Armenian Genocide: What happened, how many people died and why is it still causing debate? – The Independent
By Lizzie Dearden
As the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide on 24 April approaches, the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people continues to stoke international tensions.
Mass killings at the hands of Ottoman Empire soldiers during the First World War are not disputed but historians continue to argue about whether the atrocities constituted a systematic effort to destroy ethnic Armenians.
What happened?
The Ottoman Empire, based in modern-day Turkey, was fighting the Allies as part of the Quadruple Alliance in the Middle Eastern theatre of the First World War.
Enver Pasha, the Minister of War, had publicly blamed military defeats on Armenians siding with the Russians and propaganda portrayed them as a “fifth column” working against the state.
On the orders of the government in 1915, Armenian soldiers in the Ottoman army were demobilised and transferred to “labour battalions”, where some were executed or died.
As the Russian Caucasus army marched into Anatolia, Ottoman authorities started deporting ethnic Armenians from the region, deeming them a threat to national security.
The slaughter, starvation and death that ensued claimed between 300,000 and 1.5 million Armenian lives, according to vastly differing estimates.
How did they die?
Contemporary reports listed numerous atrocities committed by Ottoman Turks, including massacres by shooting, stabbing, hanging, burning, drowning and alleged drug overdoses.
Hundreds of thousands of Armenians died in forced marches into the Syrian desert where they starved and died of thirst or disease.
Many of those who survived the journey were put into a network of 25 camps, where mass graves have subsequently been found.
The rape and sexual enslavement of Armenian women was also reported to be rife and even actively encouraged by some military commanders.
What is disputed?
Many modern-day arguments about the killings focus on the term “genocide”, with Turkey refusing to use it, claiming that the deaths were not systematic and the term was coined after the Second World War and could not be retrospectively applied.
The UN Convention on Genocide describes it as carrying out acts intended “to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group” and Raphael Lemkin, who coined the term in 1943, cited atrocities against the Armenians as well as the Nazi Holocaust in his investigations.
Turkey has portrayed the killings as part of the chaos of war and claims there was no organised attempt to destroy Christian Armenians, although other states have argued that the deaths were caused by policies orchestrated by the Young Turks government.
According to the International Association of Genocide Scholars, evidence shows that the “government of the Ottoman Empire began a systematic genocide of its Armenian citizens and unarmed Christian minority population.”
“More than a million Armenians were exterminated through direct killing, starvation, torture, and forced death marches,” the group said.
Who recognises the deaths as genocide?
The governments of 24 countries, including France, Italy, Russia and Canada recognise the events as “genocide”.
The British government does not, although the regional parliaments and assemblies of Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland do so.
Germany is set to use the term on 24 April, despite an intervention by the Turkish Prime Minister, and Austria did so this week.
Pope Francis called the massacres a genocide earlier this month, prompting Turkey to summon the Vatican's envoy and recall its own.
Countries including the US and Israel who have not previously used the term are facing calls to adopt it as the 100th anniversary approaches.
Why is it marked on 24 April?
Although the deaths continued through the First World War, 24 April 1915 was selected as the starting date of the genocide.
It was the day when the Ottoman government arrested around 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople, who were later executed
Was anyone punished?
Several senior Ottoman officials were put on trial in Turkey in 1919 in connection with the atrocities but the Young Turks' leading trio had already fled abroad and were sentenced to death in absentia.
Historians have since questioned the judicial process at the time, when Turkish authorities are accused of attempting to appease the victorious Allies.
Videos
Interview with Francis Malige, EBRD Managing Director
Armenians Commemorating 106th Anniversary of Genocide
Biden Under Pressure to Recognize Armenian Genocide - KTLA 5 News
Governance and Oversight Capacities Account for Our Bank's Robust Management System - Philip Lynch, Independent Board Member at Ameriabank
'Mr. President, It Is Now in Your Power to Right Decades of Denial' - US Congressman Adam Schiff Urges Joe Biden to Recognize Armenian Genocide
Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh in Despair After Trauma of Military Defeat - France 24
Interview with Kakhaber Kiknavelidze, an Independent Member of Ameriabank Board of Directors
Only Terrorists Keep Hostages, Putting Forward Preconditions for Their Release - Edmon Marukyan
Rep Adam Schiff Says Congress Should Recognize Artsakh
UN's Guterres Issues Global Appeal to Make 2021 'Year of Healing'
NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Landing Animations
Azerbaijan Uses Prohibited Phosphorus Chemical Munitions - Defense Army Video
Artsakh Defense Army Units Neutralizing Azerbaijani Arms Supplies
Artsakh Defense Army Units Neutralizing Azerbaijani Drone
