Extra-ordinary cooperation between ordinary Ottomans: creation of the first Armenian refugee settlements in the Syrian Jazira, 1918–1926

While the borders of modern-day Syria emerged as a result of partition between two imperial powers, France and Great Britain, in the aftermath of World War I, neither the transition from Empire to nation-state nor the delimitation of its borders was straightforward and immediate. The Ottoman-era connections, cooperation, and trust between various religious, ethnic, and social classes were retained beyond these borders. The creation of the first refugee settlements in the Syrian Jazira is one such case in point.