After the overthrow of the party Ittihat in 1913, Hassan Tahsin Bey was appointed the new governor of Van (1913–1915). Being an Ittihatian, he, unlike other Young Turks, was not an ardent nationalist. H. Tahsin had a friendly attitude towards Armenians and understood the national peculiarities of the local conditions. Thanks to his personal qualities, he managed to spread the spirit of solidarity in the province of Van and for the first time took drastic measures to settle Armenian-Kurdish relations, clean the province of Van from bandits, suppress the resistance of the rebellious sheikhs, resolve disputed land issues and improve educational work in the province.

KeywordsVan province H. Tahsin Ittihat party land issue Armenian-Kurdish relations educational problems party life Dashnaktsutyun party N. Hoff.

One of the eastern provinces of the Ottoman Turkey was the province of Van, the center of which was the ancient Armenian city Van. In April of 1915, the Armenians organized self-defense in Van and in a number of other places to escape the Turkish massacres. The issue of self-defense of Van has both political and scientific significance, as it caused rupture in relations between the Armenian and Turkish peoples living in the Ottoman Empire and was one of the motives for the Armenian Genocide in 1915.

KeywordsVan “rebellion” in 1915 self-defense massacre forgery riot Pan-Turkism the Armenian Genocide Turkish diplomacy position of European diplomacy.