| The Armenian massacres in Turkey started in | | | | mistreatment of the Armenians. This |
| the 19th century and continued well after the | | | | intervention was resented by the Ottoman |
| Armenian genocide of 1915 in which some | | | | authorities. By 1915, Armenian calls for |
| 600,000 Armenians perished. The Armenians | | | | autonomy were deemed a danger to the |
| were also raided by Kurdish tribesmen on a | | | | disintegrating realm, now at war with Russia. |
| regular basis. An Ottoman military tribunal, | | | | |
| convened between 1919-21, even convicted for | | | | When the first world war broke, Turkey allied |
| the crimes members of the administration of | | | | itself with the Germans. All Armenian men |
| the Young Turks, including cabinet ministers. | | | | aged 20-45 were conscripted to the army as |
| | | | soldiers, soon to be disarmed and serve as |
| Many of the perpetrators fled the country | | | | pack animals or in menial jobs. When Russian |
| only to return, triumphant, after the | | | | Armenians recruited Turkish Armenians for the |
| establishment of modern Turkey in 1923. The | | | | anti-Turkish Russian Army of the Caucasus, in |
| Turkish government today denies that an | | | | April 1915, the elite of the Armenian |
| organized, premeditated genocide ever took | | | | community was arrested and executed. Between |
| place and pegs the number of Armenian | | | | May and June 1915 the Armenian population was |
| fatalities at 200-300,000 at the most. | | | | deported to Mesopotamia. The deportation |
| | | | followed mass executions. |
| Towards the end of the 19th century, the | | | | |
| Armenians formed guerrilla movements in | | | | Many more died from starvation, exposure, |
| eastern Van (the Armenakans, in 1885) and in | | | | dehydration, abuse and outright torture. The |
| Russia. Radical nationalist parties were | | | | survivors - less than 300,000 - were |
| established by Russian-Armenian emigrants in | | | | subjected to additional slaughter in Syria. |
| 1887 (Hunchak or Henchak, "The Bell") and in | | | | People were beaten with blunt instruments, |
| 1890 in Georgia (Dashnak or Dashnaktsutyun, | | | | burnt alive or drowned forcibly. The |
| "Union"). Mass demonstrations in the Turkish | | | | massacres were carried out by military |
| capital (in 1890 and 1895) and armed | | | | officers with dictatorial powers, aided by |
| uprisings followed (in 1894-5). The Dashnaks | | | | criminals especially released from jails and |
| even invaded Turkey from Russia in 1896 - a | | | | assigned to their gruesome duties. |
| demonstrative act which resulted in the | | | | |
| slaughter of 50,000 Armenians. | | | | Armed resistance in Van province, Mussa Dagh, |
| | | | Shabin Karahisar and Urfa - as well as |
| The suppression of these revolts claimed | | | | setbacks in the war - prevented the Turks for |
| 200,000 Armenian lives. In 1909, in Adana, | | | | deporting the urban Armenian population in |
| more than 23,000 Armenians were massacred as | | | | the Ottoman Empire's major cities. Today |
| the warships of the Great Powers stood idly | | | | there are less than 60,000 Armenians in |
| by. In 1912-3 the Great Powers, led by | | | | Turkey compared to at least 1.8 million in |
| Russia, pressured Turkey to cease its | | | | 1910. |