Esbozo histórico del genocidio armenio

Abstract

The genocide perpetrated by the Young Turks government against the Armenian people (from 1915 to 1918) brought about the extermination of a million and a half people that lived in the Ottoman Empire. The first attacks against Armenians occurred since the late 19th century, but April 24, 1915 is considered as the starting date of the genocidal process, when several Armenian intellectuals and politicians were arrested in Constantinople. The genocide occurred while the First World War was taking place, as the Turkish authorities aimed at creating a homogeneous State composed solely of Muslim Turks, thus entailing the extermination of the Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks. The genocide of Ottoman Christians has been widely recognized and affirmed by various academic associations, international organizations, and States, including the allies of the Ottoman Empire during the war. Turkey, however, categorically refuses to consider this crime as genocide. The aim of this paper is to develop a historical synthesis of the genocidal process against the Armenians and present an overview of the consequences that the Turkish government's negation has produced.