Deportation of Armenian intellectuals on 24 April 1915

Deportation of Armenian intellectuals
Part of the Armenian genocide
Some of the Armenian intellectuals who were detained, deported, and killed in 1915:
1st row: Krikor Zohrab, Daniel Varoujan, Rupen Zartarian, Ardashes Harutiunian, Siamanto
2nd row: Ruben Sevak, Dikran Chökürian, Diran Kelekian, Tlgadintsi, and Erukhan
LocationOttoman Empire
Date24 April 1915 (start date)
TargetNotables of the Armenian community of Constantinople
Attack type
Deportation and eventual murder
PerpetratorsCommittee of Union and Progress (Young Turks)

The deportation of Armenian intellectuals is conventionally held to mark the beginning of the Armenian genocide.[1] Leaders of the Armenian community in the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (now Istanbul), and later other locations, were arrested and moved to two holding centers near Angora (now Ankara). The order to do so was given by Minister of the Interior Talaat Pasha on 24 April 1915. On that night, the first wave of 235 to 270 Armenian intellectuals of Constantinople were arrested. With the adoption of the Tehcir Law on 29 May 1915, these detainees were later relocated within the Ottoman Empire; most of them were ultimately killed. More than 80, such as Vrtanes Papazian, Aram Andonian, and Komitas, survived.

The event has been described by historians as a decapitation strike,[2][3] which was intended to deprive the Armenian population of leadership and a chance for resistance.[4] To commemorate the victims of the Armenian genocide, 24 April is observed as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. First observed in 1919 on the fourth anniversary of the events in Constantinople, the date is generally considered the date on which the genocide began. The Armenian genocide has since been commemorated annually on the same day, which has become a national memorial day in Armenia (previously also in the Republic of Artsakh) and is observed by the Armenian diaspora around the world.

  1. ^ Adalian, Rouben Paul (2013). "The Armenian Genocide". In Totten, Samuel; Parsons, William Spencer (eds.). Centuries of Genocide: Essays and Eyewitness Accounts. Routledge. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-415-87191-4.
  2. ^ Blinka, David S. (2008). Re-creating Armenia: America and the memory of the Armenian genocide. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. p. 31. In what scholars commonly refer to as the decapitation strike on April 24, 1915...
  3. ^ Bloxham, Donald (2005). The Great Game of Genocide: Imperialism, Nationalism, and the Destruction of the Ottoman Armenians. Oxford University Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-19-927356-0. ...the decapitation of the Armenian nation with the series of mass arrests that began on 24 April...
  4. ^ Sahаkian, T. A. (2002). "Արևմտահայ մտավորականության սպանդի արտացոլումը հայ մամուլում 1915–1916 թթ. [The interpretation of the fact of extermination of the Armenian intelligentsia in the Armenian press in 1915–1916]". Lraber Hasarakakan Gitutyunneri (in Armenian) (1): 89. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2014. Դրանով թուրքական կառավարությունը ձգտում էր արևմտահայությանը գլխատել, նրան զրկել ղեկավար ուժից, բողոքի հնարավորությունից: