Armenian Genocide

  • Armenian Genocide
    • 1915-1923
    • Campaign of deportation and mass killings
    • Conducted against Armenian subjects of the Ottoman Empire
    • Committed by Young Turk government during and following WWI
    • Armenians charge that the campaign was a deliberate attempt to destroy the Armenian people
    • Turkish government controls no official policy of the extermination implemented against the Armenian people
  • Road to Genocide
    • Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913
    • Ottoman Empire lost vast regions of its territory
    • Young Turks had made a promise in 1908 of equality for all people
    • Clique in Young Turks promoted Muslim Turkish majority
  • The Triumvirate
    • From 1913, the Ottoman Empire was ruled by a clique of Young Turks
    • Led by “Three Pashas”
    • Minister of War - Pasha Enver
    • Minister of the Interior - Pasha Talaat
    • Minister of the Navy - Pasha Djemal
  • Military Conscription
    • Sided with Germeny in WWI
    • Assumed Germany will be victorious
    • Russia is an enemy
    • Before 1908, Armenians were not allowed to serve in the military
    • Began targeting Armenians
    • Labor camps
  • Deportations
    • Began March 1915
    • By May, the plan was put into full motion
    • Males segregated from women and children
    • Decreases chance of resistance
    • Butcher squads were prepared
    • Lucky to be killed early
  • Caravans
    • Death marches of women, children, and elderly
    • Were told it was only a temporary relocation
    • Died of starvation, dehydration, etc.
    • Rape happened
    • Covered daughters in mud to look unattractive
    • People who survived were married off and had kids
  • Rescue
    • End of WWI, efforts made to rescue
    • Had children with captors
      • Had to choose to stay with captor or abandon their children
  • German Response
    • Soldiers felt like they carried their duties
    • Armin Wegner
    • Medical officer
    • Took pictures of what happened