Please explain how things could have been any worse for the Armenians when the Turks went marching through their streets going door to door and the Armenians were armed. If anything, perhaps a few more families would have escaped. I'm sure most of them were taken by surprise.
Please someone name a genocide taken against a civilian population by its own gov. when that population was armed. It hasnt happened yet but on the flip side.... well, the facts are what they are
The Armenian Genocide of 1915
World War I Begins and the Genocide Follows
The Ottoman Empire allied with
Germany and
Austria-Hungary in World War I. Fearing that Armenians would side with Russia, a Christian nation, the Turks disarmed the Armenian population. When the Russians handed the Turks a crushing defeat at the battle of Sarikemish in the Caucuses, the Turks accused the Armenians of fighting for the Russians and blamed them for the loss. In response, the Young Turks ordered the execution or deportation of the Armenian population. The genocide began on April 24, 1915, when the Turkish government arrested and executed about 300 intellectuals. Turks went door to door, rounding up male Armenians. They shot and killed them. Women, children, and the elderly were sent on death marches through the Syrian desert to concentration camps. Hundreds died of thirst, starvation, and exposure along the way. Those who stopped to rest were shot. Many Armenian children were spared death, but were forced to convert to Islam and join Turkish families. The government passed legislation to confiscate Armenian property. As many as 2 million Armenians were living in the Ottoman Empire just before the outbreak of World War I. At the end of the genocide, there were just 388,000 Armenians remaining there.
