World War One gave the Young Turk government the cover and the excuse to carry out their plan. The plan was simple and its goal was clear. On April 24th 1915, commemorated worldwide by Armenians as Genocide Memorial Day, hundreds of Armenian leaders were murdered in Istanbul after being summoned and gathered. The now leaderless Armenian people were to follow. Across the Ottoman Empire (with the exception of Constantinople, presumably due to a large foreign presence), the same events transpired from village to village, from province to province.
Somewhat surprisingly to many, Armenians and Turks used to live in relative harmony in the Ottoman Empire for centuries. Armenians were known as the “loyal millet”. Although, during these times, Armenians were not equal and had to put up with certain special hardships, taxes and second class citizenship. Full story...
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