In the first half of the nineteenth century, the central government decided to bring this region of the empire under tighter control and attempted to do this by settling Muslims in the villages around Zeitun.

In the following decades, it once more resolved to bring the area under control by provoking Zeitun's Armenians: newly stationed government troops harassed the population and frequent calls for their massacre were issued by a number of Turks.

[9] The Armenian citizens of Zeitun, under the leadership of the Hunchakian Party, heard of the ongoing massacres in nearby regions, and thus prepared themselves for armed resistance.

Between 1,500 and 6,000 men, armed with flintlock guns and Martini-Henry rifles, were sent to the battlefield and sixteen Armenians were selected to head an administrative body during the siege.

[2] With this, the Ottoman military commander sent a wire to Abdul Hamid and told him that the Armenians had started an uprising and were proceeding to massacre Muslims.