page_title: Hamidian massacres
section_title: Inaccurate reportage by the Ottoman government
hierarchical_section_title: Hamidian massacres / Inaccurate reportage by the Ottoman government
caption_attribution_description: From the October 1915 issue of National Geographic. Copyright is expired. Photo caption reads: Haji Agha, a kindly neighbor and a most loyal friend to the American Hospital in Aintab In the massacre of 1895 he posted himself at the hospital entrance and prevented the mob from entering. He represents the better type of Moslem, who are not responsible for the Armenian massacres.
context_page_description: The Hamidian massacres, also referred to as the Armenian Massacres of 1894–1896 and Armenian genocide, were massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire that took place in the mid-1890s. It was estimated casualties ranged from 80,000 to 300,000, resulting in 50,000 orphaned children. The massacres are named after Sultan Abdul Hamid II, who, in his efforts to maintain the imperial domain of the collapsing Ottoman Empire, reasserted Pan-Islamism as a state ideology. Although the massacres were aimed mainly at the Armenians, they turned into indiscriminate anti-Christian pogroms in some cases, such as the Diyarbekir massacre, where, at least according to one contemporary source, up to 25,000 Assyrians were also killed.
  The massacres began in the Ottoman interior in 1894, before becoming more widespread in the following years. Between 1894 and 1896 was when the majority of the murders took place. The massacres began tapering off in 1897, following international condemnation of Abdul Hamid. The harshest measures were directed against the long persecuted Armenian community as calls for civil reform and better treatment from the government went ignored.
context_section_description: After George Hepworth, a preeminent journalist of the late 19th century, traveled through Ottoman Armenia in 1897, he wrote Through Armenia on Horseback, which discusses the causes and effects of the recent massacres. In one chapter Hepworth describes the disparity between the reality of the Massacre in Bitlis and the official reports that were sent to the Porte. After retelling the Ottoman version of events, which places the blame solely on the Armenians of Bitlis, Hepworth writes:
  …That is the account of the affair which was sent to Yildiz, and that story contains all that the Sultan has any means of knowing about it. It is a most remarkable story, and the discrepancies are as thick as leaves in Valambrosa. On the face of it, it cannot be true, and before a jury it would hardly have any weight as evidence. It is extremely important, however, because it is probably a fair representation of the occurrences of the last few years. That it is a misrepresentation, so much so that it can fairly be called fabrication, becomes clear when you look at it a second time... and yet it is from an official document which the future historian will read when he wishes to compile the facts concerning those massacres.
  Official Ottoman sources downplayed or misrepresented the death toll numbers. The attempt of deliberately misrepresenting the numbers were noted by British Ambassador Phillip Currie in a letter to Prime Minister Lord Salisbury:
  The Sultan lately sent to me, in common with my colleagues, an urgent message inviting the six Representatives to visit the military and municipal hospitals in order to see for themselves the number of Turkish soldiers and civilians who had been wounded during the recent disturbances.
  I accordingly requested Surgeon Tomlinson, of Her Majesty's ship "Imogene", to make the round of the hospitals in company with Mr. Blech, of Her Majesty's Embassy...
  
  The hospital authorities made attempts to pass off wounded Christians as Mussulmans. Thus, the 112 in the Stamboul [old city of Istanbul] prison were represented as being Muslims, and it was only discovered by accident that 109 were Christians.
caption: Haji Agha, a Muslim, reportedly stood guard at an Aintab hospital to protect it from an anti-Armenian pogrom in 1895.[53]
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