Armenian Genocide

Armenian Genocide

On April 24, 1915, Ottoman authorities arrested hundreds of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople. The arrests marked the beginning of a coordinated campaign against the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Armenians had been subjected to legal discrimination, taxation disparities, and earlier episodes of violence in preceding decades.

Following the arrests, the Ottoman government ordered mass deportations of Armenians from Anatolia to the Syrian Desert under the pretext of military security. Deportation convoys were subjected to forced marches, lack of food and water, disease, and attacks by paramilitary units. Large numbers of civilians died during these transfers.

Between 1915 and 1917, an estimated 800,000 to 1.5 million Armenians died through killings, starvation, exposure, and disease. Property belonging to deported Armenians was confiscated. The events resulted in the large-scale displacement of the Armenian population and the formation of a global Armenian diaspora.