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Armenian Genocide Timeline
17
TIMELINE
Armenian Genocide
The Armenians
The Armenians are an ethnic group originating in Western Asia, specifically the Armenian Highlands. Christianity is the official religion of the Armenians, (Movsesyan) although their Christianity evolved over the years to look slightly different than "western chistianity". The Ottoman Armenians are Armenians whose homelands were taken over by the quickly expanding Ottoman Empire, who promised them a certain amount of religious freedom in return for loyalty. Unfortunatly they would undergo severe brutality at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, but do still exist today.
1876
In 1876 Sultan Abdülhamid came to power in the Ottoman Empire and suspended parliament, as well as the official practice of the constitution. The constitution stated that all subjects, regardless of religion/nationality were considered citizens. (Afyoncu) This allowed the discrimination and unfair policies against Armenians to really begin.
Classification
Stage
The beginning of the Sultan’s rule is the beginning of the distinct classification stage, although there were still some divides before his rule. When he suspended the official practice of the constitution he opened the floodgates for the unfair treatment of minorities such as the Armenians. It was no longer explicit that all subjects were considered citizens and should be treated fairly, which allowed people to start making divides between who they thought were supposed to be 'real' citizens or not.
Sultan Abdülhamid
The Sultan ruled from 1876 to 1909, and he would be the last autocratic ruler that the Ottoman Empire would ever see. While he was not ruling during the Armenian Genocide, he was at fault for the massacres of thousands of Armenains in 1895, and influenced the Adana massacres of 1909. This string of violence earned him the nickname "The Bloody Sultan" (Facing History and Ourselves 39), a fitting name considering that his treatment of the Armenians paved the way for the genocide.
1887-1890
1887-1890
The rise in Turkish nationalism brought on by the Sultan created increasingly uncomfortable situations for the Armenians, such as double taxation and violent raids. Some Armenians felt that a change needed to come from inside the country, and two political parties were formed. The A.R.F. aimed to liberate Armenians within the Ottoman Empire, while the Hunchaks wished to create a new socialist nation for Ottoman Armenians. (Social Democrat Hunchak Party) Both groups would go on to heavily influence the treatment of the Armenians. (Facing History and Ourselves 32-48)
Symbolisation
Stage
The creation of Armenian political parties that advocated for Armenian rights further encouraged the sense of us vs them that began forming in 1876. Unfortunatly, it made many Turkish nationalists as well as the Sultan more distrustful of the Armenians in general. Many people started using things like religious symbols and political flags to differentiate between who they trusted and not. Common religious symbols were the Armenian crosses vs the Islamic crescents.
The Hunchak Party
The Hunchak Party is a political party formed in 1887 by a group of russian armenian students that aimed to liberate the Ottoman Armenians from oppression and form an Armenian Socialist country. (Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa) They had many influential moments such as the placards they placed in 1893 and the protest they encouraged in 1894, and are still operating today.
1893
In 1893 the Hunchak Party began placing placards in Ottoman cities that addressed the muslims and encouraged them to fight against their oppressive sultan. (Facing History and Ourselves 32) They attempted the garner the muslims support by saying that the sultan had "soiled the sacred throne of Osman and rendered the religion of Islam detestable,” (Altıntaş 309). This unfortuantly angered the Sultan and his supporters, and a series of violent arrests of Armenians ensued, driving a rift even farther between the Armenians and the Ottoman Empire.
Discrimination
Stage
While things like double taxation clearly show discrimination, this event specifically shows the stage of discrimination. The Sultan used his power to unfairly arrest many Armenians after they did nothing wrong, showing that he was willing to put the Armenians at a severe disadvantage by abusing his power.
1894-1896
1894
In protest for the double taxation of the Armenians, which drove many of them into poverty, the Hunchak party encouraged the Armenians to withhold their taxes. In response the Sultan sent troops to 'restore the peace' but all they did was massacre thousands of these Armenians, a violence that spread throughout the empire in the following two years. (Facing History and Ourselves 35) These massacres are known as the Hamidian Massacres, and are often regarded as a 'trial run' for the later genocide.
Dehumanisation
Stage
The way the Sultan excused the Hamidian Massacres by saying that "the Ottoman government was bound to take strong measures to put down sedition" (Facing History and Ourselves 39) even though the Armenians were peacfully protesting, shows how little the government values Armenian life at this point. It also sets the stage for soldiers as well as the public to value Armenian lives as less then Turkis/Islamic lives, and less than human.
1909
When a branch of the political party known as the Young Turks were in danger of being exposed, they decided to go public. They marched towards the capital demanding the reinstitution of the constitution and picked up public support. Eventually the sultan, without proper military power to put down the uprising, gave in. (Facing History and Ourselves 51) With the reinstution of the constitution many muslims and supporters of the Sultan felt that their legal superiority was being threatened, and in response massacred 30,000 Armenians in protest in what is known as the Adana Massacres. (Cohan 335)
Dehumanisation
Stage
Like the Hamidian Massacres, the massacre of the Armenians in Adana devalues Armenian life and normalises killing the Armenians and treating them as lesser. The Young Turks, specifically their branch called the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), were very Turkish nasionalist, and their ideology further reduced the Armenians as a people.
