The Young Turks Genocide In The Ottoman Empire

In 1908, a small group of Ottoman revolutionaries popularly known as the “Young Turks” came to power. The Young Turks consisted of young army officers, and students. These young men overthrew Sultan Abdul Hamid, and ingrained a more constitutional government. Firstly, the Armenian population was hopeful that they would have an equal new state. This hope quickly died out. The Armenians learned what the Young Turks wanted most of all. This was to “Turkify” the empire. This means that non- Turks and more importantly Christian non-Turks were thought of as a hazard. At this time, the Armenians practiced Christianity. The new Government made a plan to exterminate all Christian Armenians from the Ottoman Empire. This event is known as the Armenian
The goal for the Young Turks was to eliminate the Armenian race living in the Ottoman Empire. The victims of the genocide; The Armenians, looked at the Young Turks as the perpetrators. At the center of the young Turk Revolution, was the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP). This organization was founded by the Young Turks. The motive for this group at the beginning was a liberal movement in the Ottoman Empire. The Young Turks were hoping to save the weak Ottoman Empire. The CUP wanted to create a huge Ottoman Empire that would spread to China. This would also include all the Turkish Speaking nations of the Caucasus and middle Asia. Young Turks believed the Armenians were standing in the way of this dream. Although originally, the Ottoman Empire promised equal rights to all citizens, this was soon destroyed. While the Armenians were discriminated against, soon Christians living in the Ottoman Empire were just as discriminated towards. As the Empire was weak, The Armenians were mostly very wealthy. The Genocide was used to receive the wealth of the Armenians. The Armenians were discriminated against and were thought of as “good for nothing
Most oftenly, Armenian citizens were called gavours, infedels, or unbelievers. Soon in the Ottoman Empire, Armenians were losing rights. Simple human rights like their citizenship were taken away. Armenians were second class citizens and had lost civil rights. For example, they had to pay extra taxes. Also at this time the Millet system was brought up. This caused all Armenians to stand alone with what they believed in, which was Christianity at the time. This also denies Armenians from all political participation. This was how the Young Turks tried to isolate the Armenians. Next was physical abuse and harassment. The Armenian people were classified as subhuman. Armenians were beaten and some were even hung. The killing of Armenians soon grew bigger and bigger. Next, the mass extermination began. Any way the Young Turks could kill faster they did. This involved shooting, exile to Syrian Deserts for death marches, gas and suffocation massacres, and burning commence to eliminate all Armenians. After the killing, one and a half million Armenians were killed out of the two million living in the Ottoman Empire. Despite all evidence, eyewitnesses, and photographs, the Armenian Genocide is denied by Turkey. The Turkish government denies all accounts that a Genocide even occurred in the Ottoman Empire. As of today, it is still illegal in Turkey to talk about what happened to the Armenians in this