Sason
The Kurds, however, were successfully driven off by the armed Armenian villagers. But that success was then seen as a possible threat by the Ottoman authorities. In 1894 the villagers refused to pay taxes unless the Ottoman authorities protected them against more Kurdish attacks and extortions. Instead, the government sent a force of about 3,000 soldiers and Kurdish irregulars to disarm the villagers. This ended in a general massacre of between 900 to 3,000 men, women and children. The "Sasun affair" was investigated by European Powers. This resulted in demands that Ottoman Turkey initiate reforms in the six "Armenian vilayets". Abdul Hamid II's response to those demands culminated in the anti-Armenian pogroms of 1895 and 1896.