Genocide(from Greek genos - clan, tribe and Latin caedo - I kill), an international crime expressed in actions committed with the aim of destroying, in whole or in part, any national, ethnic, racial or religious group.

Actions qualified by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948 as acts of Genocide have been committed repeatedly in human history since ancient times, especially during wars of extermination and devastating invasions and campaigns of conquerors, internal ethnic and religious clashes, during the period of partition peace and the formation of colonial empires of European powers, in the process of a fierce struggle for the redistribution of the divided world, which led to two world wars and in the colonial wars after the Second World War of 1939 - 1945.

However, the term "genocide" was first introduced into use in the early 30s. XX century by a Polish lawyer, a Jew by origin, Rafael Lemkin, and after the Second World War received international legal status as a concept defining the gravest crime against humanity. By Genocide, R Lemkin meant the massacre of Armenians in Turkey during the First World War (1914 - 1918), and then the extermination of Jews in Nazi Germany in the period preceding the Second World War, and in the Nazi-occupied countries of Europe during the war.

The first genocide of the 20th century is considered to be the extermination of more than 1.5 million Armenians during 1915 - 1923. in Western Armenia and other parts of the Ottoman Empire, organized and systematically carried out by the Young Turk rulers.

The Armenian Genocide should also include the massacres of the Armenian population in Eastern Armenia and the Transcaucasus as a whole, committed by the Turks who invaded Transcaucasia in 1918, and by the Kemalists during the aggression against the Armenian Republic in September - December 1920, as well as the pogroms of Armenians organized by the Musavatists in Baku and Shushi in 1918 and 1920 respectively. Taking into account those killed as a result of the periodic pogroms of Armenians carried out by the Turkish authorities, starting from late XIX c., the number of victims of the Armenian Genocide exceeds 2 million.

The Armenian Genocide 1915 - 1916 - mass extermination and deportation of the Armenian population of Western Armenia, Cilicia and other provinces of the Ottoman Empire, carried out by the ruling circles of Turkey during the First World War (1914 - 1918). The policy of genocide against the Armenians was determined by a number of factors.

Leading value among them was the ideology of Pan-Islamism and Pan-Turkism, which from the middle of the 19th century. professed by the ruling circles of the Ottoman Empire. The militant ideology of pan-Islamism was characterized by intolerance towards non-Muslims, preached outright chauvinism, and called for the Turkification of all non-Turkish peoples. Entering the war, the Young Turk government of the Ottoman Empire made far-reaching plans for the creation of “Great Turan”. These plans meant joining the Transcaucasian Empire, North Caucasus, Crimea, Volga region, Central Asia.

On the way to this goal, the aggressors had to put an end to, first of all, the Armenian people, who opposed the aggressive plans of the Pan-Turkists. The Young Turks began to develop plans for the destruction of the Armenian population even before the start of the World War. The decisions of the Union and Progress party congress, held in October 1911 in Thessaloniki, contained a demand for the Turkification of the non-Turkish peoples of the empire.

At the beginning of 1914, a special order was sent to local authorities regarding the measures that were to be taken against the Armenians. The fact that the order was sent out before the start of the war irrefutably indicates that the extermination of the Armenians was a planned action, not at all determined by a specific military situation. The leadership of the Unity and Progress party has repeatedly discussed the issue of mass deportation and massacre of the Armenian population.

In October 1914, at a meeting chaired by the Minister of Internal Affairs Talaat, a special body was formed - the Executive Committee of Three, which was tasked with organizing the extermination of the Armenian population; it included the leaders of the Young Turks Nazim, Behaetdin Shakir and Shukri. When plotting a monstrous crime, the leaders of the Young Turks took into account that the war provided an opportunity to carry it out. Nazim directly stated that such an opportunity may no longer exist, “the intervention of the great powers and the protest of the newspapers will not have any consequences, since they will be faced with a fait accompli, and thereby the issue will be resolved... Our actions must be directed to exterminate the Armenians so that not a single one of them remains alive."

By undertaking the destruction of the Armenian population, the ruling circles of Turkey intended to achieve several goals:

• the elimination of the Armenian Question, which would put an end to the intervention of European powers;
• the Turks would get rid of economic competition, all the property of the Armenian people would pass into their hands;
• the elimination of the Armenian people will help pave the way for the conquest of the Caucasus, for the achievement of the great ideal of Turanism.

The executive committee of the three received broad powers, weapons, and money. The authorities organized special detachments “Teshkilati and Makhsuse”, consisting mainly of criminals released from prisons and other criminal elements, who were supposed to take part in the mass extermination of Armenians.

From the very first days of the war, rabid anti-Armenian propaganda unfolded in Turkey. The Turkish people were told that Armenians did not want to serve in the Turkish army, that they were ready to cooperate with the enemy. Fabrications were spread about the mass desertion of Armenians from the Turkish army, about uprisings of Armenians that threatened the rear of the Turkish troops, etc. Anti-Armenian propaganda especially intensified after the first serious defeats of the Turkish troops on the Caucasian front. In February 1915, Minister of War Enver gave the order to exterminate the Armenians serving in the Turkish army (at the beginning of the war, about 60 thousand Armenians aged 18-45 years were drafted into the Turkish army, i.e. the most combat-ready part of the male population). This order was carried out with unprecedented cruelty.

On the night of April 24, 1915, representatives of the Constantinople police department burst into the homes of the most prominent Armenians in the capital and arrested them. Over the next few days, eight hundred people - writers, poets, journalists, politicians, doctors, lawyers, lawyers, scientists, teachers, priests, educators, artists - were sent to the central prison.

Two months later, on June 15, 1915, 20 Armenian intellectuals, members of the Hunchak party, were executed in one of the squares of the capital, who were charged with trumped-up charges of organizing terror against the authorities and seeking to create an autonomous Armenia.

The same thing happened in all vilayets (regions): within a few days, thousands of people were arrested, including all famous cultural figures, politicians, and intellectuals. The deportation to the desert regions of the Empire was planned in advance. And this was a deliberate deception: as soon as people moved away from their homes, they were mercilessly killed by those who were supposed to accompany them and ensure their safety. The Armenians who worked in government bodies were fired one after another; all military doctors were thrown into prison.
The great powers were completely drawn into the global confrontation, and they put their geopolitical interests above the fate of two million Armenians...

From May - June 1915, mass deportation and massacre of the Armenian population of Western Armenia (vilayets of Van, Erzurum, Bitlis, Kharberd, Sebastia, Diyarbekir), Cilicia, Western Anatolia and other areas began. The ongoing deportation of the Armenian population in fact pursued the goal of its destruction. The US Ambassador to Turkey, G. Morgenthau, noted: “The true purpose of the deportations was robbery and destruction; this is truly a new method of massacre. When the Turkish authorities ordered these expulsions, they were actually passing a death sentence on an entire nation.”

The real goals of the deportation were also known to Germany, Turkey's ally. In June 1915, the German Ambassador to Turkey Wangenheim reported to his government that if at first the expulsion of the Armenian population was limited to provinces close to the Caucasian front, now the Turkish authorities extended these actions to those parts of the country that were not under threat of enemy invasion. These actions, the ambassador concluded, the ways in which the expulsion is carried out indicate that the Turkish government has as its goal the destruction of the Armenian nation in the Turkish state. The same assessment of the deportation was contained in messages from German consuls from the vilayets of Turkey. In July 1915, the German vice-consul in Samsun reported that the deportation carried out in the vilayets of Anatolia was aimed at either destroying or converting the entire Armenian people to Islam. The German consul in Trebizond at the same time reported on the deportation of Armenians in this vilayet and noted that the Young Turks intended to put an end to the Armenian Question in this way.

The Armenians who were removed from their places of permanent residence were brought into caravans that headed deep into the empire, to Mesopotamia and Syria, where special camps were created for them. Armenians were destroyed both in their places of residence and on the way to exile; their caravans were attacked by Turkish rabble, Kurdish bandits eager for prey. As a result, a small part of the deported Armenians reached their destinations. But even those who reached the deserts of Mesopotamia were not safe; There are known cases when deported Armenians were taken out of the camps and slaughtered by the thousands in the desert. The lack of basic sanitary conditions, hunger, and epidemics caused the death of hundreds of thousands of people.

The actions of the Turkish pogromists were characterized by unprecedented cruelty. The leaders of the Young Turks demanded this. Thus, the Minister of Internal Affairs Talaat, in a secret telegram sent to the governor of Aleppo, demanded an end to the existence of Armenians, not to pay any attention to age, gender, or remorse. This requirement was strictly fulfilled. Eyewitnesses of the events, Armenians who survived the horrors of deportation and genocide, left numerous descriptions of the incredible suffering that befell the Armenian population. A correspondent for the English newspaper The Times reported in September 1915: “From Sasun and Trebizond, from Ordu and Eintab, from Marash and Erzurum, the same reports of atrocities are coming in: of men mercilessly shot, crucified, mutilated or taken to labor battalions, about children kidnapped and forcibly converted to the Mohammedan faith, about women raped and sold into slavery deep behind the lines, shot on the spot or sent along with their children to the desert west of Mosul, where there is neither food nor water... Many of these unfortunate victims did not reach their destination..., and their corpses precisely indicated the path they followed."

