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The following below are just some factors to take into account when discussing the demographics of Anatolia particularly in regards to the Armenians. Armenians are very sensitive when it comes to discussing how many Armenians were in Anatolia before 1915 considering the motives created by the Young Turks of creating a "Fait Accompli", "A Turkey for the Turks" also interpreted as a "Turkey without Non-Turks". The study of how eastern Anatolia became from being predominantly Armenian to predominently Turkish/Kurdish over the past 600 years, is an issue which needs much more looking into.
Population figures in the Ottoman empire during the first half of the 19th century were conducted based on what is known as 'head of household', male family members, ages, occupation, and property. In 1844, the Ottoman census recorded 2.4 million Armenians within the Ottoman Empire, in 1867, this number was maintained; whether or not it was due to a political move as to not record any Armenian growth for a period of 23 years is unknown.
The following is what a European traveler who traveled to Anatolia and was interested in the demographics of the Ottoman Empire stated in 1856,
"It is difficult to form an exact
estimate of the number of Armenians in the Ottoman empire. The statement which I have given from official calculation, and which raises the numbers to an average of two million four hundred thousand, is only an approximate computation, and probably below the truth. In fact, when ten years ago the Porte ordered a census to be taken throughout the empire, a report was immediately circulated that the object of this measure was to enable the government toimpose a new tax on each locality proportionate to its population. The greater part of the Armenian provinces, therefore, believing that their interests required them to represent their numbers as few as possible, scrupled not to make fictitious returns, and these not to
the Turkish authorities only, but likewise to their own bishops and patriarchs, whom they regarded, in this affair, as the agents of the Porte. It should be further observed, that the returns got up on this occasion included only the male population who were liable to the Kharadj, and that females, children under seven years of age, old men above seventy,
ecclesiastics, students in the seminaries, together with infirm and insane persons, beggars, and those who happened to be absent from their homes, were all omitted. To supply this deficiency, it was proposed that the number of those who actually paid the kharadj should be multiplied by four, and the result, which amounted to six hundred thousands, would, it was
thought, give an accurate return. Other statisticians of Constantinople suggested a plan which proved not less full of error. We have seen that every Armenian priest has under his spiritual charge a certain number of families, who form, as it were, his fief; a register of these families is deposited in the archives of each diocese, which is bound to send a
duplicate to the patriarchate at Constantinople. An average of five individuals for a family was fixed on; the total was to be multiplied by five: but this suggestion overlooked the impossibility of establishing a parity between the rural and the city populations. In the former, families of three and four generations, including often thirty or forty persons, dwell together under one roof, and are reckoned as one family; in
the towns each household is distinct, each son, as he marries, establishing himself in a home of his own. It results, therefore, that the amount of two million four hundred thousand, at which the Armenian population in Turkey is usually reckoned is below the
truth."P. 294-296 (Ubicini 1856) It is quite evident from Ubicini's observations, that an exact figure on the Armenian population was difficult to ascertain and was most likely to be underestimated due to the reasons he mentioned.
After the Russo-Turkish war of 1877 and the signing of the Berlin Treaty, the Armenian Question arose, this resulted in a new policy by the Ottoman government regarding its Armenian subjects. An article titled "Turkish Policy in Armenia "was published in the New York Times on February the 20th 1881. This article exposes Sultan Abdul Hamid II's attempts to alter the demographic balance in the Asiatic provinces. It states that "There
have been considerable differences of opinion as to the numerical proportion which the Armenian Christians bear to the Kurds and other Mussulman inhabitants of Armenia. The Turks appear determined to settle this question in a very high-handed manner. They have introduced
into the country large numbers of Moslem emigrants from the Caucusus so that a substantial increase may take place in the numbers of the faithful. The Armenian Patriarch at Constantinople appointed agents to make informal but approximate census of the population; but Turkish authorities have arrested these persons, and seized their papers. By such
unsatisfactory methods is the Porte endeavoring to show that Armenia should be blotted out of the map".
