Although ostensibly undertaken for military reasons, the deportation and murder of Armenians did not grant the empire any military advantage and actually undermined the Ottoman war effort. Ottoman records show that the government's goal was to reduce the population of Armenians to no more than 5 to 10 percent in any part of the empire, both in the places from which Armenians were deported and the destination areas. This goal could not be accomplished without mass murder. By eliminating the concentrated Armenian population in the eastern provinces, the Young Turks hoped to negate any claims for autonomy or independence that might be sanctioned by the great powers.