Nagorno-Karabakh's Status Has Been At the Heart of Our Approach - Zohrab Mnatsakanyan
Artsakh Defense Army Releases Video Featuring Damaged Azerbaijani Military Equipment
Artsakh Defense Army Units Inflicting Manpower Losses on Azerbaijan
Gas Pipeline Damaged in Azerbaijani Fire Targeting Nagorno-Karabakh's Capital
President Armen Sarkissian Meets Emmanuel Macron at Élysée Palace
Artsakh Defense Army Neutralizes Azerbaijani Military Hardware
Artsakh Defense Army Units Neutralizing Azerbaijani Military Infrastructures
President Armen Sarkissian Meets with NATO Secretary-General in Brussels
Buildings and Homes Lying in Ruins in Nagorno-Karabakh's Capital After Azerbaijani Shelling
Artsakh Defense Army's Precision Fire Gives Deadly Blow to Enemy
Artsakh Defense Army Units Destroying Azerbaijani Tank
Zohrab Mnatsakanyan: Ceasefire Does not Mandate Azerbaijan to Kill Civilians and Hit Civilian Settlements
Armenians Protest Outside Turkrish Embassy in Los Angeles
Losses in Azerbaijan's Military Featured in Defense Army Footage
Artsakh Defense Army Neutralizing Adversary's Transport Column
Turkey openly backs Azerbaijan 'far more aggressively than in the past' - ABC News on Syrian mercenaries fighting in Karabakh
Iconic Armenian Church Hit in Azerbaijani Attacks in Nagorno-Karabakh City (photos)
Artsakh Defense Army Continues High-Precision Strikes
War Situation in Karabakh on European Parliament's Agenda
Call for Urgent Action: Armenian Journalist Brings Intn'l Colleagues' Attention to Situation iin Artsakh After Azerbaijani Attacks
Turkey's Support to Syrian Mercenaries Fighting Against Artsakh: Facts About Azerbaijani Aggression
Nagorno-Karabakh's Capital Under Azerbaijani Strikes
Armenian Armed Forces Neutralize Azerbaijani Defense Positions
ArmenianTroops Destroy Azerbaijani Armored Fighting Vehicle on Frontline
There is a solid evidence that Azerbaijan has launched a thoroughly planned attack on the NKR
EU calls for Immediate End to Hostilities over Nagorno-Karabakh
- 15:20 • 24.05.21 Interview with Francis Malige, EBRD Managing Director
- 11:39 • 24.04.21 Armenians Commemorating 106th Anniversary of Genocide
- 09:40 • 23.04.21 Biden Under Pressure to Recognize Armenian Genocide - KTLA 5 News
- 15:34 • 22.04.21 Governance and Oversight Capacities Account for Our Bank's Robust Management System - Philip Lynch, Independent Board Member at Ameriabank
- 14:09 • 21.04.21 'Mr. President, It Is Now in Your Power to Right Decades of Denial' - US Congressman Adam Schiff Urges Joe Biden to Recognize Armenian Genocide
- 12:37 • 03.04.21 Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh in Despair After Trauma of Military Defeat - France 24
- 17:33 • 11.03.21 Interview with Kakhaber Kiknavelidze, an Independent Member of Ameriabank Board of Directors
- 17:57 • 26.01.21 Only Terrorists Keep Hostages, Putting Forward Preconditions for Their Release - Edmon Marukyan
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- 16:37 • 30.10.20 Artsakh Defense Army Units Neutralizing Azerbaijani Arms Supplies
- 11:25 • 28.10.20 Artsakh Defense Army Units Neutralizing Azerbaijani Drone
- 13:45 • 24.10.20 Nagorno-Karabakh's Status Has Been At the Heart of Our Approach - Zohrab Mnatsakanyan
- 11:51 • 24.10.20 Artsakh Defense Army Releases Video Featuring Damaged Azerbaijani Military Equipment
- 11:40 • 24.10.20 Artsakh Defense Army Units Inflicting Manpower Losses on Azerbaijan
- 10:39 • 24.10.20 Gas Pipeline Damaged in Azerbaijani Fire Targeting Nagorno-Karabakh's Capital
- 12:41 • 23.10.20 President Armen Sarkissian Meets Emmanuel Macron at Élysée Palace
- 12:16 • 23.10.20 Artsakh Defense Army Neutralizes Azerbaijani Military Hardware
- 12:02 • 22.10.20 Artsakh Defense Army Units Neutralizing Azerbaijani Military Infrastructures
- 10:35 • 22.10.20 President Armen Sarkissian Meets with NATO Secretary-General in Brussels
- 10:51 • 17.10.20 Buildings and Homes Lying in Ruins in Nagorno-Karabakh's Capital After Azerbaijani Shelling
- 15:09 • 15.10.20 Artsakh Defense Army's Precision Fire Gives Deadly Blow to Enemy
- 13:13 • 13.10.20 Artsakh Defense Army Units Destroying Azerbaijani Tank
- 12:56 • 12.10.20 Zohrab Mnatsakanyan: Ceasefire Does not Mandate Azerbaijan to Kill Civilians and Hit Civilian Settlements
- 12:23 • 12.10.20 Armenians Protest Outside Turkrish Embassy in Los Angeles
- 17:23 • 09.10.20 Losses in Azerbaijan's Military Featured in Defense Army Footage
- 15:53 • 09.10.20 Artsakh Defense Army Neutralizing Adversary's Transport Column
- 14:11 • 09.10.20 Turkey openly backs Azerbaijan 'far more aggressively than in the past' - ABC News on Syrian mercenaries fighting in Karabakh
- 15:52 • 08.10.20 Iconic Armenian Church Hit in Azerbaijani Attacks in Nagorno-Karabakh City (photos)
- 10:57 • 08.10.20 Artsakh Defense Army Continues High-Precision Strikes
- 14:24 • 07.10.20 War Situation in Karabakh on European Parliament's Agenda
- 19:31 • 05.10.20 Call for Urgent Action: Armenian Journalist Brings Intn'l Colleagues' Attention to Situation iin Artsakh After Azerbaijani Attacks
- 16:17 • 04.10.20 Turkey's Support to Syrian Mercenaries Fighting Against Artsakh: Facts About Azerbaijani Aggression
- 12:39 • 04.10.20 Nagorno-Karabakh's Capital Under Azerbaijani Strikes
- 13:49 • 03.10.20 Armenian Armed Forces Neutralize Azerbaijani Defense Positions
- 10:12 • 29.09.20 ArmenianTroops Destroy Azerbaijani Armored Fighting Vehicle on Frontline
- 23:42 • 28.09.20 There is a solid evidence that Azerbaijan has launched a thoroughly planned attack on the NKR
- 18:45 • 28.09.20 EU calls for Immediate End to Hostilities over Nagorno-Karabakh
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