In 1876, Turkish Sultan Abdul Hamid II became the 34th sultan of Turkey. During his rule, national paranoia regarding the Armenian population increased dramatically. Abdul Hamid II was obsessed with loyalty to the Turkish state, and feared that the Christian Armenians would turn on Turkey and join forces with political enemy, and Christian neighbor, Russia. In the late 1894, the Armenians organized and started to push for equal rights and freedom from their second-class status.

The Armenian demand for change was met with a lethal response from Sultan Hamid, earning him the moniker “Red Sultan”. Rallying his base, Hamid labeled the Armenians a dangerous force within his borders, dubbing them enemies of the state and further dehumanizing a population already considered to be infidels. From 1894-1896, the first seeds of the genocide were planted when Sultan Abdul Hamid II killed hundreds of thousands of Armenians in response to civil rights protests and political unrest.
Young Turks Offer New Hope

The Ottoman Empire began to crumble at the start of the 20th century, during which Armenian and Turkish relations steadily declined.

In 1908 a new political group, the Young Turks, forced the Sultan out of power. The Young Turks gained Armenian allegiance by initially supporting new rights for the oppressed segment of the population, creating excitement that reform was possible. Young Turks had a more modern idea of government, and the Armenians thought the new, progressive leadership would come to their aid. However, the Young Turks were even more extreme in their nationalist views than Abdul Hamid II, and life became far worse for the Armenians under their rule.

Coinciding with a period of decline for the empire, the sudden takeover by extremists created the perfect storm for a new wave of violence. Nationalism became a centerpiece of their platform, and Young Turks felt that Christians were a threat to their new government. The Armenians were targeted in April of 1909, when Turkish nationalists killed over 25,000 Armenians in Adana Vilayet, known as the Adana Massacre. Later, the Young Turks would perpetrate the Genocide.