ON THE DEPORTATION AND MASSACRES OF THE ARMENIAN POPULATION OF CONSTANTINOPLE AND SMYRNA DURING THE YEARS OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
It is known that deportation and massacres, as main components of the Armenian Genocide, included the Armenian population of Constantinople and Smyrna as well. On April 24, 1915 started the deportation and massacres of the Armenians in Constantinople which first of all spread over the intelligentsia. The Young Turks started the actions of annihilation of the Armenians in Constantinople, as everywhere, according to a premeditated plan: the arrests, deportation of the intelligentsia, conscription of able-bodied Armenian men in the 20-45 age categories in the Ottoman army with the aim of disarming and annihilating them on the way to exile, then measures directed at the displacement of the Armenian population from the lower strata to all the others On that day and during the following weeks the Armenian community of Constantinople was deprived of its intelligentsia – thousands of people were arrested, sent to exile and killed. Before the start of and during the mass deportations and massacres in Western Armenia the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople was isolated from Western Armenia. During 1915-1916 the Armenian community of Smyrna faced the horrors of the deportation as well. In September 1922 the Kemalist troops committed carnage in Smyrna, which became one of the last episodes of the Armenian Genocide.
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