This page contains a selected list of press headlines relevant to the Armenian genocide in chronological order, as recorded in newspaper archives. The sources prior to 1914 relate in large part to the Hamidian massacres and the Adana massacre.
The Armenian genocide was widely covered in the international community and in many publications such as magazines, newspapers, books, and memoirs. Some organizations, such as the Near East Foundation, used media and newspapers to raise the plight of the Armenians. However, after World War I ended, the Armenian genocide received little press coverage for the first half of the 20th century. Coverage and public discussion resumed in the last quarter of the 20th century and continued into the 21st century.
Press discussion and photographs have been particularly important in educating the public about the genocide. Press coverage is also considered valuable and important because it constitutes primary sources of what was widely known at the time. During the time period, much of the global press had condemned the nature of the massacres and called for aid of the Armenians. Coverage of the Armenian genocide was done by many throughout the world and were often similar when depicting the massacres. Many well-known newspapers in the English language such as The Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, The Montreal Gazette, and others also reported extensively about the events. It is believed that The New York Times published thousands of articles pertaining to the Armenian massacres between 1894-1922 and 124 articles in 1915 alone. Some countries, like Australia, relied largely on news agencies in Europe for their information. It is noted that newspapers such as The Washington Post and The New York Times reported on the Armenian massacres almost daily for over a year. The coverage mainly included reports by correspondents, travelers, and consuls or ambassadors of different countries based in the different regions of the Ottoman Empire. Additionally, detailed reports came from missionaries who witnessed the massacres and attempted to aid orphans and other survivors. Local press coverage in the Ottoman Empire came mainly from the Takvim-i Vekayi, the official gazette of the Ottoman government. During the Turkish Courts-Martial of 1919–1920, the newspaper became especially important because it reported the cross-examinations of Turkish officials and the verdict of court which sentenced Talat, Enver, and Cemal Pashas to death for their roles in massacres against Armenians. Noteworthy studies of the press coverage of Muslim communities in the Middle East and particularly that of Syria have also been instrumental in depicting first hand accounts of the Armenian deportees exiled to the area. The Syrian press also made note of the demographic impact of the Armenian deportees into the region and condemned the Ottoman government for what it largely believed was a campaign of "annihilation", "extermination", and the "uprooting of a race".
Terms such as "massacre", "killed", "murdered", "slaughtered", "systematic massacre", "extermination", "atrocities", and "war crimes" were used instead of "genocide" during the period, as Raphael Lemkin coined the term "genocide" much later in 1943.
Exhibitions set up by the Armenian Genocide Museum in Yerevan have been held in Denmark, Lebanon, Sweden, and the United States displaying numerous periodicals from the international press dating from 1860 to 1922. There have also been numerous studies and books published about the press coverage of the genocide, including "El Genocidio armenio en la prensa del Uruguay, año 1915" (The Uruguayan Press of 1915 on the Genocide of Armenians) by Daniel Karamanoukian, "Le Genocide Armenien dans la presse Canadian" (The Armenian Genocide in the Canadian Press) by the Armenian Youth Federation of Canada, "The Armenian Genocide: News Accounts From the American Press 1915-1922" by Richard G. Kloian, "The Armenian Genocide as Reported in the Australian Press" by Vahe Kateb, "Heralding of the Armenian Genocide: Reports in The Halifax Herald, 1894-1922" by Katia Minas Peltekian, ""The Globe"'s representation of the Armenian genocide and Canada's acknowledgement" by Karen Ashford, "Through the Eyes of the "Post": American Media Coverage of the Armenian Genocide by Jessica L. Taylor" and others.
