Մուսուլման «երախտավորների» հիմնախնդիրը Հայոց ցեղասպանության համատեքստում

Abstract

The issue of the Muslim “rescuers” is the least researched theme in the context of the Armenian Genocide, discussions which have taken place quiet often recently. Sacrifice and objectiveness must primarily be stressed during the discussions of the issue in the Armenian Genocide milieu, especially from the point of view of helping and “saving” Armenians by the Muslim society.

Based on the testimonies of the Armenian survivors and reports of foreign diplomats, motives and purposes of Muslim “Rescuers” of the Ottoman Empire can be conventionally classified, revealing whether such behavior was objective or not and whether it can be called salvation or not.

Observations of altruistic behavior and motives of the Muslim society in the context of genocides taken place in the Ottoman Empire unveil that moral psychology had no connection with the behavior of “Rescuers”. Basis of patronages by Muslim society should be searched for not in the context of human ethics, cultural, religious or ethnic affiliation, but in narrow circles, for instance in the expectation of material benefit, forced labor, sexual exploitation, marriages, neighboring relationships, gratefulness and mutual anticipation, as such behavior was mainly organized by individual initiatives.