What was the state’s role in the Armenian genocide?

The Ottoman government played a significant role in the 1915 Armenian genocide. The state, an organisational structure with added authority, reached a point during the First World War where violence was legitimated between state officials and civilians, and coupled with the progress of technology, warfare itself also changed radically. In the Armenian case, there was another layer of suspicions of disloyalty from Armenians, thought to be helping the Russians, in shatter zones. However, other factors must be considered equally, such as racism, from which genocide stems. Cultural elements help explain why this genocide happened at that moment; the Armenian population were both ethnic and religious minorities, located in their homeland of Anatolia, and in the racist, nationalist and essentialist mind-set of the Ottoman government and the CUP that both wanted a homogeneous Turkish society, Armenians became a threat that could not be ignored due to the immediacy of war and danger. Finally, economic factors are important to consider, as the mass voluntary participation and state policies were not simply racist or genocidal; the deported populations’ possessions and homes were seized, the totality of which is significant.