The Armenian Genocide was the persecution and partial destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during World War I. From 1915 to 1916, Armenians, a mostly Christian ethnic group, were discriminated against, persecuted, and oppressed before the genocide began. During the rule of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), the Ottoman authorities conducted forced deportations, mass arrests, massacres, and policies that resulted in thousands of Armenian people’s deaths. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) estimates that between 644,000 and 1.2 million Armenians died during the Armenian genocide.

The political instability of the Ottoman Empire and the military pressures of World War I exacerbated the isolation of Armenians. Ottoman leaders ostracized Armenians and told the public that they were potential internal enemies, insinuating that they were disloyal. The international response failed to intervene and prevent the genocide of Armenians.

For many years, Armenians had been part of the Ottoman Empire, preserving their religious, cultural, and linguistic traditions. The Armenian National Institute states that Armenians participated in the economy and social life while living all over Türkiye, but non-Muslim populations experienced both legal and social inequalities. During the late 19th century, Armenians demanded security and equality, which raised tensions with Ottoman officials.

Between 1894 and 1896, the USHMM estimates that Ottoman forces killed at least 80,000 Armenians in massacres. In 1909, thousands of Armenians were killed by Ottoman soldiers and local civilian mobs as a result of anti-Armenian violence in Adana. This demonstrates a pattern of persecution and oppression in Armenian communities. The divided political situation deteriorated after the CUP consolidated power. After the seizure of dictatorial control in 1913, the government promoted Turkish nationalism in order to create a more homogeneous state. Following these events, Armenian communities, especially in eastern Anatolia, were viewed as obstacles by nationalist leaders.

In 1914, the Ottoman Empire entered World War I on the side of Austria-Hungary and Germany. After military setbacks against Russia, Ottoman leaders continued to portray Armenians as a community that might support the enemy. The Genocide Museum Institute states that the government used wartime security concerns to justify deportations.

During World War I, the violence affected both Armenian and Muslim Turkish communities in eastern Anatolia. Certain Armenian revolutionary and armed groups attacked Muslim neighborhoods and civilians. Reports from Van in 1915 describe Muslim homes being set on fire and destroyed by Armenian revolutionary fighters and armed groups during the looting of residential neighborhoods. These events contributed to the fear experienced by Ottoman Muslim civilians. During the 1909 Adana violence, up to 2,000 Turkish Muslims were murdered by Armenians, while Ottoman soldiers, troops, and civilians killed as many as 20,000 Armenians.

Ottoman authorities arrested about 240 Armenian leaders in Istanbul, formerly known as Constantinople. In addition, the USHMM states that deportations continued across the empire after the Tehcir Law “Temporary Law of Deportation” came into effect on May 27, 1915, thus forcing Armenians to march toward “harsh desert regions in Syria”. Many Armenians died because they did not have enough food, water, medical assistance, or shelter. Others experienced sexual violence, torture, murder, disease, and robbery. Men were executed or separated from their families, and women and children faced forced marriage, forced assimilation, and kidnapping. Armenians were displaced from their homes, and their businesses and lands were taken from them.

International governments received many reports of the atrocities from missionaries, survivors, and diplomats. France, Britain, and Russia issued a joint declaration and condemned the violence against Armenians. This was a substantial moment because it publicly condemned the atrocities as they were still happening. The declaration also used the phrase “crimes against humanity and civilization” for the first time in modern diplomacy to describe atrocities committed by a government against civilians. The 1915 declaration was a landmark because it declared that Ottoman leaders would be held personally accountable, so it laid the foundation for the principle of individual criminal responsibility in international criminal law. This meant that government officials could be held accountable for atrocities rather than the responsibility only being placed on the state. The concept is codified on Article 7 of the Rome Statute, which defines crimes against humanity, and Article 25, which establishes individual criminal responsibility in international criminal law.

Unfortunately, international denunciation did not stop the Armenian genocide. The Allied powers were mainly focused on defeating the Ottoman Empire, and they did not have additional resources for protecting Armenian civilians. Germany and Austria-Hungary received reports of the atrocities, but they were reluctant to put out official statements which would have jeopardized their alliance with the Ottoman Empire.

The United States contributed to international awareness when American ambassador Henry Morgenthau, Sr. sent reports to Washington, DC about the mass deportations and killings of Armenians. In a confidential telegram on July 16, 1915, he stated that “it appears that a campaign of race extermination is in progress,” describing the persecution of Armenians while the violence was occurring. American relief organizations raised funds to provide shelter, food, education, and medical aid to Armenian refugees. Humanitarian relief saved many, but it did not stop the violence and bloodshed.

Morgenthau’s description of the event recognized it as an organized effort to destroy a whole population. The term “genocide” did not exist yet, as it was coined by Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944. As Lemkin learned about the violence towards Armenians during World War I, he began to argue for international legal protections against the destruction of groups. The Armenian case formed a foundation for the concept of the term genocide, as well as developing international law.

Following 1918, the Ottoman Empire was defeated, and some former officials were court-martialed for wartime crimes. However, the proceedings were left incomplete, and several CUP leaders evaded prosecution. The 1920 Treaty of Sèvres proposed provisions for an Armenian state, but it was never formally established. In 1948, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which established a legal framework for addressing genocide.

The Armenian Genocide can be examined through Genocide Watch’s Ten Stages of Genocide. Stage 1: Classification and Stage 3: Discrimination occurred as Armenians were distinguished by their religious identity, ethnicity, thus facing inequality. Stage 4: Dehumanization, Stage 5: Organization, and Stage 6: Polarization occurred as Ottoman authorities portrayed Armenians as possible threats or enemies. Stage 7: Preparation and Stage 8: Persecution occurred through mass arrests, property confiscation, and deportations. Stage 9: Extermination occurred through killings, while Stage 10: Denial followed as the genocide was minimized and no party was fully held accountable. These stages demonstrate how discrimination escalated into a bloody genocide.

Genocide Watch recommends:

• The Turkish government should formally recognize the Armenian Genocide and reject historical denial.

• The United Nations should strengthen efforts to preserve American cultural and religious heritage.

• Governments and educational institutions should educate and promote awareness of the Armenian Genocide.

• The United Nations should improve early warning systems to identify and prevent future genocides.