EXTERMINATION OF ARMENIANS IN THE DIARBEKIR REGION

By Hilmar Kaiser

This book discusses the rise of the "Committee of Union and Progress," the nascent Kurdish nationalist movement, and the annihilation of the Ottoman Armenian population. The deportation and massacre of Armenians was a complex process with central authorities in Istanbul, regional governors, and local elites competing for control. Consequently all the facets of the Genocide as well as the settlement of Kurdish and other Muslim groups appear in a new light. Local officials had a more radicalizing impact on overall anti-Armenian policies than hitherto assumed. Some even offered resistance. Neither the "Committee of Union and Progress" nor the Ottoman bureaucracy unified in persecuting Armenians. The book emphasizes complexities beyond the governing paradigms and opens new avenues for research and discussion.

Istanbul Bilgi University Press (2014)