Кахраманмараш: История и разрушения города

Kahramanmaraş , historically Marash (Maraş; ) and Germanicea , is a city in the Mediterranean region of Turkey and the administrative centre of Kahramanmaraş province. After 1973, Maraş was officially named Kahramanmaraş with the prefix kahraman (Turkish word meaning "heroic") to commemorate the Battle of Marash. The city lies on a plain at the foot of Mount Ahır. On 6 February 2023, much of the city was destroyed in the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes which had their epicentre in Pazarcık and Elbistan in Kahramanmaraş province.

The city center is 568 meters above sea level. Ceyhan River, which originates from the mountains surrounding Elbistan Plain is the most important hydrological feature in the city.

In the early Iron Age (late 11th century BC to ca. 711 BC), Maraş was the capital city of the Syro Hittite state Gurgum (Hieroglyphic Luwian Kurkuma). It was known as "the Kurkumaean city" to its Luwian inhabitants and as Marqas to the Assyrians. In 711 BC, the land of Gurgum was annexed as an Assyrian province and renamed Marqas after its capital. Maraş was called Germanicia Caesarea (Γερμανίκεια, Germanikeia) in the time of the Roman and Byzantine empires, probably after Germanicus Julius Caesar rather than the German people. According to a 2010 Cumhuriyet article, the first ruins of Germanicia have already been unearthed in the Dulkadiroğulları quarters of the city.

During the Byzantine Empire, Germanikeia was seat of an eparch and one of the city's eparch participated in the First Council of Nicea. The city was lost to the Arabs in the 7th century and during the rule of al Mansur the whole Christian population of the Germanikeia valley was deported and resettled at Ramla in Palestine. After the fall of the Armenian kingdoms in the 11th century the city became an important stronghold for the exiled Armenians and the city became the capital of the short lived principality of Philaretos Brachamios that at times included Antioch and Edessa. After Philaretos' death, another Armenian general named Tatoul took over the city and hosted the exhausted army of the First Crusade for four days before it moved on to the Siege of Antioch. According to the Chronicle of Matthew of Edessa, it was destroyed by an earthquake and 40,000 people were killed on the 12th of the month of Mareri in the Armenian year 563 (November 29, 1114). In 1100, the city was captured by the Danishmends, followed by the Seljuks in 1103. In 1107, Crusaders led by Tancred retook it with aid from Toros I of Cilician Armenia. In 1135, the Danishmends besieged Germanikeia unsuccessfully, but captured it the next year. However, the Crusaders retook it in 1137. Kaykhusraw I, Sultan of Rum captured Marash in 1208. Seljuk rule lasted to 1258, when Marash was captured by the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, following the war with the Ilkhanate. Served by an Armenian Apostolic Church archbishop, it became for a very short period of time, the seat of the Catholicossate of the Great House of Cilicia. Marash was captured by Al Ashraf Khalil, Mamluk Sultan, in 1292. It was recaptured by Hethum II, King of Cilician Armenia, in 1299. Marash was finally taken by the Mamluks in 1304. Marash was ruled by Dulkadirs as vassals of the Mamluks from 1337–1515 before being annexed to the Ottoman Empire. In the early days of Ottoman rule (1525–6) there were 1,557 adult males (total population 7,500); at this time all the inhabitants were Muslims, but later a substantial number of non Muslims migrated to the city, mainly in the 19th century.