List Included in this list are examples of newspaper articles as republished by various secondary sources. The list also includes press coverage of the massacres prior to the Armenian genocide such as the Hamidian massacre and the Adana massacre. These massacres are viewed by scholars as beginning a process of exterminating the Armenian people which, in large part, culminated in the final process of genocide in 1915.Vahakn N. Dadrian, The History of the Armenian Genocide: Ethnic Conflict from the Balkans to Anatolia to the Caucasus (Providence, RI, and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 1995)Raymond H. Kévorkian, Le génocide des Arméniens (Paris: Jacob, 2006). Much of this is apparent in the press articles themselves since they repeatedly place the massacres of 1915 in the context of the previous massacres. Other scholars, such as the Soviet historians Mkrtich G. Nersisyan, Ruben Sahakyan, John Kirakosyan, and Yehuda Bauer subscribe to the view that the mass killings of 1894–96 during the Hamidian massacre were the first phase of the Armenian genocide. Even though the Hamidian massacres ended in 1896, Armenians continued to be massacred during what many believed to be "peaceful times". The massacres conducted during these times involved dislocation, disarmament, dispersion, and ultimately murder.
Hamidian massacres and pre–Young Turk Revolution 1890 July 25, 1890, Los Angeles Times, "Turkish Atrocities: Details of the Massacre at Erzeroum" July 26, 1890, New York Times, "The Erzeroum Massacre: Armenians slaughtered and the British Consulate stoned." November 6, 1890, New York Times, "Cruelty of the Turks. Prof. Bryce Describes The Condition Of Armenia."
1893 April 10, 1893, The Washington Post, "Dungeons for Christians: Nearly 2,000 Armenians immured in Turkish prisons." August 4, 1893, Los Angeles Times, "The Armenians: Innocent Christians executed by the Ottoman Authorities." October 20, 1893, Chicago Daily Tribune, "Armenians murdered in Turkey: Hundreds of bodies thrown into the harbor of Constantinople."
1894 November 17, 1894, New York Times, "Massacre of Armenians: Equals the Bulgarian Butcheries Which Led to War. Over Six Thousand Murdered" November 19, 1894, The Sydney Morning Herald, "Terrible Atrocities In Armenia. Massacre By Turkish Troops. Thousands Of Inhabitants Slaughtered. Men, Women, And Children Butchered Without Mercy. Women Violated and Hacked To Pieces. Appalling Details." November 20, 1894, The Age, "The Massacres In Armenia. Cholera Bred By The Corpses Of Victims." November 20, 1894, The Halifax Herald, "Massacre of Armenians: Horrible tales of butchery perpetrated by Turks - Thousands were killed." November 22, 1894, Chicago Daily Tribune, "" December 4, 1894, The Record-Union, "Massacre of Armenians. Reports of the Terrible Atrocities in Asia Minor Confirmed" December 6, 1894, The Scranton Tribune, "Those Armenian Atrocities." December 7, 1894, Bismarck Weekly Tribune, "Armenian Refugees." December 17, 1894, Boston Evening Transcript, "Those Armenian Massacres."
