History

Introduction: The Anatomy of the Ottoman Genocide

Document Type

Book Chapter

Abstract

This chapter introduces some principal characteristics of the process that can be identified in all of the massacres and genocidal acts mentioned, and which will help us to better understand and explain the larger history of the Ottoman Genocides. One common denominator in the 1878–1924 genocidal process was Muslim-Turkish intolerance toward non-Muslims. Muslim-Turkish intolerance was the thread connecting the various other factors and the fertile ground in which the idea for the eventual massacres and genocides could be germinated and eventually come to fruition. The main aim of the Ottoman resettlement policy was the speedy assimilation of the different Muslim ethnic groups. One of the purposes behind removing the Christian population from Anatolia was to develop a Turkish-Muslim bourgeois class. From a level of approximately 25–30 percent of the entire Ottoman population in 1914, Christians today represent less than one percent of the population of Turkey.

Publication Title

The Genocide of the Christian Populations in the Ottoman Empire and its Aftermath (1908-1923)

Publication Date

1-31-2023

First Page

1

Last Page

16

ISBN

9781000833577

DOI

10.4324/9781003207221-1

Keywords

Armenia, Armenian genocide, Middle East, World War I, genocide

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