Armenia

Armenia: The First Genocide of the 20^th Century

Map of Armenian Genocide

Historical Background

To understand the Armenian Genocide, it is first necessary to explore who the Armenians were. An ancient civilization, the Armenians inhabited the Armenian Plateau—modern-day Eastern Turkey—as far back as the first century CE. Though neighboring nations referred to the region as Armenia, Armenians themselves called their homeland Hayastan, meaning "Haik’s Land," after Haik, a descendant of Noah. This biblical reference is no coincidence, as Christianity played a significant role in shaping Armenian identity and culture.

By the 15th century, the Ottoman Empire had risen to power, with the Turks capturing Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) and expanding their rule across Southeast Europe (the Balkans), the Middle East, and parts of North Africa. Under the Sultan’s rule, Islam was set up as the official state religion, and non-Muslims were generally treated as second-class citizens.

While Armenians were allowed to practice Christianity, they faced systemic discrimination, including political, social, and economic restrictions. They were often subjected to higher taxes in exchange for protection and were bound by laws that prohibited them from carrying weapons or testifying in court against Muslims.  

By the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire was in decline, weakened by significant territorial losses and a struggling economy. Losing land to Great Britain, Russia, and emerging nation-states was devastating, signaling to Ottoman leaders that reforms were necessary. In response, many began advocating for internal changes to strengthen the empire. 

At the same time, Russia’s influence over Armenians grew. Russia controlled several eastern Armenian provinces, including Tiflis (modern-day Tbilisi), which became a cultural hub for Russian Armenians (Cohan, 2005). Beyond its cultural impact, Russia also championed human rights and reforms for Armenians living within the Ottoman Empire, supporting newly formed Ottoman Armenian political organizations. 

The push for reform—both from Ottoman leaders and Russian Armenians—aligned with the prevailing political ideology of the time: constitutionalism. While many Armenians considered themselves part of the Ottoman Empire, they were deeply dissatisfied with the discriminatory laws and policies imposed on non-Muslims. As a result, they increasingly called for equality and human rights. Their demands seemed to gain traction with the introduction of the Tanzimat reforms in 1839 and 1856, which aimed to set up legal equality among all Ottoman citizens, including Armenians. However, these reforms had an unintended consequence: they fueled resentment among many Muslims, who opposed granting equal status to non-Muslims. 

In 1878, the Treaty of San Stefano was drafted to end the Russo-Turkish War. The treaty promised significant reforms and protections for Armenians within the Ottoman Empire, appointing Russia as their official protector. This alarmed the European Great Powers, particularly Great Britain, which was wary of Russian influence in the region. In response, European leaders negotiated the Treaty of Berlin later that year. Like the Treaty of San Stefano, it outlined crucial reforms for Armenians, including fair taxation policies, legal protections, and the right to testify in court. However, one major difference was that enforcement of these rights was placed in the hands of the Ottoman Sultan rather than Russia. Sultan Abdul Hamid II, however, refused to implement these reforms. 

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the Young Turks movement had emerged as a path forward that would be more tolerant and inclusive of non-Muslims and minorities living throughout the Ottoman Empire. With a hopeful future, many Armenians supported the Young Turks movement, particularly the liberal sect, as they marched on Constantinople to overthrow the Sultan. In what looked like a promising future for Armenians, the liberal wing of the Young Turks implemented a constitution that seemingly reestablished some of the earlier reforms that pushed for equality and human rights for non-Muslims. Unfortunately, promises of reform never came to fruition due to internal divisions within the Young Turk movement between the Liberals and the more conservative, authoritarian faction that promoted Turkification. This pro-authoritarian sect attempted to reestablish the Sultan through a counter-coup against the Young Turk revolution, which resulted in another set of massacres in 1909.

The Adana Massacres of 1909, where supporters of the Sultan Abdul Hamid II destroyed almost half the Armenia-populated city of Adana, took place at the same time that the Committee for Union and Progress (CUP) was gaining power within the Young Turks movement. As the CUP gained control of the Ottoman government, there was an increase in anti-Armenian sentiment. Armenians and other non-Muslims did not fit into the ideology of “Pan-Turkism.” This radical, nationalistic plan of Turkification portrayed Armenians and other minorities as obstacles to achieving the goal of “Turkey for the Turks. Despite the radical nationalist agenda of the Young Turks, the Ottoman Empire continued to decline. On the eve of World War I, with the Ottoman Empire now disparagingly referred to as the “Sick Man of Europe” due to more territory loss resulting from the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, Armenians were fast becoming an easy scapegoat.

