The genocide of Armenians was meticulously carried out with help from tribal Kurds who were organized into an auxiliary force called the Hamidiye Cavalry of the Ottoman government in Constantinople. Also, inmates in Ottoman prisons, including Kurds and Turks, were given amnesty and released from prison if they would massacre the Armenians. Historian Raymond Kévorkian believes that the role of Kurds as perpetrators in the genocide has sometimes been overstated, beginning with Turkish historians eager to shift blame to Kurds. Kévorkian states that many nomadic Kurdish tribes actively participated in the genocide but settled Kurds only rarely did so.