Hamidiye (cavalry)

The Hamidiye corps (literally meaning "belonging to Hamid", full official name Hamidiye Hafif Süvari alayları, Hamidiye Light Cavalry Regiments) were well-armed, irregular Sunni Kurdish, Turkish, Turkmen and Yörük,  also Arab cavalry formations that operated in the eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire. Established by and named after Sultan Abdul Hamid II in 1890, they were intended to be modeled after the Russian Cossacks and were supposedly tasked to patrol the Russo-Ottoman frontier. However, the Hamidiye were more often used by the Ottoman authorities to harass and assault Armenians living in Western Armenia.

A major role in the Armenian massacres of 1894-96 has been often ascribed to the Hamidiye regiments, particularly during the bloody suppression of the revolt of the Armenians of Sasun (1894), but recent research has shown that the Hamidiye played a less important role than previously assumed.

Units
The Hamidiye Regiments were stationed in the following towns and villages.