Cultural Erasure: The Absorption and Forced Conversion of Armenian Women and Children, 1915-1916

Abstract

Religious conversion and forced assimilation of Armenian women and children into Muslim households were two of the most significant structural components of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. In other words, Islamization of Armenian women and children – as well as imposition of Muslim culture, education, and traditions upon them – was one of the most significant aspects of the Armenian Genocide. Although conversion can be viewed as a survival mechanism for Armenian victims, in many cases, this strategy failed. Along with their friends, neighbors, and families, converts were also deported and exterminated in many provinces and districts throughout Anatolia during the genocide. This article primarily employs Ottoman archival materials to explore the conversion of Armenians as a bureaucratic process and the assimilation policies of the CUP government in the Armenian deportation and genocide. It analyzes the CUP’s official directives, disclosing how the conversion process was implemented at the local level.