The Turkish author Kadri confirms this policy as he stated: "During the reign of Abdul Hamid we lowered the population figures of the Armenians..."He also adds:
"By the order of Abdul Hamid the number of the Armenians deliberately had been put in low figures." (Dadrian)
David Fraser traveled through Asiatic Turkey in 1908 and took time to observe the system of collecting taxes, he states that the "Payment of the askarieh, or army tax, is made through the local church organizations, which declare to the government so many souls on
their books, for which they pay a total sum. The poorer Christians frequently are quite unable to pay any ready money at all, and then the better off ones of the community are supposed to make up the amount. The Turk, however, is very lenient, and most churches are
largely in arrear, besides which quite a third of the Christian population is never registered at all. Immediately after the massacres of 1895 Europe was astonished to see that the Christian population, as evidenced by the askarieh collections, had actually increased
in some places where thousands of Armenians were known to have perished. The reason of the increase is not uninstructive. When European charity came forward with large sums of money to succor the distressed, all and sundry put their names down for assistance." page 183
(Fraser 1909).
It may very well have been possible that many Armenian converts to Islam were only nominally Muslims and would consider themselves at home to be Armenian. However, according to a census, they would undoubtedly be considered as Muslims. Ellsworth Huntington a renowned geographer and a frequent traveler to Asiatic turkey stated how "villages can be found which
are now considered Turkish, but which have distinct traditions of a time when all theirinhabitants were Christian Armenians"..A good example of the transition from Armenians to "Turks" is found in the small-girt basin of Bermaz, south of the city of Harput. The villagers are known as Kurds at home, but as Turks when they go abroad. According to reliable Armenian sheep dealers who have most intimate dealings with them, the people of
Bermaz make the sign of the cross before meals and have a common tradition that their ancestors were Armenian Christians..." Page 144 (NG Feb 1909).
It should also be noted that a few areas of eastern Anatolia such as Kars, areas around Bayazid/Sarakimish, Artvin, Nakhichevan had large Armenian populations and fluctuated between Russian and Ottoman control. Additionally, the Armenians of Sassoun and Zeitiun, due to the remote location, independent streak, and lack of communication of control by the Sublime Porte were ussually not counted and did not make it into tax records although local Kurdish chieftans tried for decades to collect "protection money" from them.
Population figures in the Ottoman empire during the first half of the 19th century were conducted based on what is known as 'head of household', male family members, ages, occupation, and property. In 1844, the Ottoman census recorded 2.4 million Armenians within the Ottoman Empire, in 1867, this number was maintained; whether or not it was due to a political move as to not record any Armenian growth for a period of 23 years is unknown.
The following is what a European traveler who traveled to Anatolia and was interested in the demographics of the Ottoman Empire stated in 1856,
"It is difficult to form an exact
estimate of the number of Armenians in the Ottoman empire. The statement which I have given from official calculation, and which raises the numbers to an average of two million four hundred thousand, is only an approximate computation, and probably below the truth. In fact, when ten years ago the Porte ordered a census to be taken throughout the empire, a report was immediately circulated that the object of this measure was to enable the government toimpose a new tax on each locality proportionate to its population. The greater part of the Armenian provinces, therefore, believing that their interests required them to represent their numbers as few as possible, scrupled not to make fictitious returns, and these not to
the Turkish authorities only, but likewise to their own bishops and patriarchs, whom they regarded, in this affair, as the agents of the Porte. It should be further observed, that the returns got up on this occasion included only the male population who were liable to the Kharadj, and that females, children under seven years of age, old men above seventy,
ecclesiastics, students in the seminaries, together with infirm and insane persons, beggars, and those who happened to be absent from their homes, were all omitted. To supply this deficiency, it was proposed that the number of those who actually paid the kharadj should be multiplied by four, and the result, which amounted to six hundred thousands, would, it was
thought, give an accurate return. Other statisticians of Constantinople suggested a plan which proved not less full of error. We have seen that every Armenian priest has under his spiritual charge a certain number of families, who form, as it were, his fief; a register of these families is deposited in the archives of each diocese, which is bound to send a
duplicate to the patriarchate at Constantinople. An average of five individuals for a family was fixed on; the total was to be multiplied by five: but this suggestion overlooked the impossibility of establishing a parity between the rural and the city populations. In the former, families of three and four generations, including often thirty or forty persons, dwell together under one roof, and are reckoned as one family; in
the towns each household is distinct, each son, as he marries, establishing himself in a home of his own. It results, therefore, that the amount of two million four hundred thousand, at which the Armenian population in Turkey is usually reckoned is below the
truth."P. 294-296 (Ubicini 1856) It is quite evident from Ubicini's observations, that an exact figure on the Armenian population was difficult to ascertain and was most likely to be underestimated due to the reasons he mentioned.