In October 1916, the newspaper "Caucasian Word" published correspondence about the massacre of Armenians in the village of Baskan (Vardo Valley); the author cited an eyewitness account: “We saw how the unfortunates were first stripped of everything valuable; then they were stripped, and some were killed on the spot, while others were taken away from the road, into remote corners, and then finished off. We saw a group of three women , who embraced each other in mortal fear. And it was impossible to separate them, to separate them. All three were killed... The screams and wails were unimaginable, our hair stood on end, our blood froze in our veins..." Most of the Armenian population was also subjected to barbaric extermination Cilicia.

The massacre of Armenians continued in subsequent years. Thousands of Armenians were exterminated, driven to the southern regions of the Ottoman Empire and kept in the camps of Rasul Aina, Deir Zora, and others. The Young Turks sought to carry out the genocide of Armenians in Eastern Armenia, where, in addition to the local population, large numbers of refugees from Western Armenia accumulated. Having committed aggression against Transcaucasia in 1918, Turkish troops carried out pogroms and massacres of Armenians in many areas of Eastern Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Having occupied Baku in September 1918, Turkish invaders, together with Azerbaijani nationalists, organized a terrible massacre of the local Armenian population, killing 30 thousand people.

As a result of the Armenian genocide, carried out by the Young Turks in 1915 - 1916, more than 1.5 million people died, about 600 thousand Armenians became refugees; they scattered throughout many countries of the world, replenishing existing ones and forming new Armenian communities. An Armenian diaspora (“Spyurk” - Armenian) was formed.

As a result of the genocide, Western Armenia lost its original population. The leaders of the Young Turks did not hide their satisfaction at the successful implementation of the planned atrocity: German diplomats in Turkey reported to their government that already in August 1915, the Minister of Internal Affairs Talaat cynically declared that “actions against the Armenians have been largely carried out and the Armenian Question no longer exists.”

The relative ease with which the Turkish pogromists managed to carry out the genocide of the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire is partly explained by the unpreparedness of the Armenian population, as well as the Armenian political parties to the impending threat of extermination. The actions of the pogromists were greatly facilitated by the mobilization of the most combat-ready part of the Armenian population - men - into the Turkish army, as well as the liquidation of the Armenian intelligentsia of Constantinople. A certain role was also played by the fact that in some public and clerical circles of Western Armenians they believed that disobedience to the Turkish authorities, who gave orders for deportation, could only lead to an increase in the number of victims.

The Armenian genocide carried out in Turkey caused enormous damage to the spiritual and material culture of the Armenian people. In 1915 - 1916 and subsequent years, thousands of Armenian manuscripts stored in Armenian monasteries were destroyed, hundreds of historical and architectural monuments were destroyed, and the shrines of the people were desecrated. The destruction of historical and architectural monuments in Turkey and the appropriation of many cultural values ​​of the Armenian people continue to this day. The tragedy experienced by the Armenian people affected all aspects of the life and social behavior of the Armenian people and firmly settled in their historical memory.

Progressive public opinion around the world condemned the heinous crime of the Turkish pogromists who tried to destroy the Armenian people. Social and political figures, scientists, cultural figures from many countries branded the genocide, qualifying it as a grave crime against humanity, and took part in providing humanitarian assistance to the Armenian people, in particular to refugees who have found refuge in many countries of the world.

After Turkey's defeat in the First World War, the leaders of the Young Turks were accused of dragging Turkey into a disastrous war and put on trial. Among the charges brought against war criminals was the charge of organizing and carrying out the massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. However, the verdict against a number of Young Turk leaders was passed in absentia, because after Turkey's defeat they managed to flee the country. The death sentence against some of them (Talaat, Behaetdin Shakir, Jemal Pasha, Said Halim and others) was subsequently carried out by the Armenian people's avengers.

After the Second World War, genocide was qualified as the gravest crime against humanity. The legal documents on genocide were based on the basic principles developed by the international military tribunal in Nuremberg, which tried the main war criminals of Nazi Germany. Subsequently, the UN adopted a number of decisions regarding genocide, the main of which are the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948) and the Convention on the Inapplicability of the Statute of Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity, adopted in 1968.

In 1453, Constantinople fell, heralding the beginning of the history of the Ottoman Empire (previously the Ottoman State), which was destined to become the author of one of the most terrible atrocities in human history.

1915 - symbol of human cruelty

Throughout the history of the Ottoman Empire, Armenians lived in the east of the country, considering this land their home and historical homeland. However, the Muslim state treated them differently.

Being both a national and religious minority, Armenians were perceived as “second-class citizens.” Not only were their rights not protected, but the authorities themselves contributed in every possible way to the oppression of the Armenian population. The situation worsened sharply after Russian-Turkish war 1877-1878

The defeated empire did not come to terms with the conditions dictated to it, turning all its anger towards the Christians living on its territory. It is no coincidence that Muslims expelled from the Caucasus and the Balkan countries were settled next to them. The close proximity of people of different religions and cultures often led to serious conflicts.

Raids on Christian villages became commonplace. The authorities simply watched. The outbreak of protests by Armenians became another reason for mass arrests and murders. But this was just the beginning. Approaching 1915 which became a symbol of human cruelty and indifference, a year painted with a scarlet helmet of blood of millions of innocent victims.

Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire

April 24, 1915- this date has become a symbol of the Great Tribulation, grief over lives lost and ruined destinies. On this day, an entire people was beheaded, striving only for a peaceful life in the land of their ancestors.

It was on this day that the arrests of the most prominent political and public figures of the Armenian elite began in Constantinople (Istanbul). Politicians, writers, doctors, lawyers, journalists, musicians were arrested - everyone who could lead the people, become their leader on the path to resistance.

By the end of May, more than 800 of the most influential Armenians were completely isolated from society and few of them returned alive. Then it was the turn of the civilians. Raids on Armenian settlements became more frequent and merciless. Women, old people, children - the sword in the hands of the embittered “punishers” incited by the authorities did not spare anyone. And there was even no one to protect their home, because the men were called up to serve in the army of a country that only wanted to get rid of them as quickly as possible. The surviving people were gathered into groups and, under the pretext of protection from enemy invasions, “resettled.”

How many people were left on the road, and how many of them, driven by sword and whip across the endless and barren expanses of Der Zor, reached their destination where slow death awaited them? They have no account. The scale of the operation planned by the authorities to exterminate an entire people under the guise of war was truly enormous.

Armenian genocide was preparing even before the war, and its beginning became a lever for launching the merciless “death machine.”

Back in February 1914, a boycott of Armenian enterprises began, followed by collection of property “for the army” and demobilization. In January 1915, the Turkish army was defeated in the battle of Sarykamysh and retreated. Rumors began to spread that the success of the Russian army was greatly facilitated by the voluntary assistance of the Armenians.

The retreating army brought down its wrath on local Christians: Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks. Raids on settlements, massacres and deportations continued until the end of the First World War, but in fact, the genocide continued after the surrender of Turkey and the overthrow of the Young Turks.

The new government condemned the actions of the previous one, and the main organizers of the crimes were put on trial. But even those sentenced to death, many of them escaped punishment by escaping from a country where, in fact, they did not want to condemn them. All investigations into crimes committed under the cover of hostilities pursued only one goal: to reassure the world community, which, despite the attempts of the Turkish authorities to hide the true state of affairs in the country, already knew what actually happened.

Largely thanks to the courage of ambassadors and public figures of European countries, the world learned about the greatest atrocity of the early 20th century. The progressive public demanded punishment for the criminals.

But the true punishment came from the victims themselves. In October 1919, on the initiative of Dashnaktsutyun party activist Shaan Natali, a decision was made to organize the punitive operation “Nemesis”. As part of this operation, Taleat Pasha, Jemal Pasha, Said Halim and others who fled from justice criminals.

But the operation itself became a symbol of retribution. Soghomon Tehlirian, who lost his entire family during the genocide, on March 15, 1921, in the Charlottenburg region, shot and killed the man who took away his house and relatives Taleat Pasha. And right in the courtroom, Tehliryan was acquitted. The world did not recognize the guilt of the man who avenged the crippled fate of an entire people.

Genocide of 1915- everlasting memory !

But, despite numerous condemnations, the world is still not ready to completely free itself from the shackles and let into its home all the bitterness of one of the greatest atrocities in the history of mankind.

Countries such as France, Belgium, Argentina, Russia, Uruguay recognized and condemned the Armenian genocide on the territory of the Ottoman Empire. But one of the most important players in the world political arena, the United States, continues to ignore such an important topic, speculating on it to influence modern Turkey (so far, only a few states have recognized the Armenian genocide).

