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

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