In 1912-3 the Great
Powers, led by Russia, pressured Turkey to cease its mistreatment of
the Armenians. This intervention was resented by the Ottoman
authorities. By 1915, Armenian calls for autonomy were deemed a danger
to the disintegrating realm, now at war with Russia.
When the first world war broke, Turkey allied itself with the Germans.
All Armenian men aged 20-45 were conscripted to the army as soldiers,
soon to be disarmed and serve as pack animals or in menial jobs. When
Russian Armenians recruited Turkish Armenians for the anti-Turkish
Russian Army of the Caucasus, in April 1915, the elite of the Armenian
community was arrested and executed. Between May and June 1915 the
Armenian population was deported to Mesopotamia. The deportation
followed mass executions.
Many more died from starvation, exposure, dehydration, abuse and
outright torture. The survivors - less than 300,000 - were subjected
to additional slaughter in Syria. People were beaten with blunt
instruments, burnt alive or drowned forcibly. The massacres were
carried out by military officers with dictatorial powers, aided by
criminals especially released from jails and assigned to their
gruesome duties.
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