ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the atrocities against Assyrian communities, which peaked in 1915, using the genocide-related case law of international and domestic criminal tribunals. It describes the living conditions of the Assyrians in the Ottoman Empire before World War I (WWI), the evolution of Ottoman policy during WWI, and the genocidal acts committed in the main places where the Assyrians lived, namely Hakkari, Urmia, and Tur Abdin. In conclusion, it will examine the applicability of the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948 to these anti-Assyrian atrocities, and briefly survey the international reaction by the Allied Powers to the plight of Assyrians from Turkey after WWI ended.
