GENOCIDE PREVENTION NOW:
A RMENIAN , G REEK AND ASSYRIAN G ENOCIDE T IMELINE
PR E P A R E D B Y
T A M A R B E R M A N , T A M A R P I L E G GI
AND
A L E X B A R N E A ( W W W . GE N O C I D E P R E V E N T I ON N O W . O R G )
SOURCES: POWER S. 2002. "A PROBLEM FROM HELL" CHARNY I. 1999. "ENCYCLOPEDIA OF GENOCIDE" ARMENIAN NATIONAL INSTITUTE. HTTP://WWW.ARMENIAN-GENOCIDE.ORG/
EVENT
1876 – 1909
1914
1915
ASSESSMENT
RESPONSE
300,000 Armenians killed in massacres
Start of Genocide; aimed at the Greek population in
Ottomon Empire approximately 360,000 dead
Feb 21
Turkish boycott of Armenian businesses declared
Feb 26
Police collect names, biographies of leading Armenians
August 1-2
Beginning of World War 1; treaty of alliance signed between
Germany and Turkey
August 18
Looting, vandalizing of Armenian and Greek owned stores
1,080 Armenian owned stores are burned down
October 1
Notable Armenian leader murdered on government order
Foreign postal services in Turkey closed
October 17
Bands of chetes: large scale looting, rape, murder in
Erzerum province
November 14
Armenians in Otsni are killed; houses looted
November 19
Mass executions of Armenian soldiers in Turkish army in
public squares
Nov – Dec
Government forms Special Organizations units
1
December
Series of "isolated murders" of Armenians
1915
Armenian population of Ottoman state: 2 million
January
Talaat: "no room for Christians in Turkey"
(reported in New York Times)
US ambassador to Ottoman empire (Henry Morgenthau)
begins receiving intelligence regarding atrocities
January 16
Turkish army defeated in Battle of Sarikamish; 70,000 men dead
February
Talaat to German Ambassador: "war is the only propitious
moment to conclude the Armenian Question"
February 27
Increasingly large number of killings in Sivas; government
demands all weapons from Armenians in some provinces
March
Turkey disarms Armenian men serving in Ottoman army
Mass arrest of Armenians in Dortyol
New York Times first reports accounts of massacres
Parliament deputies to Turkish Moslem population:
Armenians internal enemies which must be destroyed
March 31
Deportations of Armenians from Zeitun begins
April 1
Mass arrest of Armenian political leaders in Sivas
April 15
Armenian refugees report: 24,000 Armenians killed
in 3 days
April 20
Deportation of 25,000 Armenians from Zeitun completed
April 24
Hundreds of members of Armenian intelligentsia deported,
later murdered
Editors and staff of leading Armenian newspaper arrested,
later slain
May 3-4
Erzerum province: mass deportations begin; 200 Armenian
leaders arrested
May 17
New York Times: "6,000 Armenians killed"
2
May 19
Massacre of Armenians from Khnus region in Erzerum province
May 21
Russians begin cremation of dead in Van – 55,00 of dead are
Armenians
May 24
The Allies, England, France and Russia officially warn Turkey to
stop the anti-Armenian massacres
Allies condemn "crimes against
humanity"
May 27
2,000 Armenians deported from Marash
June 7-8
Armenians from Erzinjan deported to Syrian dessert
June 10-13
Massacre of Armenians from Erzerum province takes place at
Kemach – 25,000 Armenians killed in June 13th
June 15
Official proclamation: "…all Armenians are obliged to leave
within 5 days…"
June 16
Mass arrest of 3,500 Armenian men in Sivas province
June 23
Hundreds of prominent Armenians deported, later murdered
June 24
Armenian notables of Trebizond thrown, tightly bound,
into Black Sea
June 25-26
Trezibond: 30,000 Armenians ordered to leave within 5 days
All Armenians in Erzerum ordered to leave for Syria
All Armenians in Samsun ordered to leave within 15 days
June
Town of Erzindjan emptied
July 1-2
2,000 Armenian soldiers in Turkish army massacred
Deportations from Trebizond and Sivas
