Anatolian and kef music were a source of controversy due to the shared Ottoman past they represented in the post-genocide era. A combination of factors in Lebanon, including political independence and the strength of various Armenian institutions, created conditions that were permissive of the rise of an Armenian nationalism that was similar to the Turkish nationalism that emerged in the Ottoman Empire in the years leading up to the 1915 genocide. Music in the Lebanese diaspora became another means to separate "us" and "them", but also provided a space where Lebanese Armenians could connect with a concept of "home" in place of the Ottoman past and Soviet present.