I wanted to post some more pictures of this gun that I have discovered recently, as well as much more information, for archival purposes.
1: First off, some warriors from Zeytun wielding these guns with the familiar barrel bands on the back, 1899. Notice how some of them are also wielding Caucasian Kindjals. That seemed to be the preferred short cold arm of the Zeytunians, based on available photographs.
2: Next up, a nice pair of percussion Zeytun acaris. The Armenian sun symbol, Arevakhatch, was a prominent decoration on the buttstocks of most of these guns.
3: At least a few of these were much more richly decorated than usual, with decorations similar to those found on many Ottoman yatagans and daggers. I am far from an expert on "mainstream" Ottoman arms, so forgive my lack of knowledge of the terminology and materials used. Below is one such example.
4: Although the production of these weapons was historically pretty much exclusively handled by Armenians in Zeytun, nowadays it is very well known to antique dealers and history enthusiasts all across the Kahramanmarash region. One of these dealers, Cahit Altigoz, recently made a replica of a Zeytun Acari that measures over 3 meters long! He applied for a Guinness World Record, but I'm not sure if he got it.
5: Below is also a picture of the shop of the Cholakyan family of gunsmiths in Zeytun, dated to 1913. Weapons manufacturing was one of the main crafts in Zeytun.
6: Finally, another picture of the princes of Zeytun with all of their weapons. If these weapons were frequently deployed in conflicts against their Turkish neighbors, then they were even more frequently used in feuds between the 4 ruling princely families. For example, in 1804 members of the princely clan of Yakoubian raided the fortress mansion of the Surenian princely clan, which was located on top of a hill on the western side of town. Once inside, they murdered almost everyone belonging to the Surenian clan. Apparently, the dispute was over suspicions that the Surenians were acting as informants to the Turks.
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