Akyıldız was a guest on the "Traditional Weekend" interview program of an organization called "Iğdır Otağı," managed by Mr. Savaş Erol. If the information reflected in the news is accurate, Mr. Akyıldız, through his speech, has perhaps unwittingly added a new dimension to the competition of distorting the recent history of Iğdır.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID TO THE DEFINITIONS OF GUBERNIYA AND UYEZD

The word Guberniya (Russian: губерния) was the name of an administrative unit in Tsarist Russia. Its modern Turkish equivalent could be "Province." One of these was the Erivan Guberniya. The Erivan Guberniya (province) encompassed present-day Armenia, Nakhchivan, and the entire province of Iğdır. To its north was the Tiflis Guberniya, to its east the Elizavetpol Guberniya, to its west the Kars Oblast, and to its south the Persian and Ottoman Empires.

The sub-unit of a Guberniya was called an Uyezd (Russian: уезд). The Erivan Guberniya had seven Uyezds, or "districts": Alexandropol, Echmiadzin, Erivan, Nakhchivan, Novo-Bayazet, Surmali (the entire present-day Iğdır province), and Sharur-Daralagyoz.

Thus, the entire "Surmali (Iğdır, Aralık, Kulp/Tuzluca)" region was a single district. Mr. Akyıldız used the expression, "Iğdır, Kulp, Derekent, Perçinis, and the Aralık region were classified as a single administrative unit." This is a seriously erroneous statement. (This form of administration belongs to the period of the Erivan Khanate.)

IĞDIR IS NOT A PART OF THE ELVİYE-İ SELÂSE

Elviye-i Selâse (The Three Sanjaks) is the common name for the Batum, Kars, and Ardahan sanjaks (livas) during the Ottoman period. The province of Iğdır (Sürmeli Region) was not a part of the Elviye-i Selâse region. The militia forces in Iğdır were not organized by the Ottoman State, as Mr. Akyıldız implies. The militia forces were organized by the local people of their own free will, for defensive purposes. They did not receive military, weapon, or financial support from outside.

THE "IĞDIR EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE" ALLEGEDLY FOUNDED BY ALİ EKBER BEY WAS NEVER ESTABLISHED

Mr. Akyıldız makes two mistakes in a row:

Firstly, he speaks of a political structure named "Iğdır Executive Committee." There was no such political structure centered in Iğdır. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, when Russian soldiers withdrew from Iğdır city center and the Sürmeli region, social structures similar to "municipal and headman" services emerged in every settlement, even in villages. This is natural because the Russians who governed the region were no longer there.

Secondly, supposedly the "Iğdır Executive Committee" consisted of Muslims and Christians! My question is: Who were these Christians? I know Mr. Akyıldız's answer will be "They were Armenians." In that case, what does this sentence mean: "This committee, formed by Muslims and Christians, collapsed after being unable to withstand the pressures of the Armenians any longer."

If you, my dear readers, understand something from this sentence, that is, if you believe that Christian communities other than Armenians lived in the city center of Iğdır at that time, then I too will accept the existence of the "Iğdır Executive Committee."

ALI MIRZE BEY CANNOT BE BETRAYED

This time, Mr. Akyıldız lists the names of militia organizations. He omits the most important name, Ali Mirze Bey. The Geloylu Tribe (Ahmed Şemo (Hun)), the Redkan Tribe (Hacı Tahir Muçu), and the Gelturan Tribe (Emerê Besê (Ömer Bülbül)) united as a single force under the command of Ali Mirze Bey. Ali Mirze Bey undertook the most important task in the war against the Armenian komitacis.

THE ARAS TURKISH REPUBLIC WAS ESTABLISHED WITH NACHCHIVAN CITY AS ITS CENTER

The Aras Turkish Republic was established between November 22, 1918, and June 26, 1919, with Nakhchivan city as its capital. No delegates from the Sürmeli (Iğdır, Aralık, Tuzluca (Kulp)) region participated in the establishment of this Republic. The Sürmeli Region did not send delegates to either the Aras Turkish Republic or the Southwestern Caucasian National Government established in Kars.

