Pogroms In The Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire was a multi-ethnic state with many religions being followed among its people but the majority were Muslin. Armenians had always been second class citizens in the Sultans reign. Although Armenians were allowed to practice their Christian religion, they were subject to higher taxes and little political rights. The Armenians, being Christian, were thought to be conspiring against their Muslim rulers. The Sultan accused the Armenians of working with Russia, a Christian empire, that the Ottomans shared an uneasy border with. Much like the Jews in Germany, the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire had been used as a scapegoat for the empires problems at many points in its history. In 1894 to 1896 the Sultan had sanctioned pogroms
to massacre the Armenian population under his rule. At this time hundreds of thousands of Armenian were killed. The Armenians were persecuted again for fear that they would aid the Russians in World War 1, this time it was the Young Turks creating a systematic way to erase the Armenians from withing their borders. However, unlike the Germans, who have made every effort to help heal the wounds they mad, the Turks have flat out denied that any acts of genocide took place.