Perpetrators, bystanders, and rescuers: popular attitudes towards Ottoman christians during the Armenian genocide

Abstract

This article explore the popular attitudes of Ottoman Muslims (mainly Turks and Kurds) and foreign residents (German, US, British, so on) towards their Christian (mainly Armenian and Syrian) friends, neighbors, and countrymen during the tragic events that occurred in WWI Ottoman Empire, known in Western scholarship as the Armenian genocide. Overall, the attitudes of Ottoman Muslims and foreign residents towards local Christians fit into the perpetrators/bystanders/ rescuers paradigm and varied from active persecution, to indifference, opportunism, and sometimes help and rescue.