The
Armenian Genocide (
Hayots tseghaspanutyun), also known as the
Armenian Holocaust, the
Armenian Massacres and, traditionally by Armenians, as
Medz Yeghern (Armenian: Մեծ Եղեռն, "Great Crime"), was the
Ottoman government's systematic extermination of its minority
Armenian subjects inside their historic homeland, which lies within the present-day
Republic of Turkey. The number of victims is estimated at between 800,000 and 1.5 million. The starting date is conventionally held to be 24 April 1915, the day Ottoman authorities rounded up, arrested, and deported some
250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders from
Constantinople to
Ankara, the majority of whom were eventually murdered.