Deportation of Armenian intellectuals on 24 April 1915

Deportation of Armenian intellectuals
Part of the Armenian Genocide
Some of the Armenian intellectuals who were detained, deported, and killed in 1915: 1st row: Krikor Zohrab, Daniel Varoujan, Rupen Zartarian, Ardashes Harutiunian, Siamanto 2nd row: Ruben Sevak, Dikran Chökürian, Diran Kelekian, Tlgadintsi, and Erukhan
Location	Ottoman Empire
Date	24 April 1915 (start date)
Target	Notables of the Armenian community of Constantinople
Attack type	Deportation and eventual murder
Deaths	235–270 (on 24 April) 2,345 (arrested on and within weeks after 24 April; eventually mostly killed)
Perpetrators	Committee of Union and Progress (Young Turks)

The deportation of Armenian intellectuals, sometimes known as Red Sunday (Western Armenian: Կարմիր կիրակի Garmir giragi), was an event during the Armenian Genocide in which leaders of the Armenian community in the Ottoman capital of Constantinople, and later other locations, were arrested and moved to two holding centers near Ankara. The to do so was given by Minister of the Interior Talaat Pasha on 24 April 1915. On that night, the first wave of 235 to 270 Armenian intellectuals of Constantinople were arrested. Eventually, the total number of arrests and deportations amounted to 2,345. With the adoption of the Tehcir Law on 29 May 1915, these detainees were later relocated within the Ottoman Empire; most of them were ultimately killed. A few, such as Vrtanes Papazian and Komitas, were saved through intervention.

The event has been described by historians as a decapitation strike, which was intended to deprive the Armenian population of leadership and a chance for resistance. To commemorate the victims of the Armenian Genocide, 24 April is observed as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. First observed in 1919 on the four-year anniversary of the events in Constantinople, the date is generally considered the date on which the genocide began. The Armenian Genocide has since been commemorated annually on the same day, which has become a national holiday in Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and is observed by the Armenian diaspora around the world.

The Ottoman Minister of the Interior Talaat Pasha gave the detention order on 24 April 1915. The operation commenced at 8 p.m. In Constantinople, the action was led by Bedri Bey, the Chief of Police of Constantinople. On the night of 24–25 April 1915, in a first wave 235 to 270 Armenian leaders of Constantinople, clergymen, physicians, editors, journalists, lawyers, teachers, politicians, and others were arrested upon an instruction of the Ministry of the Interior. The differences in number may be explained by the uncertainties of the police as they imprisoned people with the same names.