Kurdish-Armenian relations in the late Ottoman Empire: power structures and interactive behavior

What explains collaboration and conflict between Kurdish and Armenian societies during the Late Ottoman period? In order to answer this question this thesis focuses on the relationship between structures in Kurdish and Armenian societies and political behavior. The significance of this study lies in that it provides a new angle from which to look at the Armenian question, in relation to the Kurds as opposed to only in relation to the Ottoman state and Great Power, and also in that it analyzes the impact of political, ethnic, and national consciousness on groups' interactive behavior. In order to explain conflict and collaboration, this study compares and contrasts the socioeconomic and political experiences that the Kurds and Armenians had with Ottoman state, examines the affect of the Ottoman policy on the local dynamics of power, and analyzes the role internal and external political factors on interactive behavior. It is argued that adjustments in the traditional power relationship, resultant from the implementation of various policy changes, gave rise to new political spaces through which new social structures were formed. The competition between new and old structures for power led some groups to radicalize their policies in order to secure their continued existence. The factors that determined a group's decision to ally with or fight against other groups was influenced by influential individuals' interpretations of the political situation and their internal and external structures.