Genocide was not defined as a punishable crime by the United Nations until 1942. Describing the heinous act as an “odious scourge,” the UN cites a dark history of considerable loss of human life in result of hatred, “with intent to destroy” one particular group of people (UN No. 1021). Clear specifications for the punishment of the crime did not yet exist in the era of the Armenian Ottoman genocide in 1915.
Once one of the largest empires the world has ever seen, the Ottoman Empire expanded to include nearly the entire Mediterranean coast east of Bosnia, including massive portions of the Middle East to the Horn of Africa. For centuries, the Ottoman empire would be home to a multicultural hub of languages, cultures, religions and ideas. Mass …show more content…
The Armenians were first alienated with unfair taxation, marginalized as minorities, and then were eventually concentrated to the Six Eastern Anatolian provinces by their government.
In the meantime, the Ottoman empire enacted a major reform program to centralize and reinforce the empire, saving it from total collapse. The restructuring of the Ottoman empire was packaged with empty promises of minority reform. The empire highly encouraged Muslim immigration in areas they deemed threatened by Armenian presence. Eventually, Kurdish and Muslim settlers overtook Armenian resources and property for their own benefit (Kaiser …show more content…
Armenians were calling for immediate social reform and regional autonomy, or the dissolution of the Anatolian provinces. Other crucial revolutionary forces such as The Young Turks, representing constitutional reform for the Ottoman empire and equality for Armenians, followed in their path. In the same year, Ottoman troops, and Kurdish cavalry and Muslims began a “series of massacres” of Armenian communities, by ruthlessly “plundering property, seizing land, and abducting women” (Kaiser, 368). By 1896, the Ottoman empire organized a mass killing of thousands of Armenians in the Ottoman capital of Constantinople.
The Young Turks were founded by army officers and civil servants, as well as the intellectuals and students of a generation that was not content with the direction of their absolutist leader, Abdulhamid. The empire was divided and struggling economically and socially. The Young Turks organized themselves and eventually joined Armenian revolutionary organizations to dethrone Abdulhamid, and enforce a parliamentary government. The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 set the stage for a series of failed reforms and devastating wars, including the Balkan Wars, a mission of “ethnic cleansing” (Kaiser
Once one of the largest empires the world has ever seen, the Ottoman Empire expanded to include nearly the entire Mediterranean coast east of Bosnia, including massive portions of the Middle East to the Horn of Africa. For centuries, the Ottoman empire would be home to a multicultural hub of languages, cultures, religions and ideas. Mass …show more content…
The Armenians were first alienated with unfair taxation, marginalized as minorities, and then were eventually concentrated to the Six Eastern Anatolian provinces by their government.
In the meantime, the Ottoman empire enacted a major reform program to centralize and reinforce the empire, saving it from total collapse. The restructuring of the Ottoman empire was packaged with empty promises of minority reform. The empire highly encouraged Muslim immigration in areas they deemed threatened by Armenian presence. Eventually, Kurdish and Muslim settlers overtook Armenian resources and property for their own benefit (Kaiser …show more content…
Armenians were calling for immediate social reform and regional autonomy, or the dissolution of the Anatolian provinces. Other crucial revolutionary forces such as The Young Turks, representing constitutional reform for the Ottoman empire and equality for Armenians, followed in their path. In the same year, Ottoman troops, and Kurdish cavalry and Muslims began a “series of massacres” of Armenian communities, by ruthlessly “plundering property, seizing land, and abducting women” (Kaiser, 368). By 1896, the Ottoman empire organized a mass killing of thousands of Armenians in the Ottoman capital of Constantinople.
The Young Turks were founded by army officers and civil servants, as well as the intellectuals and students of a generation that was not content with the direction of their absolutist leader, Abdulhamid. The empire was divided and struggling economically and socially. The Young Turks organized themselves and eventually joined Armenian revolutionary organizations to dethrone Abdulhamid, and enforce a parliamentary government. The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 set the stage for a series of failed reforms and devastating wars, including the Balkan Wars, a mission of “ethnic cleansing” (Kaiser