 Russian consul Ivanov explained in his writings that the Turks oppressed the Kurds who did not join the cavalry by provoking tribal feuds or attacking them when they descended from the mountains to the summer mountain camps during winter.In 1894, the ARF participated in the First Sasun Resistance, supplying arms to the local population to help the people of Sasun defend themselves against the Hamidian purges.Thousands of Armenians were killed by Ottoman troops and Kurdish tribesmen when the Armenians began their struggle for autonomy in 1894.