ABSTRACT

Interethnic and international conflicts of most kinds are capable of prolonged existence, without reaching a point of explosion. There are factors that intrude into established states of symbiosis jeopardizing delicate threshold-balances. Critical demographic change is one such factor. The Turko-Armenian conflict was aggravated throughout its stages of development by an ongoing series of Muslim mass migrations from the Caucasus, and to a lesser extent from the Balkan peninsula. The major demographic assault, however, came from the Kurds. Descending from the Taurus mountain ranges of south-central Turkey, and from Persia, they settled in those northeastern districts of Turkey that historically and geographically were identified as "Armenia". Perhaps the most graphic descriptions of the Kurdish problem were provided by the Armenians themselves. The combined feudal, tribal, and seminomadic elements of Kurdish culture posed serious threats to a subjugated, unarmed, and sedentary Armenian population through depredations, the chronic character of which began to destabilize and gradually erode the foundations of Armenian ethnic existence.