On April 23, 1915 (early morning of April 24), more than 200 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders were arrested in Constantinople (Istanbul, Turkey) by order of the Ottoman Turkish government. Most of them were executed soon after. The aim of the government was to rid the Armenian nation of its leadership.
Watch the testimony of Vahram Eretzian, who shares his memory of what happened on this day in Constantinople and in the months after.
About the Interviewee
Vahram Eretzian was born in 1892, in the city of Erzincan in the Erzurum/Karin province. Before the genocide, Vahram was a witness to the Hamidian Massacres of 1896. He worked as a geography teacher until the morning of April 24, 1915. In fear for his life, Vahram went into hiding. After the war, he worked as an interpreter for the British army. Eretzian was interviewed by the Armenian Film Foundation on October 3, 1985 in Melbourne, Australia.