Toponym
Kadirli has been identified with the ancient Flavias or Flaviopolis (Φλαβιόπολη). It was known as Kars (Armenian: Ղարս) during the Ottoman period. However, the term Kars-ı Maraş was used to express that it was connected to Maraş in order to separate it from Kars in Eastern Anatolia. It was also known as Kars-ı Zülkadriye due to its connection with the Dülkadiroğulları.
History
The plain of Cilicia (now Çukurova) is rich farmland and a place of strategic importance on an important trade route between the Middle East and Anatolia. It has been settled since the time of the Hittites and after by various civilizations: Assyrians, Romans, Byzantines, Armenians and finally Turks. Maraş and its surroundings became a region where Turks settled since 1085. In 1337, a Turkmen chief named Zeyneddin Karaca founded the Dulkadir Principality. The semi-autonomous Dulkadir barons ruled Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş and Hatay for two centuries. They were dispersed after the land was captured by the Ottoman sultan Yavuz Sultan Selim I in 1517.
Armenian Population
“The somewhat more than 5,500 Armenians of the kaza of Karsbazar lived in six localities: Kars/Kadirli (1,800 Armenians), Hamidiye [Amuda], Çokak (pop. 650), and in the communities of Boğazdelik and Kuyumjian.”[1]