In 1915, on the initiative of the government of the «Young Turks», the first Genocide took place. * of the 20th century. More than 2 million people were murdered in what is now Turkey. 2/3 of the Armenian, Assyro-Chaldean, Syriac and Greek communities of Pontus were decimated.
106 years after the Genocide, Chrétiens Orientaux looks back at the history of Christians in Turkey: how long have they been there, how many, where did they live before 1915?.
The history of the genocide will be described by two historians. And through the testimonies of three families of survivors, we will discover the horror of this tragedy.
Despite the determination of the executioners, the Christians are still there... the Genocide has not come to an end!

* The term genocide was coined in 1943 by Raphaël Lemkim, a jurist specializing in international law. The term is derived from the Greek genos, «race, people, group», and the Latin verb caedere, «to kill».

At left, the first photo shows soldiers standing among the remains of victims of the Armenian village of Sheyxalan in the Mouch valley in 1915 © AFP PHOTO / ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MUSEUM INSTITUTE.
On the right, the second photo shows Armenians being hanged in Constantinople © AFP PHOTO / ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MUSEUM INSTITUTE.