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Armenian Genocide

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The Atrocities committed against the Armenian people of the Ottoman Empire during W.W.I. is called the Armenian Genocide. A genocide is an organized killing of a group of people to put an end to their existence. The Armenian Genocide was planned and administrated by the Turkish government against the entire Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire. The genocide was between the years 1915 and 1923 during W.W.I. The Armenians were deported, expropriated, abducted, tortured, killed and starved. A huge part of the Armenian population was forced to move from Armenia and Anatolia to Syria, where the majority was sent into the desert and to die of thirst and hunger. Large numbers of Armenians were massacred throughout the Ottoman Empire.
W.W.I. gave the Young Turk government an excuse to carry out their plans of a genocide. The Armenian Genocide was masterminded by the Central Committee of the Young Turk Party which was dominated by Mehmed Talât , Ismail Enver , and Ahmed Djemal. They were a racist group whose ideology was articulated by Zia Gökalp, Dr. Mehmed Nazim, and Dr. Behaeddin Shakir. Armenians all over the world commemorate this great tragedy on April 24, because it was on that day in 1915 when 300 Armenian leaders, writers, thinkers and professionals in Constantinople were rounded up, deported and killed. Also on that day in Constantinople, 5,000 of the poorest Armenians were butchered in the streets and in their homes. Across the Ottoman Empire the same events happened from village to village to the leaderless Armenian people.
The amazing thing about the events is the complete cooperation of the Armenians. They did not know what was planned for them and went along with their government’s plant to “relocate them for their own good.” The Armenians were asked to turn in hunting weapons for the war. Communities were given quotas and would have to buy additional

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