And, most importantly, the fact of genocide is denied by the Turkish state itself, the legal successor of the Ottoman Empire. But the facts cannot be changed, history cannot be rewritten, and the 1,500,000 voices of innocent victims will never be silenced. Sooner or later, the world will bow to history, because despite Hitler’s words that marked the beginning of the Holocaust (“And who now remembers the destruction of the Armenians”), in fact, “nothing is forgotten, no one is forgotten.”

Every year on April 24, Armenians will rise to the heights of Tsitsernakaberd, bringing with them fresh flowers in tribute to the victims of the “great atrocity” and the eternal flame of torches will burn in the hands of the new generation.

Armenian genocide - causes, stages, number of victims, results. World recognition - find out which countries recognized the Armenian Genocide.

Every year, on April 24, millions of Armenians around the world honor the memory of their ancestors who died in the most terrible event called the Armenian Genocide. In memory of this bloody event, many videos were shot and broadcast on the main channels of Russia and other countries that recognized the genocide. Among the many stories filmed and shown, the most eye-catching was the video clip, called “Millions of Lives.” The plot of the video clip is based on the history of the Armenian people, without any distortion or distortion, all the pain that the ancestors of the dead carry with them every minute. Stars of world culture took part in the video, such as Montserrat Caballe, Mariam Merabova, and many others.

In addition to this video, in Russia on the TNT television channel it was shown, in which the stars of the channel took part. Around the world, in countries that recognized the genocide, many events were held to commemorate this date. For example, in one of the schools in the Californian city of Glendale, an event was held, the main invited guest of which was a local resident who survived the genocide, who told everyone present her story of survival during that difficult time. Events were held in Paris calling for remembering, honoring and mourning together with the Armenian people. Many exhibitions, conferences, charity evenings, sporting events, competitions and concerts around the world were intended to honor the memory of those killed in that terrible event.

Having studied the variety of forums, we can conclude that the majority only approximately know about this incident, without delving into historical sources, they draw blasphemous and incorrect conclusions. Many historians are still puzzled the real reason such brutal events, but are united in one thing - the brutality with which this genocide was committed can only be compared with another large-scale genocide of humanity - the Holocaust.

Causes of genocide.

By looking through most historical sources and notes, you can independently try to understand the reasons for this event. It is no secret that the fundamental cause of most wars, bloodshed and genocides was enmity based on religious differences. Currently, this topic is relevant, although countries all over the world are trying to be civilized and tolerant towards representatives of different religions. A hundred years ago, the topic of faith and worship of another God could have become the impetus for bloody war, which is considered massacre, arranged in 1915 by the Turks.

The Ottoman state, founded in 1299, expanded its possessions through the conquest of various lands, and after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 it became known as the Ottoman Empire. During the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Empire reached unprecedented heights and became the most large country peace. Ottoman Empire was a state connecting Europe and the East for more than 6 centuries. After the peace treaty was signed in 1924, the empire received official name"Turkish Republic" or simply Türkiye. In the history of Turkey, the most revered and praised ruler was Suleiman the Magnificent. There are still mosques and topkapis in Turkey that belong to family members of the ruling Ottoman dynasty. Many TV series and films are being produced that describe the events of the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. A distinctive feature of Suleiman's reign is the absence of fanatical contempt for religions other than Islam, since the empire was considered a multinational and multilingual state. But you should know that Muslims considered representatives of other faiths to be “second-class people” and did not give them any rights to a decent life. Only after the events that occurred during the reign of Selim (one of the sons of Suleiman the Magnificent), namely after the massacre of Shiites in 1514 in eastern Anatolia, in which more than forty thousand people died, did attitudes towards non-believers sharply worsen.

Also in the mid-15th century, there was a temporary truce between the Ottoman Empire and Persia. Both states “tugged” the Armenian land, and during the truce it was decided that the western part of the land was given to the Ottoman Empire, and the eastern part to Persia. What happened after this event with the Armenian people cannot be called anything other than persecution and resettlement.

The aggressive actions of the Turks towards the Armenian people began as a result of the Turkish defeat in the First Balkan War. The Turks were stunned by the defeat and the fact that the European possessions that had long belonged to them no longer had anything to do with Turkey. The Armenians' decision to side with Turkey's opponents marked the beginning of many years of hostility.

Many historians believe that the “root” and fundamental reason for the massacre aimed at the Armenian people was not military strategies, but the religion of the Armenian people. In 301, the Armenians were the first in the whole world to accept Christianity, as state religion and they still confess it to this day. By the time the views of the Armenians and the Turkish government collided, not a trace remained of the idea of ​​​​Suleiman the Magnificent about accepting all faiths. The Turks became fanatics of their faith and did not recognize any god other than Allah. The Turkish rulers adhered to a “fixed idea”: to reunite all Turks in their historical homeland, and the main obstacle to this reunification was the Armenian people. To achieve their own goals and dreams, the rule of the Ottoman Empire decided to carry out ethnic cleansing, which entailed irreversible consequences. The genocide did not become an event and a decision of one day; events over several decades led to this action. According to unofficial data, passive actions against the Armenian people date back to 1876 during the reign of the despotic Sultan Abdul Hamid II. Also, when studying the subtleties and details of this issue, you need to be aware of the fact that the rule of the Ottoman Empire ignored all the signed documents on peace and independence of the Armenian people. In other words, such a bloody, monstrous crime against the entire Armenian people is nothing more than a whim of the Turkish rulers and a way to prove to the whole world that they are still a great and powerful power, just like under Sultan Suleiman.

Thus, the two main reasons for the occurrence of the Armenian genocide are closely intertwined:

• Religion. The Armenians wanted to practice the faith they had chosen many centuries ago and not be converted to a religion against their will.
• Geographical location of the lands. The Armenian people and the Armenian Republic were at the vicissitudes of the war and were a hindrance to the Turks.

Stages of genocide.

When talking about any large-scale events in history, it is necessary to know the stages into which these events were divided. Genocide is no exception and includes several stages and events:

Stage 1 1876-1914

You should know that during the time of Sultan Suleiman, all news and publications, conversations and gossip not only in the Ottoman bazaars, but also from all over Europe were reported to the viziers of the Ottoman Empire. This “tradition” was preserved, and the Ottoman rulers immediately learned about what was written in Paris, who were outraged by such blatant injustice and lack of support from Europe.

As a result of the first Russian-Turkish war, the Berlin Peace Treaty was signed, which stated that powers such as Russia, England, Germany, France and Italy would now act as “defenders” and regulators of all political and ethnic issues of the Armenian people. The Ottomans ignored this agreement, and in 1878, the then Ottoman Empire began the first stage of persecution and extermination of unwanted Armenians. The first mentions of punitive operations date back to 1894-1896. As a result of the pogroms and murders in Asia Minor, more than 350 thousand Armenians were considered dead, and it is incalculable how many thousands of people were saved, choosing for themselves and their families a quiet existence away from the Ottomans.

Stage 2 1909

Stage 3 1915-1923

This wild, cruel method of exterminating people was not the only one used. In other parts, Armenians were forcibly placed on barges and ships, after which these ships were deliberately sunk by the Ottomans. As a result, thousands more people were drowned in the waters of the Black Sea.

Another method of extermination was the murder of every citizen of the Armenian people. Kurdish troops shot many people, and their corpses were thrown into the river.

Thanks to the choice of such cruel methods of extermination of the Armenian people and citizens of Armenia, according to official sources, the number of victims is more than 1.5 million people. In every historical source and article devoted to this topic, the numbers change, since it is definitely and officially unknown how many people fell due to the whim and malice of the rulers of the Ottoman state.

It is noted that the Armenian people did not bow their heads until the very end and fought for their views, their freedom and their independence. This confrontation between the Armenians is evidenced by the battles that took place in Musa Dag, where the Armenians held the defense for more than fifty days; defense of the cities of Van and Mush. The Armenians held out in these cities until the Russian army appeared on the territory of the cities.

The Armenians could not come to terms with such brutal methods, and after the end of all hostilities, an operation was created to destroy the Ottoman rulers, who decided to exterminate the innocent people. So in 1921 and 1922, three pashas who decided on genocide were shot dead by Armenian soldiers and patriots.

Results and consequences.

Many historians from hundreds of countries around the world consider the cohesion of the Armenian people to be the main result of these bloody actions. In one of the Israeli newspapers, in the early 2000s, an article appeared in which the author compared the Armenian and Jewish peoples: “... there are no more united peoples in the world than Armenians and Jews. Both peoples experienced terrible things in their history and did not fall. They suffered and begged for their carefree life.”

It should be noted that the Turks and the Turkish government for many years denied the events that took place and called the facts distorted, and the Armenian people liars who wanted to discredit the Turks. The only fact preventing Turkey from joining the Council of Europe is its reluctance to recognize the genocide of the Armenian people.

