The Extermination of Armenians in the Diarbekir Region is a study based largely on neglected sources from Turkish and Armenian archives covering the years 1908 to 1915. It discusses the rise of the *Committee of Union and Progress,* the nascent Kurdish nationalist movement, and the annihilation of the Ottoman Armenian population. The deportation and massacre of Armenians was a complex process with central authorities in Istanbul, regional governors, and local elites competing for control. Consequently, decision-making, deportations, assimilation policies, the seizure of Armenian properties as well as the settlement of Kurdish and other Muslim groups appear in a new light. Rather than following a strict preconceived plan, Ottoman authorities regularly implemented ill-defined policies. Often they followed suggestions from governors.

Consequently, local officials had a more radicalizing impact on overall anti-Armenian policies than hitherto assumed. Many others, however, offered determined resistance. Neither the *Committee of Union and Progress* nor the Ottoman bureaucracy had unified in persecuting Armenians. The book does not present the developments in the region in a dichotomous perspective but emphasizes complexities beyond the governing paradigms and opens new avenues for research and discussion..