Well observed Avto Gaz, and well placed as you are clearly well versed in the ethnography and geography of these regions. I very much appreciate your detailed perspective and explanations as I consider my knowledge and understanding of these weapons very much a 'work in progress'. While I have actively studied these for many years, the resources needed are not always easy to find, nor obtained, and what I presented took many years to find.
I would note that in the references I have consulted, which includes correspondence with museums which were cited in Jacobsen & Triikman (1941) indeed confirming the items in their holdings, often noted collection of them in ERZERUM and TREBIZON. Here I would point out that the Kurdish and Armenian peoples have been widely diffused geographically throughout all these regions through diaspora over many years, and cannot be geographically defined, at least specifically.
As I have been told by respected scholars, 'ethnographic weapons have no geographic boundaries', which seems an obvious and well placed axiom.
I would note here that the Armenians are known as profoundly skilled craftsmen, and the producers of remarkable arms in Ottoman contexts, as well as throughout Transcaucasian and Anatolian regions, even into Europe (notably Lvov) and particularly present in Tiflis (Tblisi, Georgia).
I am certain they were active in many arms making centers in addition to these, which come to mind as prevalent.
This is accounts for an undeniable fact in adamant geographic classifications, that ethnic groups are not limited to specific regions, and proper description must go to the most predominant characteristics of the weapons. To class a weapon form as indiginous to a region it should have remarkable preponderance there as well as some chronological development with viable provenance.
I can recall, by analogy, the so called 'Zanzibar' sword (Demmin, 1877; Burton, 1884) which of course had been seen there, however later research revealed these were in fact the 's'boula' form from Moroccan regions which had migrated there through trans Saharan trade networks.
It was claimed these were Abyssinan because of several examples which turned up in some obscure references on Ethiopian weapons in which ge'ez script (Amharic) was present. Simply explained, these arrived there from the Moroccan regions via the same conduit.
By the same token, these Black Sea yataghans have also been mislabeled 'North African' by some writers due to inscriptions on the blades described as 'African' , and the presence of some from North African regions. This I attribute to the Ottoman presence there in the 19th c. and obviously the ethnic groups present in that context, including Armenians et al.
I recall Mr. Seifert himself when I asked about the example he pictured in his book (1962), he told me he had the Kurdish-Armenian classification from his colleague Mr. Jacobsen (1941) and that he was puzzled by the 'strange' inscriptions on the blade. As many years have passed, I can only speculate that these were perhaps Georgian ?as we know some examples of these have displayed. In conversations with a colleague in Tblisi, I was told that these indeed were somewhat known there as we discussed them. Again, the Armenian presence in Tblisi the obvious source.
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