The Armenian question was the debate following the Congress of Berlin in 1878 as to how the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire should be treated. The term became commonplace among diplomatic circles and in the popular press. In specific terms, the Armenian question refers to the protection and the freedoms of Armenians from their neighboring communities. The Armenian question explains the 40 years of Armenian–Ottoman history in the context of English, German, and Russian politics between 1877 and 1914. In 1915, the leadership of the Committee of Union and Progress, which controlled the Ottoman government, decided to end the Armenian question permanently by killing and expelling most Armenians from the empire, in the Armenian genocide. Background Beginning in the mid-19th century, the Great Powers took issue with the Ottoman Empire's treatment of its Christian minorities and increasingly pressured it to extend equal rights to all its citizens. Following the violent suppression of Christians in the uprisings in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, and Serbia in 1875, the Great Powers invoked the 1856 Treaty of Paris, claiming it provided the authority for their intervention to protect the Ottoman Empire's Christian minorities. By the late 1870s, the Greeks, along with several other Christian nations in the Balkans, frustrated with their conditions, had, with the help of the Powers, broken free of Ottoman rule. The Armenians, on the other hand, received less interest and no support that was not later withdrawn by the Great Powers. Their status during these years was relatively stagnant, and they were referred to as millet-i sadıka or the "loyal millet" in the Ottoman Empire. In 1827–28, Tsar Nicholas I sought help from Persian Armenians in the Russo-Persian War, promising that afterward, he would help improve their lives. In 1828, the Russians declared war on Turkey. In 1828, Russia annexed the Erivan Khanate, Nakhichevan Khanate, and the surrounding countryside with the Treaty of Turkmenchay. After the Treaty of Turkmenchay, Armenians still living under Persian rule were encouraged to emigrate to Russian Armenia, and 30,000 followed the call. Russia annexed significant portions of territory occupied by the Armenians. By the 1897 Russian Census, 1,127,212 Armenians were counted in Russian lands. For the same period (1896 Vital Cuinet), there were 1,095,889 Armenians in the Ottoman Empire: As Russia advanced its southern border, it became increasingly involved with Ottoman affairs. Russia was instrumental in obtaining the independence of Romania and Serbia. Russia, and