The Young Turks
The Young Turks are a political party that originally aimed to replace the Sultan's autocratic rule with a constitutional government. A branch of the Young Turks, the CUP (Committee of Union and Progress) was very much in favour of Turkish nationalism, and they would eventually become the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide. (Facing History and Ourselves 51). It is important to note that not all branches of the Young Turks shared these extreme ideologies. They had power from 1909 until 1918.
1912
In 1912 the branch of the Young Turks called the CUP staged a coup and gained complete control of the government. They were able to do so because the government had been signifigantly weakened in battles with Italy and the Balkan League. An explosion of Turkish Nationalism ensued, non-muslim businesses were boycotted, and terms like infidel were popularized. (Facing History and Ourselves 65-68)
1912
Organisation
Stage
The CUP gaining power marked the moment that the government began actively organising the unfair treatment of the Armenians and indoctrinating the public in order to easily carry out the extermination of the Armenians. An example of this is the boycotting of the non-muslim businesses.
1914
1914 marked the beginning of World War I, which the Ottoman Empire was part of. They fought largly against Russia, their neighbours who had been their enemies for a long time. Because Russia had expressed support for the Ottoman Armenians, any Ottoman losses against Russia were often blamed on the Armenians. This encouraged the public to fear the Armenians and think of them as internal enemies. (Cohan 336) The Ottoman Empire also entered a military alliance with Germany at this time, which would have signifigant influence on the eventual genocide.
Polarisation
Stage
By using the Armenians as scapegoats for military losses, the Ottoman government was able to further isolate the Armenians. They built up distrust towards the Armenians, lowering public support for them, and therefore made it easier to carry the genocide out.
German Involvment
In addition to entering a military alliance with the Ottoman Empire in 1914, German government officials and officers not only encouraged but also sometimes made orders themselves regarding the deportation and mass killings (among other things) of the Armenians. (Facing History and Ourselves 94-97) They had severe influence on the course of events of the Armenian Genocide, and would continue to work with the Ottomans / Turks throughout history.
December 1914 - January 1915
1914-1915
In or around December 1914, a group of the CUP had a secret gathering in which they drew up documents outlining the extermination of the Armenians. This document included instructions like kill all men under 50, priests and teachers, kill all armenians in the army, send military to help the killing in towns where there wasn't enough public support. (Facing History and Ourselves 87-91) These documents held the extremely specific plans that would lead to nearly 1.5 million Armenian deaths. (Facing History and Ourselves 2)
Preperation
Stage
The documents created in 1914 by the CUP clearly shows official preperation for the genocide. These documents were sent across the empire and generals followed its instructions to prepare to eliminate the Armenian race. During this time the government also spread hate propoganda against Armenians, saying they were plotting against the Empire, which is another clear sign of the preperation stage.
February 1915
In January and February of 1915 the military began rounding up the Armenian soldiers and forcing them into labour battalions, from which they would be killed in small batches. (Facing Ourselves and History 83) This was extremely dangerous for the Armenians because it removed a large majority of able bodied men, and left the rest vulnerable.
1915
Preperation
This time period is a clear representation of the persecution stage. The able bodied men were seperated from the rest of the Armenians, weakening the people as a whole, work camps were created, and the beggining of the killings started.
Stage
April 1915
1915
April 24-25 1915 were pivotal in the Armenian Genocide. This date is widely regarded as the beggining of the genocide. On these dates about 650 Armenians, specifically poets, lawyers, doctors, politicians, intellectuals, and priests, were arrested, deported, and eventually killed. (Facing History and Ourselves 84) Now not only the strength of the Armenians (the able-bodied men) but also the brains of the Armenians have been removed.
Persecution
Stage
By removing a large portion of the Armenians intellectuals, the government showed clear intent to weaken the Armenian peoples by seperating them from eachother. It is often said that in order to survive in a changing world a race needs intellectuals. This time period also includes the mass killing and torture that is often seen in the persecution stage.
May 1915
1915
The mass deportations of Armenian civilians began in May of 1915 and continued throughout the year. These deportations, starting with peoples' personal belongings and properties being forcibly sold off, were actually death marches. The Armenian families, mostly women and children, were subjected to violence, hunger, thirst, sexual torture, and altogether unlivable conditions. To make matters worse, the few people who had a chance at surviving were often directly killed. (Facing History and Ourselves 85-103)
Extermination
Stage
The forced deportations of the Armenians in which at least a million people were killed are a definite sign of the extermination phase of genocide. It shows intent to wipe out the entire race, using methods such as the brutal and debilatating rapes of Armenian women and children, and the mass killing of the Armenians.
