Weapons manufacturing in the City of Zeytun

[Martin Lubojacky]

AvtoGaz,
I also thank you for this very interesting research!

[cyten]

I’ve heard from an acquaintance in Turkey that these were referred to as “Zeytuni” as well. The only thing is, I don’t see any Armenian influence in them other than the sun wheel engravings on the stocks and the only two period photos I’ve seen were in use by Arab and possibly Kurdish?

I spent a great deal of time in Armenia and never saw anything that looked like these, there is only one muzzleloader in the Yerevan history museum and it is a Shishane.
But I encourage more research!

[AvtoGaz]

Originally Posted by cyten

I’ve heard from an acquaintance in Turkey that these were referred to as “Zeytuni” as well. The only thing is, I don’t see any Armenian influence in them other than the sun wheel engravings on the stocks and the only two period photos I’ve seen were in use by Arab and possibly Kurdish?

I spent a great deal of time in Armenia and never saw anything that looked like these, there is only one muzzleloader in the Yerevan history museum and it is a Shishane.
But I encourage more research!

Well that specific sun wheel symbol (arevakhatch in Armenian) is quite a dead giveaway, it only really carries a significance for Armenian and Georgian people, where its often found on art, tombstones, and what not.

In terms of the photos, the Kurdish gentleman appears to be a Zeytunian or from the surrounding area, given how his dress is almost identical to that of the Zeytun princes which I posted above. (Speaking of that photo, I am assuming both of them are using Zeytun Acaris, given that you can make out a flintlock on the right guys gun and the butt looks far to flat to be a Shishane or Caucasian Rifle). In terms of the Arab using this weapon, Zeytun is not very far from Syria and other Arab-populated regions, so given how trade between Zeytun and the outside world was well documented, its not hard to assume that some of these weapons passed into the hands of foreigners through trade.

Yes, there are no such examples on display in Armenia, but there is definitely at least one extant example attributed to Zeytun in the museum's collection, linked in my original post. PS: Its true our National history museum is quite lacking in its collection of firearms, but if you are ever in Armenia again I recommend visiting the History Museum of Yerevan city. There's quite a large collection of Caucasian style flintlocks on display, some that were owned by the former ruling family of Yerevan the Melik-Aghamalyans.

Now, since writing this post I researched a bit further and found some more references to these weapons in a Turkish study about the region, linked here: https://satemer.sakarya.edu.tr/tr/ic...ytun-isyanlari

Ignoring all the other fluff in this study, it basically details what I already said. Due to its political autonomy, Zeytun was one of the few regions where Armenians could carry arms, and they used this privilege to make their own unique weapon, the Zeytun Acari. Another drawing of them attached, courtesy of this study, attached below

[AvtoGaz]

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.

[cyten]

There was one in the Istanbul museum however, it is in the photo above^