The Ottomans actually made multiple attempts to join the Entente before entering the war on the side of the Central...

The Ottomans actually made multiple attempts to join the Entente before entering the war on the side of the Central Powers. The Ottomans were absolutely terrified of Russia at this point in time, they were hoping that if they could join the Entente, Britain and France would force Russia to back off, just as they'd done during the Crimean war. When the Ottomans attempted to approach a French diplomat with their proposal, they were sharply rebuffed. Attempts to contact the British government went about as well.

Running out of options, the Ottomans did the unthinkable. They went to the Russian embassy in Istanbul and asked the Russian ambassador there if he'd be willing to promote the idea of an Ottoman-Russian alliance against the Central Powers. The Ottomans promised that they support the Czar's war against Germany if they received some assurance that the Czar would respect Ottoman territorial sovereignty. Specifically, the Ottomans requested that Russia stop trying to create an independent state for Armenians in East Anatolia. In exchange, the Ottomans would enter the Great War on the side of Russia and the Entente.

The Russian ambassador responded with surprising enthusiasm, and he contacted the Russian government with the proposal. The answer that he received was only that Russia would respect Ottoman neutrality during the war if the Ottomans agreed to remain neutral. The Russian government did not entertain even the vaguest notion of a military alliance, and they made no promises that Ottoman territorial sovereignty would be respected after the war. With no other options, the Ottomans turned to Germany as their last hope.

However, even the Germans weren't entirely sure that they wanted the Ottomans on their side. In the end, Kaiser Wilhelm II himself made the decision (against the predominant opinion) that the Ottomans should be accepted into the Central Powers.

Why were they so adverse to staying neutral?

Nobody gives a shit anymore about what side the Ottomans were on. The only condemnable they did was to chimp out and massacre their own citizens.

Not well read but the Ottomans have lost vast amounts of territory in the past 50 years up to WWI so they stand to gain nothing by remaining neutral. How aware were the Ottomans of potential designs on the middle east and therefore was that a driving factor in their desire for enured territorial integrity? I guess to understand the question op should elaborate on the Ottoman's perspective of a rapidly industrializing Europe and its system of alliances.

>Ottomans
effeminate easterners too close to the big boys. They should have fled southeast.

Because they were terrified of Russia (with good reason) and they realized that unless another one of the European Great Powers intervened on their behalf, they were done. The Ottomans were hoping that if they joined the war against Germany, then Britain and France would repay the favor by saving them from Russia like during the Crimean war. I just think it is quite interesting that they were willing to contemplate a military alliance with Russia, their arch-nemesis, their biggest external threat by far. That really shows just how desperate they were at this point in time.

Now that would have been a weird timeline.

Jaja because Arab tribesman were going to hook them up with a place to stay

The Ottoman Empire will always be the greatest and most civilized Muslim controlled country ever. Something happened between then and now that really radicalized them and made them go off the cliff crazy.

The book doesn't deny the Armenian genocide. I haven't finished it yet, hell I'm not even 25% of the way through, but it has already talked about the Armenian massacres quite a bit. That's not the focus of the book, though. The book is about the entire war in North African and Middle-East. The last part I got through talked a lot about Egypt, Algeria, and India. It's been pretty interesting so far.