Congressional Digest

Excerpt

(Excerpted From International Debates, November 2007)
The United Nations Convention on Genocide, adopted in 1948,
defines genocide as acts committed with intent “to destroy, in whole or
in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.” The term
“genocide” did not exist during World War I, however, when the Ottoman
Empire, ruled by Muslim Turks, carried out a policy to deport members
of its Christian Armenian minority. Some 1.5 million Armenians died
during forced marches to the border, when eyewitnesses reported
massacres by Turkish troops. Atrocities against Armenians continued
un…