Denying the Hamidian Massacres: Ottoman Narratives, Armenian Activism, and the Struggle over the Memory in the United States, 1890s

Vardanyan, Gevorg and Hakobyan, Narine · 2025

Examines Ottoman denial of the Hamidian massacres (1894–1896) inside the United States, centered on Ottoman Minister Alexander Mavroyeni Bey and his collaborators. The Ottoman legation in Washington reframed reports of anti-Armenian violence as justified responses to 'sedition,' and the authors argue this was not merely exported internal propaganda but a distinct transnational strategy built for American audiences. Mavroyeni Bey drew analogies to US treatment of Native Americans, appealed to American sovereignty, and worked with the American Muslim convert Alexander Russell Webb to delegitimize Armenian-American activism and discredit missionaries. Armenian-Americans were the campaign's primary target because of their grassroots organizing and their influence on humanitarian mobilization. The study pushes the history of denial back from 1915 into the Hamidian era.

Citation checked against the publisher's record on 2026-07-13.