Genocide Triggers

To understand how the genocide of Armenians unfolded, it is first necessary to understand the continuously strained geopolitical relationship between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. With Russia occupying the eastern edge of the empire, a region predominantly populated by Armenians, Russia was considered a formidable threat to the Ottomans. In addition to border threats, Russia, a nation that had vehemently advocated for the rights of Armenians in the past, also allowed Russian Armenians to serve in the Russian army. This cast suspicion on Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, who were seen as possible traitors and fed into the anti-Armenian sentiments that were growing ever since the rise of Turkish nationalism.

In 1914, as the Ottoman Empire entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers, the threat of Russia, and by extension, Armenians within the empire, began to grow. As the Russians claimed major victories and gained territories (inhabited by Armenians) within the Ottoman Empire, officials started to place blame on the Armenian population for the actions of Russian Armenians who helped with these victories. By the winter of 1914-1915, plans were in place to rid the Ottoman Empire of the Armenian population, as they were considered to blame for the Ottoman losses. The scapegoating of Ottoman Armenians for the military defeats to Russia triggered the genocide of the Armenians that followed.

Implementation of Genocide

Between 1915-1923, an estimated 1,500,000 Armenians were “murdered or died through mass executions, deportation marches, forced starvation and other brutalities…”(Echoes and Reflection). The Genocide began on April 24th, 1915, when the Committee of Union and Progress, a triumvirate of the Young Turks led by Mehmet Talaat, Ismail Enver, and Ahmed Jemal, arrested and killed over 200 leaders of the Armenian community in Constantinople (Istanbul), including representatives in government, lawyers, doctors, teachers, religious leaders, and business owners. With a genocide plan put into action, the CUP ordered the deportation of Armenian people throughout the Ottoman empire to be sent to “relocation centers” located in the Syrian dessert. The women and children were separated from the men and teenage boys; the latter of whom were rounded up and killed. Women and children were forced to march for weeks at a time with little food or water, many were killed or died from starvation or exhaustion, and many were kidnapped and raped. Upon arrival in the Syrian desert, many Armenians died or were massacred.

During the weeks and months that followed, special execution groups were formed made up of formerly imprisoned individuals. These Turkish gendarmes were created by the government to execute the CUP policy of mass deportations and executions. They attacked the deportation caravans heading towards the Syrian desert, brutalizing the women and children. In some instances, children were kidnapped and sold into Turkish families where they were raised as Turks.

By 1918, most of the Armenians who had resided in the Ottoman empire were either killed or had escaped into Diaspora. With the arrival of Turkey’s new leader; Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk), those left in the west were expelled alongside the Greek and Assyrians. By 1923, a 3,000-year-old civilization virtually ceased to exist with much of the property stolen or destroyed.

International Response

As early as the Hamidian Massacres that took place between 1894 and 1896, there was an international response to help Armenians within the Ottoman Empire. Because the Armenians were generally unarmed, it caught the attention of the world, particularly international media outlets such as the New York Times. Leading up to the Genocide, the New York Times would consistently publish articles that revealed the brutal killings and mistreatment of Armenians. In addition, many American diplomats and religious leaders living and working in the Ottoman Empire at the time bore witness to many of the atrocities. As a result, a robust international relief effort existed, with aid to Armenians being the first mission of the American Red Cross. Perhaps the most significant of these international aid organizations formed was the Near East Relief organization, which raised over 1 million dollars to aid and save Armenians in the 1890s. Further, American and European missionaries organized and set up orphanages. After the Genocide began, within the Ottoman Empire, some upstanders tried to help the Armenians. Arabs, Bedouins, and even some Turkish families intervened by rescuing and hiding Armenians to help them escape.

Legacy and Aftermath

Independence 
After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, Armenia gained its independence. This was short-lived, however, as Armenia was quickly absorbed into the Soviet Union when the Russian Red Army invaded in 1920. With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Armenia was the first state to declare its independence and remains a democracy today. However, its borders are a tiny percentage of what was historically known as Armenia.

Diaspora 
Though it was difficult, there were some Armenians who were able to survive the genocide and eventually escape. Some Armenians had converted to Islam, particularly some women and children who had been adopted or kidnapped by Turks, Kurds, or Arabs. Some Armenians took refuge in orphanages, while others found themselves in refugee camps throughout the Middle East. 

