99 - all you should know about the Genocide April, 2014 | Page 6

who
wh
wher
what is the Armenian Genocide?

The mass annihilation of the Armenians which
occurred from 1915 to 1923 in the Ottoman Empire
and neighboring regions is called the Armenian

Genocide. In Armenian, the Genocide is also
called the Metz Yeghern ("Great Tragedy") or
Aghet ("Catastrophe"). The Armenian Genocide
was planned and implemented by the Young Turk
government of the Ottoman Empire. The first
international reaction to the Armenian Genocide
was a joint declaration by France, Russia and Great
Britain on 24 May 1915, when the violence against
the Armenian people was defined as a “crime
against humanity and civilization.” The countries
making the declaration considered the Turkish
government responsible for this crime.

why was the Armenian
Genocide carried out?

adopted a policy of pan-Turkism even before the

First World War. That program aimed at creating
an immense Turkish empire, which would extend

all the way to China, including the Caucasus and all
the peoples speaking Turkic languages in Central
Asia.

The policy also assumed the turkification

of all the ethnic minorities on this territory. The
Armenian population proved the main obstacle
in the implementation of this program and the
First World War offered a wonderful opportunity
to eliminate them. On the other hand, the
Ottoman constitution, reinstated after the 1908
revolution, promised equal rights to all of the
Empire’s citizens. The Armenians had welcomed
this move enthusiastically. This potential change
in the status of subjects who were previously
unprotected increased the animosity the Turks
held towards the Christians, particularly the
Armenians. That animosity had taken shape
much earlier because, despite their lack of rights,

In an attempt to hold together the weakened

the Armenian population of the Empire had been

Ottoman Empire, the Young Turk government had

the engine of unprecedented social, cultural and