The Ottoman Armenians: from the ”Loyal Millet” to genocide

(Abstract)

The First World War became an opportunity for some important Ottoman leaders to forsee a permanent settlement of an issue that was haunting the Empire since the 1878 Congress of Berlin: the Armenians from Eastern Anatolia. Not only the Ottoman Armenians were percieved as instigators that were constantly escalating the claim for special rights or liberties within the Ottoman realm, but they appeared as an internal foe acting against the Sublime Porte’s best interests on behalf of European powers, especially the Russian Empire. For many Ottomans, the Tsarist state seemed to have made a policy of reaching Constantinople and annexing the six Armenian vilayets in Anatolia. The Armenians were regarded as the main beneficiaries, hence the betrayal narrative was ready to be put in motion.