The Political Atmosphere Preceding the Genocide

Historian Raymond Kévorkian describes the international context and political climate in the Ottoman Empire in the period leading up to the Armenian Genocide. A combination of factors that included various social and economic developments, the cultural renaissance of the Armenians just before WWI, their economic weight in the Ottoman Empire and finally their identity as Christian, non-Turkish people caught in a struggle for political power, resulted in the development of official policies mandating the deportation and extermination of Armenians from the Empire.

Produced by AGBU WebTalks in partnership with the Zoryan Institute.

Originally published April 2016.

About the speaker

Raymond Kévorkian

Dr. Raymond Kévorkian is a French Armenian historian and author of The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History. His writings and research focus on the events of the Armenian Genocide, its impact on the surviving Armenian communities across the diaspora and in the formation of the Turkish state. For many years, Dr. Kévorkian served as the director of the AGBU Nubar Library in Paris. In 2010, Dr. Kévorkian received the Armenian Presidential Award in recognition of his enormous contributions to Armenian studies. He is a member of Société de Géographie, a board member of International Association for Armenian Studies, and a foreign member the Armenian National Academy of Sciences.

Raymond Kévorkian