During the First World War, up to 1.5 million Armenians were murdered in the then Ottoman Empire.
The events began in April 1915 in what is now Istanbul, with the arrest and deportation of thousands of Armenian intellectuals. The aim of the Minister of the Interior at the time was to remove all Armenians from the capital. In the following months, the Ottoman government carried out mass expulsions of the Armenian population. Those who did not fall victim to the systematic massacres died as a result of deportation, starvation, epidemics and the hardships of the death marches. The genocide was intended to destroy Armenian culture and transform the multi-ethnic empire into a homogeneous Turkish-Muslim nation.
It is estimated that between 1 and 1.5 million Armenians were murdered. Many survivors found refuge in neighbouring countries or were dispersed to other parts of the world. Unlike many other countries, the Turkish government still refuses to recognise these events as genocide.
24 April is Genocide Remembrance Day. In the Armenian capital, Yerevan, a candlelight procession through the city takes place the evening before the commemoration ceremony in Tsitsernakaberd.
