Event

Much of the literature on the destruction of the Ottoman Armenians tells the story of a state captured by a radical party that enforced genocidal measures throughout the land. Scholarship about genocidal activity at the local level, however is still in its infancy. The aim of this talk is to examine such activity on the Ottoman periphery, focusing on the district of Aintab (or Anteb) – modern-day Gaziantep. Drawing upon primary sources from Ottoman, Armenian, British and French archives, as well as from memoirs and personal papers, the first part of the talk examines the efforts of some of Aintab’s most prominent citizens to get the central government to expel the district’s Armenians. The second part of the argument focuses on events after the genocide.