Perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide: The Lives of Three Génocidaires Lecture by Dr. Ümit Kurt

LONDON — The Center for Western Armenian Studies will present an online lecture by Dr. Ümit Kurt, titled “Perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide: The Lives of Three Génocidaires,” on April 4, 2025.

The systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire was planned and carried out by a cadre of individuals. In recent decades, historians have explored the biographies of leading figures in the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP)—the ruling party of the Ottoman Empire during World War I—and examined their roles in the extermination of the Christian population. However, there remains a lack of systematic research on the motivations of, and interactions among, the perpetrators. Most participants in the genocide at the local level remain largely unknown today.

Drawing on a wide range of archival collections from Turkey, Armenia, Lebanon, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany—as well as memoirs, newspapers, periodicals, secondary sources, oral testimonies, and interviews—Perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide explores the lives and legacies of individuals who actively participated in the extermination of Armenians and the plunder of their wealth and cultural heritage. This talk reconstructs the backgrounds, motivations, and actions of local and provincial perpetrators, a dimension of Armenian Genocide history that remains significantly understudied.

Through social network analysis and by transcending anonymous group portrayals, this lecture offers a micro-historical portrait of individual perpetrators, providing broader insights into the overall actions of the CUP. By focusing on the relationship between individual motivations and the macro-level ideological discourse, Dr. Kurt presents an in-depth explanation for the perpetration of genocide.

Dr. Ümit Kurt is an assistant professor in the School of Humanities, Creative Industries, and Social Sciences (History) and an affiliate of the Centre for the Study of Violence at the University of Newcastle, Australia. A fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he is the author of the award-winning The Armenians of Aintab: The Economics of Genocide in an Ottoman Province (2021) and The Spirit of the Laws: The Plunder of Wealth in the Armenian Genocide (2017).

[Link for Zoom registration here.]