The Cause

The Ottoman Empire used to be one of the greatest powers in the world. However, they had started to weaken and became known as the "sick man of Europe". In order to erase that status, they wanted to create a homogenous state, which meant they had to extinguish the Armenian minority population. The Ottoman Empire had persecuted the Armenian minority for many years. It dates back to the massacres of 1894-1896 or 1876-1909 (Armenia). This had caused an Armenian nationalist movement but this did not represent the Armenian people as a whole to the empire (Armenia). The Armenians had been under Turkish-Ottoman rule since the fifteenth century and at the end of World War 1, they had ben sent from their home land. A source says, "The almost complete disappearance of Armenians from Turkey-that is, from Constantinople and the vast western part of historic Armenia-was the result of a genocide perpetrated, beginning in 1915, by the Young Turks, who had come to power in wahat remained of the Ottoman Empire" (Armenia). This is explaining that the new leaders who had come to power had started the new genocide of the Armenian people to try and give the Ottoman Empire it's strength back. Another source says, "Conditions for Armenians in the Ottoman Empire deteriorated considerable early in the twentieth century" (Armenia). This is explaining that the Armenians were experiencing worse conditions than other minorities in Turkey, which eventually got worse and lead to the genocide against them.