the Armenian Genocide
The Hamidian Massacres (1894-1896)
A State-Orchestrated Campaign That Laid the Groundwork for Genocide
The origins of the Armenian Genocide are deeply rooted in the brutal repression of Armenians during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, who ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1876 to 1909. In an era marked by growing demands for constitutionalism and minority rights, the Armenian population—a Christian minority living under Muslim rule—was increasingly viewed as both a political threat and a religious outsider.
Throughout the 19th century, Armenians endured heavy taxation, land seizures, lack of legal protections, and forced Islamization. Women and girls were particularly vulnerable to gender-based violence, including forced abductions, sexual slavery, and forced conversions. As Armenian intellectuals began calling for reforms, such as local autonomy, fair treatment under the law, and protection from attacks by Kurdish tribal militias, their advocacy was twisted by the state into accusations of sedition and rebellion.
In response, the Ottoman regime launched a campaign of terror that would later be known as the Hamidian Massacres—a systematic and coordinated series of killings, primarily between 1894 and 1896. With the blessing and orchestration of the state, Ottoman military forces and irregular Kurdish units attacked Armenian villages, towns, and religious centers throughout Anatolia. Eyewitness accounts describe churches burned with people inside, entire villages razed, and survivors forced to convert or flee.
Estimates of the death toll range between 200,000 and over 300,000 Armenians, with hundreds of thousands more displaced, widowed, or orphaned. Many of the survivors lost their property, homes, and livelihoods. In regions like Sasun, Bitlis, Erzurum, and Van, entire Armenian communities were obliterated. Foreign diplomats, missionaries, and journalists reported on the massacres, yet international condemnation was limited to symbolic gestures and failed to result in real intervention.
These atrocities were not an isolated event—they were a testing ground for impunity. The Hamidian Massacres normalized the mass targeting of Armenians and showed the Ottoman authorities that such violence would go unpunished. More than just a mass killing, this was a state rehearsal for future extermination. The perpetrators would resurface two decades later under the Committee of Union and Progress, implementing the genocidal campaign of 1915 on a far greater scale.
The Hamidian Massacres stand as a turning point in Ottoman-Armenian relations, revealing the dangerous blend of political authoritarianism, religious extremism, and ethnic nationalism that would come to define the late Ottoman era. For many Armenian survivors and descendants, these massacres are remembered not only as a tragedy, but as the first clear signal that their very existence in the empire was no longer tolerable to the state.