Certainty: 2 Berkri (near Van) surrendered to Byzantines, but no reward given to its previous owner. Aleim, the commander of Berkri, gave this fort to Romanos, but the latter was too ill to receive Aleim's son and give him a reward
Certainty: 1 Massacre of Byzantines occupying fort of Berkri. After Aleim betrayed Berkri (near Van) to the Byzantines, his son went to Constantinople to claim his reward, but was ignored. He returned furious to Berkri and persuaded his father to take the fort back. The attack was made easier by the fact that the Byzantine commander, Nikolaos Chryselios the Bulgarian, neglected the defences. Aleim came to an agreement with neighbouring Turks, and recaptured the fort by a night attack, killing 6,000 Byzantine troops. Aleim was reinstated in his position. [This Byzantine-Arab narrative is paralleled by a rather less convincing Byzantine-Armenian story in Aristakes:] Aleim's role is played by Xtrik, but he lost control of the fort when it was captured by Kabasilas the governor of Vaspurakan. Xtric was held captive in the fort, but he conspired with the Turks to recapture the place, helped by the replacement of Kabasilas by another Byzantine who neglected the defences. Xtric massacred 24,000 (!) Byzantines, and arranged to bathe in their blood
Certainty: 2 Fortress of Berkri attacked & stormed by Byzantines. Michael IV sent troops once more to Berkri (which had been captured by the Romans the previous year but then lost again to the Persians). The army, under the command of Niketas Pegonites, besieged the fortress with siege engines; the inhabitants, seeing no hope of escape, negotiated a surrender with the generals which allowed them to give up their property without damage to it. Aleim, the Arab commander of the enemy forces, was killed, together with his son