Various explanations of the origin of Muş's name exist. Its name is sometimes associated with the Armenian word mshush, meaning fog, explained by the fact that the town and the surrounding plain are frequently covered in fog in the mornings.[6] The 17th-century explorer Evliya Çelebi relates a myth where a giant mouse created by Nemrud (Nimrod) destroys the city and its inhabitants, after which the city was named Muş (muš means "mouse" in Persian).[7] Others have proposed a connection with the names of different ancient Anatolian peoples, the Mushki or the Mysians, or the toponyms Mushki and Mushuni mentioned in Assyrian and Hittite sources, respectively.[7][8]
An inscription belonging to Urartian King Argisti I (785-765 BC) was unearthed near Kepenek Castle. The inscription is now under protection by the Muş Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism. The inscription in question reads:
To Master Haldi, Argisti, son of Minua, this silence He built his temple and a castle perfectly (and) took his name from Argistihinil put it. Thanks to the greatness of Haldi (I am) Minua son of Argisti, mighty king, great king, King of the Land of Bianili, lord of the City of Tuspa
The date of foundation of Mush is unknown, although a settlement is believed to have been around by the time of Menua, the king of Urartu (c. 800 BC), whose cuneiform inscription was found in the city's vicinity.[10]
Medieval period
During the Middle Ages, Mush was the center of the Taron region of Armenia. It is first mentioned as a city in Armenian manuscripts of the 9th and 10th centuries. In the late 8th century, Mush, along with the Taron region, came under control of the Armenian Bagratid (Bagratuni) dynasty, who reconquered it from the Arabs. Mush and the Taron region were captured and annexed to the Byzantine Empire in 969.[11]
After the 11th century, the town was ruled by Islamic dynasties such as the Ahlatshahs, Ayyubids, Ilkhanids and Kara Koyunlu. In the 10th-13th centuries Mush developed into a major city with an estimated population of 20 to 25 thousand people.[12] In 1387 the central Asian ruler Timur crossed the area and apparently captured Mush town without a battle.[13] Later the Akkoyunlu ruled the area and in the 16th the Ottomans took control over the town and region in the 16th century from the Persian Safavids. Mush remained part of the Ottoman Empire till the early 20th century and during these times retained a large Armenian population. In 1821 a Persian invasion reached Mush.[13]
Russian soldiers uncover the evidence of a massacre in the former Armenian village of Sheykhalan, 1916
British traveller H. F. B. Lynch travelled to Muş at the end of the 19th century. He described the city as "the most mis-governed town in the Ottoman Empire".[14]
At the turn of the twentieth century, the city had around 20,000 inhabitants, of which 11,000 were Muslims, while 9,000 were Christian Armenians.[15] According to the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) the town had 27,000 inhabitants, of whom 13,300 were Muslims and 13,700 Armenians.[16] According to the Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) the population was nearly equally divided between Kurds and Armenians.[17]
During the Armenian genocide of 1915 the indigenous Armenian population of the region was exterminated.[18][19][20] Over 140,000 Armenians of the Mush sanjak (living in 234 villages and towns)[21] were targeted in June and July 1915.[22] Military-aged Armenian men were conscripted to serve in World War I.[23] The Armenian population was largely defenseless to these threats.[24] The massacre of the Armenian population of the city of Mush came only after the surrounding villages were destroyed.[24]
Under the rule of Muslim dynasties, other types of buildings were built as well. There are mosques from the Ottoman and pre-Ottoman period which show influences of Seljuk architecture, such as the Alaeddin Bey (18th century),[13] Haci Seref (17th century),[13] and Ulu (14th century, previously an Armenian church[31]) mosques.[13] Other sights include caravanserais like the Yıldızlı Han (13th century) destroyed in 1916, the now almost completely ruined Aslanlı Han,[13] the bathhouse and fountain of Alaeddin Bey, and tombs of Muslim saints.
Before the Armenian genocide, Armenians formed the majority of the population in the kaza of Muş. According to the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople, on the eve of the First World War, there were 75,623 Armenians, with 113 churches, 74 monasteries, and 87 schools.[14] They were all massacred during the Armenian genocide, many of them burned in their houses.[14] Almost all Muslims were Kurds.[14]
According to the 1927 Turkish census, the Muş District had 21,486 Muslims and 13 non-Muslims.[32]
Population of the municipality of Muş numbers 120,699 according to a 2022 estimate.[1]Kurds make up the majority of the population.[4][5] The rest are Arabs,[33]Crypto-Armenians,[34] Terekeme Turks and Circassians.
^Winter, Jay (2004). America and the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Cambridge University Press. p. 62. As a result nearly all able-bodied Armenian men were conscripted into the Ottoman army, starting with the 20–45 age group and subsequently extending the call to groups aged 18–20 and 45–60.
^ abSuny, Ronald G. (2015). "They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else": A History of the Armenian Genocide. Princeton University Press. p. 289. ISBN9781400865581.
^Tucker, Spencer C. (2013-12-16). The European Powers in the First World War: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 175. ISBN978-1-135-50694-0.
^Kramers, J. H. (1993). "Mūs̲h̲". In Bosworth, C. E.; Pellat, Ch.; Van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W. P. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. VII (New ed.). Leiden: E. J. Brill.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
^ abVan Gölü Havzası Sempozyumu Bitlis İli (Turkey) İstanbul Üniversitesi Avrasya Arkeoloji Enstitüsü. Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi Atatürk Üniversitesi ÇEKÜL. Ii. Van Gölü Havzası Sempozyumu. 1. Basım ed. Van: Bitlis Valiliği İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü; 2007. p. 280
^Gündoğdu, Raşit; Demir, Esra (11 April 2014). "The Arabs in Turkey". impr.org. International Middle East Peace Research Center. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
Hakobyan, Tadevos (1987). "(Mush)". Պատմական Հայաստանի քաղաքները [Cities of historic Armenia] (in Armenian). Yerevan: "Hayastan" Publishing. pp. 196–203.
