Mechanisms of the Genocide

Armenians hanged in the street in Constantinople before the deportation of the Armenians to the desert had begun. — Armin T. Wegner / Armenian National Institute
Armenians hanged in the street in Constantinople before the deportation of the Armenians to the desert had begun. — Armin T. Wegner / Armenian National Institute

The Armenian members of the military, who had already been conscripted into the Ottoman ranks, were disarmed and moved into labor battalions to build infrastructure for the war effort. Ultimately, these work groups would be executed en masse over the next year, effectively removing those physically able to defend themselves from the ranks of the Armenian population.

In tandem, the entire Armenian population was ordered by government decree to disarm as well, further weakening the Armenians’ tenuous position.

1915-1916, corpse of young Armenian boy starved to death, collapsed at doorstep. — Armin T. Wegner / Armenian National Institute
1915-1916, corpse of young Armenian boy starved to death, collapsed at doorstep. — Armin T. Wegner / Armenian National Institute

Then on April 24th 1915, a group of 250 Armenian intellectual and cultural leaders in Constantinople, were rounded up, transported to a camp and killed. This date is recognized as the start of the Armenian Genocide. At this point, Turkey had killed off the Armenian soldiers and the cultural elite, separated the men from their families and disenfranchised the entire population. All that remained was to demand the remaining population to comply with a “relocation” order that would prove for most to be a death sentence.

Dead Bodies in Aleppo — International Committee of the Red Cross
Dead Bodies in Aleppo — International Committee of the Red Cross

On May 29th, 1915 the Temporary Law of Deportation was voted into effect, legalizing the forced deportation of Armenians from their homes. Subsequently the CUP also passed the Temporary Law of Expropriation and Confiscation under the guise of registering the properties of the deportees and safeguarding them. This was a law to categorize and confiscate all Armenian goods and dissolve them into Ottoman coffers. Systematically the Armenian population throughout the empire was forced to relocate to Deir el-Zor, a concentration camp isolated in the desert, via the railways that their own men had been forced to construct. But many, by design, would not arrive.

During the summer of 1915, many Armenians were unaware, the genocide was set in motion. Over the next 7 years, over 1.5 million Armenians civilians would be annihilated by organized Turkish forces and populace.