Genocide Convention defined genocide as "any acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group" shortly after World War II (Gunter). The Armenian genocide took place in the Ottoman Turkish empire from 1915-23. This genocide was the first genocide of the twentieth century (Miller). The Armenian genocide started April 24th, 1915. Two million Armenians were targeted by the Turks, and only half a million survived the genocide (Sargsyan). The Armenian genocide was one of the most devastating in history because of the events that lead up to it, the way it left the survivors horrified, and why America would not get involved.
What caused the genocide to happen? In the Ottoman Empire, the Armenians were part of the second class and were referred to as the
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He was only a small child when his father and three brothers were taken away. Soon after, Krikor, his stepmother, and his sisters were forced to depart, and his stepmother knew that they were going to die. She knocked on the door of a Kurdish family and gave her baby, Krikor 's half sister, away to them. She knew there was no other way for that baby to survive. Later, Krikor was kidnapped by bandits and was made a servant. He ran away years later and overheard that his father and three brothers were killed. He then lived as a vagabond until he was found by missionaries and sent to an orphanage. Later, in the orphanage, he was discovered by his long lost aunt. She took him in, but Krikor again ran away. After being sent to an orphanage again in Greece, Krikor worked in a tobacco factory in Greece, where he met his wife, and together they moved to Argentina. Although he survived the horrible Armenian genocide, Krikor Mateossian died in 1980