A Rational Solution

How does a society justify the psychopathic act of genocide?

Genocide can be seen as a useful tool for social restructuring. Perceived benefits of the Armenian Genocide included:

1. Producing a scapegoat to blame for current problems.
2. Looting the victims to defray the war debt and enrich the Young Turks leaders.
3. Eliminating a "foreign" element to create a "pure" Turkish nation-state.
4. Producing a large number of uninhabited homes to house the Muslim refugees from the Caucasus and Balkans.
5. Repopulating Eastern Turkey with the refugee Turks, thus safeguarding the eastern border.
6. Co-opting the general population to support the ideology of the Young Turks by appealing to their greed, religious fanaticism or lust.
7. Eliminating a population barrier to the creation of a "Turanian" state stretching from Istanbul to Baku.
8. Producing economic opportunities to create a Turkish middle class by eliminating the Armenian prominence in many trades and professions.
9. Eliminating a potential justification for intervention in Turkey by outside European powers.
10. Producing a "victory" in the war to counter loss of prestige due to the defeat in the Caucasus

The Armenian Genocide was a methodical, premeditated evil plan to advance the goal of Pan-Turanism in the most cold-blooded fashion. Given the lack of response by Western powers to earlier massacres, the Young Turks safely assumed that there would be few long-term consequences of their crimes. From their point of view, the Armenian Genocide was a stunning success politically, economically and demographically.