Armenians of Aintab: The Economics of Genocide in an Ottoman Province

UEmit Kurt's discovery of the Armenian presence in his hometown of Gaziantep, Turkey, leads him to investigate the local dynamics of genocide. He examines the population that gained from ethnic cleansing and shows that the prospect of material gain was a key motivator of support for the genocide among the local Muslim gentry and the Turkish public. The Armenians of Aintab provides an invaluable account of genocide at ground level through primary sources from Armenian, Ottoman, Turkish, British, and French archives, as well as memoirs, personal papers, oral accounts, and newly discovered property-liquidation records.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 30 April 2021
Publisher: Harvard University Press

UEmit Kurt, a native of Gaziantep, Turkey, was astounded to discover that his hometown had once been home to a sizable and vibrant Armenian community. The Armenian presence in Aintab, the city's name during the Ottoman period, had not only been eradicated but had been replaced. Gaziantep appeared to be a typical Turkish city to all intents and purposes.

Kurt delved into the intricacies of the ethnic cleansing that resulted in the homogeneously Turkish city he had grown up in. He specifically examined the population that benefited from ethnic cleansing. Land confiscation and population transfer records revealed the significant wealth that became available when the prosperous Armenians, who were involved in manufacturing, agricultural production, and trade, were expelled.

Although the official justification for the removal of the Armenians was that the group posed a threat of rebellion, Kurt demonstrates that the prospect of material gain was a primary motivator of support for the Armenian genocide among the local Muslim gentry and the Turkish public. Those who benefited the most, including provincial elites, wealthy landowners, state officials, and merchants who accumulated Armenian capital, in turn financed the nationalist movement that brought the modern Turkish republic into being. Thus, the economic elite of Aintab was reconstituted along both ethnic and political lines.

The Armenians of Aintab relies on primary sources from Armenian, Ottoman, Turkish, British, and French archives, as well as memoirs, personal papers, oral accounts, and newly discovered property-liquidation records. Together, they provide an invaluable account of genocide at ground level.

Weight: 776g
Dimension: 166 x 242 x 36 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780674247949