1895
January 14, 1895, New York Times, "The Worst Was Not Told; Armenian Massacres Described by the Rev. George H. Filian. Horrible Atrocities Of The Kurds. Still More Revolting Cruelties Prophesied -- Turkey's Denials Declared to be False -- Future of Armenia." January 16, 1895, New York Times, "Kurds and Christians, Some of the Oppressions and Cruelties in Times of Peace" February 3, 1895, Los Angeles Herald, "Red Horrors in Sassoun. The Atrocities in Armenia Not Exaggerated." February 28, 1895, The Halifax Herald, "Horrible Massacres: Treacherous Turkish troops murder 360 Armenians of all ages and both sexes." March 16, 1895, New York Times, "Persecution of the Armenians" March 16, 1895, New York Times, "Kurdish Fiendish Cruelty" March 25, 1895, New York Times, "Eight Thousand Butchered: The horrors of the Armenian massacres only just beginning to be realized by the World." May 29, 1895, Los Angeles Times, "" June 13, 1895, The Halifax Herald, "Turkish Atrocities: Pitiful stories of pillage, burning, torture and murder." August 5, 1895, L'Univers Illustre, "A hanged Armenian, Constantinople" September 5, 1895, New York Times, "Rustem Pasha Moved to Tears" September 10, 1895, New York Times, "Another Armenian Holocaust, Five Villages Burned, Five Thousand Persons Made Homeless, and Anti-Christians Organized" September 10, 1895, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, "The Armenian Outrages" September 13, 1895, Le Petit Journal, "Armenian Massacre in Constantinople: The gathering of the corpses of victims, streets of Galata" October 5, 1895, The Salt Lake Herald, "The Scenes in the Churches. They Are Heartrending and Deplorable in the Extreme. The Armenian Atrocities. American Sympathy is Badly Needed" October 27, 1895, Il Secolo Illustrato, "Armenian Massacre in Constantinople" November 17, 1895, Sunday Herald, "Armenians Murdered. Under Turkey's Auspices 5,000 More Have Been Slaughtered." November 17, 1895, Il Secolo Illustrato, "The Red Sultan" November 19, 1895, The San Francisco Call, "Shocking Crimes of the Terrible Turk" November 29, 1895, Vermont Phoenix, "Armenian Atrocities Still Continue" December 4, 1895, The Chenango Semi-Weekly Telegraph, "Two More Massacres. Thousands of Armenians Murdered at Marash" December 14, 1895, Harpers Weekly, "The Armenian Massacres-Burying the Victims"
1896
1896, Le Musée de Sires, "Abdul Hamid II, The Red Sultan" January 25, 1896, Salt Lake Herald, "Armenia Massacres" February 12, 1896, Staunton Spectator, "Armenian Atrocities" February 24, 1896, The Los Angeles Herald, "The Armenian Atrocities. Not Ended by Labors of the Commission. A Farcical Investigation. Consisting Simply of a Threat of Extermination. The Armenians Are Impoverished - Hunger and Cold May Finish the Work Begun With the Sword." May 20, 1896, The Sydney Morning Herald, "The Armenian Massacres. Horrible Details. Eight Thousand Butchered. Three Thousand Roasted Alive." May 23, 1896, The Sydney Mail, "The Armenian Massacres. Horrible Details." August 29, 1896, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, "Details Of The Massacre" August 30, 1896, The Philadelphia Record, "Turkey Must Explain. Peace of Europe Menaced by the Sultan's Armenian Policy." October 24, 1896, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, "Killing of Armenians"
1897 March 14, 1897, La Libre Parole,"New massacres in Armenia", page 1. March 27, 1897, The Sydney Morning Herald, "Armenian Massacres. Apathy Of The Turkish Authorities", page 5. April 3, 1897, The Sydney Mail, "More Armenian Massacres.", page 7. May 29, 1897, Le Rire, "Abdul Hamid II, The Red Sultan", page 1.
1898 August 5, 1898, The Glasgow Herald, "The Armenian Massacres", page 9.
1900 January 19, 1900, The Nebraska Advertiser, "More Armenian Massacres. Some Fugitives of 1895 Return to Turkey and Bloodshed Speedily Follows.", page 7. February 2, 1900, Boston Evening Transcript, "General Massacre Feared. Terror Among Christians in Turkey", page 12. February 2, 1900, The Meriden Daily Journal, Connecticut, "Another Massacre Plans of Turks", page 1. August 10, 1900, The St. Louis Republic, "Massacre of Armenians By Order of A Turk. Two Hundred Men, Women and Children in the Sassun District Slaughtered by Kurds-Town to be Burned.", page 1. August 10, 1900, New York Tribune, "More Armenians Killed.", page 9 August 17, 1900, The McCook Tribune, "More Armenian Massacres.", page 7. October 21, 1900, New York Times, "Awful Armenian Massacres. Mussulmans Pillage, Outrage, and Murder Unchecked for Five Days-Eight Villages Destroyed."