In this talk, Dr. Ümit Kurt will explore Mimaroğlu’s biography including his relationship with the Armenian journalist and professor Diran Kelekian, who was arrested by his former student Mimaroğlu in April 1915 and killed; examine the continuation of a genocidal regime in the modern Turkish Republic and how genocidaires such as Mimaroğlu constituted core elements of the new state; and explore what kinds of administrative/bureaucratic mechanisms made the Armenian Genocide possible and how technocrats like Mustafa Reşat, taking charge of these mechanisms, facilitated the genocide for political decision-makers.
“If genocide, as a practice that includes murder and plunder, is orchestrated by a central authority but implemented at the local level,” Ümit Kurt asks, “what is the relationship between local and central authorities?” What are the incentives and motives that lead to mass participation?