{{Infobox military conflict |conflict=Bashkale Resistance |image= |caption= |date=May, 1889 |place=[[Başkale]], [[Van Vilayet]], [[Ottoman Empire]] |result= |combatant1={{flag|Ottoman Empire}} |combatant2= [[Armenakan Party]] |commander1= |commander2= |strength1= 4 ''[[gendarmerie|zaptiye]]''s<ref name="Nalbandian"/> |strength2= 3 revolutionaries<ref name="Nalbandian"/> |casualties1=None |casualties2=2 killed |}}{{Campaignbox Armenian national movement (1862-1921)}} The '''Bashkale Resistance''' ({{langx|hy|1889 թվականի Բաշկալեի բախում}}) was the bloody encounter between three revolutionaries of [[Armenakan Party|Armenakan]] and some [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] officials in May 1889.<ref name="Nalbandian">{{cite book|author=Louise Nalbandian|title=The Armenian Revolutionary Movement: The Development of Armenian Political Parties Through the Nineteenth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_dIsS3aidr0C&pg=PA100|year=1963|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-00914-1|page=100}}</ref> It is named after the town of [[Başkale]] in the [[Van Vilayet]] of the Ottoman Empire, today in [[Van Province]] of [[Turkey]]. The event was important as it was reflected on main Armenian newspapers as the recovered documents on the Armenakans showed an extensive plot for an uprising.<ref>Aram-Ruben, Hai Heghapokhakani Me Hishataknere [Memoirs of an Armenian Revolutionary] (Los Angeles, 1952), II, 268–269.</ref>
==The event== The comrades Karapet Koulaksizian, Hovhannes Agripasian, and Vardan Goloshian, left the village of [[Haftvan, West Azerbaijan|Haftvan]] (Salmast district of [[Persia]]), for Van on May 16, 1889.<ref name="Nalbandian"/> They were stopped near Van by Ottoman police. The police demanded that they disarm to protect the accompanying caravan. In the conflict Goloshian and Agripasian died and Koulaksizian escaped. The police recovered two letters (accompanying documents) addressed to Koulaksizian, one from Avetis Patiguian of [[London]] and the other from Mekertitch Portugalian in [[Marseille]].
==Reflections== Ottoman Empire believed that the men were members of a large revolutionary apparatus and the discussion was reflected on newspapers, (''Eastern Express'', ''Oriental Advertiser'', ''Saadet'', and ''Tarik'') and the responses were on the Armenian papers. In some Armenian circles, this event was considered as a [[martyrdom]] and brought other armed conflicts.<ref>Darbinian, op. cit., p. 123; Adjemian, op. cit., p. 7; Varandian, Dashnaktsuthian Patmuthiun, I, 30; Great Britain, Turkey No. 1 (1889), op. cit., Inclosure in no. 95. Extract from the "Eastern Express" of June 25, 1889, pp. 83–84; ibid., no. 102. Sir W. White to the Marquis of Salisbury-(Received July 15), p. 89; Great Britain, Turkey No. 1 (1890), op. cit., no. 4. Sir W. White to the Marquis of Salisbury-(Received August 9), p. 4; ibid., Inclosure 1 in no. 4, Colonel Chermside to Sir W. White, p. 4; ibid., Inclosure 2 in no. 4. Vice-Consul Devey to Colonel Chermside, pp. 4–7; ibid., Inclosure 3 in no. 4. M. Patiguian to M. Koulaksizian, pp. 7–9; ibid., Inclosure 4 in no.</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Armenian Resistance}}
[[Category:Armenian rebellions in the Ottoman Empire]] [[Category:1889 in the Ottoman Empire|Bashkale clash]] [[Category:History of Van Province]] [[Category:Van vilayet]] [[Category:May 1889 in Europe]]