Six vilayets

The Six Armenian vilayets or six provinces ( Ottoman ولايت سته, IA Vilayat -ı Sitte; Armenian Վեց հայկական վիլայեթներ Wez's hajkakan wilajet'ner; Turkish vilayet alti, alti Ermeni ili ) were the Armenian -populated provinces ( vilayets ) of the Ottoman Empire:

• Van
• Erzerum
• Mamuretülaziz
• Bitlis
• Diyarbakır
• Sivas

The term six Armenian provinces was first used at the Congress of Berlin of 1878.

Population

Ethnic groups

Different versions of the population statistics are displayed below.

The analysis excludes certain parts of this province, where the Armenians were only a very small proportion. These parts were: Hakkari, in the Vilayet of Van; southeast of Siirt, Bitlis vilayet; the south of Diyarbakır vilayet; the south of Malatya, in the vilayet Mamuret al - Aziz; the northwest and west of the vilayet of Sivas.

1 without Kizilbash 2 without Zaza 3 Assyrians ( Nestorians, Jacobites, Chaldeans ), Circassians, Greeks, Yezidis, Persians, Laz, Roma

The Ottoman census gives no information about various Muslim ethnic groups such as Turks, Kurds, Circassians, etc.

Most Western scholars agree that the official Ottoman census underestimated the number of ethnic minorities, including the number of Armenians. In fact, defined the Ottoman census not a single ethnic group, religious groups only. So meant Armenians, followers of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Ethnic Armenians who called themselves Muslims were counted as Muslims, Armenian Protestants turn than others.

• Maps

Ethnic map of the six vilayets ( Western Armenia ) according to the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople Opel 1912

Armenian population in the six vilayets.

Cities

Statistics of the early 20th century: