“Native Christians Massacred”: The Ottoman Genocide of the Assyrians during World War I
Journal Genocide Studies and Prevention
Publisher University of Toronto Press
ISSN 1911-0359 (Print) 1911-9933 (Online)
Issue Volume 1, Number 3 / December 2006
DOI 10.3138/YV54-4142-P5RN-X055
Pages 327-371
Online Date Friday, January 26, 2007
PDF (232.2 KB)
Authors
Hannibal Travis
Abstract
The Ottoman Empire's widespread persecution of Assyrian civilians during World War I constituted a form of genocide, the present-day term for an attempt to destroy a national, ethnic, or religious group, in whole or in part. Ottoman soldiers and their Kurdish and Persian militia partners subjected hundreds of thousands of Assyrians to a deliberate and systematic campaign of massacre, torture, abduction, deportation, impoverishment, and cultural and ethnic destruction. Established principles of international law outlawed this war of extermination against Ottoman Christian civilians before it was embarked upon, and ample evidence of genocidal intent has surfaced in the form of admissions by Ottoman officials. Nevertheless, the international community has been hesitant to recognize the Assyrian experience as a form of genocide. The Assyrian genocide is indistinguishable in principle from its Armenian counterpart, however, and its recognition by scholars and the international community may assist in the resettlement and relief of the Assyrian remnant, currently fleeing by the thousands from its homelands in Iraq.