Entry 3: Victims

      The reason for this genocide was to exterminate the Armenian population and expel them from the Ottoman Empire. Armenians being the main targets of the genocide were Apostolic Catholics and Christians while the Turks were Muslims. To get rid of those people they committed a series of actions. Those actions varying in execution, mass drowning, burning, and starvation due to the deportation of the Armenians to the desert. The Armenian genocide was described to be the “murder of a nation” plenty innocent victims were harmed and or killed due to their race and their religion (Horvitz).

      This particular group of Armenians were targeted because of their vulnerability. Being capable to defend to anything that the Young Turks were going to do to them. Another reason why they Armenians were targeted was that they were said the be a “subversive force” and a danger to the Ottoman Empires security (Horvitz).

      During the genocide to reduce and expel the population of the Armenian race, the victims were forced to take part in mass drowning, being burned to death and starvation (Horvitz). To exterminate the Armenians the Young Turks broke their plan up into four stages. The first stage was to target all able-bodied Armenian men between the ages of twenty to forty-five. They then were recruited and were told to serve in the war. Little did they know they were recruited to serve as laborers and not to actually fight in the war (Horvitz). The second stage began on April 24th, 1915. The prominent and intellectual figures in the Armenian community were deported to Central Iran to be executed. Stage three was the deportation of the remaining Armenians to Mesopotamia, where thousands of Armenians died of starvation and exposure to diseases. Finally, the last stage was that additional massacres were ordered to eliminate the Armenian race. During the fourth stage they used three methods of murder those including being beaten by a club, mass drowning, and burning (Horvitz).

      As for the surviving victims approximately 250,000 people escaped to Caucuses. While others resided in either Europe or America. About 100,000 Armenians were forced to convert to Islam in order to be able to live in specific places and to protect themselves from any harm (Horvitz).