Constantinople
Istanbul (post-1930)
- Armenian
Place context
Imperial capital and genocide command centre
Constantinople, renamed Istanbul in the Turkish Republic, was the Ottoman capital and the centre of Armenian intellectual, ecclesiastical and political life in the empire. It housed newspapers, schools, political parties, patriarchal institutions and parliamentary figures. It was also the command centre from which the CUP leadership directed the wartime deportation programme.
The 24 April 1915 arrests of Armenian intellectuals in Constantinople are the conventional opening marker of the Armenian Genocide. Writers, clergy, lawyers, physicians and deputies were detained, deported and in many cases killed. The arrests decapitated Armenian communal leadership before mass deportations in the provinces.
Constantinople matters because genocide did not begin only in remote villages. It began with a state capital using police, lists, prisons, telegrams and ministries against its own citizens. editorial
Demographics over time
| Year | People | Share | Population | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1897 | Armenian | 18% | 162,200 | Patriarch Maghakia Ormanian (compiled) |
| 1914 | Armenian | , | 162,200 | Raymond Kévorkian |
| 1923 | Armenian | , | 60,000 | Raymond Kévorkian |
| 2024 | Armenian | , | 50,000 | Rouben Paul Adalian |
Events located here
| Year | Event | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| 1914 | Ottoman entry into the First World War | declaration |
| 1915 | Constantinople deportation of Armenian intellectuals | deportation |
| 1915 | Promulgation of the Tehcir Law | declaration |
| 1915 | Temporary Law on Abandoned Properties (Liquidation Law) | declaration |
| 1919 | Ottoman courts-martial of CUP leaders | ruling |