1913 January 29: In Turkey, the triumvirate of Enver, Talaat and Jemal Pasha heads the government.
1914- beginning of 1915: The Armenian Patriarchate in Constantinople estimates the Armenian population in Turkey at 2,100,000.
1915 January: Enver is disastrously defeated in Sarikamish at the hands of Russian troops, marking a failure of his Pan-Turanian plans. The Turkish authorities decree the demobilization and disarmament of the Armenians.
1915 February 26: War Minister Enver convenes 75 top ranking Ittihadists. This secret meeting finalizes the details of the plan to carry out a genocide of the Armenians.
1915 April 15: Talaat, Enver and Nazem send a secret order to the local governments for the removal and extermination of Armenians in Turkey.
1915 April 15-18: While the Armenian population of Van is fleeing to Russia because of the evacuation of the Russian army, the Turkish forces attack villages of the vilayet.
1915 April 24: 800 Armenian leaders, writers and intellectuals are arrested in Constantinople and murdered.
1915 May 16: Law of May 16, 1915 is enacted with "instructions pertaining to property and real estate abandoned by the deported Armenians, consequences of the war and unusual political circumstances". This law provides for the installation of Turkish refugees in the homes and on the lands belonging to the Armenians.
1915 May 24: The governments of England, France and Russia jointly warn the Turkish government publicly that "They will hold personally responsible... all members of the Ottoman government and those of their agents who are implicated in such massacres".
1915 May 27: The law of May 27, 1915 is enacted concerning the "displacement of suspected persons." This law empowers army officers to relocate populations upon the simple suspicion of treason or for military reasons.
1916 March 7: Talaat, Minister of the Interior, sends a cable to the Aleppo Prefecture, ordering the extermination of children at military installations.
1916 August 19: Decree abolishes the national Armenian constitution of 1863, in violation of Article 61 of the Treaty of Berlin concerning religious freedom.
1918 May 28: Armenian Independence.
1918 June 4: In Batum, the Treaty of Peace and Friendship is signed between Ottoman Turkey and the Republic of Armenia.
1918 October 30: The armistice of Moudros ends the war between the Allies and Turkey. Global estimates of the campaign of extermination: close to 1,500,000 Armenians dead.
1918 November: Defeated Turkey recognizes the small Armenian Republic whose territory consists only of a small fraction of former Armenian lands. Turkey also cedes to it the vilayets of Kars and Ardahan the following year. This transfer proves to be only temporary.
1919 April 27: In Constantinople, the trial begins of members of the Union and Progress Party, and other leaders of the Turkish government. The trial continues until June 26.
1920 February: French forces in post-war occupation of Cilicia unexpectedly withdraw. Turks take advantage of the opportunity and kill 30,000 Armenians.
1920 August 10: The Treaty of Sevres is signed.
1921 May 16: The independent Armenian Republic, in existence since May 28, 1918, is tranformed into the Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia.
1922 September: Kemal Ataturk's forces seize and set fire to the city of Smyrna and engage in a rampage, killing Greeks and Armenians. 150,000 perish.
1923 July 24: The Treaty of Lausanne is signed by the new Republic of Turkey and the Great Powers.
1923 September: Turkey adopts a law which prohibits the return of Armenians who left Cilicia or any of the eastern vilayets whether or not they had left voluntarily.
