Facts
- During WWI the Turkish government (aka Young Turks) moved to eliminate the Armenian people from the Ottoman Empire.
- Of the 2.5 million total population, 1.5 million were killed.
- The Armenian people were tortured, massacred, and starved. The majority were sent into the desert to die of thirst and hunger.
- Many were forcibly removed from Armenia and Anatolia to Syria.
- The Armenian Genocide took place from 1915-1918, with renewed instances of brutality occurring between 1920 and 1923.
- By 1923, the Armenian population had been completely eliminated from Asia Minor and historic West Armenia.
- April 24 is commemorated as the date of the unfolding of the Armenian Genocide.
- On that day (April 24, 1915) 300 Armenian leaders, writers, thinkers and professionals in Constantinople (present day Istanbul) were collected, deported and killed. Tragically, 5,000 of the poorest Armenians were also slaughtered in their homes and the streets.
- The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted in 1948, 30 years after the Armenian Genocide.
- Most Armenians in the U.S. are children/grandchildren of the survivors.
- Only one Turkish government, that of Damad Ferit Pasha, has ever recognized the Armenian Genocide.