Currently, it is believed that there is not a single Armenian family whose history does not have something in common with the Armenian genocide. Great-grandparents, distant relatives and just family members - at least someone suffered in that terrible event. Therefore, for the descendants of those same Armenians and simply for the Armenian people, it became a matter of honor to convey the truth to humanity. Since the end, Armenians have been fighting for recognition of genocide worldwide. What is important to them is not sympathy, what is important to them is the recognition that they were almost exterminated, and then for many years they denied this fact.

Countries that have recognized the Armenian genocide.

Currently, many countries have passed resolutions recognizing the Armenian genocide by the Ottomans. These countries include:

It is a known fact that during his reign, He invited all European countries to follow his example and the example of his state. Sarkazy also advised Turkey to “...start respecting itself and accepting a long-confirmed historical fact.” According to Sarkozy, criminalization of genocide denial- another significant step towards recognizing the terrible tragedy committed in 1915 against the entire Armenian people. There was no response from the allied countries, but after some time, bills criminalizing the denial of genocide began to be adopted and signed in various countries. For example, after the signing of such a law in Cyprus, a penalty for denying genocide was introduced, such as imprisonment for a period of 5 years and a fine of about 10,000 euros.

According to many Armenians living around the world, it is important to them that this crime does not go unnoticed. The President of Armenia says: “With their disagreement and perseverance, the Armenian people may have prevented and are preventing the makings of genocides of other peoples.”

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Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire

Massacres in 1894-1896 consisted of three main episodes: the Sasun massacre, the killings of Armenians throughout the empire in the fall and winter of 1895, and the massacres in Istanbul and in the Van region, the reason for which was protests by local Armenians.

In the Sasun region, Kurdish leaders imposed tribute on the Armenian population. At the same time, the Ottoman government demanded payment of arrears of state taxes, which had previously been forgiven, given the facts of Kurdish robberies. At the beginning of 1894, there was an uprising of the Armenians of Sasun. When the uprising was suppressed by Turkish troops and Kurdish detachments, according to various estimates, from 3 to 10 or more thousand Armenians were massacred.

The peak of the Armenian pogroms occurred after September 18, 1895, when a protest demonstration took place in Bab Ali, an area of ​​the Turkish capital Istanbul where the Sultan's residence was located. More than 2,000 Armenians died in the pogroms that followed the dispersal of the demonstration. The massacre of the Armenians of Constantinople begun by the Turks resulted in a total massacre of Armenians throughout Asia Minor.

The following summer, a group of Armenian militants, representatives of the radical Dashnaktsutyun party, attempted to draw European attention to the intolerable plight of the Armenian population by seizing the Imperial Ottoman Bank, the central bank of Turkey. The first dragoman of the Russian embassy, ​​V. Maksimov, took part in resolving the incident. He assured that the great powers would put the necessary pressure on the Sublime Porte to carry out reforms, and gave his word that the participants in the action would be given the opportunity to freely leave the country on one of the European ships. However, the authorities ordered attacks on the Armenians even before the group of Dashnaks left the bank. As a result of the three-day massacre, according to various estimates, from 5,000 to 8,700 people died.

During the period 1894–1896 In the Ottoman Empire, according to various sources, from 50 to 300 thousand Armenians were destroyed.

Establishment of the Young Turk regime and Armenian pogroms in Cilicia

In order to establish a constitutional regime in the country, a secret organization was created by a group of young Turkish officers and government officials, which later became the basis of the Ittihad ve Terakki (Unity and Progress) party, also called the “Young Turks”. At the end of June 1908, Young Turk officers launched a rebellion, which soon grew into a general uprising: Greek, Macedonian, Albanian, and Bulgarian rebels joined the Young Turks. A month later, the Sultan was forced to make significant concessions, restore the Constitution, grant amnesty to the leaders of the uprising and follow their instructions in many matters.

The restoration of the Constitution and new laws meant the end of the traditional superiority of Muslims over Christians, in particular Armenians. At the first stage, the Armenians supported the Young Turks; their slogans about universal equality and brotherhood of the peoples of the empire found the most positive response among the Armenian population. In the Armenian-populated regions, celebrations took place on the occasion of the establishment of a new order, sometimes quite stormy, which caused additional aggression among the Muslim population, which had lost their privileged position.

New laws allowed Christians to carry weapons, which led to the active arming of the Armenian part of the population. Both Armenians and Muslims accused each other of mass armament. In the spring of 1909, a new wave of anti-Armenian pogroms began in Cilicia. The first pogroms took place in Adana, then the pogroms spread to other cities in the Adana and Aleppo vilayets. The troops of the Young Turks from Rumelia sent to maintain order not only did not protect the Armenians, but together with the pogromists took part in robberies and murders. The result of the massacre in Cilicia is 20 thousand dead Armenians. Many researchers are of the opinion that the organizers of the massacre were the Young Turks, or at least the Young Turk authorities of the Adanai vilayet.

From 1909, the Young Turks began a campaign of forced Turkification of the population and banned organizations associated with non-Turkish ethnic causes. The Turkification policy was approved at the Ittihad Congresses of 1910 and 1911.

World War I and the Armenian genocide

According to some reports, the Armenian genocide was being prepared before the war. In February 1914 (four months before the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo), the Ittihadists called for a boycott of Armenian businesses, and one of the Young Turk leaders, Dr. Nazim, went on a trip to Turkey to personally oversee the implementation of the boycott.

On August 4, 1914, mobilization was announced, and already on August 18, reports began to arrive from Central Anatolia about the looting of Armenian property carried out under the slogan of “raising funds for the army.” At the same time, in different parts of the country, authorities disarmed Armenians, even taking away kitchen knives. In October, robbery and requisitions were in full swing, arrests of Armenian political figures began, and the first reports of murders began to arrive. Most of the Armenians drafted into the army were sent to special labor battalions.

At the beginning of December 1914, the Turks launched an offensive on the Caucasian front, but in January 1915, having suffered a crushing defeat in the battle of Sarykamysh, they were forced to retreat. The victory of the Russian army was greatly aided by the actions of Armenian volunteers from among the Armenians living in the Russian Empire, which led to the spread of the belief that the Armenians in general were treacherous. The retreating Turkish troops brought down all the anger of defeat on the Christian population of the front-line areas, slaughtering Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks along the way. At the same time, arrests of prominent Armenians and attacks on Armenian villages continued throughout the country.

At the beginning of 1915, a secret meeting of the Young Turk leaders took place. One of the leaders of the Young Turk party, Doctor Nazim Bey, made the following speech during the meeting: “The Armenian people must be destroyed radically, so that not a single Armenian remains on our land, and this very name is forgotten. Now there is a war, such an opportunity will not happen again. The intervention of the great powers and the noisy protests of the world press will go unnoticed, and if they find out, they will be presented with a fait accompli, and thus the question will be settled.". Nazim Bey was supported by other participants in the meeting. A plan was drawn up for the wholesale extermination of Armenians.

Henry Morgenthau (1856-1946), US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire (1913-1916), later wrote a book about the Armenian genocide: "The real purpose of the deportations was plunder and destruction; this is indeed a new method of massacre. When the Turkish authorities ordered these deportations, they were in effect pronouncing the death sentence on an entire nation.".

The position of the Turkish side is that there was an Armenian rebellion: during the First World War, Armenians sided with Russia, volunteered for the Russian army, formed Armenian volunteer squads that fought on the Caucasian front along with Russian troops.

In the spring of 1915, the disarmament of the Armenians was in full swing. In the Alashkert Valley, detachments of Turkish, Kurdish and Circassian irregular troops slaughtered Armenian villages, near Smyrna (Izmir) Greeks conscripted into the army were killed, and the deportation of the Armenian population of Zeytun began.

In early April, massacres began in the Armenian and Assyrian villages of the Van vilayet. In mid-April, refugees from surrounding villages began arriving in the city of Van, reporting what was happening there. The Armenian delegation invited to negotiate with the administration of the vilayet was destroyed by the Turks. Having learned about this, the Armenians of Van decided to defend themselves and refused to surrender their weapons. Turkish troops and Kurdish detachments besieged the city, but all attempts to break the resistance of the Armenians were unsuccessful. In May, advanced detachments of Russian troops and Armenian volunteers drove back the Turks and lifted the siege of Van.

On April 24, 1915, several hundred of the most prominent representatives of the Armenian intelligentsia: writers, artists, lawyers, and representatives of the clergy were arrested and then killed in Istanbul. At the same time, the liquidation of Armenian communities throughout Anatolia began. April 24 went down in the history of the Armenian people as a black day.

In June 1915, Enver Pasha, the Minister of War and de facto head of the government of the Ottoman Empire, and the Minister of Internal Affairs, Talaat Pasha, instruct the civil authorities to begin the deportation of Armenians to Mesopotamia. This order meant almost certain death - the lands in Mesopotamia were poor, there was a serious shortage of fresh water, and it was impossible to immediately settle 1.5 million people there.

