During World War I and until 1923, individuals and groups aided (or attempted to aid) Armenians in escaping the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Young Turk government and later by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Since the end of the USSR and the independence of Armenia, research has increasingly focused on Ottoman individuals (Turks, Kurds, Arabs) and Western individuals (missionaries, ambassadors, etc.) who opposed the genocide during their time. It is generally acknowledged that such individuals or groups may have also assisted the victims of the Assyrian and Greek genocides, which occurred roughly around the same period.[1]
During the years 1913–1923, not only Armenians but also Assyrians and Greeks were subject to a deliberate policy of the Young Turk—and subsequently, the Kemalist— regime to rid itself of these non-Turkish, non-Muslim minorities, whom it blamed for the economic, political, and military failures of the government. In this study, I will focus only on cases of Armenian rescue, although I do expect that there are comparable cases of rescue of Assyrians and Greeks