The Armenian Genocide
From 1915 to 1923, the Ottoman Empire committed deathly atrocities against its own Armenian people. The Armenian Genocide, or the 'Great Crime' (as called traditionally by Armenians), was planned and administered by the Turkish government over the Armenian population of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. The discrimination against the Armenian population was its religious minority: Christianity. In an Islamic controlled empire, Armenian populations were vastly outnumbered; historically, the Kingdom of Armenia was the first state to recognize Christianity as its national religion (301 C.E.). Ideologies of Islamic expansion and an all-Turk Ottoman Empire also sparked the genocide, as well. These victims were subject to a multitude of monstrosities; Armenians were at the constant mercy of deportation, abduction, torture, and massacre. The majority of the population were displaced from their homeland, being forcibly taken from Armenia and sent to Syria. Here, a large number of victims were subject to widespread thirst, hunger, and soon death in its unforgiving deserts. Throughout the Ottoman Empire, large numbers of Armenians were massacred, resulting in about 1.6 million Armenian deaths within eight grueling years.
"The story of the Armenian genocide is one of almost unrelieved horror at the hands of Turkish soldiers and policemen who enthusiastically carried out their government's orders to exterminate a race of Christian people in the Middle East."
Robert Fisk
"The Great War for Civilization" (2005)
Robert Fisk
"The Great War for Civilization" (2005)