Scholarship on the Armenian Genocide as a gendered event and process

Abstract

of the processes of confiscation, appropriation and distribution on labor relations and production patterns. How did the property transfer affect the crops and goods in the production of which Armenians played vital roles? Could the new Muslim bourgeoisie whose start-up capital was the Armenian properties become successful economic actors? Did this process of property transfer contribute to class stratification? Or did it open the way for social mobility? These questions can only be answered through detailed studies on different localities. Armenian sources, including the archives of the Patriarchate and Armenian foundations, have been largely sidelined in historical studies conducted in Turkey. As explained by Bedross Der Matossian in detail, there are several Armenian sources, which can provide valuable information for research projects that can be formulated around these questions. The fact that more scholars have been learning Armenian in recent years hints that Armenian sources will be incorporated into more studies in years to come. Considering the importance of regional differences in the Ottoman Empire, regional comparisons with regards to these questions can provide valuable insights regarding economic and social history. Another issue, which remains understudied in the literature on the confiscation, appropriation and distribution of Armenian properties, is the links between material motives and choices of the ordinary people. How did the Muslim immigrants settled on Armenian properties react to the prospects of their return? Beyond theoretical reasoning, did the distribution of Armenian properties serve as a means to re-establish state-society relations in different localities? If so, is it possible to trace this in the acts of those who benefited from this process in the Republican period? Academic research seeking to answer these questions can enrich our understanding of the history of the Armenian Genocide, the late Ottoman Empire and Republican Turkey.

Gender-Based Violence During the Armenian Genocide

“…During the genocide, the second rationale arguably played an important role: Men were understood as the carriers of the Armenian ethnicity. This social belief was long enshrined in Ottoman law which 'protected' Turk ethnicity, as Armenian men were not allowed to marry Muslim women, while Muslim men could marry women of any ethnicity (Ekmekçioglu, 2015). With the elimination of the Armenian ethnicity as the goal, the Young Turk government aimed primarily at killing men capable of its reproduction.…”

“I think it is [the] mother who keeps things going”: The gendered division of labor in the transmission of memory of the Armenian Genocide

“…Consequently, the study of gender continues to gain more attention from genocide scholars and raise questions regarding past genocidal events, given that genocides and mass killings usually follow gendered strategies targeting biological reproduction of victim groups (Derderian, 2005). In her article reviewing studies on the Armenian Genocide with a gender perspective, Lerna Ekmekçioğlu underlines the novelty of this interest by pointing out “to this day there is not one single book in any language that has both ‘women’ and ‘the Armenian Genocide’ in its title” (Ekmekcioglu, 2015: 186). The mid-2000s were marked by several articles that explored gender and age-specific aspects of the genocide, including sexual violence, and the abduction of Armenian women and children.…”

“… 7. By following Lerna Ekmekcioglu (2015), see Derderian (2005), Tachjian (2006), and Tachjian and Kévorkian (2006). …”

History-writing in Turkey through securitization discourses and gendered narratives

“…Remarkably, the General Directorate of the State Archives in Turkey employs the documents related to the transfer of women and children from Armenian to Muslim contexts as an integral part of the ‘Armenian deportations’ in order to negate ‘the genocide thesis’. This official approach rationalized these documents as evidence that the Ottoman Empire had no intention to exterminate all Armenians (Ekmekçioğlu, 2015: 189–190). That is to say that from the viewpoint of nationalist historiography forced assimilation and relocation through marriage and/or Islamization proves the main statement of denial, as Armenian women were ‘allowed’ to survive.…”