The Four Stages Of The Armenian Genocide

100 years ago, the attempted annihilation of an entire race known as the Armenian genocide began. From 1914 - 1922, the massacres perpetrated by the government of Young Turks and later the Kemalist government aimed to eliminate all Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire (Armenian Genocide Museum - Institute). A population which had lived in the same region for centuries suddenly became nearly extinct. As for the cause, the outbreak of World War I provided the Young Turks an opportunity to solve the “Armenian question.” The Armenian question refers to the defence and liberty as well as fair treatment of Armenians during the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire (United Human Rights Council). With the world’s attention fixed on war, unusual civilian

In the first stage, the forty thousand Armenian men serving in the Turkish Army in 1914 had their weapons confiscated and became slave labourers; they later died from brutal work conditions. The roundups began in the second stage on April 24, 1915, when 300 Armenian teachers, lawyers, philosophers, and political leaders were taken, jailed, tortured, and then hung or shot (United Human Rights Council). Then came the mass arrests of Armenian men that were tied together and shot dead. Finally, the woman, children, and elderly Armenians were given a short notice to pack few belongings and leave their homes. They were then taken on death marches towards to Syrian desert. After being denied food and water as well as being beaten during the march, the Armenians were forced to just walk under the scorching sun until they dropped dead from exhaustion and dehydration. Those who survived were thrown off of cliffs, buried alive, or drowned (United Human Rights Council). Many local Turks who took over the homes and villages of the Armenians decided to spare some young children by forcing them to reject Christianity and become Muslims. However, with no help from the rest of the world, the Armenians managed to fight back by acquiring weapons and revolted the Turkish invasion known as the battle of Sardarabad; this saved the surviving population from complete extinction. Additionally, the body count of Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire before World War I was two million. In 1922, when the genocide was over, there were only 388,000 remaining Armenians in the Ottoman Empire (Armenian Genocide Museum -