Sasun Resistance, 1894
In 1894, the ARF participated in the First Sasun Resistance, supplying arms to the local population to help the people of Sasun defend themselves against the Hamidian purges. Thousands of Armenians were killed by Ottoman troops and Kurdish tribesmen, when the Armenians began their struggle for autonomy in 1894. In the summer of 1894, armed Armenian peasants resisted an attack by the Kurds. Then "Hamidieh" regiments and regular troops from Bitlis and Muş Province, joined by the Fourth Army Corps, were sent to the Armenian regions around Sasun, and began an operation which lasted 23 days from August 18 to September 10. The troops massacred at least 8,000 Armenians.
Read more about this topic: Armenian–Kurdish Relations, Ottoman Empire, Hamidian Period