(48,000 people from Sivas)
Daily raids against Armenian deportees by chetes bands
July 4-16
Mass deportations from Sivas; most are slaughtered en route to
Syrian desert
3
July 10
2,700 people killed in Mardin
Henry Morgenthau cables Washington regarding
"systematic plan to crush Armenian race"
Report to Interior Minister: 68,000 Armenians killed in
Yozgat district
July 28
Mass deportations from Aintab, Kilis, Adiaman
New York Times warns of Armenians' extinction
August
1,000 Armenians burned alive in Bitlis
(reported in New York Times)
Lord Bryce: 500,000 Armenians have been murdered
in Turkey
Deportation of 25,000 Armenians from Adabazar begins
Deportation of Armenians of Mersin, Izmid, Bursa
September
Talaat: …operations…first carried out on men…women and
children also"
4,750 Armenians massacred in Jezire
New York Times: "1,500,000 Armenians starve"
Henry Morgenthau: "350,000 Armenians have
been slaughtered"
Henry Morgenthau offers $1 million to
transport survivors to US
October
Turkey blocks exit of Armenians to US
New York Times: "Only 200,000 Armenians now
left in Turkey"
US Secretary of State reports massacre to
German ambassador
October 7
New York Times: "800,000 Armenians counted
destroyed"
US citizens establish Committee
on Armenian Atrocities,
raise money for relief
October 16
20,000 Armenian deportees in transit murdered in Urfa
Major protest in Century Theatre, NY
4
November
Turkey blocks attempts relief effort by US organization
Deportations continue
German doctor in Turkey: 7,000 skulls in Sabgha district
December
Deportations from Constantinople begin
New York Times: "Million Armenians killed or in exile"
1916
Nuri: "..hardly ten percent of Armenians…have reached their
destinations"
Jan – March
364,500 out of 486,000 Armenian deportees killed or die
from starvation
February 14
500,000 Armenians murdered at Intille
February 16
US Secretary of State asks German
Ambassador to “Stop Armenian tragedy"
March 1
Deportations from Edirne begins
April 6-14
70,000 Armenians massacred in Ras-el-Ain
April 19
50 to 100 Armenian deportees die daily from starvation
June 3
American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions publish report on massacres
July 1
Lord Bryce submits book on treatment of Armenians
in Ottoman Empire
July 5
Beginning of massacre of 70,000 Armenian troops in Sivas
July 19
Aug – September
US House of Representatives establishes
day of commemoration for Armenian
victims
Massacre of at least 260,000 Armenian deportees
Oct 18-19
US President proclaims "Armenian Relief
Days"
5
1917
Hundreds of Armenian orphans "distributed" in Turkish villages
April 1
12,000 Armenian deportees murdered in Buseira
April 20
Turkey breaks relations with U.S.
L. Davis, US Consul, submits report on atrocities to
US State Department
1918
March 3
Treaty of Brest – Litovsk; Talaat declares that he will grant
amnesty to Armenians
May
Armenian Republic proclaimed
June 24
2,000 Armenians massacred in Kara-Kilise in Turkey
Sept 15-17
30,000 Armenian civilians massacred in Baku
November
Armistice declared between allies and central powers
Talaat and Enver flee Turkey
Several Turkish executioners arrested
by Sultan
April
Turks set up tribunal and convict two
district officials for acting against
humanity
Chief culprit of Yozgat massacres publicly
hanged
June 10
Talaat and Enver condemned to death in
abstentia
1920
10,000 Armenians massacred in Marash; 9,500 Armenians
massacred in Hadjin
6
1921
March 21
Tehlirian assassinates Mehmed Talaat, former Turkish interior
minister
1922
Turkish army enters Smyrna, kill Armenians and Greeks
in thousands
1923
Ottoman Empire replaced by Republic of Turkey
1939
Hitler: "Who still talks nowadays of the extermination of the
Armenians?"
7