Bitlis Vilayet


Bitlis Vilayet was a first-level administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. Before the Russo-Turkish War it had been part of the Erzurum Vilayet, it was then made a separate vilayet by the Porte. It was one of the six Armenian vilayets of the Empire.
At the beginning of the 20th century it reportedly had an area of, while the preliminary results of the first Ottoman census of 1885 gave the population as 388,625. The accuracy of the population figures ranges from "approximate" to "merely conjectural" depending on the region from which they were gathered.
Bitlis and Muş were formerly included in the Eyalet of Erzurum. In 1875 they were detached and made a separate vilayet. The sanjak of Siirt was joined to the vilayet of Bitlis in 1883–84.

Administrative divisions

Sanjaks of Bitlis Vilayet:
  1. Sanjak of Bitlis
  2. Sanjak of Muş
  3. Sanjak of Siirt
  4. Sanjak of Genç