The heroic Zeytoun

During our history, the heroic Zeytoun battled against the Ottoman armies to preserve its independence and freedom. According to historical sources, it combated the Ottoman armies 42 times during 500 years, e.g. it went to a war every 10-12 years, and gave the aggressors the lessons they deserved.
The British prominent historian Christopher Walker says the following about Zeytoun:
"Zeitun (which cannot be found on the map today) was a town hidden among high mountains, the chief of which, Astvadzashen ('established by God') is perpetually snow-capped..
"Although foreigners know little or nothing of Zeitun, Armenians never forgot it, and for many it was the symbol of something that had endured. Gifts used to be sent there, as to Echmiadzin or Jerusalem..
"..Zeitun constituted a genuine survival of medieval Armenia. The people were proud, and independent of spirit, possession of arms meant that their spirit had never been crushed..
"With the decline of Ottoman power, and the formalization of tyranny, the spirit of the Zeitun mountaineers remained alert. The government launched a number of expeditions against the town, but these were unsuccessful. The warrior spirit of its armed inhabitants, and its fortress-like setting, made Zeitun a natural focus for the attention of a nationalist or revolutionary, who had seen the success of the revolts in Greece and Serbia. Perhaps a similar success could be gained in Cilicia.."
(Christopher J. Walker, Armenia, The Survival of a Nation, Croom Helm, London / St. Martin’s press, N. Y., 1980, pp. 100-101).