Arbautuk massacre
The Arbautuk massacre or Arabat massacre took place during the Crimean Campaign of Cossack leaders Ivan Zhdan-Rih and Ivan Sirko, when Zhdan-Rih with 2,000 captured the city and subsequently sacking it, targeting Tatar civilians.
Prelude
In October, 1667, Kosh Otaman and Cossack colonel Ivan Sirko organised a campaign into Crimea, taking this as an opportunity to devastate Crimea while the main Tatar army was busy assisting Petro Doroshenko in his war against the Commonwealth. Cossacks captured Perekop. Cossacks split into two detachments, Sirko headed for the city of Kaffa while Zhdan-Rig headed for Arbautuk with his 2,000 Cossacks.Motive
Ivan Sirko promised during his speech to the Cossacks on taking revenge on Tatars for their raids and his hostile sentiment towards Crimean Tatars. Sirko, and Cossacks in general, were staunchly anti-Muslim, believing that killing "busurmans" will grant them entrance to heaven.Massacre
Zhdan-Rog and his Cossacks approached the city of Arbautuk. Cossacks took the entirety of Crimea by surprise and forced Khan to flee the capital, which made the capture of the city easy for Ataman Zhdan-Rig. Zhdan-Rog on the way to Arbautuk ravaged various settlements and killed many Tatars.Zhdan-Rig with his Cossacks had taken Arbautuk by storm, which they plundered and where they "exterminated everyone". As a result, Zhdan-Rig with his Cossacks then headed to other nearby areas where "many villages and settlements were burned and razed and people were hanged". Ivan Sirko done the same in the city of Kaffa, where he plundered the property of Tatar lord Shirin Bey, capturing his 7-year-old son, mother and uncle.