Extra-ordinary cooperation between ordinary Ottomans: creation of the first Armenian refugee settlements in the Syrian Jazira, 1918–1926

Abstract

ABSTRACT While the borders of modern-day Syria emerged as a result of partition between two imperial powers, France and Great Britain, in the aftermath of World War I, neither the transition from Empire to nation-state nor the delimitation of its borders was straightforward and immediate. The Ottoman-era connections, cooperation, and trust between various religious, ethnic, and social classes were retained beyond these borders. The creation of the first refugee settlements in the Syrian Jazira is one such case in point. Drawing on a new corpus of primary sources; the memoirs and writings of Karen Jeppe, a leading figure behind the first such settlements, as well as the Armenian language press of Aleppo and Beirut, this article argues that the first rural settlements created for the Armenian refugees in the Syrian desert were achieved as a result of local cooperation. Contrary to well-established claims that consider these settlements as a colonial undertaking, this article demonstrates instead how collaboration and trust relations between two unlikely partners – Armenian refugees from Urfa, and the local Arab sheikh from the Anezi tribe, were behind the first organised settlements, achieved through the mediation of Karen Jeppe. This article further argues that such cooperation between the ordinary Ottomans was fundamental in the success of the first settlements that did not produce violent clashes between the locals and the new settlers. Instead, the success of the first settlements was skilfully exploited by the French mandatory authorities later to serve as a model for their future, large-scale refugee settlement schemes.