Narrative Construction in the 1895 Massacres in Harput: The Coming and Disappearance of the Kurds

Abstract

This article contributes to the slowly growing literature on the 1894-1896 Armenian massacres with a microhistory of the events in the city of Harput (Kharpert) on November 11, 1895. Historians have shed light on the structural reasons behind the event and identified the individuals in charge but the collective aspect of the massacres has so far been neglected. In this study, the narratives produced before, during, and after the event are isolated and compared in order to reveal a fundamental change in how the event was described. The article argues (i) that the massacres in the city centre were not expected by its residents; (ii) that the event was perceived as an invasion of the city by outsider Kurdish tribesmen rather than an Armenian conspiracy.

Keywords

• massacres
• Ottoman Armenians
• Kurdish history
• narrative
• Harput