During Ottoman rule, the city was initially the centre of Eyalet of Dulkadir (also called Eyalet of Zûlkâdiriyye) and then an administrative centre of a sanjak in the Vilayet of Aleppo. Around Maras, Armenians from Kishifli, Dere Keoy, and Fundijak chose to fight the Ottoman army to oppose deportation. On the morning of 26 July 1915, they attacked and burned six Turkish villages and their crops. Due to Muslim conscription for World War One, victims were women, children, and the elderly. In response, the Turkish army began a siege of Fundijak under Ali Bey on August 1. 91 captured fighters were executed, and another 100 were deported. The Turkish losses were estimated at 2,000 soldiers and between 4,000 5,000 villagers, while the Armenians lost 2,100, mostly civilians. On the first day of the French occupation, he was able to telegraph with Mustafa Kemal and succeeded in requesting support from the Turkish National Forces in Marash, though they would not arrive in time for the battle. During the beginning of the occupation, the Reverend Pascal Maljian was hit by a stone thrown through a window and cut his cheek. According to his account, "Hovnan Pasha had summoned several of the new Armenian recruits and demanded that my blood should not be allowed to dry without being avenged on that very Sunday afternoon He fired at the lamp, and taking advantage of the confusion when it flared up, tossed a German hand grenade into the cafe". The explosion wounded some twenty of the Turkish notables and killed another twenty." The cafe was chosen due to its closeness to where the Reverend had been hit, and due to the fact that respected members of the community, or 'notables', often gathered there in the evenings. On 27 November 1919, a group of Turks gathered in secret at the home of Mehmet Veziroghlu to organize resistance to the French occupation. A committee of eight was decided upon, and all members took this vow:"For the security of our Nation we swear to Allah to sacrifice our lives; and to punish by death —even if it should be our brothers—any treachery made against our organization; and to guard all secrets". They named the organization The Committee for the Defense of Rights, and split their forces into a clandestine cell system, with the members of each cell only knowing the activities and identities of members of their own group of ten. Additional recruits were sought from neighboring villages. Some of them were armed with old hunting rifles and others with melee weapons. Before the battle, they obtained 850 rifles, two machine guns and two cannons (not used during the fighting), from the gendarmerie building in Marash. were ambushed by Turkish rebels, losing twelve legionnaires. When General Querette of the French learned of these events, he summoned Marash 'notables' (respected leaders of the city) and charged them with complicity in the attacks. The notables refused responsibility, but agreed to paying the French a compensation to replace supplies. However, they also stated that France was violating the terms of the Armistice of Mudros. The very first shots fired were witnessed by nurse Osanna Maksudian, who "noted a Turkish gendarme escorting four Muslim women to a house. When they were safely inside he turned and fired his rifle into the air three times. Immediately fire replied from every quarter." As Stanley Kerr recounts:The city was deserted except for groups of heavily armed Turks who were all headed in one direction It was apparent that the insurrection had been carefully planned. Groups of armed men occupied houses at street intersections and shot down French soldiers on the street and sentries at their posts, making use of loopholes prepared in advance. Anyone seen moving was shot, for it was only the Christians who knew nothing of the plan. In the patrols used for policing the city composed of both Turkish gendarmes and French soldiers, the gendarmes turned suddenly on their French companions and killed them. The orders given by the general for the seizure of certain strategic positions could not be carried out, for the Turks themselves performed that maneuver only half an hour before the French zero hour

The French responded with cannon fire, shelling Turkish houses and subjecting the city to 'heavy bombardment'. Lieutenant Colonel Thibault recorded that General Querette was head of much of the operations, and told ordered his men to flush out enemy troops from the houses, though Turkish rebels would adopt this strategy to greater success using fire rather than cannons. Turkish rebels threw kerosene doused rags on Armenian houses and laid a constant barrage upon the American relief hospital. Thibault recorded "the vigilance and boldness of the rebels, who seemed to be animated by an ardent offensive spirit." Previously, a telegram sent to the French Commander by the most respected elders of Marash stated that British occupation had been understandable and no incident had occurred and they did not object to a French occupation, but the majority of the occupying force was Armenian, and "from the moment of their arrival had shown nothing but hatred for the Muslims". Recruitment for the occupying forces began at Fort Said, and Stanley Kerr states that the motivation for many joining up was "revenge for the cruel deportation and massacres", which led to inciting incidents such as the 'bomb carrying priest' and the Sütçü İmam incident. On 8 February, General Querette gave the order to bombard houses rebel Turks were in, in addition to the previous bombardment of Turkish houses. During the battle, a massacre of Christian civilians took place. Most died within the first three days, and those that fled were held in French military quarters or otherwise military defended churches and schools. When the 2,000 Armenians who had taken shelter in the Catholic cathedral attempted to leave, they were shot. The official French report stated that the victims did "not exceed 5,000". Stanley Kerr, who served the remaining Christians, stated that 9,700 Armenians were in Marash after the battle. That morning, Turkish rebels told their families to evacuate the city. Upon hearing this news, an Armenian pastor recounted:The Armenians—learning that the city was now evacuated by the Turks—rushed out from their imprisonment and began to help themselves to everything they could carry out of the empty Turkish houses. They soon reached our center with the news and our people, too, ran for booty. In a few hours our two buildings were filled with food, clothes, house furnishings, etc. I was displeased by all this At nightfall, as if to avenge the deeds of the Turks, the Armenians set mosques and Turkish houses on fire and killed a few Turks they found here and there. The Armenians were rejoicing at the defeat of the Turks—not knowing that the French were in the process of evacuating the city. Dr. Mustafa, a leader of the Turks, planned to surrender under the condition that Turkish women and children would be protected, but was murdered after meeting with French leaders. His letter stating his willingness to surrender and his terms was initially hidden by Nazaret Bilezikjian, who protested allowing surrender by turning it in to French authorities in a confrontation with Stanley Kerr, saying "Let the Turks get the punishment that they deserve!" The battle was won by the Turkish National Movement on 12 February without outside support arriving, and is commemorated by the naming of Onikişubat, a district of Marash. Marash was an important battle in the Franco Turkish War, and was one of the first major Turkish victories in the Turkish War of Independence.

In December 1978, the Maraş Massacre of leftist Alevis took place in the city. A Turkish nationalist group, the Grey Wolves, incited the violence that left more than 100 dead. The incident was important in the Turkish government's decision to declare martial law, and the eventual military coup in 1980. In February 2023, a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck near Kahramanmaraş, causing widespread damage to the city, leaving more than 50,000 people dead. The city center was hardest hit as many homes were destroyed. An estimated 17.37 percent of the city was destroyed.