Genocide Awareness
In 1944, Raphael Lemkin, after witnessing the extermination of European Jews during the Holocaust and studying the massacres of the Armenians, coined the term "genocide". In 1946, the United Nations adopted the language of Lemkin, and in 1948, it passed the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Although a large majority of academics, institutions, and governments around the world acknowledge the Armenian genocide, it is still vehemently denied by the Turkish government as of this writing.

Lack of Accountability and Denial
At the end of World War I, the CUP functionaries and government officials were tried in military tribunals. Nevertheless, those who perpetrated the genocide were never forced to serve their sentence. In addition to the lack of accountability, the denial of the genocide by the Turkish government and academics has only furthered the pain felt by descendants of its victims. According to Cohan (2005), “Among a series of actions enacted to counter Armenian genocide recognition and education, the government even passed a law in 2004 known as Article 305, which makes it a criminal offence, punishable by 10 years in prison, to discuss the Armenian genocide". Some argue that denying genocide is the final stage of Genocide.

Armenia and the Ten Stages of Genocide

Classification
As a Christian minority within the larger Ottoman Empire, Armenians were classified as second-class citizens, especially after the Sultan designated Islam as the official state religion. 

Discrimination
As second-class citizens in the 18th-century Ottoman Empire, Armenians, like other non-Muslim minorities, faced political, social, and economic discrimination, including an unfair tax code that forced them to pay extra taxes in exchange for protection. They were also not legally allowed to own a weapon or to testify in court against Muslims. Although they were allowed to practice Christianity, many Armenians were unhappy being treated as second-class citizens and increasingly advocated for human rights and reform. Even after the Treaty of Berlin was passed, which was supposed to establish fair taxation policies and more equal rights under the law, Armenians were discriminated against because Sultan Abdul Hamid II, not the Russians, was designated as the enforcer of these newly established rights, and he refused to do so. 

Organization 
In the years leading up to the genocide, Turkish authorities in the Ottoman Empire increased restrictions on non-Muslim groups, particularly the Armenians. There were restrictions in education, property ownership, and the ability to practice Christianity freely. In doing so, the Armenians became increasingly ostracized from the rest of the Ottoman Empire, a development that would make it easier to eliminate them in the years to come.  

Polarization 
As the Committee on Progress and Union (CUP) gained control of the Ottoman government, there was an increase in anti-Armenian sentiment. Along with other non-Muslim, Armenians were seen as obstacles to the vision of “Pan-Turkism” or “Turkey for Turks” that was being promoted by the nationalist wing of the party.   

Preparation 
The Armenian Genocide was a culmination of a series of policies that targeted Armenians in the Ottoman Empire through the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. Between 1894 and 1896, Sultan Hamid II authorized more unfair policies towards the Armenians, which resulted in the Hamidian Massacres These violent killings took place in small towns and villages throughout the Ottoman Empire and systematically killed up to 300,000 Armenians. 

Following the advent of the Young Turks to power and attempts at reform, another set of massacres occurred in 1909. The Adana Massacres took place as supporters of the Sultan Abdul Hamid II destroyed approximately half of the Armenian-populated city of Adana.  

Persecution 
With the decline of the Ottoman Empire on the eve of World War I, Armenians became a scapegoat for lost territory. Due to their ties to Russia, a border threat to the Ottoman Empire, the Armenians were seen as traitors. During World War I, Armenians were blamed for the loss of territory to Russia, which triggered the genocide. Beginning in 1915, Armenians were no longer allowed to serve in active duty in the Ottoman Army, but were instead forced into labor battalions.   

Extermination 
Beginning on April 24, 1915, and lasting until 1923, an estimated one and a half million Armenians were murdered or forced into deportation marches, where many died from starvation and exhaustion. Armenians were exterminated at the orders of the CUP, who ordered the arrest and execution of Armenian community leaders in Istanbul. After this initial execution of Armenian leaders, women, and children throughout the region were forced onto death marches towards the Syrian desert, where those who were able to survive the harsh conditions were massacred when they arrived. Special execution groups made up of formerly imprisoned individuals were formed to attack the deportation caravans and rape, kidnap, and kill Armenians. By 1918, the majority of Armenians who had resided in the Ottoman Empire were either killed or in the Diaspora.

Denial 
Despite widespread recognition of the genocide from international scholars, educational institutions, and governments, the Turkish government, along with its allies like Azerbaijan, continues to deny that what happened to the Armenians was a genocide. They have gone to great lengths, including funding educational chairs, creating academic institutes of Turkish culture and history, and pressuring foreign governments.