24 April 1915 is held as the starting date of the Armenian Genocide. There were about three million Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire at the end of the 19th century. After the outbreak of the WWI, the Turkish government began to suspect the loyality of the Armenians, who organized help for the Russian army fighting against the Turks. The government devised the plan to eliminate the Armenians from the territory of the Empire. Thus started one of the first modern genocides. It began with the methodical killing of the able-bodied male population, followed by the deportation of women, children and the elderly. The amount of Armenians that lost their lives during this period is estimated at between 600,000 and 1,5 million. In 1922, when the killings were over, only about 400,000 Armenians remained in the Ottoman Empire.
Oyku Gurpınar: Teaching the Armenian genocide: A comparative analysis of national history curriculums and textbooks in Turkey, Armenia and France
Richard Albrecht: The Murder of Armenians – Armenocide – Genocide – Genocide Prevention: Aspects of Political and Historical Comparative Genocide Studies