1916
In August of 1916 orders from Constantinople were sent to finally exterminate the last Armenian survivors in the work camps and along the rivers. (Facing Humanity and Ourselves 85) This was not an end to the killing, but shows the governments relentless push to leave no survivors.
Extermination
These orders from the government in 1916 shows the CUP's efforts to fully destroy the Armenian population, leaving absolutely no survivors.
Stage
1918
In 1918 the World War ended, and the CUP cabinet officially resigned. (Britannica Young Turks) Although this put an end to the state sanctioned killings of the Armenians, sporadic killings across the Empire continued. (Armenian National Institute Armenian Genocide) This shows the lasting effects of the CUP's determination to wipe out the Armenians.
1918
1948
In 1948 the UN genocide convention took place. This is pivotal because it defines what constitutes as genocide, which is the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, religous or racial group. (UN General Assembly) It proved very clearly that the Armenian Genocide was in fact a genocide. Regardless of the UN's statements, the Turkish Government denied the act of genocide, stating it was a necessary military relocation.
Denial
Stage
Even though the UN Genocide Convention clearly proved that the actions against the Armenians constituted as a genocide, and a majority of the world now recognized it as so, Turkey continued to deny it. This may be partially due to the CUP's efforts to indoctrinate the public by using tactics like calling the Armenians a threat to peace.
1984
In 1984 the Permanent Peoples Tribunal, a public tribunal that hears human rights cases based on international law, heard the case of the Armenian Genocide. The panel of jurors, which contained highly esteemed individuals, determined that the Turkish Government was undoubtedly responsible for the genocide of the Armenians. Despite this, the Turkish government continued to deny its actions. (Facing History and Ourselves 83)
1984
Denial
Stage
Now both the UN Genocide Convention and the Permanent Peoples Tribunal had determined that the Turkish Governments action were genocide, yet Turkey continued to deny it. This is most likely because of political and economical consequences that may come with admitting to the genocide, for example having to pay reperations to the Armenians for the harm they caused, and public opinion.
Present
Even now Turkey continues to deny the genocide of the Armenians. The government has gone as far as to ban schools from teaching the Armenian Genocide, or calling it a genocide at all. A large majority of the Turkish public don't believe that a genocide ever took place. Unfortunatly, North America has not been vocal enough on this issue. In fact it took until 2021 for a US president to even call the actions of the Turkish Government a genocide. (Rogers and Gall)
Present
Sources
Afyoncu, Erhan. “Second Constitutional Era in Ottoman Empire: A failed dream in the hands of Unionists.” Daily Sabah, Aug 03, 2018, https://www.dailysabah.com/feature/2018/08/03/second-constitutional-era-in-ottoman-empire-a-failed-dream-in-the-hands-of-unionists. Accessed 12 October 2022.
Cohan, Sarah. A Brief History of the Armenian Genocide. NCSS Publications, 2005, https://genocideeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/A-Brief-History-of-the-Armenian-Genocide.pdf. Accessed 12 October 2022.
Facing History and Ourselves. Crimes Against Humanity: The Genocide of the Armenians. FACING HISTORY & OURSELVES NAT, 2020, https://classroom.google.com/u/0/c/NTQ1NDI4NDA2MzM4/m/NTQ1NDI4NDA2Mzc3/details. Accessed 12 October 2022.
“Hunchak Party.” Encyclopedia.com, https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/hunchak-party. Accessed 12 October 2022.
“Social Democrat Hunchak Party - About us: The Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (SDHP).” Facebook, https://m.facebook.com/SDHPUSA/photos/about-us-the-social-democrat-hunchakian-party-sdhp-armenian-%D5%BD%D5%B8%D6%81%D5%AB%D5%A1%D5%AC-%D5%A4%D5%A5%D5%B4%D5%B8%D5%AF%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%BF-%D5%B0%D5%B6%D5%B9%D5%A1/805882406131606/. Accessed 12 October 2022.
Rogers, Katie, and Carlotta Gall. “Breaking With Predecessors, Biden Declares Mass Killings of Armenians a Genocide.” The New York Times, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/24/us/politics/armenia-genocide-joe-biden.html. Accessed 12 October 2022.
United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations. The Genocide Convention : Hearing before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, Ninety-Seventh Congress, First Session on Ex. O, 81-1, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Adopted Unanimously by the General Assembly of the United Nations in Paris on December 9, 1948, and Signed on Behalf of the United States on December 11, 1948. Washington :U.S. G.P.O., 1982. Accessed 12 October 2022.
Movsesyan, Bagrat. “Who are the Armenians? Where do they live? What makes them unique?” OST Armenia, 5 January 2022, https://ostarmenia.com/en/armenians/. Accessed 12 October 2022.
“Young Turks | History, Significance, & Facts | Britannica.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 28 September 2022, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Young-Turks-Turkish-nationalist-movement. Accessed 12 October 2022.
“Armenian Genocide (1915-1923).” Armenian National Institute, https://www.armenian-genocide.org/genocide.html. Accessed 12 October 2022.