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 ADANA MASSACRE, 1909 carried out by Young Turks in the provinces of Adana and Halab on April 1-4 and 12-14. At the beginning of the 20th century due to the self-defense battles during the massacres at the end of the 19th century, the conditions of the Armenians were comparatively better. Turkish regressive circles accused the Armenians of trying “to restore the Armenian Kingdom”. On March 31, 1909 the meeting was held headed by Adana Governor and the decision was made to massacre the Armenians. Secret orders were sent to the provinces.

On the eve of massacres the authorities distributed large number of weapons to the muslim population, released around 500 criminals from prisons. On April 1, the Turkish mob began massacring the Armenians in Adana. The massacres continued for 3 days.  Under the pretext of “restoring” order, the troops of Young Turks were sent from Eastern Thrace on April 12 and provoked new massacres, which were more brutal than the previous one.  The regular troops actively participated in massacres too. The massacres were carried out in all the Armenian populated areas of Adana and Halab provinces. Around 30 thousand Armenians were killed, more than 20 thousand in the province of Adana.

Many Armenian settlements were destroyed. The Armenians organized self-defense battles in Hadchën, Sis, Zeytun, Sheykh Murat, Dortyol, pushed back the attacks of the Turks and managed to survive. Trying to avoid the responsibility and to mislead the international community the Young Turks began a formal inquiry as a result of which the organizers of the massacres remained unpunished. The Adana massacre proved that the Young Turks continued the anti-Armenian policy of Abdul Hamid II. 

Source-Encyclopedia "The Armenian Question", Yerevan, 1996.