What is meant by genocide

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What is meant by genocide?
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Armenian Genocide Coverage in New York Times
(1915-1916)
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Genocide The Origins of a Word
Rafael Lemkin (1900-1959) coined the term
genocide in 1943 from Greek genos (family,
tribe, race) and Latin cide (killing, murder)
UN General Assembly (1948-1951) Convention on
the Prevention Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide defines genocide as ...any of the
following acts committed with intent to destroy,
in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial
or religious group, as such (a) Killing members
of the group (b) Causing serious bodily or
mental harm to members of the group (c)
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions
of life calculated to bring about its physical
destruction in whole or in part (d) Imposing
measures intended to prevent births within the
group (e) Forcibly transferring children of the
group to another group.
Nearly everyone who considers the definition
finds it insufficient for one reason or another.
It manages to be at one and the same time both
too broad and too narrow. A Century of Genocide
Utopias of Race Nation (2003)
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Genocide Establishing Terminology

• Government policy or participation
• Intent to destroy particular groups
• For genocide to occur, there needs to be
  demonstrable intent to destroy in whole or in
  part particular population groups. This is a
  central point that distinguishes genocides from
  the civilian casualties that may occur in
  wartime, from pogroms, from massacres, from
  forced deportationseven if the number of victims
  is massive, and although any one of these actions
  may subsequently evolve into a genocide. 9
• A Century of Genocide Utopias of Race Nation
  (2003)

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Armenian Genocide (1915-1923) Historical Context
Ottoman Empire The Sick Man of Europe (late
19th century)

• Armenian Question
• Who will speak up for this Christian minority?
• Who will be their protectors among European
  powers?

• Growth of Nationalism (with growing Turkish
  identity)
• The Armenian population stood out because
• Protected group
• Religious minority
• Successful economically

2) The Young Turks (modernizers, nationalists,
ambitious reformers) a) make the Ottoman Empire
more efficient b) infiltrated positions of
power c) came to power in 1908

• The Great War or WWI (1914-1918)
• Armenians seen as dangerous alien minority living
  within Turkish borders
• Russian involvement becomes of increasing concern
• Shift away from earlier Ottomanism to focus on
  ethnic Turkish identity

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Treaty of Berlin (1885)