Chapter 1, "Race Murder" Summary

In 1915, the Turkish government killed nearly 1 million Armenians. The outside world was well aware of the risks to the Armenians in Turkey as Mehmed Talaat, the Turkish interior minister, had stated many times that he felt there was no room for Christians in Turkey and that the Turkish empire would target Christian subjects. Several months later, around 250 Armenian intellectuals were executed in Constantinople an act which was followed by similar actions in other Turkish provinces. Talaat and Turkish forces desecrated churches, closed Armenian schools, and forced Armenians to deportation camps in the deserts of Syria. More than half of the Armenians deported would die in transit. Turkey claimed that the actions were necessary to suppress Armenian revolt, although few of those killed were involved in anything other than survival.

Although the international community knew about the horrors happening in Turkey, little...