hundred Armenian leaders, writers, thinkers, and professionals in
Constantinople were imprisoned in many parts of Turkey without any advanced
warning. Shortly after they were imprisoned, they were brutally tortured and
beaten by the Turkish authorities. Other methods of brutality included pulling out
fingernails, teeth, and beards, branding on the chest with hot horseshoes and
raising the feet above the body and beating under the foot until it bled4. After the
severe torturing, they were killed. Turkish officials then seized all weapons that
were owned by the Armenians, and then brought it to the government offices
where their weapons were relinquished. Others hesitated to abandon their only
means of self-defense and instead, buried guns in the ground, store them in dry
wells, or hid them in their houses or barns5. This led to house-to-house searches
in some communities, with Armenians being tortured until they revealed whether
On May 27, 1915, an official Edict of Deportation was issued6. For most
Armenians, the deportation orders were a complete surprise. The Armenians were
in despair as they left the villages and cities where their families had lived for
many generations. When preparing for the deportation journey, Armenians faced
anguishing decisions about what to take with them, who to go with, or even the
decision of whether to leave their children behind, especially if there was a
Turkish family willing to keep him or her for her. Some Armenians faced other
moral dilemmas: that they were given the option of converting to Islam and
remaining in their homes7. Very few Armenians selected this option. In the
beginning of spring of 1915, Armenians were deported from their homes and
forced to march hundreds of miles to the deserts of Syria and Mesopotamia8. This
...