A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide - Taner Akçam

This is a very good book on the topic.  Akçam steps away from the mythology, hype and rants of both sides to undertake a thorough examination of the historical documents and records around the Armenian genocide, and the history of Armenian Ottoman relations in the late 19th and early 20th century.  His focus is entirely on determining how this genocide came about, who planned it and how it was seen by members of the political elite at the time.  In the end, based on the evidence, there is no doubt this was a planned attempt to eliminate the Armenians from the Ottoman empire; it was a more systematized approach to what had been going on since the late 1800s under Sultan Abdulhamid. The events of 1915 and later were directed and overseen by Talat Pasha.

His historical research reminds me of the work of Ilan Pappé - using careful historical research to clarify events and set this up against the myths of the victors in a political or social conflict.

He raises some interesting points related to the background of the Ottoman state at the time.  They were experiencing a number of violent revolts in the Balkans through the late 1800s early 1900s which led to Muslim deportations and a refugee crisis within the empire.  These revolts caused a growing mistrust of Christian subjects, a growing Muslim/Christian dichotomy, and the newly arrived refugees harboured anger and resentment towards Christians in general.  A dangerous mix.
After centuries of feeling superior as a conquering people, the Ottoman ruling class was experiencing a series of crushing failures and defeats at the hands of what they perceived to be inferior peoples. This created a sense of cognitive dissonance, which makes it hard to be rational or even perceive the reality around you.

The Ottoman government was a very old style government compared to what was evolving in western Europe - it was a system based on despotism with no concept of rights, checks on power, or duties of government towards its citizens.  The Christian ethnic groups were aware of these changes through contact with outside groups, but there was no sympathy or even understanding of these new currents in the ruling Ottoman elite.

As for the Armenians, they had been through several decades of mistreatment and insecurity.  The were subject to arbitrary property confiscation especially by local Kurdish tribal leaders, kidnapping (especially women), murder and other abuses.  The Armenian leaders complained repeatedly to local governors and the Sultan but the Sultan showed no interest in protecting his Armenian subjects.  This rankled even more, as the Armenians, through contact with Western Europe, were aware of political developments there, and such concepts as citizen rights, government duties, accountability, etc.  This treatment would have only further increased their interest in these new political ideas.  It also pushed them to try and use the large foreign powers to pressure the Ottomans to guarantee better treatment.

The Ottomans and the Young Turks perceived the Christian minority groups as a weak spot which allowed European powers to interfere in matters within the Ottoman state.  The Christian groups did use the foreign powers to try and advance their agendas to there some truth in this viewpoint.  The European powers, under the guise of humanitarian motives, used these opportunities to take advantage of the weakness of the Ottoman state.

It seems the Porte and the Sultan's cabinet were kept in the dark with regard to the plans for the elimination of Armenians.  Much of the communication between Talat and the regional authorities was carried out is a very indirect kind of code to mask what they were really up to.

The Young Turks not only eliminated Christian groups, they also assassinated any regional administrators and politicians who objected to or resisted their policy regarding the Armenians and Greeks.