Armenians in TurkeyAeriana, Heather, & Maria D.

Who?

• The Turks, influenced by their triumverate of ultra-nationalistic leaders, attempted to wipe out the Armenians, a Christian civilizations thousands of years old.

Did What? • Armenian political ans religious

leaders were jailed and then killed.

• Armenian men were arrested and shot on the spot.

• Soldiers were forced to work until they died, if they lasted too long they would just be shot.

• Armenian women, children, and elders were forced on death marches where bandits were encouraged to attack.

Why?• When the triumverate of Young

Turks (a nationalist group) came in to power they wanted to expand Turkey eastward across the Caucasus. The traditional homeland of the Armenians was in their way.

• The Armenians were also Christian, which made Turkish extremists (who were Muslim) label them as different and bad.

When?

• 1915-1918

• The Young Turks saw the start of the first world war as the perfect opportunity to take care of the Armenian problem because the world's attention would be focused on the battlefield.

Where?

• Eastern Turkey (Armenia)

How?

• The ruling triumverate of ultra-nationalistic Turks were the ones that made the decision to wipe out the Armenian population.

• They turned the rest of the Turks against the Armenians by denouncing their belief in Christianity and pointing out the differences in the two cultures. Armenians were educated, while most of the Turks were just peasants. The triumverate used this to their advantage.

Total Losses

• 1,500,000 total deaths

• The economic and cultural losses were high as well. After practically obliterating the Armenian people, the Turks swept into their homeland and destroyed the cities and museums full of precious three-thousand old artifacts.

Your Reaction?

• We were shocking that the Turks were able to erridicate the Armenian population and culture like they did. The Armenians were only left with a tiny portion of the land they once had. The conditions were awful and the torture the people underwent was unbearable.

What we learned.

• We learned about the horrors that the Armenians went through at the hands of the Turks. As well as how their culture was almost completely erradicated.