The deported Armenians of the Trebizond and Erzurum vilayets were driven along the Euphrates valley to the Kemakh gorge. On June 8, 9, 10, 1915, defenseless people in the gorge were attacked by Turkish soldiers and Kurds. After the robbery, almost all the Armenians were slaughtered, only a few managed to escape. On the fourth day, a “noble” detachment was sent out, officially to “punish” the Kurds. This detachment finished off those who remained alive.

In the autumn of 1915, columns of emaciated and ragged women and children moved along the country's roads. Columns of deportees flocked to Aleppo, from where the few survivors were sent to the deserts of Syria, where most of them died.

The official authorities of the Ottoman Empire made attempts to hide the scale and ultimate purpose of the action, but foreign consuls and missionaries sent reports of atrocities occurring in Turkey. This forced the Young Turks to act more cautiously. In August 1915, on the advice of the Germans, Turkish authorities prohibited the killing of Armenians in places where American consuls could see it. In November of the same year, Jemal Pasha tried to put on trial the director and professors of the German school in Aleppo, thanks to whom the world became aware of the deportations and massacres of Armenians in Cilicia. In January 1916, a circular was sent out prohibiting photographs of the bodies of the dead.

In the spring of 1916, due to the difficult situation on all fronts, the Young Turks decided to speed up the process of destruction. It included previously deported Armenians, located, as a rule, in desert areas. At the same time, the Turkish authorities are suppressing any attempts by neutral countries to provide humanitarian assistance to the Armenians dying in the deserts.

In June 1916, the authorities dismissed the governor of Der-Zor, Ali Suad, an Arab by nationality, for refusing to destroy the deported Armenians. Salih Zeki, known for his ruthlessness, was appointed in his place. With the arrival of Zeki, the process of extermination of the deportees accelerated even more.

By the fall of 1916, the world already knew about the massacre of Armenians. The scale of what happened was unknown, reports of Turkish atrocities were perceived with some distrust, but it was clear that something hitherto unseen had happened in the Ottoman Empire. At the request of the Turkish Minister of War Enver Pasha, the German ambassador Count Wolf-Metternich was recalled from Constantinople: the Young Turks believed that he was protesting too actively against the massacre of the Armenians.

US President Woodrow Wilson declared October 8 and 9 as Days of Relief for Armenia: on these days, the entire country collected donations to help Armenian refugees.

In 1917, the situation on the Caucasian front changed dramatically. The February Revolution, failures on the Eastern Front, and the active work of Bolshevik emissaries to disintegrate the army led to a sharp decrease in the combat effectiveness of the Russian army. After the October coup, the Russian military command was forced to sign a truce with the Turks. Taking advantage of the subsequent collapse of the front and the disorderly withdrawal of Russian troops, in February 1918, Turkish troops occupied Erzurum, Kars and reached Batum. The advancing Turks mercilessly exterminated the Armenians and Assyrians. The only obstacle that somehow restrained the advance of the Turks were the Armenian volunteer detachments covering the retreat of thousands of refugees.

On October 30, 1918, the Turkish government signed the Mudros Truce with the Entente countries, according to which, among other things, the Turkish side pledged to return deported Armenians and withdraw troops from Transcaucasia and Cilicia. The articles, which directly affected the interests of Armenia, stated that all prisoners of war and interned Armenians should be collected in Constantinople so that they could be handed over to the allies without any conditions. Article 24 had the following content: "In the event of unrest in one of the Armenian vilayets, the allies reserve the right to occupy part of it".

After the signing of the treaty, the new Turkish government, under pressure from the international community, began trials against the organizers of the genocide. In 1919–1920 Extraordinary military tribunals were formed in the country to investigate the crimes of the Young Turks. By that time, the entire Young Turk elite was on the run: Talaat, Enver, Dzhemal and others, taking the party cash, left Turkey. They were sentenced to death in absentia, but only a few lower-ranking criminals were punished.

Operation Nemesis

In October 1919, at the IX Congress of the Dashnaktsutyun party in Yerevan, on the initiative of Shaan Natali, a decision was made to carry out the punitive operation “Nemesis”. A list of 650 persons involved in the massacre of Armenians was compiled, from which 41 people were selected as the main culprits. To carry out the operation, a Responsible Authority (headed by the Envoy of the Republic of Armenia to the USA Armen Garo) and a Special Fund (headed by Shaan Satchaklyan) were formed.

As part of Operation Nemesis in 1920-1922, Talaat Pasha, Jemal Pasha, Said Halim and some other Young Turk leaders who fled from justice were hunted down and killed.

Enver was killed in Central Asia in a skirmish with a detachment of Red Army soldiers under the command of the Armenian Melkumov (a former member of the Hunchak Party). Dr. Nazim and Javid Bey (Minister of Finance of the Young Turk Government) were executed in Turkey on charges of participating in a conspiracy against Mustafa Kemal, the founder of the Turkish Republic.

The situation of Armenians after the First World War

After the Truce of Mudros, Armenians who survived the pogroms and deportations began to return to Cilicia, attracted by the promises of the allies, primarily France, to assist in the creation of Armenian autonomy. However, the emergence of the Armenian state entity ran counter to the plans of the Kemalists. The policy of France, which feared that England would become too strong in the region, changed towards greater support for Turkey as opposed to Greece, which was supported by England.

In January 1920, Kemalist troops began an operation to exterminate the Armenians of Cilicia. After heavy and bloody defensive battles that lasted in some areas for more than a year, the few surviving Armenians were forced to emigrate, mainly to French-mandated Syria.

In 1922–23 A conference on the Middle East issue was held in Lausanne (Switzerland), in which Great Britain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey and a number of other countries participated. The conference ended with the signing of a series of treaties, among which was a peace treaty between the Republic of Turkey and the Allied Powers, defining the borders of modern Turkey. In the final version of the treaty, the Armenian issue was not mentioned at all.

Data on the number of victims

In August 1915, Enver Pasha reported 300,000 Armenian dead. At the same time, according to the German missionary Johannes Lepsius, about 1 million Armenians were killed. In 1919, Lepsius revised his estimate to 1,100,000. According to him, only during the Ottoman invasion of Transcaucasia in 1918, from 50 to 100 thousand Armenians were killed. On December 20, 1915, the German consul in Aleppo, Rössler, informed the Reich Chancellor that, based on the general estimate of the Armenian population of 2.5 million, the death toll could very likely reach 800,000, possibly higher. At the same time, he noted that if the estimate is based on the Armenian population of 1.5 million people, then the number of deaths should be proportionally reduced (that is, the estimate of the number of deaths will be 480,000). According to estimates by British historian and cultural critic Arnold Toynbee, published in 1916, about 600,000 Armenians died. The German Methodist missionary Ernst Sommer estimated the number of deportees at 1,400,000.

Modern estimates of the number of victims vary from 200,000 (some Turkish sources) to over 2,000,000 Armenians (some Armenian sources). American historian of Armenian origin Ronald Suny indicates as a range of estimates figures from several hundred thousand to 1.5 million. According to the Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire, the most conservative estimates indicate the number of victims is about 500,000, and the highest is the estimate of Armenian scientists at 1. 5 million. The Encyclopedia of Genocide, published by Israeli sociologist and specialist in the history of genocides Israel Charney, reports the extermination of up to 1.5 million Armenians. According to American historian Richard Hovhannisyan, until recently the most common estimate was 1,500,000, but recently, as a result of political pressure from Turkey, this estimate has been revised downwards.

Additionally, according to Johannes Lepsius, between 250,000 and 300,000 Armenians were forcibly converted to Islam, which led to protests from some Muslim leaders. Thus, the Mufti of Kutahya declared the forced conversion of Armenians to be contrary to Islam. Forced conversion to Islam had the political goals of destroying Armenian identity and reducing the number of Armenians in order to undermine the basis for demands for autonomy or independence on the part of Armenians.

Recognition of the Armenian genocide

UN Sub-Commission on Human Rights 18 June 1987 - European Parliament decided to recognize the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire of 1915-1917 and to appeal to the Council of Europe to put pressure on Turkey to recognize the genocide.

18 June 1987 - Council of Europe decided that the refusal of today's Turkey to recognize the Armenian genocide of 1915, carried out by the government of the Young Turks, becomes an insurmountable obstacle to Turkey's accession to the Council of Europe.

Italy - 33 Italian cities recognized the genocide of the Armenian people in Ottoman Turkey in 1915. The city council of Bagnocapaglio was the first to do this on July 17, 1997. To date, these include Lugo, Fusignano, S. Azuta Sul, Santerno, Cotignola, Molarolo, Russi, Conselice, Camponozara, Padova and others. The issue of recognition of the Armenian genocide is on the agenda of the Italian parliament. It was discussed at a meeting on April 3, 2000.

