Armenian 🇦🇲 women guerrilla fighters part of the irregular Armenian units called fedayi, c. 1895
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The Fedayi were Armenian civilians who voluntarily left their families to form self-defense units and irregular armed bands in reaction to the mass murder of Armenians and the pillage of Armenian villages by Ottoman forces. The late 19th century saw an increase of persecution of Armenians within the Ottoman Empire due to Sultan Hamid II’s attempt to maintain control over the collapsing Empire by asserting pan-Islamism as the state ideology. Armenian volunteers fought during the Hamidian Massacres, Sasun Resistance, Zeitun Rebellion, and Defense of Van. Frequently against Kurdish tribesmen who were the force of choice for officials in the eastern Ottoman Empire.