During the Great War – World War I (1914-1918) – the Ottoman Turkish Empire instigated the very first ethnic genocide (killing, massacre, slaughter) of the twentieth century directed against the Armenian minority living within the belligerent Ottoman Empire.
At the time, the Ottomans were allied with the Central Powers (Austria-Hungary, Germany) against the British, French, Belgian forces and the Russian Empire.
Turkey’s affiliation with the Central Powers led to a political coup that transferred the authority of the government from the Sultan to the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), a substitute for civilian authority.
On 24 April 1915, the CUP ordered the deportation and expulsion of the Armenian residents of the capital city, Constantinople. Soon, the order was extended throughout all the Ottoman Empire and extended to also include execution. Massive crowds, often entire villages, were forced to march into the Syrian Desert, without food and water. They were raped, robbed, starved and brutally beaten.
The deportations and deaths became massive, prevalent and real. The overthrow of the monarchy and the division of lands formerly occupied by the CUP allowed atrocities against the Armenians and others until almost midway through the 1920s. By that time, an estimated 2 million Armenians had been exterminated. The emerging Turkish country had reduced the Armenian population from 2.5 million to under 400,000.
Tsitsernakaberd: The Armenian Genocide Memorial
The Genocide Memorial was built in 1967 on the hill of Tsitsernakaberd, just outside the capital city of Yerevan, Armenia. The Genocide Memorial Museum Institute was added later and officially opened in 1995.
Every year on 24 April, the complex hosts the National Remembrance Day Ceremony where hundreds of thousands of people line for hours to place floral tributes and to offer prayers for the victims.
Personal Connection:
My maternal grandfather was one-half Armenian, his mother was born in the Ottoman Empire. He remembered the Turkish soldiers congregating the Armenian people inside their village church and setting the entire structure on fire. He and several of his friends were absent from school on that day and ran off when they witnessed the soldiers assaulting the village.
A Turkish family helped them escape to safety.
Naked hugs!
Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride: Guys Without Boxers!
Author’s Note: The next post entry here is planned for Monday, April 27, 2026, and the proposed topic is: “Bare-Volution!”
ReNude Pride: Guys Without Boxers! 