Abstract
During the 19th century, foreign diplomats working in the Ottoman Empire began to protect not only their citizens but also all the non-Muslim citizens of the Empire. Great Britain, realizing since 1877 that the situation in the Ottoman Empire was going worse, wanted to have the demising of the empire under its control and invaded strategic territories such as Cyprus and Egypt. Military strategists are deployed by the British on Ottoman lands who performed geographical as well as topographical studies. They also established close relations with the Ottoman Armenians and spread separatist ideas among them.
The reforms of the Ottoman intellectuals were not supported by the British. The leaders of the Committee of Union and Progress were particularly disappointed with the absence of support to the declaration of the Second Constitutional Period by the British. Great Britain has taken certain measures to prevent the establishment of closer ties between the Ottoman Empire and Russia. However, after the formation of the Russo-British alliance prior to the World War I, the British have given the Russians the freedom to develop their own policies with regard to the Ottoman Armenians. This study asserts that the British in 1878, decided for the demise of
the Ottoman Empire and desired to have the demise under its control, and based on its national interests. Based on this, the study discusses the manipulation of the Armenians by the British. To do so, this study utilizes documents from the Ottoman Archives, which is the main primary source of this study, as well as the British archives.
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