THE MASSACRE COMMITTED BY ARMENIANS IN THE KURDISH VILLAGE OF KUCAK IS ALWAYS OVERLOOKED

Armenians committed massacres not only in Azeri villages but also in Kurdish villages. In the village of Kucak, more than 200 inhabitants were massacred by having their throats cut. For some reason, researchers from Iğdır (!) do not want to write the name "Kucak."

LOCAL MILITIA FORCES AND ESPECIALLY THE HAMIDIYE REGIMENTS FROM THE BAYAZIT SANJAK ARE DELIBERATELY OVERLOOKED

During Iğdır's most difficult years, between August 1919 and October 1920, not a single Ottoman soldier set foot in the Sürmeli region. In August 1919, Bıro Heski Telli (İbrahim Ağa), a member of the Celali Hamidiye Regiment under Sheikh İbrahim Bey from the Bayazit Sanjak, rescued over 3,000 Azeri civilians in the besieged village of Melekli. Ottoman (Grand National Assembly of Turkey) forces did not come to Iğdır's aid during its most difficult days of massacres.

In the final attack in November 1920, Local Militia Forces-Hamidiye Regiments and Ottoman (Grand National Assembly of Turkey) Soldiers jointly besieged Iğdır. Since the Armenians had evacuated Iğdır a week earlier and retreated to the other side of the Aras, Iğdır was captured without conflict. (Let's remember the story of Martyr Mehmet Çavuş!)

Mr. Akyıldız's statement, "Upon the significant increase in savagery in the region, the army commanded by Kazım Karabekir Pasha, appointed as the Commander of the Eastern Armies by order of the TBMM (Turkish Grand National Assembly), took action, liberated the region, and the Gümrü Agreement was signed on December 3," is incorrect. Moreover, at that time, it was the BMM (Grand National Assembly) not the TBMM. Kazım Karabekir Pasha set foot on Iğdır soil 1.5 years later (May 1922).

WHEN DID THE AĞRI REBELLION END?

When it suits us, we claim Ağrı Dağı (Mount Ararat) by saying, "65% of Ağrı Dağı, including its summit, is within the borders of Iğdır province," but for some reason, not a single writer, intellectual, lecturer, or journalist from Iğdır has conducted any research or written anything about the Ağrı Dağı Rebellion. Given this, Mr. Akyıldız will, of course, state the end date of the Ağrı Dağı Rebellion as 1937 instead of 1930, making a big mistake. Mr. Akyıldız's statement is as follows:

"Although Iğdır was part of the Bayazit sanjak and then province during the Republic of Turkey period, after the Ağrı Rebellion in 1937, it was reconnected to Kars along with Kulp (Tuzluca) with the new administrative division."

I overlooked the errors and distortions in other statements. However, Mr. Akyıldız's last statement is not an acceptable "mistake." Iğdır was not connected to Kars in 1937, and before that, it was part of Ağrı province.

Iğdır went through the following processes until it became a province:

Iğdır was connected to the Bayazit Sanjak in November 1920.

Iğdır was connected to Ağrı (then called Karaköse) province in 1927.

Iğdır was connected to Kars province in 1934.

Iğdır became a province on May 27, 1992.

In 1927, the provincial center moved from Bayazit city to Karaköse city, but the name of the province remained "Bayazit." In fact, we can see similar situations today (Kocaeli Province / İzmit) or (Sakarya Province / Adapazarı) or (Hatay Province / Antakya). Until 1934, the expression "Bayazit Province / Karaköse administrative center" continued, and in 1934, the name of both the Province and Karaköse city was changed to "Ağrı." To avoid confusion with a "Bayazit" in Istanbul, in the west, the name of the Bayazit district was also changed to Doğubayazıt.

The History of Iğdır is sacred. Please, let's put an end to distortion. Iğdır is ours, it belongs to all of us. Let's uphold the truth together, my dear fellow citizens!

NOTE: I would like to specifically state that I wrote this article with due respect to my valuable fellow citizens who attended the meeting.