France - On May 29, 1998, the French National Assembly adopted a bill recognizing the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

On November 7, 2000, the French Senate voted for the resolution on the Armenian genocide. The senators, however, slightly changed the text of the resolution, replacing the original “France officially recognizes the fact of the Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey” with “France officially recognizes that the Armenians were victims of the 1915 genocide.” On January 18, 2001, the French National Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution according to which France recognizes the fact of the Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey in 1915-1923.

December 22, 2011 lower house of parliament of France approved the draft law on criminal penalties for denying the Armenian genocide . On January 6, incumbent French President Nicolas Sarkozy sent the bill to the Senate for approval . However, the Constitutional Commission of the Senate on January 18, 2012 rejected the bill on criminal liability for denying the Armenian genocide , considering the text unacceptable.

On October 14, 2016, the French Senate passed a bill to criminalize the denial of all crimes committed against humanity, listing among them the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire.

Belgium - in March 1998, the Belgian Senate adopted a resolution according to which the fact of the Armenian genocide in 1915 in Ottoman Turkey was recognized and appealed to the government of modern Turkey to also recognize it.

Switzerland - in the Swiss parliament the issue of recognizing the Armenian genocide of 1915 was periodically raised by a parliamentary group headed by Angelina Fankewatzer.

On December 16, 2003, the Swiss parliament voted to officially recognize the killing of Armenians in eastern Turkey during and after World War I as genocide.

Russia - On April 14, 1995, the State Duma adopted a statement condemning the organizers of the Armenian genocide of 1915-1922. and expressing gratitude to the Armenian people, as well as recognizing April 24 as the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Armenian Genocide.

Canada - On April 23, 1996, on the eve of the 81st anniversary of the Armenian genocide, on the proposal of a group of Quebec parliamentarians, the Canadian Parliament adopted a resolution condemning the Armenian genocide. “The House of Commons, on the occasion of the 81st anniversary of the tragedy that claimed the lives of almost one and a half million Armenians, and in recognition of other crimes against humanity, decides to consider the week from April 20 to 27 as the Week of Remembrance for the Victims of Inhumane Treatment of Man to Man,” the resolution states.

Lebanon - On April 3, 1997, the National Assembly of Lebanon adopted a resolution recognizing April 24 as the Day of Remembrance of the Tragic Massacre of the Armenian People. The resolution calls on the Lebanese people to be united with the Armenian people on April 24. On May 12, 2000, the Lebanese Parliament recognized and condemned the genocide committed against the Armenian people by the Ottoman authorities in 1915.

Uruguay - On April 20, 1965, the Main Assembly of the Uruguayan Senate and the House of Representatives adopted the law “On the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Armenian Genocide.”

Argentina - On April 16, 1998, the Buenos Aires legislature adopted a memorandum expressing solidarity with the Armenian community of Argentina commemorating the 81st anniversary of the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire. On April 22, 1998, the Argentine Senate adopted a statement condemning genocide of any kind as a crime against humanity. In the same statement, the Senate expresses its solidarity with all national minorities who were victims of genocide, especially emphasizing its concern about the impunity of the perpetrators of the genocide. At the basis of the statement, examples of the massacre of Armenians, Jews, Kurds, Palestinians, Roma and many peoples of Africa are given as manifestations of genocide.

Greece - On April 25, 1996, the Greek Parliament decided to recognize April 24 as the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Genocide of the Armenian People carried out by Ottoman Turkey in 1915.

Australia - On April 17, 1997, the parliament of the South Australian state of New Wales adopted a resolution in which, meeting the local Armenian diaspora, condemned the events that occurred on the territory of the Ottoman Empire, qualifying them as the first genocide in the 20th century, recognized April 24 as the Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Victims and called on the Australian government to take steps towards official recognition of the Armenian genocide. On April 29, 1998, the Legislative Assembly of the same state decided to erect a memorial obelisk in the parliament building to perpetuate the memory of the victims of the Armenian genocide of 1915.

USA - October 4, 2000 by the Committee on international relations The US Congress adopted Resolution No. 596, recognizing the fact of the genocide of the Armenian people in Turkey in 1915-1923.

IN different time 43 states and the District of Columbia have recognized the Armenian genocide. The list of states: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington , Wisconsin, Indiana.

Sweden - On March 29, 2000, the Swedish Parliament approved the appeal of the Parliamentary Commission on external relations, insisting on condemnation and recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide.

Slovakia - On November 30, 2004, the National Assembly of Slovakia recognized the fact of the Armenian genocide .

Poland - On April 19, 2005, the Polish Sejm recognized the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the twentieth century. The parliament statement noted that “respecting the memory of the victims of this crime and condemning it is the responsibility of all humanity, all states and people of good will.”

Venezuela- On July 14, 2005, the Venezuelan Parliament announced its recognition of the Armenian genocide, noting: “It is 90 years since the first genocide in the twentieth century was committed, which was pre-planned and carried out by the Pan-Turkist Young Turks against the Armenians, resulting in the death of 1, 5 million people."

Lithuania- On December 15, 2005, the Seimas of Lithuania adopted a resolution condemning the Armenian genocide. “The Sejm, condemning the genocide of the Armenian people committed by the Turks in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, calls on the Turkish Republic to recognize this historical fact,” the document said.

Chile - On July 6, 2007, the Chilean Senate unanimously called on the country's government to condemn the genocide carried out against the Armenian people. “These horrific acts were the first ethnic cleansing of the 20th century, and long before such acts received their legal formulation, the fact was recorded gross violation human rights of the Armenian people," the Senate statement noted.

Bolivia - On November 26, 2014, both houses of the Bolivian parliament recognized the Armenian genocide. “On the night of April 24, 1915, the authorities of the Ottoman Empire, the leaders of the Union and Progress party began the arrests and planned expulsion of representatives of the Armenian intelligentsia, political figures, scientists, writers, cultural figures, clergy, doctors, public figures and specialists, and then massacre of the Armenian civilian population on the territory of historical Western Armenia and Anatolia,” the statement said.

Germany - On June 2, 2016, members of the German Bundestag approved a resolution that recognizes the killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide. On the same day, Türkiye recalled its ambassador from Berlin.

Roman Catholic Church- On April 12, 2015, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Francis, during mass , dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, called the 1915 massacres of Armenians the first genocide of the 20th century: “In the last century, humanity experienced three massive and unprecedented tragedies. The first tragedy, which many consider as the “first genocide of the 20th century,” hit the Armenian people.”

Spain- the Armenian genocide was recognized by 12 cities in the country: on July 28, 2016, the city council of Alicante adopted an institutional declaration and publicly condemned the genocide of the Armenian people in Ottoman Turkey; On November 25, 2015, the city of Alsira was recognized as genocide.

Denial of genocide

Most countries in the world have not officially recognized the Armenian genocide. The authorities of the Republic of Turkey actively deny the fact of the Armenian genocide; they are supported by the authorities of Azerbaijan.

The Turkish authorities categorically refuse to acknowledge the fact of genocide. Turkish historians note that the events of 1915 were in no way ethnic cleansing, and as a result of the clashes, a large number of Turks themselves died at the hands of the Armenians.

According to the Turkish side, there was an Armenian rebellion, and all operations to resettle Armenians were dictated by military necessity. The Turkish side also disputes the numerical data on the number of Armenian deaths and emphasizes the significant number of casualties among Turkish troops and the population during the suppression of the rebellion.

In 2008, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan proposed that the Armenian government create a joint commission of historians to study the events of 1915. The Turkish government has stated that it is ready to open all archives of that period to Armenian historians. To this proposal, Armenian President Robert Kocharyan responded that the development of bilateral relations is a matter for governments, not historians, and proposed the normalization of relations between the two countries without any preconditions. Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian noted in a response statement that “outside Turkey, scientists - Armenians, Turks and others - have studied these problems and made their own independent conclusions. The most famous among them is a letter to Prime Minister Erdogan from the International Association of Genocide Scholars in May 2006 year in which they together and unanimously confirm the fact of genocide and appeal to the Turkish government with a request to recognize the responsibility of the previous government."

In early December 2008, Turkish professors, scientists and some experts began collecting signatures for an open letter apologizing to the Armenian people. “Conscience does not allow us not to recognize the great misfortune of the Ottoman Armenians in 1915,” the letter says.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan criticized the campaign. The head of the Turkish government said that he “does not accept such initiatives.” "We did not commit this crime, we have nothing to apologize for. Whoever is guilty can apologize. However, the Republic of Turkey, the Turkish nation, does not have such problems." Noting that such initiatives of the intelligentsia interfere with the settlement of issues between the two states, the French Prime Minister made the following conclusion: “These campaigns are wrong. Approaching the resolution of issues with good intentions- this is one thing, but apologizing is completely different. It's illogical."

The Republic of Azerbaijan has shown solidarity with Turkey's position and also denies the fact of the Armenian genocide. Heydar Aliyev stated, speaking about genocide, that nothing like this happened, and all historians know this.

