Date April 24, 1915
Type
- Blurb (Image & Text)
Chapter
- The Genocide
Days after the Defense of Van began in Eastern Anatolia, the CUP launched an attack on the Armenian intellectual community in Western Anatolia. On April 24, 1915, soldiers arrested approximately 250 Armenian cultural leaders in Constantinople. The diverse city had enjoyed a thriving intellectual life for centuries. It was home to prominent Armenian writers, artists, musicians, merchants, doctors, and clergymen. The men were imprisoned in military barracks. Some were tortured and killed immediately. Within a few weeks the military had deported more than 2,300 men from the northwestern Turkey. The majority died in prison camps in the desolate Turkish interior.
April 24 has been observed as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day since 1919.
