The genocide began on April 24. 1915. when hundreds of Armenian religious. political and intellectual leaders were rounded up. exiled and eventually murdered in remote places in Anatolia. Within several months. the approximately 250.000 Armenians serving in the Ottoman Army during World War I were disarmed and placed in forced labor battalions where they were either starved or executed. The Armenian people. deprived of their leadership and young ablebodied men. were disarmed under threat of severe punishment. and then deported from every city. town. and village of Asia minor and Turkish minor. The majortly of the deportees died on the marches from starvation. disease. and massacre. Approximately 500.000 refugees escaped to the north across the Russian border. south into Arab countries. or to. Europe and the United States. Thus. the Armenian community of the Ottoman empire was virtually eliminated as the result of a carefully executed plan of genocide.
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deported deportees refugees