In French public opinion, tendencies also prevail in favor of initiating the organization of a commission to study the tragic events of 1915 in the Ottoman Empire. French researcher and writer Yves Benard, on his personal resource Yvesbenard.fr, calls on impartial historians and politicians to study Ottoman and Armenian archives and answer the following questions:

• What was the number of Armenian casualties during the First World War?
• What is the number of Armenian victims who died during the resettlement, and how did they die?
• How many peaceful Turks were killed by Dashnaktsutyun during the same period?
• Was there genocide?

Yves Benard believes that there was a Turkish-Armenian tragedy, but not genocide. And calls for mutual forgiveness and reconciliation between two peoples and two states.

Notes:

1. Genocide // Online Etymology Dictionary.
2. Spingola D. Raphael Lemkin and the Etymology of "Genocide" // Spingola D. The Ruling Elite: Death, Destruction, and Domination. Victoria: Trafford Publishing, 2014. pp. 662-672.
3. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, December 9, 1948 // Collection of international treaties. T.1, part 2. Universal contracts. UN. N.Y., Geneve, 1994.
4. Armenian genocide in Turkey: a brief historical overview // Genocide.ru, 06.08.2007.
5. Berlin Treatise // Official website of the Faculty of History of Moscow State University.
6. Cyprus Convention // "Academician".
7. Bénard Y. Génocide arménien, et si on nous avait menti? Essai. Paris, 2009.
8. Kinross L. The Rise and Decline of the Ottoman Empire. M.: Kron-press, 1999.
9. Armenian genocide, 1915 // Armtown, 04/22/2011.
10. Jemal Pasha // Genocide.ru.
11. Reds. Part twenty-nine. Between the Kemalists and the Bolsheviks // ArAcH.
12. Switzerland recognized the killings of Armenians as genocide // BBC Russian Service, 12/17/2003.
13. International Affirmation of the Armenian Genocide // Armenian National Institute. Washington; The US state of Indiana recognized the Armenian Genocide // Hayernaysor.am, 11/06/2017.
14. Who recognized the Armenian genocide of 1915 // Armenika.
15. Decision of the Parliament of the Slovak Republic // Genocide.org.ua .
16. Poland Parliament Resolution // Armenian National Institute. Washington.
17. National Assembly of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Resolution A-56 07.14.05 // Genocide.org.ua
18. Lithuania Assembly Resolution // Armenian National Institute. Washington.
19. The Chilean Senate adopted a document condemning the Armenian genocide // RIA Novosti, 06.06.2007.
20. Bolivia recognizes and condemns the Armenian genocide // Website of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, 12/01/2014.
21. Türkei zieht Botschafter aus Berlin ab // Bild.de, 02.06.2016.
22. The Prime Minister of Turkey is not going to apologize for the Armenian genocide // Izvestia, 12/18/2008.
23. Erdogan called the position of the Armenian diaspora “cheap political lobbying” // Armtown, 11/14/2008.
24. L. Sycheva: Türkiye yesterday and today. Are claims to the role of leader of the Turkic world justified // Central Asia, 06.24.2010.
25. Armenian genocide: not recognized by Turkey and Azerbaijan // Radio Liberty, 02.17.2001.

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Mass extermination and deportation of the Armenian population of Western Armenia, Cilicia and other provinces of the Ottoman Empire was carried out by the ruling circles of Turkey in 1915-1923. The policy of genocide against the Armenians was determined by a number of factors. The leading importance among them was the ideology of Pan-Islamism and Pan-Turkism, which was professed by the ruling circles of the Ottoman Empire. The militant ideology of pan-Islamism was characterized by intolerance towards non-Muslims, preached outright chauvinism, and called for the Turkification of all non-Turkish peoples. Entering the war, the Young Turk government of the Ottoman Empire made far-reaching plans for the creation of “Great Turan”. It was meant to annex Transcaucasia and the North to the empire. Caucasus, Crimea, Volga region, Central Asia. On the way to this goal, the aggressors had to put an end to, first of all, the Armenian people, who opposed the aggressive plans of the Pan-Turkists.

The Young Turks began to develop plans for the destruction of the Armenian population even before the start of the World War. The decisions of the Congress of the Party "Unity and Progress" (Ittihad ve Terakki), held in October 1911 in Thessaloniki, contained a demand for the Turkification of the non-Turkish peoples of the empire. Following this, the political and military circles of Turkey came to the decision to carry out the genocide of Armenians throughout the Ottoman Empire. At the beginning of 1914, a special order was sent to local authorities regarding the measures that were to be taken against the Armenians. The fact that the order was sent out before the start of the war irrefutably indicates that the extermination of the Armenians was a planned action, not at all determined by a specific military situation.

The leadership of the Unity and Progress party has repeatedly discussed the issue of mass deportation and massacre of the Armenian population. In September 1914, at a meeting chaired by the Minister of Internal Affairs Talaat, a special body was formed - the Executive Committee of Three, which was tasked with organizing the beating of the Armenian population; it included the leaders of the Young Turks Nazim, Behaetdin Shakir and Shukri. When plotting a monstrous crime, the leaders of the Young Turks took into account that the war provided an opportunity to carry it out. Nazim directly stated that such an opportunity may no longer exist, “the intervention of the great powers and the protest of the newspapers will not have any consequences, since they will face a fait accompli, and thereby the issue will be resolved... Our actions must be directed to exterminate the Armenians so that not a single one of them remains alive."

By undertaking the extermination of the Armenian population, the ruling circles of Turkey intended to achieve several goals: the elimination of the Armenian Question, which would put an end to the intervention of European powers; the Turks would get rid of economic competition, all the property of the Armenians would pass into their hands; the elimination of the Armenian people will help pave the way for the capture of the Caucasus, to achieve the “great ideal of Turanism.” The executive committee of the three received broad powers, weapons, and money. The authorities organized special detachments such as “Teshkilat and Makhsuse,” which consisted mainly of criminals released from prison and other criminal elements who were supposed to take part in the mass extermination of Armenians.

From the very first days of the war, rabid anti-Armenian propaganda unfolded in Turkey. The Turkish people were told that Armenians did not want to serve in the Turkish army, that they were ready to cooperate with the enemy. Fabrications were spread about the mass desertion of Armenians from the Turkish army, about uprisings of Armenians that threatened the rear of the Turkish troops, etc.

Unbridled chauvinistic propaganda against the Armenians especially intensified after the first serious defeats of the Turkish troops on the Caucasian front. In February 1915, War Minister Enver gave the order to exterminate Armenians serving in the Turkish army. At the beginning of the war, about 60 thousand Armenians aged 18-45 were drafted into the Turkish army, i.e. the most combat-ready part of the male population. This order was carried out with unprecedented cruelty.

From May - June 1915, mass deportation and massacre of the Armenian population of Western Armenia (vilayets of Van, Erzurum, Bitlis, Kharberd, Sebastia, Diyarbekir), Cilicia, Western Anatolia and other areas began. The ongoing deportation of the Armenian population in fact pursued the goal of its destruction. The real goals of the deportation were also known to Germany, Turkey's ally. The German consul in Trebizond in July 1915 reported on the deportation of Armenians in this vilayet and noted that the Young Turks intended to put an end to the Armenian Question.

The Armenians removed from their places of permanent residence were brought into caravans that headed deep into the empire, to Mesopotamia and Syria, where special camps were created for them. Armenians were destroyed both in their places of residence and on the way to exile; their caravans were attacked by Turkish rabble, Kurdish bandits eager for prey. As a result, a small part of the deported Armenians reached their destinations. But even those who reached the deserts of Mesopotamia were not safe; There are known cases when deported Armenians were taken out of the camps and slaughtered by the thousands in the desert.

The lack of basic sanitary conditions, hunger, and epidemics caused the death of hundreds of thousands of people. The actions of the Turkish pogromists were characterized by unprecedented cruelty. The leaders of the Young Turks demanded this. Thus, the Minister of Internal Affairs Talaat, in a secret telegram sent to the governor of Aleppo, demanded an end to the existence of Armenians, not to pay any attention to age, gender, or remorse. This requirement was strictly fulfilled. Eyewitnesses of the events, Armenians who survived the horrors of deportation and genocide, left numerous descriptions of the incredible suffering that befell the Armenian population. Most of the Armenian population of Cilicia was also subjected to barbaric extermination. The massacre of Armenians continued in subsequent years. Thousands of Armenians were exterminated, driven to the southern regions of the Ottoman Empire and kept in the camps of Ras-ul-Ain, Deir ez-Zor and others. The Young Turks sought to carry out the genocide of Armenians in Eastern Armenia, where, in addition to the local population, large numbers of refugees from Western Armenia. Having committed aggression against Transcaucasia in 1918, Turkish troops carried out pogroms and massacres of Armenians in many areas of Eastern Armenia and Azerbaijan. Having occupied Baku in September 1918, the Turkish interventionists, together with the Caucasian Tatars, organized a terrible massacre of the local Armenian population, killing 30 thousand people. As a result of the Armenian genocide, carried out by the Young Turks in 1915-16 alone, 1.5 million people died. About 600 thousand Armenians became refugees; they scattered throughout many countries of the world, replenishing existing ones and forming new Armenian communities. The Armenian Diaspora (Spyurk) was formed. As a result of the genocide, Western Armenia lost its original population. The leaders of the Young Turks did not hide their satisfaction at the successful implementation of the planned atrocity: German diplomats in Turkey reported to their government that already in August 1915, the Minister of Internal Affairs Talaat cynically declared that “actions against the Armenians have been largely carried out and the Armenian Question no longer exists.”

