To this northern kaza with its roughly 30 Armenian localities and a total Christian population of 17,060,86 the Young Turk government had sent one of its most faithful militants, Mehmed Nusret Bey, a native of Janina, to serve as the kaymakamof Bayburt.

The Special Organization, for its part, put its squadrons in the area under the command of Lieutenant Piri Necati Bey. This district, through which ran the roads leading south from the shores of the Black Sea as well as the main road between Erzincan and Erzerum, was cleansed of its Armenian population earlier than most others.

As early as 2 May 1915, the Armenian villages in the northern part of the kazawere set upon by bands of çetes. The next day, the military authorities issued an order to “remove” the Armenian population from all areas within 75 kilometers of the border. The first to be arrested and murdered were the notables of the village communities. What gives a particular twist to the events of May–June 1915 is the fact that operations in this period were directly supervised by Bahaeddin Şakir, who traveled from Erzerum to Bayburt in order personally to establish the procedures to be used during the deportations and massacres, first in the villages and then in the cities and towns.