In 1891, Abdul Hamid created the "Hamidiye" regiments from Kurdish tribes, allowing them to act with impunity against Armenians. From 1895 to 1896 there were widespread massacres in the Ottoman Empire; at least 100,000 Armenians were killed, as a result of attacks by Ottoman soldiers, crowds incited to violence, and Kurdish tribes. In addition, many Armenian villages were forcibly converted to Islam. The Ottoman state bore ultimate responsibility for the killings but, unlike the genocide of 1915–1916, the purpose of the massacres was not eliminating the Armenian people but violently restoring the previous social order in which Christians would unquestionably accept Muslim supremacy, as well as forcing Armenians to emigrate, thereby decreasing their numbers.