Introduction : the Hamidiye Light Cavalry in the Ottoman tribal zone -- A manifold mission -- The Hamidiye under Abdülhamid II : 1890-1908 -- The tribal light cavalry under the Young Turks : 1908-1914 -- The Hamidiye and the "agrarian question" -- The Hamidiye and its legacy
Summary
At the turn of the twentieth century, the Ottoman state identified multiple threats in its eastern regions. In an attempt to control remote Kurdish populations, Ottoman authorities organized them into a tribal militia and gave them the task of subduing a perceived Armenian threat. Following the story of this militia, Klein explores the contradictory logic of how states incorporate groups they ultimately aim to suppress and how groups who seek autonomy from the state often attempt to do so through state channels. In the end, Armenian revolutionaries were not suppressed and Kurdish leaders, whose
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-261) and index
