Dbq Armenian Massacres

Beginning in 1915, the Armenian massacre was an attempt to create a new compatible Turkish state. The prior religious and ethnic diversity within the Ottoman Empire had disappeared. The Ottoman Empire went from being diverse with multiple religious, now converted to a practically Muslim empire. The empire was now almost entirely Muslim, as well as a Turkish state. Turkish leaders soon realized that the only way to make up for the lost land and territories was to spread eastward and form a pure Turkish state. The Christian non-Turkish Armenians were an obstacle that would have to be faced in the process. In order to fulfill this was to force conversion of minorities in the country when that did not turnout, results quickly turned to massacres

The tensions that the reforms had caused between the Muslim and non-Muslims, and also were used in attempt to try and control nationalism. Under the Millet system, the Ottoman Empire did not grant as many rights to the Armenians as they did to Muslims. The Armenians were unable to serve in the military, unable to testify against Muslims in court, unable to bear arms, and also had to pay much higher taxes than Muslims had to. In 1914, approximately 1,500,000 Armenians were living in the empire. In the late nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire was ruled by Sultan Abdul Hamid II. The Armenian population desired more civil rights during this period of time and this concerned Sultan Abdul Hamid II. This was concerning to him because he believed that the desire of civil rights may turn into an independence movement, so the Sultan encouraged the series of massacres that killed many

Nationalists claimed that Russians tsar was the protector of Armenians, while other Ottoman Armenians claimed support should be provided to the Ottoman government throughout the war. In western cities, Armenians followed war orders while in eastern Anatolia, some of the Ottoman-Armenian population assisted Russia in the act of rebelling. “In April 1915, an Armenian government was proclaimed in Van. In some districts, part of the Muslim population was killed by the Armenians” (Fisher, Ochsenwald 375). In early 1915, Ottomans central government felt that defeat was in fact possible due to Russian advances and recent attacks. The Armenian disloyalty along with wanting to control the military situation in eastern Anatolia resulted in authorities ordering the deportation of the Armenian population, soon leading into the massacres beginning in