After the Russo-Turkish war of 1877 and the signing of the Berlin Treaty, the Armenian Question arose, this resulted in a new policy by the Ottoman government regarding its Armenian subjects. An article titled "Turkish Policy in Armenia "was published in the New York Times on February the 20th 1881. This article exposes Sultan Abdul Hamid II's attempts to alter the demographic balance in the Asiatic provinces. It states that "There
have been considerable differences of opinion as to the numerical proportion which the Armenian Christians bear to the Kurds and other Mussulman inhabitants of Armenia. The Turks appear determined to settle this question in a very high-handed manner. They have introduced
into the country large numbers of Moslem emigrants from the Caucusus so that a substantial increase may take place in the numbers of the faithful. The Armenian Patriarch at Constantinople appointed agents to make informal but approximate census of the population; but Turkish authorities have arrested these persons, and seized their papers. By such
unsatisfactory methods is the Porte endeavoring to show that Armenia should be blotted out of the map".
The Turkish author Kadri confirms this policy as he stated: "During the reign of Abdul Hamid we lowered the population figures of the Armenians..."He also adds:
"By the order of Abdul Hamid the number of the Armenians deliberately had been put in low figures." (Dadrian)
David Fraser traveled through Asiatic Turkey in 1908 and took time to observe the system of collecting taxes, he states that the "Payment of the askarieh, or army tax, is made through the local church organizations, which declare to the government so many souls on
their books, for which they pay a total sum. The poorer Christians frequently are quite unable to pay any ready money at all, and then the better off ones of the community are supposed to make up the amount. The Turk, however, is very lenient, and most churches are
largely in arrear, besides which quite a third of the Christian population is never registered at all. Immediately after the massacres of 1895 Europe was astonished to see that the Christian population, as evidenced by the askarieh collections, had actually increased
in some places where thousands of Armenians were known to have perished. The reason of the increase is not uninstructive. When European charity came forward with large sums of money to succor the distressed, all and sundry put their names down for assistance." page 183
(Fraser 1909).
It may very well have been possible that many Armenian converts to Islam were only nominally Muslims and would consider themselves at home to be Armenian. However, according to a census, they would undoubtedly be considered as Muslims. Ellsworth Huntington a renowned geographer and a frequent traveler to Asiatic turkey stated how "villages can be found which
are now considered Turkish, but which have distinct traditions of a time when all theirinhabitants were Christian Armenians"..A good example of the transition from Armenians to "Turks" is found in the small-girt basin of Bermaz, south of the city of Harput. The villagers are known as Kurds at home, but as Turks when they go abroad. According to reliable Armenian sheep dealers who have most intimate dealings with them, the people of
Bermaz make the sign of the cross before meals and have a common tradition that their ancestors were Armenian Christians..." Page 144 (NG Feb 1909).
It should also be noted that a few areas of eastern Anatolia such as Kars, areas around Bayazid/Sarakimish, Artvin, Nakhichevan had large Armenian populations and fluctuated between Russian and Ottoman control. Additionally, the Armenians of Sassoun and Zeitiun, due to the remote location, independent streak, and lack of communication of control by the Sublime Porte were ussually not counted and did not make it into tax records although local Kurdish chieftans tried for decades to collect "protection money" from them.