What is the Armenian genocide?

The Armenian genocide was carried out by the Young Turk government of the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1916 and from 1922 to 1923. About 1.5 million Armenians out of the 2.5 million in the empire were killed. Armenians all over the world commemorate the tragedy on April 24 every year as it was on this day in 1915 when about 300 leaders, thinkers, writers and professionals were killed in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) and another 5,000 of the poorest were butchered by the Young Turk government.