The relative ease with which the Turkish pogromists managed to carry out the genocide of the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire is partly explained by the unpreparedness of the Armenian population, as well as the Armenian political parties, for the looming threat of extermination. The actions of the pogromists were greatly facilitated by the mobilization of the most combat-ready part of the Armenian population - men - into the Turkish army, as well as the liquidation of the Armenian intelligentsia of Constantinople. A certain role was also played by the fact that in some public and clerical circles of Western Armenians they believed that disobedience to the Turkish authorities, who gave orders for deportation, could only lead to an increase in the number of victims.

However, in some areas the Armenian population offered stubborn resistance to the Turkish vandals. The Armenians of Van, resorting to self-defense, successfully repelled the enemy’s attacks and held the city in their hands until the arrival of Russian troops and Armenian volunteers. The Armenians of Shapin Garakhisar, Musha, Sasun, and Shatakh offered armed resistance to the many times superior enemy forces. The epic of the defenders of Mount Musa in Suetia lasted for forty days. The self-defense of the Armenians in 1915 is a heroic page in the national liberation struggle of the people.

During the aggression against Armenia in 1918, the Turks, having occupied Karaklis, carried out a massacre of the Armenian population, killing several thousand people. In September 1918, Turkish troops occupied Baku and, together with Azerbaijani nationalists, organized the massacre of the local Armenian population.

During the Turkish-Armenian War of 1920, Turkish troops occupied Alexandropol. Continuing the policies of their predecessors, the Young Turks, the Kemalists sought to organize genocide in Eastern Armenia, where, in addition to the local population, masses of refugees from Western Armenia had accumulated. In Alexandropol and the villages of the district, the Turkish occupiers committed atrocities, destroyed the peaceful Armenian population, and plundered property. The Revolutionary Committee of Soviet Armenia received information about the excesses of the Kemalists. One of the reports said: “About 30 villages were cut out in the Alexandropol district and Akhalkalaki region; some of those who managed to escape are in the most dire situation.” Other messages described the situation in the villages of the Alexandropol district: “All the villages have been robbed, there is no shelter, no grain, no clothing, no fuel. The streets of the villages are overflowing with corpses. All this is complemented by hunger and cold, claiming one victim after another... In addition, the askers and the hooligans mock their prisoners and try to punish the people with even more brutal means, rejoicing and getting pleasure from it. They subject parents to various tortures, force them to hand over their 8-9 year old girls to the executioners..."

In January 1921, the government of Soviet Armenia expressed a protest to the Commissioner for Foreign Affairs of Turkey due to the fact that Turkish troops in the Alexandropol district were committing “continuous violence, robberies and murders against the peaceful working population...”. Tens of thousands of Armenians became victims of the atrocities of the Turkish occupiers. The invaders also caused enormous material damage to the Alexandropol district.

In 1918-20, the city of Shushi, the center of Karabakh, became the scene of pogroms and massacres of the Armenian population. In September 1918, Turkish troops, supported by the Azerbaijani Musavatists, moved towards Shushi, ravaging Armenian villages along the way and destroying their population; on September 25, 1918, Turkish troops occupied Shushi. But soon, after Turkey’s defeat in the First World War, they were forced to leave it. On Dec. 1918 The British entered Shushi. Soon the Musavatist Khosrov-bek Sultanov was appointed governor-general of Karabakh. With the help of Turkish military instructors, he formed Kurdish shock troops, which, together with units of the Musavat army, were stationed in the Armenian part of Shushi. The forces of the pogromists were constantly replenished, and there were many Turkish officers in the city. In June 1919, the first pogroms of the Armenians of Shushi took place; On the night of June 5, at least 500 Armenians were killed in the city and surrounding villages. On March 23, 1920, Turkish-Musavat gangs committed a terrible pogrom against the Armenian population of Shushi, killing over 30 thousand people and setting the Armenian part of the city on fire.

The Armenians of Cilicia, who survived the genocide of 1915-16 and found refuge in other countries, began to return to their homeland after the defeat of Turkey. According to the division of zones of influence determined by the allies, Cilicia was included in the sphere of influence of France. In 1919, 120-130 thousand Armenians lived in Cilicia; The return of Armenians continued, and by 1920 their number reached 160 thousand. The command of the French troops located in Cilicia did not take measures to ensure the safety of the Armenian population; Turkish authorities remained in place, Muslims were not disarmed. The Kemalists took advantage of this and began massacres of the Armenian population. In January 1920, during 20-day pogroms, 11 thousand Armenian residents of Mavash died, the rest of the Armenians went to Syria. Soon the Turks besieged Ajn, where the Armenian population by this time numbered barely 6 thousand people. The Armenians of Ajn put up stubborn resistance to the Turkish troops, which lasted 7 months, but in October the Turks managed to take the city. About 400 Ajna defenders managed to break through the siege and escape.

At the beginning of 1920, the remnants of the Armenian population of Urfa - about 6 thousand people - moved to Aleppo.

On April 1, 1920, Kemalist troops besieged Aintap. Thanks to a 15-day heroic defense, the Ayntap Armenians escaped massacre. But after the French troops left Cilicia, the Armenians of Aintap moved to Syria at the end of 1921. In 1920, the Kemalists destroyed the remnants of the Armenian population of Zeytun. That is, the Kemalists completed the destruction of the Armenian population of Cilicia, begun by the Young Turks.

The last episode of the tragedy of the Armenian people was the massacre of Armenians in the western regions of Turkey during the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-22. In August-September 1921, Turkish troops achieved a turning point in the military operations and launched a general offensive against the Greek troops. On September 9, the Turks broke into Izmir and committed a massacre of the Greek and Armenian population. The Turks sank the ships stationed in the harbor of Izmir, which were carrying Armenian and Greek refugees, mostly women, old people, children...

The Armenian genocide was carried out by the Turkish governments. They are the main culprits of the monstrous crime of the first genocide of the twentieth century. The Armenian genocide carried out in Turkey caused enormous damage to the material and spiritual culture of the Armenian people.

In 1915-23 and subsequent years, thousands of Armenian manuscripts stored in Armenian monasteries were destroyed, hundreds of historical and architectural monuments were destroyed, and the shrines of the people were desecrated. The destruction of historical and architectural monuments in Turkey and the appropriation of many cultural values ​​of the Armenian people continue to this day. The tragedy experienced by the Armenian people affected all aspects of the life and social behavior of the Armenian people and firmly settled in their historical memory. The impact of the genocide was felt both by the generation that was a direct victim and by subsequent generations.

Progressive public opinion around the world condemned the heinous crime of the Turkish pogromists, who tried to destroy one of the most ancient civilized peoples in the world. Social and political figures, scientists, cultural figures from many countries branded the genocide, qualifying it as a grave crime against humanity, and took part in providing humanitarian assistance to the Armenian people, in particular to refugees who have found refuge in many countries of the world. After Turkey's defeat in the First World War, the leaders of the Young Turk party were accused of dragging Turkey into a disastrous war and put on trial. Among the charges brought against war criminals was an accusation of organizing and carrying out the massacre of Armenians of the Ottoman Empire. However, the death sentence against a number of Young Turk leaders was pronounced in absentia, because after the defeat of Turkey they managed to flee the country. The death sentence against some of them (Taliat, Behaetdin Shakir, Jemal Pasha, Said Halim, etc.) was subsequently carried out by the Armenian people's avengers.

After the Second World War, genocide was qualified as the gravest crime against humanity. The legal documents on genocide were based on the basic principles developed by the international military tribunal in Nuremberg, which tried the main war criminals of Nazi Germany. Subsequently, the UN adopted a number of decisions regarding genocide, the main of which are the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948) and the Convention on the Inapplicability of the Statute of Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity, adopted in 1968.

In 1989, the Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR adopted a law on genocide, which condemned the genocide of Armenians in Western Armenia and Turkey as a crime against humanity. The Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR appealed to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR with a request to make a decision condemning the Armenian genocide in Turkey. The Declaration of Independence of Armenia, adopted by the Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR on August 23, 1990, declares that “The Republic of Armenia supports the cause of international recognition of the Armenian genocide of 1915 in Ottoman Turkey and Western Armenia.”