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What happened to Armenian soldiers serving in the Ottoman army in 1915?
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Armenian Genocide
Overview of the history and controversy surrounding the Armenian Genocide.
In 1915, following the Ottoman Empire's defeat at the Battle of Sarıkamış, the Young Turk government sought to shift blame for the loss onto Armenian soldiers serving in the Ottoman army.12
These Armenian soldiers, along with other non-Muslims, were demobilized and transferred into labor battalions. Once disarmed, these soldiers were systematically murdered by Ottoman troops. This targeted violence against soldiers marked the initial phase of what would become the Armenian Genocide, a systematic campaign of mass murder and state-sponsored extermination.13