The history of the Armenian genocide

The history of the Armenian genocide
The history of the Armenian genocide

The history of the Armenian genocide

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Armenians around the U.S. and the world are remembering the beginning of the Armenian Genocide today. On April 25th, 1915 Armenians began to be forced from their homes and were systematically starved and slaughtered by the Ottoman government, and up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed. Turkey, along with a number of U.S. presidents, has always refused to use the word genocide when referring to the massacres and death marches that took place. We’ll go back in history to recall what happened in 1915 with Ronald Suny, author of the forthcoming history of the genocide “They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else:” A History of the Armenian Genocide.” Photo: Iranian Armenians shout slogans against Ottoman Turks as they stage a protest near the Turkish embassy in Tehran to mark the 100th anniversary of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Antelias, Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 24, 2015. Historians estimate up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed by genocide scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey, however, denies the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)