Armenian Genocide

http://www.armenian-genocide.org/

Genocide the the systematic extermination of a people; it's sole purpose is to put an end to the "collective existence" of a race. The Armenian Genocide did precisely this. During WWI, from 1915 to 1918, the Armenian people were subject to "deportation, expropriation, abduction, torture, massacre, and starvation. Throughout the Ottoman Empire, Armenians were removed and sent to the desert to die of thirst and hunger. Nearing the end of WWI, the atrocities began to calm down, but in 1920-1923 they were renewed and the Armenians that managed to survive the first wave of extermination, were again subject to expulsions and massacres. From 1915 to 1923, it is estimated that 1.5 million Armenians perished; at the time, there were only about 2 million living in the Ottoman Empire.

The Armenian Genocide is commemorated on April 24th because on the night of April 24, 1915, the Turkish government placed over 200 Armenian community leaders. They were all sent to prison where most were executed. The Turks that were held responsible for the Armenian Genocide had been planning for years prior to there actually being action. They started by disarming Armenian recruits in the Ottoman Army and "reducing them to labor battalions and working them under conditions equaling slavery." They were able to keep all of this under the protection of the government. It was not until April 24th that public began to detect their true intentions for the Armenians.