Editing Armenian genocide (section)

==Ottoman entry into World War I==
[[File:Ottoman revenge map after Balkan wars.jpeg|thumb|upright=1.1|"Revenge" ({{langx|ota|انتقام}}) map highlighting territory lost during and after the Balkan Wars in black|alt=see caption]]
A few days after the outbreak of World War I, the CUP concluded [[Ottoman–German alliance|an alliance with Germany]] on 2 August 1914.{{sfn|Suny|2015|pp=214–215}} The same month, CUP representatives went to [[Armenian congress at Erzurum|an ARF conference]] demanding that, in the event of war with [[Russian Empire|Russia]], the ARF incite [[Russian Armenians]] to intervene on the Ottoman side. Instead, the delegates resolved that Armenians should fight for the countries of their citizenships.{{sfn|Suny|2015|pp=223–224}} During its war preparations, the Ottoman government recruited thousands of prisoners to join the paramilitary [[Special Organization (Ottoman Empire)|Special Organization]],{{sfn|Üngör|2016|pp=16–17}} which initially focused on stirring up revolts among Muslims behind Russian lines beginning before the empire officially entered the war.{{sfn|Suny|2015|pp=233–234}} On 29&nbsp;October 1914, the empire [[Ottoman entry into World War I|entered World War&nbsp;I]] on the side of the [[Central Powers]] by launching a [[Black Sea Raid|surprise attack]] on Russian ports in the [[Black Sea]].{{sfn|Suny|2015|p=218}} Many Russian Armenians were enthusiastic about the war, but Ottoman Armenians were more ambivalent, afraid that supporting Russia would bring retaliation. Organization of [[Armenian volunteer units]] by Russian Armenians, later joined by some Ottoman Armenian deserters, further increased Ottoman suspicions against their Armenian population.{{sfn|Suny|2015|pp=221–222}}

Wartime requisitions were often corrupt and arbitrary, and disproportionately targeted Greeks and Armenians.{{sfn|Suny|2015|p=225}} Armenian leaders urged young men to accept [[seferberlik|conscription into the army]], but many soldiers of all ethnicities and religions deserted due to difficult conditions and concern for their families.{{sfn|Suny|2015|pp=226–227}} At least 10 percent of Ottoman Armenians were mobilized, leaving their communities bereft of fighting-age men and therefore largely unable to organize armed resistance to deportation in 1915.{{sfn|Kévorkian|2011|p=242}}{{sfn|Bozarslan ''et al.''|2015|p=179}} During the Ottoman [[Caucasus campaign|invasion of Russian]] and [[Persian campaign (World War I)|Persian territory]], the Special Organization massacred local Armenians and [[Seyfo|Assyrian/Syriac Christians]].{{sfn|Suny|2015|pp=243–244}}{{sfn|Üngör|2016|p=18}} Beginning in November 1914, provincial governors of Van, Bitlis, and Erzerum sent many telegrams to the central government pressing for more severe measures against the Armenians, both regionally and throughout the empire.{{sfn|Akçam|2019|p=475}} These requests were endorsed by the central government already before 1915.{{sfn|Akçam|2019|pp=478–479}} Armenian civil servants were dismissed from their posts in late 1914 and early 1915.{{sfn|Üngör|2016|p=19}} In February 1915, the CUP leaders decided to disarm Armenians serving in the army and transfer them to [[Ottoman labour battalions|labor battalion]]s.{{sfn|Suny|2015|p=244}} The Armenian soldiers in labor battalions were systematically executed, although many skilled workers were spared until 1916.{{sfn|Suny|2015|pp=248–249}}