Adana massacre

Adana massacres
Part of the Armenian genocide, persecution of Assyrians and the late Ottoman genocides
LocationAdana, Ottoman Empire (present-day Turkey).
DateApril 1909
TargetArmenian civilians, some Greeks and Assyrians[1]
Attack type
Pogrom, genocidal massacre, ethnic cleansing
Deaths20,000,[2] mostly Armenians
Injuredunknown
MotiveAnti-Christian sentiment, ethnic cleansing, forced acquisition of property, business, and agricultural resources.

The Adana massacres (Armenian: Ադանայի կոտորած, Turkish: Adana Katliamı) occurred in the Adana Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire in April of 1909. Many Armenians were slain by Ottoman Muslims in the city of Adana as the Ottoman countercoup of 1909 triggered a series of pogroms throughout the province.[3] Around 20,000 to 25,000 ethnic Armenians were killed and tortured in Adana and surrounding towns, [4] it was reported that about 1,300 Assyrians were also killed during the massacres.[5] Unlike the previous Hamidian massacres, the events were not officially organized by the central government, but culturally instigated via local officials, Islamic clerics, and supporters of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP).

After the Hamidian massacres, The Great Powers (Britain, France, Russia) forced Hamid to sign a new reform package designed to curtail the powers of the Hamidiye in October 1895 which, like the Berlin treaty, was never implemented. On October 1, 1895, two thousand Armenians assembled in Constantinople (now Istanbul) to petition for the implementation of the reforms, but Ottoman police units converged on the rally and violently broke it up.[6] Upon receiving the reform package, the sultan is said to have remarked, "This business will end in blood."[7]

After revolutionary groups had secured the deposition of Sultan Abdul Hamid II and the restoration of the Second Constitutional Era (Ottoman Empire) in 1908, a military revolt directed against the Committee of Union and Progress seized Constantinople. While the revolt lasted only ten days, it reignited anti-Armenian sentiment in the region and precipitated the mass destruction of Armenian businesses and farms, public hangings, sexual violence, and executions rooted in political, economic, and religious prejudice. These massacres continued for more than one month. [8] The Armenian quarter of Adana was described as the "richest and most prosperous"; the violence included destruction of "tractors and other kinds of mechanized equipment."[9]

  1. ^ Nazan Maksudyan (2014). Women and the City, Women in the City: A Gendered Perspective on Ottoman Urban History. Berghahn Books. p. 122.
  2. ^ McCullagh, Francis (1910). The Fall of Abd-ul-Hamid. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd. p. 138.
  3. ^ Raymond H. Kévorkian, "The Cilician Massacres, April 1909" in Armenian Cilicia, eds. Richard G. Hovannisian and Simon Payaslian. UCLA Armenian History and Culture Series: Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces, 7. Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publishers, 2008, pp. 339–369.
  4. ^ Suny 2015, p. 171.
  5. ^ Gaunt, David (2009). "The Assyrian Genocide of 1915". Assyrian Genocide Research Center.
  6. ^ Balakian, Peter (2003). The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America's Response. New York: HarperCollins. pp. 57–58. ISBN 0-06-055870-9.
  7. ^ Salt, Jeremy (1993). Imperialism, evangelism and the Ottoman Armenians : 1878-1896. London u.a.: Cass. p. 88. ISBN 0714634484.
  8. ^ "Armenian Wealth Caused Massacres". The New York Times. April 25, 1909.
  9. ^ Akcam, Taner. A Shameful Act. 2006, pp. 69–70: "fifteen to twenty thousand Armenians were killed"

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