Armenian Refugees in French Mandate Syria : Statelessness and Nation-Building in the Middle East

In the aftermath of the First World War, the Armenian Genocide, and the Turkish War of Independence, Syria became host to thousands of Armenian refugees. In this comprehensive history covering the period from 1920 to 1948, Victoria Abrahamyan foregrounds the experience of the Armenian refugees in the Syrian Jazira as they navigated competing state-building efforts led by the French mandatory power, Syrian nationalists, and Soviet Armenia.

The book reveals the refugees’ agency amid internal conflicts and diverse loyalties. It sheds light on the intricate power struggles over their status and belonging— particularly through competing French and Soviet post-war refugee settlement schemes—in a critical frontier between Western imperialist powers, the Soviet bloc, and Turkey. Using Armenian, Arabic, Russian, and French language sources, the book explores how the Armenian refugee community responded to the rise of Arab nationalism in Syria, complicating simplistic sectarian interpretations of their place and reception in interwar Syria.
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By situating this history within the broader context of Armenian experiences in the Eastern Mediterranean and the role of refugees and displaced populations in state building in the post-war Middle East in general, this study offers essential reading for students and scholars of Armenian and Middle Eastern history alike.